Billboard reports that Willie Nelson (the Texas Yoda) is hauling his do-gooding music festival to New York’s Randall’s Island.

Unlike Willie holding his 4th of July picnic outside the Lone Star (heresy!) Farm Aid has moved around since it’s birth 22 years ago, but having it on Randall’s Island is nice since it’s a subway ride away!

From Billboard: Willie Nelson and John Mellencamp joined New York mayor Michael Bloomberg and a host of local farmers today (June 11) amid the Union Square Green Market to announce a Sept. 9 date for the annual Farm Aid benefit at Randall’s Island. As usual, the artists will be joined by fellow Farm Aid board members Neil Young and Dave Matthews at the event.

“This will be the first Farm Aid that provides 100% homegrown food at the concert,” Mellencamp said proudly. Acknowledging the organic market just a few hundred feet away, Nelson said, “This is a great example of what can be done in the big cities.”

Farm Aid, which is now in its 22nd year, will dovetail with a new biofuel initiative in New York. Beginning next summer, 30% of the city’s heating oil purchases will be required to contain 5% biofuel, with a goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 30% by 2030.   

For all you hillbillys in and around New York City (they’re out there!) there’s some fine summer music coming your way.

The lovely and talented Elizebeth Cook will bring her brand of sass and twang to the Living Room, Tuesday, June 26th - 8pm

And the mighty Drive By Truckers will be at Castle Clinton National Monument for a FREE SHOW, Thursday, July 19th - 7pm
And speaking of the Drive By Truckers, ex-trucker Jason Isbell will be playing at the Mercury Lounge on the same night,
with Steve Earle’s boy Justin Townes Earle opening the show. I can only hope that some truckers and somebody’s daddy shows up to the show.

See you at the show!

I love discovering off the grid talent that sound like their doing it for the pure joy of making music. I hate it when I discover that talent after they’ve already imploded.

I can any Lick Any Sonofabitch in the House was a band Out of Portland, Oregon, that arrived the musical heritage that Of Willie and Waylon and the Country music outlaws of the 70’s that fused country, rock and high-concept themes to evolve the craft while honoring tradition.

A fan once described them as the “country version of Rage Against the Machine” for the left of the political spectrum subject matter addressed by front man Mike Damron.

Damron, an Olahoma native is a former army boxer and served in the 101st Airborne/Air Assault was raised in Las Vegas and, following his military service, bounced between Los Angeles and Dallas, Texas, playing bass in Mercury Records recording artists Tablet, a Dallas-based Brit-pop band that did a tour stint with Oasis.

After a kicking a nasty drug habit and jumping on a Greyhound bound for Portland, Oregon Damron got sick of doing other people’s indie-rock songs in cover bands and began writing his own songs.

A longtime fan of boxing legend John L. Sullivan, the last bare knuckles fighting champion, Damron took a band name from Sullivan’s autobiography (co-written by Gilbert Odd): I Can Lick Any Son of a Bitch in the House:  The Riotous Life of the First Heavyweight Champion. Dropping the latter part of the title, and turning Son of a Bitch into one word (Sonofabitch), Damron had a handful of songs, a demo, and a band name.

After paying dues for over a year, I Can Lick Any Sonofabitch In the House’s final line-up took permanent form and released the band’s debut full-length, 2002’s Creepy Little Noises, released on Portland-indie In Music We Trust Records.

Besides Damron the band consisted of Flapjack TX on muscle-car style drums. Mole Harris added an big rock sound to the band. Blues-bred David Lipkind was the band’s harmonica player and gave the songs their distinctive Southern punch. Guitar and engineer/producer was covered by Handsome Jon Burbank who cut his teeth on NOFX and was a big fan of El Paso, TXs At The Drive-In. Punk-styled aggression was his calling card in the band.

Damron didn’t just tackle political themes in his songs. Taking a cue from the country legends, Damron blended the topical with the personal. 2004’s release “Menace” contained the song “Westboro Baptist Church” which takes a stab at Westboro Baptist Church head Fred Phelps and their website, http://www.godhatesfags.com, and  “Dust and Sun” examines Iraq war from both sides.

“Pauline”, a song Damron wrote for his grandmother, is a prime example of sadness and sorrow mixing together with beauty. “I was with her and holding her at the exact moment she left this world,” says Damron  “It’s amazing to see someone’s spirit just up and fly. She was the one good constant in my life. They don’t make people much better than this.”

“Thousand To One” has a strong, personal message, standing tall as a reminder that sometimes your heart and soul is all you have, so don’t give it away too easily.

The date given on their site for the band’s demise is Friday, November 24th, 2006. Also from the site: After 5 plus years of  touring, recording, and throwing our middle fingers at the powers that be, I Can Lick Any Sonofabitch In The House is no more. (Mike Damron) has decided to focus on his family and his solo work, and we of course won´t continue without our brother. We can´t thank all of you who have supported us enough; for taking care of us on the road, letting us sleep on your floors and eat your food, sharing the stage with us, or just being the loyal fans that you have been. It is our great hope that we were able to bring to you even a fraction of the love and happiness that you brought to our lives.

Damron is now working on his solo career, and Jon and Flap continue on with their band The Runaway Boys, and Dave with the band Spigot and other projects. Jon will also is also continuing to record, and is taking messages from bands that are interested in recording on the I can any Lick Any Sonofabitch in the House’s Myspace page.

I’m sure during their 5 plus year career I had many occasions to catch I can any Lick Any Sonofabitch in the House live during their relentless touring at a city or town near me. I can say with sincerity I truly regret missing them.

I usually hang on every acerbic and insightful post from music business gadfly Bob Lefsetz. He’s a no bullshit guy that sees the bloody writing on the wall for the big labels and pulls no punches. I hope this blog allows me to do 1/16th of what he’s been able to do in exposing the hypocrisy and crap in the music industry and also point the way to a great talents that are trying make a difference and do great work.

But recently Mr. Levitz was caught in L.A. Traffic and came across Sirius radio Channel 60, “New Country” who, by the blurb on their web site states they play ” Rascal Flatts, Tim McGraw, Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban, Toby Keith, Kenny Chesney.”

Lefsetz writes that while listening to the station that:

“…every one of (the) words rang true and glowed like burnin’ coal, pourin’ off of every page like it was written from me to you, but I was not tangled up in blue, I was laughing, I was alive, I was ECSTATIC! This was a joy I hadn’t experienced in oh-so-long!

But I don’t know shit about country. Maybe this is the crap. Maybe this is the stuff those deep into it rail about. Then I realized, I was the target audience, I was fucking IGNORANT!”

I’m here to tell you Bob, you are listening to the crap, and allow me to school you.

You are a fucking genius savant when talking about rock and pop of the past, present and future, but when you stray into country music, I won’t say “fucking ignorant”, but I will say sadly naive.

What you were listening to was the country equivalent of listening to Beyoncé or Fallout Boy. Sad, shallow reproductions of artists that came before that did it not just do it better, but did it in a way that was breathtaking and dangerous. What you were listening to was formula, contrivances and confection.

You pine for the days of the Beatles, Stones and Hendrix. When the Velvet Underground and the Stooges were punching sonic holes in the cultural malaise of the 70’s. If you’re looking for the contemporary country equivalent of that, then you’re not going to find in on Channel 60, “New Country.”

The country equivalent to these ground-breaking artists, the giants that the current talent of country artists are standing on the shoulders of is Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn, Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard. It’s the Allman Brothers and The Band. It’s Lynyrd Skynyrd, X, Jason and the Scorchers. Buck Owens and Dwight Yoakam.

You’re more likely to find these artists on the Dallas area station Lone Star 92.5 that, despite being a Clear Channel station, is taking risks and plays artists that better represent the spirit you crave. Bands like The Drive By Truckers and the Bottle Rockets. Artists like Hank Williams III and Shooter Jennings. But Lone Star 92.5s are hard to find just as great rock stations are. The playlists are still the most common framework for commercial radio, and playlist are driven by sales.

Shooter Jenning’s band, the .357s comes closer to Led Zeppelin than the comparison you draw between Zeppelin and Tim McGraw. Tim McGraw is less Led Zeppelin and more Peter Frampton.

There is great country music out there and Bob Lefsetz, with a little counseling, is just the gauge that will recognize it. I for one would love for him to turn his laser eye on the Nashville money machine and the way it takes great talent and churns out dull, gray sausage.

Billboard.com - The ever-prolific Ryan Adams has more in store for fans this year than “Easy Tiger,” a new studio album due June 26 via Lost Highway. The artist is plotting a multi-disc boxed set of odds-and-ends, which will cull from his extensive back catalog.

According to a label spokesperson, the set may include live tracks, the fabled unreleased albums “48 Hours” and “The Suicide Handbook,” the oft-bootlegged “Bedhead” series and leftover songs from the “Easy Tiger” sessions.

From the Bloodshot Records web site: On Sunday May 13th, Nancy Tannenbaum, aka Nancy Rideout, original guitarist in Moonshine Willy was killed in a motorcycle accident in New York City. She swerved to avoid a pedestrian who mysteriously ran onto the West Side highway, was thrown from her bike and died at the scene.