Marty Stuart Announces Late Night Jam Lineup

Country Standard Time reports – Marty Stuart will host his annual Late Night Jam to benefit MusiCares during CMA Music Fest on June 6 at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium. Marty Stuart and his Fabulous Superlatives (Kenny Vaughan, Harry Stinson, Brian Glenn) will perform and host the unstructured marathon of live music with guest performances this year by singer/songwriter Neko Case, Muzik Mafia founder John Rich (Big & Rich), Eric Church and Ashley Monroe,Charley Pride, Pam Tillis and Porter Wagoner.

“I try never to lose sight of the fact that Nashville is considered Music City,” said Stuart. “When it is time to book the Late Night Jam, it is always my goal to make every form of music welcome. That’s why the Ryman is such a great setting for this concert. It is the Mother Church. Every year, I always feel like its the best we’ve ever had, and this year proves to be no different.”

Marty Stuart’s 6th Annual Late Night Jam has raised more than $70,000 to date for MusiCares, the philanthropic arm of The Recording Academy.

That same week, Stuart will release “Compadres: An Anthology of Duets,” which includes a lifetime of musical collaborations with friends such as Merle Haggard, Loretta Lynn, Steve Earle, George Jones, BB King, Mavis Staples and others. He will also debut an historic museum exhibit titled “Sparkle & Twang: Marty Stuart’s American Musical Odysse” at the Tennessee State Museum that week featuring treasures from the late Johnny Cash, Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, Elvis and more.

Dale Watson – From the Cradle to the Grave Review

Is country music dead? If the cover of the new Dale Watson release “From the Cradle to the Grave” contains any insight the answer is a resounding yes. There Dale stands like a hybrid Pauly Walnuts from the Sopranos and the Unknown Hinson looming sepia soaked in a grave yard. Just behind him on a a headstone is inscribed the verdict – “Country Music R.I.P.” Dale has every reason for writing an obituary, from the Grand ‘ol Oprey’s shafting of older members, big box retailers strangling of music distribution, radio’s rigid top seller play list and the biggest star in country coming from a dismal reality show you’d think death might be the best thing to happen to the genre.

Ten songs in three days. That’s how long it took Watson to write and lay down the tracks in a Hendersonville, TN. cabin formerly owned by Johnny Cash (currently owned by Johnny Knoxville.) Dale has said in interviews says at first he was adamant about not writing or recording anything remotely reminiscent of Johnny Cash but the specter of Cash, technique as well as themes, runs throughout the entire album.

But instead of merely a derivation “From the Cradle to the Grave” sounds like pure Dale Watson. One of the great things
about country music is that the great artists aren’t afraid to wear their influences on their sleeves. Dale displays not
only Cash, but Haggard and Waylon as well.

The Cash DNA boom-chuka-boom runs deeply to excellent affect in the opening “Justice For All,” a song about the between the law and a personal desire for vengeance. The stripped down Tennessee Three sound of Hollywood Hillbilly, a song about Johnny Knoxville, is as no frills as you’re about to find.

The Bananza-like big range sound of “Time Without You” gallops along at a fine pace. “Yellow Mama,” a dark yarn about a life gone wrong and the electric chair waiting at the end. The apocalyptic vibe reflects onward in “Tomorrow Never Comes” with it’s zen like observations of time.

Cash gets a formal call out at the end of “Runaway Train” with lyrics quoted directly from some of the Man In Black’s best known songs. “I hear that train a comin’ / hey Porter, oh Porter / yea I don’t care if I do die do die do die.” closes out the song and this all too short album.

Thanks Dale’s enduring and brave 25-year career and to this album, to paraphrase the late, Great Mark Twain, the rumors of country music’s death has been greatly exaggerated.

four and a half stars

Cash American VI News

Thanks to JakobGreen at the Hank III board for this one

American VI will be the second album of songs from the final recording sessions Johnny Cash made before he died. Like its predecessors, American Recordings, Unchained, American III: Solitary Man, American IV: The Man Comes Around, and American V: A Hundred Highways, American VI is produced by Rick Rubin and will be released on Rubin’s American Recordings record label. Lost Highway Records currently distributes country releases from the American Recordings label. Though the liner notes of Unearthed (a box set comprised of outtakes from the first four entries into the series) claim “around 50” songs were recorded during the American V sessions prior to Cash’s death on September 12, 2003, only two albums worth of material will be released, including American V: A Hundred Highways.

One track known to be recorded during these sessions but not included on American V is “There Ain’t No Grave Gonna Hold My Body Down”. Another track that could possibly be included is “A Satisfied Mind” which was released on the soundtrack to Kill Bill, Vol. 2. Rubin is credited as producer and the track is copyrighted 2003, which would suggest that it came from Cash’s final sessions.

Sheryl Crow’s “Redemption Day” was recorded by Cash weeks before his death and is a likely candidate for inclusion on American VI.

Doug Kershaw has told audiences in 2006 that he has heard Cash’s recording of Kershaw’s signature song “Lousiana Man”, but its status for inclusion on American VI is unknown.

According to a USA Today article, American VI could be released in early 2007. Most likely it will be released Mid-2007.

Track listing…

“A tentative track listing has been revealed on ManInBlack.net, a Johnny Cash fansite. It includes the following songs…”

1. “San Antonio”
2. “Redemption Day”
3. “Here Comes a Boy”
4. “That’s Enough”
5. “1st Corinthians 5:55”
6. “I Can’t Help But Wonder”
7. “Nine-Pound Hammer”
8. “North to Alaska”
9. “His Eyes on the Sparrow”
10. “If I Could Hear My Mother Pray Again”
11. “The Eye of an Eagle”
12. “Don’t Take Everybody for Your Friend”
13. “Belshazzar”
14. “Loading Coal”
15. “A Half a Mile a Day”
16. “Flesh and Blood”
17. “I Am a Pilgrim”
18. “Beautiful Dreamer”
19. “Ain’t No Grave Gonna Hold My Body Down”
20. “Family Bible”

Indie Labels In Nashville

The good folks at The 9513 pointed me to this interesting article on the indie labels growing influence in Nashville.

I like the idea of country superstars starting thier own boutique labels to allow them to stretch thier wings, but I would have liked to read about indie labels, Bloodshot, Compadre – that have cultivated and nurtured indie artists all along. Artists that would have never had a phone call returned by the major labels (and probably the superstar boutiques as well.) And what about the legends that had to turn to indies in the later years because the majors saw them as washed up – Cash with American, Charlie Louvin and Tompkins Square, Porter Wagner and Anti/Epigraph. These labels saw these legends and thier legacy and allowed them to release work to regain their musical spirit with dignity.

Let’s hear the whole story on indies.

Tribute to Johnny’s Home

Chet Flippo has written another insightful Nashville Skyline (yeah, I know how perilously close to a fan-boy I am at this point) on the burning of Johnny Cash’s lakeside home he shared with his wife June Carter-Cash.

The house had become a virtual shrine. There were tourists out there every day, but it never took on the atmosphere of Graceland. The visitors were respectful. It was a homing site for country music fans and country music stars alike. To the point that aspiring country music songwriter Kris Kristofferson once landed his helicopter on Cash’s lawn to hand him a song demo for “Sunday Morning Coming Down.” I’m sure you saw the house in the movie, Walk the Line, and in Cash’s music video for “Hurt.” The house was a central character in both and clearly possessed a character of its own.

It just begs the question that I’ve had about real estate vs history. The Ryman was almost torn down in the 80’s and Johnny’s house was put on the market, bought (By frikin Barry Gibb!) and put in a situation to be burned to the ground. Maybe Nashville could stop shoveling crap for a few moments and try and preserve it’s legacy. At least the parts that are within the Tennessee border.

Fire Destroys Johnny Cash’s Tennessee Home

From the Associated Press – Firefighters were battling flames this afternoon (April 10) in a major fire that has reportedly destroyed the home of the late country singer Johnny Cash. Dispatchers said all but one of the city’s engines had responded to the fire in the Hendersonville suburb northeast of Nashville.

No injuries were reported. Hendersonville Fire Department officials said construction crews were working at the house when the fire started. The cause is unknown.

Cash and his wife, June Carter Cash, lived at the house until their deaths in 2003. The property was purchased by the Bee Gees’ Barry Gibb in January 2006. Gibb and his wife, Linda, had said they planned to restore the home on Old Hickory Lake and hoped to write songs there.

Gibb’s spokesperson said the 60-year-old singer and his family are “both saddened and devastated by the news” but declined to release further details about the house or the fire.

While the Cashes lived there, the 13,880-square-foot house, about 20 miles northeast of downtown Nashville, was visited by everyone from U.S. presidents to ordinary fans.

“Of course we are all in a state of shock,” Johnny Cash’s sister Joanne said in a statement. “I feel that an era has passed. Just today in prayer, I had decided to move on, even discarding old newspaper clippings not realizing that this terrible thing would happen. My prayers are with the Cash family and especially the Gibb family during this time.”

Two New Johnny Cash Songs

Johnny CashIsn’t it great that even from the grave that the Man In Black is being sold using cool technology.

From Lost Highway Records – These songs are from the July 4th release “American V: A Hundred Highways” produced by Rick Rubin. These songs were recorded by Johnny just prior to his death in the summer of 2003. One of the songs, “Like The 309,” is the last song that Johnny wrote before his death. These are great songs – enjoy!

The Cash Myspace page is at: http://www.myspace.com/johnnycash