Category Archives: Americana

Video Premier- Emmylou Harris : Goodnight Old World

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Goodnight Old World is the first video from Emmylou Harris’ upcoming album Hard Bargain. The video  will be included as a DVD with the Deluxe Edition of album. Harris co-wrote the song with Will Jennings, as a  bittersweet lullaby to her newly born grandchild, contrasting a grown-up’s world-weariness with a baby’s wide-eyed wonder.

Producer Jay Joyce uses same ethereal, gauzy atmosphere that Daniel Lanois used with Harris’ acclaimed 1995 release Wrecking Ball and the technique suits Harris’ voice like a velvet glove. The song is melancholy and hopeful in the same way that old country songs used to be morally ambiguous and almost Gothic in their style.

This is a great glimpse of a highly anticipated album I hope meets this first cuts high standard.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54cxG3lOS58&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]

Tommy Shaw – A Carpetbagger Delivers

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Country music has always had carpetbaggers trying to cash in on the mother lode that the genre holds. Bing Crosby wrapped his silky baritone around Gene Autry and the Sons of the Pioneers songs.Aussie Olivia Newton-John was named the Country Music Association Female Vocalist of the Year in 1974 (beating out Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, and Tanya Tucker!) and recently we’ve seen Jessica Simpson, Bon Jovi, Gweneth Paltrow the likes of Hootie (Darius Rucker) with very different levels of success.

Though more open in it’s path to entrance, Americana has also had its share of musicians that have come from their well-trod genre and gone over the figurative prairie and through the hollers toward roots and alt.country music. Elvis Costello, Robert Plant and John Fogerty have moved toward American though the move to get there is less of a career lurch than the aforementioned country list. I also believe that the motives of musicians that move to Americana are purer than those that move to the largess of Nashville’s Music Row style of country music. They payout is certainly less but the music is much, much better.

Recently I learned that Tommy Shaw of Styx fame making a bluegrass album. Whatever you think of 70’d rock Styx was a staple of that era and had some of the best songs of the era and Shaw penned some of the bands most enduring hits, including the  rousing ode to the common bubba “Blue Collar Man.” Born in Montgomery, Alabama is a son of the South and , like comedian Steve Martin, Shaw has decided to tackle the most difficult form of roots music – bluegrass. As I once heard a wise man say “There are no slackers in a bluegrass band.”

“The Great Divide” was released on March 22nd and I have yet to hear the entire album, but based on what I see from the video clips I’m a believer and welcome Shaw’s skill and passion to the roots music fold.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXkqbAgpj9w&feature=player_embedded#at=41[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3_C7sRGdLM[/youtube]

Alison Krauss & Union Station – Paper Airplane Video

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I wondered what the new Alison Krauss & Union Station would change their sound like in the wake of her collaboration with Rock God Robert Plant that netted the duo, and producer T Bone Burnett,  5 Grammys including Album of the Year and platinum status for Raising Sand. The answer from the sound of their first self-titled single from their upcoming Paper Airplane (4/12)  appears to be not much. I guess after you’ve won 26 Grammys and sold millions of albums you don’t try and fix what isn’t broken. The video has a Grapes of Wrath-era look that fits the sound the band has cultivated over their 21 years in existence. But like the stiletto shoes that accompany Krauss’ simple gabardine dress there is a contemporary slant to their unique bland of bluegrass. I am willing to say that few can match Krauss in the vox department.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMBpBjFfVyo&feature=channel_video_title[/youtube]

Music Review – Lucinda Williams – Blessed [Lost Highway]

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It’s a staple of the blues mythos that things are bad and bound to get worse – Born under a bad sign, Born to Lose, Ain’t No Luck But Bad Luck… yeah, not a lot of sunshine on this side of the street.

Since moving to L.A. and marrying her manager, Tom Overby, on stage after a Minneapolis, Minn. concert in a nod to the late Hank Williams (no relation)- who married his second wife, Billie Jean, on stage in New Orleans – the Queen of Americana Music has seemed more satisfied of late and, dare I say, happy.

Williams catalog, like the great songs from country and blues music, is full of great songs about lost or unrequited love, but happiness? How does that work?

On her 9th studio album, Blessed Williams’ proves it can work quite well. The album opener Born To Be Loved is a tender blues number of affirmations. “You weren’t born to be abandoned. You weren’t born to be forsaken, you were born to be loved.” Williams world-weary voice and great immediacy of Producer Don Was and musical accompaniment drains any sap that might have crept into the song Buttercup is a barn burner that continues analogous caparisons with love and the natural world that was part of her last release Little Honey.

Not that everything has been rosy in her life; Williams saw the death of her longtime manager Frank Callari and the suicide of musical contemporary Vic Chesnutt, but the respective odes to these lost friends, the Wicked Game-slink of  Copenhagen and the rocking Seeing Black take these difficult topics and reflects on them with maturity and grace.

This approach is also applied to Soldier’s Song , a statement on war told as a shifting narrative from the killing fields to Main Street. It’s striking in how Williams finds from the poignant to normality and back again to heartbreaking conclusion.

I Don’t Know How You’re Livin’ is a song of devotion and faith that rolls on waves of pedal steel and slide guitar and Convince Me simmers with a longing  from the narrator that succinctly sets the tone for the records, and Lucinda Williams new direction overall. She’s seems be be hopeful by creating songs that direct us toward, if not outright deliver at our feet, hope.

Buy | Official Site

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrN9Wgh5Aic&feature=related[/youtube]

Music Review: Sunday Valley – To the Wind and On To Heaven [self-released]

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Here is a record that has been on heavy rotation at Casa Twang for the past two weeks.

For the past decade or so Music City has fumbled like a mad scientist to piece together sure-fire radio hits from the worst parts of rock and country music , though there have been major financial success, the lifespan of the work is questionable. The musical limbs seem to reject each other. And we’re not talking about rap and country music here (shut it Colt Ford!) It’s country music and rock music. They share the same DNA for tap-dancing  jeebus sakes!

These hacks should take a page from South-Eastern Kentucky’s Sunday Valley. The trio’s name ,the title of their debut album (recorded at Shangri-la Productions in Lexington, Ky with producer Duane Lundy) and sizzling cuts like Jesus Boogie might lead you to believe they are a Christan band, and they might very-well be. But they travel the road straddling the spiritual and the secular blazed by Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Ralph Stanley, Johnny Cash and Elvis. The borderlands of gospel, country and country music become a blur out the window of a pedal-to-the-metal 18-wheeler fueled on whiskey, a electrified Telecaster the holy Pentecost.

Case in point, the souped-up gospel of All The Pretty Colors and Sometimes Wine whips up a rightous ruckus as Sturgill Simpson sings with full-on abandon and treats his guitar like it spoke ill of his mama. Gerald Evans’ chugging bass and drummer Edgar Purdom’s tight , heated keep a heated, steady pace. There is also a nice uncredited fiddle and barrel-house piano to round things out.

Never Go To Town Again is Southern rock with the brake off. Simpson sets himself up in a John Henry-like man vs machine duet with his Telecaster. He wails and calls while the machine snarls and snaps with a fury that would  make Cerberus whimper.

Things throttle down a bit for some Allman Bros-esque Blue-Eyed soul. Oh, Sarah yearns dreamily toward a road-as-mistress theme and I Wonder and I Don’t Mind are great barroom weepers that burns with longing and regret, the latter tales off like a great, lost Marshall Tucker Band song.  Cut The Sails is straight-up acoustic fireside country ballad tracing back country music nautical roots in the spirit of George Strait  or John Anderson. These all really showcase the nuance and range of Simpson’s voice.

Simpson reportedly left a steady job with the railroad to pursue his dream of making music like they couldn’t dream of doing anything else. This is music that is as good-hearted as it is raucous,  full of piss and vinegar as well as good will, and and as ready to love as itchin’ to fight.

My Space | Buy

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51Vfx4OvpXE[/youtube]

News Round Up: Jimmie Dale Gilmore Premiers Heirloom Music

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  • Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Hardly Strictly Bluegrass fans take note! Texas’ Americana music legend  Jimmie Dale Gilmore waxes philosophic on what is wrong with country music today. Gilmore’s upcoming release was done with Hardly Strictly Bluegrass benefactor Warren Hellman, and his band the Wronglers. The album is a collection of vintage Nashville classics entitled Heirloom Music, which they’ll be premiering at Slim’s in San Francisco on Sunday3/10/11  afternoon.
  • On March 17 “Americana @ The Bluebird Cafe” show will focus on the rock side of Americana, with performances from Webb Wilder, Brad Jones and Hans Rotenberry. Tickets for the 9 p.m. show are $20, available through bluebirdcafe.com beginning at 8 a.m. on March 10, and all proceeds will go to the Americana Music Association. Also planned for this month are two more “Americana @ The Bluebird Cafe” shows: Shelby Lynne and Allison Moorer will perform on March 22, and there’ll be a Jerry Douglas & Friends concert March 24th.
  • In support of his latest solo effort, the T Bone Burnett produced Low Country Blues, Gregg Allman has announced a solo tour that will launch April 19th in North Charleston, SC. For the first handful of dates, Allman will be joined by the Steve Miller Band. Allman will also be performing at several festivals this summer, including Bonnaroo and Nateva Music Festival. Press for Allman also indicates that he’ll be “back doing shows in late summer into the fall” as well.

News Round Up: New releases coming from Emmylou Harris, Amanda Shires, The Felice Brothers and Caitlin Rose

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For fans of great Americana music the early new year looks to be bringing a bounty of excellent choices.

  • Americana and Country music legend Emmylou Harris will release her 21st studio release Hard Bargain, on April 26 on Nonesuch Records.Hard Bargain features 11 new songs by Harris as well as two covers, was produced by Jay Joyce (Cage the Elephant, Patty Griffin). A deluxe edition of the album, which includes a DVD featuring six performances interspersed with interviews, will also be available. In celebration of the release, Harris will embark on a series of special performances including a showcase at the 2011 SXSW Music and Media Conference on Thursday, March 17, at the Americana Music night.
  • Up-state New York’s Felice Brothers will release Celebration, Florida on thier new label Fat Possum. The album was recorded in the library and theater of Beacon, NY’s old high school and is produced by Jeremy Backofen. I’m a huge fan of The Felice Brothers and the PR sheet about the new album sounds like it’s goig to be a good one, but one part gives me pause. “unexpected 808s, ambient synth lines.” I’m will to guess their screwing with me. They do offer a song on the new album entitled “Dallas” (my home town), so I may forgive much more than I would. The Felice Brothers will embark on a six-week spring headlining tour of the US, Australia, and New Zealand. The Felice Brothers are also set to perform at this year’s SXSW festival in Austin, TX, at Auditorium Shores on March 19th alongside Bright Eyes, Middle Brother, Man Man, and Kurt Vile, and will make their debut at the sold out Coachella festival in Indio, CA, on April 16th.
  • Nashville’s Caitlin Rose full-length debut, Own Side Now, will be released on March 15, 2011 on Theory 8 Records. Rose co-produced the record with Mark Nevers (Lambchop, Will Oldham & Andrew Bird) & Skylar Wilson (Justin Townes Earle).

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpHYYUZqX1A.[/youtube]

  • Texas’ own beguiling  Amanda Shires will release her new album Carrying Lightning, out May 3 on Silver Knife Records. She will tour soon-after.

 

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N53rN5J24Tg[/youtube]

My Jukebox – Amanda Shires

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My Jukebox is a new Twang Nation feature where I ask musicians and other folks about their recent  listening choices.

photo Credit: Joshua Black Wilkins

For Americana chanteuse Amanda Shires music is ubiquitous. “I listen to music when the alarm goes off, when I ride or drive, when I can’t sleep, in the airport, when I shop, in a box with a fox…,” Shires says showing her inner Seuss.

‘Like a lot of musicians I listen to everything. I love great songs.  I don’t think I have a wide strike zone–I just think that if the song is there, then that’s why I like something. So, it could be anything from Nicki Minaj to Bob Wills…Bush to Beethoven..and a ton of songwriters.”

“I used to work at Ralph’s Records in Lubbock, TX so I was exposed to all sorts of things.  I got to hear a lot of music I wouldn’t have heard if I hadn’t worked there. That said,  I know what I can’t stand.”

Her current playlist reflects her current “winter moods.” and spans from the Gypsy-folk of DeVotchKa, to blues-garage duo The Black Keys and, showing her Texas roots, Waylon Jennings and Buck Owens .

1.  Out With The Tide – A.A. Bondy
2.  The Corner – Cory Branan
3.  100 Other Lovers – DeVotchKa
4.  Sweet Boy -  Dolorean (this whole album The Unfazed is amazing)
5.  Waitin In Your Welfare Line – Buck Owens
6.  Howlin’ for you – Black Keys
7.  You Can’t Talk To Me Like That Anymore – Rod Picott
8.  Wrecking Ball -  Gillian Welch
9.  Hank Williams Jr. Drunk as Hell Live!
10. Another Place Another Time – Jerry Lee Lewis
11. The Curse – Josh Ritter
12. Sixes and Sevens – Lucero
13. Black Rose-Waylon Jennings( all of Honky Tonk Heroes really)
14. Jewelbomb – Richard Buckner
15. My Narrow Mind-16 Horsepower

Amanda Shires’ new release,  Carrying Lightning comes out May 3/11. She will be be touring behind it soon after.

News Round Up: The Dixie Chicks Featured on Steve Martin’s Upcoming Album

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  • The Dixie Chicks are featured on Steve Martin’s upcoming bluegrass album “Rare Bird Alert”! You can pre-order the album now on Steve’s website before the record comes out on March 15th.
  • You can stream Lucinda Williams new album Blessed in full at NPR.
  • Louisville, KY-based Americana/ roots band Slithering Beast will release new EP called “Delicious” coming out next week (2/27). For one week from release day the EP will be available for free from the band’s site. On Saturday, March 5th there will be an official CD release party at Ear X Tacy records in Louisville, Kentucky and  the record will be for sale through CD Baby, iTunes and  local retailers.