Patty Griffin to Release New Album, “American Kid,” on May 7th

AmericankidSinger/songwriter and 3 Girls & Their Buddy , Band of Joy band member, Patty Griffin will release a new album of original material titled American Kid on May 7 through New West Records.

The follow up to 2007’s Children Running Through was written to honor her father, whose exceptional life included working as a high school science teacher, fighting in World War II, raising seven children and living in a Trappist Monastery.

This will be the first album of Griffin’s that’s completely rooted in the Americana sound. “It was recorded in Memphis,” Griffin said. “Part of the reason was the chance to get away from what I’d been doing.”

The album includes appearances from the North Mississippi Allstars’ guitarist Luther Dickinson and drummer Cody Dickinson, and was co-produced by Craig Ross.

You can take a look at American Kid’s track list below.

1 – Go Wherever You Want To Go
2 – Don’t Let Me Die In Florida
3 – Ohio
4 – Wild Old Dog (See video below)
5 – Mom & Dad’s Waltz
6 – Faithful Son
7 – Highway Son
8 – That Kind of Lonely
9 – Irish Boy
10 – Get Ready Marie
11 – Not A Bad Man
12 – Gonna Miss You When You’re Gone

Album Review – Son Volt: Honky Tonk [Rounder Records]

son volt honky tonk

From the ashes of one of the pivotal harbingers of the late 80’s alt.country movement, Uncle Tupelo, Jay Farrar’s Son Volt has continued to carry the torch of classic country and rock music for seven albums now. Each album blending, progressing, and sometime faltering, but always staying true to course. This time around, Farrar seems content to ease off of the rock influence and focus in classic country nuance. Picking up the pedal steel in his spare time he’s uses ot deftly spanning 11 songs that display economy (clocking in at just over 36 minutes) as well as expansiveness in influence.

This incarnation of Son Volt appears well suited to provide the Honky Tonk of the album title and theme. The band sets a welcome tone with the 3/4 Waltz of “Hearts and Minds.” Brick Walls is straight from the Lefty Frizzell book of song-craft and heartache. The nightlife lament of “Wild Side” is Farrar’s subtler and more tender take on a theme Hank Thompson tackled with “Wild Side Of Life.”

“Every road is a story to tell, of dreams that have soared and dreams that have fell.” starts off the lovely Celtic-tinged “Down the Highway” that blends the road with life, or perhaps it’s all just life on the road. “Bakersfield” flirts with jukebox fair to compel a dust-bowl migrant to drop a dime to hear it. Languidly paced atmospheric and shimmery electric guitars makes Angel of the Blues’ and “Shine On” gives the album a contemporary conclusion.

Honky Tonk doesn’t slap you in the face with some aural revelation. it’s not a furious album or one trying to prove itself. It lays it out and really couldn’t care what the world thinks. That’s the beauty in it. There is no overt commercial aspirations, just love of music and a celebration of it’s timeless nature. Farrar has always been true to his vision never chasing stylistic trends to broaden his demographic appeal. He’s cultivated and harvesting country music gold throughout his career and with the excellent Honky Tonk, he sounds right at home.

Official Site | Buy

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Happy Texas Independence Day Y’all!

guitar case front open2No my native state of Texas hasn’t seceded from the rest of the U.S (yet!)

Texas Independence Day celebrates the adoption of the Texas Declaration of Independence on March 2, 1836 officially breaking from Mexico to create the Republic of Texas.

That independent spirit is nowhere better proven then in the music and musicians that come from, or are drawn to, the Lone Star State. Here are a few of my favorite Texas roots and Americana artists.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dXR5Dk8YNw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ydFQiSHa9o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iL8xnVbj5Ts

Watch Out! Shooter Jennings with Scott H. Biram “White Trash Song” on The Tonight Show [VIDEO]

The Tonight Show with Jay Leno - Thursday, February 28, 2013 - Video - NBC.comShooter Jennings and Scott H. Biram rip it up on the Steve Young song White Trash Song. The song can be found on Shooter’s upcoming release The Other Life (March 12th)

The Tonight Show will never be the same!

Watch Out! Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell perform Dreaming My Dreams on David Letterman 2-25-13 [VIDEO]

harris-crowellEmmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell do a wonderful version of the Allen Reynolds song made famous by Waylon Jennings, Dreaming My Dreams, from thier new release Old Yellow Moon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rim4NzPmhOA

Watch Out! Steve Earle’s “Invisible” [VIDEO]

Watch Out! Steve Earle’s “Invisible” [VIDEO] « Twang Nation . pngSteve Earle explores the landscape of the homeless in his adopted home of New York City in his new video for “Invisible.” Earle deftly displayed his social conscious as we follow a homeless man through his dire circumstances as citizens of one of the wold’s richest city pass him by.

“Invisible” can be found on the upcoming The Low Highway (April 16. Watch the world premiere of Steve Earle’s “Invisible.”

Get More:

The Felice Brothers Cover Nirvana, The Beatles, Bruce Springsteen and The Band [VIDEO]

I’m a huge of of Upstate New York’s Felice Brothers. I always suspected that Big Pink molecules must still dwell in the area and were breathed in by the band as infants leading them to their dark roots musical destiny. Or something…

As great as their originals are the band picks some choice covers on the road. I found some cool covers done by the band and thought I would share.

Enjoy

Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge to celebrate 53rd Birthday

tootsies3One of the world’s most legendary honky-tonks is the Nashville’s Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge on lower braodway. Unoffocially knwon as the Ryman Adtroirum green room due to it’s proximity just across the alley from the Mother Chrurch, and the strict no alcohol policy enforced by same, Toosties’s has played host to legends writing, singing and living some of country music’s greatest songs. It’s where Willie Nelson kissed Faron Young on the mouth after the Young presented Willie with his very first writer’s royalty check for $20,000 for “Hello Walls.” The place has history as is illustrated by the walls layered with classic head shots of country music royalty. So may the bar had to install plexiglass to keep people from fooling with them.

Toosties’s will celebrate its 53rd Birthday on November 21st with a Broadway street-party hosted by Great American Country (GAC) personality Storme Warren. The annual event will be the kick-off event celebrating and honoring Country Music Hall of Fame member George Jones’ final Nashville concert, which takes place the following evening Friday, November 22nd at the Bridgestone Arena. As part of the celebration, Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge is extending their annual “Birthday Bash” to a two-day event with entertainment on the outdoor Broadway stage taking place on both Thursday and Friday nights.

“The Tootsie’s Birthday Bash has become an annual event that everyone looks forward to,” says Tootsie’s proprietor Steve Smith. “We kicked it off at the Ryman with Kris Kristofferson, Terri Clark, Mel Tillis, and Jamey Johnson a few years back.

Entertainment will be announced in the coming months.

Elton John and Mumford & Sons Set to Honor Levon Helm at 55th Grammys

Levon_Helm_at_-life_is_Good_Festival-_in_2011The famed Midnight Ramble will roll into L.A. on Sunday night as Elton John** and Mumford & Sons appear on the Grammy stage to lead a tribute to the late music great Levon Helm, The Associated Press reports.

As part of the awards show’s in memorial tribute, John and Mumford & Sons will be joined by T Bone Burnett, Brittany Howard of Alabama Shakes, Zac Brown and Americana Album of the Year winner Mavis Staples for a special performance of the Band’s “The Weight.

“Can you think of a song that fits (more)?” said Ken Ehrlich, producer of the Grammy Awards. “Philosophically it fits the moment.”

The Band’s 1968 debut, “Music From Big Pink,” and its follow-up, “The Band,” remain landmark albums and count as the vanguards for the Americana movement. Songs such as “The Weight” and “Cripple Creek” have become rock standards. Early on, The Band backed Bob Dylan on his sensational and controversial electric tours of 1965-66 and collaborated with him on the legendary “The Basement Tapes.”

Elton John has a long history with Helm and counted him as a close friend. John and his writing partner Bernie Taupin, wrote the song “Levon”, who’s title character was inspired by The Band’s co-founder, drummer, and singer. The Band was apparently Elton John’s and Taupin’s favorite group at the time. Their sound inspired John and Taupin to create the albums Tumbleweed Connection and Honky Château.

Elton John and his civil partner, David Furnish, named their son “Zachary Jackson Levon Furnish-John.”

Helm, singer and drummer for The Band, died on April 19th in New York of throat cancer. He was 71. Mumford & Sons are up for four awards at this Sunday’s Grammys, including Album of the Year for Babel. Alabama Shakes are up for two awards, including Best New Artist. Zac Brown Band is up for Best Country album for Uncaged.

Are these the performers I would have chosen for a Helm tribute? Probably not. But the sentiment is genuine and I’m sure that the performances will be heartfelt.

Tune in to the 55th Grammys airing this Sunday on CBS.

Twang Nation Podcast Episode 11 – Steve Earle, Brett Detar, Caitlin Rose

podcast

Two themes emerged unintentionally from this episode, Californian cities and the highway. Both are classic themes in country and Americana music and both are telling on his we got here and where we’re going as a community.

On Californian cities , the Son Volt song, “Bakersfield,” included tells the story of dust bowl immigrants to that Southern California town that resulted in a thriving Southern/plains working class culture there. After work visits to honky-tonk bars like The Blackboard gave performers like Wynn Stewart and Buck Owen’s a stage to shape the Bakersfield Sound. This sound contrasted against the Nashville Sound that was thriving in Music City and borrowed elements to rock music sweeping the nation.

Fusion and evolution is what created this music we love. But we wear our roots proudly. Blake Shelton might be right about Music Rows’
jettisoning it’s legacy to craft a business plan for sustained growth. But great culture never comes from a corporate marketing department and strip mine approach to culture is not what Americana is about. It’s about sustained growth for long-term benefits for everyone involved.

Regarding the highway, we are all on it. The internet is part of that analogy and the past, present and future of the genre is another. then there’s the literal hundreds of miles of highway that these performers travel every year. It’s a tough life they choose to bring us this great music and we owe it to them to see them live, buy their music and pick up a t-shirt. We owe it to ourselves because this financial investment in them allows them to bring us more great music.

As always. I hope you like this episode of the Twang Nation Podcast and thank you all for listening. If you do tell a friend and let me know here at this site, Google+ , Twitter or my Facebook.

Opening Song – “Mr. D.J” – by Dale Watson

1.Caitlin Rose – “I Was Cruel””- Album: “‘The Stand-In” (ATO Records)
2. Holly Williams – Song: “Let You Go”- Album: her third album “‘The Highway” (Georgiana Records)
3. Wayne “The Train” Hancock – Song: “Ride”- Album: “Ride” (Bloodshot Records)
4. The Law – Song: “Crazy and Lonesome”- Debut Album: “Dust And Aether” (TLB Records)
5. Brett Detar – Song: “A Soldier Burden” – available for the low price of an email address at brettdetar.com
6. Escondido – Song: “Bad Without You” – Album: debut The Ghost of Escondido
7. New American Farmers – Song: “Everywhere” – Album: Brand New Day
8. Son Volt – Song: “Bakersfield” – Album: Honky Tonk (Rounder Records)
9. Charlie Parr – Song: “Groundhog Day Blues” Album: Barnswallow
10. Dale Watson – Song: “Smokey Old Bar” Album: El Rancho Azul (Red House Records)
11. Steve Earle – Song: “Calico County” Album: The Low Highway (New West records)
12. Carrie Rodriguez – Song: “Devil in Mind” Album: Give Me All You Got (Ninth Street Opus records)