Category Archives: Texas

Twang Nation Podcast Episode 14 – Della Mae, David Ramirez, Nora Jane Struthers, John Moreland

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TNPodcast

This may be the best Twang Nation podcast yet (yeah, I know I always say that. But this time it’s true!)

We have fantasticly spirited bluegrass of newcomers Della Mae. Heartfelt folk with singer/ songwriters David Ramirez, Ashleigh Flynn,Andrew Duhon and John Moreland.

Hurray for the Riff Raff offers a beautiful rendition of John Lennon’s “Jealous Guy” and Mother Merey and the Black Dirt and Defibulators bring new meaning to hillbilly bliss

We conclude with Bill Monroe and Steve Earl doing Monroe and Peter Rowan’s “Walls of Time” from his upcoming Warner Brothers box set.

ON EDIT: One correction to the podcast, I say that Mother Merey and the Black Dirt’s album is titled “A Million Stars.” That’s the title of the Ashleigh Flynn release. The correct title for Mother Merey and the Black Dirt’s album is “Down to the River.”

Also, I mistakenly refer to the new Donna the Buffalo as “My Dearest Darkest Neighbor.” The name of the album is actually “Tonight, Tomorrow and Yesterday/” “My Dearest Darkest Neighbor.” is thr name of the upcoming Hurray for the Riff Raff album.

Sorry for the mix up folks.

As always support local music and thanks for listening.

This podcast is dedicated to the great Chet Flippo.

1. Della Mae – “Empire”
2 David Ramirez – “The Bad Days”
3 Mother Merey and the Black Dirt – “Down to the River”
4 Ashleigh Flynn – “New Angel in Heaven”
5 Nora Jane Struthers and The Party Line – “Barn Dance”
6 Andrew Duhon – “Sidestep Your Grave”
7 Laura Cortese – “I Am The House”
8 Donna the Buffalo – “Don’t Know What We’ve Got”
9 Hurray for the Riff Raff – “Jealous Guy”
10 Defibulators – “Cackalacky”
11 John Moreland – “God’s Medicine”
12 Steve Earle With Bill Monroe – “Walls Of Time”

Dale Watson & His Lonestars – “I Lie When I Drink” – David Letterman 6-24-13

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Dale Watson

Davis Letterman continues his support for roots music by inviting Austin’s favorite son , Dale Watson, an his crackerjack band The Lonestars on last night’s show. Dale and the boys performed a cut of his excellent new release “El Rancho Azul.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=BHcRTTy0Epg

Country , Americana Music Champion Chet Flippo Dies

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chet

Chet Flippo, Ft. Worth native, famed journalist, author and editor, Vietnam war vet and University of Texas alum, died this morning. He was 69. No cause of death has not been disclosed.

it might have been a partial result of losing his wife, Martha Hume, herself a celibrated music journalist and author, who died on December 17, 2012.

In a world where it’s often hard to tell where music journalism ends and where PR begins Flippo was the classic example of the fan as critic.

While teaching journalism as the University of Tennessee in Knoxville he received an offer from Billboard to be their bureau chief in their Nashville office. In 2001 he joined CMT and started an online column, “Nashville Skyline.” it’s here that Flippo would champion the famous, like the Dixie Chicks and Garth Brooks, and Americana upstarts like Ryan Adams and Lucinda Williams. He had cover country music so long he felt the genre shift sharply beneath his feet. He then had the courage to call out the country music industry he felt was ruining the legacy and the music he held so dear.

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Flippo was there when Willie and Waylon brought the rednecks and the hippies together in Austin. He penned the liner notes for Wanted: The Outlaws, the first platinum-selling album in country music and Willie Nelson’s thematic masterpiece Red Headed Stranger.

Saving Country Music advocates that the Country Music Hall inc=duct Flippo into it’s ranks in it’s non-performer category. I concur. A voice like his, learned and celebratory , come along only once in a great while. Those rare instances should be honored while on this earth and after they’ve left it.

Watch Out! Sarah Jarosz – ‘A Thousand Things’ , “Build Me Up from Bones” [VIDEO]

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Sarah Jarosz

Sarah Jarosz with Alex Hargreaves (Fiddle) and Nathaniel Smith (Cello) performs two new songs from her 3rd album ‘Build Me Up from Bones’ (9/24 – Sugar Hill Records) in her hometown of Wimberley, Texas

‘A Thousand Things’ Jarosz says in the video is one she had been working on a long time and ended up finishing by co-writing by Darrell Scott. “Build Me Up from Bones” is the title cut of the new album.

Both songs display Jarosz deft touch and contemporary interpretation of traditional sound. If this is a solid sampling of what’s to come I’m really looking forward to this album!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63JOHsgc8RQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFkC0hbldA

Americana Music is the New Country Music

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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”

Dale Watson – “I Lie When I Drink”

Listen Up: Amanda Shires – Devastate

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Amanda Shires Devastate

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

www.amandashiresmusic.com

Watch Out! David Ramirez: “The Bad Days” [VIDEO]

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David Ramirez: The Bad Days

Truth be told I tend to steer clear of the current popular variety of folk music. More a type of acoustic Emo, de-fanged and navel-gazing, rather than the cunning and adroit poetry of the social (Guthrie) and the emotional (Towens Van Zandt.) There is a recent new wave of folk musicians that has changed my mind and gives me hope for the genre. Stephen Kellogg, Dillon Hodges, Joe Pug and now add to that list David Ramirez.

When I heard Austin-based singer-songwriter David Ramirez’s new song, The Bad Days,” I was immediately taken by the palpable ache of hope against the hopeless. The immediate yearn of the vocals. This man bleeds truth and doesn’t cower from the dark corners of human frailty.

The moody black and white video is directed Rob Montague allows us a view of the hard road and nightly magic a singer/songwriter must endure to share tier craft with few, sometimes indifferent people. Then get up and do it again.

The Bad Days is from Ramirez’s EP, The Rooster which is out now on Sweet World records. it was produced in 6 days by Ramirez and Danny Reisch (Shearwater, Okkervill River, White Denim)

Ramirez will hit the road with Jay Nash and Gregory Alan Isakov, all dates below.

Tour Dates
5/09 – Houston, TX @ Walter’s
5/10 – Austin, TX @ Cactus Cafe (Album Release Show)
5/11 – Dallas, TX @ Prophet Bar
5/22 – Phoenix @ The Rhythm Room #
5/23 – San Diego @ Soda Bar #
5/24 – Los Angeles @ McCabe’s #
5/25 – Ventura @ Zooey’s #
5/26 – Santa Cruz @ Catalyst Club Atrium #
5/28 – San Francisco @ Cafe Du Nord #
5/30 – Portland @ White Eagle Saloon #
5/31 – Seattle @ Q Cafe #
6/1 – Wenatchee @ Caffe Mela #
6/2 – Spokane @ Carr’s Corner #
6/4 – Salt Lake City @ Urban Lounge #
6/5 – Denver @ The Soiled Dove #
6/6 – Omaha @ The Slowdown #
6/7 – Chicago @ SPACE #
6/8 – St. Louis @ Off Broadway #
6/9 – Gravette, AR @ Hard Luck Cafe
6/11 – Kansas City @ Czar Bar #
6/12 – Tulsa @ The Vanguard #
6/13 – Oklahoma City @ The Blue Door #
7/16 – Washington DC @ The Hamilton *
7/17 – Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s *
7/18 – New York City @ Bowery Ballroom *
7/20 – Cambridge, MA @ Club Passim *
7/21 – Portland, ME @ One Longfellow Square *

# co-headline with Jay Nash
* supporting Gregory Alan Isakov

Twang Nation Podcast Episode 13 – Jason Isbell , Patty Griffin , Shonna Tucker , George Jones

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podcast

No overt themes in this episode, just great music.

One of my favorite bands Durham, North Carolina’s Hiss Golden Messenger kicks things off with the raucous Red Rose Nantahala from their new album Hawwe also take a listen o new work from Jason Isbell being supported by members of his band, the 400 Unit, and his newly betrothed Amanda Shires. Patty Griffin gives us the beautiful Mom & Dad’s Waltz from her new American Kid and we get an early listen to Shonna Tucker, and her new band Eye Candy.

And lastly we say goodbye to a country music legend with Choices by George Jones.

As always. I hope you like this episode of the Twang Nation Podcast and thank you all for listening. If you do tell a friend and let me know here at this site, Google+ , Twitter or my Facebook page.

As always , BUY MUSIC, SEE SHOWS!

Opening Song – “Mr. D.J” – by Dale Watson

1. Hiss Golden Messenger – “Red Rose Nantahala”- Album: “Haw” (Paradise of Bachelors)
2. Shannon McNally – Song: “If It Were Mine To Keep”- Album: “Light Walker Demos EP” (Sacred Sumac Music)
3. The Builders and the Butchers– Song: “Dirt In The Ground”- Album: “Western Medicine” (Badman Recording Co. – July 2nd)
4. The Dustbowl Revival – Song: “Hard River Gal”- Debut Album: “Carry Me Back Home” (self-released)
5. Jason Isbell – Song: “Traveling Alone” – Album: Southeastern (Southeastern Records/Thirty Tigers. – out June 11th)
6. Rita Hosking – Song: “Nothing Left Of Me” – Album: Little Boat (self-released)
7. Shonna Tucker and Eye Candy – Song: “Linda Please” – Album: ? ( ? )
8. Patty Griffin – Song: “Mom & Dad’s Waltz” – American Kid ( New West Records – out May 7 )
9. Eastbound Jesus – Song: “Katie Belle” Album: Northern Rock ( Self-released)
10. George Jones – Song: “Choices”

The Red-Headed Stranger Turns 80 – Happy Birthday to Willie Nelson

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Willie Nelson and Jerry Max Lane

The only time I’ve met Willie Nelson was backstage at Ft. Worth’s storied hanky-tonk, Billy-Bobs. This was in the mid-eighties and I was about 18 so I was more interested in Ozzy and Iron Maiden than I was seeing some country singer. Even one as iconic as Willie is.

The thing about that night wasn’t meeting Willie with some floozy fawning all over him. It was his presence onstage and the crowd. How they loved him and he loved them right back. They hung on every classic verse and he was glade to sing it for them as the family, with sister Bobbie on grand piano. They were frenzied, they were moved to tears. They loved him and he them. He did the impossible, he made Texans more proud to be from Texas.

My dad and Willie were drinking buddies. Here they are tight and on the town searching for trouble and material for honky-tonk ballads. Willie became an icon and Dad had a song covered by George Strait. Not too shabby.

Willie and Dad don’t talk much anymore. I don’t think there was a falling out, I just think it’s hard to keep ties when you become famous. I would like it if Willie dropped in on dad as he’s not doing too well. But when you’re on the road 200 plus days of the year it’s not easy to reach back across those miles to the past

Willie turns 80 today and as we mourn another country music legend we are given a stark reminder of how great this music can be if given care and courage. A statue has been erected in Austin bit it’s not near time to write Willie off. He’s just released a new album, “Let’s Face The Music & Dance,” and he’s just announced dates at the Outside Lands festival here in San Francisco and a couple of shows at the Hollywood Bowl with fellow Texas- troubadour Lyle Lovett. The man who wrote “Crazy” will be on the road until his arthritis won’t allow him to hoist ol’ his signature guitar, Trigger.

Well, maybe a few more shows after that.

Wilie speaks out for local farmers, bio-fuel and yes, weed. These are not popular red state subjects but somehow coming from Willie skepticism is lowered and alternative possibilities are embraced. Natalie Maines could learn a lot from her fellow Texan on the nuances of self-expression without torching your fan base.

Willie and Kristfferon are the last Highwaymen staring. Both still out there in the night doing their thing their way. Transcending genre to become purely American music. Though he learned from the greats Hank, Jones , Lefty – Willie has more in common with the masters of the American songbook, the Gershwins, Cole Porter, and Irving Berlin. Sure Dylan brought a generation a voice but Willie did the unthinkable. He brought the hippies and rednecks together,

Let’s celebrate Willie by understanding what he means for music and be glade we were live when he vied to witness the transformation. Sure Music City does not reflect his legacy, it’s an industry not a preservation society. As Jason Isbell deftly tweeted “Hate to break it to y’all, but Nashville didn’t “ruin” country music. Lotta good burgers in this town; nobody forcing you to eat McDonald’s” Wilie knew this. He worked the burg line for hers before heeded back to Texas to try his own recipe. Americana and the thriving roots music community better reflects the legacy of Willie, Kristofferson, Cash and Waylon and the draft and love of music beyond trends or current fads. The business will always be there. Beans have to be put on the table. Touring vans don’t run on good will. But business should not be the driving force. That’s a sure road to crap.

Here’s to Willie. activist, actor, author, Texastentialist, and musical legend. Long may your flag wave, hoss.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iESjQlCh87U

The King Of Broken Hearts is Gone – George Jones Dies at 81

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George Jones and Baron Lane 323667_10150669767945831_1604704532_o

Recently Jim Lauderdale recounted to me a scenario he read from a book by author/entrepreneur/groupie Pamela Des Barres. This scene featured Gram Parsons allegedly sititng in room surrounded by LA. party people as he played George Jones records and cried. When someone asked who he was listening to he is reported to have answered “The king of Broken Hearts.” This story led Lauderdale to write , and George Strait to latter cover, “The King of Broken Hearts”

Here’s a verse:

The king of broken hearts is so sad and wise
He can smile while he’s crying inside
We know he’ll be brave tonight
Cause he’s the king of broken hearts

Is the story factually true? I don’t know, but it’s essence is dead-on. Lauderdale and Parsons had it right. Regarded by many to be one of the greatest voices in country music Jones defined and lived country music as authentically as anyone. He spoke from a place where he lived and struggled and showed us all he, and we, are fallible. He had lived and breathed empathy into every word.

Not far from Jones’ birthplace of Saratoga Texas, thirty-eight miles northwest of Beaumont, producer and co-owner of Starday Records, Pappy Daily, signed Jones to his first label in 1954. Four singles were released soon after that went nowhere..

Jones then released “Why, Baby, Why” , produced by Daily, in the summer of 1955 resulting in his first hit. it peaked at #4 on the Billboard country charts that year before being eclipsed by Webb Pierce and Red Sovine doing a version of the very same song (things were done differently back then.)

Then came the 14 number one country hits, multiple Male Vocalist of the Year and Duo of the year awards with Tammy Wynette, 4 Grammys, a tumultuous marriage with Wynette, hundreds of bottles of bourbon and enough controlled substances that would make Keith Richards flinch. Many missed performances (branding him “No Show Jones” by promoters) and one infamous arrested for DUI while riding on a John Deere lawn tractor and a legacy was established.

in the 80’s Jones and many of his contemporaries found themselves ostracized from Music City in the wake of the Urban Cowboy phenomenon, which led the country music industry to pursue the contemporary pop elements of the day. Sound familiar? Through most of the 80’s and 90’s his career had stalled by the new economics of Nashville big labels. Though playing in smaller venues people that knew of his place in history continued to attend how shows. Many of these people brought their kids along. A few of those kids probably make up the Americana performers I now cover.

Jones was nearly through half of his farewell “The Grand Tour,” when, on April 18, he was admitted to Nashville’s. Vanderbilt University Hospital with fever and irregular blood pressure. This morning, April 26, 2013, I received an email from TMZ that Jones had died. Wikipedia had not been updated with his news and his tour dates were still listed on Ticketmaster, so I was skeptical. But almost one minute later the news was confirmed by an email from Jones publicist. The man Frank Sinatra once said was the “second best singer in this country…” was dead.

Jone’s final concert was to be held on November 22, 2013, at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville. The show sold out far in advance and Garth Brooks, Kid Rock, Shelby Lynne, the Oak Ridge Boys, Charlie Daniels, Jamey Johnson, Lorrie Morgan, Randy Travis and Gene Watson. Tanya Tucker and many others were to join jones for the for the event. Whether the show carries on in his absence is yet unknown.

Personally I was fortunate to see Jones perform in 2007. Visibly weakened and unable to play guitar dut to recent surgery, he performed on with those majestic standards
in front of an rapt Carnagie hall audience. We knew we were in the presence of history. As opener Kris Kristofferson stated during his lone acoustic set, ‘George Jones is the only person alive I’d open for.”

i met Jones briefly last year after he shared the stage with the Allman Brothers, Glenn Campbell and Diana Ross for the lifetime Achievement Grammy awards. i was kind and smiled as I gushed and he posed for what must have been his millionth fan pic. What a gentleman. It made me happy to know he was still part of the world I was part of. I am sadder today.

Americana artists like Kelly Willis and Caitlin Rose and Holly Williams, Country music legends like Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn and Charlie Daniels, and contemporary country artists Brad Paisley and Blake Shelton flooded twitter with their sentiments and memories. As I write this #GeorgeJones is still trending on Twitter. Fitting for a man that once released an album entitled “High-Tech Redneck.”

Here’s my small tip-of-the-hat to a man who, along with Hank Williams, defined not only country music’s style, but it’s moral complexities mirrored in the best of it’s narratives.

UPDATE: George Jones’ funeral will took place on Thursday, May 2nd at The Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville, Tennessee, it was open to the public. People lined up 24 hours beforehand to get in.

“George would have wanted his fans and friends everywhere to be able to come and pay their respects along with his family,” said publicist Kirt Webster.

In lieu of flowers, the family has asked that contributions be made to the Grand Ole Opry trust fund:

Opry Trust Fund
2804 Opryland Drive
Nashville, Tennessee 37214

or to the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum at http://store.countrymusichalloffame.com/categories/Donate/

COUNTRY MUSIC HALL OF FAME® AND MUSEUM
222 FIFTH AVENUE SOUTH
NASHVILLE, TN 37203

EDIT:

George Jones’ funeral will take place on Thursday, May 2nd at The Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville, Tennessee, starting at 10 am (Central) and will be open to the public. Doors will open at 9 am.

In addition, national television networks CMT, GAC, RFD, and FamilyNet, as well as local Nashville stations WKRN 2, WSMV 4, WTVF 5, WZTV 17 will broadcast the funeral service “LIVE”, with radio partners WSM 650AM and SiriusXM Willie’s Roadhouse (Ch. 56) broadcasting the service. Fans around the world can listen online at wsmonline.com or watch online at opry.com.

Merle Haggard Remembers George Jones

“George Jones, Admired and Copied Country Singer, Dies at 81” – New York Times

“George Jones Dead at 81” – Rolling Stone

“George Jones, American country singer, dies aged 81” – BBC