Last night on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” Stephen welcomed “Country star” Sturgill Simpson as his music guest. Much like the bit he did recently with Jason Isbell Colbert used the occasion to send up a bit of southern culture as he and Sturgill pitched an original song for Waffle House, or as Sturgill refers to it “The Awful Waffle,” to include in their jukebox. The twangy cut is titled “No Shirt, No Shoes, No Knuckleheads,” and after they sing it, Colbert points to the camera and says, “Waffle House, do the right thing.”
Sturgill later performed a rousing “Brace for Impact (Live a Little)” from his new album ‘A Sailor’s Guide to Earth.’
Seems like only yesterday I was introduced to the KHYI morning DJ Chuck Taylor at the 18th annual Texas Music Revolution at South Fork Ranch. Soon after he and general station manager Joshua Jones asked to do a casual morning segment featuring a song of my choice as well as live shows I’d recommend. Oh and happenings at this little blog and on my sundry social media.
Coming up on our 100th episode of our little segment, Twang Nation Radio, and I am here to tell you it’s been a great ride. We’ve celebrated extraordinary music, solemn moments for passing legends and celebrated the miracle that is Nashville hot chicken.
Chuck has become not just an associate and parter in sonic escapades but a friend. I’m in awe of his tireless commitment to sharing great music and making KHYI the preeminent roots music stations in North Texas, In short, he kicks ass.
Enough of the weepy bits and on to the swag!
Leave a memory of Twang Nation Radio, performers you’ve discovered, concerts you’ve found out about, times you wanted to punch me for bad-mouthing Sturgill Simpson, for a chance to win the latest awesome release from Wynonna & The Big Noise. Signed and on vinyl no less. REALLY!
One winner will be picked at random Sunday, April 24th, Wednesday, April 27th 2pm CST. THIS CONTEST IS INTENDED FOR LEGAL RESIDENTS OF THE 50 UNITED STATES AND THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA ONLY.
Wynonna & The Big Noise is the rootsy release by Wynonna Judd and her cracker-jack band. Special guests include Susan Tedeschi, Derek Trucks, Timothy B Schmit and Jason Isbell. It was produced by Wynonna’s hubby (and drummer) Cactus Moser, and includes songs written by the band, Julie Miller, Raphael Saadiq, John Scott Sherrill and Chris Stapleton.
I’ve heard countless discussions around what constitutes “real country music.” These arguments contain few details of what makes up this elusive cultural archetype and people often reach for specific performers to create context.
Merle Haggard was one of those archetypes, greater than himself. He transcended from a mere country music performer to become a touchstone of what is great about the genre.
A product of a troubled childhood partially due to loss his father, James Haggard, at the age of 9. By the age of 11 he was riding the rails near his home, an abandoned refrigerated train car built by his dad. Then came a string of encounters that led to jail time, most notably when his mother turned him over to juvenile authorities for a weekend lock-up in an attempt to change his “incorrigible” attitude.
As he famously sang “Mama tried.”
A bungled burglary to rob a restaurant while they were still serving customers resulted in a two and a half year stretch at San Quentin State Prison. There he dabbled in music until Johnny Cash held one of his many prison shows for the inmates. He found his saving grace delivered by a Man In Black.
The first time I saw Haggard he was in 2009. He was co-headlining with Kris Kristofferson in Santa Rosa California. Cher wsaa in the audience that night. I’m not sure why she was there (maybe an acquaintance of Kristofferson in his hunky ‘A Star Is Born’ days) but I knew that had to mean something special.
The Hag was a lot more laid back than the ornery cuss that wrote ‘Okie From Muskogee’ and ‘ The Fightin’ Side of Me.’ No doubt due in large part to the lemon-sized tumor removed in the previous year. Perhaps is was the marijuana he used regularly after that surgery. When I last saw him in Ft. Worth’s Bass Hall in 2014 he asked the crows “How many are against pot?” To the smattering applauding in the affirmative he smiled and shot back ‘Why?”
Like his fellow Bakersfield sound†brethren Buck Owens Merle Haggard was a crafter of populist storytelling. He transcended country music to create great American standards by holding up songs like a mirror where we all saw ourselves. The good, bad and – like most of us – those in between.
The warden led a prisoner down the hallway to his doom
And I stood up to say good-bye like all the rest
And I heard him tell the warden just before he reached my cell
“Let my guitar-playing friend do my request”
That he died 79 years to the day of his birth will certainly just add to his mythology. Why not? Numerology and statistics aside it just seems like something supernatural.
But he was all too human. Fragile humanity ran through his songs and demeanor. He had passion for the genre he helped create and humility always in the way he approached it. He defined everything great about and, in turn, defined the best in us bound together by it.
The list of Hollywood actors looking to cross the divide from their chosen vocation into music has more misses (Bruce Willis) than hits (Zooey Deschanel.) Proving just because you have skills in one branch of the arts doesn’t necessarily mean those skill can in transfer to another.
Kiefer Sutherland is the latest entry into the fray. And truth be told, He’s got chops. How much chops you might ask? Enough to take a song with hackneyed tropes like whiskey and a leaving woman and aa video featuring an old hotel room (number 13, no less) and make it interesting.
Perhaps it’s that “Not Enough Whiskey†has a great throwback roots sound with organ, pedal-steel, reverbed guitar over a rimshot beat and Sutherland’s gravel soul delivery (reminiscent of Social Distortion’s Mike Ness at his twangiest)
Of the album Sutherland says “It’s the closest thing I’ve ever had to a journal or diary. All of these songs are pulled from my own personal experiences. There is something very satisfying about being able to look back on my own life, good times and bad, and express those sentiments in music. As much as I have enjoyed the writing and recording process, I am experiencing great joy now being able to play these songs to a live audience, which was something I hadn’t counted on.â€
Just goes to show, Jack Bauer can do any damn thing he puts his mind to.
“Not Enough Whiskey†from Sutherland’s upcoming album ‘Down in a Hole’ , to be released later this summer — “Not Enough Whiskey†will be available on iTunes April 8, 2016.
He will also appear as a presenter on the upcoming ACM Awards and will kick off his live tour April 14th running through the end of May.
Kiefer Sutherland dates:
April 14 Milwaukee, Wis. – Shank Hall
April 15 Madison, Wis. – Majestic
April 16 Grand Rapids, Mich. – The Pyramid Scheme
April 18 Ann Arbor, Mich. – The Ark
April 19 Cleveland, Ohio – Grog Shop
April 20 Pittsburgh, Pa. – Hard Rock Cafe
April 22 Huntington, W. Va. – V Club
April 23 Cincinnati, Ohio – Ballroom at the Taft
April 24 Indianapolis, Ind – Vogue
April 26 Columbus, Ohio – A&R Music Bar
May 04 Charlotte, N.C. – Visulite Theatre
May 06 Raleigh, N.C. – Lincoln Theatre
May 08 Richmond, Va. – Capital Ale House
May 09 Annapolis, Md. – Ram’s Head Tavern
May 11 Wilmington, Del. – World Cafe Live
May 12 Teaneck, N.J. – Mexicali Live
May 14 Pawling, N.Y. – Daryl’s House
May 15 Ithaca, N.Y. – The Dock
May 16 Buffalo, N.Y. – Iron Works
May 19 Northampton, Mass. – Iron Horse
May 20 Boston, Mass. – Brighton Music Hall
May 21 Providence, R.I. – The Met
May 24 Asbury Park, N.J. – Stone Pony
May 25 Long Island, N.Y. – Founders Room
May 26 Sellersville, Pa. – Sellersville Theater
May 28 Amagansett, N.Y. – Stephen Talkhouse
‘Drive,’ the new cut off Texas singer/songwriter Robert Ellis’ upcoming eponymous release, kicks off with bluegrass-tinged, dazzling guitar work Ellis has become known for. We are then then taken on a grand tour through the halls of heartache littered with petty distractions, emotional evasion and sickening helplessness of a foundation of love and trust collapsing away.
The jaunty arrangement lures you in, the lyrics burrow under the skin with familiar sorrow.
Ellis says of his fourth albums motivation; “I felt that in the past year, lots of constructs I took for granted were turned on their head.†He continues, “With this record, I feel like I’ve gotten to where I can use the material of my own life as a jumping-off point. But now I can do different things with that material.â€
The record was self-produced by Ellis at Sugar Hill Studios in his hometown of Houston, TX with engineer Steve Christensen (Steve Earle) and mixed by John Agnello (Kurt Vile, Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr.) Ellis also announced his first headline dates in support of the album, kicking off in Houston, TX on June 2nd. (See all dates below.)
If the rest of ‘Robert Ellis’ is as good as this it’s going to be a real treat.
Robert Ellis Track Listing:
1. Perfect Strangers
2. How I Love You
3. California
4. Amanda Jane
5. Drivin’
6. The High Road
7. Elephant
8. You’re Not The One
9. Screw
10. Couples Skate
11. It’s Not Ok
Tour:
June 2nd – Houston, TX Discovery Green (Free Show)
June 3rd – Austin, TX 3Ten Austin City Limits
June 4th – Austin, TX 3Ten Austin City Limits
June 5th – Dallas, TX Kessler Theatre
June 7th – St. Louis, MO Off Broadway
June 8th – Indianapolis, IN The Hi-Fi
June 10th – St. Paul, MN Turf Club
June 11th – Davenport, IA Daytrotter Venue
June 12th – Chicago, IL Schuba’s
June 13th – Cleveland, OH Beachland Ballroom
June 15th – Wilkes-Barre, PA Kirby Center Small Room
June 18th – Boston, MA The Sinclair
June 20th – Port Chester, NY Garcia’s
June 22nd – New York, NY Bowery Ballroom
June 23rd – Washington, DC The Hamilton
June 25th – Philadelphia, PA Milkboy
June 26th – Pittsburgh, PA Club Cafe
June 27th – Columbus, OH Rumba Cafe
June 30th – Charlotte, NC Double Door
July 1st – Atlanta, GA Terminal West
July 2nd – Birmingham, AL The Saturn
July 3rd – Nashville, TN 3rd & Lindsley Presented By Lighting 100
*Tom Brosseau supports all shows
Margo Price performs a beautiful rendition of her hard luck lament “Hands Of Time.” Check the wonderful performance below with Ms. Price and her cracker-jack band completee with string section. The vintage mic is also a fine touch.
No one should be surprised by Sturgill Simpson moody ode to Nirvana. Similar to his take on the 80s pop band cut “When In Rome’s ‘The Promise’ off ‘Metamodern Sounds in Country Music” Simpson turns the Grunge master’s ode to artistic misunderstanding into something wholly his own while giving due respect to the original.
There’s much here to divide critics, like your truly. “Sugar Daddy,” is title track for HBO’s ‘Vinyl’ and the crunchy first cut released “Brace for Impact (Live a Little)” from the upcoming “A Sailor’s Guide To Earth’ (April 15th) seems like pedestrian rock band fodder in relation to his honky-tonk mastery.
But there’s something fully realized about his cover of “In Bloom.†True to it’s predecessor’s aesthetic it’s stripped down to the essence letting his signature baritone hang the lyrics on the bones of the familiar melody. There’s a shade of twang in the cry of the pedal steel and features a Motown horn section that elevates the familiar cut into into something etherial. As a fan of Sturgill Simpson and the psychologically dark imagery of illustrator/director Matt Mahurin the video is a special treat.
Of Nirvana’s pivotal Grunge masterpiece Simpson says “I remember in seventh or eighth grade, when that album dropped, it was like a bomb went off in my bedroom. For me, that song has always summed up what it means to be a teenager, and I think it tells a young boy that he can be sensitive and compassionate—he doesn’t have to be tough or cold to be a man. So I wanted to make a very beautiful and pure homage to Kurt.â€
What more could you expect from an ‘outlaw’ than someone not willing to follow the conventional career path?
“In Bloom†for his highly-anticipated forthcoming album, ‘A Sailor’s Guide to Earth.’
It’s been a few years since I’ve braved the tipsey throngs of Austin’s South-By-Southwest, and mostly I don’t miss it. But with the growing roots music showcases like Jenni Finlay Promotions & Conqueroo’s
Rebels & Renegades showcase, Bloodshot Records and Billy Reid and Newport Folk Festival’s Shindig I might have to make an exeption next year.
For now I will enjoy not standing in lines and being jostled by texters and watch these excellent clips from some of Americana’s best at SXSW 2016.
A great little sampler of Aoife O’Donovan, Robert Ellis and Sarah Jarosz at St. David’s Church
Aaron Lee Tasjan, 12 Bar Blues, Mercado South, SXSW, 3/19/16
Lydia Loveless 360 Acoustic Performance of ‘Clumps’ Closing #SXSW on 6th Street
Ray Wylie Hubbard plays his grit-folk ‘Snake Farm’ at the Guitartown/Conqueroo Party at The Dogwood
Americana literary laureate James McMurtry plays ‘Copper Canteen’ at El Mercado
Ryan Adams playfully busts some SXSW chops before launching into a heartfelt “Dirty Rain”
The Avett Brothers are following their music from the banjos and acoustic guitars toward some of their influences; Pink Floyd, Nine Inch Nails, Tom Petty and others on their upcoming Rick Rubin-produced release “True Sadness”
The North Carolina roots band’s announcement arrived with a letter from frontmen, Seth Avett, which goes into detail about the making of ‘True Sadness.’
Over the weekend, The Avetts debuted the first single off ‘True Sadness,’ the funky clap=along “Ain’t No Man†at the McDowell Mountain Music Festival in Phoenix, Arizona. Watch the band’s debut of “Ain’t No Man†below. Shot by DCRANGERFAN:
“True Sadness” is set to be released on June 24.
The Avett Brothers Tour Dates
April 7 – Wilmington, NC @ Azalea Festival
April 8 – New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden
April 9 – Port Chester, NY @ The Capitol Theatre
April 10 – Worcester, MA @ DCU Arena
April 19 – Fort Wayne, IN @ Embassy Theatre
April 21-23 – Chicago, IL @ Chicago Theater
April 29 – Los Angeles, CA @ Greek Theatre
April 30 – Berkeley, CA @ Greek Theatre
May 5 – Tuscaloosa, AL @ Tuscaloosa Amphitheater
May 6 – Nashville, TN @ Bridgestone Arena
May 7 – Alpharetta, GA @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
May 12 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Stage AE Outdoors
May 14 – Philadelphia, PA @ Mann Center
May 15 – Fairfax, VA @ Eagle Bank Arena
June 2-5 – Hunter, NY @ Mountain Jam Festival
June 3 & 4 – Baltimore, MD @ Pier Six Concert Pavilion
June 9 – St. Louis, MO @ Chaifetz Arena
June 10 – Milwaukee, WI @ BMO Harris Arena
June 11 – Minneapolis, MN @ Target Center
June 14 – Deadwood, SD @ Deadwood Mountain Grand Event Center
June 16 – Muskogee, OK @ G Fest
June 18 – Dallas, TX @ Gexa Energy Pavilion
June 19 – Austin, TX @ Austin City Limits Live at The Moody Theater
July 4 – Portland, ME @ Thompson’s Point
July 7 – Syracuse, NY @ Landmark Theatre
July 8 – Chautauqua, NY @ Chautauqua Amphitheater
July 9 – Toledo, OH @ Toledo Zoo Amphitheater
July 15-17 – Louisville, KY @ Forecastle Festival
July 21-22 – Troutdale, OR @ Edgefield
July 23 – Kent, WA @ ShoWare Arena
July 25 – Nampa, ID @ Ford Idaho Center Amphitheater
July 28-30 – Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre
September 16 – Lincoln, CA @ Thunder Valley Casino Resort
September 16-18 – Del Mar, CA @ Kaaboo Del Mar
Americana and country music aren’t know for providing the world with the the lightest subjects in the music universe (Roger Miller and Todd Snider excluded). The Late Show With Stephen Colbert has underlined this truth by creating this fantastic infomercial with “alt.country troubadour” Jason Isbell, you know, from “music.”
But wait! That’s not all! “My new 180-minute, four-chord song also covers new cartoonishly tragic down-home scenarios that my fellow singer-songwriters are much too cowardly to tackle. Covering universal topics like “ailing family dogs†to “dying family dogs†to “a tragic cannon accident” to “Frankenstein attacks a preschool.†It gets worse as as Isbell informs us that the song is “available on triple-cassette and Tidal, the two saddest music formats known to mankind.â€
