Category Archives: alt.country

Americana Music Association Nominees Announced

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The Americana Music Association announced the nominees for the trade organization’s 2009 Honors and Awards ceremony today at its annual celebration at BMI Nashville. The show, in its eighth year, will be held Thursday, September 17 at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee.

I’ve attended the conference and showcase for the last three years and it’s always an amazing time. I don’t agree with all the nominees, and as a member of the organization I voted accordingly. But one thing is for certain, every nominee kicks the shit out of 99% of the CMA Awards.

The 2009 Americana Music Association Honors and Awards Nominees are:

ALBUM OF THE YEAR

Real Animal, by Alejandro Escovedo
Written in Chalk, by Buddy & Julie Miller
Jason Isbell & The 40 Unit, by Jason Isbell & The 40 Unit
Midnight At The Movies, by Justin Townes Earle

ARTIST OF THE YEAR

Alejandro Escovedo
Buddy Miller
Justin Townes Earle
Raul Malo

INSTRUMENTALIST OF THE YEAR

Buddy Miller
Gurf Morlix
Jerry Douglas
Sam Bush

NEW & EMERGING ARTIST

Band of Heathens
Belleville Outfit
Justin Townes Earle
Sarah Borges

SONG OF THE YEAR

“Chalk,” written by Julie Miller, performed by Buddy Miller & Patty Griffin
“Country Love” by the Gourds
“Homeland Refugee,” by Joe Ely, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, and Butch Hancock, performed by the Flatlanders
“Rattlin’ Bones” by Kasey Chambers & Shane Nicholson, performed by Kasey Chambers & Shane Nicholson
“Sex And Gasoline,” by Rodney Crowell, performed by Rodney Crowell

DUO GROUP OF THE YEAR

Buddy & Julie Miller
Flatlanders
Kasey Chambers & Shane Nicholson
Reckless Kelly

Ray Charles Modern Sounds in Country & Western Music VOL 1 & 2 to be Reissued

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  • Ray Charles’ classic country masterpieces Modern Sounds in Country & Western Music, VOL 1 & 2 to be Reissued by Concord Records – JUNE 2. The two albums, which featured the hits  “I Can’t Stop Loving You,” “Take These Chains From My Heart” and “You Don’t Know Me,” will be reissued together in an expanded reissue.  New liner notes by musicologist Bill Dahl are included along with  original notes by Rick Ward and Charles’ longtime recording supervisor Sid Feller.
  • The new Bloodshot release by Scott H. Biram, “Something’s Wrong/Lost Forever,” drops today.
  • Here’s an EPK for Levon Helm’s upcoming release Electric Dirt (Dirt Farmer Music/Vanguard Records)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZDCGCtloQ4[/youtube]

Jim Lauderdale and Buddy Miller Return to the 2009 Americana Honors and Awards show

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  • Steve Earle made a cameo on the 30 Rock season finale’. He takes part in a benefit , with Elvis Costello, Mary J. Blige, Sheryl Crowe and others, to get Alan Alda’s character a kidney.
  • Speaking of Earle, he was in San Francisco’s Amoeba Records last Thursday to support his new release Townes, a 15-song cover album of songs written by Earle’s friend and mentor, the late Texas singer-songwriter, Townes Van Zandt. Earle will end up the brief promo tour on Wednesday live on WFUV-FM at 12:00 PM ET and will follow with a Summer tour.
  • The Duke and the King’s Nothing Gold Can Stay will be released by Ramseur Records on Aaugust 4th. The Duke and the King is Simone Felice of The Felice Brothers (The Duke) and Robert Chicken Burke  (The King.)
  • Jim Lauderdale and Buddy Miller will return in key roles at the 2009 Americana Honors and Awards show on Sept. 17 at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. Lauderdale will host the eighth annual program, and Miller will again serve as the bandleader. The event takes place during the 10th annual Americana Music Festival and Conference scheduled for Sept. 16-19 at the Nashville Convention Center. This year’s nominees will be announced Wednesday

Hard Times

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These are tough times for America. Wall Street and board room crooks, unnecessary wars, mounting national and personal debt, massive unemployment, terrorists threats.. These are not the toughest times we’ve faced in our history,I think the fisr depression and the civil war were much tougher, but they are hard relative to the lives most people have lived today.

The silver lining is that from hard times comes great music, and country music taps into the populist zeitgeist better than any other genre beside blues. Much has been made about John Rich’s Shuttin’ Detroit Down and Hank William Jr’s Red White and Pink Slip Blues but it’s hard for me to buy populist empathy from a guy that parades around  in mink coats and a guy that puts hotel employees in a choke hold and demands a kiss.

Here is a list of songs that I believe exhibit the best of what it sounds like to live through the worst.

Ryan Bingham – Hard Times – A new artist with an old voice . The name says it all.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cg428ZfOMsA[/youtube]

The Drive By Truckers – Puttin’  People on the Moon – A stiff shot of old-school Southern rock chased withed populist rage.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTkRyLobKSc[/youtube]

Jimmie Rodgers  – Muleskinner Blues – A classic of down-on-your-luck and lookin’ for work poetry.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXV9_WilcHs[/youtube]

Johnny Cash – Busted – Harlan Howard’s 1962 penned song of working man’s woe was aa hit for Johnny Cash in 1962 on his classic At Folsom Prison live album and was an even bigger hit for Ray Charles the following year.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rnAYYh8gGQ[/youtube]

Merle Haggard – Workin’ Man Blues – Classic Bakersfield rocks this ode to the laborer.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbEstJ98TcM[/youtube]

Frankie Miller – Blackland Farmer – A paen to the 1958 farmers that were just starting to get a glipmpse of the industrial farms that were to change thier professions and lives forever.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHvGOAVOqMc[/youtube]

Levon Helm – Poor Old Dirt Farmer -  Helm, the only American in the Americana/rock group The Band, tells the story of his Dad’s farm inTurkey Scratch, a hamlet west of Helena, Arkansas.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBuJB218UvU[/youtube]

Johnny Paycheck – Take This Job and Shove It – it’s not all hand-wringing and woe is me in country music. Paycheck’s cover of  David Allan Coe’s song was a huge 70’s hit and a raised finger to The Man.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knetbVx5A-Q[/youtube]

Record Review – Spindrift: The Legend Of God’s Gun (Tee Pee Records)

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If you’re a fan of Sergio Leone’s Italiano decomposition of American West mythology and its Ennio Morricone heat-induced sound-scapes accompaniment  then Spindrift’s new release The Legend Of God’s Gun (July 21st -  Tee Pee Records) might be up your shot of mescal.

I haven’t seen the movie that this record soundtracks and probably wouldn’t have to to get the gist. Lone gunman enters a lawless town of frontier anarchy,  blood and whiskey spills in copious quantities, sexy senorita will betray and be dispatched, roll credits. To fill in the details there are narrations of a “land untamed and riddled with lust, greed, debauchery and bullet holes” and “Speak up you rusted .45,  How many can you name that you faced and left to die.” Nice!

There are the aforementioned Morricone-esque nervy spaghetti Westerns serenades (In the Beginning, Titoli, Speak to the Wind), heat-shimmering reverberated art rock (The New West, Speak to the Wind, Burn the Church, Blessing the Bullets) and even quasi-electronica (The Scorpions  Venom) and ending with the warpath horse-gallop of Indian Run .

Now I have to see the movie and hope it’s half as entertaining as Spindrift’s soundtrack.

MySpace | Official Site | Buy

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYWaoOlea9I[/youtube]

RIP Stephen Bruton

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  • The fine folks at the 9513 brought to my attention the sorry news that Kris Kristofferson’s longtime guitarist Stephen Bruton has succumbed to throat cancer.
  • Country music legends Charley Pride and Marty Stuart and bluesman Pinetop Perkins will headline the third annual Mississippi Grammy gala.
  • Recycle your cell phones to support Nuci’s Space and get free merch coupons from the Drive-By Truckers official Store!
  • The New York Times has a piece on Steve Earle and his course in recording his trubute to his mentor Texas singer/songwriter Townes Van Zandt.

First Ever No Depression Festival Lineup Announcement

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The news of No Depression’s death have been  greatly exaggerated. In the wake of their widely successful community website the purveyors of all things Americana/roots/alt.country will hold the first ever (that’s hard to believe) all-day festival Featuring Patterson Hood & The Screwtopians, Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter, Justin Townes Earle, Jessica Lea Mayfield, Seattle Roots-Music All-Star Revue, and Zee Avi. The festivities take place Saturday, July 11 at Marymoor Park, Redmond, WA.

Tickets, $45.00 (not including applicable fees), are on sale Friday, May 15th at noon at all Ticketmaster outlets.

Poodies Locke Tributes, Jeff Tweedy Sued

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  • Jay Bennett, a former Wilco member, is suing band leader Jeff Tweedy in Cook County Circuit Court, claiming Tweedy owes him money from the band’s 2002 documentary and royalties on songs written during Bennett’s seven years with the group.

William Elliott Whitmore made a stop on the Jools Holland Show in England to perform Old Devils.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVJXa19w3W4[/youtube]

No Depression Debuts First Live Chat with Justin Townes Earle

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If your part of the No Depression community (and if you’re not and your at this site more that 5 minutes then you ought to be) then you know that chat function on the bottom panel if the online equivalent of Siberia. Well no more friends.

On May 17th (2pm Pacific) that all changes as No Depression hosts its  first live chat with Justin Townes Earle. So tune in and dial up and make the first ND chat session a great one.

It Burns When I Pee Episode #26 – “peeHarmony.com”

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Just when you thought it was safe to listen to country music podcasts It Burns When I Pee comes back around to put the fear in ya! Episode #26 has Norma Jean and Blake discussing online dating, coming up with new terms for oral sex, and making a few phone calls including one to Blake’s mom.  For Pete’s sake leave that poor woman alone!

The crew also  interview with the talented singer/songwriter Kara Clark and be playing a couple of her songs along with songs from Highlonesome, Robbie Fulks, David Allan Coe, Misery Jackel, and a song from Wayne “The Train” Hancock’s new album Viper of Melody.

Norma Jean will even read some fan feedback…SOBER!