Ex-Drive By Trucker Jason Isbell and his backing band the 400 Unit will celebrate tax day (April 15, for all you rich people) trying to pick up a little bank by releasing a live 6 song EP. “Twist & Shout” (New West Records) was recorded at the Twist and Shout in Birmingham, Alabama back on 11-16-07. After seeing Isbell and his band put on a great show over the summer I’m thinking this is probably just a quarter of the full show. Why not the full show New West? I’m especially disappointed about the decision not to include my favorite cut from Isbell’s solo release “Dress Blues” but I am glade to see the inclusion of some of his great DBT cuts.

Track listing:

1. Grown
2. Goddamn Lonely Love
3. Hurricanes and Hand Grenades
4. Danko/Manuel
5. Outfit
6. Into The Mystic

Jason Isbell - Dress Blues

All right Cali twangers, get out and see Wayne “The Train” Hancock and Scott H. Biram at Safari Sam’s two year anniversary show.

- From Billboard.com - Country music legend Emmylou Harris will release her first album of new material in almost five years.

On on June 10 “All I Intended To Be” (Nonesuch) will be released as the follow-up to “Stumble Into Grace,” which debuted at No. 58 on the Billboard 200 in September 2003.

Harris told Billboard.com last summer she secured assistance for the new album from the McGarrigle sisters and Seldom Scene lead singer John Starling. Harris duets with the latter on Billy Joe Shaver’s “Old Five and Dimers.”

Harris, who turned 61 last week, will also be inducted April 27 into the Country Music Hall of Fame. (via the 9513)

- Crawdaddy.com asks who is the reining queen of alt.country, Lucinda Williams or Kathleen Edward?

- SF Weekly talks to Tift Merritt about her new release - Another Country, living in Paris and her new home New York.

- Billboard.com reports on a topic I’ve recently been ranting about on this blog, the recent demise of music magazines.  John Biondolillo, general manager at Dave Matthews’ ATO Records mentions part of the overall problem, a generational shift in media consumption.

“The closures of the two magazines might also reflect larger trends for indie labels promoting triple A and alt-country acts. “In the last 18 months, our focus has begun to shift away from print ads and towards online and TV advertising,” Biondolillo says.”

AOL’s Country Corner posts that country pop-tart Carrie Underwood admitted to ‘Extra’ (who else?) that she and Lubbock, TX. native and ‘Gossip Girl’ actor Chace Crawford “ended their highly-publicized relationship through text messaging, saying, “We broke up over text so . . . it’s like ‘peace out.’”

Underwood assured fans that there were no tears and that she’s doing just fine. In fact, she says the breakup was completely mutual. “It just didn’t work. We both knew it didn’t work and [had] no hard feelings at all whatsoever.”

Gee Carrie, I wonder why I was never blown away by those heartfelt songs you belt out. Could it be the mall-variety glibness displayed in this statement above? Tears and longing is where great coutry songs come from, not text messages.

Peace out? Who are you? Snoop Dogg?

On Saturday, April 19, 2008, hundreds of independently owned music stores across the country will celebrate “Record Store Day.”  Independent music stores will simultaneously link and act as one with the purpose of celebrating the culture and unique place that they occupy both in their local communities and nationally. The event will include artist appearances, giveaways, and much more.

Get out and support independent music store or else get over to Wal-Mart’s music section and see the future.

Well folks they’re dropping like flies. After the crappy news that No Depression would bite it after the May/June issue I’ve recently discovered that Harp magazine will pull the plug after the March/April issue, the one with Dave Grohl on the cover. Harp has been rock and alt.country friendly since the start and might have picked up some of the slack from ND going down but, well, there you go. I guess it’s all up to you now Blender! Just kiddin…

Harp started in the fall of 2001 and featured a cover story on Alejandro Escovedo. Among the artists who subsequently graced the cover of Harp during the last 7 years were Grohl, Cat Power, Ryan Adams, Wilco, Bright Eyes, Nick Cave, The Stooges, Drive-By Truckers, My Morning Jacket, Liz Phair, Tom Waits, The Roots, Tom Petty, Neil Young, Neko Case, Modest Mouse, Jay Farrar, Mars Volta, Devendra Banhart, Steve Earle, Pete Yorn, and Howe Gelb.

Yeah, blogs like your truly might address 1/100th of what was covered in these magazines but there was a legitimacy that ND and Harp had established through editorial excellence and championing the great unwashed underdogs and howling back-woods diamonds in the rough. As I’ve said before it was ND that brought country music that was still cool to my radar and caused me to waste time doing this for going on two years. As much as it blows to watch the grandfathers of genre’s media go down, I believe that the seeds are planted all over the world (like those of a wanton 70’s honky-tonker) that will allows the artists and fans to plan a world takeover…or at least an open mic night at Tootsies.

Stacy Chandler at Hickory Wind has posted her husband Geoffrey’s matrix of a vision of an alt-country video game detailing artists, settings and powers. A sample:

Artist: Ryan Adams

Setting: A back alley behind Quizno’s at 4 a.m. or The Austin City Limits stage

Powers: Two fighting modes - “Greasy dopemups mode” where he can just sit there and take all kinds of damage

–or-

“Rage filled dopemups mode” where he gets a phone and the opponent is suddenly holding an answering machine to be the target of a blistering verbal assault

Hilarious!

Congratulations to Drive By Truckers drummer Brad Morgan and his wife and musician Kimberly  (from the band Kimberly Morgan and the Everlovin’ Band) for the arrival of the newest member of the Trucker family, Ruby Morgan!

The Dexateens have posted a new blog on MySpace about recording their new release “Lost and Found.” There’s also a cool blog about the making of the multi-media artwork that they used for the cover.

The Jack Grace Band starts their every Sunday night run at the Rodeo Bar (27th and 3rd Ave, New York, NY )

Sean Kershaw & the New Jack Ramblers plays Hanks Saloon ( 46 3rd Ave at Atlantic Ave, Brooklyn, New York) tonight, and it’s FREE!

Country Stars Central has a fine interview with Brenda Lee. Branda talks about her life growing up poor in Atlanta, Georgia and her 1957 Grand Ole Opry Ryman Auditorium which also featured with Elvis Presley.

Now this is how it’s done. Ellensburg, Washington based Star Anna Krogstie’s debut release, “Crooked Path” (the English translation of her Norwegian surname) delivers some of the finest work in alternative country today.

Echoing the folky remoteness of Cat Power (Chan Marshall), the rustic revivalism of Gillian Welch, and just a grain of Neko Case style Southern-gothic smoldering, Star Anna wears her influences proudly but makes her own mark on the material here.

Her band the Laughing Dogs lay down adept and solid sounds that moves from the alt.country of “If Wishes Were Horses” , “Black Cat Blues” to the Appalachian-style raved-up title song. “Places We Exist” takes page from the Van Morrison book of swinging pop-folk and “Space Beneath The Door” grooves along with a soft blues-funk that belies the love don’t live here no more message of the song. One of the finest songs in a whole line of fine songs is the slow-burning “No Surprise” featuring a weeping bottle-neck accompaniment is as haunting as anything done by the great Patsy Cline and is guaranteed to break your heart and make you reach for the bottle.

Sure the sound moves across a sonic landscape, but Star Anna pulls it all together with her lilting passionate voice. This is one of the finest debut releases it has been my pleasure to hear.

Star Anna - “If WIshes Were Horses”