Check this searing performance Laura and Lydia Rogers (The Secret Sisters) from last nights Tonight Show of their contemporary murder ballad ‘Iuka.”
“Iuka” can be found on their newest release Put Your Needle Down
Category Archives: New Releases
Watch Out! Carrie Ashley Hill + Jeff Berrall – ‘Found You’ [VIDEO]
Carrie Ashley Hill + Jeff Berrall (Caveman) have released a lovely video for the song ‘Found You’ to accompany thier Stoned Ruin Records Lathe-Cut 7″
Tyler Bisson of Audio Geography cuts the records individually in real time on a 1940’s era lathe machine. Each 7″ is packaged in hand-screened artwork and includes digital downloads.
About the song the couple says “Jeff said to Carrie laughing, “You’re tired, I’m broken.†Later that day she sent him a text, “I found you when I knew I needed no one,†he replied, “I found you when I thought I was done,†and that is how these songs came to be.”
The couple resides in Brooklyn, where they are currently working on a full length record.
The 7″ can be purchased at stonedruin.com, Norman’s Sound & Vision in Williamsburg, Brooklyn or at their next live show in NYC Saturday, August 23rd at 7pm at Rockwood Music Hall.
The video was created by a Liam Alexander and can be seen below.
Music Review – The Ben Miller Band – ‘Any Way, Shape or Form’ (New West)
Performers like Konrad Wert (Possessed By Paul James) , Scott H. Biram and Hillstomp have been spectacularly creating Depression era country, bluegrass, folk, gospel, and blues music for years by jolting the dusty form with a furious intensity and emotional directness that would make Marcus Mumford sob into his vintage hanky.
We can now add to that the Joplin, Mo. trio of Ben Miller, Doug Dicharry and Scott Leeper, collectively known as The Ben Miller Band.
Producer Vance Powell ( Wanda Jackson,Buddy Guy, Jack White) is just the right man to steward ‘Any Way, Shape or Form,’ TBMB’s debut for New West records, though the many influences that make up what the band calls “Ozark Stomp” and bring out the band’s best effort to date.
Opener “The Outsider” evokes Dock Boggs and split Lip Rayfield as Miller’s clawhammer banjo, Dicharry’s percussion and Leeper’s washtub bass kick up a foggy mountian moshpit accenting by a hot guest slide guitar break by Chad “Gravy” Graves. The spirit of John Lee Hooker is raised in the jump boogie of “You Don’t Know” with a nasty little guitar break in the middle, and in the greasy/sleazy ‘Hurry Up And Wait” which features Dicharry’s blazing washboard work. Things gear down on the melancholy “I Feel for You” which is given a a dreamy quality from the inclusion of Graves pedal steel and Dicharry’s mandoline. The inclusion of the vaudeville-jazz ditty “23 Skidoo”, a 1920’s slang phrase for getting while the getting’s good is an odd twist especially when it grows into a dramatic swell. “Burning Building” is an Appalachian-meets-garage rocker that would make Jack White give a pasty smile.
the treatment given to the traditional folk ballad “The Cuckoo.” The internal dialogue of the piece occurs in a fever dream of roots-psychedelic, stabbing guitar, musical spoons and furious percussion. “Twinkle Toes,” is a jaunty lock-down break-down sing-along featuring blistering dobro. “Life on Wheels” kicks off like a “Whiskey River” remake but quickly breaks another direction as harmonica brings to mind a whining train whistle. “No War,” is a lofty Phil Ochs-style topical folk song calling out corruption and ponders the metaphysical.
“Any Way, Shape or Form” is work of considerable scope executed into a whole of rambunctious cohesion. It leaves you wondering what else Ben Miller Band might have up their sleeves.
Official Site | Amazon
Music Review: Cory Branan – “The No-Hit Wonder” (Bloodshot Records)
Nashville in the 70’s was a place of wandering, dusty minstrels tripping into town from distant small towns with little more than cheap guitars, grand dreams and a reverent yet defiant attitude regarding the power structure of Nashville music industry. The ripples where felt and absorbed back into the system and the result was the “Urban Cowboy” era. This was not an innovative time. Now that Music Row has again fell into lockstep with the sound of the cash register the bustling community of East Nashville is rekindling those early days.
In many respects Cory Branan’s “The No-Hit Wonder,” is the face of this rekindled spirit. Smart, sonic landscapes offering a deep stratum that delivers a bounty of country, pop (“Missing You Fierce”) and Southern soul (“Missing You Fierce”) gems as each song is sifted through. The record also benefits from having some of the finest backing musicians working – John Radford (Justin Townes Earle, Luella and The Sun), Sadler Vaden (The 400 Unit, Drivin and Cryin), Audley Freed (The Black Crowes) and Robbie Turner (Waylon Jennings, Charlie Rich.) as well as being supported by some of Americana and indy rock’s best talent.
No better example of that is the opener “You Make Me” which features none other than Jason Isbell on back-up vocals. A song for his new bride it strikes a fine balance of romance, rock-heat with ear-worm hooks as Isbell provides just the right amount of guitar and vocal support.
The title cut recalls hard times for a troubadore that burns bright instead of belly-aches as Craig Finn & Steve Selvidge of The Hold Steady providing further retained support. “The Only You” Shows the nuance of Branan’s craft – “I hear you got another boy and he looks a lot like me / And this one come with some kind of guarantee / Well I got me another girl and she looks like you at 23 / And while she sleeps I trace the places where your tattoos used to be.” This playful poignancy is straight from the book of Kristofferson.
Branan vocal style like Ryan Bingham with better range. This is most apparent in the Bakersfield-by-way-of-Uncle-Tupelo “Sour Mash.” Another furiously paced number that wears it’s hillbilly pedigree proudly, featuring more subtle accompaniment by Tim Easton. “C’mon Shadow” is a ragtime jubilation masking heartbreak that’ll have you tapping a toe and crying in your beer.
“All The Rivers In Colorado” is pure jukebox gold. A barroom weeper of tears and waterways made even more delightful with Caitlin Rose and Austin Lucas lending background vocals. “Daddy Was A Skywriter” is a Cajun-spiced tune about finding your way in this world with the guidance and love from mama and daddy.
“The No-Hit Wonder” is a work both expansive in influence as it is grounded in history. Smart song-craft, road-tested instinct of instrumentation and an ear for the attentive hook is it’s flesh and bone. This is not a stright-up country record in contemporary or classic terms. Its an Americana record – and all that comes with that gloriously, messy label.
And a damn fine one at that.
Watch Out! The Felice Brothers – “Lion” [VIDEO]
One of the best bands I’ve had the privilege of seeing play live, The Felice Bothers have brought some of that playfulness to the video for their latest single “Lion.”
Shenanigans and tomfoolery abound. Clad in black there’s field strongman posing, football, and topped off with a random pie fight and beer shower,
This gives me an opportunity to, again, wonder how these guys weren’t tapped for T Bone Burnett’s upcoming “Basement Tapes 2“.
“Lion” is from the new album Favorite Waitress.
Watch Out! Goodnight, Texas – “A Bank Robber’s Nursery Rhyme” [VIDEO]
Check out this cool video for Goodnight, Texas’ roliicking string tune “A Bank Robber’s Nursery Rhyme,” shot live in their rehearsal space in the Bay Area by Matthew Washburn.
Grab a free download of “A Bank Robber’s Nursery Rhyme” here
Goodnight, Texas new LP “Uncle John Farquhar” will be released pit now on Tallest Man Records.
Music Review: Billy Joe Shaver – “Long In The Tooth” [Lightning Rod]
Billy Joe Shaver will laws be a welcome sight at Casa Twang. Shaver was the first interview I conducted of this blog and his generosity and great stories fueled me to keep at this because there is still great music comes from the
adventurous kind.
Shaver’s ’s latest work, “Long In The Tooth,†shows he’s still got some adventures to partake in.
Though done in the style that Nashville pop-stars like to slag as “Grandpa music,†â€Long In The Tooth†has Shaver digging deep in the soil of 70’s Outlaw Country. A movement that Shaver helped cultivate, and that those Music City marionette’s claim allegiance to.
Shaver penned all 10 songs and they’re is all you’ll need for a state of the state. Politics, war, religion, class divide, love, heartache, and yes, the sad state of the country music.
The first cut Hard To Be An Outlaw” features Shaver’s old pard and character witness, Willie Nelson, this is a
hat-tip to the Country Gold OGs as both a nostalgic lament and a scrappy swipe at Music Row pop-country. “The Git Go” is a loping study in fatalism/destiny lament covering class disparity in politics made even more forlorn by Mickey Rafael’s mournful, nuanced harmonica.
“Music City USA” features a more jaunty, and optimistic view of Nashville as a place where dreams, a great music, can still be had.
Love is alive on this album. “I’ll Love You as Much as I Can†is a sweet waltz sang to a longtime sweetheart. “I’m in Love” is reworked from 1998’s album “Victory,” and, though a tad more world-weary, it’s still pure poetry.
Another contemporary Outlaw of sorts, Todd Snider, goosed Shaver into making this album by making him realize he still has a lot to give. We are lucky he did. Nobody would fault Billy Joe Shaver if he took to pasture and rested on his many laurels. But by the sound of “Long In The Tooth” he’s not ready to pack in that guitar just yet.
Official site | Buy Long in the Tooth
Watch Out! Ray Benson (feat. Willie Nelson) – “It Ain’t You” [VIDEO]
the newest video for “It Ain’t You” from Asleep at the Wheel front-man Ray Benson’s latest solo release “A Little Piece” (Bismeaux Records.) The vide is a video scrapbook of Benson and Willie Nelson’s 40-plus year friendship. A friendship that started when Willie suggested AATW move from their hometown in Philadelphia to Austin, Texas in 1973.
Ray and Willie duel on “It Ain’t You” and, as it is an old Waylon Jennings co-write, it recognizes the influence all three have had on the Texas music scene from a rear-view mirror if age and wisdom.
Ray Benson says of the song/video:
“When Sam, co-producer of my solo CD, played me this song written by Waylon Jennings and Gary Nicholson, I was amazed that no one had ever recorded it! It’s definitely an undiscovered gem and strikes an emotional response with many people. After listening, I called up my pal Willie Nelson and asked if he would sing the song with me. He agreed and we went out to Luck, TX and recorded his vocal.”
“Willie is 81 years young and I’m close to turning 64. The song is about growing old and yet feeling and acting young…it felt so appropriate for us to do. The video has captured the feeling of the song with its slow motion effects, an inside look at the backstage concert preparation and a peak of our long history together as friends. Hope you all enjoy it.”
Enjoy this lovely tune from two masters trading wistful recollections. The cut also features some of Willie’s signature jazz-tajanzo guitar licks.
Buy “A Little Piece.”
Watch Out! Ryan Adams “Gimme Something Good†[VIDEO]
The last few years has seen Ryan Adams dabbling in computer music and metal and producing for Jenny Lewis.
Now Adam’s is in a rock-and-roll phase with his new self-titled solo album, his 14th, which will hit stores on September 9 via Pax-Am Records.
The video for the fist single, “Gimme Something Good,†is a nice balance of brooding rocker and B-movie camp, represented onscreen by super-vamp mistress of the night Elvira. Adams stares menacing and Elvira preens and dances around a candelabra. It’s serves just the right amount of cheese and oomph to make for a cool vid.
Get spooky with “Gimme Something Good†below.
Watch Out! Grace Askew – “Cinnamon” [VIDEO]
Common sentiment has you believe that TV singing competitions are a cultural wasteland not worth our attention.
Grace Askew is proof that sometimes paying attention pays off.
“The Voice” Season 4 contestant Grace Askew delighted when she did a excellently brash cover of Lee Hazlewood’s “These Boots Are Made for Walkin,'” made famous by Nancy Sinatra
Twangers, ya know I like it greasy. If you give me swampy and greasy at the same time you’ll have a hard time sending me home.
Recorded at the legendary Sun Studio, “Cinnamon” is a woozy slice of what Askew has coined “bluntry” (blues+country, or perhaps stoned country) Labels aside, it’s a greasy, swampy delight made more so by Askew’s marble-mouthed delivery in her native Memphis country grammar.
Shot in an abandoned house , with single-source light saturated clack-and-white, Askew dances as she sings this sexually-charged come-on.
Askew embodies a potent blend of charisma and authenticity that makes her a force to keep your eye on.
“Cinnamon” is from Askew’s debut newest release ‘Scaredy Cat