Category Archives: News Round Up

Steve Earle Gets Gritty In “Calico County”

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sstev earle

RollingStone.com ahs the premier of Steve Earle’s new song Calico County.

As far as I can tell Earle’s new song is written solely by him. Though in style and substance it could have been a collaboration with fellow civic-minded Texan James McMurtry

Gritty with Sticky Fingers guitar swagger contrasted with She’s So Cold delivery Calico County tells a tale of rough, stoic characters, economic hardship and meth as the new moonshine. A theme he’s addressed substituting meth for weed on Copperhead Road. The song owes much to his Copperhead Road as it does McMurtry’s Can’t Make It Here.

The Low Highway features his live band consisting of Chris Masterson, Eleanor Whitmore, Kelley Looney, Will Rigby and Allison Moorer and was co-produced by Earle and Ray Kennedy (whose production partnership known as the “Twangtrust” was behind Lucinda Williams’ Car Wheels on a Gravel Road).

Calico County will appear on Earle’s upcoming new release The Low Highway out April 16.

Earl is also putting the finishing touches on a memoir and a fiction novel and has collaborated with Pete Seeger on his upcoming release.

Steve-Earle-The-Low-Highway-01-02-13

The Low Highway Track Listing:

1.The Low Highway
2. Calico County
3. Burnin’ It Down
4. That All You Got?
5. Love’s Gonna Blow My Way
6. After Mardi Gras
7. Pocket Full Of Rain
8. Invisible
9. Warren Hellman’s Banjo
10. Down The Road Pt. II
11. 21st Century Blues
12. Remember Me

The SteelDrivers – ‘Hammer Down’ – Listen Up!

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SteelDrivers - Hammer Down

Adele and i share something in common. We are both SteelDrivers fans. Adele even honored the band by recording a version of their song “If It Hadn’t Been for Love” and included it as a B side to her best-selling “Rolling in the Deep” CD single and has covered that very same song live.

The three time Grammy nominated, Nashville based band are well worthy of such accolades.

The SteelDrivers embody some of the best characteristics of any roots/Americana band performing today. The band fuses often dark lyrics, soul, bluegrass and mature pop to create something new and fresh and somehow comfortably familiar.

The SteelDrivers are banjo player Richard Bailey, bass/vocalist Mike Fleming, guitar / vocalist Gary Nichols, fiddler / vocalist Tammy Rogers and mandolinist Brent Truitt. Produced by Luke Wooton, Hammer Down is a collection of 10 new tunes from Rogers and Nichols as well as original members Chris Stapleton and Mike Henderson. The set also includes the songs “I’ll Be There” and “Cry No Mississippi” that Nichols co-wrote with John Paul White of The Civil Wars.

The SteelDrivers’ upcoming Rounder Records’ release “Hammer Down” can be heard below for one week here at Twang Nation.

The SteelDrivers are on the road for much of 2013 and an updated itinerary is at www.steeldrivers.net

Tour Itinerary to Date:

February 6 Music City Roots/Loveless Cafe Nashville, TN
February 8 The Station Inn Nashville, TN
February 16 Joe Val Bluegrass Festival Framingham, MA
February 17 The Iron Horse Northampton, MA
February 18 Joe’s Pub New York, NY
February 28 The Ark Ann Arbor, MI
March 2 Woodlands Tavern Columbus, OH
March 3 Beachland Ballroom Cleveland, OH
March 8 Bluegrass Underground McMinnville, TN
March 9 Mountain View Bluegrass Fest Mountain View, AR
March 21 Carbondale, IL Hangar 9

Kris Kristofferson & Willie Nelson Perform at Bluebird Cafe, During NSAI Ceremony [video]

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I wonder is this is the kind of “Old Fart” music that Blake Shelton was referring to?

Two country music icons, and Highwaymen band-mates, made an appearance at one of Nashville songwriters’ hallowed grounds to give and receive respect. Kris Kristofferson & Willie Nelson each were awarded the inaugural Nashville Songwriters Association International Kris Kristofferson lifetime achievement award.

From the speech reported by The Tennessean:

“He’s unlike anybody else, because he is one of the best songwriters who ever wrote in any language. He’s absolutely a unique singer who doesn’t sound like anybody else ever…He’s probably the funniest human being I’ve ever known. Sometimes, I try to envision who God might be, and he always comes out looking like Willie.”

“I’m really proud to be giving you this,” he told Nelson. “I’m embarrassed that my face and my name is on it.”

“We can take that right off,” Nelson replied dryly, as the packed house of friends and admirers laughed. “I thought I was coming here tonight to give you an award, so I had a great speech all lined up. It couldn’t match what you just said.”

Asked if the pair were able to perform together often enough, Nelson replied. “It’s kind of rare, unfortunately, because we enjoy doing it.”

“I never see anybody else…” added Kristofferson. “But every time we get together, it’s amazing.”

This is one of those rare opportunities that remind us that giants still walk the earth. We should take every opportunity to see them when we can and give respect to them until the end of time.

Willie Nelson And Family Upcoming “Lets Face The Music And Dance” Tracklist and Cover Art

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Willie -Face The Music and DanceLegacy Recordings will release “Let’s Face The Music And Dance,” a collection of new studio performances by Willie Nelson and Family, on Tuesday, April 16.

The album is the first in a series of releases and events celebrating the artist’s 80th birthday on April 30.

From the Press Release “A collection of deep pop country repertoire classics performed with transformative patented ease by Willie Nelson and Family, his long-time touring and recording ensemble, Let’s Face The Music And Dance was recorded at Pedernales Recording Studio in Austin, Texas, produced by Buddy Cannon and mixed by Butch Carr at Budro Music Repair Shop in Nashville, Tennessee.

Willie’s also celebrating more than forty years on the road and in the studio with Family, the band he formed with his sister, Bobbie Nelson (on piano), drummer Paul English and harmonica shaman Mickey Raphael–their name taken from his 1971 studio album Willie Nelson & Family. Rounding out the Family line-up on Let’s Face The Music And Dance are Billy English (Paul’s brother) on electric gut string and snare drum, Kevin Smith on upright bass and Jim “Moose” Brown on B-3 organ with Willie’s son, Micah Nelson, adding percussion on select tracks. Willie Nelson and his guitar, Trigger, appear on all the songs.

Compiling the repertoire for Let’s Face The Music And Dance, Willie chose a range of pop, rock, jazz and country classics drawn from the 1930s (“Let’s Face the Music and Dance,” “Walking My Baby Back Home”), 1940s (“You’ll Never Know,” “I Wish I Didn’t Love You So,” “Shame On You”) and 1950s (“Matchbox”) covering evergreen songwriters Irving Berlin, Mack Gordon, Carl Perkins, Frank Loesser, Django Reinhardt and Spade Cooley, among others. Willie turns in a beautiful new version of his composition “Is The Better Part Over,” a song he introduced on 1989′s A Horse Called Music.”

Let’s Face The Music And Dance Track List:

1. Let’s Face the Music and Dance (Irving Berlin, 1935)
2. Is the Better Part Over (Willie Nelson, 1989)
3. You’ll Never Know (Mack Gordon, 1943)
4. Vous Et Moi (Claude Francois-Jean Bourtayre)
5. Walking My Baby Back Home (Fred Ahlert-Roy Turk, 1930)
6. Matchbox (Carl Perkins, 1957)
7. Twilight Time (Al Nevins-Morty Nevins)
8. I Can’t Give You Anything But Love (Dorothy Fields-Jimmy McHugh)
9. I’ll Keep On Loving You (Richard Coburn-Vincent Rose)
10. I Wish I Didn’t Love You So (Frank Loesser, 1947)
11. South Of The Border (Jimmy Kennedy-Michael Carr)
12. Nuages (Django Reinhardt)
13. Marie (The Dawn Is Breaking)
14. Shame On You (Spade Cooley, 1944)

Music Review: Daniel Romano – Come Cry With Me Normaltown Records]

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NTR1006-DanielRomano-REDPeople often wondered why Gram Parsons, a member of a 60’s generation that cast off the past so dramatically, would choose to perform music so informed by country music clad in the garish uniform of the institution, a Nudie suit. Granted the suit was adorned in spangled by pot leaves. But still, what gives? Was he a novelty act? But then you heard “Hickory Wind” and you knew this wasn’t hippie irony. This was reverence.

Ontario-based singer/songwriter Daniel Romano stares at you from his latest release ‘Come Cry With Me” donned in a brown, Nudie-style, bespangled suit. Stetson, hipster ‘stache and sideburns. Like a retro Instagram filter set to Country Gold. Romono dares you not to ask “is this dude kidding?”

By music don’t lie. ‘Come Cry With Me” is as real as anything that’s come out as country music scene since it moved from the porch to the studio mic.

Like Chuck Ragan and Austin Lucas, Romano spent his youth in punk and hard rock msuic founding the indie-rock outfit Attack in Black. Like them his journey led him to the music he grew up listening to A music with stylistic and thematic ties to punk and hard rock. Country and folk music.

Hank (Williams and Snow) Gram, Willie, Waylon, Billy Joe, Ernest, George Jones – they would all identify Romono’s fourth solo record as spiritual and melodic kin.

Weepers like “The Middle Child” and “Two Pillow Sleeper” used to spend weeks at the top of the jukebox charts and brings to mind long-forgotten smokey bars, broken hearts and cheap beer.

But it’s not all tales of the misbegotten and downtrodden. “Chicken Bill” takes a page out of the Cash book of Boom Chicka Boom and pulls the chair out with a mysterious ending. The wry humor and double entendre soaked “When I Was Abroad” sound like a result of a Roger Miller and Shel Silverstein amphetamine-fueled songwriting session at the Playboy Mansion.

And the excellent celebration of 3/4 waltzes “Just Before The Moment” would make Lefty Frizzell smile and cause Music Row execs the night sweats.

The rebellion that shapes punk and hard rock music has led Romano to one of the most rebellious acts he could undertake in today’s cultural environment. Creating an honest-to-God country music record.

four-rate

Official Site | Buy

[soundcloud url=”https://soundcloud.com/crashave/sets/daniel-romano”]

Blog Rodeo – Americana Music’s Influence on Country Music

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blog-rodeo-logoI am honored to have been asked to create this post for the inaugural Blog Rodeo. It’s a great opportunity to join with some of the best bloggers in the game. This is not the first time I’ve been asked to represent my chosen vice of Americana music in a discussion focused on mainstream country music, and I’m humbled to do so again and know the chips are stacked against me..

Regular visitors to this site, my Facebook page and my twitter account, knows mainstream country is not my beat. Unlike the other fine blogs asked to participate in the Blog Rodeo I don’t cover the Music Row variety of contemporary pop-country music. I couldn’t give a damn what Taylor Swift is doing. That is unless she’s collaborating with The Civil Wars or performing a cover on Mumford and Sons. Then she’s fair game. More on that later.

I also don’t typically put Music Row in the crosshairs. I don’t spend my days hating on the Chesneys and Aldeans. Sure I occasionally throw a snide tweet or let loose on the barrel of fish that is the CMAs, but for the most part I stay mum. It’s all music and someone, somewhere get’s joy from it. I prefer to spend my energy on the good stuff. The great music the people that makes it that comes my way.

Music Row performers attain success in their chosen fields in the one measurable way that is important to any commercial industry, money. Though it’s not my shot of hooch I have to give them their due. Sold out arena tours and millions of units sold is a pretty convincing measure of success.

But there’s more to music than mass-commercial appeal. Or there should be.

Unlike mainstream country radio “hits,” chart position and platinum albums are not the currency of Americana music. Filled arena tours funded by Bud Lite is not current model of operations. Americana is a genre of bootstrapping and scrappy souls. It’s where beater vans are the vehicle of choice driven thousands of miles by steadfast musicians playing for half empty bars at the end of the journey. All the while they never imagine doing anything else.

Now to address the thesis for this project. The most exciting thing for Country Music in 2013 will be…what?

I’ll answer that the most exciting thing about country music is it’s new-found focus on Americana as a kind of R&D lab for innovation. A source for material, inspiration and yes revenue. Here’s some examples:

On his fourteenth studio album of the same name Chesney momentarily put aside his Jimmy Buffett obsession and covered Guy Clark’s “Hemingway’s Whiskey.” On that same album he included a couple of nice duets . The first covered Matraca Berg’s “You And Tequila” with Grace Potter and the other with George Jones on Bobby Braddock ‘s “Small Y’all.”

Chesney will also be sharing the stage the Avett Brothers, Gary Clark Jr. and others at the Tortuga Music Festival in Ft. Lauderdale this Spring. Festivals a great source of cross-over exposure.

Taylor Swift nabbed two recent Grammy nominations with her work with T Bone Burnett and The Civil Wars for the song “Safe & Sound” from the Hunger Games soundtrack. She also does a fine cover of Mumford and Son’s White Blank Page Cover for BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge.

Speaking of T Bone Burnett, as the music director for his wife’s night time drama, ABC’s Nashville, he’s done great job of getting small acts big exposure. Burnett has taken artists like Shovels and Rope and used their music, and in the case of Lindi Ortega used her music and provided a cameo. ABC puts these songs for sale on their official Nashville web site.

The heart of the music industry on cable TV, Country Music Television, has Crossroads which has paired Country music and Americana and rock music for years. CMT’s new on-line venture CMT Edge is a great showcase and news source for some of Americana’s best.

Is country music finding it’s soul again or just co-opting another popular music trend to make money? Who cares? The artists that are creating the great music are gaining a wider audience and getting more compensation for their considerable craft. Does increased exposure and success result in Jason Isbell and Chris Knight creating the next Truck Yeah? Doubtful.

The instinct to keep this music our precious little secret is a damaging and selfish one we need to overcome. Commercial country music does reinvent itself occasionally even if it’s for narrow commercial reasons. Before the genre abandoned them Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson were all part of the country mainstream. It’s true that this might be another instance of Music Row just exploiting the next big thing and will abandon it for the next big thing. But I have faith that Americana music will survive this exploitation and few, like Mumford and Sons and The Lumineers, will actually springboard into a wider cultural consciousness.

So to answer the what will be the most exciting thing for Country Music in 2013 I will have to go with the opportunity is affords Americana performers and a few country music fans that will be delighted at discovering these great artists. Perhaps a little of the beauty and grit that we love about Americana will rub off on the occasional song featured on commercial country radio.

Am I naive? Perhaps. But I have a belief that great music, the kind that reflects the human spirit, inspires and speaks to us all.

I don’t know about you but I’m ready to accommodate a bigger party.

Blog Rodeo Roundup: See What Everyone Else Is Saying About Country Music in 2013!

Son Volt Announces New Album, April Tour Dates

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son volt honky tonkAlt.country/Americana music pioneers Son Volt will release Honky Tonk, their highly anticipated follow-up to 2009’s American Central Dust.

According to a received press release, the 11-track album features a mix of classic honky tonk and acoustic-based songs about “heartache, heartbreak, and the road.” Sounds like a winning combination.

According to a press release, the 11-track album us described by band leader Jay Farrar thus, “Honky tonk music is about heartache, heartbreak, the road.” He reflects that as he wrote and recorded the songs so deeply steeped in tradition, “I wanted these songs to sound more contemporary and modern. There was no strict adherence to methodology of the past. You never want to be a nostalgia act.”

“I was always averse to using certain words in songs, including ‘love’ and ‘heart,’” frontman Jay Farrar explained. “But I started using them on American Central Dust, and now I guess the floodgates have opened.”

The album is said to “dwell on affairs of the heart with album’s opener, “Hearts and Minds,” a speedy Cajun waltz which assays the delicate balance between love’s steadfastness and its caprice, the plaintive “Brick Walls,” and “Barricades,” which affirms the necessity of pushing forward in the face of overwhelming despair and defeat.”

Farrar also learned a new instrument as an inspiration for the sound of the record and ” inspired an intense exploration of honky tonk music.” “In the time between Son Volt records, I started learning pedal steel guitar. I play with a local band in St. Louis now and then called Colonel Ford. So I was immersed in honky tonk music, the Bakersfield sound, in particular. And it was almost second nature when I started writing the songs for this record.”

“Honky Tonk and Farrar’s forthcoming book, Falling Cars and Junkyard Dogs (Counterpoint Press, 2013) both continue his ongoing exploration of America’s landscape through the redemptive power of its music. Yet for all its hearkening back to a classic sound, Farrar and company make Honky Tonk feel vital, fresh, and new.”

Son Volt has national tour dates for April 2013 starting at Nashville’s Mercy Lounge.

Honky Tonk will be released via Rounder Records on March 5. Check out the track list and tour dates below.

Honky Tonk Tracklist:
1. Hearts and Minds
2. Brick Walls
3. Wild Side
4. Down the Highway
5. Bakersfield
6. Livin’ On
7. Tears of Change
8. Angel of the Blues
9. Seawall
10. Barricades
11. Shine On

Son Volt Tour Dates:
April
10 – Nashville, Tenn. @ Mercy Lounge
11 – Asheville, N.C. @ The Orange Peel
12 – Atlanta, Ga. @ Terminal West
13 – Carrboro, N.C. @ Cat’s Cradle
14 – Knoxville, Tenn. @ Bijou Theatre
16 – Birmingham, Ala. @ WorkPlay Theatre
17 – New Orleans, La. @ The Parish
18 – Houston, Texas @ Continental Club
19 – Austin, Texas @ Old Settler’s Music Festival
20 – Dallas, Texas @ Sons of Herman Hall

Got news tips for Twang Nation? Email holler(at)twangnation.com

Song Spotlight – The White Buffalo “House of Pain” from the “West of Memphis” Soundtrack

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West_of_Memphis_poster“You never know how much you need music until you don’t have it.” -Damien Echols, Life After Death

Damien Echols, ason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley, Jr. were convicted in 1994 of the 1993 reportedly ritual satanic murders of three 8-year old children in West Memphis. In 2011 thee men entered Alford pleas, which allowed them to assert their innocence while acknowledging that prosecutors have enough evidence to convict them. Their pleas were accepted the the men and sentenced to time served. They were then released with ten-year suspended sentences, having each served 18 years and 78 days behind bars.

“West of Memphis: Voices for Justice” is music from and inspired by West of Memphis, the documentary film written and directed by Academy Award nominated filmmaker, Amy Berg and produced by Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh (the Lord of the Rings triology), Damien Echols and Lorri Davis.

In every instance of involvement, the artists on the soundtrack decided which song they felt reflected their personal feelings about the case. There’s a connection between the music and the man remaining at its center, Damien Echols.

The soundtrack features Henry Rollins and Johnny Depp each lending their voices to excerpts from Damien Echols’ letters from death row recited over a Nick Cave / Warren Ellis score featured in the film.

Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks covers of Pink Floyd’s “Mother.” “Satellite” is covered by Eddie Vedder which was written for Lorri Davis, Damien Echols’ wife, as part of a collection of songs Eddie recorded for the couple in 2000. Artists also featured are Lucinda Williams, Band of Horses, Patti Smith, Citizen Cope and others each bringing particular stories around the songs that represent them on this collection.

My favorite cut on the album is from The White Buffalo (aka Jake Smith.) He lends his baritone vibrato, and moody melodic stye, to the Faster Pussycat 1989 ballad that kept Damien company while sitting on death row.

Emmylou Harris, John Prine, Dan Auerbach, Kris Kristofferson To Pay Tribute to Cowboy Jack Clement

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Cowboy-Jack-Clement_5Ggx_full“Cowboy” Jack Clement has carved out a storied career as a sinsinger/songwriter having his songs have been recorded by folks such as Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, Ray Charles, Carl Perkins, Bobby Bare, Elvis Presley and more. A producer for Townes Van Zandt and Waylon Jennings and DJ with a weekly program on Sirius XM Satellite Radio’s Outlaw country)

The Memphis-born, 81-year-old, Clement recently lost his house to a fire in 2011. Now some of his friends are coming together at the War Memorial Auditorium in Nashville January 30 to help out.

According to American Songwriter “one of those musicians was Artist Growth founder Matt Urmy, who Clement recently produced, Artist Growth joined up with Dub Cornett, a long time protege of Clement’s, to put together Honoring A Legend: A Tribute To “Cowboy” Jack Clement, featuring an all-star list of artists influenced by and associated with Clement.”

Emmylou Harris, John Prine, Dan Auerbach from the Black Keys, Kris Kristofferson, Charley Pride and more will gather to pay tribute to “The Pied Piper of Music City.”
All proceeds for the concert will go toward The Music Health Alliance and launching the “Cowboy” Jack Clement Fund to help the cost of medical bills for musicians not covered by insurance.

Get tickets

Check out the full list of artists below:

Dan Auerbach
Bobby Bare
Marshall Chapman
Rodney Crowell
Jakob Dylan
Emmylou Harris
Charley Pride
John Prine
T-Bone Burnett
Billy Burnette
Shawn Camp
Mary Gauthier
Kris Kristofferson
Nikki Lane
John C. Reilly

Twang Nation Podcast Episode 10 – Chris Knight, Buddy Miller,Jim Lauderdale, John Fullbright, Gurf Morlix

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podcastEpisode #10 (alright double digits!) of Twang Nation Podcast pulls from my first 10 of a list of 21, Cream of the Crop selections from 2012. It’s been a great year for Americana and roots music. T Bone Burnett has done a fine job of sliding roots artists like Lindi Ortega and Shovels and Rope within a Music Row soap opera with ABC’s Nashville. The Americana Music Association continues to burnish the brand and their conference and wards show set attendance and submission records. Even that bastion of Music Row glitz, CMT, saw crossover potential and launched CMT Edge which has featured artists like Jason Isbell and Justin Townes Earle.

2013 shows no signs of slowing down with upcoming releases from Kris Kristofferson, Dale Watson as well as joint releases from Kelly Willis and her hubby Bruce Robison and Emmylou Harris and ex Hot Band member and legendary songwriter Rodney Crowell.

As the Americana music culture and industry grows and becomes more of a mainstream staple, with bands like Mumford and Sons and the Avett Brothers leading the way, I applaud the advantages and the opportunities for musicians and we who cover them. As I’ve said, I want the performers I cover to get more prestigious gigs, better recording facilities, more gear and to leave their touring vans behind and be bale to afford the relative comfort of a touring bus. I don’t believe musicians should suffer for tier craft (much!) Here’s to mutually rising boats.

In the new year I resolve to do my best not to follow the hyped path most traveled and do what I’ve always done, follow my heart and my ear to places more interesting and authentic for the love of music. I hope you come with me in and enjoy what I discover.

Thanks you for reading the site, following on twiiter , Facebook, Google+ and my work over at Grammy.com.

Happy holidays and a safe and happy New year to you all.

Opening Song – “Mr. D.J” – by Dale Watson
1.Chris Knight– song:”Little Victories”- Album: “Little Victories” (Drifter’s Church Productions)
2.Malcolm Holcolmbe – song: “Gone Away at Last”- Album: “Down the River” (GypsyeyesMusic – out now )
3.Darrell Scott – Song: Hopskinville – Album: Long Ride Home (Full Light Records)
4.Corb Lund – song: Gettin’ Down on the Mountain Album: Cabin Fever (New West Records)
5. Buddy Miller and Jim Lauderdale That’s Not Even Why I Love You. – Album: Buddy and Jim (New West Records)
6.Iris DeMent – song:Sing The Delta- Album:Sing The Delta (Flariella Records)
7.Dwight Yoakam – song:A Heart Like Mine- Album:3 Pears (Warner Bros. Records)
8.Turnpike Troubadours Song: Gin, Smoke and Lies- Album:Goodbye Normal Street (Bossier City Records)
9.John Fullbright song:Satan and St. Paul- Album:From The Ground Up (Bossier City Records)
10. Shovels & Rope– song:Fire On The Hill- Album:O’ Be Joyful (Dualtone Records)
11. Gurf Morlix – song:Present Tense- Album: Gurf Morlix Finds the Present Tense – Out March 5, 2013)
12.Robert Earl Keen– song:Merry Christmas from the Family- Album: Gringo Honeymoon