Has it been a year already? BWIP turns calibrates their one-year anniversary with an interview with Wayne Gottstine from Split Lip Rayfield great music from Split Lip Rayfield, The Sluggos, and Scroat Belly (all with our special guest Wayne Gottstine). We also have music from Justin Towns Earle, The Honky Tonk Hustlas, and Missy Gossip and The Secret Keepers and a special dedication final song.

Illustration by Christoph Mueller

Sometimes, rarely but sometimes, a concert can really floor you. Just surprise you in ways you had no idea you still could be. I’m glade to say this last Saturday I attended a sold out show at New York’s Bowery Ballroom that did just that.

Omaha Nebraska’s McCarthy Trenching opened the show at about 8:15 belting out self-described songs of drinking, killing and horse songs drinking, killing and horse songs with workmanlike diligence and little room for flourish.
26-year-old singer-songwriter Justin Townes Earle then hit the stage sporting a throwback look - sequin-trimmed suit and Brylcreemed hair - to match his gloriously throwback sound. Accompanied by mandolin-banjo-harmonica player and stamp-collection enthusiast Cory Younts, Earle served up with his blend of old school honkey-tonk
(Hard Livin, Ain’t Glad I’m Leavin’) and Tennessee backwoods country (Who Am I To Say, The Ghost Of Virginia) and straight up corn-pone fun (Chitlin Cookin Time In Cheetham County, Your Biscuit’s Big Enough For Me.) All the country music history sketches that make up his new release ‘The Good Life” were on show in full force. Earle showed confidence as he stalked the stage, stomped his boots to cue chorus to bridge breaks and hoisted his acoustic guitar rifle-like Johnny Cash-style. The New York crowd whooped and hollered and the girls near the stage stood transfixed with by his rugged Southern charm. Earle left the stage with a song for his Grandpa (Absolute Angels Blues) after almost an hour and left the crowd wanting more but primed the crowd for what was to come.

The most accurate and hilarious description I’ve come across for the Felice Brothers (actually three brothers and friends) is by way of Andrew Leahey over at All Music Guide - “they’re a pack of earth-stained country boys from the wilds of the Catskill Mountains, not Ivy Leaguers who thought ransacking their parents ’60s records would a better career move than grad school.” Dead on description and doubly so live. Cards on the table, I came to the show for Justin Townes Earle and decided to hang for a few songs by these Yankee roots rockers just to see what all the fuss was about. I’m glade I did.

It appeared that many under 30-year-olds from the Felice Brothers hometown of the Hudson River Valley and the New York City area, where the Felice boys honed their craft in the subway stations, turned out to welcome them back home. Young girls in cotton dresses shouted the band members names like they had them in home room and their drunk boyfriends sang to every song at the top of their lungs like they could do it in their sleep.

The Felice Brothers are often compared to a more punked-out Band, and it’s a pretty fair comparison. Like The Band The Felice Brothers take country and roots music and turn it in on it’s history to exposes the Celtic, blues and gospel innards. Gothic Americana landscapes drenched with sepia, whiskey (on stage and in verse) and blood.

Sometimes it seemed that the band was using their instruments as weapons and songs would veer just out of control just to right itself at the last minute. Tales of broken dreams and dreamers flat broke and staring down narrowing odds (the harrowing Hey Hey Revolver), sin, redemption and Dixieland salvation (Saved (Lieber-Stolle), Mercy) and salacious limo drivers (Cincinnati Queen) and straight up murder ballads that would make Nick Cave take notice (Ruby Mae.) Sometimes the whole affair seemed like a Ken Burns soundtrack mashed up with the Pogues on a particularly heavy bender.

Guitarist and lead gravel-throated vocalist Ian, drummer and vocalist Simone and accordionist and bear of a man James Felice along with a guy named Christmas (bass) and Farley (fiddle and washboard) played music dank with tradition and yet crackling with passion and fire. I’ve always said that if you can fake authenticity you can do anything, but if there is any faking until they make it with this band then my well tuned bullshit detector was unable to pick up the trace.

There have been some leveling of derision at the Felice Brothers for supposedly cribbing their sound to the Dyan/Band basement tapes. These jibes are usually from critics that see no problem giving a pass to the likes of the Zeppelin/Pixies plagiarism that is the White Stripes. I agree with Picasso that bad artists copy and great artists steal. The Felice Bros. are casing the joint and armed to the teeth.

The Felice Brothers Bowery Ballroom 4-12-2008 - I’m Saved

That “Dirty ol One Man Band from Texas: Scott H. Biram will be wheeling his First Church Of The Ultimate Fanaticism selling his brand of sanctified chicken-fried country blues music this spring and will be over in the UK in late May with some possible central Europeon dates in Early June.

Check him out at a chicken coop near you if you dare!

Fri 3/21/08 Riley’s Tavern Hunter, TX

Sat 3/22/08 Red Eyed Fly Austin, TX

Sat 3/29/08 Double-Wide Dallas, TX

Thu 4/10/08 Rhythm Room Phoenix, AZ w/Hillstomp

Fri 4/11/08 Plush Tucson, AZ w/Hillstomp

Sat 4/12/08 Casbah San Diego, CA w/Hillstomp

Sun 4/13/08 Safari Sam’s Hollywood, CA
w/ Wayne Hancock, 50 Cent Haircut, Hillstomp (SHB plays 3rd)

Tue 4/15/08 The Crepe Place Santa Cruz, CA

Wed 4/16/08 Bottom of the Hill San Francisco, CA w/Hillstomp

Thu 4/17/08 Axe & Fiddle Cottage Grove, OR w/Hillstomp

Fri 4/18/08 Dante’s Portland, OR w/Thee Loyal Bastards & Hillstomp

Sat 4/19/08 El Corazon Seattle, WA w/Hillstomp & Bob Wayne & His Outlaw Carnies

Mon 4/21/08 The Filling Station Bozeman, MT w/Hillstomp

Wed 4/23 Bar Deluxe w/Hillstomp

Fri 4/25/08 Bender’s Tavern Denver, CO w/Hillstomp, Rev. Deadeye

TBA (Possibly Lincoln, NE)

Just when your eyes have started to glaze over with all the talk about Elliot Spitzer being the biggest dumb-ass on the planet or if Hillary and Obama aught to just be put into the steel-cage death-match of democracy, It Burns When I Pee has released Episode #13 the “Titties and Country Music” release.

Blake had the good sense to take my advice and got Doyle Mayfield from The Doyle and Debbie Show on to tell tales about his childhood and life performing with his “3^rd Debbie.”

There is also a feature on CMT’s  My Big Redneck Wedding and choice cuts from fine artists like The Pine Box Boys, Malcolm Hocombe, Gerry Stanek, and last but not least Roscoe Fletcher. So get over to IBWIP find out what real country music is all about and get yer Hank on!!!

For all those of you out there that think that country music is the de-facto soundtrack for the G.O.P.

Billboard.com reports that Legacy Recordings will celebrate Willie Nelson’s 75th birthday (April 30) by rolling out a series of special projects. The first is the April 1 release “One Hell of a Ride,” a four-disc, 100-song boxed set.

The set bundles together music from Nelson’s stints with numerous record labels, beginning with tracks recorded in late 1954/early 1955 for KBOP radio in Pleasanton, Texas.

While the track list is still coming together, look for early 1960s takes on “Night Life,” “Funny How Time Slips Away” and “Crazy” plus iconic covers like Fred Neil’s “Everybody’s Talkin’,” Hoagy Carmichael’s “Stardust” and Fred Rose’s “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain.”

Liner notes were penned by Joe Nick Patoski, whose Nelson biography, “An Epic Life,” will hit bookstores this spring via Little, Brown.

Meanwhile, on April 29, Legacy will issue “#1s,” a single-disc compilation of Nelson’s chart-topping pop and country hits.

And of course Nelson’s new studio album,the Kenny Chesney and Buddy Cannon co-produced “Moment of Forever,” is due Jan. 29 via Lost Highway.

Look for Willie on the road until the end of time.

(via 9513)

February 1: Mescalero, NM - Inn of the Mountain Gods
February 2: Albuquerque, NM - Route 66 Casino
February 3: Glendale, AZ - Super Bowl Tailgate Party
February 5: Sahuarita, AZ - Desert Diamond Casino
February 8: San Luis Obispo, CA - Madonna Inn Expo Center
February 9: Reno, NV - Peppermill Casino
February 10: Monterey, CA - Golden State Theatre
February 11: Santa Rosa, CA - Wells Fargo Center of the Arts
February 13: Los Angeles, CA - Nokia Theatre
February 15: Indio, CA - Fantasy Springs Casino
February 16: Flagstaff, AZ - Ardrey Auditorium
February 17: Farmington, NM - McGee Park Convention Center
March 4: Austin, TX - Travis County Expo Center
March 5: Dallas, TX - Meyerson Symphony Center
March 6: Dallas, TX - Meyerson Symphony Center
March 7: Dodge City, KS - Dodge City Civic Center
March 8: Norman, OK - Riverwind Casino
March 9: Topeka, KS - Kansas ExpoCentre Landon Arena
March 11: Abilene, TX - Abilene Civic Center
March 12: San Angelo, TX - San Angelo Coliseum
March 13: Waco, TX - Heart of Texas Coliseum Waco
March 14: Austin, TX - The Backyard
March 15: Austin, TX - The Backyard
March 18: Richmond, VA - The National
March 19: Norfolk, VA - The NorVa Theatre
March 20: Cherokee, NC - Harrah’s Cherokee Smokey Mount
March 21: Amsterdam, Netherlands - Melkweg
March 23: Esbjerg, Denmark - Musikhuset Esbjerg Centre
March 24: Randers, Denmark - Vaerket
March 25: Aalborg, Denmark - Aalborg Kongres & Kulturcenter
April 27: Malmo, Sweden - Baltiska Hallen
April 28: Stockholm, Sweden - Berns Salonger
April 29: Copenhagen, Denmark - Tivolis Concert Hall
May 1: Oslo, Norway - Oslo Concert Hall
May 2: Hamar, Norway - Hamar Ol Amfi
May 3: Halden, Norway - Halden Place D Armes
May 5: Lyngdal, Norway - Fibo Trespo Concert Hall
May 6: Aberdeen, Scotland - Music Hall
May 7: Dundee, Scotland - Caird Hall
May 8: Glasgow, Scotland - Clyde Auditorium
May 9: Glasgow, Scotland - Clyde Auditorium
May 11: Manchester, England - Manchester Apollo
May 13: London, England - Hammersmith Apollo
May 14: London, England - Hammersmith Apollo
May 15: Antwerp, Belgium - Queen Elizabeth Hall
May 16: Paris, France - Grand Rex Theatre
June 14: St. Louis, MO - Fox Theatre
June 21: Tama, IA - Meskwaki Bingo & Casino
June 22: Wisconsin Dells, WI - Crystal Grand Music Theatre
June 23: Oneida, WI - Oneida Ballroom
June 25: Milwaukee, WI - Northern Lights Theater
June 26: Bayfield, WI - Lake Superior Big Top Chautauqua
June 27: Council Bluffs, IA - Harrah’s Casino

A big “screw you” to Universal Music for blocking their video’s from YouTube!

55 years ago, at 3 am Eastern Standard Time, on a cold road somewhere between Knoxville, Tennessee and Oak Hill, West Virginia, the King of Country music, Hank Williams died in the back of a Cadillac on the way to a New Years Day show in Canton, Ohio. Let’s keep the spirit of Hank Sr. alive and rejoice in the simple beauty of his legacy.

Chicago-based alt.country stalwart Bloodshot Records has signed Justin Townes Earle to a multi-album, world-wide deal. His debut full-length album, The Good Life is slated to hit stores in Spring 2008. Justin will make appearances at SXSW and tour with The Felice Brothers in March and April. Justin’s previously self-released EP “Yuma” will become available to wide release through Bloodshot soon.

The Good Life is produced by RS Field, who has made his mark on critically acclaimed albums by Billy Joe Shaver, Sonny Landreth, Webb Wilder and Buddy Guy. Recording is underway at House of David studios, the legendary room that has hosted sessions with George Jones, Yo La Tengo, Elvis Presley, Neil Young and countless others. Joining Earle in the studio are a cast of all-star players including longtime cohort Cory Yountes (Bobby Bare, Jr) on banjo and mandolin, pedal steel player master Pete Finney (Dixie Chicks, Patty Lovelace), bassist Bryn Davies (Patty Griffin, Guy Clark), drummer Bryan Owings (Buddy Miller, Shelby Lynne), keyboardist Skylar Wilson and fiddle player Josh Hedley.

Texas expat and roots rock legend will take time from promoting his latest album, Washington Square Serenade (9/25) and shooting HBO’s The Wire, where he stretched and portrays an ex-junkie, and heads uptown from his Greenwich Village residence (near where Bob Dylan’s Freewheeling cover photo was taken) to drop into the 92nd Street Y (1395 Lexington Avenue @ 92nd Street New York, NY) on October 9th and take a spin class….er I mean talk with music journalist Anthony DeCurtis about, what else, music and activism (tickets).

Earle joins a roster of politically active artists who have appeared at the Y including Pete Seeger, Joan Baez, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., Tony Kushner and Alec Baldwin(!).The event probably won’t be as interesting (or contentious) as it might be if he held it in Lubbock Texas, but whether you agree with him or revile him, Steve Earle is anything but uninformed

Earle will also appear in concert at Town Hall on September 26 and also hosts a weekly radio show, Hardcore Troubadour Radio, on Sirius Satellite Radio.