Growing up as country and metal as my primary cultural staple I never caed for The Smiths (too whiney, though “How Soon Is Now’ is badass) and was never a Moz solo fan (too mopey and pseudo clever) But I do have to give the man credit for pulling off a damn fine rendition of ‘Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way?’
Last Saturday from the stage of the The Visalia Fox Theatre Morrissey, dressed like a paunchy X Men, and his cracker-jack band gave his all to Waylon Jennings’ first single from the album Dreaming My Dreams’ album. A not too subtle middle finger to Music Row that was released 40 years to the month and Jennings’ fourth number one on the country chart as a solo artist.
I do like the idea of a crowd of Morrissey fans largely wondering what the hell they were listening to.
While I oh-so-paiently await that long overdo Uncle Tupelo reunion (come on already, we ain’t getting any younger!) I will find solace in the upcoming release of the 20th anniversary version of Son Volt’s spectacular acclaimed debut album, ‘Trace.’
This fall, Jay Farrar will celebrate the anniversary by putting out a deluxe version digitally remastered from the original analog masters. Farrar was heavily involved in the remastering process and contributes highlighted track commentary to the liner notes, which also feature a contribution from No Depression magazine founder Peter Blackstock.
In addition to every song from the 1995 original album, the first disc also features previously unreleased demos for eight album tracks, including “Drown,” “Live Free,” “Windfall,” and an acoustic version of the rocker “Route.” The two-disc version of ‘Trace’ features newly remastered sound and more than two dozen unreleased bonus tracks will be available October 30, 2015, for a suggested retail price of $24.98. The original album will also be re-issued on 180-gram vinyl for $24.98.
Son Volt will also hit the road with original pedal steel player, Eric Heywood, along with multi-instrumentalist, Gary Hunt. The tour is billed as “Jay Farrar Performs Songs Of Trace” and tickets for the tour will go on-sale Friday, August 14. For more information please go to www.sonvolt.net.
The dates will begin with a special AmericanaFest performance at 3rd & Lindsley on September 20. Farrar will also bring the tour to New York City on October 30, and on the same day, Rhino will release a two-disc version of Trace that features newly remastered sound and more than two dozen unreleased bonus tracks.
The second disc contains an unreleased live performance recorded at The Bottom Line in New York’s Greenwich Village on February 12, 1996. At the show, the band played nearly every song from Trace , covered Del Reeves’ “Looking At The World Through A Windshield,” and performed “Cemetery Savior,” a tune that wouldn’t surface until the following year on Son Volt’s sophomore release, Straightaways.
The show also features songs originally recorded by Uncle Tupelo, the vastly influential alt-country band that Farrar started with Jeff Tweedy in the Eighties. Among the standouts are: “Slate,” “True to Life” and the title track from the band’s final album Anodyne (1993).
Disc Two: Live from Bottom Line 2/12/96
1. “Route”*
2. “Loose String”*
3. “Catching On”*
4. “Live Free”*
5. “Anodyne”*
6. “Windfall”*
7. “Slate”*
8. “Out of the Picture”*
9. “Tear Stained Eye”*
10. “True to Life”*
11. “Cemetery Savior”*
12. “Ten Second News”*
13. “Fifteen Keys”*
14. “Drown”*
15. “Looking For a Way Out”*
16. “Chickamauga”*
17. “Too Early”*
18. “Looking at the World Through a Windshield” – Del Reeves cover*
*previously unreleased
JAY FARRAR PERFOMS SONGS OF TRACE – 20TH ANNIVERSARY TOUR
SEPTEMBER
20 3rd & Lindsley (AmericanaFest) Nashville, TN
OCTOBER
28 The Birchmere
29 Ardmore Music Hall
30 City Winery Alexandria, VA
Ardmore, PA
New York, NY
DECEMBER
2 The Troubadour
3 Slim’s
5 Aladdin Theatre
6 Tractor Tavern
Los Angeles, CA
San Francisco, CA
Portland, OR
Seattle, WA
Bruce Robison & Kelly Willis are often described as one of the finest roots male/female couples working today. Starting in July the husband and wife duo will bring that considerable talent to a mostly-Texas classic country duets tour they’ve labeled the “Key of Strife” tour.
The single released in May, ‘Storms Never Last’ originally performed by Jessi Colter & Waylon Jennings, is an perfect example of the caliber of performances to be expected.
“My favorite part about country music is how someone can talk about such a broad idea like that, like how life is hard, and say it so succinctly and with such grace. I think this concept is a great way to pay homage to all of the past great country couples.†– Bruce Robison
The logo and tour name “Key of Strife” is a play on Stevie Wonder’s famous album, ‘Songs in the Key of Life.’ The title’s inclusion of ‘strife” pokes fun at the popularity of somber country tunes while also honoring country’s greatest couples, such as George & Tammy, Johnny & June, Dolly & Kenny.
Hear ‘Storms Never Last’ and see tour dates below.
6/27/15 Black Marlin Bar & Grill – Port Aransas, Texas
7/03/15 The Kessler Theater – Dallas, TX
7/11/15 the Broken Spoke – Austin, Texas
7/17/15 Gruene Hall – Gruene TX
7/18/15 Mucky Duck – Houston
7/26/15 Red Ants Pants Festival – White Sulphur Springs, Montana
8/05/15 Main Street Crossing – Tomball TX
Building on an already stellar first-round lineup The Americana Music Association announced an additional 70 artists to perform at the 16th annual Americana Music Festival & Conference, which takes place in Nashville and runs September 15-20, 2015.
The six-day, city-wide festival fills Music City with fans, legends, newcomers, and tilts the quest for glitz into the early direction of a quest for a great song. With over 150 artists and bands scheduled, the event continues to dominate as the premier showcase for roots music and culture.
In addition to previously announced acts such as Los Lobos, Patty Griffin, and Lee Ann Womack, AmericanaFest will feature Ry Cooder, performing with Sharon White and Ricky Skaggs, Donnie Fritts performing with former Civil War John Paul White, former Old Crow Medicine Show member Willie Watson, current member of Old Crow Medicine Show Gill Landry supporting his solo effort.
Also included are Cale Tyson, Lindi Ortega, Luther Dickinson, Kelsey Waldon, Buddy Miller, Jim Lauderdale, Gretchen Peters, American Aquarium, Legendary Shack Shakers and Madisen Ward and the Mama Bear who held a mesmerizing performance last year at Jack White’s Third Man performance space.
The list of the second round announcements is below, and a complete list can be found here.
Showcase wristbands ($50, increasing to $60 on August 15) allow admission into all showcase venues, some sanctioned parties and special events, and can be purchased here. Festival and Conference registrations ($365 for members/$465 for non-members) offer priority admission into all showcase venues, sanctioned parties and events, daytime educational panels, come with one ticket to the critically acclaimed Americana Honors & Awards show at the historic Ryman Auditorium, and can be purchased here.
List of Artists Added to AmericanaFest 2015:
Adam Faucett
American Aquarium
Amy LaVere
Andrew Leahey & The Homestead
Band of Heathens
Buddy Miller
Buxton
Cale Tyson
The Carmonas
Daniel Romano
Darrell Scott
David Wax Museum
Dirty River Boys
Donnie Fritts & John Paul White
Doug Seegers
Dreaming Spires
Dustbowl Revival
Eddie Berman
Eilen Jewell
The Fairfield Four
Gill Landry
The Good Lovelies
Great Peacock
Gretchen Peters
The Hillbenders
The Honeycutters
Humming House
JD & The Straight Shot
JD Souther
Jeffrey Foucault
Jim Lauderdale
Jonathan Tyler
Josh Rouse
JP Harris
Kacy & Clayton
Kelsey Waldon
Legendary Shack Shakers
Lewis and Leigh
Lindi Ortega
Los Colognes
Low Cut Connie
Luther Dickinson
Margo Price
The Mavericks
McCrary Sisters
Michaela Anne
Miss Tess & The Talkbacks
Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats
Paper Bird
Pine Hill Project (featuring Richard Shindell & Lucy Kaplansky)
Pony Boy
Porter
Possessed By Paul James
Raised By Eagles
Ron Pope & The Nighthawks
Ry Cooder/Sharon White/Ricky Skaggs
Ryan Culwell
Sam Outlaw
Spirit Family Reunion
The Suffers
T. Hardy Morris
T Sisters
Taarka
Those Pretty Wrongs
Town Mountain
Uncle Lucius
Whitney Rose
Willie Watson
The Wood Brothers
The Rolling Stones are about half-way through their American “Zip Code” tour, but they waited until last night at Nashville’s LP Field to break out the classic cowboy junky track “Dead Flowers.”
Mick and the boys had vocal and guitar help from opener, and fanboy, Brad Paisley, who is donning his own classic lips and tongue logo shirt for the occasion.
Kacey Musgraves is hitting the late night circuit ahead of her much-anticipated release ‘Pageant Material’ to be released later this month.
Musgraves treated fans to her steaming hot latest single “Biscuits.†The song reflects Kacey’s own no nonsense spunk and charm, and she and the band sported their cosmic country and western finery as they always do on her road performances.
‘Pageant Material’ is the follow-up to 2013’s 2-time Grammy-winning ‘Same Trailer Different Park’ and is sure to top the country and Americana charts.
In a separate video Musgraves reveals the song’s writing session with Shane McAnally and Brandy Clark and how “Biscuits,†how the recording session took advantage of some authentic bakeware as instrumentation and why the song wasn’t included on ‘Same Trailer Different Park’
Catch the replay and song background below.
Musgraves also gave some background on how she, Brandy Clark and
I still don’t know what Red Dirt Music is, but if the Turnpike Troubadours is it give me more!
The dynamic Oklahoma band will release their self-titled third album, September 18th on Bossier City Records/Thirty Tigers. The album will contain 12 songs – like the raucous “The Mercury†and “Bossier City†and the melodically tender “Down Hereâ€, “How Do You Fall Out Of Love†and “A Little Songâ€.
‘The Turnpike Troubadours’ is the follow up to the band’s breakthrough 2012 sophomore release ‘Goodbye Normal Street,’ which debuted at #57 on the Billboard Top 200 and #14 on the Billboard Country Chart.
Another charming, behind-the-scenes music videos in a series showing Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard working on their new collaboration ‘Django and Jimmie’ at Willie’s studio in Luck, Texas.
Thats Django as in the legendary gypsy-jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt and Jimmie as in Jimmie Rodgers, the vaudevillian dandy turned mythic “Singing Brakeman.”
Each a personal musical influance to the respective Willie and Merle.
Featured in the video are the main men along with Willie’s longtime producer, collaborator and friend Buddy Cannon. Bobby Bare joins his old friends as a recording on the song ‘Missing Ol’ Johnny Cash’ is a honky-tonker that allows the men to reminiscence about the times with the Man in Black.
Merle describes his approach to writing the song like this ‘It was just some words that I had some chords to. Not really a melody to it, just kinda rapping.”
I sounds more like talking blues to me but I’m hardly one to argue with The Hag.
There’s some great stories throughout including a NSFW one at the end told by Merle.
If there’s an Americana equivilent to the setlist chestnut ‘Wagon Wheel” it would be , well, ‘Wagin Wheel.” But coming in close second would it have to be The Rolling Stones’ “Dead Flowers” from arguably their finest album, “Sticky Fingers.’
“Sticky Fingers” is the album most influenced by Keith Richards and Gram Parsons’ friendship and time shared in Paris during the “Exile on Main St.’sessions. Parsons shared his love of classic American country music with Richards and it appears to have taken hold in the The Stones sound over several albums.
Adding to the rootsier direction early recording sessions began at the famed Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in Alabama in December 1969 and later completed at the band’s mobile studio located at Jagger’s summer home at Stargroves, England in 1970.
This rendition, of the song was recorded in 1970, and will be one of the unreleased cuts included the the June 9 ‘Sticky Fingers’ anniversary reissue. This take has a more upbeat, ramshackle tempo from the band. Ian Stewart’s piano is pushed down in the mix, and it cranks up the country-fried guitar interplay between Richards and the newest band member Mick Taylor.
The Americana Music Awards just announced their 2015 nominees, and Lucinda Williams, Shakey Graves and Sturgill Simpson lead the pack with 3 nominations apiece. All were nominated for Album of the Year and Song of the year. Williams and Simpson share the Artist of the Year category with Lee Ann Womack, Rhiannon Giddens and Jason Isbell. Shakey Graves shares the Emerging Artist of the Year category with First Aid Kit, Houndmouth, Nikki Lane and the man behind one of the great stories of the year, Doug Seegers.
The awards will again be presented at the Mother Church of Country Music, the historic Ryman Auditorium in Nashville.
As impressive as it is the full list of nominees below is it offers just a glimpse of the diverse and strong field of Americana and roots artists building this sustainable genre and cultural force. There are no outliers, surprises or dark horses in the nominees, but that’s not the point of award shows. It’s to reward and display some of the most marketable of the genre to a larger public in order to grow a sustainable fan base for these artists and the next coming up, many of whom can be found playing the week-long festival at local clubs.
As mainstream country starts to take notice of Americana celebration each year in Music Row’s back yard I can’t help but feel that some of that influence (and, yes, proven success. It’ s still a business) won’t have some positive effect on roots music as a whole.
2015 Americana Honors & Awards Nominees
Album of the Year (Award goes to Artist and Producer)
‘And The War Came’ – Shakey Graves; Produced by Alejandro Rose-Garcia and Chris Boosahda
‘Down Where The Spirit Meets The Bone’ – Lucinda Williams; Produced by Lucinda Williams, Tom Overby and Greg Leisz
‘Metamodern Sounds In Country Music’ – Sturgill Simpson; Produced by Dave Cobb
‘The Way I’m Livin” – Lee Ann Womack; Produced by Frank Liddell
‘Tomorrow Is My Turn’ – Rhiannon Giddens; Produced by T-Bone Burnett
The surprise the this category is the quirky, less rootsy ‘And The War Came’ by Alejandro Rose-Garcia aka Shakey Graves. I love that country superstar Lee Ann Womack has been so warmly embraced by the community for her great work on ‘The Way I’m Livin’ ‘ and Rhiannon Giddens more than deserves to be here fit her wonderful release. I believe it’s going to a photo finish between Lucinda Williams and Sturgill Simpson.
Artist of the Year
Rhiannon Giddens
Jason Isbell
Sturgill Simpson
Lucinda Williams
Lee Ann Womack
A Lee Ann Womack win would be badass and I believe likely winner Sturgill Simpson would agree.
Duo/Group of the Year
Bela Fleck & Abigail Washburn
The Lone Bellow
The Mavericks
Punch Brothers
Shovels & Rope
Can’t quibble with anything here but it would be cool if Brooklyn’s The Lone Bellow walked away with it.
Emerging Artist of the Year
First Aid Kit
Houndmouth
Nikki Lane
Doug Seegers
Shakey Graves
Love Doug Seegers but I have to go with Nikki Lane on this one. Though I would have her in Artist of the Year as she’s now on her second excellent release (which should be up for AOTY)
Instrumentalist of the Year
Hubby Jenkins
Laur Joamets
Greg Leisz
John Leventhal
Stuart Mathis
Great performers all but I have to go with Lucinda’s axw\e-master Stuart Mathis here. The man’s a genius of nuance and a really nice guy as well.
Song of the Year (Award goes to Artist and Songwriter)
“Dearly Departed” – Shakey Graves; Written by Alejandro Rose-Garcia and Esme’ Patterson
“East Side Of Town” – Lucinda Williams; Written by Lucinda Williams
“Terms Of My Surrender” – John Hiatt; Written by John Hiatt
“Turtles All The Way Down” – Sturgill Simpson; Written by Sturgill Simpson
“You’re The Best Lover That I Ever Had” – Steve Earle & the Dukes; Written by Steve Earle
Song of the Year is where I have plenty of conflicts. No Nikki Lane “The Right Time?” No American Aquarium ‘Man I’m Supposed To Be?’ No Cory Branan ‘Missing You Fierce’
9 or Old 97s ‘Longer Than You’ve Been Alive’ Oh well, I don’t program for radio and am looking at (and voted) this category differently than my contemporaries.
