Category Archives: New Releases

Twang Nation Podcast Episode 6 – Willie Nelson , Austin Lucas with Glossary, Delta Rae

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Six podcasts in featuring some of the best in country and Americana music and I do believe I’m hitting a stride. Or something. Whatever, it getting even more fun!

This episode may be  the best yet! On the cut, “Hero,” Willie Nelson shares the spotlight with Jamey Johnson and Billy Joe Shaver off his new release “Heroes.” Austin Lucas with Glossary sends me a rough mix of “Alone in Memphis” being backed by his current tour mates Glossary. Delta Rae proves the power of the voice in the fiery ” Bottom of the River” from their debut album “Carry The Fire.”things end out with a tribute to the great Levon Helm from his Grammy award winning “Dirt Farmer.”

I hope you all enjoy the great Americana and roots music featured in this and all the podcasts  and hope you seek out the musicians and buy their music, merch and , most importantly, take all your friends and see them live. Remember you can leave requests or feedback below or email me at baron(at)twangnation(dot)com.

Now, kick back with your adult beverage of choice and let Twang Nation remind you what great music sounds like.

1. Jason Eady – song:  “AM Country Heaven”  album: “AM Country Heaven” (Underground Sound)
2. Marty Stuart -  song:  “Tear The Woodpile Down” -  album: “Nashville, Volume 1: Tear The Woodpile Down”  (Sugar Hill Records)
3. Delta Rae -  song: “Bottom of the River” – album:  “Carry The Fire” (Sire Records)
4. Shawn Mullins – song: “Give God The Blues” – album:  “Mercyland – Hymns For The Rest Of Us” (Mercyland Records)
5.  Giant Giant Sand  -  song: “Detained”  – album: “Tucson” (Fire Records)
6. Paul Thorn  -  song: “What the Hell Is Goin’ On”- album: “What the Hell Is Goin’ On” (Perpetual Obscurity)
7.  Willie Nelson – song: “Hero” – album: “Heroes” (Sony Music Entertainment)
8. Austin Lucas with Glossary – song: “Alone in Memphis” album: Demo
9. The Mavericks – song: “Born To Be Blue” – album: “Suited Up and Ready EP” (The Valory Music Co.)
10. Levon Helm – song: False hearted lover blues album: Dirt Farmer (Dirt Farmer Music)

Quick Shot – Lisa Marie Presley – “You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet

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As a singer Lisa Marie Presley has a shadow cast across her longer than most.Being the offspring of the man that spearheaded an entire genre has got to be a daunting challenge even for the most daring soul.

When she’s not spending her time as a Humanitarian for child literacy and tabloid subject (cough,,..Micheal Jackson..cough) she occasionally makes music much of which has been forgettable pop-rock fluff.

Presley’s upcoming effort, “Storm & Grace” is being touted as “…album she was born to make – a raw, powerful country, folk and blues collection that finds her embracing her Southern roots and family name,” ( Rolling Stone) Well, with T Bone Burnett producing she certainly hired the right man to shepherd her into this land of pastoral rebirth.

“You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet” is the first single from the album and like a “haven’t we seen this movie before” moment. With it’s moody swamp-guitar reverb vibe the song bears a striking resemblance to the cover of Li’l Millet and his Creoles’ “Rich Woman” by a disciple of Presley’s daddy, Robert Plant, on 2007’s Raising Sand. As readers know this was also a T Bone Burnett production.

Presley sounds confident with her husky if limited delivery and the song is good , if not groundbreaking.  That said, I look forward to hearing the rest of the album and ushering in another member of the Americana music family.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=9ZPiurObawM#!

Record Store Day 2012 – Americana Music Picks

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If you do live in a place with at least one independent record store, and love music, then you need to know about the upcoming Record Store Day. This internationally celebrated day is observed on the the third Saturday in April of each year. The event was originally conceived by Chris Brown, VP of  Portsmouth, NH’s Bull Moose music store, and founded in 2007 by Eric Levin, Michael Kurtz, Carrie Colliton, Amy Dorfman, Don Van Cleave and Brian Poehner. Exclusive and limited vinyl and CD releases made just for the day by hundreds of artists in hundreds of US and international stores to draw attention the the disappearing mom and pop music stores being affected by a tough economic climate the dwindling customer base that are flocking to buy music online.

This is the fifth year for the event and will offer special releases from Ryan Adams,The Civil Wars, Townes Van Zandt, Carolina Chocolate Drops, Patterson Hood and many more. There many great one offs and creative packaging (where else are you going to find a Buck Owens Coloring Book with a flexi disc?!)

I put together a quick list below of Americana and country artists participating in the event. There’s a good chance that I overlooked something so check the official list of goodies and also check the official participating stores list to make sure yours is on the list. And remember to call ahead for items as not all store will be carrying all releases.

The Black Twig Pickers – Yellow Cat
Format: 7″ 45
Label: Thrill Jockey Records

Blitzen Trapper – Hey Joe b/w Skirts on Fire
Format: 7″ 45
Label: Sub Pop

Bonnie Prince Billy- Hummingbird
Format: 10″ LP
Label: Spiritual Pajamas

Buck Owens Coloring Book w/flexi disc w/ download card 
DETAILS
Format: Book
Label: Omnivore

Richard Buckner – “Willow” “Candy-O.”w/ download card.
Format: 7″

Caitlin Rose – ‘Love Is a Laserquest’ & ‘Piledriver Waltz’ (Arctic Monkeys covers)
Format:  7″
Label: Domino Records

Our friends at Domino Records commissioned Caitlin to cover two songs by the Arctic Monkeys as a very limited edition 7 inch release for Record Store Day this Saturday, April 21st.

 

Carolina Chocolate Drops/Run DMC
You Be Illin
Format: 7″ 45
Label: Warner Bros.

Freakwater – Feels Like The Third Time (reissue)
Format: LP
Label: Thrill Jockey Records

Jay Farrar, Will Johnson, Anders Parker, Yim Yames – New Multitudes
Format: 10″ LP
Label: Rounder

Justin Townes Earle – Nothing’s Gonna Change The Way You Feel About Me Now
Format: 7″ 45
Label: Bloodshot

Lee Hazlewood – The LHI Years: Singles, Nudes, & Backsides (1968-71)
Format: LP
Label: Light In The Attic

Patterson Hood & the Downtown 13 (featuring Mike Mills) After It’s Gone
Format: 7″ 45
Label: ATO

Richard Thomspon – Haul Me Up
Format: 7″ 45
Label: Beeswing Records

Ricky Skaggs & Tony Rice
Format: LP
Label: Sugar Hill

Ryan Adams – Heartbreak A Stranger / Black Sheets Of Rain (Bob Mould cover)
Format: 7″ 45  colored vinyl
Label: PAXAM

Sara Watkins featuring Fiona Apple/The Everly Brothers – You’re The One I Love
Format: 7″ olive green and black splatter
Label: Warner Bros

The Civil Wars – Billie Jean (Live)” Micheal Jackson / Sour Times (Live)” Portishead
Format: 7″ 45
Label: Columbia Records U.K.

The Civil Wars – Live at Amoeba
Format: CD
Label: Sensibility Music LLC

Lydia Loveless – Bad Way To Go / Alison (Elvis Costello cover)
Format: 7″ 45
Label: Bloodshot

Ralph Stanley – Single Girl / Little Birdie
Format: LP
Label: Tompkins Square

Townes Van Zandt – At My Window
Format: LP
Label: Sugar Hill

Uncle Tupelo – The Seven Inch Singles
Format: 7″ Vinyl Box Set
Label: Sony
More Info:
3×7″ box set

Twang Nation Podcast Episode 5 – Ray Wylie Hubbard, The Damn Quails, Chelle Rose

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It’s been a while but here’s Twang Nation Podcast #5 and it’s a beaut.

This episode features cuts from upcoming albums by  Ray Wylie Hubbard, Chelle Rose and Joe Pug and great cuts from The Damn Quails, The Steel Wheels , Hiss Golden Messenger and Jim White.Mr J.R. Cash concludes the episode to commemorate the year of his 80th birthday and the upcoming gospel-themed Bootleg Vol. IV: The Soul of Truth.
I hope you all enjoy the great Americana and roots music featured in this and all the podcasts  and hope you seek out the musicians and buy their music, merch and , most importantly, take all your friends and see them live. Remember you can leave requests or feedback below or email me at baron(at)twangnation(dot)com.

1. Ray Wylie Hubbard – song:  Coricidin Bottle  album: The Grifter’s Hymnal  (Bordello Records)
2. The Damn Quails – song:  Fool’s Gold -  album: Down The Hatch ( 598 Recordings)
3.  Chelle  Rose – song:  Browder Holler Boy (Feat. Ray Wylie Hubbard)  album: Ghost of Bowder Holler (Lil’ Damsel Records)
4. The Steel Wheels – song:  Spider Wings  album: Lay Down , Lay Low (independent release)
5. The Memphis Strange – song:  5 Miles or Less  album: Birth of the Strange (independent release)
6. Hiss Golden Messenger – song:  Jesus Shot Me In The head  album: Poor Moon (Tompkins Square records)
7. Screen Door Porch – song:  Devil’s Honey  album: The Fate & The Fruit (Independent release)
8. Jim White – song:  The Way of Alone  album: Where It Hits You   (Yep Roc Records)
9. Joe Pug – song:  Hymn #76  album: The Great Despiser ( Lightning Rod Records)
10. Brown Bird – song:  Bilgewater  album: Salt For Salt (Supply and Demand Music)
11. Johnny Cash – song: Walk the Line Album: Bootleg 3: Live Around The World (Sony Legacy)

 

Neil Young and Crazy Horse To Release New Album, Americana (6/5)

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Neil Young and Crazy Horse will attempt to do what other brave souls (me included) have failed at for years, define definitively Americana.

Of course I don’t think the upcoming album, Americana (6/5) by Young and the band, he began fronting in 1968 after his band Buffalo Springfield dissolved, will be  doing anything of the sort. But I am intrigued by them covering late 19th century/early 20th century American folk songs, which include the classic murder ballad Tom Dooley, Woody Guthrie’s This Land is Your Land,  Gallows Pole the classic folk song covered by Leadbelly and Led Zeppelin and forlorn American western ballad Clementine.

Young and Billy Talbot, Ralph Molina and Frank “Poncho” Sampedro, will redefine what people think of when when they associate the band with “Classic rock.”

The album was produced by Neil Young along with John Hanlon and Mark Humphreys. I saw the band in February for the Grammy MusiCares tribute to Paul McCartney where they covered the Beatles I Saw Her Standing There (all videos of that performance have been removed online as far as I can tell)  and the band was in lean fighting form. There are no reports of a tour resulting from the album.

Americana Tracklist:
1 – Oh Susannah
2 – Clementine
3 – Tom Dooley
4 – Gallows Pole
5 – Get A Job
6 – Travel On
7 – High Flyin’ Bird
8 – She’ll Be Comin ’Round The Mountain
9 – This Land Is Your Land
10 – Wayfarin’ Stranger
11 – God Save The Queen

Lisa Marie Presley to Release T. Bone Burnett Produced Storm and Grace – May 15th

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I recently heard that the Godfather of the Americana movement, T. Bone Burnett (O Brother, Where Art Thou, Raising Sand) , has produced the upcoming release from Lisa Marie Presley. The album, Storm and Grace, will be out May 15th. I was skeptical at fist but after reading this post on Rollingstone.com about how Presley was collaborating with songwriters like Richard Hawley, Ed Harcourt and Travis’ Fran Healy and wanted to regain her faith in music and “find her roots” I think this might be a pretty cool release.

Album Review: Amy Francis – Balladacious [Independent Release]

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Bodacious is a Southern/Southwestern portmanteau of bold and audacious. It’s meaning is remarkable, courageous, audacious, spirited and unmistakable.
Corpus Christi TX native Amy Francis uses this linguistic fusion and forms the title of her new release , Balladacious. Just as she reinterprets words Francis also uses this skill to give her own take on some of  country music’s best-known classics.
The album opens with Francis beautiful voice powerfully breaking the silence with a vulnerable delivery of the Hank Cochran barroom lament Don’t Touch Me. Francis brings the longing and apprehension contained in the song to a palatable level and disarms you of all cynicism. A staple of country music is it’s unabashed sentiment and Francis’ heart is emblazoned boldly on this first song.

The spirits of Patsy Cline, Tammy Wynette and Brenda Lee are conjured with all their romantic weariness giving testament. Not just because Francis covers Sweet Dreams, Apartment #9 and Fool Number One respectively, but because she is a believer. She brings authenticity to these songs because she embodies them wholly not simply mimicking them like many Music City talen dipping a toe in traditionalism.
Her take on Bobbie Gentry’s Ode to Billy Joe reworks this dark song of small-town gossip and makes it swing with an acoustic guitar and strings accompaniment. Her covers of George Jone’s “Picture of Me Without You” and “I’ll Share My World With You” elevates them to the honky-tonk majesty they deserve and Vince Gill’s hit “When I Call Your Name” is covered with barrel-house piano and pedal steel accompaniment and achieves a forlornness that LeAnn Rimes’s cover never came close to.  Ronnie Milsap’s “Stranger Things Have Happened” is given an equal turn with Francis’ voice soaring at heights while singing about the depths. The hope against hope and lessons contained in these testimonials of  despair makes country music some of the greatest forms of contemporary tragedy. Francis approaches each with dignity and grace they deserve and strikingly nimble vocals that breath life into every barroom confession.

I have an ambivalent relationship with Nashville Sound era country music. When Owen Bradley, with Chet Atkins and Bob Ferguson moved hillbilly music from the hollers and honky tonks to the supper clubs, by adding strings, backing vocals and other adornment better suited for crooners of the day, they laid the path toward the enormously lucrative but culturally superficial pop-country industry we’ve inherited. Like the great performers of the Nashville Sound era Francis charms me into putting aside bias by keeping the soul enact while stripping back just enough veneer to let you hear the heart break.

Official Site | Buy


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ssAJ4u7VRA&list=UUCdLHmRYCJy-e9k_rh2Zhgw&feature=plcp

Song Premiere: Lera Lynn Covers “Ring Of Fire”

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Athens GA-based Americana songstress Lera Lynn follows up her debut full length (Have You Met Lera Lynn?) with a seven inch, which includes a cover of June Carter Cash penned and Johnny Cash renowned Ring of Fire.

Lynn says of the cover “I always thought June Carter’s “Ring of Fire” was written as a dark song, maybe it’s just where I was when I heard it one dark day. It’s been a lot of fun to rearrange it, almost making it my own. I hope we’ve done it justice. I hope they [the Cash Family] would be proud.”

I never understand when people do cover songs, especially of iconic songs, and then don’t interpret them personally. Lynn does exactly that with her take smolders (heh) punctuated with discordant peaks in the chorus. Look for Lera Lynn  on tour in Texas and up the East coast this March and April.

Lera Lynn – Ring of Fire

 

 

Music Review: Lyle Lovett – Release Me [Curb/Universal]

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As a part of what Steve Earle called “Nashville’s great credibility scare of the mid ’80s.” Lyle Lovett, along with Earle, k.d. Lang, Dwight Yoakam and others took up the traditionalist Outlaw mantel of the 70’s and reinvigorated country music from it’s soft-rock and Urban Cowboy influence the times.

Lyle Lovett’s new album “Release me,” exhibits pun in name as well as aesthetic. The album is the last for the Curb Records, the label for his entire 26-year. 11-album, career. And in case you missed that the cover art depicts Lyle tied up head-to-ankle in a lariat.

Though Lovett continues a late career trend of including cover songs. But this adios to Curb raises the stakes as it contains only two Lovett originals among the album’s 14 tunes. You might conclude that this last release would be a weakened collection to meet contractual obligations. You would be wrong in that assessment.

Sure Lovett may not be the most prolific songwriter on the planet but he is one of the best interpreters of classic country. There is no one fit to polish Lovett’s boots when it comes close to serving as a diplomat for the eclectic music styles of the Lone Star State.

“Release me” wastes no time offering a burning interpretation of the classic instrumental breakdown of  “Garfield’s Blackberry Blossom.” The number made popular in the 1930s by Fiddlin’ Arthur Smith sounds both timeless and spirited in the hands of Lovett and his band.

The title track became a hit for both Jimmy Heap and Ray Price, both in 1954. Here it’s done as a duet with Lovett and k.d. lang, who is so far down in themix her soaring vocals are lost. That quibble aside it’s a great tear-in-my-beer standard well done.

The cover of Michael Franks’ “White Boy Lost in the Blues” slinks in with the funky blues accentuated by Arnold McCuller harmony vocals.The gospel/R&B and Memphis horn-sound of “Isn’t That So” works to a rousing effect and will probably kill live.

Understand You channels beautifully the tender-hearted cowboy Lovett has portrayed many time in his career. The cover of Brown Eyed is looser that Chuck Berry’s original or the covers by covered by many including fellow Texans Buddy Holly and Waylon Jennings. But the song still carries the weight Berry intended after being inspired by witnessing a Hispanic man being arrested by a policeman.

The Ragtime-inspired  “Keep It Clean” dares you not to cut a rug and William Moore’s One Way Gal is a fine-time front porch testament to a good woman.
“Dress of Laces” is an achingly lovely Daughter-Father twist on the classic murder ballad. White Freightliner Blues is one of the few up-tempo songs penned by the late, great Townes Van Zandt and Lovett plays it to it’s full open-road greatness.

The two originals Lovett contributes to the album, The first is “The Girl With the Holiday Smile” (also on his 2011 holiday EP “Songs For the Season;”) came from a real-life 1978 encounter young lady hiding out from the cops inside a Houston 7-11. This is my second favorite Christmas/hooker song (Tom Waits’ Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis being the first.)  The second cut  “Night’s Lullaby,” which features Nickel Creek’s Sara and Sean Watkins, was penned for a 2011 run in the Shakespeare Center Los Angeles’ production of “Much Ado About Nothing” that the three appeared in.

I look forward to the work Lovett is free to explore in his new world as a free agent and am thankful he has left us with something this great to tide us over until the nest batch of surprises comes along.

Official Site | Buy

 

The White Buffalo – The Great American Music Hall -San Francisco, CA – 2/15/12

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The White BuffaloThe Great American Music Hall is a post-earthquake 105 year-old 5,000-square-foot, guilded French motif performance hall that has
been a restaurant, a bordello and a host to fan dancers and a stage for golden Jazz era greats like Duke Ellington, Sarah Vaughan and Count Basie and relative newcomers Van Morrison and the Grateful Dead.
But on this night the back stage of the great American is more like a living room at a friends or relatives’ house. I came to meet Jake Smith, who performs solo and with a band under the moniker The White Buffalo. There in the dimly lit room Smith along with Matt Lynott (drums) and Tommy Andrews (bass) offer smiles, handshakes and beverages. After the hellos and intros the talk moves to influences. I tell Smith about a video I saw on You Tube of him covering the Highwaymen’s theme of world adventure  “Highwayman.” “Oh yeah.” Smith cracks a smile “Waylon, Willie, Kristofferson and Cash. You can’t do any better than those guys.” He then tells me about the music of his Southern California childhood. “We listened to a lot of things. Country, like Loretta, classic rock I guess they call it now. Blues. Gospel.”
The influences show on Smith’s songs if you look for them. Like the best craftsman of songs he makes them sound easy. Effortless. Like they couldn’t be any other way then the way he’s spinning them out. Then I bait him with the question most musicians hate to answer, “How would you label your music.” “I don’t” he says straight. “I spend my time writing them and that’s hard enough. If I spend time on “Is this country” or “if the Americana” I think the song will suffer.”
Smith and the band then starts to list up the night’s songs. Three musicians, three clean, white sheets of paper. One sharpie. then the discussion begins. “What about the Pilot?” “How about Darkside of Town?” “Might be too slow and bring things down.” “How about Love Song #2.” “Okay but you’ll need to sing backup in my mic.” The process is reminiscent of charting an emotional course of stage logistics,crowd physiology and sonic dynamics. What will take them where we want them to go?
The moniker came about through need and happenstance. Smith once wore a sweat shirt that had the title emblazoned on it and some his friends recalled it when he emailed them ideas for a name. White buffalo are extremely rare. The National Bison Association (yes, there is such a thing) has estimated that a White buffalo only occur in approximately one out of every 10 million births. Smith is a living testament to his moniker standing around 6′ 2″ , solid as a wall and stylistically embodying a rare mix of grit and nuance that you couldn’t squeeze out of a dozen neo-folk acts.
Born in Oregon and raised in Southern California, he moved to the Bay area from Huntington Beach to pursue college on an athletic scholarship. He then made his way to L.A. where he now calls home. Because of his local Smith has had his songs crop up in movies and T.V. A bootleg tape of his music made it into the hands of pro surfer Chris Malloy, and his song, “Wrong,” was featured in his surf movie, Shelter. That led to further film scoring and composing work, with three of his songs featured in FX’s Sons of Anarchy and HBO’s Californication.
With 3  EPs and one fill-length out and one more , Once Upon a Time in the West , set to release February 28th Smith has seen thousands of miles over the last few years opening for acts like Ziggy Marley, and Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, and tonight the Texas blues man Gary Clark Jr. His brooding songs of America’s topological and emotional landscape, “mini-movies” he calls them, transforms on the stage. The darkness, whiskey and gunpowder is still there in narrative but the sound shifts to urgency and electricity. Lynott and Andrews expand the dynamics and work off Smith like a fright train veering off the tracks. They are one of the best rhythm sections I’ve seen live.
Over a beer after the show I ask Smith about his fans and whether online piracy worries a working man with a wife and two kids. “People are buying ticket and I’m selling merch. I can’t do anything about the new world I am working in. I have to trust people.”
In true DIY fashion they set their own gear on stage, sell their own merchandise and pack it all up in a van at the end of the night. Off to the nest show miles away across the dark night of America.
I didn’t take, nor did I find, clips from this show. But I couldn’t post without a taste of what I saw. Here The White Buffalo at Bonaroo.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ca2LcaGBJQ&feature=related