Category Archives: Legends

Jim Lauderdale To Release Two Records This Summer

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The legend that is ‘Mr. Americana” Jim Lauderdale is set to release not one, but TWO releases. the albums are entitled ‘Time Flies” and “Jim Lauderdale and Roland White’ and both will be released Friday, August 3rd Yep Roc Records.

These 30th and 31st studio albums respectively will be followed by upcoming live dates, including headline shows and festival performances such as this Saturday’s Appalachia Rising event at the Carter Family Fold in Hiltons, VA (May 19) with additional dates to come.

“Time Flies” (cover above) sees Lauderdale doing what he does best, writing and performing classic Americana distinctively infused with striking notes of country and soul. Produced by Lauderdale and Jay Weaver at Nashville’s Blackbird Studio and House of Blues Studios, the album is among the most striking works of this one-of-a-kind artist’s three decade career, once again demonstrating his remarkable lyrical gifts and genre-agnostic musical approach. Songs like the stirring title track offer able evidence that Lauderdale’s creative mission continues unabated, his ability to rejuvenate his sound indomitable.

“Jim Lauderdale and Roland White’ is Lauderdale’s previously unreleased first full-length record, a collection of classic bluegrass recorded in the basement of Earl and Louise Scruggs’ Nashville home in the summer of 1979 and then lost for nearly four decades. Lauderdale was new to town at the time, while White was already a true bluegrass legend, known for his mastery of the mandolin and foundation of such iconic groups as The Kentucky Colonels and Country Gazette. Sadly the master tapes went missing for 39 years and were only recently rediscovered at the bottom of a box by White’s wife. As remarkable, energetic, and original today as it was when initially recorded, JIM LAUDERDALE AND ROLAND WHITE provides an intimate look into the nascent beginnings of a truly extraordinary American artist.

Hear the wonderfully wistful title cut from “Time Flies” below.

“Time Flies” (Yep Roc) Release Date: Friday, August 3

Tracklist

1. Time Flies
2. The Road is a River
3. Violet
4. Slow As Molasses
5. Where the Cars Go By Fast
6. When I Held The Cards
7. Wearing Out Your Cool
8. Wild On Me Fast
9. While You’re Hoping
10. It Blows My Mind
11. If the World’s Still Here Tomorrow

“Jim Lauderdale and Roland White’ (Yep Roc) Release Date: Friday, August 3

Tracklist

1. Forgive and Forget
2. Gold and Silver
3. (Stone Must Be The) Walls Built Around Your Heart
4. Six White Horses
5. I Might Take You Back Again
6. Try and Catch the Wind
7. Don’t Laugh
8. Regrets and Mistakes
9. February Snow
10. (That’s What You Get) For Loving Me
11. Gonna Lay Down My Old Guitar
12. Nashville Blues

Jim Lauderdale Tour Dates

MAY
19 – Hiltons, VA – Appalachia Rising @ The Carter Family Fold
26 – Lafayette, LA – Warehouse 535
29 – Nashville, TN – Honky Tonk Tuesday Nights @ The American Legion
31 – Nashville, TN – The Station Inn

JUNE
29 – Chicago, IL – The Hideout
30 – Chicago, IL – The Hideout

JULY
19 – Buffalo, NY – Sportsman Tavern
20 – Trumansburg, NY – Trumansburg Fairgrounds
29 – White Sulphur Springs, MT – Jackson Ranch

AUGUST
25 – Black Mountain, NC – Pisgah Brewing Company

Lori McKenna To Release “The Tree” This Summer, Hear The Premier Track Now

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Lori McKenna "The Tree"
Album cover art: Sydney Clawson

GRAMMY, CMA and ACM Award-winning singer-songwriter Lori McKenna will release the follow up to her 2016 acclaimed ‘The Bird and the Rifle’ July 20 on CN Records via Thirty Tigers and is now available for pre-order.

The new album takes one of McKenna’s signature themes—family—and builds a tapestry of experiences she has lived and overheard, been told and dreamed up. Of the album, McKenna comments, “I love people’s stories about their families—the way they tic and the ways we’re all crazy and love each other. I hope my songs shine a little light on that for a second. Maybe our stories remind us of our families and what they give us. It’s beautiful, and sometimes we take it for granted.”

‘The Tree’ is McKenna’s eleventh studio album and second in collaboration with Grammy Award-winning producer Dave Cobb (Chris Stapleton, Jason Isbell, Brandi Carlile). Recorded by Matt Ross-Spang over seven days at Nashville’s historic RCA, the 11-song album features McKenna (vocals, acoustic guitar), Cobb (acoustic/electric guitar, mellotron), Anderson East (electric guitar), Brian Allen (bass), Chris McKenna (mellotron), Chris Powell (drums, percussion) and background vocals from Kristen Rogers, Natalie Hemby and Hillary Lindsey.

In celebration of the release, McKenna will embark on “The Way Back Home Tour” this summer. The headline tour kicks off June 29 at Annapolis’ Rams Head On Stage and includes stops at City Winery venues in Boston, New York, DC, Chicago and Atlanta as well as Philadelphia’s World Café Live and Nashville’s CMA Theatre among others. McKenna will also join Alison Krauss on two tour dates in Ohio this June. See below for complete tour dates. (alas no Texas dates…..yet)

Listen to the poignantly reflective track “People Get Old” below.

“The Tree” Track List
1. A Mother Never Rests (Lori McKenna, Barry Dean)

2. The Fixer (Lori McKenna)

3. People Get Old (Lori McKenna)

4. Young And Angry Again (Lori McKenna, Barry Dean, Luke Laird)
5. The Tree (Lori McKenna, Natalie Hemby, Aaron Raitiere)
6. You Won’t Even Know I’m Gone (Lori McKenna)

7. Happy People (Lori McKenna, Hailey Whitters)

8. You Can’t Break A Woman (Lori McKenna, Hillary Lindsey, Liz Rose)
9. The Lot Behind St. Mary’s (Lori McKenna)

10. The Way Back Home (Lori McKenna, Luke Laird)

11. Like Patsy Would (Lori McKenna, Hillary Lindsey, Liz Rose)

“The Way Back Home Tour”

June 14—Sylvania, OH—Centennial Terrace (supporting Alison Krauss)
June 15—Kettering, OH—Fraze Pavilion (supporting Alison Krauss)
June 29—Annapolis, MD—Rams Head On Stage
June 30—Northampton, MA—Iron Horse Music Hall
July 1—East Greenwich, RI—Greenwich Odeum
July 18—Boston, MA—City Winery
July 20—New York, NY—City Winery
July 21—Philadelphia, PA—World Café Live
July 22—Washington, DC—City Winery
August 3—Ann Arbor, MI—The Ark
August 4—Chicago, IL—City Winery
August 5—Minneapolis, MN—Dakota Jazz Club
August 15—Atlanta, GA—City Winery
August 16—Charlotte, NC—North Carolina Blumenthal Performing Arts Center
August 17—Nashville, TN—CMA Theatre, Country Music Hall of Fame

Johnny Cash Museum Unveils ‘I Walk the Line’ Gold Record On Anniversary

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Cash’s first #1 I Walk the Line
Sun Records Sam Phillips presenting Johnny Cash with his first Gold Record for I Walk the Line – Credit: Johnny Cash Museum Archive

The Johnny Cash Museum premiered a special artifact today that has never previously been on public display despite being presented to Johnny Cash more than six decades ago.

Johnny Cash’s very first gold record to commemorate Cash’s first #1 I Walk the Line on what is the anniversary of the song’s release on Sun Records on May 1, 1956. Johnny’s siblings Tommy Cash and Joanne Cash-Yates joined Sam Phillips’ son Jerry Phillips on the site of the museum today as the award finally found a permanent home on exhibition at the museum, which is celebrating its fifth anniversary this year.

I Walk the Line remained on the Billboard charts for 43 weeks. Cash was inspired to write the melody of the song after hearing a reel-to-reel tape record during his Air Force days in Germany with what he thought were interesting chord changes. It turned out the reel had gotten turned around and all the chords were being played backwards. The strange, haunting sound inspired the melody to “I Walk the Line” which Cash wrote several years later, backstage before a show in Texas in 1956.

The song would become an American music standard and be credited with numerous accolades:

Recording Industry Association of America and the National Endowment for the Arts selected it among the 365 titles chosen as“Songs of the Century.”
In 2000, NPR ranked it among the 100 most important American musical works of the 20th Century.
CMT included the recording in its list of the “100 Greatest Songs of Country Music.
In 2014, Rolling Stone ranks it as #1 on its list of the “100 Greatest Country Songs of All Time”
RIAA Double Platinum selling single with more than 2 million copies sold

Fans can view the article on display at the museum which is open daily from 9 AM to 6 PM CT.

Johnny Cash at Town Hall Party in 1958 singing “I Walk The Line”

Lucinda Williams, Steve Earle, Dwight Yoakam Announce Summer ‘LSD Tour’

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Lucinda Williams, Steve Earle and Dwight Yoakam - LSD Tour

This summer Lucinda Williams, Steve Earle and Dwight Yoakam will come together for what is being called the “LSD Tour” (get it?) These three prominent singer/songwriters made names for themselves as pioneers of the wave that evolved the genre of country music by fusing it with the rock and punk of the day. This new vibrancy, along with electrifying live shows, resulted in a disruptive effect on Music Row’s stranglehold on the genre and drew a sharp contrast to the safe, sterile, industrialized cultural product they profited from much like The Outlaw movement had done a generation before.

This contrast between the old guard and these neo-traditional upstarts was struck most star key when Earle insightfully described the movement at the time as the“Great Credibility Threat of the ’80s”

I was lucky to see Williams and Earle share the stage at New York City’s Town Hall on the “Car Wheels on a Gravel Road” portion of her tour playing her albums in full, but this is the first time Williams, Earle and Yoakam have shared the stage together so I would describe this as pretty badass.

SiriusXM will present the tour and recently announced a 24/7 channel curated by Dwight launching in late April titled “Dwight Yoakam and Bakersfield Beat – Where Country Went Mod “ featuring music from Yoakam’s extensive career and celebrates the Bakersfield sound.

The summer tour starts at Blue Hills Bank Pavilion in Boston on June 12, continues a run on the East coast, jumps to the West on August 1st play on The Masonic in San Francisco then concludes this leg with a Midwest swing through Chicago; Rochester, Michigan and Indianapolis. Hopefully there will be more dates added including a stop near me in North Texas.

Tickets go on sale to the general public Friday, March 30 at 10 a.m. local.

The LSD Tour:
June 12 – Boston, MA @ Blue Hills Bank Pavilion
June 13 – New York, NY @ Beacon Theatre
June 15 – Bethel, NY @ Bethel Woods Center for the Arts
June 16 – Gilford, NH @ Bank of NH Pavilion
June 17 – National Harbor, MD @ MGM National Harbor
June 19 – Baltimore, MD @ Pier Six Pavilion
June 20 – Cincinnati, OH @ PNC Pavilion at Riverbend Music Center
June 21 – Kansas City, MO @ Starlight Theatre
August 1 – San Francisco, CA @ The Masonic
August 3 – San Diego, CA @ Open Air Theatre
August 4 – Phoenix, AZ @ Comerica Theatre
August 10 – Raleigh, NC @ Red Hat Amphitheater
August 11 – Charlotte, NC @ Charlotte Metro Credit Union Amphitheatre
August 12 – Nashville, TN @ Ascend Amphitheater
August 14 – Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre
August 16 – Chicago, IL @ Chicago Theatre
August 17 – Rochester, MI @ Meadow Brook Amphitheatre
August 18 – Indianapolis, IN @ Farm Bureau Insurance Lawn

Buck Owens’ ‘The Complete Capitol Singles: 1967–1970’ To Be Released

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Buck Owens and the Buckaroos

Few Musicians have helped redefine the image of country musicians from country bumpkins to savvy sonic shape-shifter and entrepreneur than Sherman Texas’ own Alvis Edgar (Buck) Owens Jr. From adapting country’s style to appeal to the growing rock and roll market with his uptempo Bakersfield sound, to his business savvy buying several radio stations in the sixties to increase his take of the pie, to becoming a household name sharing the stage with the great Roy Clark on Hee Haw from the beginning of the series in 1969 until he left the cast in 1986, few artists have had the reach and influence as Buck Owens, his guitarist Don Rich and the rest of Buckaroos.

On May 11 Omnivore records, in conjunction with the Buck Owens Estate, will release a newly remastered ‘Buck Owens and the Buckaroos’ The Complete Capitol Singles: 1967–1970’ CD and Digital format (what? No vinyl?!)

From the presser:

According to Owens: “The reason my Capitol records sounded the way they did — real heavy on the treble — was because I knew most people were going to be listening to ’em on their AM car radios. At the time, nobody else was doing anything like that, but it just seemed like common sense to me. And it was one more reason that you knew it was a Buck Owens record as soon as it came on the radio — because it just didn’t sound like those other records.”

Annotator Bomar from the liner notes: “The latter part of the 1960s represents Buck Owens’ second act. His recordings from that era are brief snapshots of a man in transition. Buck and his Buckaroos had undeniably found a winning formula, but he was growing concerned that his signature sound was in danger of growing stale and predictable. For the rest of the decade he would boldly venture into new territory that likely stretched the boundaries of what some fans might have expected.”

Preorder here.

Track Listing:
Disc One
1. Sam’s Place
2. Don’t Ever Tell Me Goodbye
3. Your Tender Loving Care
4. What A Liar I Am
5. It Takes People Like You (To Make People Like Me)
6. You Left Her Lonely Too Long
7. How Long Will My Baby Be Gone
8. Everybody Needs Somebody
9. Sweet Rosie Jones
10. Happy Times Are Here Again
11. Let The World Keep On A Turnin’ – Buck Owens & Buddy Alan
12. I’ll Love You Forever And Ever – Buck Owens & Buddy Alan
13. I’ve Got You On My Mind Again
14. That’s All Right With Me (If It’s All Right With You)
15. Christmas Shopping
16. One Of Everything You Got
17. Things I Saw Happening At The Fountain On The Plaza When I Was Visiting Rome Or Amore
18. Turkish Holiday
Disc Two
1. Who’s Gonna Mow Your Grass
2. There’s Gotta Be Some Changes Made
3. Johnny B. Goode
4. Maybe If I Close My Eyes (It’ll Go Away)
5. Tall Dark Stranger
6. Sing That Kind Of Song
7. Big In Vegas
8. White Satin Bed
9. We’re Gonna Get Together – Buck Owens & Susan Raye
10. Everybody Needs Somebody – Buck Owens & Susan Raye
11. Togetherness – Buck Owens & Susan Raye
12. Fallin’ For You – Buck Owens & Susan Raye
13. The Kansas City Song
14. I’d Love To Be Your Man
15. The Great White Horse – Buck Owens & Susan Raye
16. Your Tender Loving Care – Buck Owens & Susan Raye
17. I Wouldn’t Live In New York City (If They Gave Me The Whole Dang Town)
18. No Milk And Honey In Baltimore

Record Store Day 2018: Our Top 11 Americana/Roots Picks

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It’s that time of year again. Time to raise your dead ass out of bed at the crack of dawn to stand in a line in the elements outside your favorite record still for limited-edition vinyl delights. Record Store Day follows behind the blooming of Spring and like it the selections bursts with bounty. Or something. It’s good, really good.

The DIY movement that nearly single-handedly resuscitated the vinyl format is back on Saturday, April 21. New releases, obscure releases, re-releases, picture discs, colored discs, die-cut discs…it’s all there for a sometimes hefty price. But it’s cheaper than buying it later on ebay for 3-times the original price.

Here are a few choice Americana and Roots music nuggets from the list (found in its entirety here) Highlights include Bobbie Gentry’s Live at the BBC in its first official release, Johnny Cash’s 5oth Anniversary edition of his watershed release ‘ At Folsom Prison’ and Uncle Tupelo demos from their genre-defining ‘No Depression.’

So, get to your favorite indy record early on April 21nd (I’ll be at Good Records in Dallas) and share those great finds with me on Instagram and Twitter.

The Allman Brothers Band – ‘Live At The Atlanta Pop Festival, July 3 & 5, 1970’

DETAILS
Format: 4 x LP
Label: Legacy
Quantity: 3000
Release type: ‘RSD First’ Release

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The Allman Brothers Band was one of Georgia’s top live acts still looking for a break when they were hired to open the three-day Atlanta International Pop Festival. The band’s Southern-blues style, bolstered by jams that stretched to epic lengths, won over audiences–and two days later, after legends like Jimi Hendrix, Johnny Winter and B.B. King took the stage, the Allmans were invited back for a second set. Recorded nearly a year before At Fillmore East established them as one of America’s hottest bands, fans can now discover these landmark nights in Allman Brothers Band history with this individually numbered, limited edition box set, available on vinyl for the first time and packaged in an oversize slipcase with an eight page booklet of photos and liner notes.

7/3/70 1.1 Introduction 1.2 Statesboro Blues 1.3 Trouble No More 1.4 Don’t Keep Me Wonderin’ 1.5 Dreams 1.6 Every Hungry Woman 1.7 Hoochie Coochie Man 1.8 In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed 1.9 Whipping Post 1.10 Mountain Jam Part I 1.11 Rain Delay 1:14 1.12 Mountain Jam Part II 7/5/70 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Don’t Keep Me Wonderin’ 2.3 Statesboro Blues 2.4 In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed 2.5 Stormy Monday 2.6 Whipping Post 2.7 Mountain Jam

Dickey Betts – Dickey Betts Band: Live At The Lone Star Roadhouse

DETAILS
Format: 2 x LP
Label: RockBeat Records
Quantity: 1400
Release type: ‘RSD First’ Release
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Dickey Betts may not have had the name but he was a co-founder and the ongoing heart and soul of the Allman Brothers. With the deaths of Duane and then Gregg, Dickey slipped into semi-retirement. This show was recorded in August, 1978 with his back-up band, Great Southern, at the Lone Star Roadhouse in New York City and simulcast on WLIR on Long Island. Dickey Betts and Great Southern riffed on some of the Allman Bros. best known hits: “Blue Sky”, “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed”, “Jessica”, Statesboro Blues”, “One Way Out”, “Southbound” and other gems. Dickey is backed by Warren Haynes- guitar/vocals, Johnny Neel- keyboard/vocals, Matt Abts- percussion and Marty Privette- bass. Special appearances by Rick Derringer, Jack Bruce and Mick Taylor. It was just announced that Dickey was embarking on his first tour in some time, touring with his son Duane sharing lead guitar..

Disc 1: Blue Sky, In Memory of Elizabeth Reed, Duane’s Tune, Jessica
Disc 2: Statesboro Blues, One Way Out, Rock ‘n Roll Hoochie Coo, Spoonful, Southbound

Bobbie Gentry – Live at the BBC

DETAILS
Format: LP
Label: UMC
Quantity: 1200
Release type: ‘RSD First’ Release
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This LP is sure to be highly collectable for fans. No BBC material featuring Bobbie has ever been released (and only Ode to Billie Joe has leaked on YouTube as it featured in a BBC doc about songwriters) so these recordings are completely unfamiliar to fans.

Side 1: (1) “Mississippi Delta”, (2) “Papa Won’t Let Me Go To Town With You”, (3) “I saw An Angle Die”, (4) “Ode To Billie Joe”, (5) “Mornin Glory”, (6) “Ace Insurance Man”
Side 2: (1) “Niki Hokey/ Barefootin”, (2) “Penduli Pendulum”, (3) “Recollection”, (4) “Sweet Peony”, (5) “Greyhound Going Somewhere”

Johnny Cash – At Folsom Prison: 50th Anniversary Legacy Edition

DETAILS
Format: 5 x LP
Label: Legacy
Quantity: 2500
Release type: RSD Exclusive Release
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“Hello… I’m Johnny Cash.” With those four words, The Man In Black solidified his legend as outlaw country pioneer with two spirited sets recorded at Folsom State Prison in 1968 and released as At Folsom Prison, one of the most acclaimed live albums of all time. This special box set includes both full concerts, including performances by June Carter, Carl Perkins and The Statler Brothers. This numbered deluxe package, featuring individually designed LP jackets packaged in a deluxe hardshell slipcase with an eight page, 12″ x 12″ booklet, and also includes a bonus 12″ single featuring previously unreleased audio of Cash and friends rehearsing at the El Rancho Motel in Sacramento, CA the night before the concerts.

Steve Earle & The Dukes – Live From The Continental Club

DETAILS
Format: 2 x LP
Label: E-Squared
Quantity: 2000
Release type: RSD Exclusive Release
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Side 1 – 1. Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way 2. Guitar Town 3. Hillbilly Highway 4. My Olf Friend The Blues 5. Someday 6. The Devil’s Right Hand Side 2 – 1. Baby’s Just As Mean As Me 2. Dominic Stree/The Gallway Girl 3. Little Emperor 4. Aquainted With The Wind 5. Down THe Road Part II 6. Copperhead Road Side 3 – 1. So You Wanna Be An Outlaw 4. Looking For A Woman 3. Goobye Michaelangelo 4. Dim Lights , Thick Smoe (And Loud, Loud Music) 5. Amanda Side 4 – 1. Fixin To Die 2. Hey Joe 3. Johhny Come Lately 4. Wild Thing

Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlatives – Way Out West – Desert Suite (Trip One)

DETAILS
Format: 12″ Vinyl
Label: Superlatone Recordings
Quantity: 1200
Release type: RSD Exclusive Release
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(Trip One) is the first in a series of Desert Suite releases. Marty and His Fabulous Superlatives have reached back into the vault and let loose some of their favorite collaborations and B-Sides. Deseret Suite (Trip One) features guest appearances from Merle Haggard, Don “Juan” Maddox. It also features a never before released track called “Rattle and Roll” which is produced by Mike Campbell (Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers).

Side A: 1. The New Step It Up and Go (featuring Don Juan Maddox) / San Joaquin Boogie / TB Blues (featuring Merle Haggard) Side B: 1. Rattle and Roll

Uncle Tupelo – No Depression– Demos

DETAILS
Format: LP
Label: Legacy
Quantity: 3000
Release type: RSD Exclusive Release
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Released in 1990, Uncle Tupelo’s debut album No Depression was a genuine milestone in American rock and roll, a striking fusion of traditional folk and country with post-punk innovation and hardcore ferocity. For the first time on vinyl, fans can hear Jeff Tweedy, Jay Farrar and Mike Heidorn’s legendary demo tape Not Forever, Just For Now, recorded in 1989, plus a demo of “No Depression” recorded a year earlier.

Side A 1. Outdone [1989 Demo] 2. That Year [1989 Demo] 3. Whiskey Bottle [1989 Demo] 4. Flatness [1989 Demo] 5. I Got Drunk [1989 Demo]
Side B 1. Before I Break [1989 Demo] 2. Life Worth Living [1989 Demo] 3. Train [1989 Demo] 4. Graveyard Shift [1989 Demo] 5. Screen Door [1989 Demo] 6. No Depression [1988 Demo]

Hellbound Glory – Pinball (Junkie Edition)

DETAILS
Format: LP
Label: Black Country Rock
Quantity: 500
Release type: RSD Limited Run / Regional Focus Release
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A Record Store Day exclusive collector’s edition of the 2017 release, “Pinball [Junkie Edition]” features the entire album, and a very special version of a previous Hellbound hit, “Better Hope You Die Young”, performed by Tanya Tucker (feat. Leroy Virgil) and produced by Shooter Jennings. All on limited edition toxic green vinyl, with all-new artwork that continues the story from the first album cover. To top all of that off, the collector’s item will include a CD and download of everything, plus demos from they years that led to the pinnacle that is Hellbound Glory’s “Pinball”.

Side A. 1. ‘Merica (The Good Ole U.S.A.) 2. That’s Just What I Am 3. Six Strings Away 4. Vandalism Spree 5. Sun Valley Blues #3 (Bloodweiser) 6. Empty Bottles Sid B 7. Pinball 8. Delta Dawn 9. Hellbound Blues 10. You Better Hope You Die Young (featuring Tanya Tucker) 11. Blue Yodel Number 5 (California Blues) CD & DOWNLOAD CARD TRACKS 1. Hellbound Blues (Demo) 2. Empty Bottles (Demo) 3. Pinball (Demo) 4. Vandalism Spree (Demo) 5. Hellbound Blues (Hellbound AF Remix)

Mandolin Orange – Mandolin Orange Plays Cover Songs

DETAILS
Format: 12″ Vinyl
Label: Yep Roc Records
Quantity: 1400
Release type: ‘RSD First’ Release
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Mandolin Orange Plays Cover Songs is an EP of five classic covers reinterpreted by the Chapel Hill, North Carolina folk duo Mandolin Orange. Side A includes three traditional folk songs. Side B includes a cover of Gregory Alan Isakov’s “Amsterdam” and a cover of Bob Dylan’s “Boots of Spanish Leather”.

Side A: 1) Jordan is a Hard Road to Travel (Traditional) 2) Silver Dagger (Traditional) 3) Little Margaret (Traditional)
Side B: 1) Amsterdam (Gregory Alan Isakov cover) 2) Boots of Spanish Leather (Bob Dylan cover)

Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit – Live at Twist & Shout

DETAILS
Format: Vinyl
Label: New West Records
Quantity: 3000
Release type: ‘RSD First’ Release
MORE INFO
A six song EP recorded live at Twist & Shout in Denver, CO in 2007.

1 – Grown, 2 – Goddamn Lonely Love, 3 – Hurricanes And Hand Grenades, 4 – Danko/Manuel, 5 – Outfit, 6 – Into The Mystic

The Lone Bellow – Live at Grimey’s

DETAILS
Format: 10″ Vinyl
Label: Masterworks
Quantity: 2500
Release type: RSD Exclusive Release
MORE INFO
individually numbered, purple marble vinyl 10″ recorded live at Grimey’s New and Preloved Music in Nashville. This Record Store Day 2018 release includes two tracks from their latest album Walk Into A Storm and two never-before-recorded tracks: “Jessica” and “Lovely in Blue”

Side One: “May You Be Well” “Is It Ever Gonna Be Easy”
Side Two: “Jessica” “Lovely in Blue”

Ry Cooder To Release New Album ‘The Prodigal Son,’ May 11th, Hear The Cut ‘Shrinking Man’ Now

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The Prodigal Son, Ry Cooder

The words Renaissance Man is often thrown around to apply to anyone that has more than one interest. When applied to Ry Cooder his nearly 50 years as a master guitarist/musician, producer, songwriter and mentor give those words their proper significance.
The Santa Monica, California native has explored music and culture from across the USA with his roots rock solo offerings as well as the rest of the world, as with his collaborations with Malian singer and multi-instrumentalist Ali Farka Toure and his Grammy-winning work with the Cuban musician ensemble Buena Vista Social Club.

Ry Cooder will release ‘The Prodigal Son,’ his first new solo release in six years on May 11th, 2018 on Fantasy Records.

Recorded in Hollywood, CA, and produced by Ry and his chief collaborator, drummer (and his son) Joachim Cooder, ‘The Prodigal Son’ is all America – our spiritual, hopeful voices, our raw cries and our sly provocations, voiced through the songs of the Pilgrim Travelers, The Stanley Brothers, Blind Willie Johnson, and Ry Cooder himself.

The album’s 11 tracks, including three Cooder originals and a carefully selected collection of his favorite spirituals of the last century, share a particular resonance in this time and place, forming an unflinching look at the state of play in modern America. “I do connect the political/economic dimensions with the inner life of people since people are at risk and oppressed on all sides in our world today,” he stated. “There’s some kind of reverence mood that takes hold when you play and sing these songs. ‘Reverence’ is a word I heard my granddaughter’s nursery school teacher use, a Kashmiri woman. She said, ‘We don’t want to teach religion, but instill reverence.’ I thought that was a good word for the feeling of this music.”

Cooder will bring The Prodigal Son Tour to venues throughout North America this spring and summer, his first full tour since 2009. Confirmed tour dates are below with more to be added soon. For ticket information, please visit: RyCooder.com

Listen to the lead track, “Shrinking Man” below.

Pre-order The Prodigal Son here.

The Prodigal Son Track List:
 
 1. straight street (James W. Alexander / Jesse Whitaker)
2. shrinking man (Ry Cooder)
3. gentrification (Ry Cooder / Joachim Cooder)
4. everybody ought to treat a stranger right (Traditional; Blind Willie Johnson, Arr. by Ry Cooder)
5. the prodigal son (Traditional: Arranged by Ry Cooder /Joachim Cooder)
6. nobody’s fault but mine (Blind Willie Johnson / Arranged Ry Cooder / Joachim Cooder)
7. you must unload (Alfred Reed)    
8. I’ll be rested when the roll is called (Blind Roosevelt Graves)
9. harbor of love (Carter Stanley)
10.Jesus and woody (Ry Cooder)
11. in his care (William L. Dawson)
 
Ry Cooder – Tour Dates:
 
June 3 – Alexandria, VA – Birchmere 
June 4 – Alexandria, VA – Birchmere 
June 6 – Ridgefield, CT – Ridgefield Playhouse 
June 7 – Boston, MA – Wilbur Theatre 
June 8 – New York, NY – Town Hall Theatre 
June 9 – Derry, NH – Tupelo 
June 26 – Toronto, ONT – Massey Hall 
June 27 – Ottawa, ONT – Centerpoint 
June 29 – Montréal, QE – Jazz Festival @ Maisonneuve 
June 30 – Burlington, VT – Flynn Theater 
July 1 – Lenox, MA – Tanglewood 
July 3 – Philadelphia, PA – Mann Center 
July 14 – Courtenay, BC – Vancouver Island MusicFest 
July 17 – Portland, OR – Revolution Hall 
July 20 – San Francisco, CA – Great American Music Hall 
July 21 – Napa, CA – Uptown Theatre

Dave Alvin and Jimmie Dale Gilmore To Release ‘Downey to Lubbock’ This Summer

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Dave Alvin and Jimmie Dale Gilmore - ‘Downey to Lubbock’

Few things in narration strike me as much as well-constructed alternate history. Like the Amazon series ‘The Man in the High Castle,’ loosely based Philip K. Dick’s 1962 alternative WW2 history novel of the same name there’s just something interesting about taking the familiar into unfamiliar territory.

Two roots music legends are decided to take that same technique and apply it to two of the most infamous legends of the American West. The song, entitled “Billy The Kid and Geronimo,” has Alvin giving voice to Billy the Kid, a.k.a. William Bonney a.k.a. William Henry McCarty Jr., the young gunslinger that made his name by killing 21 people before being famously shot to death at the tender age of 21 by Sheriff Pat Garrett.

Gilmore, who is part Native American, voices Geronimo, the Chiricahua Apache chief who was one of the last Native American leaders to abandon his resistance against white colonization of the American Southwest, as the two undertake an imagined conversation of morality, injustice and their place in history.

‘Billy The Kid said, “We’re just the same.

We’re cursed and we’re damned as they whisper our names…”

Geronimo said, “No, We’re not the same, for the harm I have done, I feel great shame

But we’ll pay the same price for the blood on our hands”

The song appears on ‘Downey to Lubbock,’ the title refers to eacj=h of their hometowns.

Friends for over three decades, it took Alvin – the founder of seminal punk roots band The Blasters – and Gilmore, of the pioneering country-folk trio The Flatlanders and well-known for his role as the notorious line over-stepping Smokey from The Big Lebowski, until last year to collaborate.

About their relationship, Alvin told the L.A. Times – “I first met Jimmie probably 27 years ago — maybe more,” Alvin said. “Tom Russell had put together a songwriter-traveling-circus kind of show with Butch Hancock and Jimmie Dale and Tom and me and Steve Young and Katy Moffatt. As we rolled along with picked up Lucinda Williams and some other folks.

“I’d heard of him, mentioned in a kind of whispered status, but when we met, I discovered he was a really nice guy and we kind of clicked,” Alvin said. ” There were certain complexities to him musically that took a while to figure out — like I knew he was influenced in many ways by blues stuff. A couple of years after that, I heard him pull out a Blind Lemon Jefferson number. There are not many people who do Blind Lemon.”

‘Downey to Lubbock’ will be released June 1st on Yep Roc records.

Hear “Billy The Kid and Geronimo.” below, see ‘Downey to Lubbock’ and check out Alvin and Gillmore’s tour schedule below.

Pre-order ‘Downey to Lubbock’ here.

‘Downey to Lubbock’ tracklist:

Downey To Lubbock
Silverlake
Stealin’, Stealin’
July, You’re A Woman
Buddy Brown’s Blues
The Gardens
Get Together
K.C. Moan
Lawdy Miss Clawdy
Billy The Kid and Geronimo
Deportee – Plane Wreck At Los Gatos

Dave Alvin and Jimmie Dale Gilmore Tour Dates:

Friday, May 25 – Strawberry Music Festival, Grass Valley, CA
Friday, June 1 – The Heights Theater, Houston, TX
Saturday, June 2 – Antone’s, Austin, TX
Sunday, June 3 @ 7:00PM – The Kessler Theater, Dallas, TX
Thursday, June 7 – World Cafe Live Downstairs, Philadelphia, PA
Friday, June 8 – City Winery, New York, NY
Saturday, June 9 – Narrows Center for the Arts, Fall River, MA
Wednesday, June 13 – Ram’s Head on Stage, Annapolis, MD
Thursday, June 14 – Birchmere, Alexandria, VA
Saturday, June 16 – Shea Theatre, Turner Falls, MA
Sunday, June 17 – Clearwater Festival, Croton-on-Hudson, NY
Saturday, June 23 – Club Cafe, Pittsburgh, PA
Sunday, July 1 — Friday, July 6 – Omega Institute, Rhinebeck, NY

Willie Nelson Answers Health Concerns with New Album ‘Last Man Standing,’ Shares Title Track

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Isn’t it a very Willie Nelson thing to do?

After the Red-Headed Stranger recently cancelled shows due to a bout with the flue we collectively held our breaths. It’s to be expected, news of a more virulent strain and less effective vaccine saturates our media.

Willie is 84 years old and recent times have not been kind to our music heroes.

Nelson answers our concerns by not only booking new shows, including headlining his 2018 Luck Reunion day festivaL held at his ranch outside Austin, Texas, but also announcing a new album following up his last release, ‘God’s Problem Child,’ by just a day short of a year.

Nelson will celebrate his 85th birthday (4/29) with the release of a new album, ‘Last Man Standing.’ The new release will offer 11 new songs written by Nelson and longtime collaborator Buddy Cannon.

Below, listen to the title track, which much like the first release off his previous album, “Still Not Dead,” playfully addresses his aforementioned mortality.

“I don’t want to be the last man standing/Or wait a minute, maybe I do.”

Though Jerry Lee Lewis used the title ‘Last Man Standing’ on his 2006 album addressing his longevity as the last remaining member of the Sun Studio’s “Million Dollar Quartet,” Nelson is referring to his brotherhood of Outlaw country members which overlaps Lewis’ with a single member, Johnny Cash.

Though Nelson is not yet the last man standing he is in rarified company as Kris Kristofferson is still kicking and a case could be made for David Allan Coe.

The album is out April 27, via Legacy Recordings. Pre-order ‘Last Man Standing’ here.

Track list for ‘Last Man Standing:’

1. “Last Man Standing”
2. “Don’t Tell Noah”
3. “Bad Breath”
4. “Me and You”
5. “Something You Get Through”
6. “Ready to Roar”
7. “Heaven Is Closed”
8. “I Ain’t Got Nothin'”
9. “She Made My Day”
10. “I’ll Try to Do Better Next Time”
11. “Very Far to Crawl”

What We know About Ethan Hawke’s Blaze Foley Biopic ‘Blaze.’

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blaze movie poster

‘Blaze’ the Ethan Hawke co-written and directed tender biopic created to celebrate the tragic life of country blues Texas artist Blaze Foley has been turning heads at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival at the Cafe Artois in Park City, Utah. (here and here)

Benjamin Dickey, who portrays Blaze Foley, is a longtime friend of Ethan Hawke and was offered the role after he played ‘one of he and Ethan’s favorite Foley tunes.’

Blaze Foley’s lover Sybil Rosen, who is played in the film by Alia Shawkat, was Ethan Hawke’s co-writer for the film.

The great Kris Kristofferson portrays Foley’ father.

Charlie Sexton portrays Texas legend folk musician and Foley’s friend Townes Van Zandt.

Alynda Segarra from Hurray for the Riff Raff has a cameo.

The film was done in a cinema verite style, a technique that pays more attention to the natural actions and authentic dialogue showing people in a typical day in a day life.

Hawke knew he dad to make the film after reading reading Sybil Rosen’s beautiful memoir ‘Living in the Woods in a Tree,’ which he wrote for forward to.

Sybil Rosen plays her own mother in the film.

Blaze was not filmed in Austin but in the Baton Rouge area.

Village Studios in Jackson served as a production base for the project, which filmed in winter 2016-17.

Blaze will be released to the public later this year.

https://youtu.be/XUL2My4olT4