Category Archives: Legends

Watch Out! Levon Helm Covers Randy Newman’s “Kingfish” [VIDEO]

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Levon Helm not in it for my health

RollinStone.com posted this great clip from Ain’t in It for My Health</em> , Jacob Hatley’s documentary on the musical legend.

The film will premiere in upstate New York on April 19th, near his famous barn where his rambles are held to this day. The opening will occur exactly one year after his passing,

The film show’s Hatley’s intimate access to Helm and follows his comeback with the Grammy-winning Dirt Farmer album. Below is a clip from the film showing Helm performing acoustic rendition of Randy Newman’s “Kingfish” his voice raspy as a result of throat cancer treatment.

From RollingStone.com “So this clip was one of the first things we shot,” says Hatley. “We were in between takes on a music video for the Dirt Farmer record and had rented out this dilapidated motel for the shoot. We were all sick of shooting this lip synched, choreographed video and wanted to hear some real music, so Levon and Little Sammy Davis went in to one of the rooms and started playing. They did about eight songs, just for the crew. There was a heart shaped jacuzzi just off frame. The motel has since burned to the ground.”

Record Store Day – “Buddy & Jim” Vinyl Contest

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buddy_and_jim_12

Step right up folks for a special Record Store day contest featuring New West recording artists Buddy Miller and Jim Lauderdale.

One lucky ,random, winner will receive one Record Store Day exclusive copy of Buddy Miller & Lauderdale new, acclaimed release “Buddy & Jim” on gloriously sonic 180 g 12″ Vinyl. This special release is limited to 1000 and each one is hand numbered. This particular baby is number 727.

Buddy Miller and Jim Lauderdale are two of the pioneers of Americana. Their solo recordings, songwriting, studio session work and live performances (as front men and musical directors) have made them treasures of the roots and country music scene. In an unexpected moment of inspiration, the two have collaborated to make a true duets record, trading licks and verses for one of the most inspired and fun albums of 2012.

Here’s how to enter:
– On Record Store (4/20) Day buy any limited edition release (in case you’re wondering what’s available I’ve listed some great Americana and roots releases) and take an Instagram pick of your new treasure.
– use your twitter account and tweeet us a pic of your goodies with the hashtag #RSDTwang

That’s it. You’ll be entered to win this limited edition beauty.

Winner needs to be located in the United States and will be picked at random, Sunday, April 22nd, 12PM PST. Good luck!

1 I Lost My Job Of Loving You
2 The Train That Carried My Gal From Town
3 That’s Not Even Why I Love You
4 South In New Orleans
5 It Hurts Me
6 Vampire Girl
7 Forever And A Day
8 Lonely One In This Town
9 Looking For A Heartache
10 I Want To Do Everything For You
11 The Wobble

Outside Lands Announces Lineup – Willie Nelson, Dawes, Camper Van Beethoven, The Lone Bellow To Perform

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outside-lands-2013Outside Lands has revealed the lineup for this year’s festival, taking place place August 9th-11th in my back yard at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, CA.

Notable country and roots artists performing are Willie Nelson & Family, Band of Horses, Camper Van Beethoven, The Head and The Heart, The Mother Hips, Dawes, Gary Clark Jr., Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, The Easy Leaves and The Lone Bellow.

Also topping the bill is Paul McCartney, Nine Inch Nails and Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Advanced three-day and VIP tickets will go on sale Thursday, April 18th at Noon PDT through the festival’s website.

Country Music Is Not Dead

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waylon

If you were one of the 15.4 million viewers of last Sunday’s 48th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards show you might have been, like me, wondering “When’s the country going to start?” I’ve never been branded a purists , but I prefer my country on the Lefty Frizzell / Buck Owens / Willie Nelson side of the fence rather than the Fleetwood Mac / Jack Johnson/ Def Leppard style that’s in vogue right now

Music City continues to chase the money by burying it’s legacy as it has since nearly it’s start. Fortunately for us that honor songs over celebrity we have a safe haven, Americana music. Below are a few performers that are keeping heartfelt and real. Post your suggestions in the comments.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJt3oHYmKcQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcJml72K1HQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrqdhA1_C5U

Listen Up! Mavis Staples Collaborates with Jeff Tweedy on “One True Vine” – Releases Funkadelic Cover

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MAVIS One True Vine

Mavis Staples comes from Gospel, soul and R&B royalty. Singing in the family band The Staple Singers, led by family patriarch Roebuck “Pops” Staples, she made history by being one of the moost ground-breaking spirituality-based group in America. By the mid-1960s The Staple Singers, helped support the civil rights movement when Pops became close friends with Martin Luther King, Jr. They also had hits with covers of contemporary secular pop hits with positive messages, including Bob Dylan’s “A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall” and a version of Stephen Stills’ “For What It’s Worth.”

According to her Bob Dylan was so taken with her that he asked Pops for Mavis’ hand in marriage. I assume Pops didn’t care for that idea.

With that legacy it’s hard to believe that Staples’ first Grammy was won for the Best Americana Album category You Are Not Alone in 2011. I was at the event and in her acceptance speech a crying Staples said “This has been a long time coming.”

On her upcoming release ‘One True Vine (June 25th – Anti Records) will again partner with You Are Not Alone producer and collaborator Jeff Tweedy.

Tweedy and singer-songwriter Nick Lowe wrote songs specifically for the album. The Wilco frontman and his 17-year-old son Spencer played nearly every instrument on the record. Recorded at The Loft in Chicago, the 10-track album also includes Staples covering Funkadelic and Low.

Listen to her version of Funkadelic’s “Can You Get To That” and check out the full One True Vine track list below.

One True Vine Track List:
1. Holy Ghost
2. Every Step
3. Can You Get to That
4. Jesus Wept
5. Far Celestial Shores
6. What Are They Doing in Heaven Today
7. Sow Good Seeds
8. I Like the Things About Me
9. Woke Up This Morning (With My Mind on Jesus)
10. One True Vine

Watch Out! Steve Martin and Edie Brickell: “Love Has Come For You”

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martin brickell

I grew up outside of Dallas and used to head to Deep Ellum on the weekend to see the local bands, like the New Bohemians, play Theater Gallery. Prophet Bar and Club Clearview. later I got to know some members of the band wand was able to see them perform with Bob Dylan and Don Henley. There was even an overnight stay in the Norman OK jail as part of the adventure (long story, buy me a beer sometime and I’ll tell you)

I was proud of our little, local band doing well.

Well band split, Brickell moved to New York City and did some solo work. Oh, and she married some musician names Paul Simon.

When i heard that Brickell would be rording with Steve Martin i had a feeling it was going to be cool. Martin might be a jester but his banjo playing is dead serious and steeped in tradition which he’s proven with his Grammy-nominated work with the Steep Canyon Rangers.

Love Has Come for You, will be released on April 23rd through Rounder Records. 13 new songs that allow Martin’s excellent banjo work to inspire Brickell’s lyrics and vocals. Below you the two talk about working on the album and you get to sample some of the tunes. All in a setting echoing the album’s cover.

The collaboration began when Martin sent Brickell “a tune with no song to it”: “I was so thrilled that you kept sending tunes because they would arrive and there were little stories in them just immediately for me,” she says. “I saw a lot of images and all I had to do was sit back and narrate what I saw.” The two also discuss the album’s double-entendre title, working with producer and beloved British musician Peter Asherand how the LP sounds more like a string quartet rather than a bluegrass album. “My own agent called me up, and he said I hope this doesn’t insult you but this is the best thing you’ve ever done.'”

Martin and Bickell continue to prove my view that all the cool kids are coming to Americana music.

Record Store Day 2013 – Americana and Roots Music Picks

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rsd2013

It’s that time again twangers. Yes, Record Store Day 2013 is upon us. The day when us music fans can snatch up slabs of limited pressing vinyl from our favorite artists and help local independent records store to not become bygone relics. That would stink.

This year’s RSD2013 releases offer some great selections from the roots and Americana side of the fence. Willie Nelson demos? Yes please! Waylon Jennings and Old 97s collaboration? Oh yeah!

Check the hilarious video from RSD1013 Ambassador Jack White below, where he details the shady doings of the music industry, the Masons and the NBA draft (sort of) and on April 20th head to your local independent record store to pick up one of the limited edition goodies below.

Head to the official RSD2013 site to get a complete list of releases and participating stores.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etxYxIfDhXc

Chet Atkins
Black Jack EP
Format: 7″ Vinyl
Label: SUNDAZED
Release type: RSD Exclusive Release
More Info:
Previously unreleased recordings by this guitar master
Midnight, Boo Boo Stick Beat, Blackjack, Blue Moon of Kentucky

The Avett Brothers/ Randy Travis
Format: 7″ Vinyl
Label: Warner Music Nashville
More Info:
Limited edition split single. Randy Travis covers the Avett Brothers’ “February”, The Avett Brothers covers the Randy Travis song, “Three Wooden Crosses.

The Band
The Last Waltz
Format: 12″ Vinyl
Label: Rhino
More Info:
3 180 Gram LPs, Numbered RSD Edition. All original packaging with Embossing and two foils. All original inner sleeves plus 12-page booklet. Out of print for more than a decade.

Billy Bragg
No One Knows Nothing Anymore / Song of the Iceberg
Format: 7″ Vinyl
Label: Cooking Vinyl

Blitzen Trapper
Blitzen Trapper Deluxe Reissue
Format: 12″ Vinyl
Label: LidKerCow, LTD
More Info:
Blitzen Trapper’s debut album from 2003 will be available for the first time on vinyl in celebration of it’s 10th Anniversary. The record was remastered by Bruce Barielle and the lacquers were cut by Jeff Powell at Ardent Studios in Memphis, TN. A very limited edition run, the record is pressed on 180g vinyl with a free digital download of the entire record with five previously unheard bonus tracks from the original sessions.

Joe Bussard
Guitar Rag/Screwdriver Slide
DETAILS
Format: 78 rpm 10″
Label: Tompkins Square

Calexico
Spiritoso
Format: 12″ Vinyl
Label: Anti/Epitaph

Kasey Chambers and Shane Nicholson
Rattlin Bones
DETAILS
Format: 12″ Vinyl
Label: Sugar Hill

cookisbell

Elizabeth Cook / Jason Isbell
Tecumseh Valley b/w Pancho & Lefty
DETAILS
Format: 7″ Vinyl
Label: 31 Tigers
Release type: RSD Exclusive Release
More Info:
“Tecumseh Valley” b/w “Pancho & Lefty”
Studio versions of both artists covering Townes Van Zandt. They originally performed these songs on Late Night with David Letterman

cooley

Mike Cooley
Too Pretty To Work
Format: 7″ Vinyl
Label: Cooley Records
More Info:
Record Store Day 7″ featuring 2 live tracks recorded at shows in 2012.
1 – Self Destructive Zones (3:36)
2 – Get Downtown (3:12)

Bob Dylan
Wigwam
Format: 7″ Vinyl
Label: Columbia
More Info:
A – Wigwam (Unreleased Demo,) B – Thirsty Boots (Previously Unreleased) — Two previously unreleased Bob Dylan recordings from the Self Portrait sessions. Includes a demo version of “Wigwam” and the previously unreleased track “Thirsty Boots.” Taken from the forthcoming release, The Bootleg Series Vol. 10.

Justin Townes Earle
Yuma
Format: 10″ Vinyl
Label: Bloodshot Records
More Info:
Previously released debut EP from Justin Townes Earle, now on vinyl for the first time. 10″ vinyl. Colored vinyl (opaque gold). Limited to 1000 copies, for RSD.
The Ghost of Virginia, You Can’t Leave, Yuma, I Don’t Care, Let the Waters Rise, A Desolate Angels Blues

Alejandro Escovedo/Chris Scruggs
78 rpm 10
Format: 10″ Vinyl
Label: Plowboy Records
More Info:
78 rpm 10″ A/B single release of two covers of Eddy Arnold standards by Alejandro Escovedo (A side) and Chris Scruggs (B side) for upcoming “You Don’t Know Me: Rediscovering Eddy Arnold” album project due in May 2013
a side : “It’s a Sin” by Alejandro Escovedo – B side: “Just A Little Lovin’ (Will Go A Long Way” by Chris Scruggs

Giant Giant Sand
Return to Tucson
DETAILS
Format: 12″ Vinyl
Label: Fire / Cargo
More Info:
limited to 1000 copies. 12″LP featuring 8 remixes by John Parish and Ali chant from tracks that featured on 2012’s ‘Tucson’ LP.
SIDE A: Lost love (John Parish + Ali Chant Remix); Undiscovered Country (John Parish Remix); Wind Blown Waltz (John Parish + Ali Chant Alternative Mix); Thing Like That (Ali Chant Extended Version) SIDE B: Carinito (Ali Chant Alternative Mix); Not The End Of The World (Ali Chant Alternative Version); Hard Morning in a Soft Blur (Chris Schultz Extended Version(; Forever & A Day (John Parish + Ali Chant Alternative Mix)

Golden Gunn (Steve Gunn + Hiss Golden Messenger)
Golden Gunn
Format: 12″ Vinyl
Label: Three Lobed / Thrill Jockey
More Info:
Golden Gunn is a collaboration between Steve Gunn and Hiss Golden Messenger. LP comes with a download code. Only 870 made.

Jackie Greene
Love Is A Shining Catastrophe/Sweet Somewhere Bound 7
DETAILS
Format: 7″ Vinyl
Label: self-released
More Info:
7″ Vinyl Single in 4/c jacket with 2 “A” Sides and 5 song digital download.

Patty Griffin
Ohio
Format: 7″ Vinyl
Label: New West
More Info:
This is a single A-side 7” pressed on heavyweight vinyl. The vinyl is black, hand-numbered 1-500, and Patty will sign Side B on 25 of the records, which will be randomly distributed. This song is from her forthcoming album, American Kid, due out 5/14/13. This will come in an all white sleeve with a stamped logo and a stickered UPC.

IMAGINATIONAL ANTHEM VOL. 6 : ORIGINS OF AMERICAN PRIMITIVE GUITAR
Format: Gatefold Vinyl Ltd 1500
Label: Tompkins Square
If American Primitive Guitar begins with John Fahey and the Takoma School, then the actual origins of this sound is found within this collection of fourteen classic solo guitar performances. Recorded between 1923 to 1930, this set is the “Rosetta Stone” of style and repertoire tapped into deeply by Fahey, Basho & Rose, among many others. Sam McGee, Riley Puckett, Bayless Rose, Sylvester Weaver, Lemuel Turner, Frank Hutchison and Davey Miller are the rural artists included in this anthology. Each one of these showcases a particular technique and sensitivity sourced from the earlier 19th century parlor guitar tradition. Several of these sides are reissued for their first time including Sylvester Weaver’s “Guitar Blues” which is the first solo finger picked guitar solo ever recorded. Stunningly remastered and annotated by Christopher King.

Iron and Wine
Next to Paradise/Dirty Ocean
Format: 7″ Vinyl
Label: Warner Bros.
Release type: RSD Exclusive Release

Sarah Jarosz
Live At The Troubadour
Label: Sugar Hill

tift

Tift Merritt
Markings
DETAILS
Format: 12″ Vinyl
Label: Yep Roc
Release type: RSD Exclusive Release
More Info:
4-song 12″ featuring an unreleased track, a live track and two acoustic tracks from Traveling Alone. Covered with a tactile cross-stitched/embroidered record cover.

Mumford & Sons
Live at Bull Moose
DETAILS
Format: 10″ Vinyl
Label: Glassnote
More Info:
“””I Will Wait”” “”Ghosts That We Knew”” “”Where Are You Now”” “”Awake My Soul”” — 3 or 4 songs from their bull moose instore – 10″” version”

WillieNelsonCrazyVinyl.indd

Willie Nelson
Crazy: The Demo Sessions
Format: 12″ Vinyl
Label: Sugar Hill
More Info:
When Willie first got to Nashville he cut some demos for Ray Price and Hal Smith’s publishing company, Pamper Music. Though these cuts were used to pitch songs to artists (including ‘Crazy’ for Patsy Cline) and producers, many weren’t released. These 1960-1966 tracks are raw, real and really good, clearly the work of an artist/songwriter headed for stardom.

Willie Nelson
Someday My Prince Will Come
Label: Legacy

Waylon

Waylon Jennings / Old 97s
Format: 7″ Vinyl
Label: Omnivore Recordings
More Info:
2 x 7″
Two tracks from Old 97s sessions with Waylon Jennings, and two additional Old 97s demo tracks. Cover art by Jon Langford of the Mekons and Waco Brothers, and famed painter of country icons.
Iron Road The Other Shoe, Visiting Hours (1996 demo), Fireflies Take 2 (1996 demo)

Gram Parsons
Gram Parsons & The Fallen Angels-Live 1973 7
Format: 7″ Vinyl
Label: SIERRA
More Info:
Originally released in 1982 as a bonus 7″ EP to Sierra Records “Live 1973” LP release of Gram Parsons with Emmylou Harris with full color sleeve.
Side One: Medley- Bony Moronie, 40 Days, Almost Grown Side Two: Conversations, Doing It in the Bus, Broken EBS Box, Hot Burrito #1

Phosphorescent
Aw Come Aw Wry
Label: Misra Records
More Info:
Previously released title from Phosphorescent, and one of the best-selling, on Misra. This will be the first time that it is available on vinyl.

CHARLIE POOLE & THE HIGHLANDERS : THE COMPLETE PARAMOUNT & BRUNSWICK RECORDINGS, 1929
Vinyl w/ Poster Ltd 1500
From 1926 to 1930 one of the most popular rural string bands on record was Charlie Poole & The North Carolina Ramblers. Through their 78 RPM discs and their various performances, Charlie Poole was second only to Gid Tanner and His Skillet Lickers. Poole’s uniquely syncopated three finger banjo picking style coupled with his Piedmont vocal inflections eventually colored and defined much of what we consider “old-time” music. The classic configuration of banjo, fiddle and guitar with vocals was encouraged by the main label that promoted Poole but he also wanted to record instrumentals featuring twin-fiddle and piano. As renaming his group The Highlanders, Poole was able to actualize this musical vision. This collection contains all of the sides that Poole made with Roy Harvey, Lucy Terry, and twin-fiddlers Lonnie Austin & Odell Smith. Remastered in beautiful sound by Christopher King and with notes written by old-time musician and scholar Kinney Rorrer.

Punch Brothers
“Ahoy!” – 33 1/3 rpm Vinyl EP
Label: Nonesuch Records
For the first time, the EP has been pressed on 10″ vinyl for Record Store Day, and includes songs by Josh Ritter (“Another New World”), Gillian Welch and David Rawlings (“Down Along the Dixie Line”), Punch Brothers (“Squirrel of Possibility”), and Mclusky (“Icarus Smicarus”), along with one traditional tune, arranged by Punch Brothers (“Moonshiner”). Originall yrecorded during the Nashville sessions for their 2012 album Who’s Feeling Young Now?,

Richard Thompson
Salford Sunday
DETAILS
Format: 7″ Vinyl
Label: New West
More Info:This is a single A-side 7” pressed on heavyweight vinyl. This song is off of the release Electric (2/5/13). The vinyl is black, hand-numbered 1-500. Richard will sign Side B on 25 of the records, which will be distributed randomly

Frank Turner
Recovery
Format: 7″ Vinyl
Label: Interscope

Various Artists
Yep Roc Hearsay / They Call It Rock
Format: 12″ Vinyl
Label: Yep Roc
Release type: RSD Exclusive Release
More Info:
2 Song 12″ on clear vinyl, 24 Yep Roc Artist performing, DVD of recording session, hand made cover

Yonder Mountain String Band
Format: 12″ Vinyl
Label: Vanguard

Listen Up! Shovels and Rope Cover Bruce Springsteen and Tom Waits for Jack White’s Third Man Records

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Shovels and Rope Johnny 99It looks like Jack White;s adopted home of Nashville is starting to reflect in the music being released by his Third Man Records label.

The latest is from Charleston indie-folk duo Shovels and Rope. The 7-inch will be released on April 2nd and features a jaunty cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “Johnny 99” (off the extraordinary Nebraska, hear it below) on the A side, with a version of Tom Waits’ “Bad As Me” on the B.

The release is on on Third Man’s Blue Series, where singers and bands traveling through Nashville are invited to stop by to record one or two songs at Third Man Studio produced by White. The songs are then, as soon as possible, made available on 7” vinyl and digitally on itunes. The series also includes releases by Brittany Howard and Ruby Amanfu, Seasick Steve, Chris Thile with Micheal Daves , The Secret Sisters, Wanda Jackson and others.

The release will be available on iTunes and vinyl. It;s a measly $6 and you can pre-order here.

Ryan Adams to Preview New Album in Live , Full-Band , Performance

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RyanAdams2Consequence of Sound reports that Ryan Adams has announced his first show backed by a full band since The Cardinals split up in 2009. The show will take place March 19th at London’s Royal Albert Hall and is part of the Noel Gallagher-curated Teenage Cancer Trust benefit concert series.

COS has done some on-line sleuthing and posts “…the Royal Albert Hall ticketing site describes Adams’ “The show will feature the debut of new songs from his as-yet-untitled new album due for release in the autumn alongside classics from his extensive catalogue.”

So, if the program’s details of “new songs” and “new album” correct there appears to be a new album on the horizon. The record reportedly has Adams reuniting with 2011′s Ashes & Fire producer/legend Glyn Johns (The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Clash), and COS reports that the band accompanying him on March 19th is expected to be the same as in the studio.
Check Adams’ recent appearance on Conan, sporting Buck Owen’s red, white and blue acoustic guitar, below.

Happy Birthday Townes Van Zandt

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townesThe first time I heard the name Townes Van Zandt my Uncle Tony mentioned playing a gig with him at a private party on the Tohajiilee Indian Reservationa in New Mexico. He described how he would watch him from the side of the stage and captivate them with his lyricism and picking style cribbed from fellow Texas Lightin’ Hopkins and charm them with his wit. he also described drinking so many Bloody Mary’s with Townes at an airport bar that they missed their flight out of there.

in many ways Townes Van Zadnt and Gram Parsons were brothers of the faith. Both men where born to families of means and walked away from an easy life of leisure to forge an uneasy path toward their musical vision. Greatness was attained but, like Icarus, the beckoning sun of substance abuse and the open road took them both too soon leaving a legacy felt to this day.

One of my favorite Townes stories is when he met Bob Dylan. Dylan was reportedly a “big fan” of Townes and claimed to have all of his records; Van Zandt admired Dylan’s songs, but didn’t care for his celebrity. The two first met during a chance encounter outside a costume shop in the South Congress district of Austin, Texas, on June 21, 1986. According to Johnny Guess, Dylan later arranged another meeting with the songwriter. 6th street in Austin was shut down due to Dylan being in town; Van Zandt drove his motor home to the cordoned-off area, after which Dylan boarded the vehicle and requested to hear him play several songs. During this time Townes reportedly turned down a songwriting invitation by Dylan.

I’m sure Townes is looking down and wondering what all the damn fuss is about. Bless him.