Recently some benefactors of music row/ country music row have decided to chime in that contemporary country music is, well, less than good.
Knoxville, TN.’s Matt Woods soulful vocals have been saying that for years, Not formally but by putting out great self-penned, independent country and roots albums that draw a line in the proverbial sand. Every song just suggests “See, this is what country music is.”
With his newest video Woods’ is still teaching that lesson. The video is an intimate look at life on the road for the independent musician. Here’s hint, less luxury buses and champaign and more vans, long-necks and sleepless nights.
Deadman’s Blues” can be found on Woods’ upcoming album of the same name, out this spring.
Mixed feelings about he the news that come the new year vocalist/violinist Rhiannon Giddens will be last original member of The Carolina Chocolate Drops.
Details came from the Grammy-winning sting-band’s social media channels. Where I personally learned about it was from from their facebook page:
“We’re all getting ready to hit the road together in December for a very special US tour. At the end of these dates, Dom Flemons will be embarking on a solo career and two new musicians – cellist Malcolm Parson and multi-instrumentalist Rowan Corbett – will join Rhiannon Giddens and Hubby Jenkins in the New Year for a full run of dates!
“Dom and I have been a tremendous team for the last eight years, and I wish him all the best on his new solo endeavor. I know he will be enriching the landscape of American music wherever he goes,” Rhiannon says. “Carolina Chocolate Drops lives on, and honors all past members who have added so much over the years; we wouldn’t be where we are without each and every one. I’m looking forward to introducing new, talented musicians to the ever-expanding Chocolate Drop family!”
“Though my music is taking me to new places with my upcoming solo projects, I know that the Carolina Chocolate Drops will continue on to do new, amazing things,” says Dom. “My past eight years with the band has been a wonderful experience, musically and personally. As my music grows in a new direction, I know I can count my time with them as a building block to where I am now. I am excited to continue on my musical journey exploring the hidden facets of American Music.” Dom will kick off 2014 with a tour of Australia, and continue performing across the US throughout the year (full schedule here).
Leyla McCalla will also be departing the band in order to pursue a solo career. We’re very excited for what the future holds for Dom, Leyla, and the Chocolate Drops and we hope you’ll come along for the ride!
We hope to see you all at the shows! Please stop by the merch table to pick up this exclusive tour poster commemorating these last few shows of 2013!”
The Carolina Chocolate Drops have been one of the most exciting bands on the Americana and roots scene for the last decade. ” I’m happy that the band is not packing it in completely, but it is bittersweet that Flemons will be leaving.
Here’s to their continued success, and I look forward to seeing what the new members bring to the mix. And at some point the extended Drops family comes together for something special for the fans.
One of he bloodiest periods in American history, the Civil War (or the War of Northern Aggression as it’s often referred to south of the Mason/Dixon,) left deep and lingering cultural wounds in the nation’s psyche. These scare are often picked at by the ignorant, the malicious and those depraved enough to exploit them for power.
It’s said that music as a healing and uniting force. I believe it can be. Like Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s 1972 watershed release, “Will the Circle be Unbroken, Movie soundtrack producer Randall Poster’s “Divided and United – Songs of the American Civil War” beings together generations of country and roots musicians to interpret’s songs from both sides of the conflict.
Legends abound on “Divided and United.” Loretta Lynn’s take on “Take Your Gun and Go, John” is a stark with Lynn’s accompanied by banjo and fiddle. Her Southern lilt put an odd twist on this popular Union call to arms.
Del McCoury and Ricky Skaggs conjure bluegrass magic on the lost love lament “Lorena” and the bloody tale of brothers-in-arms “Two Soldiers,” respectively.
New blood represents the past equal aplomb. Sam Amidon’s gives a spirited performance on Joseph Philbrick Webster’s 1860 composition “Wildwood Flower” and new Opry inductees Old Crow Medicine Show give passionate performance on the globally popular “Marching Through Georgia,” though their double-time conclusion would have troops marching right past their destination.
Dirk Powell and Steve Earle trade off dutifully on the “Just Before the Battle, Mother Farewell, Mother” and makes me wish that Earle would tackle more music in this vein. Vince Gill’s expressive voice brings out the innate melancholy of a drummer boy fatally wounded at the Battle of Gettysburg on “For The Dear Old Flag, I Die.”
Charleston duo Shovels & Rope give a woozy ramshackle rendition of, naturally, “The Fall of Charleston.” John Doe’s cajun flair to “Tenting on the Old Camp Ground” and it’s ground-level account of loss and battle.
A collection like this wouldn’t be complete without the presence off T Bone Burnett, But instead of his usual shepherding of the effort he lends his halting voice to recounting the single bloodiest event in American history on “The Battle of Antietam.”
In many ways “Divided and United” tills the same ground as Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s 1972 watershed release, “Will the Circle be Unbroken.” Ages-old, deeply rooted, American music draws together generations in common reverence and celebration. This wonderful collection has the added dimension of addressing past scars and bringing just a little humility, understanding and empathy.
On November 15TH The Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum will shine a spotlight on another legend when they showcase the extraordinarily influential career of John Prine.
The exhibit opens November 15th and will follow “the Grammy-winning singer’s life from his early musical influences to his critically acclaimed career as a folk and country singer-songwriter with a knack for social commentary, free from judgment but full of poignancy, heartbreak and humor.”
More from the CMHOF press release:
The Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum will unveil a special spotlight exhibit dedicated to revered singer-songwriter John Prine on November 15. John Prine: It Took Me Years to Get These Souvenirs, which will be located within the museum’s permanent exhibit on the second floor, will incorporate instruments, manuscripts and other relics spanning Prine’s four-decade career. The exhibition will run through May 2014.
John Prine: It Took Me Years to Get These Souvenirs traces the singer’s life from his early musical influences to his critically acclaimed career as a folk and country singer-songwriter with a knack for social commentary, free from judgment but full of poignancy, heartbreak and humor.
John Prine was born October 10, 1946, in Maywood, Illinois-a suburb of Chicago. His parents gave him his first guitar for his 14th birthday. Both his family’s love of country music and its roots in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, would greatly inform Prine’s songwriting style and content.
After high school, Prine served a two-year stint in the U.S. Army before taking a job as a postal worker in Chicago, where he wrote songs while walking his route. He tried out those songs on the Chicago folk circuit. In 1971, Kris Kristofferson heard Prine perform and helped him secure a record deal.
Prine’s self-titled debut album included the songs “Hello in There,” “Paradise” and “Angel from Montgomery,” later recorded by Bette Midler, the Everly Brothers and Bonnie Raitt, respectively. The album also included one of Prine’s most famous songs, “Sam Stone,” a raw look at a drug-addicted Vietnam veteran that critic Roger Ebert called “one of the great songs of the century.”
Prine released a string of other critically acclaimed albums in the 1970s, including Diamonds in the Rough, Sweet Revenge, Common Sense and Bruised Orange. “Souvenirs,” “Christmas in Prison,” “Dear Abby” and “If You Don’t Want My Love” are among his songs from that period.
Prine moved to Nashville in the early 1980s and founded the independent record label Oh Boy Records with his longtime manager, Al Bunetta. In 1991, The Missing Years earned Prine his first Grammy, for Best Contemporary Folk Album. He won another Grammy in 2005 with Fair & Square. In 2007 he released Standard Songs for Average People, an album of duets with Mac Wiseman.
Among the artifacts on display in John Prine: It Took Me Years to Get These Souvenirs are:
– Prine’s first guitar, a 1960 Silvertone Kentucky Blue archtop
– Handwritten manuscript for “Sam Stone,” under its original title, “The Great Society Conflict Veteran Blues”
– Original, handwritten manuscript for “Angel from Montgomery”
– John Prine concert posters from the early 1970s
– Handwritten manuscript for “Dear Abby,” written on stationery from a hotel in Rome, Italy
– Customized guitar with mother-of-pearl and abalone inlays on the body, fretboard, and headstock
– Typed and handwritten three-page manuscript for “Jesus: the Missing Years,” Prine’s tongue-in-cheek, fictitious account of the life of Jesus between the ages of twelve and thirty
– 1991 Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Album for The Missing Years
– 2005 Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Album for Fair & Square
– Prine’s doodles of winged dogs and other figures, some of which were incorporated into cartoonist John Callahan’s cover art for Prine’s 1995 album, Lost Dogs and Mixed Blessings
– Street sign for John Prine Avenue, which runs through Drakesboro, Kentucky, five miles from the Muhlenberg County town of Paradise, where his parents were raised
– Country Weekly award for Favorite Line Dance Song, given to John Prine for co-writing (with Roger Cook) “I Just Want to Dance with You,” a #1 hit for George Strait in 1998
– Personalized tour books with travel itineraries for tours in 1996, 2003, 2005 and 2011
12 Years a Slave is the tale of a man abducted in New York and sold into slavery. The story’s soundtrack, overseen by R&B singer John Legend, inspired an eclectic group of songwriters and performing roots, blues, pop, and R&B.
Artists represented are Gary Clark Jr., Alabama Shakes and Cody Chesnutt as well as tracks from the score by composer Hans Zimmer.
Also included is is a new cut from “Misery Chain†by Soundgarden and Audioslave frontman Chris Cornell. This slow burner features soulful background vocals by the Civil Wars’ Joy Williams.
Cornell and Williams cut the track in Nashville and it’s produced by Charlie Peacock (The Civil Wars, Holly Williams)
Cornell told Rolling Stone “I was moved by this film and the story in a way that transcends any film experience I have ever had,” he said. “I was inspired to write a hundred different songs, but finally landed on one based on what I believe is an extremely important message I took from this man’s journey. Compassion, basic human rights and love must be our priorities above race, religion or commerce. Every generation needs a reminder of that simple idea.â€
Alan Jackson did more than sit around and gripe about the sad state of commercial country music. He went out and made a damn fine bluegrass album and reminded us all how great that music was and can be.
David Letterman and his crew continued their fine tradition of supporting fine country, roots and Americana music as they welcomed jackson and his cracker-jack band (in bluegrass is there any other kind?)
Jackson and Co. performed “Blacktop” from the newly released, and straightforwardly titled, “The Bluegrass Album†(Alan’s Country Records/EMI Nashville)
Ex Drive-By Trucker Shonna Tucker, and her new band Eye Candy, took time to kick back in a cozy abode in Winterville, GA, about 4 miles from downtown Athens, to dole out a treat that I now share with you dear lovers of music.
Behold an unplugged, and lovelingly languid, rendition of “Lonely People” from their just released debut “A Tell All.” Shonna’s vocal’s are like melting butter on a biscuit and that pedal steel cry really get’s to me.
Shooter Jennings has been hard at work forming his new label Black Country Rock, and now the fruits are being brought to bare.
Shooter Jennings acts as President while Jon Hensley handles Vice Presidentdal dutys. Lee Joines is responsible for Artist & Repetoire (A&R,) Mick Gray heads Promotions and the extraordinarily talented Keith Neltner (Hank III, Unknown Hinson (Th’ Legendary Shack Shakers) wrangles Art & Design
Black County Rock is a ” multi-format recording company is complete with satellite divisions in Los Angeles, CA and Nashville, TN as well as an active online community at bcrmedia.com”
Also from the press release: “BCR does not discriminate against formats and will release music, film and other creative projects by way of vinyl, compact disc, cassette tape, digital download, DVD, VHS and more. BCR fearlessly embraces and supports both the continuing accessibility of the technology of the present and also the preservation of tangible goods, no matter their age or obscurity.”
BCR inaugural releases, available worldwide November 29th, will be :
Waylon Jennings “Right for the Time (Remembered)â€, a fully analog remaster of Waylon’s memorable 1996 album “Right for the Timeâ€, available on Limited Edition translucent yellow Vinyl & Cassette, CD & Digital Download (stream “The Most Sensible Thing” from “Right for the Time (Remembered)†below)
Jessi Colter “Live from Cain’s Ballroomâ€, Jessi’s first live record ever, recorded in September of 2013, shows that soul never fades. This release is available on limited edition baby pink Vinyls & Cassettes, CD & DIgital Download
Shooter Jennings “The Other Liveâ€, Shooter’s 2nd live record featuring unique-to-format tracks spread across translucent blue Vinyl & Cassette, CD and Digital Download. There are at least 2 unique songs on each different format making each version a different experience for the listener. True die hard fans will need to get all three to get them all, and with all of these albums, digital downloads will be included with the analog formats.”
Also to be released are “Mystery Releases.” “Printed on a splattered grey & black vinyl and cassette, this release will definitely be the surprise of the year!
A brand new website and web store will carry each of these items. Digital versions of each record will be available online November 26th, 2013. All physical copies will be available November 29th, 2013.”
While attending the Americana conference and Festival in Nashville I took some time to head roughly 25 miles south to Franklin TN to chat with South Carolina singer Julie Roberts. I arrive at a house in a quitter residential neighborhood ringside by farms (I know, I took a wrong turn and was lucky enough to see their beauty.) The house was a single-story pleasant homes any where any family might dwell. But as Roberts sweetly welcomes my arrival I enter a state of the art music studio with all the tech and instruments (bedroom set of as a drum room) to make a hit album.
Julie hopes her new release “Good Wine and Bad Decisions†is a hit record.
Of course the lady knows a thing or two about a hit record.
Roberts burst into the mainstream country music spotlight in 2004 with there hit “Break Down Here,” which reached #18 on the Country chart. That song was from her self-titled Mercury debut. That and the follow up, “Men & Mascara,†hit the top 10 of the Country Albums chart. Her new alum, “Good Wine and Bad Decisions” is her first release in seven years and it’s a sea change for the artist bit in style and in approach to a industry
When asked about her time on Music Row, and her albums made there, Roberts says “There was a big difference between the first record and the second record sonically. on the first one we would just come to the studio like this home studio and it; was just me and Brent (Rowan), my producer. Nobody came around until we were done. We were able to focus on our vision, on the music.
“For the second record (Men & Mascara) we worked on Music Row and people were around all the time and it was kind of nerve-racking. it’s hard not to want to please people. People pleasing is a part of my personality i’m trying to change (She laughs – Roberts laughs like she songs, full-throated and unguarded.)
“After the second record i moved to L.A. to work with Lifetime on a story of my life , around my life with my mama and our time in South Carolina. moving to Nashville. There was also the story of me working for Luke (Lewis, then the head of Mercury Nashville Records) that we thought would be a good story. So while in L.A. I was working with Tom Rickman who wrote the screenplay for Coal Miner’s Daughter for Loretta Lynn. So I had to move to L.A. so he could get to know me. After a year of living out there, and taking acting lessons, I realized I had spent all my life savings on L.A. rent!”
“I called Luke and told him I was ready to come back to Nashville and record my third record which would have some of the songs that were to be featured in the movie. The heads of Lifetime kept changing the date of the movie’s release. Luke thought the album wouldn’t be as strong without the movie so he shelved the album. Sometimes it takes a year to make a movie in Hollywood. Sometimes it takes ten. I had no idea what category I was in! Luke said he wasn’t going to release the album without the movie. So I asked him to let me go, I wanted to make music. And he said “yes.” I still owed him more records, but we had a history, we’re still friends. Leaving Universal was done on good terms.”
“The same week that I left, the Nashville flood came (May 2010) and we lost our home, everything. So the rest of that year I stayed Nashville rebuilding our lives. I live with my mom and my sister. While working on the house I started with Jason (Collum), my band leader since 2006, to release my first independent album “Alive” as well as my Christmas Album “Who Needs Mistletoe” (both in 2011.) This was really great for me because i was able to make music while dealing with rebuilding our lives.”
“Also during that time, I came out publicly that I had MS. I was diagnosed in 2005 but kept it quiet. There’s a lot of misconceptions about what that can mean and what you can do. And I was afraid.”
“I had everything I had always dreamed of. My mom with me, a happy home and a record deal in Nashville. We came from a not so happy place, My daddy was an alcoholic. That may be part of the reason I love country music. I can relate to a lot of it.”
“It was a really difficult time but I needed to be honest with my fans and tell them about my MS. they needed to know what I’m going through and that I’m doing great. I take medication, I work out, I eat right. But now I feel it’s part of my purpose to keep making music and following your dreams even in the face of adversity.”
Roberts works with the Muscular Dystrophy Association The Multiple Sclerosis Association Of America to raise awareness and money by performing at local events. She also receives letters from other folks with MS that hold her as an inspiration. “I got a letter from a single mom who read one of my Facebook posts. She said she was going back to night school to be a teacher.” I feel like this is a part of my new path.”
“I try and do what I can. Golf charity events. Wine events. I like wine! (laughs) There was an amazing wine event and we played it. We made a lot of money for the National Muscular Dystrophy Association. We work a lot with the local Nashville chapter too. I do what I can. I want people to see that MS is a part of me.”
Her destiny with the legendary Sun Records was a path of fortuitous circumstance. Sun had been working with Nashville-based Make Noise Management, licensing its expansive, extraordinary catalog for film and TV advertising. The Vice President of Sun, Collin Brace, had been leading the way for branch expansion and was searching for opportunities. Under his direction Sun has made deals with Converse, Mercedes-Benz as well as a series of Sun Sessions, live performances recorded in the famed memphis studio by musicians like Justin Townes Earle and Grace Potter.
CEO of Make Noise Management, Josh Collum, recalls discussions with Brace around bringing in a new artist (the first in decades) to reboot Sun. “We had been talking to Collin about reviving the label under a new artist instead of it just being in the business of licensing , which is good business, but it’s not brining in new talent. well, the stars aligned and Julie freed up from a few things and John (Singleton. He along with his brother, the late Shelby Singleton, have owned Sun since the late 1960s) loved her. He got behind it 110% in June, and we’ve been on a roller coaster since then getting the label turned back on. We started making the record and here we are 6 weeks out from release. ”
When asked how it feels to be the contemporary face of the label that launched the careers of Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, B.B. King, Howlin’ Wolf and other legends Roberts doesn’t hesitate.
“It’s exciting, but there’s definitely pressure. All those great artists. And each one unique in their own music. I’m proud that this record, “Good Wine And Bad Decisions,” is my music and unique to me. I put everything I had into this record and I think it’ll stand up to their legacy.”
“I think it’s humbling. When we first went to meet John at Sun with Julie we were sitting in that office. At the end of the meeting Julie and John got up and shook hands and John said “Welcome to Sun records. At that point it go real.” Collum, whose been sitting by us, adds.
Julie remembers it a little differently. “It was a really surreal moment for me. Before the meeting I had been looking at these plaques from all these amazing artists. I was amazed. But at the end of the meeting John actually hugged me, he didn’t shake my hand (That laugh!) Which is even better! Then he said “Welcome to the Sun Records family.” It brought tears to my eyes ”
“When we were planning the record John asked me to look through the catalog to see of there was anything I wanted to use for the record. There was a lot to consider. We wanted to choose something that fit and hadn’t been covered a lot. Josh gave me a hard drive of about 10,000 songs. As I was going through them John sent me an email recommending the song “He Made a Woman Out of Me” (first cut by Rita Remington and later by Bobbie Gentry) I just loved it. I thought it fit my type and I loved that he thought of me for the song.”
Buddy Miller, Vice Gill and harmonica virtuoso Mickey Raphael all make appearances on “Good Wine And Bad Decisions.” I’ve always been a fan of Buddy. Julie Miller wrote “I Can’t Get Over You” from my first album. We had been covering Buddy’s “”Gasoline and Matches” on the road for a couple of years. When we asked him to song on it for the record he remembered my version of Julie’s song and said he loved it and would honored to sing on it.
“Vince Gill sang on two tracks on my first record and we sent him “Old Strings’ and told him I’d love for him to sing on it if he liked it. And he did.” ‘We asked Willis harmon a player, Mickey Raphael , to play “If I Were You” and he was awesome. Just knowing what he’s done. We knew he had played I’n town with Amos Lee and we figured out we reached out and asked him to play on the cut. ‘ This makes me wonder who says no to this woman. When I ask her she just laughs (!)
Julie tells me about the next song “Old Habit “I wrote the song for my Mom. She’s dated this guy since moving to Nashville, they go out on Saturday nights. One Saturday I asked if she was going on a date that night and she said “No, I think I’m going to tell hime I can’t.” She said “I never hear from him the rest of the week and I’n starting to feel like an old habit.” That was it. A song was born “Thanks mom!”
When I mention that music row and mainstream county radio will probably not be receptive to “Good Wine And Bad Decisions” more retie and soulful sound. As far as I could tell there was not one tail-gating song on the whole album! Collum says with a grin “There is a definite edge to the record. This is defiantly not a mainstream record. This is more Americana than it is Music Row. From a strategy point of view we are looking forward to kicking their ass by not playing by the rules.”
“This album is important to me. It’s very personal and I’m very proud of it. I can’t wait to take these songs on the road and share them with my fans.â€
Roberts was always too genuine to last on Music Row and I believe that “Good Wine and Bad Decisions†will be welcomed by her life-long fans, and find new fans of great, soulful roots music.
Willie Nelson, and his talented daughter Paula, duet beautifully on this languid version of the Creedance Clearwater Revival classic. You can almost imagine sitting on the porch and watching a spring shower.
Like many of his recent music videos this was one was shot at Willie Nelson’s replica western town in Luck, TX, (about a 45 minute ride from downtown Austin) for his own Luck Films. The video is shot in a rich black-and-white and features Paula looking lovely, Willie looking pensive riding a horse and looking pensive playing cards.
There’s also some pretty great family photos. Baby Paula ( I assume,) Willie’s pianist and sister Bobbie Nelson, Waylon and the Appalachian moonshiner legend, Marvin “Popcorn” Sutton
