The new video for the “The Fall,” by the Knoxville-based roots band The Black Lillies, sand being shifted a shimmering ocean , much like the lives being shifted and changed by the innocent youths that walk the windy beach and simmering landscape. The spare, atmospheric instrumentation builds slowly as we follow the boy and girl to adulthood and union in this tale of modest love.
“The Fall” is from the Black Lillies’ new release Runaway Freeway Blues, out now. they are currently on a national headlining tour in support.
Nashville-based Americana Music Association has released an excellent initial artist line-up for showcase portion of the conference, festival and awards show. the selections show a broad range of diversity and excellence the of the genre. Great to see many Casa Twang favorites represented as well.
Artists include: Black Prairie, Billy Bragg, Rosanne Cash, The Devil Makes Three, Frank Fairfield, Drew Holcomb & the Neighbors, John Fullbright, JD McPherson,
The Lone Bellow, Aoife O’ Donovan, Darrell Scott & Tim O’Brien, Richard Thompson, The White Buffalo, Holly Williams and The Wood Brothers
The 14th annual event will take place in Nashville, Sept. 18-22. I’ll be there. hope you are too!
Showcase artists confirmed to perform include:
Black Prairie
Billy Bragg
Rosanne Cash
The Del-Lords
The Devil Makes Three
Sam Doores, Riley Downing & the Tumbleweeds
Frank Fairfield
Field Report
John Fullbright
Drew Holcomb & the Neighbors
Hurray for the Riff Raff
The Infamous Stringdusters
Kruger Brothers
Pokey LaFarge
Nikki Lane
The Lone Bellow
Luella & the Sun
JD McPherson
Buddy Miller & Jim Lauderdale
Aoife O’Donovan
Old Man Luedecke
Lindi Ortega
Darrell Scott & Tim O’Brien
Shakey Graves
Sturgill Simpson
Sons of Fathers
Spirit Family Reunion
Steelism
The Stray Birds
Richard Thompson
Holly Williams
The White Buffalo
The Wood Brothers
St. Louis-based Jazz-roots traditionalist Pokey LaFarge teamed up with Old Crow Medicine Show front man Ketch Secor to produce his new self-tilted release on Jack White’s Third Man Records.
“Central Time” proves Pokey LaFarge is not merely a retro act. Sure he reaches back to a time when distinct the genres of jazz, country blues and western swing blurred together into one glorious cultural mash-up, but there is a timelessness and vibrancy displayed in this ode to his Midwestern home.
Yesterday, fittingly on 6/6 at 6am, the roots psychedelic duo Hymn For Her released a video for thier deomically funky Lucy Fur. The single is from their newly released second album “Lucy & Wayne’s Smokin Flames” (Buy it at CD Baby)
The video stars Wayne Waxing as the victim as he and Lucy Tight’s darling daughter is transformed into a a hellion trickster. Inter-cut with scenes of Tim Curry as Lord of Darkness, from the 80’s cult fantasy “Legend,” Waxing suffers a myriad of indignities inflicted by the masked prankster in this cranked-up, funked-out, roots number. Suffering never sounded this good.
The Recording Academy continues what they call a “continuing evolution” of the Grammy Awards with changes in three categories, including our beloved Americana category.
If you remember a couple of years ago the organization caused a backlash when they eliminated categories and folded many into already existing genres. Those changes remain three new changes are being implemented “to ensure the Awards process remains representative of the current musical landscape.”
Two years ago, the organization made major waves in the industry with a long list of changes to existing categories that saw many areas condensed and elicited protests from multiple genres. Those changes have stuck while three new changes are being implemented “to ensure the Awards process remains representative of the current musical landscape.”
In 2009, the Academy split the category for Best Contemporary Folk/Americana Album into two separate categories: Best Contemporary Folk Album and Best Americana Album.
The strength of the Americana genre’s grow is being recognized the addition of the Best American Roots Song. “A songwriter’s award, it will encompass all of the subgenres of the Field (Americana, bluegrass, blues, folk, regional roots music), and puts the Field in line with the Rock, Rap, R&B, Country, and Gospel/CCM Fields, all of which have songwriters’ awards.”
This is great news as it allows the Recording Academy to better reward the broad pool of talent that makes up the genre.
The Mississippi Picnic (6/8) at New York’s Central Park will honor “Singing Brakeman,†Jimmie Rodgers, the “Father of Country Music,†as his iconic guitar will be played for the first time in 80 years to record music.
Rodger’s custom-ordered 1927 Martin 000-45, has his name in pearl inlay on the neck and “Thanks†written upside down on the back. After his death, Rodgers’ widow loaned the 000-45 to Ernest Tubb, who played it for forty years. It was later donated to the Jimmie Rodgers Museum, in Meridian, Mississippi, where it is kept in a safe behind glass.
Tribute artist Britt Gully received permission to use the guitar for recording a tribute CD and will play the guitar at a Rodgers tribute at the event. That day will celebrate the ‘Mississippi Country Music Trail’ by recognizing Jimmie Rodgers. Gully will perform along with other Mississippi artists during the picnic.
“This guitar is magical,†Gully said. “There was never a time when playing it that I did not realize what I was playing, and who played it before me.â€
The first New York Mississippi Picnic took place in 1979, when a small group of native Mississippians living in New York had a strong desire to improve the perceptions of both regions in regard to one another.
I’m not sure if I was the first to coin the term but I’m pretty sure i was the first to tweet it – that’s so country it’s Americana.
By that I mean as Music City continues to do what it’s always done, chase trends to broaden consumer acceptance, fill radio slots and asses in arena seats, and make truckloads of money, who looks after the legacy of the music? The legacy of twang, soul and grit that Rodgers, the Carters and Hank Sr. left us? The focus on the song as deep, personal expressions and not just target-marketed laundry lists? Ladies and gents it’s Americana straight up.
sure music Row still determines the brand “Country Music” but they don’t won the legacy or spirit. Tom Petty hit the nail squarely in the noggin when he described contemporary country music as “Bad rock with a fiddle. Zing! While the rhinestone cowboys chase hits and eschew tradition (Blake!) the real soul of country music has found a new home in the Americana camp. Now by Americana I also include the underground, muddy roots acts as well, as I believe a lot of the passion and blue-collar core is often found on that side. Here are a few videos to make my case.
Legacy: in their golden years no one in Music Row bothered to return phone calls to Johnny Cash and Porter Wagoner who were still viable a, had songs, and wanted to work. It took hip-hop/rock producer Rick Rubin and musician/producer Marty Stuart to work with these legendary men, respectively, and understand their storied place in music history. Working with their own label (Rubin) and an L.A. rock label (Epitaph) allowed these legends to produce some of their best work at the end of their lives and leave this world with dignity and fans with a few more treasures. Hell, even country music legend Lee Ann Womack teamed up with Americana stalwart Buddy Miller to stretch her wings.
Johnny Cash – “Hurt” (Nine Inch Nails)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmVAWKfJ4Go
Porter Wagoner – “Committed to Parkview”
Leann Womack & Buddy Miller – “Don’t Tell Me”
Soul – At it’s core country music is soul music. It bleeds life in common stories plaintive and wondrous. Here are some performers that reflect that rough beauty.
Robert Ellis – “Cemetery”
Jason Eady – “AM Country Heaven”
Elizabeth Cook – “Mama’s Prayers”
www.twangnation.com/blog/wp-admin/post.php?post=5944&action=edit
Twang and Grit – Musicianship has always been the stock and trade of country music , but it used to be more than a backdrop for party anthems. Here are some that are tearing it up without dumbing it down.
Sturgill Simpson – “You Can Have The Crown / Some Days”
Whitey Morgan and the 78’s – Cocaine Train
Turnpike Troubadours – “Before The Devil Knows We’re Dead”
The United States Postal Service, John Carter Cash and other members of the Cash family will the release of a limited-edition Johnny Cash Forever stamp June 5, 2013 at historic Ryman Auditorium (116 Fifth Avenue, Nashville) at 10:30 a.m. CDT. Doors open for stamp sales at 9 a.m. and the event is free and open to the public.
Artists set to appear, perform or speak include John Carter Cash, Carlene Carter, Larry Gatlin, Jamey Johnson, The Oak Ridge Boys, The Roys, Marty Stuart and Randy Travis among others. 650AM WSM personality Bill Cody will serve as emcee of the event.
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“It is an amazing blessing that my father Johnny Cash be honored with the issue of this stamp. Dad was a hard-working man, a man of dignity. As much as anything else, he was a proud American, always supporting his family, fans and country. I can think of no better way to pay due respect to his legacy than through the release of this stamp,†said John Carter Cash.
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“My family is thrilled that my father will grace a United States ‘Forever’ stamp, a great honor for any American, and an honor that would have particularly delighted him. It is a joy to know that generations will use this stamp, and my father will forever be where he loved to be: traveling the world,†added Rosanne Cash.
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About the Limited-Edition Johnny Cash Forever Stamp:
Designed by art director Greg Breeding, the Johnny Cash stamp features a photograph captured by Frank Bez during the photo session for Ring of Fire: The Best of Johnny Cash (1963). The stamp is part of the U.S. Postal Service’s Music Icon series, which also includes stamps honoring Lydia Mendoza (available now)  and Ray Charles (to be released in September).
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The stamps will be available for purchase at the Ryman Auditorium June 5 from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m., at the CMA Festival Fan Fair X at LP Field June 6-9, local Post Offices and online at usps.com/stamps.
Remember The Amanda Shires song Bulletproof I featured on Twang Nation podcast #12? The one that was released before her run at SXSW that I couldn’t find any more details on? Well now the cat is out of the proverbial bag.
The cut is from Shires upcoming fourth solo release “Down Fell The Doves,” produced by Andy LeMaster (Bright Eyes, REM) and recorded at his Chase Park Transduction studio in Athens, GA. An accompanying press release includes a publicity pic (left) that makes a good case for Shires being included as
Miss December in any Women of Americana calendar that might be in the works. The release also describes the album as “…11 original songs (that) feature Amanda’s sharpest writing to date, brought to life by a voice that melts, a fiddle that sears, and guitars – played for the most part by her husband, Jason Isbell – that scrape and howl.” I’m in!
Though there’s a spaghetti western sensibility running through it “Devastate†is, at heart, gritty mid-tempo rocker featuring Shires’ signature vibrato (in chorus!) as Isbell engages his guitar’s own vibrato bar as he dives in and out of the song. Shires matched him in parts with her own distorted fiddle mastery.
Shire’s says that ““Devastate†comes from a place of insecurity” and the lyrics reflect that. They a picture of ambiguous menace that can’t be pinpointed. “Devastate†shows a continuation of the lyrical and musical maturity Shires’ exhibited in her last release, 2011’s “Carrying Lightning.” I can’t wait to hear the rest!
“Down Fell the Doves†is out Aug. 6 on Lightning Rod Records.
‘Down Fell The Doves’ tracklist:
1. Look Like A Bird
2. Devastate
3. Bulletproof
4. Box Cutters
5. Deep Dark Below
6. Wasted And Rollin’
7. If I
8. Stay
9. Drop And Lift
10. A Song For Leonard Cohen
11. The Garden Song
He didn’t write many of the songs he made legendary but when he did them they stayed done.You couldn’t imagine them any other way.
On this occasion of his birth I submit to you my choice in the top 5 Levon Helm songs he performed over his Band and solo career. I hope you like them. If you don’t see your favorite place it in the comments below.
“Tennessee Jed” – This Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter tune is from Levon Helm’s final studio album “Electric Dirt.” The album won the first ever Grammy Award for Best Americana Album, an inaugural category in 2010.
“Poor Old Dirt Farmer” – This cover from of an old traditional, the Grammy-winning “Dirt Farmer” , could have easily been written by helm in tribute to his birthplace of Elaine, Arkansas.
“A Train Robbery” – Depending on your source this Paul Kennerley penned tune may or may not be about Jesse James. True or not it’s a great yarn well performed by Levon from the album “Dirt Farmer.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqDwS6z58eU
“The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” – Written by Robbie Robertson with Levon Helm. The song tells the tale of the last days of the American Civil War and the suffering and humiliation of the South.
“The Weight” – Though it was not a significant mainstream hit for The Band it has gone on to become their signature song.
