Rolling Country 2015

Oops, I meant Th', dow. I think. (Actually, of the 2 Legendarily Shack Shaking CDs on my shelf, one uses Th' and the other -- an advance, which might be the reason -- uses no article whatsoever. If indeed Th' and The signified 2 different bands -- assuming they both even actually exist(ed) -- that is news to me.)

Here's what I ended up voting for this year. I like my albums list well enough, but coming up with a good 20 - 25 singles that I even seriously considered was a chore.

Albums
01. Platinum, Miranda Lambert
02. Metamodern Sounds in Country Music, Sturgill Simpson
03. Dynamite!, Tami Nielson
04. Riser, Dierks Bentley
05. The River & The Thread, Rosanne Cash
06. Remedy, Old Crow Medicine Show
07. Daylight and Dark, Jason Eady
08. The Way I’m Livin’, Lee Ann Womack
09. Tarpaper Sky, Rodney Crowell
10. Our Year, Kelly Willis & Bruce Robison

Singles
01. “Blue Blue Day,” Mandy Barnett f Alison Krauss
02. “Walk (Back to Your Arms),” Tami Neilson
03. “The Way I’m Livin’,” Lee Ann Womack
04. “Drive-In Movies,” Ray LaMontagne
05. “Quarterback,” Kira Isabella
06. “Say You Do,” Dierks Bentley
07. “Pain Pills,” Angaleena Presley
08. “Brushy Mountain Conjugal Trailer,” Old Crow Medicine Show
09. “Hayloft,” Nickel Creek
10. “Let’s Get Drunk and Get it On,” Old 97s

Reissues
1. Lucinda Williams (Deluxe Edition), Lucinda Williams
2. Hitchhike to Rhome, Old 97s,
3. Alpha Mike Foxtrot: Rare Tracks 1994 – 2014, Wilco
4. Okie from Muskogee: 45th Anniversary Special, Merle Haggard
5. This is Lone Justice: The Vaught Tapes, Lone Justice

Male Vocalists
1. Sturgill Simpson
2. Dierks Bentley
3. Don Williams

Female Vocalists
1. Miranda Lambert
2. Tami Neilson
3. Lee Ann Womack

Live Acts
1. Drive-By Truckers
2. Old Crow Medicine Show
3. Miranda Lambert

Songwriters
1. Lucinda Williams
2. Sturgill Simpson
3. Miranda Lambert

Duos / Trios / Groups
1. Old Crow Medicine Show
2. Nickel Creek
3. Old 97s

New Acts
1. Maddie & Tae
2. Parker Millsap
3. …

Overall Acts
1. Miranda Lambert
2. Sturgill Simpson
3. Lee Ann Womack

Per usual, I didn't submit any comments. Still think Platinum is only Miranda's second or third best album, but that's still good enough that I didn't consider anything else for my #1. For whatever reason, I didn't consider Holler Annie a new artist, or I would have thrown another vote her way in that category.

@ xhuxk

Millie Jackson – Black B_tch Crazy

I searched and searched for any indication that this was a "proper" single-- which is a semantics point that I'll admit I still get far too hung-up on when voting in polls like this-- because I absolutely would have included it, as well. It's a pretty fascinating and tricky cover.

Rhapsody had (and apparently still has) it streaming as a standalone single apart from the Ace compilation or any other album, which is generally good enough for me, singles-definition-wise (and which I'm guessing means other streaming sites do, too.)

http://www.rhapsody.com/artist/millie-jackson/album/black-btch-crazy

Not seeing the other one now, but seems like last-decade skims used to turn up another Legendary Shack Shakers, though JD Wilkes' crew (prev. Th and also The for a while, now without an article), founded 20 years ago, may well have claimed firsties(and are now working on a crowdsourced comeback album).
Tami Nielson! Rings a bell, faintly. How is her album??

Millie Jackson dropped a country album? Holy whoa.

Think it's a round-up of country-related things she's done over the years, based heavily around her 1981 LP "Just A Lil Bit Country". Not sure if there is anything new aside from BBC.

got it, been listening to it in spotify and you're right.

Yep -- Hence why I voted for it as a reissue, and only the new track as a single. It's good, though!

I was only familiar with about half of the tracks on the Jackson comp and really enjoyed the remainder. It's definitely worth checking out. Very glad to see that some other folks are digging it, as well.

Re: Tami Neilson.

She's from New Zealand, where she's evidently fairly well-known. Dynamite! is admittedly the first of her albums I've heard, but I think she's pretty fantastic. I think the last time I was as immediately taken by someone's voice was with Neko Case's debut, and she has a diverse set of influences that give her a throwback vibe without being at all stuffy or overly beholden to traditionalism. "Walk (Back to Your Arms)" and "Cry Over You" are the official singles and both are great, but the album is absolutely worth a listen.

dow and jon_oh, thanks for posting your NS ballots. Bunch of stuff I need to check out. Had no idea Lone Justice's "The Vaught Tapes." Haven't heard of any of these:

Singles
01. “Blue Blue Day,” Mandy Barnett f Alison Krauss
02. “Walk (Back to Your Arms),” Tami Neilson

Best Albums:
The Delines: Colfax
Minton Sparks: Gold Digger
Amy LaVere: Runaway’s Diary

Yeah, sure glad to learn about Tami Nielson, and I hadn't spotted the Mandy/Alison single either.

Here's the original press release about LJ's Vaught Tapes:

THIS IS LONE JUSTICE: THE VAUGHT TAPES, 1983
PROVIDES EARLY GLIMPSE
OF PIONEERING ALT-COUNTRY ROCKERS

Twelve tracks, including nine unissued performances,
set for release on CD, red vinyl and digital.
Liner notes include testimonial from Dolly Parton, a fan of the band.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. — It can be difficult to capture the live power of band in a studio recording. Luckily for us, Lone Justice (Maria McKee, Ryan Hedgecock, Marvin Etzioni, and Don Heffington), forerunners of the alt-country movement, went to Suite 16 Studios in December of 1983 and laid down much of the set list with which they were packing Los Angeles area clubs.

Recorded direct to two-track tape by engineer David Vaught and with no overdubs, those 12 tracks can finally be heard in their entirety as This Is Lone Justice: The Vaught Tapes, 1983, out January 14, 2014 on Omnivore Recordings. As Los Angeles music journalist Chris Morris writes in his liner notes, the release “offers the best representation of the band in its infancy — hot, full of piss and vinegar, and ready to take on the world.”

Nine of the tracks are previously unissued, and include originals (such as “Soap, Soup and Salvation,” which would appear on their Geffen debut two years later) as well as the covers they made their own in concert (Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash’s “Jackson” and “Nothing Can Stop My Loving You,” written by George Jones and Roger Miller).

Available on CD, LP (the first pressing is on translucent red vinyl) and digitally, the package includes, in addition to Morris’ liners an essay from the band’s Ryan Hedgecock, as well as a remembrance of David Vaught from Marvin Etzioni — even a loving endorsement from Dolly Parton, who writes, “I have loved Lone Justice and Maria McKee since they first started out as a group. I remember going to see them at the Music Machine in Los Angeles in 1983; I was so impressed. I especially love this album. It has some of my favorite old songs on it and some new favorites that I've never heard. Hope you enjoy Lone Justice, everybody! I know I will.”

With unseen photos and memorabilia (including images from the band’s personal archive), this collection is what Lone Justice fans have been waiting for. This Is Lone Justice: The Vaught Tapes, 1983 takes us back to a time when music had an energy that was hard to contain.

Thanks to that studio in Van Nuys, Calif., and this release, Justice has been served!

Track Listing
1. Nothing Can Stop My Loving You
2. Jackson
3. Soap, Soul and Salvation
4. The Grapes of Wrath
5. Dustbowl Depression Time
6. Rattlesnake Mama
7. Vigilante
8. Working Man’s Blues
9. Cactus Rose
10. When Love Comes Home to Stay
11. Cottonbelt
12. This World is Not My Home

All tracks previously unissued except # 6, 8 & 12

Refreshing to see people who aren't me talking about Tami Neilson.

Yep yep, I gotta try to catch up with her. Meanwhile, speaking of Minton Sparks, here's my blogged ballot comments:

Minton Sparks, Gold Digger: As live, the music of her spoken word x JJ's guitar (with a bit of studio support, since they happen to be in a studio for this gig). Down home truths, itchy empathy, unspoken and unsung 'til now: "Every line is written on the body," and how.
Expanded for later exploitation:
Minton Sparks is a story-telling poet with an ear for the music in spoken words. She's often held forth with guitarist John Jackson, who toured with Dylan long enough to be prepared at all times, so Live At Station Inn is a good place to start.
Studio arrangements ride along nicely too, and she's sure got a way with a beat. This fall's Gold Digger delivers more down home truths in itchy empathy: "Every line is written on the body," and how. (If had to pick one for a comp, might possibly be "Tennessee Prison For Women," which is like a slice of Orange Is The New Black, although seems even more like based on her teaching there, or is that just a illusion of her deft realness)(could check the bio to see if she actually taught in such a place---it's not unusual---but the music's the thing.

steve earle discovers taylor swift:

http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/steve-earle-winery-terraplane-quinn-tsan-interview/Content?oid=16275924

I saw Taylor do "Mean" that night at the Grammys, and I went "Oh!" She's writing about herself, and every teenage girl in the world can relate to it because they've experienced that too. That's the job, man. And I've kind of been a fan ever since.

xxxpost Also, the aforementioned Mme. LaVere:

Amy LaVere, Runaway's Diary: her signature soft soprano sounds really young here, conveying "I can't believe I'm doing this," also "I'm doing this, wow!" and always observant, drawing back a little more whenever things get too gnarly--nevertheless, scary ol street dude Townes Van Zandt drops science in her face, via song, not personal appearance(good selection and sequencing of originals and covers).

Wonder if Taylor Swift's heard that album? Think she might dig.

And finally, since Indexed was wondering and I didn't post anything about them on RC 2014, the Delines:

The Delines, Colfax: Starts with a proposal to skip work, just cruise right past it with that warm electric piano, still clinking like a drink last night, ready to pick the steel guitar on yonder corner, just a few turns away. Not hung over, maybe building up a tolerance, with percentages of desperation and/or desolation as fuel, mileage, habit, neighborhood---anyway, craving something more. Amy Boone proposed to her boss, blues novelist/lifercore Richmond Fontaine leader Willy Vlautin, that he write songs for her to sing lead on, and he did, intrigued by the possibilities and emerging results. So the downchild's possible side-trips get subliminal excitement added to the blend: not a tiger in your tank, but a certain sense of discovery, plain enough to see. The seats are lived-in; the springs are still good.
(Take-away associations also incl. bright gray light passing through the window of a diner, where Piper Laurie and Paul Newman, pretty as lucky pennies, are young and not young, talking and settling in a booth, getting closer to Kentucky all the time [The Hustler].)
Meanwhile, back in the Colfax tracks, another guy can't be satisfied, has to keep picking up in the sticks and moving on, to find another place to argue with his wife, and maybe blame her for. In the near-title song, a woman wakes up to another very late-early call; she has to leave her husband and kids to fend for themselves in the coming day's whatever, as she goes looking for her brother once again, up and down Colfax Avenue, among the aftershocks of war, triggered again by who knows what, or if they ever really stop. That one ends a little too abruptly for me, with the built-in riskiness of an approach (vs. "closure") also favored by Drive-By Truckers, also with mixed results (Delines debut shares DBT's equally unlikely, late-blooming first-listen's-the-charm of their 2010 The Big To-Do, and now English Oceans finds even more of its own self in momentum)(but also now: too rock 'n' roll even for Countryoid, so they've been moved to the Pazz & Jop Top Ten, like Lydia Loveless, despite all y'all's voices and POVs).
Delines don't decline, except for certain invitations (def incl. imitations), while cruising sweetened entrophy right to the end of this thing, gliding, currently fretless, by the signage and other helpful marks, on another smog-enhanced, if not beautifully polluted morning in the city, when the weather still seems good enough, ditto the parking place, not too far from their designated destination…. (there's your ellipsis for the quarter).

Thanks dow.

Really digging this throwback Tami Neilson honky tonk record. Man does she do Patsy Cline to a T or what ("Texas" especially)? Love the guitar sounds too.

Think she'll do okay in Nashville Scene round-up, to be posted 1-22/
Thirty Tigers ‏@ThirtyTigers 7m7 minutes ago
Now @leeannwomack is up singing with the @mccrarysisters and absolutely killing it! #RockMySoul #Nashville @npt8 Nashville PBS fundraising special, starring the Fairfield Four (one of 'em is the amazing McCrary Sisters' Dad).

i missed this: I grew up around Reverend McCrary. Amazing man, 40's/50's Fairfield were an amazing group and they set an absolutely ruinously high standard for live performance in my preteen mind.

Also here's a first skim: http://open.spotify.com/user/forksclovetofu/playlist/0UovNZH0gkGMeUyADHp9PU

Maybe it will be shown again, or is online---PBS is pretty good about preserving shows, esp. related to fundraising. Yeah, the Fairfield Four have been pretty amazing every time I've heard 'em. Check the Music City Roots archives too.

Enjoying Tami Neilson's "The Kitchen Table Sessions Volume II" as well. The a cappella cover of "Sweet Dreams" is a stunner. Thanks again for the recommendation, guys.

Didn't vote in Himes' poll, but here are my album picks for 2014. For what it's worth, the Cantrell album was something I didn't expect to like so much, but she inhabits her subject and sings and arranges cannily. I liked Marty Stuart's double record, but in the end, he just isn't much of a singer, so the persona didn't come thru, though the music was pretty special, mainly a matter of electric guitars and songwriting that split the diff between pastiche and originality.

1. Little Big Town--Pain Killer
2. Angaleena Presley--American Middle Class
3. Lee Ann Womack--The Way I'm Livin'
4. Dierks Bentley--Riser
5. Carlene Carter--Carter Girl
6. Frankie Ballard--Sunshine & Whiskey
7. Sam Hunt--Montevallo
8. Laura Cantrell-No Place There from Here
9. Don Williams-Reflections
10. Miranda Lambert--Platinum

Didn't much care for Sturgill's record, btw. I think he sounds repressed, myself.

Enjoying Tami Neilson's "The Kitchen Table Sessions Volume II" as well. The a cappella cover of "Sweet Dreams" is a stunner. Thanks again for the recommendation, guys.

Seconded

Just heard a touring muso on the radio mention being "in the moment" (vs. playing exactly the same show wherever you go, like a big ol' touring disc). Couldn't resist listening to Willie & Bobbie's xpost December Day one more time. The flow of all this*, while Willia and a few other guys stand around Bobbie's piano, still sounds much more in the moment than seamlessly edited... Still streaming here, minus the commercials of free Spotify---just scroll down past the new Robert Earl Keen, Ryan Bingham, and others I'll get to d'rectly (or not):
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/arts/music/pressplay.html?state=-1

*1. Alexander's Ragtime Band 2:42
2. Permanently Lonely 4:21
3. What'll I Do 3:30 $
4. Summer of Roses / December Day 3:11
5. Nuages 3:22
6. Mona Lisa 3:30
7. I Don't Know Where I Am Today 2:25
8. Amnesia 2:31
9. Who'll Buy My Memories? 2:46
10. The Anniversary Song 2:12
11. Laws of Nature 5:39
12. Walkin' 3:40
13. Always 2:39
14. I Let My Mind Wander 3:09
15. Is the Better Part Over 2:41
16. My Own Peculiar Way 4:11
17. Sad Songs and Waltzes 2:44
18. Ou Es-Tu Mon Amour / I Never Cared for You 5:23

@barelywashed AKA Barry Walsh tweets that time my son tried on Waylon's hat:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B9HiuhoIUAEpOlQ.jpg:large

Finally starting to catch up to xpost Tami Neilsen: from her Spotify stash, so far I've listened to the latest, 2014's Dynamite! and yep The Kitchen Sessions Vol.2, which is, speaking of "in the moment," def takes me through each note and syllable--like Raitt at her best, though actual sound is more like Ronstadt's voice at times, or yeah Cline's: the deeper, richer stirring of the tones, though she's got a good, unshowy higher range too.
Despite the title, it's as produced as it needs to be, jangly country-folk-rock in a late-60s/dawn of the 70s way, though the "kitchen table" thing does apply re sittin' and thinkin', confidentially direct address. Though it's actually about leaving home (following a guy pretty far, in some songs), she finds that home hasn't left her in "This Town": if she gets off the bus and you're there, you suck. You're a citizen, a resident, "standin' still while I crashed and burned," like the guy in the last town, and the first town, where prying eyes, incl. sympathetic ones, were and always will be too much. "The first thing I'll do when I get to this town/Is leave." Even more effective for following the sweetest, yet maybe most complex song,"Great Day," where she seems totally and happily at home, though in a way that doesn't necessarily bode well "The boy who stole a kiss and never gave it back/Still it's alright he makes me laugh," even before "This Town," she's reveling in "a great day to be loved"--by who? By that boy? By everybody in this hometown, sounds like--yet the way she holds certain notes and lets them change, there's a calling, a yearning for more, even/especially while she's luxuriating in love and the sounds she can make, feeling her young powers a-buddin.'
Ph yeah, and in between those two songs, there's the persistent pursuit of "One Thing," not too fast, but she's growing vocal (and a few other) overdubs without missing a beat, in a way I don't think I've ever heard anybody else do.

Not that every track has the impact of those three, but still (The Kitchen Table Sessions Vol.2 is the one I'm talking about).

More antipodalacana,via Australia's Cyndi Boste: the following excerpt from "Alias In Wonderland" (Voice round-up of cosmic cowgirls, also incl. Maria McKee, Mary McCaslin, and others)goes wayyy back, but Home Truths was a breakthrough, and still sounds good on Spotify. Sounds kinda like Neilsen, but with def. more of a rough edge, and the Aussie accent at times, but not too nasal or lockjawed:

...Further West, Cyndi Boste has been called "the Lucinda Williams of Australia." And both artists do bear down, on what could otherwise easily remain mere backwatery blues-mindedness. But Car Wheels on a Gravel Road usually works best when Lucinda looks up from her road maps, and lets the music unwind, even snake around some. On Home Truths, Cyndi keeps playing her cards (hungry textures, tiny solos, rationed hooks) close to the vest, but her game's always gaining momentum. Meanwhile, she's gathering scattered impressions, impulses, hoarding insights and courage.

Then she cuts out, through the day's apparently endless scrutiny of things-as-they-are, into the desert night, where "new" things start to move around differently—she wanted it, she's got it. No time left, even after "Daddy Comes Home," for the world to end, or begin. The deep rich voice intensifies its clipped delivery of key phrases. These click on by, like slide shows, empty chambers, telephone poles. Hello Operator, she's making a lonnnggg distance call.

Austin City Limits retweeted
The Boot ‏@thebootdotcom 15h15 hours ago
@EmmylouSongbird and @WillieNelson did a BEAUTIFUL version of #Crazy on @ACLTV! WATCH:
http://theboot.com/emmylou-harris-willie-nelson-crazy-austin-city-limits/

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B-EGdWACIAAJRC1.jpg

Waymore & Buddeh

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B-pVIzZUIAEAccp.jpg

Tonight's Music City Roots incl. Jamey Johnson, James House, Jonell Mosser, Lisa Oliver Gray, Tommy Womack.
Starts 7 Central, 'til a hair past 9:30-ish, probably. You'll see the livestream vid link staring you in the chin; audio-only is bottom right:
http://musiccityroots.com/events/wednesday-february-25th/
It'll be archived, if they're still doing that (haven't checked lately, but seems likely, unless the new deal with PBS says otherwise).

Jeez sorry, forgot how tricky it can be to get the radio stream; if you have trouble, try this: Streamdb4web.securenetsystems.net/v5/WHPYFM Or just stream the video direct from musiccoturoots.com

May only work on firefox, if at all, sorry.

Actually just go hear and click on Listen Live: http://www.hippieradio945.com/

Instead of staying for Jamey Johnson's set, I switched to Nashville the immortal series, thinking I'd catch him on the download, but it's messed up (so is last week's). Maybe I'll try the video, but did hear Janelle Mosser, who's worn several hats, and now as co-writer, demo singer, sometime headliner, switches styles from song to song (writing and arrangement-wise. but her voice provides continuity), making it seem easy. Which is maybe why she isn't a star, no heart-on-sleeve, although she doesn't seem insincere.
James House's vocal approach, on the other hand, brings a solemn soap opry sinkful 'o' suds, though not in a fun way, to original and co-written material for the stars.
Tommy Womack has a clever, vernacular, busking, medicine show way with words, seemingly loose, but never getting asymmetrical about it. He's a bit too Tom Sawyer slick sometimes, but keeps me listening.

First newsletter from Rodney Crowell in quite a while:
February, 2015

I have an unhealthy disrespect for ice. Approaching patches of it like a Dutch speed skater in orange crocs has been my downfall. I’m presently sporting a sore backside and neck-bone as proof. You’d think I’d learn.

The month of February 2015 started in Glasgow, Scotland. The Trans-Atlantic-Sessions. As one of five singers and a cast of wonderfully crazy Celtic and American musicians, some of the best I’ve ever worked with, I spent a fortnight pooling talent and belly laughing at the absurdities of life on the British motorways. It could go down as one of the more memorable times in my professional life.

Briefly before the show in London, I was introduced to a famous guitar player and was surprised how dry mouthed it left me. Which set me to thinking about whether it was this person's fame or greatness that made me nervous. It was, of course, his greatness. My ex-father-in-law was a world famous performer. We once spoke at length in the early eighties about achieving greatness. He said one of the downsides of his success was how little time it left him to devote to becoming a better artist, and wasn’t sure if it was in the cards to ever find it again. To which I blurted out, “Man if you’re still having doubts, I’m screwed.”

"We’re all screwed,” he said, with a laugh, “self-doubt comes with the territory.”

Interestingly, his recording of the song “Hurt,” which was his very last, is, I believe, the best performance of his entire career.

Nowadays I don’t feel the pressure to prove myself as much as I did back then. (Which isn’t to say that creating museum quality art isn’t still the goal. It is.) The obsession to make a name for myself has more or less given way to an exquisite longing to experience the feeling of knowing I’ve created something, be it large or small, that will outlive me. Meeting the famous guitar player simply reminded me how far I still have to go. Perhaps the dry mouth was the result of a resounding gulp.

All that said, I reckon it’s obvious that I’m back in the business of hollering at you once a month. When toward the end of last year it filtered through to me that an old friend had accused me of being full-of-shit and not caring about the little people, I had to take a look at what I was doing in order to decide if there was any truth in the accusation. Probably some. But I honestly don’t know anyone I’d call little. And whether I’m full of shit or not is irrelevant. I love an audience.

And I’ve got something to say. Which is this: I recently heard an album of ten Ben Bullington songs recorded by Darrell Scott. It is a masterwork. Get hold of this record as soon as it comes out. It’ll be released in late spring---as will the new Emmylou and Rodney album. Which is also pretty darned good.---Rodney

Mavericks sporting new alb, streaming soaring live set (archive sounding great so far) on this week's Beale Street Caravan (also: saxman Jim Spake on great honkers, wailers) http://bit.ly/1BrKfG2

Speaking of Mavericks, Mono is very catchy (get it?), for the most part, with some equally distinctive ballads, though a couple of mid-to-slower tempo tracks could use lyrical turns. Lyrics are no prob on, for inst, the Latin ska numbers, and the closer, "Nitty Gritty," turns out to be, just like I hoped, an excellent cover of the bouncy Sir Doug song, with Augie Meyers guesting, I think.

Charles EstenVerified account ‏@CharlesEsten
So honored to sing the beautiful "The Rivers Between Us Are Deep" by our friend, Hall of Fame songwriter @JDSouther & Erik Kaz. #ThanksWatty
Watty, Souther's character, was Rayna's mom's secret musical lover, may have gotten her killed by jealous dad or "dad," since on Nashville the immortal series, musical biologicals are not uncommon. Case in point of course, Esten's character, guitarist-singer-songwriter (in that professional order, usually) Deacon Clayborn, the formerly hard-livin', now liver-needin' musical lover of Rayna (Connie Britton). He's also the biological father of her older daughter---but this impromptu reunion duet on the stage of the Opry brings back a little chill, the musical charisma that made them believable as a country-legendary couple, way back at the beginning of this thing, and central to it---got me hooked on a sometimes torturous soaper, which nowadays tends to use song-fragments as reviving rations, just enough to keep me going. But this song, this singing, holy moly. Oh, whut next.

x-post
Mono is very catchy (get it?),

Looking forward to your next stand-up comedy gig

http://d31hzlhk6di2h5.cloudfront.net/20150306/8e/eb/c2/f0/e8ff1d1eb94ea8519e11d33f_439x440.jpg

Lee Ann Womack’s Trouble In Mind
Limited 3-Song Vinyl w Richard Bennett for Record Store Day April 18
(Nashville, Tenn.) — March 6, 2015 — Lee Ann Womack wanted to do something special for Record Store Day, something that would strip the music down to its essence. Talking with husband/producer Frank Liddell, they decided to use one voice/one instrument. They called on Mark Knopfler/Steve Earle vet Richard Bennett, who brought several of his vintage guitars. The pair recorded several songs in an afternoon – and picked the best three for Trouble In Mind, a limited edition 12” vinyl.
“I think independent record stores are so important,” Womack says. “It’s the last temple of music you can take home... A place where people come looking for the rare, for the special or even just the record they have to buy one more time. But I love the idea of people selling records, talking about what’s on them, getting turned on to cool music."
“I wanted to be part of Record Store Day last year, but we couldn’t get it together in time. So this year, we started early. I got to have Richard Bennett, who is one of those musicians who can get so much heart and tone out of his guitars, come to the house. It was just the two of us, and it was awesome!”
The three songs are the blues classic “Trouble in Mind,” Roger Miller’s semi-obscure “Where Have All The Average People Gone?” and Ralph Stanley’s bluegrass gospel “I’ve Just Seen The Rock of Ages.” Engineered by Grammy-nominated Chuck Ainlay and mastered by Paul Hamann at Suma Recording Studio, Trouble In Mind is Lee Ann Womack unadorned.
“I love the idea of mixing things up, but stripping them back,” says the woman whose first album in seven years, The Way I’m Livin’, was nominated for Best Country Album at the 2015 Grammy Awards. “When you make things that basic, you can hear all the commonalities between, say, Lightnin’ Hopkins and Ralph Stanley... When you make those connections, I think that’s when it gets interesting.”
Womack has spent the last year exploring new territory. Co-hosting the International Bluegrass Music Awards with Jerry Douglas, taking part in PBS’ “Rock My Soul” fundraising special with the Fairfield Four and the McCrary Sisters, Amos Lee, Buddy Miller and Lucinda Williams, taping a CMT “Crossroads” with John Legend, and recording with Ralph Stanley, the 6-time Country Music Association Award winner followed her heart and her muse.
Writing in the essay for the Nashville Scene’s Country Critics Poll, Geoff Himes said Livin’s “...a terrific album rooted in traditional country’s willingness to confront the realities of addiction, adultery, bad romantic choices and small-town blues.” With Trouble In Mind, the vocalist continues to explore the tortured, the saved and the in-between.
###
For more information:
Sugar Hill Records

can I sit next to her w/a martini

this impromptu reunion duet on the stage of the Opry brings back a little chill, the musical charisma that made them believable as a country-legendary couple, way back at the beginning of this thing, and central to it---got me hooked on a sometimes torturous soaper, which nowadays tends to use song-fragments as reviving rations, just enough to keep me going. But this song, this singing, holy moly. Oh, whut next.

whut next, dammit, is that after a winter run of exactly five episodes, "nashville," whose scheduling has always seemed a bit seat-of-the-pants, is going back on hiatus. grrr. looks like they're coming back sometime in april, though the lack of an "upcoming on nashville" segment after this week's episode made me wonder if they've filmed anything yet. i really liked that rayna/deacon duet, and i kinda liked the rocking love song that the totally annoying scarlett, somewhat annoying gunnar and i-actually-like-him avery did in their opening set for rascal flatts. but the tune that really floored me this mini-season was the one that somewhat annoying gunnar and formerly-annoying-but-now-sympathetic luke wrote a couple weeks ago ("i can't help my heart"?) after luke finally admitted he's still pining for reyna. i'm still in love with the music on this terrible show that i can't stop watching.

wait, i'm wrong about one thing, gunnar isn't somewhat annoying. he's totally annoying.

via alfred, new ashley monroe
http://tasteofcountry.com/ashley-monroe-on-to-something-good/

went to the country 2 country festival in london last night: brandy clark, lee ann womack, florida georgia line, luke bryan. it was like going to one of the best shows ever followed by one of the worst; i know as a britisher i'm insulated from bro-country so while i knew it was bad i really didn't realise just how incredible terrible it is.

otoh womack is such a magnetic performer and clark's diffidence still serves the songs well live; her new stuff sounded just as brilliant, and she did an amazing, stripped-down version of "better dig two"

This is slightly off topic, but this post from Tami Neilson just tugged at my heart.

http://i.imgur.com/9Duu49Q.png

Yeah, looking fwd to that. Mavis did a concert in Montgomery the night before Obama came for the 50th Anniversary march in Selma, with the Staples' original "I'll Take You There" echoing across the bridge.
Speaking of Nashville:

Lennon and MaisyVerified account ‏@lennonandmaisy

"Ew.. They're both so desperate" Maisy's take on Jeff and Layla haha @aubreypeeples @theoliverhudson

also speaking of "nashville," i have since discovered that "i can't help my heart," which i mentioned a few posts ago, is a sarah buxton song. she seems to be one of their go-to's, and good for her (and good for the show). only version of hers i could find on youtube is live, just her and a guitarist. luke wheeler's version is better.

The CD's worth getting for the printed lyrics (also if you're getting tired of backing up back-ups of your back-ups of your back-ups). Not all of 'em come through the singing, not initially, although the way those bits gradually emerge can be quite an experience---and some of it, enough, I guess, I got right off. The combination of sensibilities isn't like Lina/Lila times her great friend and rival for life, Elena/Lenu Greco, because DeMent's persona is something else (but come to think of it, Anna A. can seem like both the Ferrante frenemies at once, scornful and dismissive and anxious and romantic, arguing, fighting with herself to toughen up for the next fool to come passing along, someday, beyond mere possibility)

Not to say that there might not be a lot more to Akhmatova than the way she (so far) comes across to me, based on this selection of translated poems, and the way they sound here.

http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/the_music_club/features/2015/music_club_2015/country_radio_s_focus_on_bro_country_has_sidelined_more_than_just_women.html

From Slate's critics discussion for 2015, critc Jewly Hight weighs in on bro country, tomatoes, and more --

country singers like Thomas Rhett and Brett Eldredge had already gone into suave, soul-pop loverman mode on their latest albums. Just this week I saw Eldredge play up his smooth crooning chops at a Sinatra-styled industry soirée. I’ve also been noticing an uptick in country slow jams, from Eric Church’s “Like a Wrecking Ball,” a track from The Outsiders that wasn’t released as a single until this year, to Luke Bryan’s “Strip It Down” and Carrie Underwood’s “Heartbeat.”

Part of what’s going on, I think, is an expansion into more uptown or intentionally adult-sounding modes of expression, perhaps even some implicit pushback against the perception that contemporary country seduction is boorish and juvenile. There’s certainly a classist layer to those readings, as Carl noted earlier this year. It’s also worth considering how these musical moves are re-enacting the cycle by which country ups its sonic progressiveness through borrowing from soul and R&B traditions, a fraught history of racial-musical exchange that Charles Hughes masterfully unpacks in this year’s Country Soul: Making Music and Making Race in the American South.

more from jewly hight:

the rise of the country-music super producer

I haven't been able to like Kelsea Ballerini like lots of peers -- she sounds false to me. I love "Crash and Burn" and haven't gotten tired of Dierks Bentley's "Say You Do."

sad.

xp to that article

if Rhett is bro, he's pitching and setting a very appealing example/standard: frisky, but not boorish (or bland). Also, he's good for a whole album, unlike most designated bros. I try to keep an open ear and mind; only Florida-Georgia seem hopeless, but maybe only because I can't stand to listen long enough to get to the good stuff.

Tim McGraw, Damn Country Music: Still young enough to be restless and hopeful, even when lyrics sugest this might also be his version of midlife crisis (or even on the more excitingly uneven Deluxe Edition of Sundown Heaven Town's title track, middle-aged crazy). Always smart enough to be grateful for whatever he can get---and lose, but hey it's another experience. Life, incl. music, keeps him on his toes, though sometimes promising starts nudge me toward alleged hooks via too-slick surfaces, too quickly and repetitively, always on the verge of getting it on. Well, that's life too, especially for us longterm fans. Still, the best tracks combine a supple way with close studies, though not discernibly direct lifts from 80s poptronic radio hits----maybe the Police, Billy Ocean, Springsteen---also r&b, early-Tim Hat Country widescreen contemplation--- and especially all of the above on "Want You Back," which is also, what? Chromatic? Caribbean? With steel guitars and something chipping away at the edge of my headphones too---Oh yeah, he's even implicitly if grudgingly grateful to "damn country music," judging by the degree to which he withholds vociferation, while acknowledging, candidly but not tearfully, that he pulled up "roots," broke his mama's and "an angel's heart, on the way outta town"---all in a day's work when you're ready for the Big Time, "bleedin' Yes and hearin' no," finding that your best just seems "so-so." Yet he doesn't deny that he's made it, and keeps on earning his keep. Good enough.
So I shouldn't have been surprised that even "Humble and Kind," which starts with atypically up-front ick, soon goes for the gusto, with no undue jolts, just the dues.

I haven't liked any McGraw single since "Meanwhile Back at Mama's."

Another one for us diehards: Toby Keith, 35 mph Town, predictable as you'd suspect, incl. the novelty reviewer-bait lead-off, "Drunk Americans," which sways in a semi-Irish manner, "We all sing it wrong, but we all sing along," "we" incl. "mudflaps and bourbons, ballcaps and turbans....CEOs, GEDs...FBI....we don't give a rat's ass, if you are a/Democrat or a/Republican, we're just all Drunk Americans." The title track immediately does an about-face---of sorts though for once his diction seems odd on some of it: ever'body's "peeing?" and "suing," pretty sure that's right, when they should be getting the Bible out, because it says Christians don't sue, or so some Christians have told me (can't find that bit in it, but okay). Like the music alright, especially something like a slow virtual windmill, so guess he's okay with alternative resources.

"Good Gets Here" yodels some lyrics like Yoakam, but the music is faster, leaner (than Hagar, anyway, who made at least one solo album with horns that this somehow brings to mind). The other rockin' one, with more of a Hagaresque attitude, is "10 Foot Pole," and it's not that he wouldn't touch his ex-fiancee with one, but he "couldn't," because her momma and daddy would never let him get that close, not no more. "You shoulda seen us all at the mall!"

His power-crooner voice is still splendid on three ballads, at least one of which would be prom-bait 20-odd years ago.

Couple Buffet songs or clones thereof, because such a shortage.

He also delivers good vox on "Drunk Americans" and all the others I can stand to listen to, which is 7 out of 10, but some of the good 'uns are half-good/-assed in terms of keeping me interested, even for 33 minutes (and remember I'm a diehard). Brevity is the soul of wit, but he's more of a wag, and so very very very proud of it. Oh well, I'm used to it. Uncle Tobe, home for the holidays. Doesn't really drink, but it's a good subject, he finds.

One much fresher, only in part because she's much younger: Brandi Carlile, The Firewatcher's Daughter. Nominated for an Americana Grammy; keep thinking she did a CMT Crossroads session with Elton John, but (she and EJ did something else, right?) but no, CMT was Eltie and Ryan Adams. Same idea, though: catchy drama in denim--this is maybe mostly acoustic, but pushy and electric where it counte, especially on "Mainstream Kid< which burns its way through to the floating, observant, recuperative "Beginning To Feel The Years," and "Blood Muscle Skin and Bone," which somehow natcherly follows the pioneer workbreak of "Wilder (We're Chained"---"and when everything else is gone, our love will still remain"--with something like The Band Perry mixing their glam handclaps, and maybe some cowbell, with post-punk rhythm guitar durr-durr-durr, little train chugging by (not too far from the "Petticoat Junction" theme, come to think of it)
It's all hard-won wisdom, philosophical, sometimes rationalizing, sometimes declaiming, clawed back from the brink, while chasing love, and still capable of extravagant (brandy-rich, costly) moves. Rueful and even twangy enough, occasionally, to qualify as young Americana, if not quite young country, as much (but if CMT ever does another Crossroads, I wouldn't be surprised to see her on there---with---?)

Crystal Leww on 2k15 bro-country:

http://crystalleww.tumblr.com/post/135715784972/the-evolution-of-bro-country-in-2015

hiya! Here are my picks:

https://humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2015/12/23/best-country-songs-of-2015/

http://www.savingcountrymusic.com/dave-cobbs-upcoming-the-southern-family-concept-album-includes-incredible-list-of-talent

Record producer Dave Cobb is sitting on top of the world at the moment after being involved in nearly every major upsurging project in country and roots music for the last two consecutive years, and without any sign of letting up anytime soon. From Chris Stapleton’s Traveller, to Jason Isbell’s Southeastern and Something More Than Free, to Sturgill Simpson’s Metamodern Sounds in Country Music and so many more, Dave Cobb’s name is glowing hot at the moment, and anything he touches deserves extra attention from listeners.

But it’s not just listeners who are taking notice of Dave Cobb’s talent. In April, he signed a deal with Elektra Records out of New York to launch and A&R-style partnership with the Warner Music imprint. The deal allows Cobb to sign artists and develop talent as part of his producing duties. One of the first artists Cobb worked with under the new arrangement was Anderson East.

But there’s something much interesting brewing that’s bigger than any one artist at the moment—an expansive concept record dealing with artists’ experiences growing up in the South. The project was first hinted at in April when the new Elektra deal was signed, and since then there’s been murmurings about Cobb’s concept record here and there, but now we’re finally beginning to piece together the details.

Called Southern Family, the album will involve contributions from:

• Morgane Stapleton (with Chris Stapleton) Holly Williams • Jamey Johnson • Miranda Lambert • Rich Robinson (The Black Crowes) • Zac Brown • Jason Isbell • Shooter Jennings • Brandy Clark • John Paul White (The Civil Wars) • Anderson East • Brent Cobb

Most of these artists have worked with Cobb before. He’s currently working on a record with Holly Williams that is expected in 2016. Brent Cobb is a songwriter who also happens to be a cousin of Dave. And there may be more names yet to be announced. The record was briefly touched on in a new interview with Cobb on NPR.

The album is partly inspired by the 1978 Civil War concept album White Mansions, which featured Waylon Jennings, Jessi Colter, guitar playing by Eric Clapton, and followed the story of four main characters as they narrated their perspective on the Civil War from a Southern’s perspective.

It will be released March 18th.

TRACK LIST:

southern-familyJohn Paul White – “Simple Song”
Jason Isbell – “God Is A Working Man”
Brent Cobb – “Down Home”
Miranda Lambert – “Sweet By and By”
Morgane Stapleton (with Chris Stapleton) – “You Are My Sunshine”
Zac Brown – “Grandma’s Garden”
Jamey Johnson – “Mama’s Table”
Anderson East – “Learning”
Holly Williams – “Settle Down”
Brandy Clark – “I Cried”
Shooter Jennings – “Can You Come Over?”
Rich Robinson – “The Way Home”

I'd rather hear about the experiences of a country fan growing up outside the South---in the backside of the semi-ex-Soviet Union, Beverly Hills, a mining colony on a moon of Saturn---but will try to keep an open mind. Hopefully Shooter will keep thangs lively with one of his Tea Party/Alex Jones-type scenarios.

Kacey Musgraves, Pagent Material: presents herself here as so down-to-earn and wholesome and normal and been-around-just-enough-to-have-uncommon-common-sense, that she only has two problems: one is that her previously noticeable unreliable ear for classic country-worthy cliches now leads her very far into friendly righteous triteness most suitable for bumper stickers, home schooling, 69 cent greeting cards, and Facebook; the other problem is that she "can't smile when I don't feel it inside," or words to that effect.
The first prob is chronic in the bad sense, even though she may still be okay with reefer, judging by one of the few tracks I like, "Die Fun" (also reasonably okay with most of the opener, "High Time," and certainly the penultimate "Fine"---ones where she trusts the melodies, more than Deep Thoughts, to look around and guide the listener, also her). It's so chronic that it creates a distracting context for the unlisted closer, "Are You Sure," a Willie Nelson rarity, rescued for this sufficiently poignant duet with the man himself. Fortunately there's a video going around, rescuing the track from this album.
Oh, yeah, and not smiling when she don't feel it could is at least potentially a major problem, very promising re song material, but unrealized here.
I know, I hope, that musical magicians such as Womack and Rimes may glimpse other potential here, presently unavailable to mere me, but meanwhile, much of it is almost unbearably painful to listen to---in this case, because of triteness, but that does make it country, in its own peculiar way.

"distracting context" because it underlines the degree of righteousness in the lyrics, distracts from the counselling (poignant)voice of experience.

I found Pagent Material unbearable too.

Still exploring a few year-end lists, but my favorite country albums of 2015, in no particular order:

Eric Church - Mr Misunderstood
Chris Stapleton - Traveller
Maren Morris - s/t EP
The Turnpike Troubadours - s/t
Kacey Musgraves - Pageant Material
Maddie & Tae - Start Here
Cam - Untamed

Honorable Mentions
Whitey Morgan & the 78s - Sonic Ranch
Ashley Monroe - The Blade
Shovels & Rope - Busted Jukebox, Vol 1
Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell - The Traveling Kind

Looking back over this year's RC, I was reminded that several of y'all turned me on to Tami Neilson, thanks. Her 2015 album, Don't Be Afraid (all original material from the Neilsons and friends, I think),seems somewhat Ronstadtian, with (somewhat) mixed results: blues-gospeloid belting I find distractingly generic, but when she eases back just a hair, we get some fine ballads (and occasional upper tempos): country-bluesy-soulful, sometimes w jazz potential and Latin turns (could imagine Freddy Fender doing a couple of these). Her Bandcamp is a little balky tonight, but well-worth the effort:
http://tamineilson.bandcamp.com/

I'm wrapping this thread up for the year. If I missed something or if a track comes available sometime in the future, bump here to let me know and I'll add.

Rolling Country 2015 Thread Spotify Playlist

Had to take a break before the rest of that, but speaking of St. Vincent, "Born Again Teen" is like her x Motown: ah, those youthful mood swings, maybe especially on acid. But/and the mirror sisters of Lucious eventually rock their way to higher ground, for another smoke break anyway: "It's all a manual that we've been writing, a future instructional guide / if we skipped ahead to our pre-fulfilled dreams, we'd be lost without our own advice." Ha, dood one.

Wrong thread, sorry! That was about Good Grief, new album by Lucius (not country, but not bad)