Twang Nation – The Best In Americana Music
Americana & Roots Music & Culture
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.
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).
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”
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
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.â€
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNCabzJ8KJI
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
A sun-stippled leafy local contrasted against an urban backdrop is the setting for American Dawn Landes and the British Piers Faccini’s “Book Of Dreams” video. The song is torn from the Nick Drake handbook of forlorn beauty, with their guitars and voices swaying and dipping together in this recounting of passing years and shedding personas.
The two songwriters met in 2013 when they recorded a Lead Belly song for Faccini’s cover project, ‘Songs I Love.’ Later that year, Piers invited Dawn to France to perform in a 12th Century Romanesque Chapel in the remote Cevennes region of the south of France near Piers’ home and studio. Inspired by their first experience of performing together, they met up a few months later to write and record the intimate suite of songs that would become the EP, Desert Songs.
“Book Of Dreams” can be found on their new EP. From the presser covering that recording: “The bare autumnal skies and rugged mountainous landscapes provided the perfect backdrop for their collaboration. In between sessions, they walked the footpaths in the hills around the studio, swapping tales of the mystics and seekers that inspired the stories and lyrics in ‘Desert Songs.’ Where Dawn would quote the Desert Fathers or Thomas Merton, Piers would would cite Sufi poets Rumi and Hafez or the poems of St John of the Cross. Dawn and Piers wove the arrangements together using the rich collection of instruments in Piers’s studio, a Malian Kora, a 1930’s National resonator guitar, West African percussion and an Indian dulcimer and tampura. Back in her Brooklyn studio a month later, Dawn recorded drum parts with Ray Rizzo. ‘Desert Songs’ was then mixed in NYC by Pat Dillet.”
About the video’s location Landes says “Piers and I were playing a gig together in London and discovered this bandstand nearby. Turns out it’s built on the rubble of an old rookery called Friar’s Mount. That seemed to fit the themes of our EP Desert Songs, inspired by mystics and seekers.
Dawn Landes is from the Louisville, Kentucky area but has called Brooklyn, New York home for years. As a solo artist she has released five full-length albums and two EPs. She has toured throughout the US, Europe and around the world, and shared the stage with Ray Lamontagne, Feist, Andrew Bird, Suzanne Vega and others.
Faccini has collaborated over the years with many musicians and singers including Rokia Traore, Busi Mhlongo, Ben Harper, Ballake Sissoko, Vincent Segal, Camille, Francesca Beard, Ibrahim Maalouf and others. Piers Faccini’s most recent album Songs of Time Lost was in NPR’s top 10 world music albums of the year as well as in Songlines UK’s 10 best albums of 2014.
‘Desert Songs’ is out now in digital only format on Six Degrees Records.
Hayes Carll fans have been waiting 5 long years for a new album. Well, the wait is over!
Over four albums Carll has carried in a Tecas songwriting tradition of heart-on-sleeve and sung with a wry smile also reflected in the works of Guy Clark , Townes Van Zandt, Lyle Lovett and Kelly Willis. His newest release ‘Lovers and Leavers,’ (April 8th through Thirty Tigers) was recorded late last year in Los Angeles with producer Joe Henry, appears to have a darker edge.
From the press release “I’m a singer-songwriter, [and] I think Lovers and Leavers comes closer to reflecting that than any other record I’ve made.â€
“I didn’t have one song that I knew would be a sing along or would make people dance,†Carll reflects. “I felt vulnerable in a way that I hadn’t in a long time. But I got what I wanted — a record with space, nuance, and room to breathe. It felt right for my art. It felt right for my life.
“Lovers and Leavers isn’t funny or raucous,†he continues. “There are very few hoots and almost no hollers. But it’s joyous, and it makes me smile. No, it’s not my Blood on the Tracks, nor is it any kind of opus. It’s my fifth record — a reflection of a specific time and place. It is quiet, like I wanted it to be.â€
Hear the song, “The Love That We Need†below. The song is co-written by Carll, Jack Ingram, and Allison Moorer.
Hayes Carll’s song “Chances Are†is nominated for the “Best Country Song†Grammy. The song is an outstanding cut from Lee Ann Womack’s latest ‘The Way I’m Livin’.
Lovers and Leavers track list:
“Driveâ€
“Sake of the Songâ€
“Good While It Lastedâ€
“You Leave Aloneâ€
“My Friendsâ€
“The Love That We Needâ€
“Love Don’t Let Me Downâ€
“The Magic Kidâ€
“Love Is So Easyâ€
“Jealousâ€
Stapleton and his band, featuring his singer/songwriter wife, Morgane, Willie Nelson’s harmonica maestro Mickey Raphael and a guy on guitar that’s the spitting image of Dave Cobb (who was a musician before becoming a celebrated producer) keep it bare-bones in these excellent performances as NBC’s Saturday Night Live’s musical guest.
Both songs can be found on Stapleton’s Grammy-nominated debut solo album, ‘Traveller. â€
When not being the boss woman for her Nashville vintage boutique High Class Hillbilly Nikki Lane occasionally plays some pretty great music.
Proof – here’s a recent live performance from a particular Santa Ana, CA show showcasing ‘Highway Queen,’ a little blackthorn serenade that is the title cut from Ms. Badassary’s upcoming album (release TBD) It comes complete with some pretty sweet harmony backup.
MERCY!