Ghost Brothers of Darkland County – A Gothic Americana Musical Soundtrack Forthcoming

I’m not what you would call a fan of musicals (though I do have a soft spot for The Sound of Music) but I am intrigued by the Gothic musical Ghost Brothers of Darkland County CD release.  The result of a more than a decade long project between horror-rock master (and Americana music fan ) Stephen King and and roots/rock legend  John Mellencamp. As the musical got closer to completion they brought in singer/songwriter and producer T Bone Burnett to help flesh out the music. Burnett, who helmed the music for the Cohen Brother’s O Brother, Where Art Thou? and Scott Cooper’s Crazy Heart was brought in to “… create the vibe.”

The genesis of the project was Mellencamp who in the late 1990swas inspired by his own supposedly haunted cabin in Bloomington, IN . The lore goes that in the 1930s two brothers got into a fight over a woman at the cabin, and one of them wound up accidentally dead. The surviving brother and the woman sped away in a car, but crashed into a lake a short time later and both drowned.the stuff of Gothic lore, though the absence of moonshine and firearms works against it being Southern Gothic lore.

Mellencamp interpretats the story as  “…two brothers; they’re 19 years old or 20, maybe 18 or 21, who are very competitive and dislike each other immensely. The father takes them to the family vacation place, a cabin that the boys hadn’t been to since they were kids. What has happened is that the father had two older brothers who hated each other and killed each other in that cabin There’s a confederacy of ghosts who also live in this house. The older [dead] brothers are there, and they speak to the audience, and they sing to the audience. That’s all I want to say, except through this family vacation, many things are learned about the family, and many interesting songs are sung.” Again I emphasis the lack of moonshine and firearms!

Both King and Mellencamp welcomed to opportunity to challenge themselves. “You can just keep doing the same shit and you’ll make a living at it,” says King.

The musical oped at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia, between  April 4, 2012 until May 13, 2012 and was directed by Alliance Theatre Artistic Director Susan V. Booth, with musical direction by T Bone Burnett. The cast of the upcoming production is led by Tony Award winner Shuler Hensley (Young Frankenstein, Oklahoma, Sweet and Sad) and Tony Award nominee Emily Skinner (Billy Elliot, Side Show, James Joyce’s The Dead), and includes Justin Guarini (“American Idol,” American Idiot, Women on the Verge…), blues musician and actor Jake La Botz, Lucas Kavner (Completeness, The Blue Flower), Kate Ferber (One Child Born: the Music of Laura Nyro), Christopher Morgan (Gut Bucket Blues) and country musician Dale Watson.

Variety reviewed the show harshly, stating ” By the end of the show, you may yearning for “Carrie.” Ouch.

Though music created for a theatrical setting has it’s own flavor there’s no denying the pedigree of Americana music talent involved CD release. But judging by the Elvis Costello cut  “That’s Me,” sung not by Costello but by a member of the cast, I think this could be a great idea that misses the mark.

Ghost Brothers of Darkland County will be available as Standard Edition CD featureing  the complete soundtrack, dialog excerpts and digital libretto. The (2CD/1DVD) Deluxe Edition contains the complete soundtrack (with and without dialog), deluxe art work, handwritten lyrics, specially printed libretto and the “Making of Ghost Brothers” mini-documentary DVD featuring in-depth interviews with King, Mellencamp and Burnett along with other bonus material. Digital editions for tablets, smartphones and e-readers will allow users to interact with the soundtrack + digital libretto, as well as exclusive video and graphic materials.

GHOST BROTHERS OF DARKLAND COUNTY

-Libretto by Stephen King
-Music & Lyrics by John Mellencamp
-Musical Direction by T Bone Burnett
-Featured cast: Kris Kristofferson, Meg Ryan,
Matthew McConaughey, Samantha Mathis, Elvis Costello

Ghost Brothers of Darkland County track listing:

That’s Me  – Elvis Costello (listen at bottom of post)
That’s Who I Am – Neko Case
So Goddamn Smart  – Dave Alvin, Phil Alvin, Sheryl Crow
Wrong, Wrong, Wrong About Me – Elvis Costello
Brotherly Love – Ryan Bingham and Will Dailey
How Many Days – Kris Kristofferson
You Are Blind – Ryan Bingham
Home Again – Sheryl Crow, Dave Alvin, Phil Alvin, Taj Mahal
What’s Going On Here – Rosanne Cash
My Name Is Joe – Clyde Mulroney
Tear This Cabin Down – Taj Mahal
And Your Days Are Gone – Sheryl Crow, Dave Alvin, Phil Alvin
Jukin’ – Sheryl Crow
What Kind Of Man Am I – Kris Kristofferson, Phil Alvin, Sheryl Crow Dave Alvin, Taj Mahal
So Goddamn Good – Phil Alvin, Dave Alvin, Sheryl Crow
Away From This World – Sheryl Crow
Truth – John Mellencamp

http://soundcloud.com/fantasylabelgroup/thats-me-elvis-costello

 

 

Twang Nation Podcast Episode 9 – Rodney Hayden, The Pollies, Jason Isbell, Dillon Hodges and Doc Dailey

Here it is hot off the presses ladies and gents, the last single-digit podcast from Casa Twang.  That’s right #9 is in the books and ready for your listening pleasure.

As I say in the podcast (listen and see!) with 4 performers -  The Pollies, Dillon Hodges, Jason Isbell and Doc Dailey -  all hailing from the fertile music climes of Muscle Shoals, AL,  that it feels like this episode is sponsored by the Alabama Tourism Department This is patently untrue! At least until they send me a check!

If there is another theme in this episode it’s the rich display of old-school honky-tonk from Rodney Hayden, Daniel Romano , Billy Don Burns and the legendary Loretta Lynn.

A couple of mia culpas on the introduction to Rodney Hayden’s song: “I Drink To Remember” I mention George Jones as a contributing songwriter. I misspoke and meant to say George Strait. Also I mention the new Pollies release “Where The Lies Begin”  was on Palomino Records. It is out on This Is American Music.

I hope you like this episode of the Twang Nation Podcast. if you do tell a friend and let me know here at my site, Google+,  Twitter or my Facebook.

And thanks to all of you for supporting great music!

Opening Song – “Mr. D.J” – by Dale Watson
1. Rodney Hayden – song: “I Drink To Remember” – Album: “Atascosa Sand”  (Palomino Records – out now)
2. The Pollies – song: ” Little Birdie” – Album: “Where The Lies Begin”  (This Is American Music – out now)
3. The Martha Redbone Roots Project  – song: ” The Garden Of Love” – Album: “The Garden of Love, Songs of William Blake”  ( Blackfeet Productions – out now)
4. Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit  – song: ” Danko/Manuel” – Album: “Live From Alabama”  ( Lightning Rod Records  – out November 19)
5. Daniel Romano – song: “Middle Child” – Album: “Come Cry With Me”  ( Normaltown Records, an imprint of New West – January 22, 2013 this single “Middle Child” out 11/27 on iTunes)
6. Amy LaVere and Shannon McNally  – song: “Never Been Sadder” – Album: “Chasing The Ghost Tour-Rehearsal Sessions EP”  ( Archer Records – out 11/27)
7. Dillon Hodges – song: “The Proof” – Album: “Rumspringa”  ( Single out November 20 and his Debut album, Rumspringa slated for 2013 release )
8. Billy Don Burns – song: “Honky Tonk Singer” – Album: “Nights When I’m Sober: Portrait of a Honky Tonk Singer”  ( Rusty Knuckles – out now)
9. Goodnight, Texas – song: “Submarines” – Album: “A Long Life of Living”  ( Tallest Man Records – out now)
10. Doc Dailey & Magnolia Devil – song: “Catch the Presidents” – Album: “Catch the Presidents”  ( Southern Discipline Recording Co. Records – out November 13th)
11. Loretta Lynn – song: “Honky Tonk Girl” (MCA Nashville)

 

Mumford and Sons Announce “The Road to Red Rocks” Concert Film

Fresh on the heels of their best-selling  sophomore album, Babel, Mumford and Sons have announced the release of a new concert film, The Road to Red Rocks.

The film documents an August 2012 at the legendary Red Rocks Amphitheater in Morrison, Colo., supporting that same album. The DVD will on Blu-ray and in a special package including vinyl and a 96-page booklet. The Road to Red Rocks is set for release on 11/26 in the U.K. and 11/30 in New Zealand and Australia, but won’t be released until 1/22 in the U.S.

Check out the film’s trailer and the performance set list below.

The Road to Red Rocks Set list
1. Lovers Eyes
2. Little Lion Man
3. Below My Feet
4. Roll Away Your Stone
5. Lover of the Light
6. Thistle & Weeds
7. Ghost That We Knew
8. Awake My Soul
9. Whispers
10. Dustbowl Dance
11. I Will Wait
12. The Cave

Video Feature: Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit – “Danko Manuel”

On Nov. 20, Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit will be release their first live album Live From Alabama on Lightning Rod Records/Thirty Tigers.The album captures highlights from two sold out shows at the WorkPlay Theater in Birmingham and Crossroads in Huntsville in the Summer of 2012.

Let’s be honest, The Drive-By Truckers were a better band when Jason Isbell was in the fold. Songs like Dank Manual are the reason why. This beautifully shot black and white video from the live performance has Isbell and his band taking the original spare performance from the DBT’s Dirty South and building up to a more nuanced and meatier performance with keyboards and horns.And of course Isbell kills on the guitar as well .

 

Free MP3 Download: Daniel Romano – “Middle Child”

Don’t let the the cover of Daniel Romano’s Come Cry With Me fool you. Sure the digitally weathered album cover (what’s that?),  his  Nudie-style cosmic Americana getup and hipster ‘stache might lead you to dismiss Romano as peddler of glib irony. But judging album covers are a lot like judging book covers. When you listen to the songs you know this comes from a deeper place.

Born in 1987, during what Steve Earle called “Nashville’s great credibility scare of the mid ’80s,” this Canadian visual artist, producer (City and Colour)  and musician (with a history of punk and post-punk rock) uses his keening pitch to perfectly capture loneliness and heartbreak in “Middle Child, ” a tale of maternal abandonment.

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/63517997″ iframe=”true” /]


Music Review: Cigarettes & Truckstops – Lindi Ortega [ Last Gang Records]

Let’s deal with the obvious first, yes,  Nashville-by-way-of-Toronto Lindi Ortega’s soprano trill is reminiscent to a certain buxom, bewigged country music superstar. It’s not something she shies away from. Hell she even name-checks Dolly on the title cut.  But where Dolly would chirp hopefully within every syllable leading to a home-spun happy ending Ortega takes a dreamy Julie Cruise into a beautifully melancholic coastal journey driving the protagonist toward a reunion with a love that may (or may not) end well.

The Day You Die is a dark tune about enduring a loveless marriage, though you might miss that with it’s lively shuffle. Despair and hopelessness also runs through Lead Me On, where a the title plays on the equine and behavioral definition. This tale of unrequited love is as beautifully sad and gritty and echos classic heartache from the Tammy Wynette songbook.

“Don’t Wanna Hear” simmers with rockabilly sass that show’s why she was slated to open slot for Orange County roots-punkers Social Distortion. The Middle-East tinged dobro of the confessional Murder of Crows and the Old Testament haunted Heaven Has No Vacancy are beautiful dark roots dirges that would make Lonesome Wyatt wail in agony.

Colin Linden ( Bruce Cockburn, Lucinda Williams, T-Bone Burnett) production does an excellent job of allowing Ortega’s tales of darkness and love to glide over the entirety of “Cigarettes & Truckstops” by setting just the right amount of solemn atmosphere or shifting into an open road twang when necessary.

“Cigarettes & Truckstops,” Lindi Ortega’s follow-up to 2011’s excellent “Little Red Boots,” proves the lady’s no fluke. The nearly flawless album displays a maturity and depth that ” Boots” only hinted at and gives us one of the best Americana music releases of the year.

Official site | Buy

Music Review: Dwight Yoakam – 3 Pears [Warner Bros.]

It’s been seven long years since Dwight Yoakam’s last proper release, 2005’s Blame the Vain. Since then he of painted-on jeans and low-hanging Stetson has done some acting – most notably the opening scene in  The Wedding Crashers and as the manic Doc Miles in the hilariously over-the-top Crank films. Yoakam has done some music producing an an excellent tribute to his mentor Buck Owens, but for the most part, for a man you couldn’t escape in his heyday, Yoakam’s been MIA.

His newly released album 3 Pears neatly connects a path of trajectory Yoakam’s career. The road he’s been traveling since the early 80’s L.A. cow-punk scene where he was perfected his craft in clubs like Club Lingerie and The Roxy opening for local bands like The Blasters and Los Lobos. Almost as soon as he set foot on SoCal soil Yoakam became part actor – taking the cowboys imagery from 60s films like Paul Newman’s Hud and Sergio Leone spaghetti westerns, and part honk-tonk disciple – taking his sound from the 50s Bakersfield sound of Merle Haggard and his mentor Buck Owens. Yoakam always appeared assured and to be a man embodying s place he had planned to be all along.

3 Pears has all the trademarks you’d expect of a Yoakam work. Skillful performances within taught arrangements The hillbilly vocals topped-off with a hiccup finish. The swagger that won him legions of fans. All here without a skip or a a thought to ape modern trends. Even where on paper you’d think he might be a buckling toward commercial pressures -  like inviting Kid Rock to co-write the album opener Take Hold of My Hand – with it’s brash bass moving toward a spirited sock-hop snap resulting in no discernible trace of Rock’s Southern /classic rock regurgitation influence at all.

Waterfall is a lingeringly paced cut skirting between whimsey and DaDa showing Yoakam’s not afraid to throw out the classic handbook of country music themes. The song achieves a level of absurd imagery that would make Roger Miller smile. ” If I had a waterfall, It might not make no sense at all, But that won’t matter much to you and me.’

Yoakam shows his Guitars, Cadillacs Etc. Etc. roots with Joe Maphis’ honky-tonk take on the Honky-Tonk angel theme  Dim Lights, Thick Smoke, which was also extensively covered by The Flying Burrito Brothers. Yoakam’s Trying moves into sweet Memphis soul territory with a “Dock of the Bay” vibe and a lovely Wurlitzer accompaniment.

Indy rocker Beck co-produces two tracks; the bittersweet Missing Heart is great rendition of a classic pedal steel weeper but Mr Hanson’s pastiche sensibilities are most apparent on A Heart Like Mine with it’s guitar lick echoing I’m a Believer from one of Yoakam’s stylistic influences, the Monkees.  ” The slow rocking Rock It All Away cribs a bit close the melody of The Who’s  Baba O’Riley for me to just enjoy the song on it’s own merits.

Yoakam is nothing if not the American ideal of the self-made man and 3 Pears proves that  we are all, ultimately,  a product of his influences. Yaokam has taken those influences and composed one of the best albums of his career.

Choice cuts – Dim Lights, Thick Smoke , Wateerfall , Trying

Official Site | Buy

 

Jamey Johnson and Alison Krauss Perform “Make the World Go Away” [Video]

David Letterman continues to champion great Country and Americana music by inviting Jamey Johnson and Alison Krauss to appear on the Late Show. The duo perform a breathtaking rendition of the classic “Make the World Go Away,” from Johnson’s tribute to his friend, the just-released “Living for a Song: A Tribute to Hank Cochran.”

Don Imus also showed his love for great Country music by featuring Johnson earlier in the week. He did “Love Makes A Fool Of Us All” and “I Fall To Pieces” from “Living for a Song…”

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eW0o7-2Ffk

Amy LaVere and Shannon McNally to Release Chasing The Ghost

Amy LaVere and Shannon McNally were initially brought together by North Mississippi Allstars’ lead guitarist and vocalist Jim Dickinson as part of the roots/jazz/soul collective The Wandering. The two Americana singer/songwriters bonded over similarities, one of which was a their mutual predilection for bourbon neat, and the collaboration turned fruitful one. On October 13th the duo will release their EP, Chasing The Ghost — “Rehearsal Sessions,”

Armed with a set of songs the ladies headed to the Music+Arts Studio in Memphis, TN, for rehearsals a few days before getting into the van to start touring with The Wandering. With LaVere on stand up bass and vocals, McNally on acoustic guitar and vocals the tape-recorded session was rounded out with Robert Mache on guitar, mandolin and Shawn Zorn on drums.

These two songs from the EP  promise good things. LaVere’s jazzy influence is heard in the bittersweet lament of “Never Been Sadder” and McNally’s  laid-back style is stamped all over the jaunty ramble of “If It Were Mine to Keep,” The similarities and differences of both artists complement and contrast each other beautifully.

Take a listen and let me know what you think.

Look for LaVere and McNally on tour for Chasing The Ghost in October