If this cut of Johnny Cash spirited (heh) rendition of Stan Jones’s classic “(Ghost) Riders in the Sky” before a rowdy crowd at Nashville’s storied Exit Inn club in indicative of the recently released “LIFE Unheard: Johnny Cash” then this to be a must-have.
‘LIFE Unheard: Johnny Cash,’ is a joint collaboration between LIFE and Sony Music Entertainment. The CD offers solo acoustic songs recorded at his House of Cash’s home studio studio in Hendersonville, Tenn., as well as live songs from the White House and Newport Folk Festival. The 12-song album also features a previously unreleased studio version of Ben Dewberry’s ‘Final Run,’ and ‘Movin’ Up,’ both recorded for Cash’s 1981 made-for-TV movie, ‘The Pride of Jesse Hallam.’
A separately sold book offers illustrated 192-page biography features many rare and never-before seen photos.
Before he could complete his final “The Grand Farewell Tour†tour, country music legend George Jones died last April. Travis Tritt, Alan Jackson, Patty Loveless, Vince gill and others paid tribute to Jones during his funeral at the Ryman auditorium and and Randy Travis and Joe Nichols have released tribute tracks in tribute. Now we can look forward to a new release from The Possum himself.
On September 10, two days before what would have been his 82nd birthday, “George Jones – Amazing Grace.” will be released. Jones recorded all the gospel songs on the album in 2002 with producer Billy Sherrill with the exception of “Great Judgment Morning,†which was produced by Brian Ahern in 1994. “Great Judgment Morning†includes vocals by Waylon Jennings, Jessi Colter, Travis Tritt, Ricky Skaggs, Marty Stuart and Connie Smith.
The album will be released on Bandit Records, which Jones established in 2000 with his widow, Nancy. The country music star had to convince longtime collaborator Sherill to come out of retirement to make the recordings. One song on the album, Great Judgement Morning, featuring guest vocals by Waylon Jennings, Jessi Colter, Travis Tritt, Ricky Skaggs, Marty Stuart and Connie Smith, was produced by Brian Ahern in 1994.
“I’ve always said that if I could have made a living some way in gospel music, I would have loved to had that break,” Jones said in early 2000, “but it never was offered to me, a job in that field, so naturally, I got lost on that other road.”
Since 1960 the tiny performance space of  Caffè Lena, located in Saratoga Springs, New York, has played host to some of  of the most influential artists across diverse genres of music; traditional folk, blues, singer-songwriters, jazz and bluegrass.Â
Many of these decades-spanning performances were fortunately caught on tape and will be made available as ‘Live At Caffè Lena.’ The collection is  a 3-CD box set, containing 47 never-before released tracks by Dave Van Ronk, Mary Gauthier, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Kate McGarrigle, Rick Danko, Anais Mitchell, Sleepy John Estes, Arlo Guthrie, Sarah Lee Guthrie, and more. Included are unpublished photographs. Images include selections from the archive of esteemed photographer Joe Alper, who captured many iconic, intimate portraits from the folk era of the 1960s.
Caffè Lena embodied the spirit of the folk boom, the era and its artistry, building a reputation as a hotbed of creativity and connection. It was also a safe haven and nurturing space for artists, its atmosphere cultivated personally by Lena Spencer herself. She would graciously house wayward artists, sometimes for months at a time. But she was not merely a host. She championed artists, from Bob Dylan as early as 1961 all the way through the 80s until her passing. Her passion for identifying and promoting talent is evident throughout this 3-CD set. That Caffè Lena is still open for business tonight is a testament to her legacy.”
‘Live At Caffè Lena.’ will be available Worldwide on Tompkins Square, September 24, 2013 – Pre-order here.
‘Live At Caffè Lena: Music From America’s Legendary Coffeehouse, 1967-2013′
DISC ONEÂ
01 Intro  – Lena Spencer / Guy Carawan Cripple Creek 1970Â
02 Hedy – West Shady Grove 1968Â
03 Intro by Lena Spencer / – Sleepy John Estes Holy Spirit 1974Â
04 Frank Wakefield and Friends - Will The Circle Be Unbroken 1971Â
05 Jean Ritchie - West Virginia Mine Disaster 1969Â
06 Billy Faier - Hunt The Wren 1967Â
07 Greenbriar Boys - Hit Parade of Love 1968Â
08 Mike Seeger - O Death 1971Â
09 Jacqui and Bridie - Hello Friend 1974Â
10 Tom Paxton - Morning Again 1968Â
11 David Amram - Little Mama 1974Â
12 Patrick Sky - Reality Is Bad Enough 1971Â
13 Rosalie Sorrels - Travelin’ Lady 1974Â
14 Smoke Dawson - Devil’s Dream 1968Â
15 Utah Phillips - The Green Rolling Hills of West Virginia 1974Â
16 Michael Cooney - Thyme It Is A Precious Thing 1974Â
17 Kate McGarrigle and Roma Baran - Caffè Lena 1972Â
Â
DISC TWOÂ
01 Intro by Lena Spencer / Dave Van Ronk - Gaslight Rag 1974Â
02 Jerry Jeff Walker - Mr. Bojangles 1968Â
03 Barbara Dane - Mama Yancey’s Advice / Love With a Feeling 1968Â
04 Roy Book Binder  - Ain’t Nobody Home But Me 1974Â
05 Intro by Lena Spencer / David Bromberg - The Holdup 1972Â
06 Ramblin’ Jack Elliott - Pretty Boy Floyd 1992Â
07 Arlo Guthrie - City of New Orleans 2010Â
08 Aztec Two Step - The Persecution and Restoration of Dean Moriarty 1989Â
09 Happy And Artie Traum - Trials Of Jonathan 1974Â
10 Rick Danko-  It Makes No Difference 1988Â
11 Paul Geremia –  Something’s Gotta Be Arranged 1989Â
12Â Robin and Linda Williams – Â S-A-V-E-DÂ 1987Â
13 John Herald –  Ramblin’ Jack Elliott 1991Â
14Â Pete Seeger- Â Somos El Barco (We Are the Boat)Â 1985
Â
DISC THREEÂ
01 Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irion - Folksong 2013Â
02 Anais Mitchell - Wedding Song 2013Â
03 Bill Morrissey - The Last Day Of The Furlough 1990Â
04 Patty Larkin - Island Of Time 1992Â
05 Greg Brown - Flat Stuff 1989
06 Mary Gauthier - I Drink 2013Â
07 Sean Rowe - Old Black Dodge 2013Â
08 Tom Chapin - Cats In The Cradle 1987Â
09 Intro by Lena Spencer / Christine Lavin - It’s A Good Thing He Can’t Read My Mind 1987Â
10 Bill Staines - Sweet Wyoming Home 1990Â
11 Bucky and John Pizzarelli - I Like Jersey Best 1989Â
12 Rory Block - That’s No Way To Get Along 1989Â
13 Chris Smither - Killing The Blues 1989Â
14 Tift Merritt - Traveling Alone 2013Â
15 John Gorka - Down In The Milltown 1990Â
16 Lena Spencer-  Dear Little Cafe 1972Â
Okay, here’s how this went down. I was trolling Kickstarter to see if there were any Americana artists seeking funding that I could hep out. I came across Memphis-born/Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter Trisha Ivy’s campaign to fund her upcoming EP “Cotton Country.”
The campaign was already funded to the tune of $12,721 (of a 12,000 goal) Turns out these are some smart investors.
Her video was charming and made me wish I had heard of her sooner so I could kick in a few bucks. She counts Patty Griffin and Hank Williams as influences. Damn fine company. intrigued, I then headed to YouTube to hear some of her tunes. I was fortunate to find the video below for “Talking in Your Sleep” uploaded just over a year ago. In a word, damn!
Aside from Trisha Ivy’s obvious good looks her voice…THAT VOICE. Warm and vulnerable. It draws you in and makes the world dissolve supported by the gentle yearn of a pedal steel. This is fine bourbon on a rainy night music, people.
A comment on the video says that this is a “Song about commitment. He was in a coma after motor cycle accident.” Not sure if this is true, but given the lyrics it very well could be.
If the below song is close to what she;ll deliver i can’t wait To hear the result of Trisha Ivy’S Kickstart campaign.
Describing his sculpting technique the Renaissance painter Michelangelo gave the beatific response “I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.” The same can be said for the legendary singer/songwriter Guy Clark. He approaches songwriting like Michelangelo approaches marble. He carves away life until the song remains.
A recognized Master of the craft of songwriting, “My Favorite Picture of You,” Clark’s first album in four years is a rugged and tender result of a life lived and a craft perfected. Now past 71 years. Clark has
worked that craft to a singular style. More direct and economic than the work of his old partner in crime Townes Van Zandt, Clark is more in line with fellow Texas legend Kris
Kristofferson. The common is made divine and the everyday made sublime in his work.
Though he’s called Nashville since 1971, his birthplace the Lone Star State runs throughout the album. Either in style, like the Bob Wills-tinged opener “Cornmeal Waltz,” in
direct referral as a subject like in the Mariachi influenced tale of illegal border crossing El Coyote and the jaunty song of love and self-discovery “Rain in Durango.” Then there’s the some
of the songs contributors , the cover of Lyle Lovett’s Waltzing Fool and I’ll Show Me, which was co-writetn with longtime friend Rodney Crowell.
Clark’s voice has naturally grown rougher and more wearied, but fits the songs like a pair of favorite old boots. His voice becomes noticeably more vulnerable and confessional
on the title cut about the love of his life, Susanna Clark, Clark’s wife of 40 years, who passed in 2012. The album’s cover has him holding up the song’s source, a picture of his wife, angrily glaring in defiance after she returned home one day to find Clark and Townes Van Zandt boozing it up and generally cutting up. Clark uses this touchstone of love and the past to grapple with both and the results are one of the most heartfelt and honest songs I’eve ever heard.
Clark’s voice is nicely complimented on may of the songs by Morgane Stapleton’s delicately hewn vocals. Every song here s a keeper. The folky weeper “Hell Bent on a Heartache,” the Bluegrass “Good Advice” and the the Celtic influenced femmale-on-femal twist on the classic murder ballad The Death of Sis Draper.”
There is wonder, love, loss, bitterness and the whole fabric of humanity worn into these stories of lives of love found, lost , regret and happiness. The heart is shown like a card in play in a poker game only to be hidden away and used as a conquering suit. “My Favorite Picture of You” is a fitting wonder of craft bleeding into art from a man that makes making songs and living life all seem easy. And that’s hard.
Ultimate Classic Rock reports that Capitol/UME will release a The four-CD, one-DVD set of The Band live at their peak.
The concerts are from the last week of 1971 and is entitled ‘Live at the Academy of Music 1971′ (Sept. 17)
From Ultimate Classic Rock “The four-CD, one-DVD set gathers 56 performances from the group’s Dec. 28-31 shows at New York City’s Academy of Music. A two-LP version of the concerts was released in 1972 as ‘Rock of Ages.’
The expanded box set will include a mix of all four nights’ shows on two discs (which make up all the songs they played during the four-night stand) and the complete New Year’s Eve concert on the remaining two CDs. Songs include Band classics like ‘The Weight’ and ‘The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down.’ The complete track list is below.
In addition to cover songs and reworked versions of their own tracks, ‘Live at the Academy of Music 1971′ spotlights new horn arrangements by Allen Toussaint as well as a surprise guest appearance by Bob Dylan, who joined his old backing band on four songs during the New Year’s Eve show encore.
The DVD includes the remastered first two discs of the box in surround sound, plus two video clips — ‘King Harvest (Has Surely Come)’ and ’The W.S. Walcott Medicine Show’ – from the Dec. 31 concert. The set also includes a 48-page hardbound book with photos and essays.”
The Band’s ‘Live at the Academy of Music 1971′ Track List:

Disc 1
‘The W.S. Walcott Medicine Show’
‘The Shape I’m In’
‘Caledonia Mission’
‘Don’t Do It’
‘Stage Fright’
‘I Shall Be Released’
‘Up on Cripple Creek’
‘This Wheel’s on Fire’
‘Strawberry Wine’
‘King Harvest (Has Surely Come)’
‘Time to Kill’
‘The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down’
‘Across the Great Divide’
Disc 2
‘Life Is a Carnival’
‘Get Up Jake’
‘Rag Mama Rag’
‘Unfaithful Servant’
‘The Weight’
‘Rockin’ Chair’
‘Smoke Signal’
‘The Rumor’
‘The Genetic Method’
‘Chest Fever’
‘(I Don’t Want To) Hang Up My Rock and Roll Shoes’
‘Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever’
‘Down in the Flood’ (With Bob Dylan)
‘When I Paint My Masterpiece’ (With Bob Dylan)
‘Don’t Ya Tell Henry’ (With Bob Dylan)
‘Like a Rolling Stone’ (With Bob Dylan)
Disc 3
 ‘Up on Cripple Creek’
‘The Shape I’m In’
‘The Rumor’
‘Time To Kill’
‘Rockin’ Chair’
‘This Wheel’s on Fire’
‘Get Up Jake’
‘Smoke Signal’
‘I Shall Be Released’
‘The Weight’
‘Stage Fright’
Disc 4
‘Life Is a Carnival’
‘King Harvest (Has Surely Come)’
‘Caledonia Mission’
‘The W.S. Walcott Medicine Show’
‘The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down’
‘Across the Great Divide’
‘Unfaithful Servant’
‘Don’t Do It’
‘The Genetic Method’
‘Chest Fever’
‘Rag Mama Rag’
‘(I Don’t Want To) Hang Up My Rock and Roll Shoes’
‘Down in the Flood’ (With Bob Dylan)
‘When I Paint My Masterpiece’ (With Bob Dylan)
‘Don’t Ya Tell Henry’ (With Bob Dylan)
‘Like a Rolling Stone’ (With Bob Dylan)
David Letterman, and his music booker at the Late Show Sheryl Zilikson, continued their ongoing support of Americana and roots music by featuring a lively performance by Jason Isbell, supported by his lovely and talented wife Amanda Shires.
Isbell performed the song “Stockholm” of his latest excellent release “Southeastern.”
The Westbound Rangers are a group of young performers that honor the proud tradition of bluegrass and country instrumentation and themes. But a close listening to their songs will revel a uniqueness that gives the songs energy and makes it a stylistic companion to the Avett Brothers and Trampled By Turtles.
The band draws from what mandolin player Mike Walker describes as a “spectrum of sounds and styles,†ranging from oldtime to country to rock and roll.
The band met as students at Belmont University, where they would meet in dorm rooms for jam sessions. In the five years since, the acoustic quartet— Graham Sherrill (Banjo, vocals) Mike Walker (Mandolin, Vocals) Read Davis (Guitar, Vocals) and Wes Burkhart (Bass) has evolved from those occasional jams to becoming a serious contender in the roots music scene. They are currently making a big noise with the release of their third album, “Gone for Way Too Long” (below), a gig at the Stagecoach and the Telluride Band Competition and upcoming appearances at Floydfest, Bluegrass in the Park, & Americana Music Association Festival this September in Nashville, where I plan to catch them.
Recorded at John Prine’s Butcher Shoppe studio in Nashville, “Gone for Way Too Long” is a solid collection original songs and several traditional tunes that demonstrate the vibrancy of the bands live shows.
“Playing traditional songs live allows us to help preserve a piece of music history by bringing it to a contemporary audience,†explains Read Davis “But it’s also important to us that we put out own spin on those songs.â€
Standouts for me are an excellent version of the old traditional “Handsome Molly,†a claw hammer style banjo tune which has been covered by Doc Watson, the Stanley Brothers and Mick Jagger. “Rocks Cry Out” is also fantastic rouser that builds to a sizzling fervor steeped in religious imagery.
David Letterman, and his Late Show booking crew, have been long-time enthusiastic supporters of country and Americana music. Recently it seems like Dave has invited a roots artist to play every night of the week, and this is great new for the artists needing exposure and fans looking for great music.
And as Saving Country Music tells it, the Late Show was the one that reached out to many of these artists to perform on the program. Many of them, like dale Watson and Shove;s and Rope, getting national exposure for the first time.
Here’s to you, Dave and crew, for championing great roots and Americana music like the clips below.
Ryan Adams – Lucky Now – December 5, 2011
Shovels & Rope – Birmingham – David Letterman January 30, 2013
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfPnGEgtDXI
Elizabeth Cook – If I Had My Way, I’d Tear This Building Down – March, 14 2013
Dale Watson & His Lonestars – “I Lie When I Drink” – June 24, 2013
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHcRTTy0Epg
Ray Wylie Hubbard – Mother Blues – David Letterman – January 9, 2013
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r92RkIKm6Wc
Marty Stuart “Country Boy Rock & Roll” June 29, 2010
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcJ80pKqsA0
Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit “Codeine” – November 2004
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUzc7cUaPWs
When I first heard about Memphis singer/songwriter Valerie June she was a member of the roots collective The Wandering. She was part of a roster including Luther Dickinson, Shannon McNally, Amy LaVere, and Sharde Thomas. June singing and banjo allowed her to stand out deliriously talented bunch.
On the track “Twined and Twisted,” (hear it below) Valerie’s soaring vocals, serenaded by delicate acoustic guitar, reminds me a bit Nina Simone, a bit Buffy Sainte Marie. And yet she is wholly her own.
June’s debut album “Pushin’ Against A Stone” is co-produced by The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach with Kevin Augunas. It’s due out 8/13 on Concord Records.
