Author Archives: Baron Lane

Top 6 Roots Music Moments at the 2016 Grammy Awards

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58th-Grammy-Logo

Grit, heart and soul found it’s way between the sequins and glitter of the 58th Grammy Awards in Los Angeles. Folks that have been bustin Asa’s for years, and sometimes decades, get recognition (and hopefully a bump in music and ticket sales) and a chance to stand toe-to-toe with ther accomplished msusiaans and remind the sometimes jaded industry audience why music will always tie us into a shared human condition.

Here are some highlights:

The Steeldrivers

After four nominations The SteelDrivers proved the fifth time is the charm. The Nashville-based bluegrass badasses won thier first Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album for their fifth realese ‘The Muscle Shoals Recordings.’
The critically-acclaimed album debuted at #1 on the Billboard Bluegrass Chart and achieved the highest first-week sales in the band’s history.

Béla Fleck & Abigail Washburn’s eponymous album picks up the well-deserved Best Folk Album Grammy.

http://youtu.be/WV-Z1cfcVl8

The excellent documentary ‘Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me” wins Best Compilation Soundtrack For Visual Media.

Chris Stapleton, Gary Clark Jr., and Bonnie Raitt play steal the show with this BB King tribute.

http://youtu.be/soijapAt6no

Aside from being part of the great tribute Chris Stapleton snagged 2 statues
Best Country Album (for Traveller) and Best Country Solo Performance (for the album’s title track). He shared the spotlight with producer Dave Cobb. He even called Taylor Swift out for “glitter bombing” him.

Jason Isbell made up for the snub of his 2013 ‘Southeastern’ by winning 2 Grasmmys during the event’s pre-telecast. Best Americana Album for ‘Somethng More Than Free’ and Best Americana Roots Song for ’24 Frames.”

Isbell thanked his wife, singer, songwriter Amanda Shires, who provides harmonies on the track; his manager Traci Thomas, his long-time band, the 400 Unit; producer Dave Cobb and those who voted mentioning humbly “It’s a real honor” to accept the award. At the end of his speech, Isbell also thanked Muscle Shoals, Ala., for “teaching me how to play music.”

Well done sir, no one deserves it more.

See Jason Isbell Pick Up His Grammy For Americana Song of the Year

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Jason and Amanda Isbell

In an effort to bring viewers closer to the experiment the trophies for the 58th Grammys comes with a installed with a tiny, wireless (removable?) camera installed on the stand. Here we see statue cam POV, Jason Isbell taking the algae for his well-deserved Americana Roots Song of the Year win for “24 Frames.”

YiIt’s natural that you can hear a but of nerves as he’s listing his thanks to those that helped get him there, but he gets it done.

The pic above is from singer, songwriter, and Jasons’ wife Amanda Shires Isbell”a Facebook account.

It really says it all doesn’t it?

Isbell picked up a second statue for Best American Album for ‘Something More Than Free.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02JPhLXUrgg

Listen Up! Sturgill Simpson, “Sugar Daddy,” from HBO’s Vinyl

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Sturgill Simpson - 'Turtles All the Way Down'

Listen to a psychedelic fuzzed out new song by Sturgill Simpson, “Sugar Daddy,” from HBO’s Vinyl. No twang to be found here.

This is sure to divide critics and fans alike that have come to connect Simpson with an outlaw country aesthetic. But there’s a bunch of garage rock fans that will dig it. Jack White, are you listening? One things for sure, Simpson continues to follow his own path.

“Sugar Daddy” will appear as a main theme to the show and on the first volume of songs on the soundtrack. The song will not be on his major label debut, expected sometime this year.

Listen Up! Brad Armstrong – ‘Cherokee Nose Job’

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Brad Armstrong

Brad Armstrong is an auteur of atmosphere. On his newest release the guitarist, keyboardist and vocalist of the post-Southern rock band the Dexateens is working in the darker areas of the human psyche and the relationships and culture it forges to cast those shadows.

On ‘Cherokee Nose Job’ A strummed acoustic guitar gives no tell of the grizzly scene being set.

“Drew my best hunting blade, through my long, lost lovers face, and I sent her in the street to make amends.”

Slide dobro and electric guitar snakes around, refrains then bursts into a rushing torrent of feedback, bloodlust and righteous indignation.

Armstrong says of the song:

“CNJ is one of the more violent and harsh songs I’ve written. The plains Indians had a thing where if a woman were found to be cheating on her husband, they would slit her face open, up her lips and through her nose, so the rest of the tribe could see what part of her got her in trouble. The husband would do it. Stephen King had a riff about it in his novella Rage, which has stuck with me since I read it, at about age 14 or so. I just got to thinking about this Jim Jones kind of dude, like in Dogs of God by Pinckney Benedict, making his crazy family up in the mountains, and how he would probably do something like that. I had originally started doing a whole record about this crazy dude, but scrapped it. There are three tunes that survived from this project: CNJ, Deep Water, sung by Maria Taylor, and Shrines. I decided not to run them together in the sequence or anything, but those three go together.”

‘Cherokee Nose Job’ is from Brad Armstrong latest release “Empire.” Two songs from the album have been placed on the Audience Network’s show “Kingdom” as well as ABC’s hit show “Nashville”.

Pick it up here.

https://soundcloud.com/cornelius-chapel-records/07-cherokee-nose-job?in=cornelius-chapel-records/sets/brad-armstrong-empire

Willie Nelson and Asleep at the Wheel Surprise Fans at Austin’s Broken Spoke 2-4-2016

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Willie Nelson and Asleep at the Wheel

If you were lucky enough to be in the crowd at the legendary honky-tonk broken spoke in Austin last night to see Ray Benson and Asleep at the Wheel you were treated to a special guest appearance.

Willie Nelson made a surprise appearance and he entertained the crowd with many of the classics they recorded together on 2009’s ‘Willie and the Wheel.’ In all Willie and the Wheeel covered 25 songs to the attentively stunned, very lucky, crowd.

Watch Out! Willie Nelson – “Someone to Watch Over Me” [VIDEO]

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Willie Nelson - Someone to Watch Over Me

On this beautifully filmed black-and-white video Willie Nelson revisits the classic “Someone to Watch Over Me,” the Gershwin standard he first recorded on the 1978 blockbuster album of pop standards ‘Stardust.’ the album that evolved Willie from country singer to American balladeer.

This version is from Willie Nelson’s upcoming ‘Summertime: Willie Nelson Sings Gershwin.’ Produced by Willie’s friend and musical collaborator Buddy Cannon along with co-producer Matt Rollings, featuring Matt Rollings (piano, B-3 organ, Wurlitzer), Jay Bellerose (drums), David Piltch (bass), Dean Parks (electric guitar, acoustic guitar), Paul Franklin (steel guitar), Kevin Smith (bass), Bobbie Nelson (B-3 organ, piano), Mickey Raphael (harmonica) and Willie Nelson (Trigger).

Pre-order ‘Summertime: Willie Nelson Sings Gershwin’ here.

Lumineers Announce New LP ‘Cleopatra,’ Hear New Song ‘Ophelia’

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Lumineers

Colorado pop-folk band the Lumineers were celebrated and derided for the 2012 earworm “Ho Hey” that taught a whole generation to stomps and clap in unison. To their credit instead of rushing out ‘The Lumineers II” to capitalize on the success of their Grammy-nominated 2013 self-titled album the band took time making their sophomore follow up ‘Cleopatra.’ (out April 8th)

“‘Ophelia’ is a vague reference to people falling in love with fame,” songwriter, lead vocalist, guitarist Wesley Schultz told EW. “That spotlight can seem like an endless buffet, but in reality, you’re just shiny, bright and new to people for a quick moment — and then you have the rest of your life to live.”

“Ophelia,” the new cut from ‘Cleopatra.’ First thought is it takes big balls to give your song the same title as one of the most famous songs by The Band, but hey (Ho!), shoot for the stars. The song has a slightly edgier tone than their earlier work though the signature foot stomps and belts of “Oh” are still evident.

Take a listen:

The Lumineers debuted in 2012 with their eponymous album. In 2013, they were nominated for two Grammy Awards, Best New Artist and Best Americana Album. The album reached Number Two on the Billboard 200 while the hit “Ho Hey” stayed in the Top 10 on the Hot 100 for 14 weeks.

Head to thelumineers.com to check out newly posted tour dates.

Cleopatra track list

1. “Sleep On The Floor”
2. “Ophelia”
3. “Cleopatra”
4. “Gun Song”
5. “Angela”
6. “In The Light”
7. “Gale Song”
8. “Long Way From Home”
9. “Sick In The Head”
10. “My Eyes”
11. “Patience”

Miss Piggy and Kermit Cover John Prine’s “In Spite of Ourselves”

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Miss Piggy and Kermit Cover John Prine's "In Spite of Ourselves"

The ‘The Muppets’ show too a wonderful rootsy turn the other night when Miss Piggy and Kermit Cover “In Spite of Ourselves” by John Prine. The song is the title cut from Prine’s 13th studio album released in 1999, and is a standout duet with Iris DeMent.

Kermet and his diva are having fun with the song, and to keep it clean for the kiddies some of the lyrics were changed.

Kermit swaps “She gets it on like the Easter Bunny” with “She makes a face when my jokes are funny” and Piggy combines the 4th and 5th verse and sings “He can’t dance but he still gets funky” instead of “He’s got more balls than a big brass monkey.”

In spite of all the cleaning up the song is still fun. And there’s a whole new generation introduced to Prine’s music. There’s nothing dirty about that.

Check out the Muppets and Prine and DeMent’s versions below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5axlwCBXC8

Watch Out! John Moreland Performs ‘Break My Heart Sweetly’ on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

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John Moreland Performs ‘Break My Heart Sweetly’ on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

John Moreland made his television debut last night on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and if you thought he’d change things up for the event you’d be mistaken. No full bands or Nudie suits, just Moreland perched on a chair in trucker cap, work pants and t-shirt, picking his Martin acoustic and plumbing his psyche in glorious woe.

The crew at Late Show with Stephen Colbert looks like they’re continuing support for showcasing great Americana and roots music established by it’s predecessor David Letterman with a visit from Aubrie Sellers last week and this spellbinding performance by Moreland.

‘Break My Heart Sweetly’ is from John Moreland’s 2013 album “In The Throes.” His latest album is “High On Tulsa Heat.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNCabzJ8KJI

Watch Out! Aubrie Sellers Performs ‘Light of Day’ on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

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Aubrie Sellers Performs 'Light of Day' on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

Aubrie Sellers makes her television debut in fine fashion. She and her band look like old pros at the Late Night game with a rendition of her album debut’s title song ‘Light of Day’ . The performance gathers like thunderheads in the distance. As Sellers honey-twang warns about caution the music ebbs and builds a feeling of foreboding, then the band breaks hell and, just at the edge, careens back in the groove.

See this fantastic performance below.

“Light Of Day” is available digitally and on vinyl today. Het it here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5-mMs2TyTA