News Round Up: Twang Nation Approved SXSW Showcases

The extraordinary Elizabeth Cook talks to the Utne Reader about her irreverent career, influences and her upcoming Don Was produced album Welder.

Jim Lauderdale takes time from his South-By-Southwest appearance talk to Spinner.com about, well, his career, influences and her upcoming album Patchwork River, which was produced by longtime production partner Tim Coates and Doug Lancio,. Lauderdale also answers the timless question, “Beatles or Stones?”, in a diplomatic fashion that shows why he’s Mr.Americana.

South-By-Southwest has some great showcases, but I want to highlight three that I would love to attend.The

  • Roots music blog ninebullets.net is holding the party I wish I was organized enough to pull off. On Wednesday., March 17 at Opa! (2050 South Lamar Blvd.)  featuring; American Aquarium, Austin Lucas, Kasey Anderson, Glossary and Joe Pug.
  • No Depression Showcase will take place on Friday, March 19 at the Continental Club will feature Deadstring Brothers, Elliott Brood, Chatham County Line and more.
  • Not sure who’s putting this one on but on Friday 19 March the Red Eye Fly club will host Lucero. Deer Tick, Justin Townes Earle, Glossary, and Trampled By Turtles.
  • Also at the Red Eye Fly (man, I want to hot this club next ime I’m in Austin) Legendary alt.country/roots record label Bloodshot Records will hold their 15th SXSW party Friday, March 19th. Included in the line up are label mates Ha Ha Tonka, Justin Townes Earle and Waco Brothers, Rosie Flores and more.

News Round Up: George Jones Says Get Your Own Damn Genre!

  • Happy birthday to Willie Nelson’s longtime drummer and the “Paul” of the Willie’s song “Me and Paul,” Paul English.  Happy birthday also to legendary Texas singer/songwriter Guy Clark.
  • The latest installment of Popmatter.com’s excellent Torch & Twang series Juli Thanki delivers a post exploring ithe intersecting careers of bluegrass legend  Bill Monroe and musician and folklorist Ralph Rinzler.
  • I’m a long time fan of Libertyville, Illinois rocker Ike Reilly. So when I read over at the fine 9513.com that Reilly was teaming up with on-and-off country outlaw 2.0 Shooter Jennings for the song The War On The Terror and Drugs (from Reilly’s upcoming release Hard Luck Stories) I was intrigues. Turns out it’s damn fine! (Song Illinois)
  • Front Porch Musings is offering a sweet playlist from performers playing the Americana-by-way-of-punk showcase showcase The Revival Tour.Featured are Chuck Ragan (Hot Water Music), Jim Ward (At the Drive-In, Sparta), Frank Turner (Million Dead), and much more.
  • Country, roots, Americana- as the rest of us are grappling with nomenclature (fancy word for names) for music, George Jones uses his old-guard status to reclaim flag and call Carrie Underwood and Taylor Swift “not country music.”

Music Review: Miranda Lambert – Revolution

The pride of Lindale, Texas continues to defy all expectations. When every other country artist on the chart is a chirpy little blonde singing lines from her 9th grade journal. Lambert, writing or co-writing all but four of the album’s 15 tracks, waves her classic country pride flag but amps it way up instead of the lazily chasing a hits-laden pot of gold.

From the Eno/Lanois U2 era opener of the of the excellent White Lies and skipping off the grid Airstream Song, the Sgt. Pepper’s era psychedelic sound effects of Maintain The Pain (where we find Ms. Lambert puts a bullet in her radio. Pop Country commentary Texas style?) to the Sticky Fingers/Southern groove of  Somewhere Trouble Don’t Go.

Charles Kelley and Dave Haywood of Lady Antebellum co-wrote Love Song, a song that in Lady A’s hands would probably have been a hot slick mess.
Me and Your Cigarettes could do with less electronic hand-claps, but is still a fine song of addiction and regrets co-written by current and boyfriend, Blake Shelton and former Columbia Records artist Ashley Monroe.

Lamert also has a great ear for covers. Here her cover of Fred Eaglesmith’s Time to Get a Gun is a great interpretation and she delivers it like the song of populist last resort it is and not some 2nd amendment rally cry. John Prine’s That’s the Way the World Goes ‘Round absurdest study is given a honky-tonk treatement spiked with Ramones punk-pop adrenaline. The fine art of Southwestern passive-aggression with is detailed in fine form with the scorching Only Prettier.

Lambert is nothing if not study in adept  duality. She has been able to straddle the line between country and rock in a way that doesn’t get her tossed into the Americana side of the tracks and she’s the only current country mainstream artists to land on the cover of People and No Depression. Here’s a swaller and a holler to Lambert and hoping she continues to surprise her fans shame Nashville with more gems like Revolution.

Official Site | MySpace | Buy

five_rate

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ufjCDK9dGw[/youtube]

News Round Up: Bruce Robison Video Diary, E.C. and Orna Ball Tribute

  • Check out the video tour diary from Bruce Robison as he Robert Earl Keen, Todd Snider proceed up and down the East Coast and back into Texas on their Barstool Tour.
  • Check out the excellent videos of Casey Driessen’s 5-string fiddle hunt video over at Bluegrass Blog.
  • Steel guitarist Robert D. Norred, one-time member of Hank Williams’ backing band for a short period in the late 1940s, died Sunday, Oct. 25.
  • Face A Frowning World (Available 12/8 – Tompkins Square) is a tribute to the old-timey and gospel music of  E.C. Ball and his wife Orna. The couple were lesser known contemporaries of the Carter Family and seldom ventured far from their home on the Virginia-North Carolina boarder (in Rugby, VA) where they owned a general store and service station. Featured performance by  Jon Langford,  The Handsome Family (offered as a download below),  Michael Hurley, Bonnie “Prince” Billy, the Health & Happiness Family Gospel Band of Louisville, Kentucky, and many others.

Jenny Jenkins by The Handsome Family

When I Get Home I’m Gonna Be Satisfied by Jon Langford

Steel guitarist Robert D. Norred, one-time member of Hank Williams’ backing band for a short period in the late 1940s, died Sunday, Oct. 25.

#c0c0b4

News Round Up:Jim Lauderdale Will Help Push Your Car

  • Birmingham Weekly sits down with Mr. Americana himself – Jim Lauderdale. Jim discusses hosting the Americana Awards ceremony at the Ryman auditorium, having the first single off the George Strait new album Twang and at one point Jim pauses the interview to help push a car to a station for a lady that ran out of gas. (his mama would be proud!)
  • The 4th annual  Joshua Tree Roots Music Festival will be held this weekend (October 10,11)  On the bill to play is Canada’s Blue Rodeo and Sadies, O’Death, Deer Tick, Blue Mountain and many more. The festival takes place at the Joshua Tree Lake Campground, about 9 miles northeast of the heart of Joshua Tree national park.
  • Miranda Lambert’s new release, Revolution, debuts #1 on the Billboard Country Chart and #8 on the Top 200 Chart. This will probably be the only time I champion any release that achieves that level of commercial success. Such is the power of Miranda Lambert!
  • Ju;li Thank is one bust lady. Not only is she writing about moonshine over at the 9513.com, she gives us a meaty perspective on Roseanne Cash’s new release, The List at PopMatters/com. The PopMatters.com review proper of Cash’s The List is provided by Ben Child.
  • Many NoDepression.com members (myself included) have shared many great photos from last weekends Hardly Strictly Bluegrass 9.
Blue Rodeo and Sadies, O’Death, Deer Tick, Blue Mountain

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass 9 Round Up

100_0825The crowds were large  an estimated 750,000  – more than Coachella, Lollapalooza and All Points West combined – urbane, hippies, street buskers and hipsters all in Golden Gate Park and under mostly warm Indian Summer skies. The bill on all 6 stages (one more added this year) were all impressive and walking from stage to stage through the huge crowd to stave off any regrets of missing something can wear you out.

On top of the advertised bill there were some cool surprises – Robert Plant and Emmylou Harris made an appearance with Buddy Miller on Saturday morning. Steve Earle and Allison Moore joined Tom Morello (in his acoustic Nightwatchman persona) for a rousing version of Woody Guthrie’s This Land is your Land. John Prine joining Lyle Lovett onsatge for  a cover of Townes Van Zandt’s Loretta.  Emmylou Harris joined Gillian Welch and David Rawlings for a rendition of Didn’t Leave Nobody But The Baby from the O Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack and then they were joined by Old Crow Medicine Show for a rousing cover of The Band’s The Weight. Emmylou Harris also received an  honorary doctorate of music from the Berklee College of Music at her close out the festival on Sunday night. Dr Harris performed at the very first HSB headliner back in 2001.

Highlights for me – Lyle Lovett, Hayes Carll, The Flatlanders, Rosie Flores, Guy Clark, Robert Earl Kee, Todd Snider, Rodney Crowell keeping Texas proud. Seeing Booker T with the mighty Drive By Truckers. Neko Case, Gillian Welch, Elizabeth Cook and Aimee Mann – four of my favorite female singers. A chilly day,  chili and corn bread lunch serenaded by Doc Watson and Earl Scruggs on the Banjo Stage. Dave Alvin dedicating a song to his recently deceased band mate Amy Ferris. The big one for me was meeting my hero Texas legend Billy Joe Shaver.

Disapointments – Turing around at the Elizabeth Cook Porch Stage performance and finding Steve Earle standing right behind me with a YANKEES CAP! C’mon dude, you’re killing me!

A tip of the Ranch Twang hat to banjo player, creator and benefactor of  Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Warren Hellman for picking up the tab for this extraordinary free event!

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

News Round Up:Billy Joe Shaver / Ray Wylie Hubbard’s The last Rites of Ransom Pride

  • Country Music Prisde has a great interview with this indie sweethearts of country punk Those Darlin’s.

News Round Up: Fogerty Twangs, Dave Rawlings Readies Release

The Wall Street Journal talks to roots rocker John Fogerty (John Fogerty Twangs Again) about the dissolution of his old band Creedence Clearwater Revival, the role country music played in shaping his sound, and his new release The Blue Ridge Rangers Rides Again.

The 9513.com finds good things in the tough love of Miranda Lambert’s Revolution.

Gillian Welch’s longtime musical counterpart steps into the spotlight with The Dave Rawlings Machine new album, A Friend of a Friend, to be released on Nov. 17th. Welch appears 8 of the 9 tracks on the album. Rawlings plans to tour to support the album, with Southeast and Midwest dates in late November and December and a West Coast run in 2010. The touring lineup will feature Welch and three members of Old Crow Medicine Show — fiddler Ketch Secor, guitarist Willie Watson and bassist Morgan Jahnig. (billboard.com)

Check out the excellent Danny Clinch directed video for Kris Kristofferson’s  title song for his new release “Closer To The Bone”.

Kris Kristofferson – Closer To The Bone from New West Records on Vimeo.

News Round Up:The Flatlanders and Dave Alvin Hit The Rails

  • The Los Angeles Times features a cool story on the Roots on Rails travel program organized by the Vermont-based Flying Under Radar travel service. This feature focuses on a train ride through the Southwest presenting Joe Ely, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Butch Hancock (AKA The Flatlanders) and Dave Alvin. Guests pay to travel with the artists and intimate performance occur in the dining car. It’s like a house concert on tracks. Other Roots on Rails trips have featured Tom Russell, Terry Allen, Stan Ridgway, Jill Sobule, the Handsome Family and many others.
  • Tom Russell will be performing on the David Letterman Show this Thursday October 1st. Russell is currently supporting his excellent new release Blood and Candle Smoke.
  • PopMatters.com sits down for a Q&A with Merle Haggard.  The Hag discusses his recent lung cancer surgery, how he chooses set lists from his vast catalog, and makes his case for being the “great arbitrator.”
  • If you buy Robert Earl Keen’s new Lost Highway Records debut The Rose Hotel at select stores you will also receive a free Lost Highway’s limited, T for Texas, T from Tennessee music sampler. This freebie will include music from Lyle Lovett, Ryan Bingham, Black Joe Lewis, Hayes Carll & more.
  • We all know Courtney Love is nuts. Now she’s going nuts on Ryan Adams claiming that he stole $858,000 of daughter Frances Bean Cobain’s money to fund his 2003 album Rock n Roll. I would be pissed too if I had bankrolled that piece of crap.

News Round Up: Kris Kristofferson Cruises

  • Chico California’s NewsReview.com features a brief interview with local resident Merle Haggard.
  • Whitney Self at the CMT.com blog details the story behind Kris Kristofferson’s most famous hit and its Italian cinematic motivation.See him perform this and more on Studio 330 Sessions.
  • More on Kristofferson – ABC’s Good Morning America’s Weekend Drive cruises around Nashville with the man as he reminisces about his long illustrious career. Kristofferson, 73, is releasing “Closer to the Bone,” his 24th album, this week.
  • The Bay Area’s own premier Southern Gothic band the Pine Box Boys’ upcoming album is entitled The Emancipated Head and will be released sometime next Spring.
  • The Tin Whisker offers a nice interview with neo-traditionalist J. B. Beverley. Beverley discusses his move from punk rock to honky-tonk.
  • The annual IBMA World of Bluegrass begings today in Nashville(9/28-10/4). The World of Bluegrass events includes the IBMA Business Conference,,the 20th Annual International Bluegrass Music Awards Show at the Ryman Auditorium and Bluegrass Fan Fest.
  • After seeing Amanda Shires performance at the Basement during the Americana Music Association conference and festival I have to say, I am smitten. The Native Texan’s newest release, West Cross Timbers, is one of the best releases I’ve heard this year. Music Fog has a clip of her and a guy that looks a lot like TV’s House (but who is really her music partner Rod Picott) doing I Kept Watch Like Doves (aka Murder Ballad) from the album.