Unreleased Lee Hazlewood out This Fall

Lee Hazlewood

Light in the Attic Records continues its Lee Hazlewood archival series with 400 Miles From L.A. 1955-56, a collection of previously unknown demo recordings that reveal the talents of the late songwriter, producer, and artist from a very early stage in his career. (out Sept. 13th on CD/vinyl and digitally),

Lost for over 60 years, these recently unearthed recordings find Hazlewood in Phoenix, AZ, honing his songwriting skills as he shuttled himself back and forth on a Greyhound bus to Los Angeles in hopes of landing a hit song. These early sketches and unheard gems further expand on Hazlewood’s influential recorded history, adding a new first chapter to his legacy that comes a full decade before his song “These Boots Are Made For Walking” became a smash hit for Nancy Sinatra.

A songwriter by trade, Hazlewood kept for himself the songs that weren’t snatched up by larger-profile artists (such as “Houston” by Dean Martin and “This Town” by Frank Sinatra), yet never quite achieved the success in his own time that others had with his compositions. He would go on to be discovered and recognized by latter-day champions in Beck, Sonic Youth, Jarvis Cocker and Spiritualized, who appreciated Lee for his unique sonic gifts as a producer and writer.

A natural wanderer, Lee lived a big life, serving for the U.S. Army in the Korean War, working as a radio DJ in Phoenix, Arizona, setting up Viv Records in the ‘50s, producing hits for Duane Eddy and Sanford Clark, working as a big-shot L.A. producer in the ‘60s, signing Phil Spector to his Trey Records label and prematurely announcing retirement in the wake of the mid-‘60s British invasion. He didn’t: Nancy Sinatra came along, the hits started flowing and he continued producing characterful solo albums into the ‘70s.

Starting in 2012, Light In The Attic became the official custodians of the Lee Hazlewood musical legacy, launching their archival series with The LHI Years: Singles, Nudes & Backsides (1968-71). In 2015, they garnered a GRAMMY nomination for Best Historical Album with their release of There’s A Dream I’ve Been Saving: Lee Hazlewood Industries 1966 – 1971 (2014).

The LP and CD packages contain new liner notes by Hazlewood guru Hunter Lea, featuring an interview with Arizona music historian John Dixon. The Light In The Attic Online Exclusive Bundle (available only at LightInTheAttic.net) is pressed on colored vinyl and includes a treasure trove of Hazlewood collectibles created especially for this release: a travel journal, 18”x 24” silkscreen print, shot glass, and a set of “Labels of Lee” drink coasters, all crafted in cooperation with the Hazlewood estate.

Pre-order Lee Hazlewood archival series “400 Miles From L.A. 1955-56.”

Track Listing:
1. Cross Country Bus
2. The Woman I Love
3. Five Thousand and One
4. Lonesome Day
5. A Lady Called Blues
6. Five More Miles to Folsom
7. Fort Worth
8. The Old Man and His Guitar
9. Peculiar Guy
10. Long Black Train
11. I Guess It’s Love
12. It’s An Actuality
13. Buying On Time
14. The Country Bus Tune
15. Long Black Train
16. Run Boy Run
17. Big Joe Slade
18. Son of a Gun
19. Georgia Chain Gang
20. Look At That Woman
21. Peculiar Guy
22. The Railroad Song
23. Six Feet of Chain
24. Trouble Is A Lonesome Town

Record Store Day’s Black Friday 2014 – Americana and Roots Music Picks

Record Store Day's Black Friday

The day after Thanksgiving, November 2, just as the turkey dinner and extra pie has subsided you need to waddle (FASTER!) to your local indy record store for these sweet picks.

Black Friday for shopping and that include Record Store Day. The Americana and roots music selections are smaller than the usual offerings on include Record Store Day, but that doesn’t make them any less enticing.

Some gems are being released from First Aid Kit, Waylon Jennings, Neil Young and others. Some of these releases are completely exclusive to the record store, some of them making their appearance at a record store before you’ll find them anywhere else.

Check the RSDBF14 full list and remember to tweet a pic of your bounty to my twitter account and I’ll share it with those that dared to stay home.

First Aid Kit - America

First Aid Kit – America
Format: 10″ Vinyl
Label: Columbia
10″ vinyl includes concert favorite “America” (Simon and Garfunkel cover) plus the unreleased song “Brother” and acoustic versions of two tracks from First Aid Kit’s latest full-length release Stay Gold

Waylon Jennings - Louisiana Man, Kentucky Woman

Waylon Jennings – Louisiana Man, Kentucky Woman
Format: 7″ Colored Vinyl
Label: Black Country Rock/Country Rewin
This beautiful white 7″ consists of three previously unreleased 1970 recordings from Jennings. All three recordings were tracked at Scotty Moore’s Music City Records as part of an exclusive Navy radio release, and show the late outlaw country hero in top form, performing with his then-band The Waylors. The tunes have been remastered and restored, with additional production and affection from Shooter Jennings, as a sneak peek for a 2015 project.

Neil Young – Official Release Series Discs 5-8
Format: Vinyl Box Set
Label: Reprise
The Neil Young Official Release Series Volume 2 limited edition box set includes On The Beach, Time Fades Away, Tonight’s The Night and Zuma. Remastered from the original analog studio recordings at Bernie Grundman Mastering. Historically accurate artwork reproduced by Neil Young’s long time art director Gary Brden. Reissued on 180g audiophile vinyl for the first time in over 40 years and pressed at Pallas Mfg Germany.

Lee Hazlewood/Various Artists - There's A Dream I've Been Saving

Lee Hazlewood/Various Artists – There’s A Dream I’ve Been Saving: Lee Hazlewood Industries 1966 – 1971
Format: Vinyl Box Set
Label: Light In the Attic
Release type: RSD Limited Run / Regional Focus Release
Seven years in the making, There’s A Dream I’ve Been Saving is the ultimate artifact for Lee Hazlewood heads new and old. Now, for the first time, you can enjoy the entire experience on vinyl. This landmark box set contains an expansive LP-sized hard cover book detailing the label history of Lee Hazlewood Industries, accompanied by 8 LPs + 4-CDs and the never-before-released film Cowboy in Sweden.

Leftover Salmon – High Country
Format: CD
Label: Leftover Salmon
Release type: ‘RSD First’ Release
Brand new material from Leftover Salmon features Bill Payne (from Little Feat) Ten new songs and one cover of Little Feat (“Six Feet of Snow”) and one new song written Robert Hunter (Grateful Dead) and Bill Payne
Track List:
“Get Up and Go”, “Western Skies”, “Home Cookin'”, “Bluegrass Pines”, “Better Day”, “Six Feet of Snow”, “So Lonesome”, “Light in the Woods”, “Thornpipe”, “Two Highways”, “Finish Your Beer”

Review: Kacey Musgraves — The Granada Theater – Dallas, Texas [SOLD OUT]

Kacey Musgraves -- The Granada Theater - Dallas, Texas

“This is my hometown show!” Kacey Musgraves exclaimed from the stage near the start of her performance.

Though she had been on her current tour for several days in Texas this as close as Musgraves had come to her hometown. Musgraves cut her honky-tonk teeth in Golden TX. which lay a little more than 96 miles West of Dallas and many friends and family had come to see her at this special homecoming to celebrate a top-selling, Grammy-winning, chart-landing big-label debut and a tour of the world to support it.

Musgraves and her family were joined by a long-ago sold-out crowd of fans that formed a line that snaked around the side of the venue hours before doors were announced to open. Good ol’ boys, tattooed young gals and middle-age couples all stood boot-to-boot to catch country music’s newest star.

Credit Musgraves or her team for picking the Granada, and it’s capacity for roughly 800, for an intimate homecoming. She had recently rolled off an opening slot for pop-goddess Katy Perry, where the audience was treated to “Fire and dancing cats” and they were “shocked that we were a country band,” but the KatyCats eventually warmed up to them.

It’s easy to see why.

Though deeply steeped in country music’s traditional forms Musgraves has done what her predecessors like Dolly Parton and The Dixie Chicks had done years before. Worked traditional country music forms, and their strengths of storytelling, to build connections blended with contemporary sounds and dialect to appeal to a wider audience. All this without diluting the original spirit. This is no small task.

The 800 plus venue faced a stage that appeared set for a set for a larger production and might very well have been as much was probably used on the bigger venues she’s recently played.

The signature “acid western” motif of dusky western sky backdrop and neon cacti were on display to add just the right amount of kitschy fun. And her band’s Nudie style matching suits festooned with Christmas lights sealed the deal.

And a big show it was. Not big in the contemporary KISS-style circus definition of the word, but big in talent and heart.

From the opener “Silver Lining,” from her Grammy-winning 4th studio release ” Same Trailer Different Park,” she had the crowd enchanted. Donning a short skirt (she warned the front row to be careful with those phone cameras) cowboy boots, checked cotton shirt and fringed rhinestone wrist cuffs, she had the room as background accompaniment with the opening verse.

Woke up on the right side of rock bottom
You’re all out of pennies, and the well it done run dry
Light ’em up and smoke ’em if you had ’em,
But you just ain’t got ’em
Ain’t we always looking for a bluer sky

And it went that way the whole hour-plus show. Musgraves and her excellent band played ” Same Trailer…” nearly in it’s entirety as well as some choice covers and new songs at the encore.

Highlights were “Blowin’ Smoke,” which had the crowd answering back with the “Hey yeah” that gives the song it’s bluesy swagger. The non album track “The Trailer Song” which she premiered earlier this year ( “You might not have lived in a trailer, but I bet you has a nosey neighbor.”) was also a highlight as well as “Merry Go ‘Round” as Musgraves asked the crowd to use their cell phone lights to create a wonderful starry effect.

The covers were inspired as Dolly Parton’s “Here You Come Again ” fit her pop leanings and the Roger Cook, John Prine penned “Dance With You,” made famous by Texas legend George Strait shows she has a keen sense of great songs.

Her reggae-flavored working of “Step Off” folded nicely into Bob Marley’s positive vibe of “3 Lil’ Birds” to the crowd’s roaring delight and her version of Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood “These Boots Are Made For Walkin” brought the show to a steamy, rocking boil.

The finale has Musgrames and the boys circled around a single mic for an accapella version of Roy Rogers “Happy Trails.”

Years of playing live and penning quality songs for the likes of Gretchen Wilson, Miranda Lambert, Martina McBride and ABC’s Nashville have honed Musgraves into a sharp songwriter with an eye for common themes told in uncommon ways. Her “aw shucks” demeanor never come off as false or forced.

Will she have the staying power of loretta, Dolly or the pre-scandal Dixie Chicks? Time will tell. But one thing for sure, Kacey Musgraves is off to a hell of a start.

Set List:
Silver Lining
Stupid
Blowin’ Smoke
I Miss You
High Time
Here You Come Again (Dolly Parton cover)
The Trailer Song
Keep It To Yourself
Back on the Map
Mama’s Broken Heart (Miranda Lambert)
No Scrubs (TLC cover)
It Is What It Is
Dance With You – (George Strait cover)

    Step Off / 3 Lil’ Birds (Bob Marley & The Wailers cover)
    Merry Go ‘Round
    My House

    Encore:
    Biscuits (new song – solo acoustic)
    Cup of Tea (new song – solo acoustic)
    These Boots Are Made For Walkin’ (Nancy Sinatra /Lee Hazlewood cover)
    Follow Your Arrow
    Happy Trails (Roy Rogers cover)

Record Store Day 2012 – Americana Music Picks

If you do live in a place with at least one independent record store, and love music, then you need to know about the upcoming Record Store Day. This internationally celebrated day is observed on the the third Saturday in April of each year. The event was originally conceived by Chris Brown, VP of  Portsmouth, NH’s Bull Moose music store, and founded in 2007 by Eric Levin, Michael Kurtz, Carrie Colliton, Amy Dorfman, Don Van Cleave and Brian Poehner. Exclusive and limited vinyl and CD releases made just for the day by hundreds of artists in hundreds of US and international stores to draw attention the the disappearing mom and pop music stores being affected by a tough economic climate the dwindling customer base that are flocking to buy music online.

This is the fifth year for the event and will offer special releases from Ryan Adams,The Civil Wars, Townes Van Zandt, Carolina Chocolate Drops, Patterson Hood and many more. There many great one offs and creative packaging (where else are you going to find a Buck Owens Coloring Book with a flexi disc?!)

I put together a quick list below of Americana and country artists participating in the event. There’s a good chance that I overlooked something so check the official list of goodies and also check the official participating stores list to make sure yours is on the list. And remember to call ahead for items as not all store will be carrying all releases.

The Black Twig Pickers – Yellow Cat
Format: 7″ 45
Label: Thrill Jockey Records

Blitzen Trapper – Hey Joe b/w Skirts on Fire
Format: 7″ 45
Label: Sub Pop

Bonnie Prince Billy- Hummingbird
Format: 10″ LP
Label: Spiritual Pajamas

Buck Owens Coloring Book w/flexi disc w/ download card 
DETAILS
Format: Book
Label: Omnivore

Richard Buckner – “Willow” “Candy-O.”w/ download card.
Format: 7″

Caitlin Rose – ‘Love Is a Laserquest’ & ‘Piledriver Waltz’ (Arctic Monkeys covers)
Format:  7″
Label: Domino Records

Our friends at Domino Records commissioned Caitlin to cover two songs by the Arctic Monkeys as a very limited edition 7 inch release for Record Store Day this Saturday, April 21st.

 

Carolina Chocolate Drops/Run DMC
You Be Illin
Format: 7″ 45
Label: Warner Bros.

Freakwater – Feels Like The Third Time (reissue)
Format: LP
Label: Thrill Jockey Records

Jay Farrar, Will Johnson, Anders Parker, Yim Yames – New Multitudes
Format: 10″ LP
Label: Rounder

Justin Townes Earle – Nothing’s Gonna Change The Way You Feel About Me Now
Format: 7″ 45
Label: Bloodshot

Lee Hazlewood – The LHI Years: Singles, Nudes, & Backsides (1968-71)
Format: LP
Label: Light In The Attic

Patterson Hood & the Downtown 13 (featuring Mike Mills) After It’s Gone
Format: 7″ 45
Label: ATO

Richard Thomspon – Haul Me Up
Format: 7″ 45
Label: Beeswing Records

Ricky Skaggs & Tony Rice
Format: LP
Label: Sugar Hill

Ryan Adams – Heartbreak A Stranger / Black Sheets Of Rain (Bob Mould cover)
Format: 7″ 45  colored vinyl
Label: PAXAM

Sara Watkins featuring Fiona Apple/The Everly Brothers – You’re The One I Love
Format: 7″ olive green and black splatter
Label: Warner Bros

The Civil Wars – Billie Jean (Live)” Micheal Jackson / Sour Times (Live)” Portishead
Format: 7″ 45
Label: Columbia Records U.K.

The Civil Wars – Live at Amoeba
Format: CD
Label: Sensibility Music LLC

Lydia Loveless – Bad Way To Go / Alison (Elvis Costello cover)
Format: 7″ 45
Label: Bloodshot

Ralph Stanley – Single Girl / Little Birdie
Format: LP
Label: Tompkins Square

Townes Van Zandt – At My Window
Format: LP
Label: Sugar Hill

Uncle Tupelo – The Seven Inch Singles
Format: 7″ Vinyl Box Set
Label: Sony
More Info:
3×7″ box set