Willie Nelson and Asleep at the Wheel Surprise Fans at Austin’s Broken Spoke 2-4-2016

Willie Nelson and Asleep at the Wheel

If you were lucky enough to be in the crowd at the legendary honky-tonk broken spoke in Austin last night to see Ray Benson and Asleep at the Wheel you were treated to a special guest appearance.

Willie Nelson made a surprise appearance and he entertained the crowd with many of the classics they recorded together on 2009’s ‘Willie and the Wheel.’ In all Willie and the Wheeel covered 25 songs to the attentively stunned, very lucky, crowd.

Lumineers Announce New LP ‘Cleopatra,’ Hear New Song ‘Ophelia’

Lumineers

Colorado pop-folk band the Lumineers were celebrated and derided for the 2012 earworm “Ho Hey” that taught a whole generation to stomps and clap in unison. To their credit instead of rushing out ‘The Lumineers II” to capitalize on the success of their Grammy-nominated 2013 self-titled album the band took time making their sophomore follow up ‘Cleopatra.’ (out April 8th)

“‘Ophelia’ is a vague reference to people falling in love with fame,” songwriter, lead vocalist, guitarist Wesley Schultz told EW. “That spotlight can seem like an endless buffet, but in reality, you’re just shiny, bright and new to people for a quick moment — and then you have the rest of your life to live.”

“Ophelia,” the new cut from ‘Cleopatra.’ First thought is it takes big balls to give your song the same title as one of the most famous songs by The Band, but hey (Ho!), shoot for the stars. The song has a slightly edgier tone than their earlier work though the signature foot stomps and belts of “Oh” are still evident.

Take a listen:

The Lumineers debuted in 2012 with their eponymous album. In 2013, they were nominated for two Grammy Awards, Best New Artist and Best Americana Album. The album reached Number Two on the Billboard 200 while the hit “Ho Hey” stayed in the Top 10 on the Hot 100 for 14 weeks.

Head to thelumineers.com to check out newly posted tour dates.

Cleopatra track list

1. “Sleep On The Floor”
2. “Ophelia”
3. “Cleopatra”
4. “Gun Song”
5. “Angela”
6. “In The Light”
7. “Gale Song”
8. “Long Way From Home”
9. “Sick In The Head”
10. “My Eyes”
11. “Patience”

Hayes Carll To Release New Album “Lovers and Leavers” on April 8

Hayes Carll To Release New Album “Lovers and Leavers”

Hayes Carll fans have been waiting 5 long years for a new album. Well, the wait is over!

Over four albums Carll has carried in a Tecas songwriting tradition of heart-on-sleeve and sung with a wry smile also reflected in the works of Guy Clark , Townes Van Zandt, Lyle Lovett and Kelly Willis. His newest release ‘Lovers and Leavers,’ (April 8th through Thirty Tigers) was recorded late last year in Los Angeles with producer Joe Henry, appears to have a darker edge.

From the press release “I’m a singer-songwriter, [and] I think Lovers and Leavers comes closer to reflecting that than any other record I’ve made.”

“I didn’t have one song that I knew would be a sing along or would make people dance,” Carll reflects. “I felt vulnerable in a way that I hadn’t in a long time. But I got what I wanted — a record with space, nuance, and room to breathe. It felt right for my art. It felt right for my life.

“Lovers and Leavers isn’t funny or raucous,” he continues. “There are very few hoots and almost no hollers. But it’s joyous, and it makes me smile. No, it’s not my Blood on the Tracks, nor is it any kind of opus. It’s my fifth record — a reflection of a specific time and place. It is quiet, like I wanted it to be.”

Hear the song, “The Love That We Need” below. The song is co-written by Carll, Jack Ingram, and Allison Moorer.

Hayes Carll’s song “Chances Are” is nominated for the “Best Country Song” Grammy. The song is an outstanding cut from Lee Ann Womack’s latest ‘The Way I’m Livin’.

Lovers and Leavers track list:

“Drive”
“Sake of the Song”
“Good While It Lasted”
“You Leave Alone”
“My Friends”
“The Love That We Need”
“Love Don’t Let Me Down”
“The Magic Kid”
“Love Is So Easy”
“Jealous”

Hear John Paul White’s ‘Simple Song’ From Dave Cobb’s Upcoming ‘Southern Family’

Dave Cobb's 'Southern Family'

Grammy-nominee Dave Cobb mentioned during our interview that working with Shooter Jennings was the conduit to pitting him on the path of getting back in touch with his cultural roots and the music that draws from that rich soil. One body of work in particular was part of that reawakening. The Glyn Johns produced ‘White Mansions,’ a 1978 concept album spearheaded by Shooter’s dad Waylon featuring Jennings, Jessi Colter, John Dillon and Steve Cash ( Ozark Mountain Daredevils) and Eric Clapton played guitar on several tracks showed Cobb another side of country music/ As he put it “that’s the record that really got me. There’s something about the way it felt. It came at country in a very cinematic way, it’s very powerful.”

‘Southern Family’ is Cobb’s homage to that pivital album. ‘Southern Family’ is a compilation produced and conceived by the Producer of the Year Grammy-nominee and features many of his friends and collaborators – Jason Isbell, Zac Brown, Miranda Lambert, Morgane and Chris Stapleton, Jamey Johnson, Anderson East, Holly Williams, Brent Cobb, Brandy Clark, Shooter Jennings, Rich Robinson and John Paul White. Recorded in Nashville throughout the fall of 2015, the album features ten original songs and two covers including Morgane Stapleton with Chris Stapleton’s rendition of “You Are My Sunshine.” Out lining the textures that make up the Americana sound the songs rooted in country, blues, folk and rock.

Of his vision behind the project, Cobb comments, “Somebody said, ‘You should make a concept record,’ and I kind of giggled about it for a second. But, then I thought, man, wouldn’t it be amazing to have all my friends on one record and really find a common thread? Southern Family, about their mothers, grandparents, kids, siblings, these detailed stories about how they grew up and their families and the things that make them who they are.” He adds, “This really encapsulates Nashville right now. There’s something to it. There’s something in the air. There’s a lot of great things about Nashville. There’s something here that doesn’t exist anywhere else in my lifetime. I’m sure this happened in London in the ‘60s and California in the ‘70s and maybe New York in the late ’50s or early ‘60s. But I think, right now, Nashville is the home of music.”

Of his involvement in the project, John Paul White explains, “When Dave approached me about the project, I had a pretty large ‘Keep Out’ sign in my yard. He was in the Shoals working on Anderson East’s record, and came by to say hi. We’d never formally met. I told him I was a fan of his at the Americanas earlier, but that was the extent of our conversations. He eloquently laid out his master plan and sucked me right in. I was immediately intrigued by the framework, but was ultimately sold on it by his passion. I could tell that this album really meant something to him, and that meant something to me. I’m happy to say that it’s been a pleasure creating alongside Dave. I’m incredibly flattered and thankful to be involved with a project this unique, and with the caliber of musicians and artists that Dave has brought to the table.”

Dave Cobb—will be released March 18 on Low Country Sound/Elektra Records and is now available for pre-order (iTunes.)

Southern Family Track List
1. John Paul White “Simple Song”
2. Jason Isbell “God Is A Working Man”
3. Brent Cobb “Down Home”
4. Miranda Lambert “Sweet By and By”
5. Morgane Stapleton with Chris Stapleton “You Are My Sunshine”
6. Zac Brown “Grandma’s Garden”
7. Jamey Johnson “Momma’s Table”
8. Anderson East “Learning”
9. Holly Williams “Settle Down”
10. Brandy Clark “I Cried”
11. Shooter Jennings “Can You Come Over”?
12. Rich Robinson (featuring The Settles Connection) “The Way Home”

Hear John Paul White’s ‘Simple Song’ from ‘Southern Family’ below

Grammys 2016 – Alabama Shakes , Punch Brothers, Mavericks, Jason Isbell, Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell Among Roots Nominees

58th-Grammy-Logo

The Recording Academy® announced nominations for the 58th Annual GRAMMY Awards® in all 83 categories this morning. The nominees were selected from more than 21,000 submissions entered from the only peer-based music award, voted on by The Academy’s membership body of creators across all disciplines of music, including recording artists, songwriters, producers, and engineers.

Roots rock band Alabama Shakes has proven crossover appeal by a snagging a total of five GRAMMY nominations for their latest ‘Sound & Color.
Punch Brothers follow with 3 nominations. The Mavericks, Jason Isbell and Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell follow with 2 nominations apiece.

Lee Ann Womack is up for Best Country Solo Performance and Hayes Carll received a Best Country Song nomination for “Chances Are,” a great track on her album “The Way I’m Livin’.”

Roots super-producer Dave Cobb (Jason Isbell, Sturgill Simpson, Chris Stapleton) is up for Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical and the GRAMMY voters again prove more open that genre specific award shows by nominating Ashley Monroe, Kacey Musgraves and current country / roots (deserving) darling Chris Stapleton for Best Country Album alongside mainstream favorites Sam Hunt and Little Big Town.

Gospel and soul legend and Best Americana Album recipient Mavis Staples was nominated for Best American Roots Performance for her version of ” Blind Lemon Jefferson’s ‘See That My Grave Is Kept Clean’ from her latest ‘Your Good Fortune’ EP.

Bob Dylan’s ‘Shadows in the Night’ is up for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album and British pop-soul crooner James Bay is nominated for Best New Artist. Wilco and My Morning Jacket are both up for Best Alternative Music Album.

made a name for himself this year by melding his deep, melodic voice with simple, blues-inspired guitar riffs. He released his debut album Chaos and the Calm, which is also nominated for a Best Rock Album Grammy, this past March, earning comparisons to pal Ed Sheeran, whom he’s performed with before.

Final-round GRAMMY® ballots will be mailed Dec. 16 and the will be presented Monday, Feb. 15, 2016, live from STAPLES Center in Los Angeles and broadcast on the CBS Television Network from 8 – 11:30 p.m. (ET/PT).

Best Country Album:
Sam Hunt, Montevallo
Little Big Town, Pain Killer
Ashley Monroe, The Blade
Kacey Musgraves, Pageant Material
Chris Stapleton, Traveller

Best Americana Album:
Brandi Carlile, The Firewatcher’s Daughter
Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell, The Traveling Kind
Jason Isbell, Something More Than Free
The Mavericks, Mono
Punch Brothers, The Phosphorescent Blues

Best Country Duo/Group Performance
Brothers Osborne, “Stay a Little Longer”
Joey + Rory, “If I Needed You”
Charles Kelley, Dierks Bentley & Eric Paslay, “The Driver”
Little Big Town, “Girl Crush”
Blake Shelton feat. Ashley Monroe, “Lonely Tonight”

Best Country Song
Lee Ann Womack, “Chances Are”
Tim McGraw, “Diamond Rings And Old Barstools”
Little Big Town, “Girl Crush”
Brandy Clark, “Hold My Hand”
Chris Stapleton, “Traveller”

Best Country Solo Performance
Cam, “Burning House”
Chris Stapleton, “Traveller”
Carrie Underwood, “Little Toy Guns”
Keith Urban, “John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16”
Lee Ann Womack, “Chances Are”

Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical:
Jeff Bhasker
Dave Cobb
Diplo
Larry Klein
Blake Mills

Best American Roots Performance:

And Am I Born To Die
Béla Fleck & Abigail Washburn, And Am I Born To Die
Track from: Béla Fleck And Abigail Washburn

Buddy Guy, Born To Play Guitar
Track from: Born To Play Guitar

The Milk Carton Kids, City Of Our Lady
Track from: Monterey

Punch Brothers, Julep
Track from: The Phosphorescent Blues

Mavis Staples, See That My Grave Is Kept Clean
Track from: Your Good Fortune

Best American Roots Song

All Night Long
Raul Malo, songwriter (The Mavericks)
Track from: Mono
Label: The Valory Music Co.; Publisher(s): Big Machine Music/Raul Malo Music

The Cost Of Living
Don Henley & Stan Lynch, songwriters (Don Henley & Merle Haggard)
Track from: Cass County
Label: Capitol Records; Publisher(s): Wisteria Music (GMR) admin. by Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp./Matanzas Music

Julep
Chris Eldridge, Paul Kowert, Noam Pikelny, Chris Thile & Gabe Witcher, songwriters (Punch Brothers)
Track from: The Phosphorescent Blues
Label: Nonesuch; Publisher(s): Chris Thile Music, Money Baby Music, Noam Tunes, Silver Hammer Music, Paul Kowert

The Traveling Kind
Cory Chisel, Rodney Crowell & Emmylou Harris, songwriters (Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell)
Track from: The Traveling Kind
Label: Nonesuch; Publisher(s): Criterion Music o/b/o Coolwell Music/Almo Music Corp. o/b/o Poodlebone Music/Chisel Publishing

24 Frames
Jason Isbell, songwriter (Jason Isbell)
Track from: Something More Than Free
Label: Southeastern Records; Publisher(s): Songs Of Emchant

Best Bluegrass Album

Pocket Full Of Keys
Dale Ann Bradley
Label: Pinecastle Records

Before The Sun Goes Down
Rob Ickes & Trey Hensley
Label: Compass Records Group

In Session
Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver
Label: Mountain Home Music Company

Man Of Constant Sorrow
Ralph Stanley & Friends
Label: Red River Entertainment

The Muscle Shoals Recordings
The Steeldrivers
Label: Rounder

Best Blues Album
Descendants Of Hill Country
Cedric Burnside Project
Label: Cedric Burnside Project

Outskirts Of Love
Shemekia Copeland
Label: Alligator Records

Born To Play Guitar
Buddy Guy
Label: RCA Records/Silvertone Records

Worthy
Bettye LaVette
Label: Cherry Red

Muddy Waters 100
John Primer & Various Artists
Label: Raisin Music Records

Best Folk Album

Wood, Wire & Words
Norman Blake
Label: Plectrafone Records

Béla Fleck And Abigail Washburn
Béla Fleck & Abigail Washburn
Label: Rounder

Tomorrow Is My Turn
Rhiannon Giddens
Label: Nonesuch

Servant Of Love
Patty Griffin
Label: PGM

Didn’t He Ramble
Glen Hansard
Label: Anti

Best Regional Roots Music Album

Go Go Juice
Jon Cleary
Label: FHQ Records

La La La La
Natalie Ai Kamauu
Label: KEKO Records

Kawaiokalena
Keali’i Reichel
Label: Punahele Productions

Get Ready
The Revelers
Label: The Revelers

Generations
Windwalker And The MCW
Label: MCW Productions / PK Productions LLC

Contest – Johnny Cash – Man In Black: Live in Denmark 1971

Johnny Cash - Man In Black: Live in Denmark 1971

Step right up folks for a chance to win special contest featuring none other than the Man in Black, Johnny Cash.

One lucky winner will receive one Record Store Day exclusive copy of Legacy Recordings limited edition, pressed on white and red colored vinyl, Record Store Day Black Friday release.

Recorded as a concert special on Danish television this collection offers classics like “I Walk the Line,” “Me and Bobby McGee,” and “Folsom Prison Blues.” These songs were originally only available as a performance video of the event.

To enter just comment below (make sure to use a legit email) and tell us your favorite Johnny Cash song. One winner will be picked at random Friday, December 11th , 6am CST. THIS CONTEST IS INTENDED FOR LEGAL RESIDENTS OF THE 50 UNITED STATES AND THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA ONLY.

Johnny Cash
Man in Black Live in Denmark 1971

DETAILS
Format: 2 x LP
Label: Legacy
Release type: RSD Exclusive Release
More Info:
During an international tour of Johnny Cash’s popular music-variety TV show he documented the live Danish TV broadcast in 1971. Johnny Cash Man In Black: Live In Denmark 1971 is now available for the first time on LP. This hour-long performance features Cash’s newest and biggest songs including “I Walk The Line,” “Folsom Prison Blues,” and “A Boy Named Sue.” June Carter Cash joins him for three duets, solo performances wow the audience by the legendary Carl Perkins (of “Blue Suede Shoes” immortality), The Statler Brothers and the Carter Family all joining together for a gospel finale. This double LP is remastered and pressed on white and red colored vinyl commemorating the historic performance in Denmark.

Track List
“A Boy Named Sue”, “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down”, “I Walk The Line”, “Blue Suede Shoes”, “Matchbox, “Me And Bobby Mcgee, “Guess Things Happen That Way”, “Bed Of Roses”, “Flowers On The Wall”, “Folsom Prison Blues”, “Darlin’ Companion”, “If I Were A Carpenter”, “Help Me Make It Through The Night”, “Man In Black”, “Introduction To The Carter Family”, “A Song To Mama”, “No Need To Worry”, “Children, Go Where I Send Thee”

Preorder the digital edition or CD.

Loretta Lynn To Release New Album ‘ Full Circle’ in 2016

Loretta Lynn  -  Full Circle

Billboard.com announced today that the First Lady of Country Music , Loretta Lynn will release her first album in over 11 years on March 4, 2016.

The album is also the first of new album projects for a volume series imagined and created at the Cash Cabin Studio called the Cash Cabin Recordings.
From the post:

The 13-song set is a concept piece to take listeners through a journey of the 83-year-old Loretta’s own musical story, traveling from the Appalachian folk songs and gospel music of her childhood to country standards, new interpretations of her own classic hits and newly-written numbers. The Patsy Lynn Russell and John Carter Cash-produced LP will be released on Legacy Recordings and was recorded at Cash Cabin Studio in Hendersonville, Tenn.

Lynn’s last release was her 2004 collaboration with Jack White, ‘Van Lear Rose,’ which won two Grammies including Best Country Album of the Year.

On Full Circle, Lynn performs duets with Willie Nelson on the song “Lay Me Down” and Elvis Costello guests on “Everything It Takes.”

And if that’s not enough fans can also catch a new documentary about Loretta’s extraordinary life and career with American Masters — ‘Loretta Lynn: Still a Mountain Girl.’ The doc premieres nationwide Friday, March 4, 2016, 9:00-11:00 p.m. on PBS – check local listings.

‘Full Circle’ is available for pre-order now at Amazon Music

See the full track list below.

Full Circle Track List:
Whispering Sea (Introduction)
Whispering Sea
Secret Love
Who’s Gonna Miss Me?
Black Jack David
Everybody Wants To Go To Heaven
Always On My Mind
Wine Into Water
In The Pines
Band Of Gold
Fist City
I Never Will Marry
Everything It Takes (featuring Elvis Costello)
Lay Me Down (featuring Willie Nelson)

David Cobb – The Man Behind The Roots Music Tide

Dave Cobb

Being a great record producer means striking a delicate balance between passion for music and staking out an objective distance. One tip toward the former and a heavy hand can interfere in an artist’s true voice. Tip to the latter and there’s a technical hollowing resulting in a bloodless product.

David Cobb is a man that walks that line with his attention to detail and courage to take risks to capture sonic lightning in a bottle.

With a rock and roll heart he moved to L.A. to pursue a musician’s life. But through happenstance, his love for classic records, as well as the call of his Southern roots and love of family and friends, he has found himself one of the most in-demand producers in Nashville.

His journey to find the beating heart in the body of the process has led him to helping create in his home studio – or sometimes his kitchen in the case of Jason Isbell’s “Southeastern” – some of the most acclaimed records by contemporary roots artists. Folks like Shooter Jennings, Jamey Johnson, Chris Stapleton, Sturgill Simpson, Corb Lund, Lindi Ortega as well as upcoming releases by Holly Williams, Lake Street Dive and Amanda Shires – have found in him a kindred spirit. Incredibly talented people that he sees as more than clients, but as collaborators, friends and makers of sonic magic.

That’s what sets Cobb apart from other producers. Sure his first-hand knowledge comes from sitting where the musician sits and it buys him a good deal of credibility in the studio. But it’s his wide-eyed wonder, his true sincerity, his love of the art and faith in the artist that connects him in a way that few have done.

That also makes him a very busy man. Cobb took time from that busy schedule to talk to me from his home in Nashville.

TN: How long have you been in Nashville and what led you to move from L.A?

DC: I’ve been out here just over four years. Whenever I would travel out here the city was alive. This was the best music scene I’ve ever seen. There’s just an incredible amount of talent. The songwriting out here is insane.

TN: The city certainly has changed in the last few decades. It’s no longer just all about Music Row.

DC: Not at all. There’s such a great rock and outsider country scene. It’s alive, man. Everywhere you go.

TN: Your timing certainly seems right for where you wanted to take your career.

DC: It’s funny. What prompted me to move to Nashville was I was working with a band in L.A. and one of the guys in the band put on the song ‘Outfit” by the Drive-By Truckers. When I heard that song it really made me homesick. It reminded me of exactly how I grew up and the way it is in the Southeast. I suddenly felt a desire to come this way. I was in L.A. working with rock bands but now have a daughter and a move made sense. But hearing that song was a real pivotal thing. It’s funny how a lyric can rock you to the core like that. Then I chased that dude (Jason Isbell) down ever since to make a record.

TN: The Drive-By Truckers were one of the band that brought those same homesick feelings in me while riding the subway to work each day while living in New York City. Their sound was key in me starting this blog and begin discovering other bands in that vein.

DC: Absolutely, that’s the real sound of the South that I grew up with. Growing up in Georgia there was always a country music scene but this is beyond that. There’s this big lyrical , real songwriter thing. People playing in bars and writing great songs. This affects me much more than the typical country stuff. A little country and a little rock with a little folk. It hit me more than most of the stuff I’d been into.

TN: It’s refreshing and exciting to hear Southern songwriters grapple with our history while forging a new culture and new sounds toward the future.

DC: With the line “Don’t Tell ’em your Bigger Than Jesus, Don’t Give It Away” is pure Southern frankness and the swipe at John Lennon’s famous quote is excellent. The Southern idea that you’re suppose to keep yourself in check. You’re to know your place and never get cocky and not stray too far from home.

TN: Part of it is cultural and steeped in tradition but then there’s the economic part that if the next generation leaves where is the workforce for the mine or plant. A lot of great music deals with these themes of hardship and trying to get out.

DC: Absolutely. I remember after moving to California I would come back to visit my grandparents in Savannah and everyone would call you hollywood. You’d get teased pretty bad. It’s part of the Southeastern culture is there’s a culture of sticking it out. I actually enjoyed being a Southerner in L.A. I thought it was fun. Nobody ever moves there from Georgia. There’s lots of Texans and folks from the Mid-West but not from Georgia, it’s too far away.

TN; I’ve enjoyed L.A. the few times I’ve been there. I usually end up in some bar with Shooter (Jennings) As a matter of fact he’s the first person I remember bringing your name up.

DC: I just worked with Shooter again a few weeks ago in New York for the first time in years and we had a blast. I love that guy. I owe Shooter a lot and I would not be in Nashville today if it wasn’t for him. The first time I ever came to Nashville was to work on his ‘Electric Rodeo.’ He introduced me to great country music. Growing up my parents listed to Kenny Rogers and Barbara Mandrell, that sort of stuff. All I wanted to listen to was AC/DC (laughs.) My parents didn’t have Waylon or Don Williams records. Shooter turned me on to the good stuff. There was one record in particular called ‘White Mansions,’ ( by Waylon Jennings, Jessi Colter, John Dillon and Steve Cash) that’s the record that really got me. There’s something about the way it felt. It came at country in a very cinematic way, it’s very powerful.

TN: Tell me about the first time you met Shooter.

DC: I had this stupid idea when I moved to L.A. that I was going to buy a ’69 Dodge Charger and paint it like the General Lee and drive it around town. So I had these business cards made up with ’01’ printed on it. My manager set up a meeting with Shooter and I and I’m trying to hide my business card. Then we end up working together and doing stuff for the Dukes Of Hazard. L.A. is crazy like that. Shooter is one of the most humble and kind people I know. He’s the real deal.

TN: Few producers have had as much influence in contemporary roots music as you have. Part of the master plan?

DC: (Laughs) It’s definitely not part of a master plan. I moved to L.A. to do rock records. After my work with Shooter I did some songs with Jamey Johnson on ‘That Lonesome Song’ I started to get the country calls and that’s when I started coming to Nashville pretty regularly. One of the acts that called was the Oak Ridge Boys, one of my dad’s favorite bands. While working with them I had in the back of my head, my grandmother was a Pentecostal minister, and she used to tell my “Honey, you have to make music for the Lord,” she had the Oak Ridge Quartet records, she didn’t have a T.V. but she had those records. It was the first time my work connected with my past. That was exactly where I came from and the people I was surrounded with. You get this feeling that just feels like home.

I did a lot of research on that Oak Ridge Boys project. I started digging way back in old Gospel albums, stuff from the turn if the century. The music kept coming in and it started to mean more to me than the Led Zeppelin and The Beatles and Stones I grew up on. Then you realize that’s where they got it from.

TN: Why do you think Americana and roots music has become so commercially successful?

DC: My take, and it’s probably totally off, but with all the streaming and stealing music has no monetary value any more. But I think true artistry does. When Jason Isbell or Sturgill or Stapleton write records to…not be on the charts, not trying to make top 10 singles…it’s just making something personal. I think people are willing to put up money when they feel people are putting in the effort, making art. You want to buy the album, you want to go to the show and buy a t-shirt. It becomes more of a lifestyle instead of a commodity. There’s a loyalty instilled that you don’t get with pop. Theses fans will stick with them. Maybe real art is the only thing that defeats music piracy.

TN: When I saw Sturgill and Isbell early in their careers they were playing to small venues and giving it as much as if they were playing a large hall. They were giving people their moneys worth.

DC: I just think that’s who they are. I remember in rock bands growing up and there was “put on your stage costume.” These guys wear what they always wear , it’s who they are. They play these small clubs and they give it 110% it’s who they are no matter where they are because they love it. Money is not the motivation for these guys, I know them. I’m just happy that people are supporting them, it’s a very special time when people are craving something real.

TN: As someone helping to define the genre how would you define Americana?

DC: Man, I just see Americana is another word for honest. Call it what you want I’m just happy people are out supporting it. I thought it was great when Jason’s record went #1 on the folk, country and rock chart. That means they couldn’t figure out what it was so they had to spread it across categories. That’s great and really funny.

When I worked with Chris Stapleton at the big label Mercury they let him make the album he wanted with no pressure for singles. They got it. They let him make an honest record and they supported him down the line. I even see Nashville embracing real art, they are feeling the influences. For example I recently cut a song with Brandy Clark, she’s got one of the best voices I’ve ever heard. She’s amazing. I think things are changing for the best. I think a lot of mainstream artist might prefer to make a more honest album.

TN: How was it to work with Jason Isbell on his most acclaimed albums?

DC: He just writes these devastating songs. My job was to clear things out of the way of the lyrics. When he and I first met , and couple of weeks before we did ‘Southeastern,’ I played him one of my favorite records Simon and Garfunkel’s ‘Bridge Over Trouble Water.’ There’s a song on that record called ‘The Only Living Boy in New York,’ to me it’s a masterpiece if an album and I think the production is brilliant. It’s an acoustic feeling record that’s not acoustic at all. That’s the approach we wanted to take with Southeastern.’ It’s like he’s on an acoustic guitar singing directly to you but there’s a lot more going on. The way I work is I think vocals are the most important element for emotional communication. Especially when you have artists like Jason that write such great lyrics, my job is to hear that and clear the space and let that emotion through.

When we did the Isbell records we never listened to the songs before we go into the studio, He walks in and says “Here’s a song” and it’s like “Great let’s do it.” When he did “Elephant” from “Southeastern” it was one of those moments “I can’t believe this is coming through the speakers.” Like hearing a record you’ve always owned but are hearing for the first time. You know?

If I have a technique in the studio it’s to fly by the seat of my pants. I love when an artists vision is fresh and they nail it. To me that’s the best it’s ever going to be. You just have to believe in talented people.

TN: Is there a specific sound your chasing in these sessions?

DC: I don’t think I have a sound. Jason’s album doesn’t sound like Sturgill’s. They don’t sound like Stapleton. I never wanted to be that guy. I’m a huge fan of Nigel Godrich (Radiohead, Beck, Atoms of Peace) and you know when he’s made an album. I’d rather be a chameleon on that front. I guess if there’s a common theme it’s making sure the voice is primary. Make sure the singer is carrying the band. I cut everything live, all together, often in one room, but when the vocals great that’s the track. In modern records people go in and put everybody in booths and then once the instruments are done the singer cuts 50 passes of vocals then they mix it together and tune it. I prefer they way the Beatles or Stones did it, live and vocal leads the track.

TN: How did you end up working with George Jones for the Suidbillies theme?

DC: I met some folks at xx tigers doing by working with Nikki Lane in L.A., I was just then moving to Nashville, and I got a call from Cartoon Network to work with George. The writers of Squidbillies really know their country music. I was referred by the good people at 38 Tigers because they knew I loved classic country music. Next thing you know I’m in the studio working with George Jones! For me George Jones is the greatest country singer of all time. His runs and his whole feel, there’s something about him..when my daughter was young I put on a George Jones and Merle Haggard record where they were singing each other’s songs. I would play it for here so, even though she was born in L.A., she had a feeling of the South. That session was a blast. He’s one of the funniest human beings I’ve ever met. He did Donald Duck impressions the whole time. We brought in Hargus “Pig” Robbins to play piano, Pig had played on Jone’s ‘White Lightening,” it was awesome. I tried to make that session, that one song, emblematic of his career. I tried to make it sound like a late 50s George Jones record. He made this great video for my daughter talking like Donald Duck. He was just a wonderful human being.

TN: What other producers influenced you?

DC: I really love Glyn Johns work, especially with his 70’s work with The Who, Led Zeppelin and The Rolling Stones. I love the way ‘Sticky Fingers’ and ‘Let It Bleed’ feel. Other influence would be Stax and Muscle Shoals, I love the way those records feel too. The rawness comes from not seeing perfection as the outcome..the goal. I don’t like to let people think about stuff too much. I think it ruins records when you get neurotic. The rough edges are the absence of neurosis. I let people hear Otis Redding’s ‘I’ve Been Loving You Too Long’ If you listen to his vocal it’s sharp and flat and the guitar is rushing, but it’s perfect, It’s so perfect. With technology it’s so easy to tune and tweak you’d lose the whole feel of that song.

TN: Technology is a double-edged sword. It allows the next George Jones or Elliot Smith to record a masterpiece on a laptop and that masterpiece can then be processed to death.

DC: I’m not anti technology, but you have to be carful with the problems you’re trying to solve. Sometimes they’re not problems at all.

TN: One more question, I was told I need to ask you about your fake Greenland rock band.

DC: (laughs) I’ll probably get into trouble talking about this. I love the P.T. Barnham aspect of the music industry. It’s fun. I was working with an artist that was late to a session so me and the session drummer started messing around on some sill prog-rock track. I had the English singer from my old band come in and sing on it. I wanted it to be from a country nobody knows about. So, Greenland! Nobody ever knows anybody from Greenland. So I call this industry person and say “Hey there’s this band from Greenland you need to check out.” So I took the track down and played it for them, and they were loving it. And they said “We have to sign this band.” That’s when I told them that it was me and some friends goofing off. They said “I don’t care.” They took it to the head of a major label and played it for them and they said “I love it! I love it! We need to fly the band in from Greenland to do a showcase!” About a week later it all settled down but I got embarrass because it went too high so fast. I wanted it to be fake bands in monk robes that you can’t see their face, one on tour in the U.K. And one in America at the same time so you never know if you’re seeing the real band. I loved that we made a record where nobody knows who you are, there were no rules. It was really freeing. You could have anyone join the band, a revolving membership. It’d be fun.

Watch Out! Steve Martin and Edie Brickell – “Won’t Go Back” on the Jimmy Fallon Show [VIDEO]

Steve Martin and Edie Brickell – “Won’t Go Back”

‘So Familiar,’ second collaboration from Edie Brickell and Steve Martin is out today. This follow up to the Grammy-winning debut, ‘Love Has Come for You’ finds the unlikely duo traveling the smooth roots they did on their debut. Hey, if it ain’t broken.

A dapper Martin on banjo and a smiling Brickell on vocals, the couple appear to be having a great time on this spirited, and slightly funky, version of the album’s first single, “Won’t Go Back,” for the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon audience.

Songs from ‘So Familiar,’ and other songs by Brickell and Martin, will be featured in a “Bright Star,” a musical debuting on Broadway early next year.

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/watch-steve-martin-edie-brickells-plucky-wont-go-back-on-fallon-20151030#ixzz3q5Nld99T
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Rosanne Cash Artist in Residency – Night Two Country Music Hall of Fame w Emmylou Harris & Lucinda Williams

Rosanne Cash,  Emmylou Harris & Lucinda Williams

Photo by Rick Diamond, Getty Images

This is a guest post by Holly Gleason

​When Emmylou Harris sang, “One thing they don’t tell you about the blues when you got ‘em/ You keep on falling ‘cause they got no bottom” in the aching “Red Dirt Girl,” the first song in what was supposed to be Rosanne Cash’s second night as the Country Music Hall of Fame’s 2015 Artist in Residency, the night seemingly could’ve turned into a night of one upsmanship and “watch this.” Raw, almost bleeding and deeply vulnerable, Harris’ song set a high bar for artistry and emotional pulse that could’ve read as a challenge.

​But given that Harris and Cash have been dear friends for 35 years and Lucinda Williams friends for almost 25, what emerged was a testimony to love, grace, talent and songs well-realized. Drawing on old songs, cover songs and songs yet to be recorded, the American roots music queen wove a tapestry of human emotion that brought everyone in touch with their deepest – perhaps even unacknowledged – selves.

​Seeing three women who’ve lived lives, ignited intense love affairs, faced great disappointments, shored up, thrived not just survived – and then wrote or found songs that distilled those things is a thrill. But to watch them love and respect each other unabashedly, shower the others with compliments and tell cheeky stories is to understand the power of women unfurled.

​For Rosanne Cash, whose velvety claret voice soothed Williams’ rusty barb wire tones on the final verse and chorus of “Sweet Old World,” the most rock-leaning of the threesome inspired a moment of true rapture with her song of death and devastation. Williams’ version of the song from the 1992 album of the same name has taken the stunned despair and deepened it with both a world-weary recognition of how much it hurts losing people you love and an appreciation for how wonderful the world is.

​Emmylou Harris waxed wry, offering the insight about NPR’s liberal point of view: “the truth” before launching into stark “Emmett Till,” which she introduced by explaining his racially-driven murder 50 years ago may well have tipped the civil rights struggle in a way that allowed Barack Obama to America’s first black President. Not one to preach, the gently reflection suggests much about the power of songs and women to deliver volatile social messages in ways that make injustice emerge on their own.

​That is the power of the feminine mystique in experienced hands: they can tackle charged topics, embrace Bob Dylan (Cash’s “Girl from North Country”) with innocence informed by passion, get visibly emotional (Williams before singing her beauty in the ravages “When I Look At the World” from last year’s “Where The Spirit Meets The Bone” album) and near intimidation (Cash talking about how she spent her first five years trying to impress Harris “and this song did it”) met with off-handed humor (Harris’ reply “which one?”) as the walk-up to Cash’s second #1, the dusky torch “Blue Moon with Heartache.”

​For those gathered in the 800-seat Ford Theater, it was the rare peak into the realm of women unfettered. The pair let it all hang out: glorying in songs, basking or demurring from the praise, making off-handed jokes and being unabashedly honest about their love for each other. In the small details – designer Natalie Chanin’s teaching Cash to sew with the admonition “You have to learn to love the thread” turning into the metaphor that inspired the double-Grammy winner “A Feather’s Not A Bird” or Harris revealing the inspiration culled from a birthday gift from the late Susanna Clark, “a print of a Terry Allen piece, what looked like a Leonardo DaVinci drawing of an arm, which would’ve been enough, but then there was a boat emerging from the arm, and it was called, ‘When She Kisses The Ship Upon His Arm” – empowers and grounds part of where their strength lies.

​But more than that, it is the communion of friends, artists, muses. For Cash’s second night of a three night residency – the final being September 24 – she pulled back the veil and revealed the essence of a woman’s heart. It is joy, hope, sorrow and beauty all tempered with love and knowing, and when it is joined to songs tendered with lyrics of nuance, it is a stunning thing, indeed.

​By the time of the encore, the cheers had taken on a force of their own. After pulling Cash’s breakthrough “Seven Year Ache,” the tale of a heartbreak moving through a wide swath of town, as the common ground, each woman had shown her strength and lifted the others up. Celebratory, that man become incidental – yet Johnny Cash’s “I Still Miss Someone,” the night’s final song, also suggested these three understand the potency of romance, desire and falling in love to the hilt.
​What isn’t necessary becomes wanted, and that is the magic of life, emotion and the uncertainty of how we move through the world. Standing shoulder to shoulder on the edge of the stage, Cash, Harris and Williams bowed – as much to the forces that brought them to this place as to the packed house on their feet.

Holly Gleason has written regularly for ROLLING STONE, THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, PASTE, NO DEPRESSION and HITS, as well as contributing to RELIX, THE OXFORD AMERICAN, PLAYBOY and THE NEW YORK TIMES. She lives in Nashville, Tennessee.