• The Americana Music Association has released an initial list of arists that will be playing around Nashville during their music festival and conferencethis September 17-20 2008. Some of the performers will be: Jim Lauderdale, Mike Farris, Kane Welch Kaplin, The everybodyfields, The SteelDrivers, Tift Merritt, Jason & the Scorchers, Joe Ely, Malcolm Holcombe, Rosie Flores, Band of Heathens, Laura Cantrell, Cross Canadian Ragweed, James McMurtry, Jason Isbell and much much more.

• The drop date for Chris knight’s new album, Heart of Stone, has been pushed back to September 2nd due to “production issues.” Guest musicians on Heart of Stone include Mike McAdam (Steve Earle, Radney Foster) on various guitars, Keith Christopher (Georgia Satellites, The Yayhoos) on bass, Tammy Rodgers (The SteelDrivers) fiddle and vocals, mandolin and banjo, and Michael Webb (The Wreckers, Allison Moorer) on B-3 organ, piano and accordion. Producer Dan Baird also contributes on guitar and vocals. Knight says of Heart of Stone “It might just be my best. For some reason, there’s a cohesiveness here that’s not like anything I’ve done before. But at the same time, it’s not real predictable. There’s a lot of texture to it as well, but it’s a simple record. I don’t know how that happened. But I know it when I hear it.”
• The documentary “Johnny Cash: The Man, His World, His Music” will air on PBS stations tomorrow night. The film is directed by Robert Elfstrom and is a “cinema vérité look at Cash.”  PBS produced the documentary almost 40 years ago (!) Robert Elfstrom also takes some time to answer some questions for the the Tennessean (via the 9513)

I’m always fascinated when country music is honored and performed by folks overseas. I’m also interested in how new bands are able to use the web to do much of the heavy lifting traditionally done in the past by big labels with big money and a large staff. I get both of these plus great music with Belfast Ireland’s country rock band Jackson Cage. The Jackson Cage I’m most familiar with is a dour song about suburban futility by Bruce Springsteen on his release “The River.”  Jackson Cage the band do exhibit some of New Jersey’s most famous hillbilly’s knack for narrative, but only inasmuch as he was willing to channel Dylan, Woody Guthrie and The Band to tell a compellingly stark tale.

Jackson Cage’s self-funded, self-released, self-promoted and self-titled debut album managed to hit #1 on the most popular Alt Country Albums on Amazon MP3 (it currently sits at #5 just after Ryan Bingham’s Mescalito.) What makes all this more impressive is that Amazon only sells MP3s to US customers.

Jackson Cage is one of those rare cases where a band exhibits a skillful grasp of great music roots while working contemporrary technology just as adeptly. Keep your eye on Jackson Cage.

Jackson Cage - Taste the Moon(mp3)

Jackson Cage - White Line(mp3)

Jackson Cage  - I ain’t gonna waste my time(mp3)

From Pitchfork.com: Country music legend Charlie Louvin, along with his late brother Ira, set the standard for duo close harmony singing that would later be followed by the The Everly Brothers, the The Wilburn Brothers and the Beach Boys. After Ira’s death in June 1965 Charlie launched a solo career that was put on hold for nearly a decade until last year’s “Charlie Louvin” was released on New York label Tompkins Square and featured a cast which included George Jones, Elvis Costello, Marty Stuart, Tom T. Hall, and Jeff Tweedy.

On September 16 Tompkins Square will release Louvin’s self-proclaimed “gospel record,” called Steps to Heaven. It features versions of 8 traditionals and two Louvin Brothers tunes.
Steps to Heaven Track List:

01 Love at Home
02 How Beautiful Heaven Must Be
03 Precious Lord, Take My Hand
04 There’s a Higher Power
05 Where We’ll Never Grow Old
06 If We Never Meet Again This Side of Heaven
07 Just Rehearsing
08 When the Roll Is Called up Yonder
09 I Feel Like Traveling On
10 I Am Bound for the Promised Land

A second record, Charlie Louvin Sings Murder Ballads & Disaster Songs, is Louvin’s exploration of the darker songs, comes out December 9 also on Tompkins Square, and it borrows nine songs from the label’s recent compilation, People Take Warning! Murder Ballads & Disaster Songs, 1913-1938. Those songs are supplemented on the record by the appearance of new versions of a couple songs from the first Louvin Brothers album, Tragic Songs of Life.

Mark Nevers of Lambchop, who has worked on records by Bonnie “Prince” Billy and Andrew Bird, produced, recorded, and mixed both albums.

Louvin has dates  throughout the rest of the year which includes a show in Nashville on July 30 opening up for M. Ward and Zooey Deschanel’s She & Him.

Charlie Louvin:

07-13 Winnipeg, Manitoba - Winnipeg Folk Festival
07-18 Athens, GA - Melting Pot
07-26 Palmer Rapids, Ontario - TBA
07-30 Nashville, TN - The Mercy Lounge *
08-08 Moss Point, MS - Moss Point
09-06 Sparta, NC - Sparta High School
09-20 Berea, KY - College Berea (Spoonbread Festival)
09-21 Chattanooga, TN - Chattahippie Music Festival
10-17 Austin, TX - Cactus Cafe
10-18 Durant, OK - TBA
11-01 Mobile, AL - Alabama Pecan Festival
01-17 Tampa, FL - 6th Annual Bell Buckle Cruise

* with She & Him

• I’ve heard it said, and agree, that alt.country and Americana is country music for liberals. Todd Snider is once again reinforcing that idea for me. “Peace Queer” is the name of the new Snider’s new release and it is being touted as “his most political record yet.” You can hear the first track off the album “Mission Accomplished.”

• NineBullets.net has posted some tasty cuts from Chris Knight’s upcoming album, Heart of Stone (8/19.)

• Hank III’s site has posted release date for his upcoming release “Damn Right & Rebel Proud” - October 21, 2008 From the III site: The album is again self produced and will shake the guns right offa your rack!  The first single will be “Long Hauls and Close Calls” - for which a video has also been produced that is full of muddin’, truckin’ and gunnin’! We thank our dysfunctional family for all of its support and patience in the release of this album.  Always get comfortable here, and the official Myspace site for all the news you really need.

Tracklist:

The Grand Ole Opry Ain’t So Grand / Wild & Free / Me and My Friends /6 Pack of Beer / I Wish I Knew / If You         Can’t Help Your Own /Candidate for Suicide / H8 Line / Long Hauls and Close Calls / Stoned and Alone / P.F.F. / 3  Shades of Black / Workin Man

Pitchfork.com has a great interview with Emmylou Harris about her new release All I Intended to Be (NoneSuch) song writing routines, about her many collaborations and his she’s traveled the tough country music and come out in one

Pitchfork: You’ve been associated with a lot of very inspired but also very hard living guys. How have you managed to move in the same circles as people like Gram Parsons and Steve Earle and survive?

EH: Well, Steve Earle wasn’t hard living by the time we started working together! [laughs] I was only around Gram for a very, very brief period of time. I was pretty much the country mouse. When I was around Gram, he really trying to straighten up. We spent most of our time singing, and you can’t get all screwed up and sing. So the time we spent together was a pretty healthy time. I wish I could have spent more time around him. Maybe I could have helped him a little bit. But there’s no point in looking back.

As I’ve mentioned before Nonesuch Records will release Emmylou Harris’ new album “All I Intended to Be” (Nonesuch) on June 10. This will be her first solo effort since 2003’s Stumble Into Grace.

Listen to some samples of the release at the Nonesuch site.

Here is the track listing:

1. Shores of White Sand (Jack Wesley Routh)
2. Hold On (Jude Johnstone)
3. Moon Song (Patty Griffin)
4. Broken Man’s Lament (Mark Germino)
5. Gold (Emmylou Harris)
6. How She Could Sing the Wildwood Flower (Emmylou Harris, Kate and Anna McGarrigle)
7. All That You Have is Your Soul (Tracy Chapman)
8. Take That Ride (Emmylou Harris)
9. Old Five and Dimers Like Me (Billy Joe Shaver)
10. Kern River (Merle Haggard)
11. Not Enough (Emmylou Harris)
12. Sailing Round the Room (Emmylou Harris, Kate and Anna McGarrigle)
13. Beyond the Great Divide (J.C. Crowley and Jack Wesley Routh)

Emmylou is currently on tour:

6/6/2008 Morrison, CO Red Rocks Ampitheatre
6/8/2008 Lawrence, KS Wakarusa Festival
6/14/2008 Lisle, IL Morton Arboretum
6/16/2008 Toronto, Canada Massey Hall
6/18/2008 New York, NY Town Hall
6/19/2008 New York, NY Town Hall
6/20/2008 Oyster Bay, NY The Planting Fields Arboretum
6/22/2008 Vienna, VA Wolf Trap Filene Center
6/23/2008 Charlottesville, VA Charlottesville Pavilion
6/25/2008 Raleigh, NC North Carolina Museum of Art
6/27/2008 Atlanta, GA Chastain Park Amphitheatre
7/17/2008 Avon, CO Vilar Center for the Arts at Beavercreek Resort)
7/19/2008 Alta, WY Grand Targhee Americana Festival
7/20/2008 Salt Lake City, UT Red Butte Garden Ampitheatre
7/23/2008 Vancouver, Canada Orpheum Theater
7/31/2008 San Diego, CA Humphrey’s Concerts By the Bay

Where can a self respecting upright, clean thinking country music fan find solace in this world of soulless corporate market-tested pop-country confection? I have the remedy right here friends.

Eleven Hundred Springs is THE best country band on the road today. That’s right, you heard me, THE BEST! I defy anyone to show me a band that exhibits even half of EHS’s passion and agility.

Their blend of trad but contemporary Western swing, honky-tonk and country rock speaks to the roots while it pushes the edge, and the band’s first release in four years (and after a band shuffle) “Country Jam” showcases those skills in spades.

You can almost feel the heat, smell the Tex-Mex combination platter, and taste the ice-cold cervezas as the album opener “Texas Afternoon” stretches out with a Tejano accordion and hints of West Texas artists Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Joe Ely. It’s a song that genuinely makes you want to smile.

The first single from the record, “Every Time I Get Close To You,” heads back out to the flat lands of West Texas to harken back Lubbock’s own Buddy Holly channeling his rave-up rockabilly style that once burned up the local sock hops.

“Nobody Told You About The Love” is a beautiful banjo and pedal steel woven reflection on fatherhood and love featuring lovely backing vocals from guest Heather Myles. “Whose Heart Are You Breaking Tonight” is a Western swing number. It’s smooth shuffle provided by drummer Mark Reznicek is sure to fill up boot-scooting dance floors for years to come and “I Never Crossed Your Mind” beautiful lament of heartache and “V-8 Ford Boogie” moves back into Rockabilly’s wrong side of the tracks will a pulsing “go-cat-go” sound right out of the Carl Perkins songbook.

The songs so seamlessly from style to style it belies the incredible dexterity being quietly exhibited and Matt Hillyer’s vocals are prefect for the songs with his ability to achieve longing and carefree hell raising with equal success. His writing is tight and effortless with nary a tired cliche in sight. Thankfully there are no obvious reaches for “the hook” that lead so many songs to trite repetition. The sincerity in each tune is solid , irony be damned.

The cover art merits Texas underground cred by featuring a psychedelic painting by legendary Austin artist/actor and Spicewood, TX. resident Kerry Awn. Locals might recognize Kerry’s unique style from the great graphics he did for the legendary Armadillo World Headquarters back in the 70’s.

Like the Greats, Bob Wills, Willie Nelson, this is hillbilly poetry at its finest. Hopefully the next release from this great band won’t take as long to get out.

Texas Afternoon(mp3)

Eleven Hundred Springs - You Can’t Hide From Your Heart - Denton, Texas

Ex-Drive By Trucker Jason Isbell and his backing band the 400 Unit will celebrate tax day (April 15, for all you rich people) trying to pick up a little bank by releasing a live 6 song EP. “Twist & Shout” (New West Records) was recorded at the Twist and Shout in Birmingham, Alabama back on 11-16-07. After seeing Isbell and his band put on a great show over the summer I’m thinking this is probably just a quarter of the full show. Why not the full show New West? I’m especially disappointed about the decision not to include my favorite cut from Isbell’s solo release “Dress Blues” but I am glade to see the inclusion of some of his great DBT cuts.

Track listing:

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

Jason Isbell - Dress Blues

On Saturday, April 19, 2008, hundreds of independently owned music stores across the country will celebrate “Record Store Day.”  Independent music stores will simultaneously link and act as one with the purpose of celebrating the culture and unique place that they occupy both in their local communities and nationally. The event will include artist appearances, giveaways, and much more.

Get out and support independent music store or else get over to Wal-Mart’s music section and see the future.

Following a questionable business model, laid down by millionaires like Prince, Trent Reznor (NIN) and Radiohead, of giving away your music for free online but then asking for a donation (why buy the cow? etc. etc.) or recouping the cost in other ways, Tuscaloosa, Alabama’s The Dexateens, and their label. Sky Bucket, are offering up their new release “Lost and Found” gratis.

The Dexateens are one of my favorite current bands and one that best epitomizes the moniker alt.country (for good or bad) and I hope this free download gets them some headlines and some cash from fair-minded people that realize it’s hard to make great music if you’re waiting tables or changing oil to make the bills. I’d like to hear what what all of you think about this model.

The exposure that The Dexateens get by supporting the mighty Drive By Truckers on the road for some upcoming dates might go a long way to helping them get the word out. Get out and see this great show when they come to your town.

May 6 2008- Detroit, MI at Crofoot Ballroom w/Drive by Truckers Detroit, Michigan
May 7 2008 - Columbus, OH at Newport Music Hall w/Drive by Truckers  Columbus, Ohio
May 8 2008 - Harrisburg, PA at Dragonfly w/Drive by Truckers Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
May 9 2008 - Washington, DC at 9:30 Club w/Drive by Truckers Washington DC
May 10 2008 - Washington, DC at 9:30 Club w/Drive by Truckers Washington DC
May 11 2008 - Dexateens show in Charlottesville, VA (details TBA)
May 12 2008 - Greenville, SC at the Handlebar w/Drive by Truckers Greenville, SC
May 13 2008 - Carrboro, NC at Cat?s Cradle w/Drive by Truckers Carrboro, NC
May 14 2008 - Carrboro, NC at Cat?s Cradle w/Drive by Truckers Carrboro, NC
May 15 2008 - Charleston, SC at Music Farm w/Drive by Truckers Charleston, SC
May 16 2008 - Jacksonville, FL at Freebird Live w/Drive by Truckers Jacksonville,FL
May 17 2008 - St. Pete, FL at Jannus Landing w/Drive by Truckers