Record Store Day 2015 – Americana and Roots Music Picks

130424-record-store-day

Record Store Day, the annual celebration of local record stores for aficionados of the antiquated data storage device known as vinyl will be taking place as always on the Third Saturday in April. For 2015 that means Saturday, April 18.

The crew behind Record Store Day have been the driving force for 8 years on what we’re now seeing as the explosive, and surprising, resurgence of vinyl releases. The most public example of this is last year’s Record Store Day ambassador Jack White’s the recent sales of his latest ‘Lazaretto’ setting a record for first-week sales by moving 40,000 vinyl copies. This eclipsed the previous long-standing record of about 33,000 held by Pearl Jam’s ‘Vitalogy.’

As overall music sales continue to decline , vinyl sales increased to 6.1 million in 2013, up from 4.6 million the year before. By comparison, total vinyl sales failed to reach even one million units in 2007.

As vinyl grows in popularity there’s is pressure on vinyl manufacturers, who like us all were caught off-guard by the resurgence. But shops like United Record Pressing based in Nashville, TN, the shop responsible for manufacturing White’s best-seller are expanding to meet the growing demand.

The demand for vinyl is partially due to it’s described ‘warmer’ sound, BUt the real drive behind Record Store Day is uniqueness and scarcity. Maay of the releases come on colored vinyl or as picture discs and many of the releases are produced in very limited runs, some totaling no more than a few hundred.

This stands in direct contrast to digital music’s hemogeny of sound and structure. an MP3 might be convenient, but it’s never scarce or unique.

Check out the Americana and roots selections below and take a look at the full list. Get to your favorite indy record early on April 18 (I’ll be at Good Records in Dallas) and share those great finds with me on Instagram and Twitter.

Asleep At The Wheel (with Willie Nelson and The Blind Boys of Alabama) – Unreleased single from ‘Still The King: Celebrating The Music of Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys’
Format: 7″ Vinyl
Label: Bismeaux Records
Release type: RSD Limited Run / Regional Focus Release
More Info:
RSD Exclusive single featuring bonus Asleep at The Wheel performances with Willie Nelson and The Blind Boys of Alabama not included on the Still The King album. Signed by Ray Benson, and numbered.
TRACKLIST: “New Spanish Two Step”/”The Devil Ain’t Lazy”

Bob Dylan – ‘The Basement Tapes’
Format: 12″ Vinyl
Label: Other Peoples Music
Release type: RSD Exclusive Release
More Info: The Basement Tapes recorded in 1967 while Bob Dylan recuperated and features many Dylan songs that had appeared on bootleg records prior to the “official” release in 1975. The recording took place in Woodstock and features four members of the Hawks (Rick Danko, Garth Hudson, Richard Manuel and Robbie Robertson – and one American, Levon Helm) better known today as The Band. Individually autographed and numbered by Garth Hudson.

Bob Dylan – ‘The Night We Called It A Day’
Format: 7″ Colored Vinyl
Label: Columbia
Release type: RSD Exclusive Release
More Info:
Limited Edition blue vinyl single featuring two songs from Bob Dylan’s newest release “Shadows In The Night”

Brandi Carlisle – special 7”
single of the new song “Wherever Is Your Heart” + B-side cover of Graham Nash’s “Simple Man”

Johnny Cash – Koncert v Praze (In Prague–Live)
Format: 12″ Colored Vinyl
Label: Legacy
Release type: RSD Exclusive Release
More Info:
Johnny Cash playing his greatest hits behind the Iron Curtain in 1983. Limited edition heavy weight vinyl release pressed on Soviet Red 180 gram vinyl.

Steve Earle & The Dukes – ‘Terraplane’
Format: 10″ Vinyl
Label: NEW WEST RECORDS
Release type: RSD Exclusive Release
More Info:
Steve Earle A-side version of Terraplane (a song not on the record) and a b-side of Robert Johnsons “Terraplane Blues”. Will be mastered at the level of Robert Johnson’s original recording. Most of the versions you hear today are remastered and the db’s are brought up. This one will be as close to the original 78 as possible. Includes download card.
TRACKLIST: A: Steve Earle “Terraplane” B: Robert Johnsons “Terraplane Blues”

Father John Misty – ‘I Love You, Honeybear’
Format: 7″ Colored Vinyl
Label: SUB POP
Release type: RSD Exclusive Release
More Info:
Father John Misty presents a lovely, acoustic version of the title track of his latest album, I Love You, Honeybear, along with a new, exclusive B-side, truthfully-entitled “Never Been a Woman,” on a colored-vinyl, heart-shaped 7”. This release is exclusive to Record Store Day, and it is limited to 5,700 copies worldwide. Includes download card.
TRACKLIST: “I Love You, Honeybear (Acoustic Version)”/”Never Been a Woman”
TRACKLIST: Side A: “The Night We Called It A Day” Side B: “Stay With Me”

Charlie Feathers – ‘Charlie Feathers’
Format: 10″ Vinyl
Label: Sundazed Music
Release type: RSD Exclusive Release
More Info:
Crazy, coveted rockabilly recordings from legendary wildman Charlie Feathers! Includes all eight of his King sides as originally issued in ‘56 & ‘57 – now rare and pricey 45s and 78s – with new notes from Colin Escott.
TRACKLIST: “One Hand Loose” / “Can’t Hardly Stand It” / “Bottle To The Baby” / “Everybody’s Lovin’ My Baby” / “Too Much Alike” / “When You Come Around”

Dom Flemons – ‘What Got Over’
Format: 10″ Vinyl
Label: Music Maker
Release type: RSD Exclusive Release
More Info:
10″ record with nine new tracks. “Included here on What Got Over, there are also a few alternatesto the main tracks I picked for Prospect Hill – versions in which I experimented with the sound and instrumentation but in the end they didn’t make the final cut. I sequenced this EP to be record two of two in conjunction with Prospect Hill. When you reach the end of this album you will have heard the whole Prospect Hill Omnibus! If you take both albums and make them into a playlist it will be a full hour of music.” – Dom Flemons
TRACKLIST: “Big Head Joe’s March”/”Milwaukee Blues”/”Clock On The Wall”/”Keep On Truckin'”/”Hot Chicken”/”Have I Stayed Away Too Long”/”Going Backward Up The Mountain”/”Til’ The Seas Run Dry”/”What Got Over”

Gram Parsons/Lemonheads – ‘Brass Buttons’
Format: 7″ Colored Vinyl
Label: Rhino
Release type: RSD Exclusive Release
More Info:
7″ 45 RPM Vinyl is Circle swatch splatter Bronze on Baby Pink. Part of Rhino’s now celebrated RSD exclusive Side By Side 7″ singles series. Two artists perform the same song. Surprising and unusual performances and repertoire.
TRACKLIST: “Brass Buttons”/”Brass Buttons”

Justin Townes Earle – ‘Live at Grimey’s’
Format: 10″ Vinyl
Label: Vagrant
Release type: RSD Exclusive Release
More Info:
TRACKLIST: Side A: Call Ya Momma, When the One You Love Loses Faith, Worried Bout the Weather, Single Mothers
Side B: Today and a Lonely Night, Burning Pictures, White Gar

Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band – ‘A Little Something From The Road, Vol. 1’
Format: 12″ Vinyl
Label: Concord
Release type: RSD Exclusive Release
More Info:
12″ vinyl featuring live smokin’ versions of classics from the recent Goin’ Home project as well as a couple extra blues nuggets.
TRACKLIST: 1. “Looking Back” 2. “House Is Rockin’” 3. “You Can’t Judge A Book By The Cover” 4. “Woke Up This Morning” 5. “You Done Lost Your Good Thing Now”

Robert Earl Keen – ‘Gringo Honeymoon’
Format: 12″ Vinyl
Label: Sugar Hill
Release type: RSD Exclusive Release
More Info:
Much anticipated vinyl issue of the Texas troubadour’s breakout 1994 release.

Lucero – ‘Jukebox Series #3’
Format: 7″ Vinyl
Label: Liberty & Lament
Release type: RSD Exclusive Release
More Info:
TRACKLIST: “Boom Boom”/”Midnight Special”

Mumford & Sons – ‘Believe’
Format: 7″ Vinyl
Label: Glassnote
Release type: RSD Exclusive Release
More Info:
Bootleg style 7″ hand numbered and hand stamped. First physical release of music from the upcoming album.
TRACKLIST: “Believe”/”The Wolf”

Willie Nelson – ‘Teatro’
Format: 2 x 12″ Colored Vinyl
Label: Modern Classics/Light in the Attic
Release type: RSD Exclusive Release
More Info:
* First time ever issued on vinyl for Record Store Day 2015
* Features duets with and backing vocals by Emmylou Harris
* Produced by Daniel Lanois (U2 Joshua Tree; Bob Dylan Time Out Of Mind; Emmylou Harris Wrecking Ball)
* Record Store Day exclusive featuring deluxe gatefold “tip-on” uncoated jacket and gold vinyl
* Limited to 5,000 copies

Location is everything. When Willie Nelson and album producer Daniel Lanois set out to create a cinematic-sounding album, Teatro, they took over a disused movie theatre in Oxnard, California, and pictured its dusty glory on the LP sleeve. Recorded as-live in situ amid the red velvet seats, Teatro sees Nelson working extensively with his frequent collaborator Emmylou Harris, who joins him for duets and on backing vocals on 11 of the 14 tracks. The other major player is U2 and Paul McCartney collaborator Daniel Lanois (producer of Bob Dylan’s Time Out of Mind, Emmylou Harris’ Wrecking Ball), who produces the album, plays guitar and bass, took the cover photo and wrote one of the album’s songs, “The Maker”, a stunning performance with glacier-thick vibe.

Originally released by Island Record in 1998, Teatro is issued here as a special Record Store Day release. LA and Seattle-based Light In The Attic present the album as it’s never been seen before – on vinyl. Pressed on gold vinyl with a deluxe, gatefold, ‘tip-on’ uncoated jacket, this is a chance to own this unique album in its most beautifully presented form.
TRACKLIST: Side A: “Ou Es-Tu, Mon Amour? (Where Are You, My Love?)”, “I Never Cared for You”, “Everywhere I Go”, “Darkness on the Face of the Earth”
Side B: “My Own Peculiar Way”, “These Lonely Nights”, “Home Motel”, “The Maker”
Side C: “I Just Can’t Let You Say Goodbye”, “I’ve Just Destroyed the World (I’m Living In)”, “Somebody Pick Up My Pieces”
Side D: “Three Days”, “I’ve Loved You All Over the World”, “Annie”

Okkervil River – ‘Sleep and Wake-Up Songs’
Format: 12″ Vinyl
Label: JAGJAGUWAR
Release type: RSD Exclusive Release
More Info:
Sleep and Wake-Up Songs is now being rereleased for Record Store Day, it’s first time pressed ever on vinyl. Including a demo of the EP track “You’re Untied Again” and the never before released song “Knocking Myself Out,” the EP reveals Okkervil River in-between the monumental albums Down The River of Golden Dreams and Black Sheep Boy. Band leader Will Sheff looked back to this EP, remarking, “I can hear in it somebody who is actually getting comfortable with singing, with playing the guitar, with letting music happen naturally.”
TRACKLIST: SIDE A: 1. A Favor 2. You’re Untied Again 3. And I Have Seen the World of Dreams 4. Just Give Me Time
SIDE B: 5. No Hidden Track 6. You’re Untied Again [Solo Sketch] 7. Knocking Myself Out [Home Recording]”

Reverend Horton Heat – ‘It’s A Rave-Up/Beer, Write This Song’
Format: 7″ Colored Vinyl
Label: Victory Records
Release type: RSD Exclusive Release
More Info:
Two brand new, previously unreleased tracks from Reverend Horton Heat on solid red 7″ vinyl with 150 randomly distributed clear pink copies.
TRACKLIST: “It’s A Rave-Up”/”Beer, Write This Song”

Simon & Garfunkel – ‘Homeward Bound/Leaves That Are Green’
Format: 7″ Vinyl
Label: Legacy
Release type: RSD Exclusive Release
More Info:
This collectible 7” 45rpm vinyl releases recreates the origina 1966 “Homeward Bound” single, pairing two essential Simon & Garfunkel cuts from that year: “Homeward Bound” (from Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme) and “Leaves That Are Green” (from Sounds of Silence). A Top 5 single in the US, “Homeward Bound” became a worldwide phenomenon reaching #4 in the Netherlands and #9 in the UK while going Top 20 in Australia and Sweden (where it hit #12). The cover for this RSD 2015 release is based on the German single artwork.

Dolly Parton – ‘The Grass is Blue’
Format: 12″ Vinyl
Label: Sugar Hill
Release type: RSD Exclusive Release
More Info:
Dolly’s seminal 1999 bluegrass debut, available for the first time on vinyl.
TRACKLIST: “Homeward Bound”/”Leaves That Are Green”

Todd Snider – ‘Impending Doom’
Format: 7″ Vinyl
Label: Aimless
Release type: RSD Exclusive Release
More Info:
The A-side of this RSD exclusive 7″ is a Rolling Stones cover, the B-side is an unreleased Todd Snider original.
TRACKLIST: “Shattered”/”Backlash”

st paul

St. Paul and the Broken Bones – Live From The Alabama Theatre
Format: 12″ Vinyl
Label: Single Lock
Release type: RSD Exclusive Release
More Info:
Covers of Sly and the Family Stone’s “Sing a Simple Song” and David Bowie’s “Moonage Daydream” recorded live at the Alabama Theatre on 11/14/14. Released on a 12″ transparent crimson record SHAPED LIKE THE STATE OF ALABAMA.
TRACKLIST: “Sing a Simple Song”/”Moonage Daydream”

Doc and Merle Watson – ‘Ballads from the Gap’
Format: 12″ Vinyl
Label: Vanguard
Release type: RSD Exclusive Release
More Info:
Fan-voted vinyl re-issue of the iconic release, re-mastered from the original tapes and presented in ‘exact replica’ packaging.

Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy & Broeder Dieleman – Split 7″
Format: 7″ Vinyl
Label: Snowstar Records
Release type: RSD Limited Run / Regional Focus Release
More Info:
Bonnie ‘prince’ Billy & Broeder Dieleman cover and translate each other, after having toured together in the Netherlands in 2014. Broeder Dieleman is from the south of the Netherlands, and sings in Dutch. He translated Bonnie prince Billy’s ‘Three Questions’, while Will Oldham does his (translated) take of ‘Gloria’
TRACKLIST: 1: Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy – Gloria 2: Broeder Dieleman – Drie Vragen

Junior Brown – Better Call Saul: Theme 7″
Format: 7″ Vinyl
Label: SPACELAB9
Release type: RSD Limited Run / Regional Focus Release
More Info:
TRACKLIST: “Better Call Saul”/”Better Call Saul (Instrumental)”

Giant Sand – ‘Valley of Rain (30th Anniversary Edition)’
Format: 2 x 12″ Vinyl
Label: Fire America
Release type: RSD Limited Run / Regional Focus Release
More Info:
Marking the 30th anniversary since Giant Sand’s debut album “Valley of Rain,” Fire America brings you this limited edition 2xLP 30th Anniversary Edition. The first disc is the lovingly re-mastered “Valley of Rain” in its entirety, with the addition of the track “Torture of Love,” which was added by Howe Gelb himself. The second disc features extra material recorded as Giant Sand and the pre-Giant Sand line up “Giant Sandworms,” including a “Valley of Rain” remix, a “repaired” version of “Tumble and Tear” along with five fascinating bonus tracks compiled from live and radio recordings from the time period.
• Limited to 500 copies for North America
• Liner notes from Howe Gelb.
TRACKLIST: Disc One: 1. Valley Of Rain, 2. Tumble & Tear, 3. October Anywhere, 4. Barrio, 5. Death, Dying & Channel 5, 6. Torture Of Love, 7. Down On Town / Love’s No Answer, 8. Black Venetian Blind, 9. Curse Of A Thousand Flames, 10. Artists, 11. Man Of Want
Disc Two: 1. Valley Of Rain – Remixed Instrumental, 2. Tumble And Tear – Repaired, + Five bonus tracks

Lydia Loveless & Cory Brannan - 'Prince Covers Split Single'

Lydia Loveless & Cory Brannan – ‘Prince Covers Split Single’
Format: 7″ Colored Vinyl
Label: Bloodshot
Release type: RSD Limited Run / Regional Focus Release
More Info:
Two never before released tracks. Physical Only, Purple Vinyl
TRACKLIST: Lydia: “I Would Die For You” Cory: “Under The Cherry Moon”

Lee Ann Womack – ‘Trouble in Mind’
Format: 12″ Vinyl
Label: Sugar Hill Records
Release type: RSD Limited Run / Regional Focus Release
More Info:
a limited edition 3-Song 12” vinyl – blues classic “Trouble in Mind,” Roger Miller’s demi-obscure “Where Have All The Average People Gone?” and Ralph Stanley’s bluegrass gospel “I’ve Just Seen The Rock of Ages.”

Various Artists – ‘Music To Drink Beer To’
Format: 12″ Vinyl
Label: Legacy
Release type: RSD Limited Run / Regional Focus Release
More Info:
Music To Drink Beer To is a limited-edition compilation put together by longtime friends Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head and Adam Block of Sony Music’s Legacy Recordings. Sam, who’s in the beer business and a raging music geek, and Adam, who’s in the music business and a raging beer geek, sat down over a few beers and a stash of well worn vinyl and picked some of their favorite tracks.
TRACKLIST: 01. “Please, Mrs. Henry”/Bob Dylan & The Band, 02. “Fishin’ Blues”/Taj Mahal, 03. “I Put A Spell On You”/Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, 04. “Gimmie Danger”/Iggy And The Stooges, 05. “Whiskey Bottle”/Uncle Tupelo, 06. “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere”/The Byrds, 07. “What Good Can Drinking Do”/Janis Joplin, 08. “Mannish Boy”/Muddy Waters, 09. “Scuttle Buttin’”/Stevie Ray Vaughan And Double Trouble, 10. “Surrender”/Cheap Trick, 11. “Juicy Fruit”/Mtume, 12. “Electric Relaxation”/A Tribe Called Quest

The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band – ‘You Can’t Judge A Book…’
Format: 7″ Vinyl
Label: Daddy Kool Records
Release type: RSD Limited Run / Regional Focus Release
More Info:
The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band has been creating a whirlwind with their riveting and unconventional elixir of muscular and high voltage country blues capped by gritty growling vocals and striking finger picking. Inspired by the likes of Charley Patton, Furry Lewis and John Hurt, Reverend Peyton is steeped in the great blues tradition but is catapulting its roots into a new era.
TRACKLIST: “You Can’t Judge A Book By Looking At The Cover” B/W “Some These Days I’ll Be Gone”

Chris Stapleton – ‘IN STEREO’
Format: 10″ Vinyl
Label: Mercury Nashville
Release type: RSD Limited Run / Regional Focus Release
More Info:
TRACKLIST: “When the Stars Come Out” “Fire Away” “Tennessee Whiskey”

The Waterboys – ‘Puck’s Blues’
Format: 10″ Vinyl
Label: Harlequin & Clown
Release type: RSD Limited Run / Regional Focus Release
More Info:
Home demos and acoustic tracks recorded in advance of the new album.
TRACKLIST: A1-November Tale, A2-I Can See Elvis
B1-The Girl Who Slept ForScotland, B2- Destinies Entwined

The Mavericks – ‘Mono’
Format: 12″ Vinyl
Label: The Valory Music Company
Release type: ‘RSD First’ Release
More Info:
Early vinyl release for Record Store Day, includes digital download

John Prine – ‘September 78’
Format: 12″ Vinyl
Label: Oh Boy Records
Release type: ‘RSD First’ Release
More Info:
A live record of John playing with a full band. There are loud guitar solos, funky organ playing and a couple of unreleased covers that will really surprise some folks.

Various Artists – ‘Sawyer Sessions Vol 1’
Format: CD
Label: Yep Roc Records
Release type: ‘RSD First’ Release
More Info:
The Sawyer Sessions started simple enough: new town, new building, new vibe. When the Yep Roc Music Group moved to Hillsborough, North Carolina two years ago, they wanted to find a way to integrate themselves into the creative juices flowing just beneath the surface of this historic, southern town. Named after their nearly 100-year-old office building, The Sawyer Sessions are one part video series, one part mobile recording lab, one part way to introduce the music group to their neighbors. But instead of bringing by a pie, they bring a collection of artists with diverse backgrounds and styles – Grammy Award winners, noted international songwriters, all legendary performers. They drop them into to everyday life situations and record them at restaurants, galleries and private homes – the only rule is that it has to be within the roughly 4.3 square miles of their new hometown. This record documents the best of those first year of performances and serves as a “map” of Hillsborough, North Carolina. Limited Edition Record Store Day Exclusive with hand-drawn cover art.

Bruce Springsteen – ‘Nebraska’
Format: 12″ Vinyl
Label: Legacy
Release type: ‘RSD First’ Release
More Info:
• Newly remastered on LP!
• Packaged in faithful recreation of original LP sleeves.
• Remastered from the original source tapes
• 180-gram audiophile vinyl
TRACKLIST: “Nebraska”, “Atlantic City”, “Mansion On The Hill”, “Johnny 99”, “Highway Patrolman”, “State Trooper”, “Used Cars”, “Open All Night”, “My Father’s House”,”Reason To Believe”

BBC Lost Highway: The History of American Country

Lost-Highway-The-Story-of-Country-Music-Cover

If you haven’t seen the BBC’s “Lost Highway: The History of American Country’ then you’re in for a treat.

This four-part, four-hour documentary follows the musical lineage from the Bristol Sessions to Nashville, from Texas to Bakersfield, and brings it all together in a beautiful story of heritage and style any songwriter would love.

The history of it’s roots in mountain music, through bluegrass it’s first super star Hank Williams and honky tonkers. From the jazz fusion of Western Swing to the dominance of the adult-pop Nashville Sound through the extraordinary and game-changing emergence of female performers and the evolution of newer forms of the genre – country rock to alt.country and Americana.

Featuring contributions from Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss, Gillian Welch, Hank Williams III, Kris Kristofferson, Lyle Lovett, Dwight Yoakam and Dolly Parton among others. Lost Highway: The Story of Country Music is produced by William Naylor; the series editor is Michael Poole.

Sit back with your favorite drink and enjoy.

Asleep at the Wheel To Release ‘Still The King: Celebrating the Music of Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys’ 3/3/2015

Still The King: Celebrating the Music of Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys,

“I think the…Western swing, or whatever you want to call it, will slack off for a little while and then I think some of these younger boys will come out here one of these days with a golden voice and it’ll build again.”—Bob Wills

After attending the Bob Wills Festival and Fiddle contest in Greenville, TX over the winter I developed a deep love for the Western Swing genre and for it’s creator, Bob Wills.

But I’m ready for more.

Luckily early in the new year Ray Benson & Asleep at the Wheel will again honor the legendary Bob Wills with ‘Still The King: Celebrating the Music of Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys,’ out March 3 on Bismeaux Records.

Exemplary Americana and country artists like The Avett Brothers, Old Crow Medicine Show, Buddy Miller, Elizabeth Cook, Lyle Lovett, Shooter Jennings, Brad Paisley and George Strait join the band on new interpretations on classics on, what looks like, a release that will best the previous two Will’s tributes from the band.

For over 40 years, Ray Benson & Asleep at the Wheel have been the deft practitioners and caretakers of Western swing craft, carrying Wills’ traditions across generations and the into the 21st century.

This release will be band’s third full-length Bob Wills tribute following 1998’s ‘Ride with Bob’ and 1993’s ‘A Tribute to the Music of Bob Wills,’ with four GRAMMY awards and over half a million copies sold collectively.

From the press release:

“The new album features genre-spanning collaborations with critically acclaimed artists, old friends and new favorites including Willie Nelson, Brad Paisley, Jamey Johnson, Merle Haggard, George Strait, The Avett Brothers, Amos Lee, Old Crow Medicine Show, Lyle Lovett, Kat Edmonson, Robert Earl Keen and Tommy Emmanuel, among many others. The album is available for pre-order via PledgeMusic and iTunes with the track “Tiger Rag,” featuring Old Crow Medicine Show, delivered in advance of the release date as an immediate download. Asleep at the Wheel will be performing at the New York Society for Ethical Culture on March 4 with spring tour dates to be announced. Watch the exclusive video teaser HERE. Please see the full track listing below.

Widely considered “The King of Western Swing,” Bob Wills (1905-1975) and his Texas Playboys performed thousands of shows across the United Sates for nearly six decades and recorded prolifically in the late ‘30s and early ‘40s. Early stars of American country music, Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys were a dance band with a country string section that played pop songs as if they were jazz numbers. “After 45 years of traveling and playing, it still amazes me how well this music, born in the 1920s and ‘30s, thrives in the present day,” says Benson. “The artists playing and singing on this collection range in age from folks in their 20s to former Texas Playboys 92-year-old Billy Briggs and 86-year-old Leon Rausch…certain evidence that Western swing music is alive and well as it cruises through the next millennium.” Bob Wills was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1968, the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1999 and the National Fiddler Hall of Fame in 2007.

Based in Austin, Asleep at the Wheel formed in Paw Paw, West Virginia in 1970. Since their inception, the band has won nine GRAMMY awards, released more than 20 studio albums and charted more than 20 singles on the Billboard country charts. In 1971, the band signed their first record deal after Van Morrison mentioned they “play great country music” in an interview in Rolling Stone. Their debut record, Comin’ Right At Ya, was released in 1973 on United Artists. The release of Texas Gold in 1975 brought the band national recognition, with the single “The Letter That Johnny Walker Read” becoming a top-ten country hit. The band has been awarded “Touring Band of the Year” (CMAs, 1976) and the “Lifetime Achievement in Performance” (Americana Music Awards 2009). In 2010, they earned a GRAMMY nomination in the newly minted Best Americana Album category for their critically acclaimed Willie & The Wheel, on Bismeaux Records.

Owned by Ray Benson, Bismeaux Records has won “Best Local Record Label” three years consecutively in the Austin Music Awards. Between 2005 and 2012, Ray Benson wrote, produced and starred in the Bob Wills musical A Ride With Bob. The production sold 70,000 tickets in 18 cities nationwide including the Kennedy Center in 2006. In 2007, Benson performed with Carrie Underwood & Johnny Gimble on the GRAMMY Awards Telecast in a special GRAMMY Salute to Bob Wills.”

Pre-order here

‘Still The King: Celebrating the Music of Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys’ tracklist:

1. Intro—Texas Playboy Theme (with Leon Rausch)
2. I Hear Ya Talkin’ (with Amos Lee)
3. The Girl I Left Behind (with The Avett Brothers)
4. Trouble In Mind (with Lyle Lovett)
5. Keeper Of My Heart (with Merle Haggard and Emily Gimble)
6. I Can’t Give You Anything But Love (with Kat Edmonson)
7. Tiger Rag (with Old Crow Medicine Show)
8. What’s The Matter With The Mill (with Pokey LaFarge)
9. Navajo Trail (with Willie Nelson and The Quebe Sisters)
10. Silver Dew On The Bluegrass Tonight (with The Del McCoury Band)
11. Faded Love (with The Time Jumpers)
12. South Of The Border (Down Mexico Way) (with George Strait)
13. I Had Someone Else Before I Had You (with Elizabeth Cook)
14. My Window Faces The South (with Brad Paisley)
15. Time Changes Everything (with Buddy Miller)
16. A Good Man Is Hard To Fine (with Carrie Rodriguez and Emily Gimble)
17. Ding Dong Daddy From Dumas (with Robert Earl Keen and Ray Benson)
18. Brain Cloudy Blues (with Jamey Johnson and Ray Benson)
19. Bubbles In My Beer (with The Devil Makes Three)
20. It’s All Your Fault (with Katie Shore)
21. Three Guitar Special (with Tommy Emmanuel, Brent Mason and Billy Briggs)
22. Bob Wills Is Still The King (with Shooter Jennings, Randy Rogers and Reckless Kelly)

Listen Up! Music Review – Guy Clark – “My Favorite Picture of You”

My Favorite Picture of You.

Describing his sculpting technique the Renaissance painter Michelangelo gave the beatific response “I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.” The same can be said for the legendary singer/songwriter Guy Clark. He approaches songwriting like Michelangelo approaches marble. He carves away life until the song remains.

A recognized Master of the craft of songwriting, “My Favorite Picture of You,” Clark’s first album in four years is a rugged and tender result of a life lived and a craft perfected. Now past 71 years. Clark has
worked that craft to a singular style. More direct and economic than the work of his old partner in crime Townes Van Zandt, Clark is more in line with fellow Texas legend Kris
Kristofferson. The common is made divine and the everyday made sublime in his work.

Though he’s called Nashville since 1971, his birthplace the Lone Star State runs throughout the album. Either in style, like the Bob Wills-tinged opener “Cornmeal Waltz,” in
direct referral as a subject like in the Mariachi influenced tale of illegal border crossing El Coyote and the jaunty song of love and self-discovery “Rain in Durango.” Then there’s the some
of the songs contributors , the cover of Lyle Lovett’s Waltzing Fool and I’ll Show Me, which was co-writetn with longtime friend Rodney Crowell.

Clark’s voice has naturally grown rougher and more wearied, but fits the songs like a pair of favorite old boots. His voice becomes noticeably more vulnerable and confessional
on the title cut about the love of his life, Susanna Clark, Clark’s wife of 40 years, who passed in 2012. The album’s cover has him holding up the song’s source, a picture of his wife, angrily glaring in defiance after she returned home one day to find Clark and Townes Van Zandt boozing it up and generally cutting up. Clark uses this touchstone of love and the past to grapple with both and the results are one of the most heartfelt and honest songs I’eve ever heard.

Clark’s voice is nicely complimented on may of the songs by Morgane Stapleton’s delicately hewn vocals. Every song here s a keeper. The folky weeper “Hell Bent on a Heartache,” the Bluegrass “Good Advice” and the the Celtic influenced femmale-on-femal twist on the classic murder ballad The Death of Sis Draper.”

There is wonder, love, loss, bitterness and the whole fabric of humanity worn into these stories of lives of love found, lost , regret and happiness. The heart is shown like a card in play in a poker game only to be hidden away and used as a conquering suit. “My Favorite Picture of You” is a fitting wonder of craft bleeding into art from a man that makes making songs and living life all seem easy. And that’s hard.

Official site | Buy

five_rate

Watch Out! Pokey LaFarge – “Central Time” [VIDEO]

Pokey LaFarge

St. Louis-based Jazz-roots traditionalist Pokey LaFarge teamed up with Old Crow Medicine Show front man Ketch Secor to produce his new self-tilted release on Jack White’s Third Man Records.

“Central Time” proves Pokey LaFarge is not merely a retro act. Sure he reaches back to a time when distinct the genres of jazz, country blues and western swing blurred together into one glorious cultural mash-up, but there is a timelessness and vibrancy displayed in this ode to his Midwestern home.

Pokey LaFarge is out now.

Rounder Records Turns 40

  • The Green Bay Press Gazette has a great interview with Justin Townes Earle. Earle talks candidly about his past addictions and is troubled relationship with his father. as well as his excellent new release Midnight at the Movies.
  • Robert Earl Keen’s Lost Highway debut “The Rose Hotel,” produced by Lloyd Maines, will be released on On Sept. 29
  • Rounder Records will celebrate their 40th anniversary on Oct. 12th at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville, TN with performances from Alison Krauss & Union Station featuring Jerry Douglas, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Bela Fleck and Irma Thomas will join in this momentous celebration along with musical host Minnie Driver and special guests to be announced.
  • Shreveport-based , the Louisiana Hayride (1948 to 1960) will  be inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame. In it’s day the country music showcase featured Hank Williams, Kitty Wells, George Jones, Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley.
  • The grave of the late great Texas blues musician, Blind Willie Johnson, is  finally discovered. Johnson’s songs have been covered by everybody from Bob Dylan and Eric Clapton to Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones.
  • Details magazine sits down with Native Texan and anti-Taylor Swift blond bad ass Miranda Lambert for some Q&A.
  • Nashville Scene‘s newest cover has  “Three Hot Acts Present a New Breed of Female Songwriter” featuring Caitlin Rose, Tristen Gaspadarek and Those Darlins.

Band Roundup – Ruby Jane

Just when you needed more evidence that you’re getting old and aren’t accomplished very much I give you Ruby Jane.  Ruby is a 14 year old native Texan (born in Dallas, now resides in Austin) and is a premiere junior fiddler and a fast-rising star in country and bluegrass-Americana music scene.

She has shared the stage with Marty Stuart, Willie Nelson, Lyle Lovett, Asleep at the Wheel, Rhonda Vincent, Mike Snider, Jesse McReynolds, Jim Brock, James Monroe, Carl Jackson and Big & Rich (hey, a girls gotta make some bank!) In true old-school country entrepreneurial style  Ruby even has her own pancake mix for sale!  When not sawing wood and hawking flapjacks Ruby Jane is also an actress and a model Kids today and their virtuoso Blugrass playing!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esH2793eoIA[/youtube]

premiere
junior fiddlers and a fast-rising star in country and bluegrass-Americana music. With
deep familial and cultural ties throughout the South, especially Mississippi, where she
lived after her birth until she was 12 years old, she now resides in Austin, TX, with her
mama, when not traveling as a musician, actress, or model.

AMA Conference Highlights

This is just brief rundown on events here in Nashville at the Americana Music Association conference. I will add more detail next week.

Meeting Barbara Lamb, Sunny Sweeney, Chip Taylor, Kendal Carson, Gurf Morlix , Stacy Earle and Janet Reno!

The Halloween tribute to the memory of Porter Wagoner with Mark Ferris, Rodney Crowell, Jim Lauderdale and Emmylou Harris.

Seeing Darrell Scott at the Station Inn.

The AMA Awards at the Ryman Auditorium (the Mother Church of Country Music) featuring Joe Ely, Guy Clark (in a tribute to Townes Van Zandt) , Lyle Lovett, The Avett Brothers, Patty Griffin, Old Crow Medicine Show, Darrell Scott, Buddy Miller, Jim Lauderdale and Emmylou Harris.

Eating Jacks BBQ and drinking Big River Brewery beer.

Visiting the Hatch Show Print studio.

Lyle Lovett to Release “It’s Not Big It’s Large,” 8/28

Lyle LovettLyle Lovett is set to release “It’s Not Big It’s Large,” on Aug. 28. The album, produced by Lovett and longtime collaborator Billy Williams, features the singer’s Large Band on 12 new tracks. The four-time Grammy winner will cover everything from country to blues, to folk, jazz and gospel.

A deluxe version of the CD will be released simultaneously and include a DVD with studio footage, according to a press release.

Lovett, who likes to take his time between albums, released his latest, “My Baby Don’t Tolerate,” in 2003. That set, his first collection of original material since 1996’s “Road to Ensenada,” reached No. 7 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart..

Lovett and his Large Band have been touring with K.D. Lang for the last couple of few weeks. Lovett and band will break off for a headlining stint in California, Montana and Idaho. Then in October, Lovett will return home to Texas for a half-dozen shows, including the Big State Music Festival in College Station, which is home to Lovett’s alma mater, Texas A&M University.

Lovett has  also recently announced that he will join Emmylou Harris, Shawn Colvin, John Hiatt, Patty Griffin and Buddy Miller in headlining “Cayamo: A Journey Through Song,” a six-day Carribean cruise scheduled to launch from Miami next February. Lovett’s tour itinerary is listed below.

Lyle Lovett Tour Dates (dates may change, call ahead)

July 2007
29 – Concord, CA – Sleep Train Pavilion *
30 – Saratoga, CA – Mountain Winery
31 – Redding, CA – Cascade Theatre

August 2007
2 – Bozeman, MT – Brick Breeden Fieldhouse
3 – Missoula, MT – Wilma Theatre
4 – Sandpoint, ID – Festival At Sandpoint

October 2007
10-11 – Fort Worth, TX – Bass Performance Hall
12 – Tyler, TX – R. Don Cowan Fine Arts Center
13 – College Station, TX – Big State Music Festival
14 – San Antonio, TX – Majestic Theatre
15 – Austin, TX – Stubb’s Bar-B-Que

February 2008
4-7 – Miami, FL – Carnival “Victory” Cruise

*co-headlining with K.D. Lang