Category Archives: News

Ryan Bingham Readies Roadhouse Sun

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Fans of gritty, sun drenched tales from the road rejoice! Texas/New Mexico neo-trad troubadour Ryan Bingham and his band The Dead Horses (Corby Schaub – guitar, Matt Smith – drums, Elijah Ford – bass) are readying Roadhouse Sun his sophomore release from Lost Highway records to be released on May 5.  Roadhouse Sun is a follow up to Bingham’s 2007 much lauded debut Lost Highway Mescalito.

Mescalito producer and former Black Crowes guitarist, Marc Ford returns as producer on Road House Sun. And the PR material states that” Bingham covers some new subject matter on Roadhouse Sun as he challenges political accountability in Endless Ways and notes eye-opening similarities to our dark past in Dylan’s Hard Rain. Bingham has established himself as a deeply personal songwriter with a knack for painting vivid pictures in his songs. These images come to life in everything from his bluesy roadhouse romps such as Hey Hey and Day Is Done, to the epic Change Is to the dustbowl hymns Rollin Highway Blues, Country Roads and Snake Eyes.”

I was a fan of Mescalito when it came out, it made my top 10 that year, and after seeing him and his great band several times in New York and once in Nashville I am even more of a fan.

Ryan Bingham-Snake Eyes

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yhT3lPpbxY[/youtube]

Todd Snider and Sara Watkins Ready New Releases

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  • Paste Magazine used to trend more toward No Depression Americana coverage than Spin-style indy-pop coverage that they’ve moved toward over the last couple of years. This may explain what they’re still in print and No Depression isn’t. But Paste has not forsaken the twang altogether.  Paste’s  Andy Whitman does a round-up of three alt.country releases to check out – The Believers — Lucky You, Dallas’ The Von Ehrics — Loaded and Jason Heath and the Greedy Souls – The Vain Hope of Horse.
  • REM made a surprise appearance at a Carnegie Hall tribute show last night featuring Calexico, Bob Mould, Rhett Miller, Vic Chesnutt And Elf Power, Dar Williams, olie Holland, Patti Smith and Darius Rucker (!)
  • New-Grass supergroup Nickel Creek’s singer-songwriter and fiddler Sara Watkins is preparing self-titled debut of  songs penned during her time spent in L.A. Watkins’ self-titled solo debut features a wide range of collaborators for its 14 tracks, among them Elvis Costello drummer Pete Thomas, Tom Petty keyboardist Benmont Tench, Gillian Welch and Davod Rawlings, as well as her old NC bandmates Thile and Watkins. Led Zep’s John Paul Jones (who beat his bandmate Plant down the Americana path when he produced Uncle Earl’s 2007 Waterloo, TN) produced the album in studio sessions in L.A. and Nashville. Sara Watkins hits stores April 7 on Nonesuch, with a national tour to follow. Nickel Creek went on “indefinite hiatus” in 2007.
  • More Tod Snider news: Snider’s new release The Excitement Plan (out June 9th on Yep Roc) and will feature Grammy-winning producer Don Was (Bob Dyan, Rolling Stones, Bonnie Raitt) and  a guest appearance by Loretta Lynn. ‘The Excitement Plan’ is “an old gypsy term” Snider adopted from his father. He explains, “I know right now that times are hard for all of us and that new songs from a folk singer are not at the top of so many grocery lists but these twelve songs are different. These twelve songs can be part of your solution. Just give them a chance. Take them in. Use ’em to help you appreciate your girl if you still got one, and/or your job if you still got one. Trust them, trust me and I promise you as god is my witness sometime here in the next sixty to ninety days we will be layin ’em in the sweet peas.”

THE EXCITEMENT PLAN TRACK LIST
1. SLIM CHANCE
2. GREENCASTLE BLUES
3. AMERICA’S FAVORITE PASTIME
4. DOLL FACE
5. BRING ‘EM HOME
6. CORPUS CHRISTI BAY [by Robert Earl Keen]
7. THE LAST LAUGH
8. UNORGANIZED CRIME
9. BAREFOOT CHAMPAGNE
10. DON’T TEMPT ME featuring Loretta Lynn
11. MONEY, COMPLIMENTS, PUBLICITY (SONG NUMBER TEN)
12. GOOD FORTUNE

Snider will tour throughout the spring with highlights including June 11th at NYC’s The Bowery Ballroom (tickets on sale now), and his first performance at Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival June 14th.

95.3 The Range presents Texas Music Revolution 100, March 22, 2009

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  • Shiner Bock and 95.
    3 The Range presents the Texas Music Revolution 100,     March 22, 2009 at the famous Southfork Ranch! This will be a great day of Texas-style twang featuring amazing artists, such as: Dirt Drifters, Darryl Lee Rush, Junior Brown, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Walt Wilkins, Micky and the Motorcars, 1100 Springs, Somebody’s Darling, Two Tons of Steel, Tejas Brothers, Max Stalling, and much much more! Tickets are $26. Aapre-party will be held on March 21 at the Dallas’ Granada Theater on Greenville Avenue.This show is FREE to everyone that buys a ticket to the Texas Music Revolution and will feature Stoney Larue & The Arsenals, Deryl Dodd, Austin Cunningham, Shootin’ Doubles, and Spur 503. Check out the newly updated www. khyi. com for more information.
  • J.B. Beverley & The Wayward Drifters new release Watch America Roll By drops  MAY 5th ’09 on Helltrain Records. The album was recorded at J.B.’s Rebel Roots Studio in Richmond, VA. and the PR says that it’s the “kind of real country music that honors American heritage and culture; the kind of country music rooted in the influence of Jimmie Rodgers, Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, and other legends of the genre.” Judging by the cuts available at the bands MySpace page that’s an accurate description.
  • What do you do when your career is skidding and needs a boost? Don a Stetson, drop your “G”s  and cut some country tunes, Yall! Britney Spears 17-year-old baby sister Jamie Lynn Spears has reportedly relocated to Mississippi to raise her daughter Maddie and has “has been quietly working on a country album since last fall.” As much as I despise this genre carpetbagging, Jamie Lynn is a teenage mama a la Loreetie (though Loreeta Lynn had not one but FOUR kids by the time she was 17!)

Review – Ben Mallott – Look Good, Feel Good (Self Released)

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It’s rare that I play a new release passed my way and my mind is stopped from lazily latching onto the closest analog. Classification is what the mind does to make sense of the word and allow progress but with music critiques it can be a handicap.

The new release by Austinite and ex-Helpers front man, Ben Mallott, Look Good, Feel Good, is a musical monkey wrench to the sated mechanics of the jaded ear.

First the album cover of the album. Mallott looks at you from an old school barber shop’s mirror (flanked with the omnipresent Barbicide jar full of combs) bedecked in an an pink ornate pearl-snap shirt, white pants fringed with gold and kicked-up baroquely tooled boots that would make Nudie Cohn swoon. This juxtaposition of ordinary and flamboyant was a staple of 70’s Nash-Vegas alchemical imagery that Porter Wagoner mastered.

Then there is the voice.  As stated before an obvious analogy doesn’t spring to mind, and to do a just description would lead to a hyphen polluted mess. Suffice to say Mallott can moved from gritty baratone to soaring ache within a single song. Case in point is the opener Heartbreaks, the guitar lays a chugging foundation, and pedal-steel and fiddle gently interlock, to travel the timeworn terrain of the anguish of lost love. What saves the piece from cliche’ is the subtle soul in Mallot’s pipes.

Austin folk goddess Eliza Gilkyson on backing vocal on a gently rolling Shotgun Suzy and I half expected a matador to suddenly appear in the mariachi-horn and guitar start to Purgatory’s Last Massage Parlor which names drops George Jones and features some fine fiddle work. I Want It All is straight up Memphis-seared soul the would Make Van Morrison smile and The Artful Dodger sound like a long-lost opaque ballad by the late Jeff Buckley.

Midnight and Broke Down is a lonesome, lovely tune that comes closest to a trad country piece and Cold Feet is a Jerry Lee rockabilly-style cooker. The somber B-3 organ opening of Love Is Cold Water soon breaks into a shuffling Gospel rouser.

I have said that I think great musicians drawing from a wide view of musical sources have always made the best conduits for synthesis (or in the modern parlance, Mash up) and Ben Mallott adeptly shows this ability with this extraordinary surprise.

Official Site |   MySpace |  Buy

Ben Mallott – Heartbreaks

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Awha88Lp37E[/youtube]


Steve Earle’s Townes Van Zandt Tribute Album Update

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As I’ve posted before Steve Earle is in the process of recording an album of cover songs of his freind, mentor, Texas legend and source of his son’s middle name Townes Van Zandt entitled simply Townes. Pitchfork has posted that the album will be released May 12 on the New West label and will also be available as a deluxe two-CD set and on 180-gram vinyl.

From Pitchfork: “Dust Brother John King, who produced Earle’s 2007 album Washington Square Serenade, mans the boards on one song, “Lungs”. On that same song, Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello guests on guitar. Singer-songwriter Allison Moorer, Earle’s wife, sings backup on “To Live Is to Fly” and “Loretta”. Earle also recruited a backing band of bluegrass all-stars to play on several songs. And duetting on “Mr. Mudd and Mr. Gold”: Earle’s son Justin Townes Earle, appearing on record with his dad for the first time. ”

Head over to Pitchfork.com to hear a stream of Earle’s cover of Van Zandt’s “Lungs”, featuring Tom Morello doing his wikki-wikki turntable-scratch thing on guitar.

Townes track list:

1 Pancho and Lefty
2 White Freightliner Blues
3 Colorado Girl
4 Where I Lead Me
5 Lungs
6 No Place to Fall
7 Loretta
8 Brand New Companion
9 Rake
10 Delta Momma Blues
11 Marie
12 Don’t Take It Too Bad
13 Mr. Mudd and Mr. Gold
14 (Quicksilver Daydreams of) Maria
15 To Live Is to Fly

Paste Magazine Reviews The Flatlanders Newest

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  • Remember when Paste Magazine was more Americana and roots music focused, in other words, good? They harken back to those  halcion days by reviewing the Lloyd Maines produced release by Americana super group The Flatlanders (Joe Ely, Butch Hancock and Jimmie Dale Gilmore.)
  • Over at the 9513 Juli Thaki reviews what sounds like a spectacular show by country music legend Kris Kristofferson in Washington, DC.
  • CMT. COM is holding a Dolly Parton contest that offers a grand prize is which is a trip for two to NYC, air and hotel included, with tickets to Dolly’s 9 to 5: The Musical.
  • Comedy Central will be roasting Larry the Cable Guy  (aka Daniel Whitney) on Sunday March 15th. I hope they feature this early version of this douche on the program.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIWO5LgUZ28[/youtube]

Justin Townes Earle Needs Your Van

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  • The New York Time magazine Domains section has a sprawling Q&A with Lucinda Williams ranging from her favorite cover of one of her songs, misconceptions about songwriting, fictional character she identifies with and her worst day job she ever held downand much more.
  • Paste magazine posts that Justin Townes Earle needs a replacement for his touring van which broke down two days prior his sophomore album, Midnight at the Movies, was released.  If you own a car lot or have a new van or large SUV for sale contact Justin’s manager at: traci@thirtytigers.com. As of yet, no dates have been canceled.
  • PopMatters.com posted a 20 questions with former Mavericks frontman Raul Malo. The questions cover Star Trek or Star Wars? and The fictional character most like you? (didn’t we do that above already with Lucinda?!) The 9513.com offers an interview with Malo that goes into far more depth and covers a lot more interesting ground. Mal’s first release of new original material in seven years, Lucky One will be release tomorrow, 3 March on Fantasy records.

Rock Band Goes Alt.Country

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So how do you know you’ve arrived? When talentless, sweaty geeks manipulate plastic instruments to music you’ve worked your butt off to create and hope will be taken seriously. Wooo hooo!

Harmonix and MTV Games today announced the debut of five alternative country acts to the Rock Band Music Store catalog of downloadable content including artists Neko Case, Steve Earle, Lucinda Williams, Drive-By Truckers and Old 97’s.

“Alt Country 01” 5-pack features a signature mix of alternative country sounds from bluegrass and rockabilly to honky-tonk rock. The 5-pack includes “People Got A Lotta Nerve” from Neko Case’s soon-to-be released album Middle Cyclone (March 3, 2009), “Can’t Let Go” by Grammy winning singer/songwriter Lucinda Williams from her album Car Wheels On A Gravel Road (1998) and Steve Earl’s “Satellite Radio” from his album Washington Square Serenade (2007). The 5-pack also features “Three Dimes Down” from southern rock band Drive-By Truckers featured on the Brighter Than Creation’s Dark (2008) album and the Old 97’s live recording “Timebomb” from the band’s Alive & Wired (2005) album.

Release Date: Tuesday, February 24, 2009 (Xbox LIVE Marketplace for Xbox 360®)
Thursday, February 26, 2009 (PlayStation®Store)

** Dates for Rock Band game tracks are tentative and subject to change **

No Depression Stops Editorial Operations, Focus Now On Community

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In another chapter of the ongoing struggles for No Depression, publisher Kyla Fairchild has posted that operational expenses has forced the new website incarnation ” to discontinue the editorial budget at the present time.” In other words, no more original content, record reviews, interviews, and stories.

ND was THE editorial beacon for the growing alt.country/roots/Americana music scene between 1995 and 2008. Their print operations ended last June due to revenue slowdown from declining subscriptions and advertising. A new web site tobring content and news to fans and persue a different business model was announced at the 2000 Americana Music Association conference and was unveiled that October.

Fairchild states that NoDepression.com will continue as an online presence with more focus on community contributions to provide content. As indicated preciously, here is also plans to make its entire archive of 75 issues  available online. (via the 9513)

As Americana music starts to move more into the mainstream with artist like Robert Plant and Allison Krauss winning Grammys and indy-popsters like Ben Kweller releasing country-tinged albums I hope some of that popularity finds its way to the publication that helped hold the many genre threads together for so long.

DelFest and Pickathon News

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  • The deadline for discounted tickets for DelFest has been extended until March 2nd at midnight. Some of Bluegrass’ best will be featured at the 3-day festival- Sam Bush, Old Crow Medicine Show, Leftover Salmon, JD Crowe & The New South, The Lee Boys as well as headliner legendary Del McCoury and more. The festival takes place Memorial Day Weekend, May 22-24th on the Allegany County Fairgrounds in Cumberland, Maryland.
  • The 11th annual Pickathon Indie Roots Music Festival, which takes place  just outside Portland, OR.,  has released their new website and festival line-up which includes Blitzen Trapper ,  The Sadies, Dale Watson, Justin Townes Earl, Those Darlins and Joe Pug.  Pickathon takes place July 31-August 2.
  • Now a little love for my old hood New York City.  The always excellent and lovely Joe Whyte will big show with his  band and will be featuring some new tunes. It’s on Monday, March 2 and it’s  free show at Rockwood Music Hall (196 Allen St., NYC) Go, you won’t be disappointed.