American contemporary street artist and graphic designer Shepard Fairey is best known for his viral designs featuring wrestler Andre the Giant and his “Hope” poster featuring Barack Obama.
Last Saturday Fairey unveiled a 15-story mural of Johnny Cas in downtown Sacramento, CA., just over 25 miles from where his historic Folsom Prison performance took place. Fairey stated on his Instagram account that the event was to commemorate …”the 50th anniversary of Cash’s Live at Folsom Prison album, and I hope that this art will ignite a conversation around the need for incarceration reform.”
I was lucky enough to be living in New York City in 2007 when Lucinda Williams hit multiple venues to play her entire discography in reverse order. I caught “Essence” at Irving Plaza which, as extraordinary as that was, paled in comparison to the performance of ‘Car Wheels On A Gravel Road’ a few nights later at Town Hall.
Williams was joined on stage by Steve Earle and Jim Lauderdale, two key members of that grueling recording session. They joined a band, which included Williams’ current guitarist extraordinaire Doug Pettibone, to revisit an album that arguably is one of the most influential and groundbreaking albums that shaped what we now call Americana music.
Now others will be able to experience that magic as Williams will hit the road starting this Fall to celebrate her landmark masterpiece by playing it in its entirety. Williams will then perform a second set which will showcase other songs from her storied career.
Most tickets for the upcoming tour will go on sale Thursday, August 23rd. Find them at her website.
Here are the Car Wheels on a Gravel Road 20th Anniversary Tour dates:
November 2 – Collingswood, NJ @ The Scottish Rite
November 3 – Northampton, MA @ The Calvin Theatre
November 5-6 – Boston, MA @ The Paradise
November 7 – New York, NY @ The Beacon Theatre
November 9 – New Haven, CT @ College Street Music Hall
November 10 – Norwalk, CT @ Wall Street Theater
November 11 – Lebanon, NH @ Lebanon Opera House
November 13 – Toronto, ON @ Danforth Music Hall
November 14 – Toronto, ON @ The Phoenix Concert Theatre
November 16 – Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall *
November 17 – Berwyn, IL @ FitzGerald’s *
A decade before they went on to front the mighty Drive-By Truckers Mike Cooley and Patterson Hood collaborated in their first band, Adam’s House Cat. Cooley, Patterson et al are set to share those halcyon days with all of us by releasing ‘Town Burned Down,’ the first-ever official release of the 1990 recording will be released via ATO Records on Friday September 21.
Check out the first cut from the album, “Runaway Train,” below. Even in these early days the alt.country sensibilities were already on display reflecting their contemporary influences Uncle Tupelo and The Bottle Rockets.
On November 25, 1990, Adam’s House Cat set up in the rooms upstairs from Muscle Shoals Sound Recording Studio and recorded basic tracks for 15 songs with producer/engineer Steve Melton (Lynyrd Skynyrd, Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band, Traffic). Tracked live on 2” analog 24-track tape, the songs recorded that freezing cold day represent an historic document of Adam’s House Cat in all their electrifying, unwieldy glory. The cavernous studio’s plaster walls, hardwood floors, and 25-foot ceilings enabled the band to create a massive sound without using the digital reverb common in that era. As a result, the recordings – mostly first and second takes – capture Adam’s House Cat as they truly were, loud, passionate and bracingly determined.
1991 saw Adam’s House Cat struggling to both fund their album’s completion and simply stay together. Hood tracked his lead vocals on the same January night in which George H.W. Bush began Operation Desert Storm. Backing vocals and minimal overdubs were added that winter and though Hood was not entirely thrilled with his vocal performances, by spring, Melton had begun mixing the raw recordings. Cahoon abruptly left the band mid-summer, replaced by Chris Quillen, who eventually contributed a memorable high-harmony vocal to the album’s “Long Time Ago.”
Alas, Adam’s House Cat’s days were numbered. Hood and Cooley relocated to Memphis in early September, and though their live shows that month proved among the band’s best ever, by month’s end, the band had played its last, quietly breaking up after an uneventful gig in Nashville. TOWN BURNED DOWN not only went unreleased, the original 24-track tapes were lost after Muscle Shoals Sound was sold and liquidated. As if that weren’t bad enough, Melton’s mixes were boxed up and sent to Jackson, MS’s Malaco Studio where they were later destroyed when a devastating tornado struck the historic building in 2011.
Hood and Cooley carried on, collaborating on a couple of ill-fated projects, but in 1993, the two had a falling out that lasted until Hood relocated to Athens, GA in April the following year. Their musical partnership resumed, with Hood making monthly visits to Cooley’s Birmingham apartment to record four-track demos together. With Cooley now also writing original songs, a new vision began to take shape. Hood and Cooley intended Chris Quillen to be a founding member but the bassist was tragically killed in a car accident that May, mere weeks before Drive-By Truckers officially came into being. John Cahoon passed away in 1999.
Fast-forward more than 20 years in which Drive-By Truckers grew to become what Stereogum hailed as “perhaps the greatest extant American rock and roll band,” equally acclaimed for their landmark 11-LP canon as well as their epic live performances. In 2015, three boxes labeled “ADAM’S HOUSE CAT” mysteriously appeared in the tape vault of longtime friend and DBT producer David Barbe’s Athens, GA studio. Contained within were the unmixed 2” tape master tapes of TOWN BURNED DOWN, along with another reel containing an EP’s worth of songs recorded the previous year.
Partly inspired by Chuck Tremblay’s near fatal heart attack in the spring of 2017, Hood made a New Year’s resolution to finally complete TOWN BURNED DOWN and in February 2018, Barbe baked the fragile tapes and placed them on reels for the first time in more than a quarter century.
Though the music and material were as powerful as ever, perhaps even more so, Hood remained as unhappy with his vocal performance as he had been in the past. Wondering if his hard-earned abilities would allow him to finally sing his songs as originally intended, Hood decided to attempt new vocal tracks. Within two hours, vocals were recorded for the entire album, raw and cathartic takes that were at once true to Hood’s original intent but reflecting the lessons of the intervening years.
On April 16, 2016, Hood, Cooley, and Tremblay convened at Barbe’s Chase Park Transduction studio in Athens to complete mixing TOWN BURNED DOWN – the first reunion of the Adam’s House Cat founding members in more than 27 years. The final mixes were later mastered at Sterling Sound in Edgewater, NJ by longtime DBT collaborator Greg Calbi.
TOWN BURNED DOWN can at last be properly heard the way Adam’s House Cat always wanted it to be heard, its raw soul and boisterous enthusiasm already hinting at what was yet to come. Songs like “Runaway Train” and “Cemeteries” display dark edges that surely must’ve intimated audiences in their time, but now sound startlingly heartfelt and full of fiery joy, energized by Cahoon and Tremblay’s versatile, dynamic backing and of course, the ever-present, undeniable chemistry between Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley.
“Finally releasing ‘Town Burned Down’ brings a sort of closure to one of the saddest and most important chapters of mine and Cooley’s lives,” writes Hood in the LP’s detailed liner notes. “The years we spent pounding out these songs made us the people and artists that we have later become, but we carried with us a darkness from never having been able to get the album out. The sound of these songs blasting out of the control room after all of these years while Cooley, Chuck and I grinned from ear to ear has truly been one of the most joyous events of my entire life. Songs from literally half of my life ago that somehow still seem vital to me all of these years later.”
Track Listing:
Lookout Mountain
Town Burned Down
Runaway Train
Down On Me
6 O’ Clock Train
Buttholeville
Child Abuse
Love Really Sucks
Kiss My Baby
Shot Rang Out
Long Time Ago
Cemeteries
DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS TOUR DATES 2018:
August 25 – Amsterdam NL – Once in a Blue Moon Festival
September 2 – Sausalito, CA – Sausalito Art Festival
September 3 – Richmond, VA – Stone’s Throw Down
September 22 – Chicago, IL – Goose Island Block Party
September 27 – Knoxville, TN – Bijou Theatre #
September 28 & 29 – Atlanta, GA – Variety Playhouse #
September 30 – Chattanooga, TN – Walker Theatre
October 2 – Peoria, IL – Monarch Music Hall *
October 3 – Lincoln, NE – Bourbon Theatre *
October 5 – Boulder, CO – Boulder Theater *
October 6 & 7 – Fort Collins, CO – Washington’s
November 6, 7 & 8 – Birmingham, AL – Saturn
November 9 & 10 – Nashville, TN – Cannery Ballroom &*
November 13 – Little Rock, AR – Revolution Music Room *
November 14 – Tulsa, OK – Cain’s Ballroom *
November 15 – Dallas, TX – Granada Theater
November 16 & 17 – Austin, TX – The Scoot Inn *
January 27 – Feb 1 – Tampa, FL – Outlaw Music Cruise – SOLD OUT
Great news for classic roots music fans! The first major retrospective box set celebrating the pioneering and enduring legacy of Bobbie Gentry will be released by Universal Music on September 21st.
“The Girl From Chickasaw County” is an 8 CD collection which includes all of the studio albums recorded by the Mississippi singer-songwriter, including more than 75 previously unreleased recordings. These extras include Gentry’s “lost†jazz album, outtakes, demos, and rarities, as well as a disc of live performances taken from the series she hosted on the BBC in 1968 and 1969 which was part of a vinyl-only release this past Record Store Day.
The set features specially commissioned cover art by David Downton and an 84-page book containing a comprehensive essay, rare and unseen photos, eight postcards and a facsimile of Gentry’s original handwritten lyrics for her signature hit ‘Ode To Billie Joe.’
‘The Girl From Chickasaw County-The Complete Capitol Masters’ track list:
*previously unreleased
DISC 1 – ODE TO BILLIE JOE
1. Mississippi Delta
2. I Saw an Angel Die
3. Chickasaw County Child
4. Sunday Best
5. Niki Hoeky
6. Papa, Woncha Let Me Go to Town With You?
7. Bugs
8. Hurry, Tuesday Child
9. Lazy Willie
10. Ode to Billie Joe
BONUS TRACKS
11. The Seventh Son [Demo]*
12. I Saw an Angel Die [Demo] *
13. Niki Hoeky [Demo]*
14. Papa, Woncha Let Me Go to Town With You? [Demo]*
15. Hurry, Tuesday Child [Demo]*
16. Mississippi Delta [Alternate version]*
17. Sunday Best [Alternate take]*
18. Show-Off [Stereo version]*
19. La Siepe [Original 7â€]
20. La Citta E’ Grande [Original 7â€]
DISC 2 – THE DELTA SWEETE
1. Okolona River Bottom Band
2. Big Boss Man
3. Reunion
4. Parchman Farm
5. Mornin’ Glory
6. Sermon
7. Tobacco Road
8. Penduli Pendulum
9. Jessye’ Lisabeth
10. Refractions
11. Louisiana Man
12. Courtyard
BONUS TRACKS
13. The Seventh Son [Band version]*
14. Feelin’ Good [Demo]*
15. I Didn’t Know [Demo]*
16. Morning to Midnight [Demo]*
17. Refractions [Demo]*
18. Louisiana Man [Demo]*
19. Sermon [Demo]*
20. Morning Glory [Demo]*
21. Jessye’ Lisabeth [Demo]*
22. Courtyard [Demo]*
23. Louisiana Man [‘The Tom Jones Show’ 06/07/1968]*
24. Ode to Billie Joe [‘The Tom Jones Show’ 06/07/1968]*
DISC 3 – LOCAL GENTRY
1. Sweete Peony
2. Casket Vignette
3. Come Away Melinda
4. The Fool on the Hill
5. Papa’s Medicine Show
6. Ace Insurance Man
7. Recollection
8. Sittin’ Pretty
9. Eleanor Rigby
10. Peaceful
11. Here, There and Everywhere
BONUS TRACKS
12. Hushabye Mountain [Original 7â€]
13. Skip A Long Sam [Ode to Bobbie Gentry]
14. Conspiracy of Homer Jones*
15. Sweet Peony [Alternate Version]*
16. Cotton Candy Sandman [Demo] *
17. Hushabye Mountain [Demo]*
DISC 4 – BOBBIE GENTRY & GLEN CAMPBELL
1. Less of Me
2. Little Green Apples
3. Gentle on My Mind
4. Heart to Heart Talk
5. My Elusive Dreams
6. (It’s Only Your) Imagination
7. Mornin’ Glory
8. Terrible Tangled Web
9. Sunday Mornin’
10. Let It Be Me
11. Scarborough Fair/Canticle
BONUS TRACKS
12. All I Have to Do Is Dream [Original 7â€]
13. Walk Right Back [Original 7â€]
14. Sunday Mornin’ [Alternate version]*
15. Let It Be Me [Without strings]*
16. Scarborough Fair/Canticle [without strings]*
17. Love Took My Heart and Mashed That Sucker Flat [Duet with Kelly Gordon] [Defunked, 1969]
18. Fool on the Hill [Japanese language version] [Original 7â€]
19. No me quiero enamorar [Spanish Language ‘I’ll Never Fall In Love Again’] [Original 7â€]
20. En Todas Partes [Spanish Language ‘Here There and Everywhere’] [Original 7â€]
DISC 5 – TOUCH ‘EM WITH LOVE
1. Touch ‘Em with Love
2. Greyhound Goin’ Somewhere
3. Natural to Be Gone
4. Seasons Come, Seasons Go
5. Glory Hallelujah, How They’ll Sing
6. I Wouldn’t Be Surprised
7. Son of a Preacher Man
8. Where’s the Playground, Johnny
9. I’ll Never Fall in Love Again
10. You’ve Made Me So Very Happy
Bonus Tracks
11. More Today Than Yesterday*
12. Spinning Wheel*
13. Touch ‘Em with Love [Stereo version]*
14. Glory Hallelujah, How They’ll Sing [Alternate take]*
15. Seasons Come, Seasons Go [Demo]*
16. Suppertime*
17. God Bless The Child*
18. Since I Fell For You*
19. Save Your Love For Me*
20. Here’s That Rainy Day*
21. Stormy [Ode To Bobbie Gentry]
22. This Girls In Love With You
23. Windows of the World [The Best of Bobbie Gentry: The Capitol Years]
DISC 6 – FANCY
1. Fancy
2. Delta Man
3. Something in the Way He Moves
4. Find ‘Em, Fool ‘Em and Forget About ‘Em
5. He Made a Woman Out of Me
6. Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head
7. If You Gotta Make a Fool of Somebody
8. Rainmaker
9. Wedding Bell Blues
BONUS TRACKS
10. In the Ghetto [I’ll Never Fall In Love Again (UK)]
11. Fancy [Mono radio edit]*
12. Apartment 21 [Original 7â€]
13. Away In A Manger [The Christmas Sound of Music, 1969]
14. Scarlett Ribbons [The Christmas Sound of Music, 1969]
15. Circle ‘Round the Sun*
16. Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head [Alternate take]*
17. Wedding Bell Blues [Alternate take]*
18. Apartment 21 [Without strings]*
19. Scarlett Ribbons [Alternate version]*
20. If You Gotta Make A Fool Of Somebody [Live on ‘Top Of The Pops’]
DISC 7 – PATCHWORK
1. Benjamin
2. Interlude 1
3. Marigolds and Tangerines
4. Interlude 2
5. Billy the Kid
6. Interlude 3
7. Beverly
8. Interlude 4
9. Miss Clara/Azusa Sue
10. Interlude 5
11. But I Can’t Get Back
12. Jeremiah
13. Interlude 6
14. Belinda
15. Mean Stepmama Blues
16. Your Number One Fan
17. Interlude 7
18. Somebody Like Me
19. Lookin’ In
BONUS TRACKS
20. Smoke [The Best Of The Capital Years, 2007]
21. Joanne*
22. Salome Smith and the Amazing Dancing Bear*
23. Benjamin [Alternate take]*
24. Belinda [Alternate version]*
25. Smoke (Demo)*
26. The Girl from Cincinnati [Original 7â€]
27. You and Me Together [Original 7â€]
DISC 8 – LIVE AT THE BBC
1. Mississippi Delta [Live on ‘Bobbie Gentry’ 08/03/1968]*
2. Papa Won’t You Let Me Go To Town With You [Live on ‘Bobbie Gentry’ 08/03/1968]*
3. I Saw An Angel Die [Live on ‘Bobbie Gentry’ 08/03/1968]*
4. My Dog Sargent [Live on ‘Bobbie Gentry’ 08/03/1968] *1.15
5. Ode to Billie Joe [Live on ‘Bobbie Gentry’ 08/03/1968] *
6. Mornin Glory [Live on ‘Bobbie Gentry’ 07/27/1968]* 3.15
7. Sunday Best [Live on ‘Bobbie Gentry’ 07/27/1968]*
8. Hurry Tuesday Child [Live on ‘Bobbie Gentry’ 07/27/1968]*
9. Nikki Hokey / Barefootin’ [Live on ‘Bobbie Gentry’ 08/10/1968]*
10. Penduli Pendulum [Live on ‘Bobbie Gentry’ 08/10/1968]*
11. Ace Insurance Man [Live on ‘Bobbie Gentry’ 08/10/1968]*
12. Chickasaw County Child [Live on ‘Bobbie Gentry’ 08/10/1968]*
13. Recollection [Live on ‘Bobbie Gentry’ 07/16/1969]*
14. Sweet Peony [Live on ‘Bobbie Gentry’ 07/16/1969]*
15. Refractions [Live on ‘Bobbie Gentry’ 07/16/1969]*
16. Greyhound Goin’ Somewhere [Live on ‘Bobbie Gentry’ 07/16/1969]*
17. Cotton Candy Sandman [Live on ‘Bobbie Gentry’ 07/16/1969]*
18. Open Your Window [Live on ‘Bobbie Gentry’ 02/01/1971]*
19. Mother Nature’s son [Live on ‘Bobbie Gentry’ 02/01/1971]*
20. Mr Bojangles [Live on ‘Bobbie Gentry’ 02/01/1971]*
21. Your Number One Fan [Live on ‘Bobbie Gentry’ 02/01/1971]*
22. He Made A Woman Out of Me [Live on ‘Bobbie Gentry’ 03/08/1971]*
23. Billy the Kid [Live on ‘Bobbie Gentry’ 03/08/1971]*
24. Wailing Of The Willow [Live on ‘Bobbie Gentry’ 03/08/1971]*
25. Belinda [Live on ‘Bobbie Gentry’ 03/08/1971]*
26. Circle ‘Round The Sun [Live on ‘Bobbie Gentry’ 03/08/1971]*
Folks attending the Jason Isbell And the 400 Unit performance at last Friday at the Newport Folk Festival were treated to one of those spectacular collaborations that can often happen at the storied festival. During the set Folk / rock legend David Crosby unassumingly strolled onstage to join the band on a couple of perform a pair of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young classics from their 1974 release ‘So Far.’
Isbell took time to speak to the bonds connecting him and other performers at this year’s festival and artists of older generations, and how artists like Crosby effect social change with their music.
“The songwriters, the guitar players and bass players and banjo players and singers — they’re all connected to the people that they were when they were trying to make things change,” he said. “We need to get together and try to make things change.”
Watch Isbell and Crosby perform “Wooden Ships” and “Ohio” at the 2018 Newport Folk Festival below.
Isbell and Crosby have had a budding bromance on Twitter for quite a while now so it was no surprise that once they appearing at there same event there would be some kind of collaboration.
The only downside to hearing a work as stunningly perfect as Colter Wall’s eponymous 2017 debut is the dread that the proverbial sophomore slump will strike down any hopes of experiencing that satisfaction the next time around.
Well if the two released cuts off WaLL’s highly-anticipated forthcoming release “Songs of the Plains’ (October 12 – Young Mary’s Record Co.) is any indication of the flavor of the remainder of the album you can put those apprehensions to rest. The timeless simple beauty of the arrangements are there transporting Wall’s deep baritone across country music’s golden years.
The first is ‘Plain to See Plainsman’ a delicate 4/4 strummer paying tribute to his Swift Current home in the prairies in a new-traditional style reminiscent of Marty Robbin’ “El Paso” and “Big Iron period. The song has an extra layer of beauty as Mickey Raphael’s signature harmonica wails in the distance like a midnight train.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlinDMsUOcQ&t=8s
The second cut is a version of ‘Calgary Round-Up’ by real-life Alberta cowpuncher and Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame / Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame member Wilf Carter, better known in the lower 48 as Montana Slim, 1961 release. Though much more toned-down and missing the original’s signature yodeling, you can close your eyes and still get the sense of the prairies winds coming off the plains accompanied by the cry of Lloyd Green’s pedal steel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnVxeeZlE2M
Recorded at Nashville’s RCA Studio A with Dave Cobb (Sturgill Simpson, Jason Isbell, Chris Stapleton, Lori McKenna), the album features 11 songs, seven original songs written by Wall as well as versions of Billy Don Burns’ “Wild Dogs,†the aforementioned Wilf Carter’s “Calgary Round-Up†and two cowboy traditional songs, “Night Herding Song†and “Tying Knots in the Devil’s Tail.â€
In addition to Wall (vocals, acoustic guitar), the album also features Cobb (acoustic guitar), Lloyd Green (pedal steel), Chris Powell (drums, spoons), Jason Simpson (bass), Mickey Raphael (harmonica), Blake Berglund (vocals) and Corb Lund (vocals).
The track list is:
1. “Plain to See Plainsman” (written by Colter Wall)
2. “Saskatchewan In 1881” (written by Colter Wall)
3. “John Beyers (Camaro Song)” (written by Colter Wall)
4. “Wild Dogs” (written by Billy Don Burns)
5. “Calgary Round-Up” (written by Wilf Carter)
6. “Night Herding Song” (Cowboy Traditional)
7. “Wild Bill Hickok” (written by Colter Wall)
8. “The Trains are Gone” (written by Colter Wall)
9. “Thinkin’ on a Woman” (written by Colter Wall)
10. “Manitoba Man” (written by Colter Wall)
11. “Tying Knots in the Devil’s Tail” (Cowboy Traditional)
Wall also announced a series of new tour dates starting in October. His full schedule is:
July 28 – Newport, RI-Newport Folk Festival
Aug. 3-4-Happy Valley, OR-Pickathon
Aug. 18-Fort Worth, TX-Cody Jinks’ Loud and Heavy Festival
Aug. 24-Tonder, Denmark-Tonder Festival
Aug. 29-London, U.K. -Scala
Aug. 30-Manchester, U.K. -Gorilla
Sept. 1-Salisbury, U.K. -End of the Road Festival
Sept. 2-Stradbally, Ireland-Electric Picnic
Sept. 14-15-Athens, Ontario-Festival of Small Halls
Sept. 16-Lansdowne Park, Ottawa-City Folk
Sept. 23-Indianapolis, IN-Holler on the Hill Festival
Oct. 13-Saskatoon, Saskatchewan-O’Brian’s Event Centre
Oct. 16-Regina, Saskatchewan-Conexus Convention Hall
Oct. 18-Edmonton, Alberta-Union Hall
Oct. 19-Calgary, Alberta-Macewan Hall Ballroom
Oct. 21-Missoula, MT-Top Hat
Oct. 22-Bozeman, MT-The Rialto
Oct. 23-Billings, MT-Pub Station Taproom
Oct. 25-Omaha, NE-The Waiting Room
Oct. 26-Des Moines, IA-Wooly’s
Oct. 27-Maquoketa, IA-Codfish Hollow Barn
Oct. 28-Detroit, MI-Majestic Theatre
Oct. 30-Columbus, OH-A&R Music Bar
Oct. 31-Pittsburgh, PA-Club AE
Nov. 2-Somerville, MA-Somerville Theater
Nov. 3-South Burlington, VT-Higher Ground Ballroom
Nov. 5-New York, NY-Irving Plaza
Nov. 8-Charlotte, NC-Neighborhood Theatre
Nov. 9-Richmond, VA-Capital Ale House
Nov. 11-Carrboro, NC-Cats Cradle
Nov. 14-15-Nashville, TN-The Basement East
Nov. 16-Asheville, NC-The Grey Eagle
Nov. 17-Atlanta, GA-Variety Playhouse
Nov. 18-Charleston, SC-Charleston Music Hall
Nov. 24-Toronto, Ontario-Opera House
Nov. 28-Washington, D.C. -9:30 Club
Dec. 1-Madison, WI-Majestic Theatre
Dec. 2-Columbia, MO-The Blue Note
Dec. 10-Santa Fe, NM-Meow Wolf
Dec. 12-Solana Beach, CA-Belly Up
Dec. 14-Los Angeles, CA-El Rey Theatre
Jan. 19-Vancouver, British Columbia-Commodore Ballroom
Jan. 20-Seattle, WA-The Showbox @ The Market
On July 1, 1968, The Band’s landmark debut album, Music from Big Pink, seemed to spring from nowhere and everywhere. Drawing from the American roots music panoply of country, blues, R&B, gospel, soul, rockabilly, the honking tenor sax tradition, hymns, funeral dirges, brass band music, folk, and rock ‘n’ roll, The Band forged a timeless new style that forever changed the course of popular music. Fifty years later, the mythology surrounding Music from Big Pink lives on through the evocative storytelling of its songs including “The Weight,†“This Wheel’s On Fire,†“Tears of Rage,†and “To Kingdom Come,†its enigmatic cover art painted by Bob Dylan, the salmon-colored upstate New York house – ‘Big Pink’ – where The Band wrote the songs, and in myriad descendant legends carried forth since the album’s stunning arrival.
On August 31, Capitol/UMe will release Music From Big Pink in newly remixed and expanded 50th Anniversary Edition packages, including a Super Deluxe CD/Blu-ray/2LP/7-inch vinyl box set with a hardbound book; 1CD, digital, 180-gram 2LP black vinyl, and limited edition 180-gram 2LP pink vinyl packages. All the Anniversary Edition configurations feature a new stereo mix for the album, produced by Bob Clearmountain from the original four-track analog masters, achieving a striking clarity and incorporating some previously unreleased chatter from the studio sessions. The 50th Anniversary Edition’s CD, digital, and box set configurations also include five outtakes and alternate recordings from the ‘Big Pink’ sessions and a previously unreleased a cappella version of “I Shall Be Released.”
Exclusively for the box set, Clearmountain has also produced a new 5.1 surround mix for the album and the bonus tracks, presented on Blu-ray with the new stereo mix in high-resolution audio (96kHz/24bit). All the new audio mixes have been mastered by Bob Ludwig at Gateway Mastering. The box set also includes an exclusive reproduction of The Band’s 1968 7-inch vinyl single for “The Weight†/ “I Shall Be Released†in their new stereo mixes and a hardbound book with a new essay by noted music journalist David Fricke and classic photos by Elliott Landy. For the album’s new vinyl editions, Chris Bellman cut the vinyl lacquers for the album’s new stereo mix at 45rpm at Bernie Grundman Mastering, expanding the album’s vinyl footprint from one LP to two. The black and pink vinyl LPs were pressed at GZ Vinyl / Precision.
Few people these days are aware of the gENius of Roger Miller. If he’s known at all it’s for his deceptively goofy sons like ‘Dang Me’ and Z”You Can’t Rollerskate In A Buffalo Herd.” He was also the one of the greatest songwriters to ever work the country music genre snagging 11 Grammy Awards, a Tony Award for writing the music and lyrics for the Broadway play “Big River’ and was voted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1973 and the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1995. He performed, and was friends with greats like Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson.
Speaking of Kris Kristofferson, Miller was also the to record and commercially release his “Me and Bobby McGee” a full year before Janis Joplin made it a classic.
Now his friends and new blood that owe him a debt have come together to pay tribute. ‘King of the Road: A Tribute to Roger Miller,’ out Aug. 31 via BMG, pays long overdue respects to one of American music’s premier entertainers and songwriters. The two-disc collection contains new renditions of Miller’s songs by Ringo Starr, Dolly Parton, Eric Church, Loretta Lynn, John Goodman and more than two dozen others, including Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson and Merle Haggard on one track. Produced by Miller’s son, Dean Miller, and Colby Barnum Wright, ‘King of the Road’ offers a fresh look at the work of a creative giant who has been gone 26 years but whose genius continues to shape contemporary music in ways both overt and subtle.
Read more about the project in a new interview at The Tennessean: https://tnne.ws/2toJY7B
Before Miller’s premature death of cancer at age 56, the Country Music Hall of Famer had 31 Top 40 Billboard country hits (10 of which crossed over to the pop chart), including his signature songs “Dang Me” and “King of the Road.” He held the record for most GRAMMY wins in a single night until Michael Jackson and ‘Thriller’ broke it in 1984. Miller wrote songs and voiced a character for Walt Disney’s 1973 Robin Hood film. He also wrote the music and lyrics for the Tony-winning Big River, helping launch the career of actor John Goodman, who reprises the musical’s “Guv’ment” on ‘King of the Road.’ As Dean Miller writes in liner notes accompanying ‘King of the Road,’ “Roger Miller was too gigantic to be contained by genres and definitions.”
‘King of the Road’ includes versions of Miller’s biggest ’60s hits, like “Chug-A-Lug” (Asleep at the Wheel ft. Huey Lewis) and “England Swings” (Lyle Lovett), and lesser-known treasures from a catalog full of gems. As with Miller’s own output, the album contains plenty of unexpected turns — country superstar Eric Church’s playful take on Robin Hood’s “Oo De Lally,” for instance, or Starr’s selection of “Hey, Would You Hold It Down?,” a song from Miller’s long-out-of-print 1979 ‘Making a Name for Myself’ album. By any standard of measurement, Miller was “one of the greatest songwriters that ever lived” — even if he did say so himself. And he did, in the first of a handful of the album’s live-performance interstitials that capture the spontaneous wit of a mind that operated at a breakneck pace.
There is a television event in the works, more information coming soon.
The scope of material and performances on ‘King of the Road’ both capture Miller’s personality and convey an astonishing legacy that’s still felt today. “Roger Miller didn’t have to say much,” Dean writes in the liners. “You were simply drawn to him. He had a magnetic smile, and electric wit and a passion for life and music that transcended generations.”
‘King of the Road: A Tribute to Roger Miller’ Tracklist:
Disc One
Greatest Songwriter (Banter)
Chug-a-Lug – Asleep at the Wheel ft. Huey Lewis (!)
Dang Me – Brad Paisley
Leavin’s Not the Only Way to Go – The Stellas/Lennon and Maisy
Kansas City Star – Kacey Musgraves
World So Full of Love – Rodney Crowell
Old Friends (Banter)
Old Friends – Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Merle Haggard
Lock Stock and Teardrops – Mandy Barnett
You Oughta Be Here With Me – Alison Krauss ft. The Cox Family
The Crossing – Ronnie Dunn, The Blind Boys of Alabama
In the Summertime – The Earls of Leicester ft. Shawn Camp
Fiddle (Banter)
England Swings – Lyle Lovett
You Can’t Rollerskate in a Buffalo Herd – Various Artists
Half a Mind – Loretta Lynn
Invitation to the Blues – Shooter Jennings, Jessi Colter
It Only Hurts Me When I Cry (Live) – Dwight Yoakam
Disc Two
Hey, Would You Hold It Down? – Ringo Starr
Engine, Engine #9 – Emerson Hart ft. Jon Randall
When Two Worlds Collide – Flatt Lonesome
Oo De Lally – Eric Church
You Can’t Do Me This Way and Get By With It – Dean Miller ft. The McCrary Sisters
Chicken S#$! (Banter)
Nothing Can Stop Me – Toad the Wet Sprocket
Husbands and Wives – Jamey Johnson ft. Emmylou Harris
I Believe in the Sunshine – Lily Meola
Guv’ment – John Goodman
Old Songwriters Never Die (Banter)
The Last Word in Lonesome Is Me – Dolly Parton ft. Alison Krauss
I’d Come Back to Me – Radney Foster ft. Tawnya Reynolds
Reincarnation – Cake
One Dying and a Burying – The Dead South
Do Wacka Do – Robert Earl Keen, Jr.
King of the Road – Various Artists
Willie Nelson currently on the road headlining the Outlaw Music Festival left the stage abruptly without playing or singing a note Saturday night.
Live Nation issued a press release after 11 p.m. that same night: “Due to illness, Willie Nelson was unable to play tonight at the Outlaw Music Festival at PNC Music Pavilion Charlotte. Fans are asked to please hold on to their tickets until the new date is announced.”
Due to illness, Willie Nelson was unable to play tonight at the Outlaw Music Festival at PNC Music Pavilion Charlotte. Fans are asked to please hold on to their tickets until the new date is announced.
— Live Nation Carolina (@LiveNationNCSC) May 27, 2018
A fan video from the concert shows the 85-year-old legend y onto the stage, picking up a guitar, setting the guitar back down, throws his hat into the crowd, then leaves the stage. (see below)
In January Nelson canceled several tour dates dude to “a bad cold or the flu.â€
We will post more as we confirm.
UPDATE – A representative for Willie Nelson told TMZ he left the stage due to a “stomach bug” and will perform in Washington D.C. Sunday night. He also said Nelson make plans to go back to Charlotte for his fans.
UPDATE – Willie Nelson performed a full set on Sunday (May 27) in Washington, D.C.
The legend that is ‘Mr. Americana” Jim Lauderdale is set to release not one, but TWO releases. the albums are entitled ‘Time Flies” and “Jim Lauderdale and Roland White’ and both will be released Friday, August 3rd Yep Roc Records.
These 30th and 31st studio albums respectively will be followed by upcoming live dates, including headline shows and festival performances such as this Saturday’s Appalachia Rising event at the Carter Family Fold in Hiltons, VA (May 19) with additional dates to come.
“Time Flies” (cover above) sees Lauderdale doing what he does best, writing and performing classic Americana distinctively infused with striking notes of country and soul. Produced by Lauderdale and Jay Weaver at Nashville’s Blackbird Studio and House of Blues Studios, the album is among the most striking works of this one-of-a-kind artist’s three decade career, once again demonstrating his remarkable lyrical gifts and genre-agnostic musical approach. Songs like the stirring title track offer able evidence that Lauderdale’s creative mission continues unabated, his ability to rejuvenate his sound indomitable.
“Jim Lauderdale and Roland White’ is Lauderdale’s previously unreleased first full-length record, a collection of classic bluegrass recorded in the basement of Earl and Louise Scruggs’ Nashville home in the summer of 1979 and then lost for nearly four decades. Lauderdale was new to town at the time, while White was already a true bluegrass legend, known for his mastery of the mandolin and foundation of such iconic groups as The Kentucky Colonels and Country Gazette. Sadly the master tapes went missing for 39 years and were only recently rediscovered at the bottom of a box by White’s wife. As remarkable, energetic, and original today as it was when initially recorded, JIM LAUDERDALE AND ROLAND WHITE provides an intimate look into the nascent beginnings of a truly extraordinary American artist.
Hear the wonderfully wistful title cut from “Time Flies” below.
“Time Flies” (Yep Roc) Release Date: Friday, August 3
Tracklist
1. Time Flies
2. The Road is a River
3. Violet
4. Slow As Molasses
5. Where the Cars Go By Fast
6. When I Held The Cards
7. Wearing Out Your Cool
8. Wild On Me Fast
9. While You’re Hoping
10. It Blows My Mind
11. If the World’s Still Here Tomorrow
“Jim Lauderdale and Roland White’ (Yep Roc) Release Date: Friday, August 3
Tracklist
1. Forgive and Forget
2. Gold and Silver
3. (Stone Must Be The) Walls Built Around Your Heart
4. Six White Horses
5. I Might Take You Back Again
6. Try and Catch the Wind
7. Don’t Laugh
8. Regrets and Mistakes
9. February Snow
10. (That’s What You Get) For Loving Me
11. Gonna Lay Down My Old Guitar
12. Nashville Blues
Jim Lauderdale Tour Dates
MAY
19 – Hiltons, VA – Appalachia Rising @ The Carter Family Fold
26 – Lafayette, LA – Warehouse 535
29 – Nashville, TN – Honky Tonk Tuesday Nights @ The American Legion
31 – Nashville, TN – The Station Inn
JUNE
29 – Chicago, IL – The Hideout
30 – Chicago, IL – The Hideout
JULY
19 – Buffalo, NY – Sportsman Tavern
20 – Trumansburg, NY – Trumansburg Fairgrounds
29 – White Sulphur Springs, MT – Jackson Ranch
AUGUST
25 – Black Mountain, NC – Pisgah Brewing Company
