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Posts Tagged ‘Kathy Mattea’

RIP Susanna Clark

29 Jun

Behind every great man there is a great woman rings none more true than in the case of Guy and Susanna Clark.

Atlanta, Texas-born Susanna Clark, a former art teacher and renowned songwriter for Emmylou Harris, Kathy Mattea, Miranda Lambert, Rosanne Cash, Jerry Jeff Walker and others, died Wednesday, June 27 in Nashville. She was 73, and had reported to have been in poor health in recent years.

Susanna was key to Guy Clark quitting his job at a Houston television station and focusing on songwriting. Guy Clark, a contemporary of frequent house-guest Townes Van Zandt, would go on to pen great songs such as “L.A. Freeway” (which mentions Susanna ) , “Desperados Waiting for a Train” and “Hemingway’s Whiskey” (which was later covered by Kenny Chesney.)Clark would go on to become a member of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.

The Tennessean sites a Journal of Country Music interview where Susanna said “I just asked him what he wanted to do, and he said, ‘Music, I said, ‘Well, let’s do it.’ And he said, ‘That’s the first time a woman has ever asked me to quit a job.”

Her first Top 20 country hit was “I’ll Be Your San Antone Rose” for singer Dottsy in 1975. In 1978, she and Carlene Carter wrote “Easy From Now On” the lead track of Harris’ Quarter Moon In A Ten Cent Town. Most recently she wrote the title cut from Miranda Lambert’s 2007 “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.” Clark also put her painting talents to work creating the album cover for Harris as well as Willie Nelson’s “Stardust.”

One of my favorite scenes from the classic film “Heartworn Highways” is the scene with Texas singer/songwriters gathered at Guy and Susanna Clark’s home for a picking session on Christmas Eve 1975. Here you see Guy and Susanna in the opening scene followed by Steve Earle, Rodney Crowell and Richard Dobson

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJrVwJonlrA

Here’s a great video of Guy Clark telling a great story about Susanna and performing a song he wrote for her.

 
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Posted in Americana, Country Music, In memoriam, Legends, Texas, Video

 

Kathy Mattea to Release ‘Calling Me Home,’ on Sugar Hill Records

27 Jun

Kathy Mattea has seen both sides of the Nashville fence. 15 consecutive Top 10 hits and four No. 1 singles has her in the good graces of Music City. 2008′s Grammy-nominated “Coal” had her working more in the Americana mystic side of things.

Mattea will be releasing ‘Calling Me Home,’ her first album with Sugar Hill Records, home to Marty Stuart, Connie Smith and Don Williams

Check the EPK below for what Mattea describes as “a love letter to her home state of West Virginia.”

 
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Posted in Americana, Bluegrass, Country Music, Legends, New Releases, Video

 

Texas Monthly Features Five Texas Music Legends

13 Aug
  • Texas Monthly’s Pitch Perfect features five legendary Texas musicians—Guy Clark, Patty Griffin, Sonny Throckmorton, Robert Earl Keen, and Jack Ingram— and asks them to sgare the mystic secrets to writing a great country song.  It’s a funny, informative a great read.
  • The nominees for the 20th International Bluegrass Music Awards Awards has been announced (Yay SteelDrivers!) The ceremony will be hosted by Grammy-winning country artist Kathy Mattea and the legendary bluegrass band, Hot Rize, on Thursday, October 1, 2009, at the historic Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee.
  • Legendary guitar pioneer Les Paul died today at the age of 94 at White Plains Hospital due to complications from pneumonia.
  • More info on Death Cab for Cutie’s Ben Gibbard and Son Volt’s Jay Farrar work for the upcoming Jack Kerouac soundtrack collaborative album entitled “One Fast Move or I’m Gone: Kerouac’s Big Sur.”  The twelve song set is due October 20 via F-Stop/Atlantic and will serve as the soundtrack to the Kerouac documentary of the same title.  Farrar and Gibbard were approached by the filmmakers in 2007 about writing music for the film, which documents the events surrounding the author’s time spent in the Big Sur region of California.
 
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Posted in alt.country, Americana, awards, Bluegrass, Film, In memoriam, Legends, New Releases, News, Texas

 

Miranda Lambert Headed Back to the Studio

29 Jan
  • The 7th Annual 10KLF 10,000 Lakes Festival in Detroit Lakes, MN will feature Junior Brown, Kathleen Edwards and William Elliott Whitmore will join Dave Matthews Band, Wilco, Widespread Panic and much more . The festival will take place July 22 – 25, 2009.
  • In more festival news; the International Folk Alliance Conference in Memphis, Tenn. will feature  films, songs, stories and special events to fill the days and nights of February 18 – 22, 2009.  Slated to perform and/or speak are Charlie Louvin, Rodney Crowell, Kathy Mattea, Ray Wylie Hubbard and much more.
  • Miranda Lambert blogs that she soon will be heading into the studio to work on a new album. Lambert posts that she’s been neglecting her blog because “I’m going into the studio in February to do my third album. I’ve really been writing and concentrating on that.” Count me as a fan of something Nashville has recently got right.
 
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Posted in alt.country, Americana, Conferences, Country Music, Festivals, Legends, New Releases, News

 

Folksinger Michael Johnathon’s WoodSongs Old-Time Radio Hour

04 Jan

I’ve just  ran across the web site for “folksinger Michael Johnathon’s WoodSongs Old-Time Radio Hour” which bills itself as a “multi-media celebration of grassroots, Americana music” and “airs on 491 radio stations worldwide, XM Satellite Radio, online and on public television stations across the nation.” Cool! That said the site does offer some great audio archives featuring the likes of artists loke Chris Knight, The Grascals, The Del McCoury Band, James McMurtry, Justin Townes Earle, Kathy Mattea, Cadillac Sky, BR549 and Elizabeth Cook. Great stuff!

 
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Posted in alt.country, Americana, Bluegrass, Country Music, Radio

 

The Best of 2008 (For Reals)

28 Dec

Propaganda has been honed to a fine art in the last half century. Americans have been convinced to fight wars, hand over civil and employee rights and consume ever crappier beer, food and, alas, music.

Mainstream Country Music is one of the few genres in the 21st century that tolerates no real deviation from certified Music Row and mainstream radio product. Sure there are exceptions, the Outlaw Movement cooped a largely ignored youth movement, Garth tweaked the business model and stage production and Big and Rich and their “MuzikMafia” was a painfully lame attempt to emulate Hip Hop’s concept of crews. But when it comes to altering the DNA of the music the image driven slickness and paint-by-numers narritives seem as tightly mandated as the McDonald’s Big Mac cooking process. If you don’t fit the hat act mold you are cast into the slums of Americana, folk, roots, alt.country or, if the sins were severe enough, rock!

Into this unyielding environment stepped artists that discovered that Cash, Willie and Hank were speaking to them in ways larger then the flavor of the week bands being crammed down their throats. That’s where the wild hillbilly muse dances. That way real beauty and art lay waiting.

Americana/roots/alt.country is attracting new talent that bravely straddles the cultural divide between trad sepia-toned country circa Jimmie Rogers and Carter Family and the current attitudes, sounds and stories of our times. New artists like O’Death, The Felice Bothers, Justin Townes Earle and Star Anna and road-tested warriors like Dale Watson, Eleven Hundred Springs and Tom Russell have Inject new blood, whiskey and adrenaline into a largely lifeless form of music that refuses to be embalmed.

And then there are the genre-crossing big-wigs like  Elvis Costello, Ray Davies, Chrissie Hynde and Robert Plant (who is currently nominated for 6 grammys and forgoing a Led Zeppelin reunion to continue Raising Sand with Bluegrass chanteuse Alison Krauss) that are moving toward a the wildser lands attracted by its proclivity for authenticity and celebration of  experimentation. The only sin is mediocrity, the only transgression is bovine conformity.

There’s no reward for compiling a “best of” list. People will quibble with the selections, the order of said selections will displease many and whether the writer is at all qualified to compile such as list will be questioned. Ridicule and contempt is sure to follow.

I do this to celebrate those that are willing to look past the wanna-be-celebrity choked road paved with pyrite. The Great Ones bent Nashville to their ways or took refuge in other regions far from the industry, Bakersfield California,  Austin Texas, to ply their wares. The Music Row road is not an easy one, it’s just crowded with sheep and the destination is less interesting.

Here’s to the on’ry, ragged, dusty dreamers.

——————————————————————————————-

10) Hank Williams III – “Damn Right, Rebel Proud” (Sidewalk Records) -The man with a country music royalty pedigree, and an arguable entitlement to the moniker “Man In Blacker,” burns the middle-of-the-road with another custom hot-rod release. Amazon | MySpace | Official Site

9) Jamey Johnson – “That Lonesome Song” (Mercury Nashville) -  Jamey Johnson does more than redeem himself for helping to pen Trace Adkins maga-seller Honky Tonk Badonkadonk with this brilliant release born of hard living and a love of Waylon Jennings and George Jones.  Amazon | MySpace | Official Site

8)  Sara Cahoone – “Only As The Day Is Long” (Sub-Pop) – Former rock drummer Cahoone has created a melancholy-shoegaze-Americana masterpiece with her rainy-day ready debut release.  Amazon | MySpace | Sub-Pop

7)  Star Anna – “Crooked Path” (Malamute Records) -  On this smoldering debut of Americana-noir Ellensburg, Washington’s Star Anna Krogstie proves she can hold her own with Lucinda Williams and Neko Case. Her voice seems to be the shear definition of longing and heartache.  Amazon |  MySpace | Official Site

6) Hang Jones – “The Ballad of Carlsbad County” (Self Released) – Hang Jones is the alias for Stephen Grillos and his concept album, set in 1887 New Mexico, takes the typical elements – lust, jealousy, whiskey, gunpowder and blood – and works his gritty magic to deliver a great album.  Amazon |  MySpace | Official Site

5) Luke Powers – “Texasee” (Phoebe Claire) – Powers stated in an interview that Texasee is a study of a mythical place that lies between Nashville and Austin and is done in a style reminiscent of Sam Peckinpah. Sign me up! Writers in the Western genre celebrate a few that are seen as more “literary.”  Powers like Tom Russell, James McMurty, John Prine and Joe Ely, occupies the mirror space in music.  CD Baby | MySpace | Pheobe Claire Site

4) Felice Brothers (Team Love) -From from the Catskill Mountains to the subways of New York city these actual brothers (and a bass player named Christmas) channel the Basement Tapes and spin  magnificently dark tales of desperation and violence. Amazon | MySpace | Official Site

3) O’Death -  “Broken Hymns, Limbs and Skin” (Kemado) – New York’s O’Death is a concoction of parts that if mixed any other way would result into a noxious mess.  Appalachian Mountain music,  Gypsy music, Gothic punk, funk and metal, it all just shouldn’t play nice together. On Broken Hymns, Limbs and Skin the sounds meld magnificently in a dark and volatile masterpiece.  Amazon | MySpace | Official Site

2) Justin Townes Earle – “The Good Life”  (Bloodshot) -Before technology allowed us to cheat, musicians were the source of musical synthesis, or what is referred to by the hipsters today as mash-ups. Justin Townes Earle harkens back to these aural alchemists and has created a potent blend of 19th century folk, country swing and hillbilly boogie. Overcoming his Daddy’s long musical shadow (and his inclination towards illicit substances) Justin Townes Earle’s first full length release rejoices in heritage while transcending its creators youth.  Amazon | MySpace | Bloodshot Records

1) Eleven Hundred Springs – “Country Jam” (Palo Duro Records) – If you want a crash course in the best Texas country music over the last half-century the 2008 release from Dallas’ ESL would be a great place to start. From the hillbilly poetry of Mickey Newbury and Joe Ely to the Western Swing of Bob Wills to the pop and rock of  Doug Sahm and Buddy Holly all the influences are there.  And though the sounds are reflective of the Texas greats  ESL makes it distinctly their own on this superior homage to the Lone Star State. Amazon | MySpace | Official Site

Honorable Mention:

Drive-By Truckers – Brighter Than Creations Dark
The Whipsaws – 60 Watt Avenue
Slim Cessna’s Auto Club – Cipher
Caitlin Rose -  Dead Flowers
The Power of County  – See You In Rock and Roll Heaven
Lucinda Williams – Little Honey
Kathy Mattea – Coal
The Wildes – Ballad of a Young Married Man
Hayes Carll – Trouble In Mind
Joey + Rory – The Life Of A Song
Kasey Chambers and Shane – Rattlin’ Bones
Ashton Shepherd – Sounds So Good
The Steeldrivers – Self-Titled
Whitey Morgan and the 78’s – Honky Tonks and Cheap Motels

 
3 Comments

Posted in alt.country, From where I sit

 

Del McCoury to Release “Moneyland”

25 Jun
  • Del McCoury’s new release,  Moneyland (7/8), wants to raise awareness of serious economic issues facing Americans today through a thoughtful selection of six new (or newly recorded) songs, mixed with eight neglected gems and classic favorites that offer a hard-hitting look at today’s economic injustice. In addition to songs from the Del McCoury Band, the album features songs from Marty Stuart, Merle Haggard, Emmylou Harris, Bruce Hornsby along with the Fairfield Four, Chris Knight and others.
  • The Dallas Morning News’ Mario Tarradell opines on the mixed success of several pop country crossovers.
  • PopMatters.com really digs Alejandro Escovedo’s new release “Real Animal” (Back Porch). They also dig (though a tad less so) a newly discovered treasure for me Slim Cessna’s Auto Club’s “Cipher” (Alternative Tentacles)
  • Kathy Mattea performed at the Roseburg’s Stewart Park Music on the Half Shell summer free concert series.
  • From Country Hound – After an eight-year hiatus, Randy Travis is making his return to the Country Music industry with his new album, Around the Bend (7/15.)
 
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Posted in alt.country

 

Review – Kathy Mattea – Coal (Captain Potato)

01 Apr

On her latest release Grammy-winning singer Kathy Mattea has assembled a collection of songs that pay tribute to the Appalachian music of her home of South Charleston, West Virginia and tells the stories of miners, their families, and the impact that mining has had on Appalachia. But “Coal” is more than a study of her Southern upbringing, it’s a personal testament of Mattea’s roots. Both her grandfathers were miners, her mother worked for the local UMWA. Fortunately her father was rescued from the mines by an uncle who paid his way through college.

The catalyst for “Coal” was the 2006 Sago Mine Disaster, which killed twelve miners in West Virginia. The tragedy dredged up memories Mattea had as a child of the 1968 Farmington Disaster when 78 miners were killed at the Consol No. 9 coal mine near Farmington, West Virginia. From her site: “When Sago happened, I got catapulted back to that moment in my life and I thought, ‘I need to do something with this emotion, and maybe this album is the place to channel it’. And so I knew the time was right.” “This record reached out and took me. It called to me to be made,” Mattea says. “If you go through your life and you try to be open, you try to think how can you be of service, how can your gifts best be used in the world…if you ask that question everyday, you find yourself at the answer. And it’s not always what you thought it would be when you asked.”

Choosing that material on the release needed to be particularly exacting. “When I decided to do this, I wanted to be very careful about the songs I chose. I wanted some labor songs, some songs that articulated the lifestyle, the bigger struggles, and I wanted a wide variety musically,” Mattea says. “Most of all, I wanted it to speak to the sense of place and the sense of attachment people have to each other and to the land.”

In the choice of material by some of the greatest songwriters in country and roots music – Jean Ritchie, Billy Edd Wheeler, Hazel Dickens, Si Kahn, Utah Phillips, Merle Travis, and Darrell Scott – Mattea succeeds greatly, as she does in her choice in Marty Stuart as a producer as well as the musicians that accompany her, Byron House on upright bass, longtime collaborator Bill Cooley in guitar Stuart Duncan offers mandolin, banjo, and fiddle, John Catchings on cello, Mattea band member and studio veteran Randy Leago contributes keyboard and accordion accents, Marty Stuart pulling double duty on plays guitar, mandolin, mandola and legendary steel player Fred Newell makes a guest appearance.

The album leads off with two selections from traditional songwriter Jean Ritchie, “The L&N Don’t Stop Here Anymore,” with a mournful fiddle intro, and “Blue Diamond Mines” featuring Marty Stuart and Patty Loveless on background vocals. Both songs are testaments of the cultural and economic hardships faced by the poor Appalachian communities and their dependency on the coal industry for not only livelihood but for some small connection with outside world.

The Billy Edd Wheeler tune “Redwing Blackbird” is a metaphorical lament on a miner’s hardships. Mattea’s voice takes an almost sorrowful Gallic phrasing atop a sparse arrangement. Another Wheeler tune “Coal Tattoo” is a spry piece detailing an escape of the miner’s life and dreams of better things to come. Si Kahn‘s “Lawrence Jones” is a cautionary tales about the dangers of mine work and is contrasted next by Utah Phillips’ “Green Rolling Hills” idone as a Spiritual-style sing-along which allows a moment of hope.

Stuart Duncan then displays his adept banjo skills on the traditional instrumental transitional track, “Sally in the Garden.” Darrel Scott’s excellent “You’ll Never Leave Harlan Alive” is covered with a beautiful despondency by Mattea.

The first time I heard the classic Merle Travis’ “Dark as a Dungeon” was on Johnny Cash’s “Live at Folsom Prison.” Cash’s booming voice boomed this lament about the danger and drudgery of being a coal miner in an Appalachian shaft mine that was later used as a rallying song among miners seeking improved working conditions.

Mattea makes it her own beginning with a single looming piano accompaniment that slowly breaks into a sparse guitar, mandolin, and cello compliment.Another Wheeler’s song “Coming of the Roads” Features a cascading acoustic guitar, and violin (not really a fiddle-style on this piece) tells the story of the double-edged sward of the pathway to the outside world brought by accessible roads that bring economic opportunity

Finally, Mattea leaves us with a lament from the great songwriter activist Hazel , Dickens entitled “Black Lung.” The hazards of deadly mine environmental conditions on the health of the poor miner sung a cappella as a chillingly mournful conclusion to this dazzling if somber work.

Kathy Mattea – Coal Tattoo – Joe’s Pub – New York City

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Af926HzO6-4[/youtube]

 
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Posted in alt.country