Category Archives: Video

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

Ray Wylie Hubbard on Late Show with David Letterman 1/9/13

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1351032044-ray_wylie_hubbardIs anyone working the circuit cooler than Ray Wylie Hubbard?

David Letterman continues his much-appreciated love affair with Americana and roots music by featuring Texas singer/songwriter/producer/guru Ray Wylie Hubbard as his music guest last night.

Hubbard performs “Mother Blues” from his latest Grifter’s Hymnal (buy it here)

Like many of his songs it’s a semi-autobiographical piece on guitars. girls and the “first of many bad decisions” loosely based around the Lemmon Avenue bar that, incidentally, was the first bar I ever when to. Hubbard appears to be a man that at the phase of his storied career shows no sign of running dry or slowing down, and appreciating every moment. Or as Hubbard does, after naming-checking and thanking the band and Dave, appreciates the moment with a “Been a damn fine day.” God bless Ray Wylie Hubbard. May he roll on for many , many years.

Look for Hubbard on the road and at his annual Grit-and-Groove festival April 6, 1013 in New Braunfels, TX.

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

Song Spotlight: Brett Detar – “A Soldier’s Burden”

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A Soldiers Burden - Brett Detar2013 is fresh out of the oven and I’ve already got some great music for you kids!

L.A. based/Pennsylvania native Brett Detar has spent the time between his last album, 2010’s excellent Bird in the Tangle (Ravensong Records) in his words “…holed up like a hermit in the recording studio, emerging only occasionally for coffee or to walk my dog Waylon.”

What he really means is he has written the score for a #1 box office films (Paramount Picture’s The Devil Inside) has the makings for a new album as well as odds, sods and “b-sides and rarities that may or may not see the light of day.”

One gem mined from this self-imposed seclusion is the new cut “A Soldier’s Burden.” Detar’s gently picked guitar and drum and fiddle accompaniment gently ebbs toward a lush arrangement belying it’s dark message. That of a soldier confronting the harrowing and cold realities of battle. Fittingly the song’s finale echos strains of the Civil War era classic “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.”

“A Soldier’s Burden” shows us Detar’s time away has been reflective and fruitful. I look forward to the release of a full album later this year. Pick up the mp3 of “A Soldier’s Burden” for free over at brettdetar.com/ and pick up a t-shirt while you’re over there.

Robert Plant Joins Patty Griffin Onstage in Austin

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I first saw this posted at JamBands.com (don’t ask.) The couple that elevated Austin to a new level of cool sat in together at Austin, TX’s Continental Club on Saturday night.

Patty Griffin introduces her not-husband Robert Plant to the stage during her gig. This fuzzy, sometimes muffled, fan-made video shows Plant easing through a sweet version the folky Tangerine from Zeps 1970 album Led Zeppelin III.

The song could have been sung from plan t to griffin herself. “I was her love, she was my queen.”

See JamBands.com for more complete recount of the show.

Drive-By Truckers Founder Mike Cooley Readies Solo ” The Fool On Every Corner”

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Mike Cooley is a perfect counter to his fellow Drive-By Trucker founder and former roommate Patterson Hood. Cooley’s tales of male rites of passage (Daddy’s Cup) and tales of contemporary Hatfield and McCoys  (Where The Devil Don’t Stay) for right alongside Hoods more contemplative work making each Drive-By Trucker a deeper and richer refection of The Dirty South.

Cooley’s debut solo album, The Fool On Every Corner, will be released December 11, 2012. The album was recorded by longtime Drive-By Truckers’ producer David Barbe during a three-show run last March, beginning with a two-night stand at the Atlanta rock club The Earl and The Melting Point in Athens, GA .

The record features live acoustic versions of Drive-By Truckers’ favorites like “Carl Perkins Cadillac”, “3 Dimes Down”, and “Marry Me” as well as one new song, “Drinking Coke and Eating Ice. ” There’s is also a cover I’m very much looking forward to Charlie Rich’s “Behind Closed Doors”.
Playing without his DBT band mates left Cooley and little uncomfortable. “When you don’t do it normally, it’s terrifying,” Cooley admits. “I try to relax, but I’ll probably never be able to sit down in a chair on stage as easily as I sit down on a toilet behind a closed door. That’s the goal—somewhere in between,” he deadpans. “I set the bar high.”

On this release Cooley abandons the guitar pick he expertly wields with The DBT and finger picks.
“Strip it, strip it, strip it down,” he says, alluding to the mantra that guided these performances. “What’s left is the song and nothing else.”

Cooley will continue to play select solo dates throughout 2013.

Track Listing:
1 – Loaded Gun In The Closet
2 – Cottonseed
3 – Guitar Man Upstairs
4 – Cartoon Gold
5 – Pulaski
6 – 3 Dimes Down
7 – Eyes Like Glue
8 – Carl Perkins Cadillac
9 – Behind Closed Doors
10 – Marry Me
11 – Where The Devil Don’t Stay
12 – Shut Up And Get On The Plane
13 – Drinking Coke And Eating Ice

 

 

 

 

Video Feature: Randy Travis with The Avett Brothers “Three Wooden Crosses”

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Photo Credit: Rick Diamond/Getty Images

One of the most thrilling performances I’ve had the good fortune to attend  was a New York City based CMT Crossroads, the first filmed outside of Nashville, featuring  Rosanne Cash and Steve Earle.

The premise of the show is to pair country music artists with musicians from other music genres, often covering the other one’s songs and performing duets.  Over it’s decade-long existence CMT Crossroads the pairings have ranged from the aforementioned Earle and Cash show, also Lucinda Williams with Elvis Costello and Travis Tritt with Ray Charles. Some are less inspired, like Sugarland with Bon Jovi and Sara Evans and Maroon 5.

I would put the upcoming collaboration of the Avett Brothers with country music legend Randy Travis in the inspired category. The Avetts are riding high in their new release , The Carpenter. The album threads with themes of mortality and personal trials. These are themes the recently troubled Travis can certainly identify with.

Check this excellent video  Travis’ “Three Wooden Crosses.” I hope the rest of the programs reached this level.

Tune in and find out – CMT Crossroads Nov. 23 at 11 p.m. ET/PT.

Video Feature: Rachel Brooke – The Black Bird

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A leading voice in of an oft neglected branch of Americana , Gothic and  insurgent country, the beautiful and  talented Rachel Brooke inhabits the forlorn and high lonesome like few contemporary artists can. Brooke has a way of stylistically casting the modern world in sepia and playing with shadows, and her latest cut The Black Bird from the upcoming 3rd full-length album A Killer’s Dream  is no exception.

The animated video for “Black Bird,” directed and animated by Matt Rasch, follows our female protagonist radiates paranoia as she flees across a washed out landscape haunted, Poe-style, by a black bird that might either be temptation, guilt or both.

A Killer’s Dream will be released in time for stocking stuffing, December 4th. Brooke is backed by on the album by Florida’s fine junkyard roots-jazz band Viva Le Vox as her backing band, and featuring a duet with her long-tome accessory in murder ballads Lonesome Wyatt of Those Poor Bastards. The release recorded at Brooke’s brother’s Halohorn Studio in Traverse City, MI, and will be available in limited edition 100 red vinyl copies, black vinyl, CD, cassette, and digital form.

Look for Brooke this Spring at Muddy Roots Europe and check her site for more upcoming dates.

Official Site | Pre-order

Video Feature: Wanda Jackson & Justin Townes Earle – “Am I Even a Memory? ”

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Melancholy doesn’t even begin to describe this new video of  Greg Garing’s  “Am I Even a Memory? ” This barroom weeper comes from the legendary rockabilly queen Wanda Jackson’s newest Justin Townes Earle produced full length LP, “Unfinished Business.”  The video is the second released from the album and follows the excellently retro video for the Freddie King cover “Tore Down,”

The video was shot in wonderfully moody black-and-white in Nashville hip dive Santa’s Pub by Cream contributor Seth Graves, who also directed “Tore Down.” The video shows Jackson singing a karaoke version of “Memory” to indifferent patrons. JTE shooting is pool and then visits the head to be haunted by a past love. The lanky Earle and gloriously aging Jackson partaking in a forlorn croon is beautiful as well a s haunting.

Ms. Jackson will appear on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno Nov. 20, and she’ll play 3rd & Lindsley on Dec. 7.

5 Duos To Feed Your The Civil Wars Jones

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By now you heard the bad news that The Civil Wars have cancelled all their upcoming shows and are giving each other some space. What’s a lover of melodic Americana duos with lovely harmonies that have possible ambiguous romantic ties to do?!  Here are 5 alternatives to quell those nerves until the reunion tour is announced.

 Ry Dalee and Evangeline – I don’t don’t much about this Oklahoma duo but I like what I hear!
http://youtu.be/9VufJmpYRgs

Caitlin Cary & Thad Cockrell – Begonias – Sure it was a one-off release from 2005 but these two Americana vets released one of the most gorgeous romantic duo albums ever. It even comes through in this crappy video.

Chapel Hill’s Mandolin Orange are the talented Andrew Marlin and Emily Frantz whose tunes will soothe your soul.

Charleston, SC’s Michael Trent and Cary Ann are Shovels and Rope and are a bit rougher than The Civil Wars fare, but certainly no less talented.

Gillian Welch & David Rawlings are the obvious choice and are the standardbearers for male/female duos in Americana.