Roots Run Strong for 56th Grammy Award Nominees

Grammy Noms Americana

The National Academy of Recording Arts and Science held their big to-do to announce a few of the nominees for the next round of the 56th Annual GRAMMY Awards. The choices in the Americana and roots categories again display an appreciation of some of the veterans of the genre and the roots they represent.

Collaborations reigned in the Best Americana Album category. Emmylou Harris may add another trophy to the 12 GRAMMYS she a lead has on her mantel with “Old Yellow Moon,” her duet collaboration Hot Band guitarist and legendary singer-songwriter , Rodney Crowell. Steve Martin & Edie Brickell are nominated for “Love Has Come For You,” their first joint effort and Americana stalwarts Buddy Miller And Jim Lauderdale are up for their “Buddy And Jim.” Mavis Staples , who won for Best Americana Album in 2011 is up for “One True Vine.” Legendary composer, producer, performer Allen Toussaint intimate and live deliberation of his new New York City home “Songbook” rounds out the list

Nominees for Best American Roots Song include another new New York resident (By way of Texas) Sarah Jarosz for the title cut of her third studio release, “Build Me Up From Bones.” Steve Earle snagged a spot for “Invisible,” his song focused on the homeless and indigent, from his latest “The Low Highway.” Old partners reconvene to gain a spot with Tim O’Brien & Darrell Scott’s “Keep Your Dirty Lights On” from their Memories and Moments. Best Americana Album nominees Edie Brickell & Steve Martin is nominated for the title cut “Love Has Come For You” and Allen Toussaint for “Shrimp Po-Boy, Dressed.”

There are no slackers in a bluegrass band, and Best Bluegrass Album nominees are some of the best in the field. A nice surprise was the choice for newcomers Della Mae’s nomination for their sophomore release “This World Oft Can Be” Members of The Boxcars have collected numerous IBMA and GRAMMY Awards and have shared the stage with legends so it’s no surprise that their third album “It’s Just A Road” was nominated. Though Harlan Howard was referring to country music when he coined the term “…three chords and the truth.” James King and his cracker-Jack band adopted it as the title for their first GRAMMY-nominated album. Veterans Dailey & Vincent (Jamie Dailey (guitar, bass, vocals), Darrin Vincent (mandolin, guitar, bass, vocals)) are up for their 3rd GRAMMY Award nomination for their sixth release “Brothers Of The Highway” and the Del McCoury Band nabbed a nomination for their 14th release “The Streets Of Baltimore.” Del and the band won in the category in 2006 for “The Company We Keep.”

Roots music greatness continued with the Best Folk Album category, whose boundaries blur so much with Best Americana Album category that any performer from either side could swap with a perfumer from the other and few people would notice. Patriarch singer/songwriter Guy Clark grabbed his 6th nomination for his latest “My Favorite Picture Of You.” The Greencards received their 3rd GRAMMY nomination for their sixth studio album “Sweetheart Of The Sun” and Sarah Jarosz is up for her 2nd nomination for “Build Me Up From Bones.” Newcomer favorites The Milk Carton Kids are on the list for their current “The Ash & Clay.” “They All Played For Us: Arhoolie Records 50th Anniversary Celebration,” the roots-rich benefit
in tribute to the Arhoolie Foundation, and the 50th anniversary of Arhoolie Records, is also included.

Music Row continues to show some interest in Americana-leaning performers with country newcomer
Kacey Musgraves up for Best New Artist, Best Country album (Same Trailer, Different Park) andBest Country Snog (“Merry Go ‘Round”.) Best Country Duo/Group Performance category features The Civil Wars for “From This Valley, ” Kelly Clarkson Featuring Vince Gill for “Don’t Rush” and Kenny Rogers With Dolly Parton for “You Can’t Make Old Friends.”

Other nominations honoring Americana and roots artists are the soundtrack for “Muscle Shoals”, nominated for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media.

Root-rock pioneer Neil Young, with his band Crazy Horse, is looking to garner this third GRAMMY win with “Psychedelic Pill” for Best Rock Album

Multiple GRAMMY winner, and a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, folksinger Pete Seeger received a GRAMMY nomination for “The Storm King,” in the category of Best Spoken Word Album.

Uncle Tupelo / Wilco front man Jeff Tweedy is up for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical for his work with Mavis Staples, Low and Sarah Lee Guthrie And Johnny Irion.

Alabama Shakes is up for Best Rock Performance (“Always Alright”) Jack White for Best Rock Performance (“I’m Shakin'”) Neko Case for Best Alternative Music Album (The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight…) and Mumford & Sons are nominated for Best Boxed or Special Edition Limited Package, Best Music Film (The Road to Red Rocks)

After the nominations were announced twitter was abuzz with folks pointing out a glaring oversight of Jason Isbell’s “Southeastern” for Best Americana Album. The album is on all Americana and roots music end of year lists.

Isbell took to twitter to address with humor the snub,”Don’t worry guys, I’ll get plenty of noms. There’s a Chipotle right across the street from the hotel! #NOM”

“Don’t worry guys, I’ll get plenty of noms. There’s a Chipotle right across the street from the hotel! #NOM”

Congratulations to them all the nominees. Keep an eye on GRAMMY.com and on CBS at 8 p.m. ET/P on on January 26, 2014 to see who wins.

56th Annual Grammy Award Nominees in Americana and Related Categories

Grammy Noms Americana

Here’s a list of the Country, Americana and roots and related categories from the 56th Annual GRAMMY Award Nominees. Look for a more in-depth post soon.

You can get the full list of all nominees here.

Best Americana Album:
Old Yellow Moon — Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell
Love Has Come For You — Steve Martin & Edie Brickell
Buddy And Jim — Buddy Miller And Jim Lauderdale
One True Vine — Mavis Staples
Songbook — Allen Toussaint

Best American Roots Song
“Build Me Up From Bones” Sarah Jarosz, songwriter (Sarah Jarosz) Label: Sugar Hill Records
“Invisible” – Steve Earle, songwriter (Steve Earle & The Dukes (& Duchesses)) Label: New West Records
“Keep Your Dirty Lights On” Tim O’Brien & Darrell Scott, songwriters (Tim O’Brien And Darrell Scott) Label: Full Skies Records
“Love Has Come For You” – Edie Brickell & Steve Martin, songwriters (Steve Martin & Edie Brickell) Label: Rounder; Publishers: LA Films Music/Brick Elephant Music
“Shrimp Po-Boy, Dressed” Allen Toussaint, songwriter (Allen Toussaint) Label: Rounder; Publishers: Screen Gems-EMI Music Inc/Marsaint Music, Inc.

Best Bluegrass Album
“It’s Just A Road” — The Boxcars
“Brothers Of The Highway” — Dailey & Vincent
“This World Oft Can Be” — Della Mae
“Three Chords And The Truth” — James King
“The Streets Of Baltimore” — Del McCoury Band

Best Folk Album
“My Favorite Picture Of You” — Guy Clark
“Sweetheart Of The Sun” — The Greencards
“Build Me Up From Bones” — Sarah Jarosz
“The Ash & Clay” — The Milk Carton Kids
“They All Played For Us: Arhoolie Records 50th Anniversary Celebration” — (Various Artists) Chris Strachwitz, producer

Best Country Duo/Group Performance
“From This Valley” — The Civil Wars
“Don’t Rush” — Kelly Clarkson Featuring Vince Gill
“You Can’t Make Old Friends” — Kenny Rogers With Dolly Parton

Artists/albums of interest to the Americana community, nominated in other categories:

Neil Young With Crazy Horse – Best Rock Album (“Psychedelic Pill”)
Pete Seeger – “The Storm King” (Best Spoken Word Album)
Muscle Shoals – Best Compilation Soundtrack For Visual Media
Jeff Tweedy – Producer of the Year, Non-Classical (Invisible Way (Low) • One True Vine (Mavis Staples) (A) • Wassaic Way (Sarah Lee Guthrie And Johnny Irion))
Kacey Musgraves – Best New Artist, Best Country Artist (Same Trailer, Different Park), Best Country Snog (“Merry Go ‘Round”)
Alabama Shakes – Best Rock Performance (“Always Alright”)
Jack White – Best Rock Performance (“I’m Shakin'”)
Neko Case – Best Alternative Music Album (The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight…)
Elizabeth Mitchell & You Are My Flower – Best Children’s Album (Blue Clouds)
Mumford & Sons – Best Boxed or Special Edition Limited Package, Best Music Film (The Road to Red Rocks)
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“Another Day/Another Time” Celebrates the Music of “Inside Llewyn Davis” to Air on Showtime

Another Day/Another Time

“Another Day/Another Time,” a concert inspired by the Coen Brothers’ film “Inside Llewyn Davis”, which itself was inspired by the 60’s New York folk movement, took place at Town Hall
Sun, September 29, 2013.

Luckily Showtime set up some cameras.

The concert features performances of songs from the early 1960s in addition to live renditions of the film’s folk music.

The performances include The Avett Brothers, Marcus Mumford, Jack White, Gillian Welch, Joan Baez, Dave Rawlings Machine, Rhiannon Giddens, Lake Street Dive, Colin Meloy, The Milk Carton Kids, Punch Brothers, Patti Smith, Willie Watson, and the film’s lead Oscar Isaac.

“Another Day/Another Time” will will air December 13 at 10:00 PM on Showtime.

56th Annual Grammy Awards 2014 Americana Album of the Year Predictions

Grammy Noms Americana

I’ve got no special knowledge who will be nominated for the 56th Annual Grammy Awards 2014 Americana Album of the Year. What I do know is that in the four years of this categories existence The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences has showed a preference for established, seasoned performers like Levon Helm (winner in 2010 and 2012) That makes sense in genre that draws so closely it’s lineage.

They also appear to favor acts that do well on the Americana plays charts. That makes sense, if being a tad predictable.

Last year’s nomination of John Fullbright for his debut album was a welcome surprise and hopefully signals a new opportunity of NARAS taking more chances on younger talent.

One quantitative qualifier for an album is that they had to be released between October 1, 2012 and September 30, 2013.

So, here are my predictions for the 56th Annual Grammy Award for Americana Album of the Year. I reserve the right to be 100% wrong on this.

The 56th Annual Grammy Awards will be held on January 26, 2014, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The show will broadcast on CBS at 8 p.m. ET/PT

Emmylou Harris was nominated in 2012 for “Hard Bargain.” “Old Yellow Moon,” her collaboration with Rodney Crowell, is a favorite in this category.

Southeastern is Jason Isbell’s most mature and complete work to date. And that’s a high bar.

One of the most recognizable faces of mainstream Americana The Avett Brothers are shoo-ins for their “Magpie And The Dandelion.” I retract this prediction because it wasn’t released in time to qualify for 2014.

Kacey Musgraves release “Same Trailer Different Park” is part a hybrid of wry pop and classic country. It’s hard to categorize neatly but there’s no denying it’s popularity. In other words a perfect Americana nominee. I’ve decided the odds of this are too remote to be real.

Patty Griffin is tHe perfect performer and her new album ‘American Kid’ is a perfect fit for americana AOTY.

The biggest dark horse of the bunch Sturgill Simpson’s “High Top Mountain” is, as I like to say, so country it’s Americana.

The Civil Wars self-titled post-hiatus release is probably the most sure thing on this list. One thing’s for certain, barring a miracle of reconciliation this win will result in one chilly acceptance ceremony.

Cream of the Crop – Twang Nation Top Americana and Roots Music Picks of 2013

Twang Nation Best of  2013

As the last days of 2013 drop away the business-as-usual music industry remains bogged in a largely self-inflicted quagmire, but don’t tell musicians this. Industry gatekeepers and financial barriers are being overrun by people with a passion for the craft, and the talent and drive of a refusal to be denied. And we, dear reader, are richer because of it.

If there’s a theme to this year’s choices it’s that women are blazing a trail between Americana and mainstream country music. Lindi Ortega, Brandy Clark, Julie Roberts, Kelly Willis, Aoife O’Donovan and Valerie June might honing their craft from different angles, but a more than cursory listening shows they are making great contemporary music drawing from a common roots music well.

2013 was also a great year for what might be called “real country music.” However you define this vague term (Jimmie Rodgers? Willie? Garth?) you’ll find much of Country Music’s Golden Eras reflected in Brandy Clark, Dale Watson, Sturgill Simpson, Robbie Fulks as well as the mighty Son Volt, who released one of the best albums of their career with “Honky Tonk.”

Also the craft of songwriting and rich, engaging narrative is alive on Jason isbell’s best solo outing yet, Southeastern. Also on the veteran Guy Clark’s “My Favorite Picture of You” and relative newcomers John Moreland and John Murry.

2013 brought us some of the most creative and daring music in the Country, Americana and Roots fields and all indicators point to 2014 being even better with releases upcoming from Roseanne Cash , The Drive-By Truckers, Jason Eady, The Ben Miller Band and many more.

And in spite of T Bone Burnett’s advice to keep their art pure and unscathed by dirty, dirty self-promotion, these folks are out there hustling to breach popular consciousness.

I hope this list helps in some small way.

it was a challenge to keep the list to just 10, so again this year I surrendered to representing excellence over some arbitrary number.

Don’t see your favorite represented? Leave it in the comments and let’s spread the twang.

20. Austin Lucas – Stay Reckless – Nobody does pedal-to-metal roots-rock like Lucas. “Stay Reckless” elevates his song to a new level.

19. Aoife O’Donovan – Fossils [Yep Roc Records] – Alison Krauss covered O’Donovan’s song “Lay My Burden Down,” O’Donovan’s album is so good you might forget that.

18. John Murry – The Graceless Age [Evangeline Recording] Dark and engaging without veraing into bleak and self-pitying. John Murry makes feeling bad sound good.

17. Dale Watson – El Rancho Azul [Red House] Watson finds his hony-tonk sweet spot and does the Lone Star State proud.

16. Julie Roberts – Good Wine & Bad Decisions [Red River Entertaintment] – Music Row’s golden girl confronts set-backs and tragedy by creating the best album of her career.

15. Caitlin Rose – The Stand-In – [ATO Records] Rose deftly proves that “pop” doesn’t have to be bad.

14.5 – Will Hoge – Never Give In – Roots rock with a hook done right. [Cumberland Recordings]

14. Bruce Robison, Kelly Willis – Cheater’s Game [Preminum Records] – Austin’s Americana power couple delivers an engaging charmer.

13. Sarah Jarosz – Build Me Up from Bones [Sugar Hill Records] Jarosz songwriting, playing and vocals hit a new level and shw her to be already beyond her young years.

12.5. Daniel Romano – Come Cry With Me – had to slip in this neo-trad gem in response to the comment reminding me of it’s badassery. Yes, I do read the comments when I agree with them.

12. Robbie Fulks – Gone Away Backward [Bloodshot] Fulks creates an excellent, heartfelt bluegrass album sans his signature wink and smirk.

11. Valerie June – Pushin’ Against A Stone [Concord] Newcomer June fuses roots and soul and shows why she’s an Americana rising star.

10. Holly Williams – The Highway [Georgiana Records] – The songwriting on “The Highway” moves Williams out of anyones shadow.

9. Son Volt – Honky Tonk [Rounder Records] – Jay Farrar takes up the pedal steel and re-discovers Son Volt’s soul.

8. Lindi Ortega – Tin Star [Last Gang Records] Ortega’s exceptional “Tin Star” moves her into the realm of Queen of Americana music.

7. Hiss Golden Messenger – Haw [Paradise of Bachelors] M.C. Taylor continues to explore life and faith and stake new roots music territories.

6. Gurf Morlix – Gurf Morlix Finds the Present Tense [Rootball] A legendary songwriter/musician gets existential and rewards us with a fantastic body of work.

5,5. Shonna Tucker and Eye Candy: A Tell All [Sweet Nector] – I foolishly omitted this pop-roots-soul gem on first pass. I now remedy that grievous oversight.

5. Guy Clark – My Favorite Picture of You [Dualtone] A master still makes it look easy. It ain’t.

4.John Moreland – In The Throes [Last Chance Records] Moreland is an accomplished student of song craft and “In The Throes” moves him into the master class.

3. Sturgill Simpson – High Top Mountain [High Top Mountain] Reluctant savior of outlaw soul creates a masterpiece in spite of expectations.

2. Jason Isbell – Southeastern [Southeastern Records] – With an already accomplished body of work Isbell surpasses himself and creates a classic.

1. Brandy Clark – 12 Stories [Slate Creek Records] – It takes guts to refuse to be a cog in the Music Row machine and create an debut this daringly country.

George Jones Tribute Concert Videos

george jones

Last night’s George Jones tribute held in Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena featured 40 performances honoring The Possum by artists , many of home, might not be where they are without him.

Jamey Johnson, Jim Lauderdale, Shooter Jennings and his mom Jessi Colter, Trisha Yearwood & Garth Brooks, George Strait and Alan Jackson – they all played on honor of the “greatest voice in country music.”

Billboard has a nice post on the event featuring a list of all performances.

Not sure of there’s going to be a formal network showing or DVD release of the event, but The Triggerman from Saving Country Music informed me via Twitter that “….they (the event producers) were broadcasting video feed outside and there was a camera crew, so we know the footage exists.”

That’s great news, but until that day I will post fan-made videos below.

Eric Lee Beddingfield, Mandy Barnett, Teea Goans, Chad Warrix, Greg Bates – “Who’s Gonna Fill Their Shoes”

Tommy Shaw (Styx) – “She Thinks I Still Care”

Vince Gill – “Bartender’s Blues”

Oak Ridge Boys – “Same Ole Me”

Marina McBride & George Strait – “Golden Ring”

Jamey Johnson – “Tennessee Whiskey”

Blake Shelton & Miranda Lambert – “These Days I Barely Get By”

Garth Brooks & Trisha Yearwood – “Take me”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3phmPLY1iZo

Patty Loveless – “Color Of The Blues”

Montgomery Gentry – “The Race Is On”

Brad Paisley – The One I Loved Back Then (The Corvette Song)

Jamey Johnson and Megadeath – “Wild Irish Rose”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GjtJczbZfc

George Strait – “The Grand Tour”

Alan Jackson – “He Stopped Loving Her Today”

Listen Up! Roseanne Cash – “A Feather’s Not A Bird” from the Upcoming “The River and The Thread”

Roseanne Cash - The River & The Thread

Roseanne Cash will release her 13th studio album, “The River and The Thread,” January 14, 2014 on Blue Note Records.

Cash wrote the album’s 11 original songs with her longtime collaborator (and husband) John Leventhal, who also served as producer, arranger and guitarist.

Of the album Cash says “If I never make another album I will be content, because I made this one.”

“My heart got expanded to the South, to the people I had known, to the people I met…It started by going to Arkansas, to my dad’s boyhood home…All these things started happening to feel a deeper layer of the South than I had ever experienced and I went down to the Delta, to all of the places where the great Blues musicians are from. And we went to [author William] Faulkner’s house and Oxford, Miss., and just the richness of the Delta in particular started bringing songs to us. We started finding these stories, these great stories, and melodies, that went with these experiences

Cash was joined in the studio by a cast of friends and fellow musicians who also have a deep affection for and/or roots in the South, including Cory Chisel, Rodney Crowell (who also co-wrote one song), Amy Helm, Kris Kristofferson, Allison Moorer, John Prine, Derek Trucks, John Paul White (The Civil Wars), Tony Joe White and Gabe Witcher (The Punch Brothers.)

The cut below makes good on the promotional materials promise that “A Feather’s Not A Bird” finds “… inspiration in the many musical styles associated with the South – swampy Delta blues, gospel, Appalachian folk, country and rock, to name a few”

“A Feather’s Not A Bird” sound like it was born on the bayou. It’s swampy groove works the Delta side of the tracks and certainly satisfies. There is a theme of “The map is not the territory: and a sense of discovery (or, more precisely rediscovery) that revolves around Florence, South Carolina.

Then there are gems like this:

“All the money’s in Nashville, locked inside my hit. So I’m going down to Florence jsut to learn to love the thread.” i have no idea what that means but I love it.

Pre-order The River & The Thread

“The River & The Thread” Track Listing
1. A Feather’s Not A Bird
2. The Sunken Lands
3. Etta’s Tune
4. Modern Blue
5. Tell Heaven
6. The Long Way Home
7. World Of Strange Design
8. Night School
9. 50,000 Watts
10. When The Master Calls The Roll
11. Money Road

The Story Behind “Shotgun Willie” [VIDEO]

shotgun willie

This is a great story behind the great title song of a great album.

Sure Willie is widely known as the Texas Yoda, but he has had a past occasionally reminiscent of a Cops episode. Or to paraphrase the Drive-By Truckers, it’s the duality of the Texas thing.

Remember the one where his ex-aide sewed him up in his sheets as he drunkenly slept and beat him with a broom? Good times.

Here’s another gem from Willie’s newsletter:

Willie has been described as a man of wisdom and a peacemaker, but he wasn’t always the gentle soul that many now know him as. He was nicknamed ‘Shotgun Willie’ for the shootout that happened when he heard his daughter Lana was being physically assaulted by her husband Steve.

“I ran for my truck and drove to the place where Steve and Lana lived and slapped Steve around,” Willie recalls. “He really pissed me off. I told him if he ever laid a hand on Lana again, I would come back and drown his ass. No sooner did I get back to Ridgetop than here came Steve in his car, shooting at the house with a .22 rifle. I was standing in the door of the barn and a bullet tore up the wood two feet from my head. I grabbed an M-1 rifle and shot at Steve’s car. Steve made one pass and took off.”
Willie then returned to Steve and Lana’s to find Steve had left and kidnapped their young son Nelson Ray. Lana told Willie that Steve was looking to ‘get rid of him.’ So Willie drove back to Ridgetop and waited.

“Thinking Steve would come to Ridgetop to pick me off about dusk, I hid in the truck so he couldn’t tell if I was home. We laid a trap for him. I had my M-1 and a shotgun. He drove by the house, and I ran out the garage door. Steve saw me and took off. That’s when I shot his car and shot out his tire. Steve called the cops on me. Instead of explaining the whole damn mess, the beatings and the semi-kidnapping and shooting and all, I told the officers he must have run over the bullet. The police didn’t want to get involved in hillbilly family fights. They wrote down what I told them on their report and took off.”

Not clear on what ever happened to the scumbag Steve or daughter Lana, but as we say in Texas, i’m not letting facts get in the way of a good story.

T Bone Burnett Is Wrong

T Bone Burnett

T Bone Burnett Is Wrong

While discussing working on the Coen brothers upcoming Greenwich Village folk-movement inspired soundtrack for “Inside Llewyn Davis,” with American Songwriter singer/songwriter/producer and auteur of the austere T Bone Burnett took the occasion to deride both technology and self-promotion.

Now the negative impact of technology on the music industry, from piracy to inferior audio quality, is well documented and debated. Given Burnett’s years of expertise as a successful musician and producer he has the upper hand when discussing technology’s impact on sonic and creative part of the music industry.

Where Burnett gets it wrong is when he says:

“Self-promotion is a horrible thing. As soon as an artist self promotes he ceases to become an artist, he becomes a salesman.’

T Bone should know better.

Many early twenty century artists that influence Burnett’s dust-bowl aesthetic were quite adept at using the technology of their day to have their music heard and to make people aware of upcoming shows and new releases.. They were equally adept at the art, yes art, of self-promotion as they were songwriting and performing.

Ralph Stanley, who Burnett worked with on the Americana watershed OST for ‘O Brother Where Art Thou,” recounts in his book “Man of Constant Sorrow: My Life and Times” that he, his brother Carter, regularly made use of the self-promotion technology of the day, radio, becoming regular personalities on the local station WNVA in Norton, Virginia.

After graduating from high school, and receiving an honorable discharge from the Army, Stanley returned to Virginia where he and Carter formed a and their band, the Clinch Mountain Boys, and established themselves in Bristol, Virginia’s WCYB scheduling.

Would Burnett consider Ralph Stanley a “salesman” in the derisive vein he spoke above? I don’t think so.

But there Dr. Ralph was, utilizing the social media of his day, the radio — promoting his music and upcoming live shows at local schools and churches. In other words self-promoting.

Many of the folk artists that paved the way for Americana and country music honed their chops, both musical and self-promotional, traveling with medicine shows. These mobile infomercials arrived shortly after the Civil War and employed tumblers, dancers, fire-eaters, snake handlers, comedians and hillbilly musicians to attracted the locals with pockets full from selling their harvest. Once a crowd had formed some smooth-talking huckster pitched some panacea sure to cure all ailments.

These traveling shows might not have cured folks, but they allowed musicians to perform in front of an audience. It also taught them the importance of promotion and selling.

T Bone himself owes much of his storied career to the tools of self-promotion. After a series of post high school bands he landed a plum gig. a touring guitarist for a master of self-promotion, Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue.

In 2000, Burnett produced the soundtrack and wrote the score for the Coen Brothers film, ‘O Brother, Where Art Thou?’. The award-winning, best-selling soundtrack featuring Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss, Ralph Stanley, Gillian Welch and others. This not only brought rural roots and blues music back into mainstream consciousness it brought it’s creator there as well.

More movies, like Crazy Heart and I Walk the Line, and production credits for Elvis Costello, Allison Krauss and Robert Plant, B.B. King, Elton JOhn and many others looking for a particular, and lucrative, sound followed.

These gigs didn’t fall out of the sky or find just the right man the right mix of talents serendipitously. Burnett’s reputation preceded him. A reputation formed partially by talent and partially by promoting, self or otherwise.

Art and commerce has always had a thorny relationship, Cultural artifacts — visual arts, music, theatre , etc. — in modern history have always relied on state or private benefactors to assure the creator the lifestyle to create more work and, ideally, free from intrusion. This arrangement doesn’t come cheap.

It’s cliche to say the music industry is in turmoil. Much of the churn is self-inflicted apathy fueled by short-term, greedy delusion that music would always remain trapped in physical objects. And that the price of those objects would forever be dictated by the labels.

But the Genie made it out.

We now see the product is not the record/tape/disc. It’s the music. The invisible music contained within the grooves or tape has been released, forever to buy on demand, anywhere. Or to steal just as readily.

But in turmoil there;s often opportunity and affordable technology has also allowed artists to take control of their careers by allowing access to production, communication and promotion.

I respect Burnett, and everything he’s done, and continues to do, for a the Americana genre I deeply love. But the above quote exhibits a state of ideal detachment, of artistic purity, that he himself has not practiced.

This idea that is dangerous for budding artists that want to make music a sustainable vocation, as well as for fans that want to hear that music. If this advice was to be taken as gospel many trees would fall in the forest unheard.

But young artists know better. They’ve grown up in a mediated culture that not only feeds into their art but also into how they present it.

Just as Americana music has to recreate itself to thrive as a viable genre in the contemporary world, and not a cultural tinotype thick with nostalgic dust, musicians have adapted and thrived. We have more music being produced now than anytime in human history.

Burnett , of all people, should understand that self-promotion, and prudent technology use with fair and equitable reimbursement, is a age-old practice that paves a way for creativity and discovery.

Then There Was One – Rhiannon Giddens Remains As Only Carolina Chocolate Drops Member

Carolina Chocolate Drops

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!

Below are our remaining tour dates for 2013:

12/06 Variety Playhouse, Atlanta, GA Tickets
12/07 The Orange Peel, Asheville, NC Tickets
12/08 The Orange Peel, Asheville, NC Tickets
12/12 Bijou Theatre, Knoxville, TN Tickets
12/13 Bijou Theatre, Knoxville, TN Tickets
12/14 Neighborhood Theatre, Charlotte, NC Tickets
12/15 Neighborhood Theatre, Charlotte, NC Tickets

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.