Category Archives: alt.country

Bob Dylan to Release Complete Sessions of Legendary “Basement Tapes”

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According to Consequence of Sound

The entire collection of work by Bob Dylan and The Band (then known as the Crackers) Basement Tapes sessions will be available to the general public. Coming November 4th via Legacy Recordings, the six-disc collection covers an impressive 138 tracks, 30 of which were never of known to exist until today’s announcement. Several other tracks have only existed as mediocre bootleg recordings.

The Basement tapes are the Rosetta Stone of modern roots and Americana music. These sessions occurred in the wake of Dylan’s post motorcycle crash recovery in 1966. Dylan and the band holed up in the basement of a Woodstock, New York house known as the Big Pink, where members of the Band were using as their base. They proceeded to record over 100 tracks together, including “This Wheel’s on Fire”, “I Shall Be Released” and “Tears of Rage” which appeared on The Band’s debut album, “Music from Big Pink.” Other cuts included “Quinn the Eskimo,” which Manfred Mann recorded and charted in the UK , “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere” recorded as a single by the Byrds as well as “Nothing Was Delivered”, which appeared on “Sweetheart of the Rodeo.”

Rolling Stone posts that the unreleased material includes an “epic, apocalyptic rocker” called “Wild Wolf”; an early version of “I Shall Be Released” with slightly different lyrics; a cover of Hank Williams’ 1949 song “My Bucket’s Got a Hole In It”; and “country-fied” versions of “Blowin’ in the Wind”, “It Ain’t Me Babe”, and “One Too Many Mornings”, featuring keyboardist Richard Manuel handling lead vocals on the first verse. “”The stuff that people haven’t heard justifies, in every way, shape and form, all the hype, hubris and myth that surrounds these tapes,” says folk musician and writer Sid Griffin, who wrote the liner notes for this new collection (which is also being released as a two-disc version and three-LP set). “Some of this stuff is mind-boggling.”

Below, stream an alternate take of the original “Odds and Ends”

The deluxe edition of the album also includes a 120-page companion book featuring extensive liner notes and previously unseen photographs and memorabilia. Also available will be a more concise version dubbed, The Basement Tapes Raw, featuring 38 tracks on two discs or three LPs. See the full tracklist below.

Pre-order The Basement Tapes Complete: The Bootleg Series Vol. 11(Deluxe Edition) vinyl or CD

The Basement Tapes Complete serves as the 11th installment in Dylan’s ongoing “The Bootleg Series.” The release also coincides with the release “Lost On The River: The New Basement Tapes” featuring a whos’who of roots-rockers – My Morning Jacket’s Jim James, Mumford and Sons’ Marcus Mumford, Elvis Costello,Dawes’ Taylor Goldsmith, Carolina Chocolate Drops’ Rhiannon Giddens, and shephareded by T-Bone Burnett.

The Basement Tapes Complete: The Bootleg Series Vol. 11 Tracklist:

CD 1
Disc: 1
01. Edge of the Ocean
02. My Bucket’s Got a Hole in It
03. Roll on Train
04. Mr. Blue
05. Belshazzar
06. I Forgot to Remember to Forget
07. You Win Again
08. Still in Town
09. Waltzing with Sin
10. Big River (Take 1)
11. Big River (Take 2)
12. Folsom Prison Blues
13. Bells of Rhymney
14. Spanish is the Loving Tongue
15. Under Control
16. Ol’ Roison the Beau
17. I’m Guilty of Loving You
18. Cool Water
19. The Auld Triangle
20. Po’ Lazarus
21. I’m a Fool for You (Take 1)
22. I’m a Fool for You (Take 2)

Disc: 2
01. Johnny Todd
02. Tupelo
03. Kickin’ My Dog Around
04. See You Later Allen Ginsberg (Take 1)
05. See You Later Allen Ginsberg (Take 2)
06. Tiny Montgomery
07. Big Dog
08. I’m Your Teenage Prayer
09. Four Strong Winds
10. The French Girl (Take 1)
11. The French Girl (Take 2)
12. Joshua Gone Barbados
13. I’m in the Mood
14. Baby Ain’t That Fine
15. Rock, Salt and Nails
16. A Fool Such As I
17. Song for Canada
18. People Get Ready
19. I Don’t Hurt Anymore
20. Be Careful of Stones That You Throw
21. One Man’s Loss
22. Lock Your Door
23. Baby, Won’t You be My Baby
24. Try Me Little Girl
25. I Can’t Make it Alone
26. Don’t You Try Me Now

Disc: 3
01. Young but Daily Growing
02. Bonnie Ship the Diamond
03. The Hills of Mexico
04. Down on Me
05. One for the Road
06. I’m Alright
07. Million Dollar Bash (Take 1)
08. Million Dollar Bash (Take 2)
09. Yea! Heavy and a Bottle of Bread (Take 1)
10. Yea! Heavy and a Bottle of Bread (Take 2)
11. I’m Not There
12. Please Mrs. Henry
13. Crash on the Levee (Take 1)
14. Crash on the Levee (Take 2)
15. Lo and Behold! (Take 1)
16. Lo and Behold! (Take 2)
17. You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere (Take 1)
18. You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere (Take 2)
19. I Shall be Released (Take 1)
20. I Shall be Released (Take 2)
21. This Wheel’s on Fire
22. Too Much of Nothing (Take 1)
23. Too Much of Nothing (Take 2)

Disc: 4
01. Tears of Rage (Take 1)
02. Tears of Rage (Take 2)
03. Tears of Rage (Take 3)
04. Quinn the Eskimo (Take 1)
05. Quinn the Eskimo (Take 2)
06. Open the Door Homer (Take 1)
07. Open the Door Homer (Take 2)
08. Open the Door Homer (Take 3)
09. Nothing Was Delivered (Take 1)
10. Nothing Was Delivered (Take 2)
11. Nothing Was Delivered (Take 3)
12. All American Boy
13. Sign on the Cross
14. Odds and Ends (Take 1)
15. Odds and Ends (Take 2)
16. Get Your Rocks Off
17. Clothes Line Saga
18. Apple Suckling Tree (Take 1)
19. Apple Suckling Tree (Take 2)
20. Don’t Ya Tell Henry
21. Bourbon Street

Disc: 5
01. Blowin’ in the Wind
02. One Too Many Mornings
03. A Satisfied Mind
04. It Ain’t Me, Babe
05. Ain’t No More Cane (Take 1)
06. Ain’t No More Cane (Take 2)
07. My Woman She’s A-Leavin’
08. Santa-Fe
09. Mary Lou, I Love You Too
10. Dress it up, Better Have it All
11. Minstrel Boy
12. Silent Weekend
13. What’s it Gonna be When it Comes Up
14. 900 Miles from My Home
15. Wildwood Flower
16. One Kind Favor
17. She’ll be Coming Round the Mountain
18. It’s the Flight of the Bumblebee
19. Wild Wolf
20. Goin’ to Acapulco
21. Gonna Get You Now
22. If I Were A Carpenter
23. Confidential
24. All You Have to do is Dream (Take 1)
25. All You Have to do is Dream (Take 2)

Disc: 6
01. 2 Dollars and 99 Cents
02. Jelly Bean
03. Any Time
04. Down by the Station
05. Hallelujah, I’ve Just Been Moved
06. That’s the Breaks
07. Pretty Mary
08. Will the Circle be Unbroken
09. King of France
10. She’s on My Mind Again
11. Goin’ Down the Road Feeling Bad
12. On a Rainy Afternoon
13. I Can’t Come in with a Broken Heart
14. Next Time on the Highway
15. Northern Claim
16. Love is Only Mine
17. Silhouettes
18. Bring it on Home
19. Come All Ye Fair and Tender Ladies
20. The Spanish Song (Take 1)
21. The Spanish Song (Take 2)

The Basement Tapes Raw: Bootleg Series Vol. 11 Tracklist:

Disc: 1
01. Open the Door, Homer
02. Odds and Ends
03. Million Dollar Bash
04. One Too Many Mornings
05. I Don’t Hurt Anymore
06. Ain’t No More Cane
07. Crash on the Levee
08. Tears of Rage
09. Dress it up, Better Have it All
10. I’m Not There
11. Johnny Todd
12. Too Much of Nothing
13. Quinn the Eskimo
14. Get Your Rocks Off
15. Santa-Fe
16. Silent Weekend
17. Clothes Line Saga
18. Please, Mrs. Henry
19. I Shall be Released

Disc: 2
01. You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere
02. Lo and Behold!
03. Minstrel Boy
04. Tiny Montgomery
05. All You Have to do is Dream
06. Goin’ to Acapulco
07. 900 Miles from My Home
08. One for the Road
09. I’m Alright
10. Blowin’ in the Wind
11. Apple Suckling Tree
12. Nothing Was Delivered
13. Folsom Prison Blues
14. This Wheel’s on Fire
15. Yea! Heavy and a Bottle of Bread
16. Don’t Ya Tell Henry
17. Baby, Won’t You be My Baby
18. Sign on the Cross
19. You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere

Watch Out! Jumbo Brown – “Ain’t Nothing Wrong” Premier [VIDEO]

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Jumbo Brown

Playing many,many live shows near their home in Brooklyn has served the roots-rock band Jumbo Brown very well.

Their song “Ain’t Nothing Wrong” ia a woozy, honky-tonk ode to the simple joys of life and good times. There is loose feel that fits perfectly on a back porch or in a crowded bar. The video for the song ain’t nothing fancy , but it does reflect perfectly that joy and communal spirit.

Of the video the band says: “We shot the video footage live, without a sync track with Rob Langevin (director) at our buddy’s birthday party, Skinny Dennis (Home venue, Willamsburg 152 Metropolitan Ave.) and Randolph Brooklyn (where the piano was located). The song’s about having a good ole time with friends, enjoying the simpler pleasures in life. Scotty D. (New Orleans native frontman) wanted to release the song before Labor Day weekend, because we all kept finding ourselves singing the song around BBQ grills, Bon fires, and rooftop singalongs.”

“Side note, the little boy in the video is a staple at their Skinny Dennis shows, as he dances, plays tambourine, and event duets vocally when the group plays crowd favorites like “Harlem River Blues” by Justin Townes Earle.”

Their new album, American Primitive, will be out December 2nd.

Official site

Music Review – The Ben Miller Band – ‘Any Way, Shape or Form’ (New West)

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ben miller band

Performers like Konrad Wert (Possessed By Paul James) , Scott H. Biram and Hillstomp have been spectacularly creating Depression era country, bluegrass, folk, gospel, and blues music for years by jolting the dusty form with a furious intensity and emotional directness that would make Marcus Mumford sob into his vintage hanky.

We can now add to that the Joplin, Mo. trio of Ben Miller, Doug Dicharry and Scott Leeper, collectively known as The Ben Miller Band.

Producer Vance Powell ( Wanda Jackson,Buddy Guy, Jack White) is just the right man to steward ‘Any Way, Shape or Form,’ TBMB’s debut for New West records, though the many influences that make up what the band calls “Ozark Stomp” and bring out the band’s best effort to date.

Opener “The Outsider” evokes Dock Boggs and split Lip Rayfield as Miller’s clawhammer banjo, Dicharry’s percussion and Leeper’s washtub bass kick up a foggy mountian moshpit accenting by a hot guest slide guitar break by Chad “Gravy” Graves. The spirit of John Lee Hooker is raised in the jump boogie of “You Don’t Know” with a nasty little guitar break in the middle, and in the greasy/sleazy ‘Hurry Up And Wait” which features Dicharry’s blazing washboard work. Things gear down on the melancholy “I Feel for You” which is given a a dreamy quality from the inclusion of Graves pedal steel and Dicharry’s mandoline. The inclusion of the vaudeville-jazz ditty “23 Skidoo”, a 1920’s slang phrase for getting while the getting’s good is an odd twist especially when it grows into a dramatic swell. “Burning Building” is an Appalachian-meets-garage rocker that would make Jack White give a pasty smile.

the treatment given to the traditional folk ballad “The Cuckoo.” The internal dialogue of the piece occurs in a fever dream of roots-psychedelic, stabbing guitar, musical spoons and furious percussion. “Twinkle Toes,” is a jaunty lock-down break-down sing-along featuring blistering dobro. “Life on Wheels” kicks off like a “Whiskey River” remake but quickly breaks another direction as harmonica brings to mind a whining train whistle. “No War,” is a lofty Phil Ochs-style topical folk song calling out corruption and ponders the metaphysical.

“Any Way, Shape or Form” is work of considerable scope executed into a whole of rambunctious cohesion. It leaves you wondering what else Ben Miller Band might have up their sleeves.

Official Site | Amazon | iTunes

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Music Review: Cory Branan – “The No-Hit Wonder” (Bloodshot Records)

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CORY BRANAN- The No-Hit Wonder

Nashville in the 70’s was a place of wandering, dusty minstrels tripping into town from distant small towns with little more than cheap guitars, grand dreams and a reverent yet defiant attitude regarding the power structure of Nashville music industry. The ripples where felt and absorbed back into the system and the result was the “Urban Cowboy” era. This was not an innovative time. Now that Music Row has again fell into lockstep with the sound of the cash register the bustling community of East Nashville is rekindling those early days.

In many respects Cory Branan’s “The No-Hit Wonder,” is the face of this rekindled spirit. Smart, sonic landscapes offering a deep stratum that delivers a bounty of country, pop (“Missing You Fierce”) and Southern soul (“Missing You Fierce”) gems as each song is sifted through. The record also benefits from having some of the finest backing musicians working – John Radford (Justin Townes Earle, Luella and The Sun), Sadler Vaden (The 400 Unit, Drivin and Cryin), Audley Freed (The Black Crowes) and Robbie Turner (Waylon Jennings, Charlie Rich.) as well as being supported by some of Americana and indy rock’s best talent.

No better example of that is the opener “You Make Me” which features none other than Jason Isbell on back-up vocals. A song for his new bride it strikes a fine balance of romance, rock-heat with ear-worm hooks as Isbell provides just the right amount of guitar and vocal support.

The title cut recalls hard times for a troubadore that burns bright instead of belly-aches as Craig Finn & Steve Selvidge of The Hold Steady providing further retained support. “The Only You” Shows the nuance of Branan’s craft – “I hear you got another boy and he looks a lot like me / And this one come with some kind of guarantee / Well I got me another girl and she looks like you at 23 / And while she sleeps I trace the places where your tattoos used to be.” This playful poignancy is straight from the book of Kristofferson.

Branan vocal style like Ryan Bingham with better range. This is most apparent in the Bakersfield-by-way-of-Uncle-Tupelo “Sour Mash.” Another furiously paced number that wears it’s hillbilly pedigree proudly, featuring more subtle accompaniment by Tim Easton. “C’mon Shadow” is a ragtime jubilation masking heartbreak that’ll have you tapping a toe and crying in your beer.

“All The Rivers In Colorado” is pure jukebox gold. A barroom weeper of tears and waterways made even more delightful with Caitlin Rose and Austin Lucas lending background vocals. “Daddy Was A Skywriter” is a Cajun-spiced tune about finding your way in this world with the guidance and love from mama and daddy.

“The No-Hit Wonder” is a work both expansive in influence as it is grounded in history. Smart song-craft, road-tested instinct of instrumentation and an ear for the attentive hook is it’s flesh and bone. This is not a stright-up country record in contemporary or classic terms. Its an Americana record – and all that comes with that gloriously, messy label.

And a damn fine one at that.

Official Site | Buy

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Watch Out! Sturgill Simpson – “Life of Sin: Live at RCA Studio A” [VIDEO]

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Sturgill Simpson - "Life of Sin: Live at RCA Studio A"

Neo-Trad Outlaw and reluctant savior of country music, Sturgill Simpson turned out a sizzling rendition of ‘Life of Sin” recorded at the Nashville’s historic RCA recording studio.

This is the very same studio that Ben Folds has been trying to save from potential raising. let’s hope this RL Bagg’s Handcrafted Video Series is a sign of new life for the storied space.

‘Life of Sin” is from Simpson’s newest release “Metamodern Sounds in Country Music.”

Watch Out! Goodnight, Texas – “A Bank Robber’s Nursery Rhyme” [VIDEO]

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Goodnight, Texas

Check out this cool video for Goodnight, Texas’ roliicking string tune “A Bank Robber’s Nursery Rhyme,” shot live in their rehearsal space in the Bay Area by Matthew Washburn.

Grab a free download of “A Bank Robber’s Nursery Rhyme” here

Goodnight, Texas new LP “Uncle John Farquhar” will be released pit now on Tallest Man Records.

Ryan Adams -“Gimme Something Good” Live On “Fallon Show”

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Ryan Adams -"Gimme Something Good" Live On "Fallon Show"

“The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” welcomed Ryan Adams and his band the Shining as their musical guest last night. He and the band did “Gimme Something Good”, the single from his forthcoming self-titled album (September 9 via his label Pax-Am).

Alas Adam’s and the other night’s guest, Taylor Swift, did not perform together. But perhaps a backstage meeting might result in something in the future

Watch Out! Grace Askew – “Cinnamon” [VIDEO]

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Grace Askew - Cinnamon

Common sentiment has you believe that TV singing competitions are a cultural wasteland not worth our attention.

Grace Askew is proof that sometimes paying attention pays off.

“The Voice” Season 4 contestant Grace Askew delighted when she did a excellently brash cover of Lee Hazlewood’s “These Boots Are Made for Walkin,'” made famous by Nancy Sinatra

Twangers, ya know I like it greasy. If you give me swampy and greasy at the same time you’ll have a hard time sending me home.

Recorded at the legendary Sun Studio, “Cinnamon” is a woozy slice of what Askew has coined “bluntry” (blues+country, or perhaps stoned country) Labels aside, it’s a greasy, swampy delight made more so by Askew’s marble-mouthed delivery in her native Memphis country grammar.

Shot in an abandoned house , with single-source light saturated clack-and-white, Askew dances as she sings this sexually-charged come-on.

Askew embodies a potent blend of charisma and authenticity that makes her a force to keep your eye on.

“Cinnamon” is from Askew’s debut newest release ‘Scaredy Cat

Official site.

Music Review : Sunny Sweeney – “Provoked” [Thirty Tigers]

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Sunny Sweeney - "Provoked"

There’s much talk about a backlash brewing against the male-centric Bro-Country mainstream country radio has been riding high on for the past few years. This musical uprising is said to be stewarded by women challenging the stereotypes paraded around in daisy dukes in derogatory narratives. Trouble is the men in these songs are simple, one-dimensional characters as well and the potential for expansion for anyone, topically or stylistically, are very narrow.

These women work the same mainstream fields that currently allow bro-country a thriving bounty. Small tweaks to adjust for new market fluctuations will be made. But the labels are in business to be in business, not to make some grand cultural statement.

Pretty tame stuff to fuel a backlash.

The products, or songs, might strike many as flimsy representation of human condition , but I argue it’s less about the songs and more about the process. Consider Sunny Sweeney; in and out of the the gravitational pull of Music Row, the big boys never knew what to do with her. Her first album bore the Lone Star mark of her native home of Texas and was re-released by Big Machine Records.

But charting and Music City are joined at the hip, and after being the first artist signed to a joint venture between Big Machine and Universal Republic Records – Republic Nashville – the more polished “Concrete,” was released but netted no significant radio play.

Sweeney and Big Machine split in 2012.

Now we have her provocatively titled new release, “Provoked.”

Combining DIY ethic with crowd-sourced funding, and support by indy Americana super label Thirty Tigers, “Provoked” contains Sweeney’s earlier fire tempered with an ear for a hook and just the right amount of studio provided by Luke Wooten (Dierks Bentley, Brad Paisley and sister neo-traditionalist Kellie Pickler)

From the cover Sunny looks right through use with her big, blue tinted eyes. What looks like tape with the title is masking her mouth giving the duel impression of being gagged and screaming the title at once.

Bro-country, like music of music city product, is thin tropes masquerading as the human experience, topical and stylistic, are very narrow. condition. Instead of working within those narrow confines Sweeney reaches back to a time when Nashville released songs dripping of love, tears, pain and blood – Tammy, Loretta, Kitty, George Jones , Willie and Waylon can all be heard between the spaces.

Sweeney says the album reflects her coming to terms with the mistakes she has made and the recovery that the last few years have brought her. “The album is a journey from nearly hitting bottom and losing everything personally to regaining my footing and being able to find not only my true self again, but real happiness.” “Provoked” might be a result of hard times and challenges of the spirit, but it has allowed Sweeney to regain her voice.

“You Don’t Know your Husband” kicks off with an acapella declaration of other-woman context rich in sass driven by cooking dobro and electric guitar that mirrors the dysfunctional menace the story rightly deserves.

The first single “Bad Girl Phase” is a Brandy Clark/Jessie Jo Dillion/Shannon Wright co-write and follows along with the badass gal theme covered by everyone from Miranda to Nikki Lane. Sweeney pulls off the song like a honky-tonk woman swagger over a greasy strut accompaniment.

“Second Guessing” and “Carolina on the Line” are tear-stained. moody studies on faded dreams and broken hearts and coming to terms in spite of it all.

When Lucinda Williams does a song it stays done but give Sweeney props for having a go at “Can’t Let Go.”

“Front Row Seats” mid-temo rocker offers the same kind of wry observations of the seamier side of polite society similar to Kacey Musgraves’ “Merry Go ‘Round”

“My Bed,” a co-write Sweeney with singer/songwriters and 2/3rds of the Pistol Annies, Angaleena Presley and Ashley Monroe – is a duet with singer/songwriter Will Hoge. It;s a intmate glimpse of a couple’s love souring on the vine. ” I’ll always love you/At least that’s what we said/Now you’re just sleeping in my bed.”

“Uninvited” is a dreamy study of social exclusion real or imagined sounds like a Radiohead brought up on The Possum.

on “Provoked” Sweeney proves that a more substantial response to Bro-Country, or really anything Music Row is shoveling out as the flavor of the moment, is to follow your heart and kick some ass. Sweeney sure does that and reminds us that life is more than just radio decoration.

Official Site | Buy

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Watch Out! Nikki Lane – “Right Time” – Conan O’Brien – 8/04/14

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Nikki Lane - "Right Time"

Past night Nikki Lane took the occasion of her television debut on Conan O’Brien to deliver a scorching rendition of her “Right Time”

“Right Time” is from Lane’s latest album “All Or Nothin.”