A get out to vote public service announcement featuring the great Johnny Cash. Earn your right as a citizen and VOTE!
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMHU3VRFGGE[/youtube]
Month: November 2008
Paul Westerberg Offers to Pen Songs For Glen Campbell
- According to the Guardian and Paste Magazine it appears that Paul Westerberg, former lead singer, rhythm guitarist, and songwriter of alt-rock band The Replacements, wants to be Glen Campbell’s “next Jimmy Webb.” Webb penned 70’s pop hits like “Up, Up, and Away” and “By the Time I Get to Phoenix” for Campbell. Those are reported to be the words Westerberg used when requesting his manager to make arrangements to write songs for Campbell’s upcoming album after discovering that Campbell covered the Minnesota band’s “Sadly Beautiful”on Campbell’s latest release Meet Glen Campbell.
- The New York Times addresses the legacy of Hank Williams by focusing on the excellent “Family Tradition: The Williams Family Legacy†currently on display at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum (on through 12/09) and a 3 CD box-set called “The Unreleased Recordings†the first installment of unearthed radio transcriptions to be issued by Time Life.
- With a long career as a cracker-jack guitarist and co-hosting the hit country variety show Hee Haw with his friend Buck Owens Roy Clark is not resting on his laurals and will be hitting the road with another old friend, Mel Tillis, for a string of upcoming tour dates.
Album Review – Red State Update – How Freedom Sounds (Dualtone)
Ever wonder what Cheech and Chong would sound like if they were a couple of rednecks from Tennessee with a partiality for Jim Beam and PBR instead of Acapulco Gold? Ever wonder what Daniel Lawrence Whitney (Larry the Cable Guy, not Joe the Plumber) would sound like if he weren’t a retarded douche bag? Dunlap (Jonathan Shockley) and JackieBroyles (Travis Harmon), known collectively as the satirical duo Red State Update, might meet your hysterical hillbilly wishes.
Stand outs are “Jackie’s Mama,” “Impressions” and “Illegal Immigration.” There were moments while listening to How Freedom Sounds on my iPod on a crowded plane headed to Nashville that I had to stop the piece from laughing so hard it was hard to breath. Red State Update’s strength is how authentic they seem. Jackie Broyles’ lovable gruffiness and Dunlap’s delusional dolt are dead on, and how deceptively simple the material is without being condescending or just reaching for the witless fart joke. One thing missing from this release is the cutting and hilarious political material they’re known for from thier web site. Mainstream acceptance maybe? Heh, good luck!
I’m not sure why comedic parody teams always seem to need to include songs on album releases. The songs are not funny enough to justify suffering through. Here we get the songs Dumbass Party, Iraq (I Don’t Wanna Go) and a tortured veRsion of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Simple Man” with RAPPING! (Two exceptional hilarious songs that are part of a longer routines is “Get Outta My Store Hippie,” “Noodles, Powder, Water and Meat” and “Stripper Without A Kid.”) All these could have been cut to make room for more of the pure gold found on the rest of this release.
Red State Update: Sarah Palin Goes Rogue
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3d0jdbF254[/youtube]