Rolling Country 2008 Thread

and that should be Kelly Willis, not Willie (whose new record's out next week). Many of my colleagues cite Translated from Love as a really good record, but apart from her Stooges cover I simply don't hear it. She sings well enough, but the attempted pop of that record--by producer Chuck Prophet, whose latest record belongs in the winners' list if Lucinda's does--didn't cut it, in my book. and right, Frank--by any measure, seems to me, Carrie was far more in the public eye this year than Miranda, whose record I liked but which seems like product as much as Carrie's does, and I don't mean that in a pejorative way. and, as far as being influenced by Hatchet as opposed to Skynyrd--this is hair-splitting. If you talked to Eddie Montgomery or Troy Gentry they'd say they were just into Southern rock, period; and whatever, "Flirtin' with Disaster" is a stoopid song, but so what? These musicians are not guys who sit around and make distinctions between marginally differentiated Southern rock! They're just trying to make a buck playing what they know, and what they know--MG, at least--is the same thing I knew growing up, where Wet Willie, Marshall Tucker, the Allmans, Skynyrd, Molly Hatchet and .38 Special were part and parcel of the same thing. As for Raitt's influence, there are plenty of vaguely bluesy alt-country mamas plying their trade in Nashville--Jewly Hight, Amanda White. but they're not gonna get on the radio.

Haha I have been buying Firefall LPs (pre-'80), like they're going out of fashion, which is ironic since they went out of fashion a long time ago. (A couple of those Rick Roberts Burrito Brothers LPs > that second Burritos record wiv Gram on it, and > changes to >>>>>>>>>>> if you take "Wild Horses" out of the equation).

Last time I watched CMT, which was a few months back, it occurred to me that the then-current Little Big Town single, whatever that was, sounded like Firefall. Or at least sounded like the platonic ideal of a Firefall, which is to say a c0ke-sheeny smooth country rock. But the only other person I mentioned this to looked at me as sceptically as you would be right now, if you could see me. So, uh.

and, I can't find the poll's comments anywhere online, but I'll try again today. I'll get a hard copy of the paper and maybe we'll see, then.

Comments are only online*, I think.

*If even that.

(Is it against the law for Toby to chart on these polls these days?)

Firefall's "Cinderella" is the bleakest breakup song ever made: a soul-crushing eff-you to a woman pregnant after a one-night stand. The fact that this got played on the radio when I was a kid is just mind-blowing.

"Strange Way" is also a woman-hating blowoff song, fascinating but not quite as bleak. Also a great flute solo.

As for 2008, I have two theories about Cat Power: a) her new one is basically an alt.country record, and b) she is actually a ghost singing from beyond the grave. Anyone?

double xpost

OK, listening to Firefall right now, and I really like the arrangements and tunes! White quiet storm! But the lead vocals don't cut it (maybe that's a bit unfair, since YouTube rips are often inferior). And I actually don't think I've heard these before.

(Yeah, I was noticing the lack of Toby. Do voters really think that Joe Nichols and Josh Turner sing better than Toby? Of course they could simply be preferring the material that those people sing.)

of vaguely bluesy alt-country mamas plying their trade in Nashville

Weirdly, a few years ago (like, mid/late '90s, when I don't believe the country charts were anywhere near as good as they are now, oddly enough), plenty of vaguely bluesy non-alt country mamas were getting played on CMT and, I assume, country radio -- Patty Loveless, Wynona, even Reba had bluesy hits, like one where she played a judge in the video I think. (K.T. Oslin/Terri Gibbs/Lacy Jay Dalton were earlier and better; Joe Dee Messina was later and better, but Joe Dee hasn't had a real hit for a while.) I feel there were other ones too. But my question here is not about distinctions of quality, but something that just occurred to me -- have female country hitmakers become less bluesy over, say, the past 10 years? Or are some names slipping my mind? (Again, you'd think that would make things worse, but I don't think it has. Was Patty Loveless actually ever interesting? I mainly associate her with that song "Jealous Bone," which was tolerable, I guess, but always seemed really pro forma to me.) (But wait, didn't Trisha Yearwood have some middling hit last year with a gospel chorus in it? And uh, what about Leann Rimes? Are they supposed to sound more like Pat Benatar than Bonnie Raitt, too?)

(Is it against the law for Toby to chart on these polls these days?)

Wasn't it always?

xpost: "Cinderella" acoustic, recently: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RPoMAhfxDg

(Actually, I have heard "You Are The Woman." Don't like it nearly as much as the others.)

Rissi Palmer's "Country Girl" is pretty bluesy. (Most bluesy thing on the album, I think.)

Xhuxk, maybe everyone decided to sound more like Pat Benatar than Bonnie Raitt.

how are Montgomery Gentry and Brooks & Dunn (etc.) more influenced by Hatchett than by Skynyrd?

Hatchett generally sounded more metal to me than Skynyrd (or MG or B&D), for one thing. So yeah, I'm not really sure how he would support this.

"Nothin' Better To Do" isn't all that unbluesy either (and did a lot better in this poll than it did on the charts).

Maybe what Geoffrey's really trying to say is that a lot of country sounds like '70s rock but not done very well (e.g., sounds like mediocre attempts to be Skynryd etc.). He'd still be wrong, but he'd make more sense.

It’s no news that a majority of consumers prefer reassurance and virtuosity. That’s the way it’s always been and the way it always will. But there has also always been a sizeable minority that prefers new challenges to further confirmation.

This is the line that bothers me the most. You don't think that most Dixie Chicks fans were getting reassurance of their previously held beliefs from "Not Ready to Make Nice"? If they are so willing to take on new challenges, do the liberals and non-Southerners really love to listen to songs glorifying southern lifestyles and Republican viewpoints? [I'm not saying that all the people who polled Dixie Chicks last year are liberals/anti-Bush, but I bet most of them were.] And why does he assume that the fans of mainstream country are merely getting confirmation from the songs they listen to? That's a pretty broad stroke.

Lastly, I'm not even sure what he's referring to as "challenging" in Lambert's lyrics. She likes booze and expresses strong feminist pride and doesn't take breakups. There are hundreds, if not thousands of other country songs with those same themes.

xhuxk: you're probably right, I've only been paying attention for the past few years (previously my assumption had been that past 1980 there wasn't much for me in country). I thought I had seen "Honkytonk U" crop up on some critics year-end but I am probably mis-remembering. OR thinking of sales charts. OR weblogs. Or something.

If they are so willing to take on new challenges, do the liberals and non-Southerners really love to listen to songs glorifying southern lifestyles and Republican viewpoints?

See also: Toby's showing in these polls. (Montgomery Gentry have done slightly better, I guess, but only slightly.) (Not that either Toby or MG are uncomplicated enough to be pegged as merely "Republican," but right -- it's silly to think that the Dixie Chicks' political stance is more "challenging" to voters who seem largely liberal.)

MG did finish #10 this year (when they released no album) and #6 last year among "best groups," fwiw.

And obviously, voters might be ignoring Toby (and MG, to an apparently less extent) for reasons other than their politics, though I'm not sure off hand what those reasons would be.

(It's possible Toby has placed once or twice on the charts in the past, Tim, but I believe that, even if he has, it's just been a very isolated blip or two.)

To be self-centered, here's where I coincided with the those who made the Scene lists (not nearly as many as last year).

Albums: Miranda's Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and Gretchen's One Of The Boys (But I only heard six of the albums I didn't vote for, so maybe I'd have voted for some others if I hadn't heard them, though I'm not betting on it. Would really like to hear the Teddy Thompson, given his version of "Psycho." I notice that he placed whereas his mom and dad didn't.)

Singles: LeAnn's "Nothin' Better To Do," Taylor's "Teardops On My Guitar," Miranda's "Gunpowder & Lead"; I would have voted for Keith Urban's "Stupid Boy" but I considered it 2006, and I should have voted it then. (I heard all the tracks that made it.)

Reissues: Stanley Brothers The Definitive Collection and Neil Young's Live At Massey Hall 1971 (which were probably the only two "reissues" I heard last year)

Male vocalists: zilch (and I'm amazed that John Anderson got shut out altogether, given how neotraditionalist stodgeroos like Strait and Paisley did so well)(OK, unfair to call Paisley a stodgeroo, given his tendency to score novelty hits)

Female vocalists: Yeah, all three of mine made it: Miranda, LeAnn, and Taylor (though that's the reverse order I voted them)

Duos and larger aggregations: Two out of my three: Little Big Town and Brooks & Dunn

Songwriters: Two out of my three: Miranda and Taylor. (I had to look up Jeffrey Steele in Wikipedia. He was once in a band called Boy Howdy and has written a Cascada song.)

New Acts: Sarah Johns (and I voted Taylor last time)

Overall Acts: Miranda

maybe I'd have voted for some others if I HAD heard them. (I have a strict policy of only voting for music I've heard.)

xp

voters who seem largely liberal

And on the other hand, I suppose I could be wrong about this, though I don't think I am. It's an alt-weekly poll, after all. And "music criticism" does somehow strike me as a profession that lures in liberals. Though I wouldn't be totally shocked if the Nashville Scene poll pulls in at least a slightly larger percentage of registered Republicans than the Pazz & Jop poll traditionally has.

amazed that John Anderson got shut out altogether, given how neotraditionalist stodgeroos like Strait...

Really -- and this goes way beyond this poll -- what the fuck is the deal with this? They started out right around the same time, and for a quarter-century, Anderson has been the more interesting artist. That's never even been a contest, as far as I can tell. But somehow, Strait (and you could throw in Randy Travis here too, and Alan Jackson too) got pegged as a hall-of-famer forever ago, and Anderson is, like, this weird footnote or something, if he's noticed at all. Is there anybody in Nashville who can explain that? Is it that Anderson (with his long hair and beard) was never considered clean-cut enough or (with his rock moves, from way early on) wasn't purist enough, even though he was clearly one of the guys who invented what used to be called "neo-traditionalism"? It makes no sense at all to me. And I have nothing particularly against Strait or Travis or Jackson; they're fine, occasionally even great. They just seem like teacher's pets, born with personalities, in comparison. Maybe that's the point?

And oh yeah, on vocals alone, Anderson has always been ten times the singer that Strait or Travis or Jackson are, too. So I'm stumped.

Not to disparge those guys singing skills; they're all clearly classic, in their way. But Jawn's drawl has a sense of humor and flesh that they all seem way too goody-goody for. He just sounds so much more rich. And vocally, he's lost none of that. (Now I'm starting to wish I'd voted for his album!)

And of course I meant:

They just seem like teacher's pets, born without personalities

My Taylor Swift piece in the Las Vegas Weekly

(Note that, in the Taylor Swift picture that the <i>Nashville Scene</i> prints with the poll results, Taylor's wearing the black gloves and playing the glitter guitar that the little girl in my piece wants for Christmas.)

"amazed that John Anderson got shut out altogether, given how neotraditionalist stodgeroos like Strait...

Really -- and this goes way beyond this poll -- what the fuck is the deal with this? They started out right around the same time, and for a quarter-century, Anderson has been the more interesting artist. That's never even been a contest, as far as I can tell. But somehow, Strait (and you could throw in Randy Travis here too, and Alan Jackson too) got pegged as a hall-of-famer forever ago, and Anderson is, like, this weird footnote or something, if he's noticed at all. Is there anybody in Nashville who can explain that? Is it that Anderson (with his long hair and beard) was never considered clean-cut enough or (with his rock moves, from way early on) wasn't purist enough, even though he was clearly one of the guys who invented what used to be called "neo-traditionalism"? It makes no sense at all to me. And I have nothing particularly against Strait or Travis or Jackson; they're fine, occasionally even great. They just seem like teacher's pets, born with personalities, in comparison. Maybe that's the point?"

Strangely enough, I've had this same conversation with a couple of people recently, mainly spurred on by the fact that Collector's Choice just rereleased a grip of Anderson's albums. I think the teacher's pet thing kinda nails it, as well as Anderson's physical appearance. Me and a friend were talking about why Anderson kept disappearing and reappearing on different labels while Strait's had so many hit singles in a row without ever having to make a comeback. (Really, who else was in Billboard's country charts in '83 who still has hit singles?)

Anderson's not afraid to play the fool every now and then, which is something Strait or Travis will NOT do. Could you see either man posing for an album cover, wearing a ten-gallon hat and a kimono? And calling it Tokyo, Oklahoma? (Maybe Alan Jackson, but not Strait or Travis.)

amazed that John Anderson got shut out altogether, given how neotraditionalist stodgeroos like Strait...

Really -- and this goes way beyond this poll -- what the fuck is the deal with this? They started out right around the same time, and for a quarter-century, Anderson has been the more interesting artist. That's never even been a contest, as far as I can tell. But somehow, Strait (and you could throw in Randy Travis here too, and Alan Jackson too) got pegged as a hall-of-famer forever ago, and Anderson is, like, this weird footnote or something, if he's noticed at all. Is there anybody in Nashville who can explain that? Is it that Anderson (with his long hair and beard) was never considered clean-cut enough or (with his rock moves, from way early on) wasn't purist enough, even though he was clearly one of the guys who invented what used to be called "neo-traditionalism"? It makes no sense at all to me. And I have nothing particularly against Strait or Travis or Jackson; they're fine, occasionally even great. They just seem like teacher's pets, born with personalities, in comparison. Maybe that's the point?

Strangely enough, I've had this same conversation with a couple of people recently, mainly spurred on by the fact that Collector's Choice just rereleased a grip of Anderson's albums. I think the teacher's pet thing kinda nails it, as well as Anderson's physical appearance. Me and a friend were talking about why Anderson kept disappearing and reappearing on different labels while Strait's had so many hit singles in a row without ever having to make a comeback. (Really, who else was in Billboard's country charts in '83 who still has hit singles?)

Anderson's not afraid to play the fool every now and then, which is something Strait or Travis will NOT do. Could you see either man posing for an album cover, wearing a ten-gallon hat and a kimono? And calling it Tokyo, Oklahoma? (Maybe Alan Jackson, but not Strait or Travis.)

sorry for the double post

Well, John Anderson was--is--a great fucking r&b singer as well as being a country singer. He's also very short; I was up close to him once at a club here. But he's probably better-looking than, er, John Conlee. Or Garth. I think he's amazing, sui generis, endlessly listenable. Here I am writing about the Collectors' Choice reissues of five of his '80s records

That's a good piece, Edd. (I actually read it on actual newsprint while walking down the street last week.) Bizarrely enough, though, I actually reviewed Eye of the Hurricane in the Voice the first time it came out -- one of my very first published pieces for money, September 4, 1984. Wish I had the technology to scan it in here! I was pretty iffy about the album, though I had loved his previous All The People Are Talkin'. And this line, which starts out talking about that '83 album, is directly relevant to a discussion we were having earlier today on this thread: "The three singles were the three hardest things on the album, and each successive single rocked harder than its predecessor; by the time the anti-DWI 'Let Somebody Else Drive' came on the radio, it seemed as if Ronnie Van Zant had found a way to rise from the grave and squeeze his way onto country stations in between Barbara Mandrell and Eddie Rabbit. At that rate, Eye of the Hurricane should have sounded like the Sex Pistols. It doesn't."

yeah, that's right--it could have been an even better record. I hear it as his pressures-of-fame record--John Anderson's Eye of a Hurricane, that is. I go back and forth between All the People Are Talkin' and Tokyo, Oklahoma as the best of those records. For days, I simply couldn't get the chorus of "Eye" out of my head, though--real Florida soul.

"Well, John Anderson was--is--a great fucking r&b singer as well as being a country singer."

Dave Alvin once said he met the late Wilbert Harrison (R&B singer of "Kansas City" fame) on an airplane back in the '80s. Said Harrison was thinking of suing Anderson for "Swingin'" because his voice was so similar to Harrison's...

Is "She Sure Got Away With My Heart" on Eye Of The Hurricane? I always thought that song sounded like some lost Carolina beach music classic...

"He's also very short; I was up close to him once at a club here. But he's probably better-looking than, er, John Conlee. Or Garth. I think he's amazing, sui generis, endlessly listenable. Here I am writing about the Collectors' Choice reissues of five of his '80s records"

When I first got into country music in 1990, Anderson was one of the first artists whose albums I bought, mainly because his LP's were always in the cutout bins (and I'd always loved "Swingin'", even when I hated country). Two of my bargain-bin purchases wound up in Collector's Choice's reissus series.

-- whisperineddhurt, Thursday, January 24, 2008 11:26 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Link

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That's a good piece, Edd. (I actually read it on actual newsprint while walking down the street last week.) Bizarrely enough, though, I actually reviewed Eye of the Hurricane in the Voice the first time it came out -- one of my very first published pieces for money, September 4, 1984. Wish I had the technology to scan it in here! I was pretty iffy about the album, though I had loved his previous All The People Are Talkin'. And this line, which starts out talking about that '83 album, is directly relevant to a discussion we were having earlier today on this thread: "The three singles were the three hardest things on the album, and each successive single rocked harder than its predecessor; by the time the anti-DWI 'Let Somebody Else Drive' came on the radio, it seemed as if Ronnie Van Zant had found a way to rise from the grave and squeeze his way onto country stations in between Barbara Mandrell and Eddie Rabbit. At that rate, Eye of the Hurricane should have sounded like the Sex Pistols. It doesn't."

-- xhuxk, Thursday, January 24, 2008 11:43 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Link

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yeah, that's right--it could have been an even better record. I hear it as his pressures-of-fame record--John Anderson's Eye of a Hurricane, that is. I go back and forth between All the People Are Talkin' and Tokyo, Oklahoma as the best of those records. For days, I simply couldn't get the chorus of "Eye" out of my head, though--real Florida soul.

-- whisperineddhurt, Friday, January 25, 2008

Damn, forgot to edit! Sorry for the confusion. My last sentence in my last post is the one about how my bargain-bin purchases ended up being reissued - everything after that is a reprint.

Indelible high school memory: Coach Hackworth taping my knee before a home football game singing "Swingin'" at the top of his lungs, yelling "Don't ya just LOOOOOOVE that song, Cibula?" Although I was pretty much anti-country in those days (due to being surrounded by country music and its country fans), I had to admit that yes, I loved the hell out of that song.

Nashville Scene Poll Comments went up several hours after everything else.

Xgau says that "conceptually," Miranda ruled. Doesn't say what the concept is, though (or maybe he does and Geoffrey decided not to print it, but I doubt that).

I do think Edd's been kind of tough on Miranda. On the title song, "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend," Miranda is making it clear to us that she's playing (with) a stereotype, and I feel that she's having fun with it.

I probably need to listen to Connie Francis, now that Anthony's compared Taylor to her. (But when Taylor's album came out she was a sixteen-year-old singing about how sad it is to be sixteen.)

Man, I hope Little Big Town don't read Will Hermes
s comment hoping they discover Tusk. That would suck. (Though "Tusk" -- the single -- might be OK.)

Two more questions:

1) Does Preston Jones, who appears to be a total nincompoop and who apparently neglected to read Taylor Swift's songwriting credits, really believe that puffed-up/glammed-out personalities and songwriting-by-committee are something that were never part of Nasvhille before Underwood, Swift, and Sugarland came along and decided to threaten the genre? If so, I'm in awe.

2) And Will Hermes can't really believe Robert Plant is only just now turning into a true "artist" now that he's dueted with Alison Krauss, can he? Nah, Will's too smart for that -- must be some mistake.

Also, man, critics really hate Sugarland, don't they? I had no idea.

Don't see what's so puffed-up or glammed-out about Sugarland anyway. I didn't click with their first album (the only one I've heard) but more for the reason I don't click with Terri Clark, felt like adequate countryish rocking out.

I think that Taylor Swift digs deeper than Miranda, though I don't mean that as a criticism of Miranda, just that Taylor's working out the nuances of being a not-always-happy sixteen, while Miranda's having a blast shooting holes and setting off bombs.

Is Will Hermes smart? Always struck me as merely adequate rockish criticking out.

I like Miranda's record fine, Frank. Do feel it slows down a mite after first three-four songs. The concept is alt- meets bad ol' Row--professionally done! but, don't hear Himes' '70s tropes so much in Crazy Ex---seems more detailed somehow, or perhaps even shall we say more punked out in its energy, listen again to the songs and the way they rock (and the record definitely does rock in its way). Than, that is, the supposed matchup Himes posits betwixt Carrie and Miranda in his essay in Scene. I almost think Carrie's professional update of any number of glossy '70s tropes works as well as Miranda's, myself.

New Wililie Nelson Moment of Forever finds him singing real well, grabbing a pothead blues from Guy Clark, doing up Newman's "Louisiana 1927" not all that well but doing the hell outta Big Kenny's "The Bob Song," which really does recall the Randy Newman of Bad Love (Newman's most "country" record ever in my opinion)--bumptious sousaphone and lyrics that seem to be about Bush or someone equally dumb who made it to the top and says spend, Willie, spend all you want. The IRS won't mind. Elsewhere he writes a great one called "I Guess I'm Not Funny Anymore" about how he wants to tell a joke about a dirty whore...but wait, right, you said I wasn't funny any more. Big impressionistic production from Kenny...Chesney and Buddy Cannon--Eno couldn't have done better nor Newman on some of this wistful accordion/cello/gauzy guitar stuff. Never woulda thought something this glossy Willie would grab me but it does.

Edd, I'm still not sure you mean by Miranda's concept being alt-country meets Nashville. What is the "alt" part, exactly? Just the fact that she sings vengeful murder songs (which doesn't strike me as especially more alt than Nash anyway, to be honest)? If anything, her album ups the Nashville-country energy and rock quotient; seems to me that if it was an alt hybrid, it would go exactly in the other direction. It's not like alt-country has had much punk in its sound since, when, Rank and File days? (I guess she does cover a Gillian Welch song, though, and Welch is clearly alt; but nobody calls Tim McGraw's albums alt meets Nashville when he covers Ryan Adams, I don't think. I've also heard people say before that she sounds like Steve Earle, which might be possible, though I don't hear it myself -- for one thing, Miranda Lambert can sing.) (I also get the idea that what you've been saying, Edd, is that its hybrid strikes you as too compromised -- that maybe it sounds too professional for an alt-meet-Nash attempt, which suggests you think it should be more alt? Or maybe I'm misreading you. But if so, I still don't get what you think it would gain from more altness.)

Here's what I wrote about Willie's new album toward the end of the '07 rolling country thread. I should maybe listen again to "I Guess I'm Not Funny Anymore," though; somebody else said I might like it:

WILLIE NELSON -- Tracked through his new one, which is produced by Kenny Chesney of all people. I like his cover of Big & Rich's (mostly Big Kenny's, I assume) "The Bob Song" (from B&R's unjustly ignored Super Galactic Fan Pack EP from a few years ago) -- song's kinda dorkey, about how we're all eccentric monkeys in our way; I can see Jimmy Buffet fans who fancy themselves being free-thinkers when they're on vacation from their investment banking jobs enjoying it, but it makes me chuckle anyway (and I don't even like margaritas). Willie also covers Randy Newman's flood song "Louisiana" and Dylan's born-again song "Gotta Serve Somebody" -- competently, I guess. They're both good songs; he's a good singer even if he does sing almost every song exactly the same (which is one reason I never connect with his albums, probably.) But I said almost: He actually employs his rare low register when interpreting the Dave Matthews Band's "Gravedigger" (which tracks from their gravestones the birth and death years of three apparently unrelated individuals who died in the 20th Century, and they all ask to be buried in shallow graves so they can feel the rain, and then there's a ring-around-the-rosey-pocket-full-of-posies plague part); Willie probably improves the song, but I haven't heard DMB's version in years (and only once or twice then), so I'm not really sure. It's okay, I guess; interesting words. (I've always assumed Matthews is a smart guy; he's just never made me care about his smartness.) Beyond that, not much on the Willie album drew me in -- there's one sort of jazzily sung and instrumented cut in the middle (maybe "Keep Me From Blowing Away"?) that had some jauntiness to it, and "When I Was Young and Grandma Wasn't Old" is a halfway decent memory song....but beyond that, shrug. Given all the covers, I'm wondering whether this a Johnny Cash style critical respectability for the country legend move. If it is, I guess it's not an awful one. But I can't imagine I'll be playing it again.WILLIE NELSON -- Tracked through his new one, which is produced by Kenny Chesney of all people. I like his cover of Big & Rich's (mostly Big Kenny's, I assume) "The Bob Song" (from B&R's unjustly ignored Super Galactic Fan Pack EP from a few years ago) -- song's kinda dorkey, about how we're all eccentric monkeys in our way; I can see Jimmy Buffet fans who fancy themselves being free-thinkers when they're on vacation from their investment banking jobs enjoying it, but it makes me chuckle anyway (and I don't even like margaritas). Willie also covers Randy Newman's flood song "Louisiana" and Dylan's born-again song "Gotta Serve Somebody" -- competently, I guess. They're both good songs; he's a good singer even if he does sing almost every song exactly the same (which is one reason I never connect with his albums, probably.) But I said almost: He actually employs his rare low register when interpreting the Dave Matthews Band's "Gravedigger" (which tracks from their gravestones the birth and death years of three apparently unrelated individuals who died in the 20th Century, and they all ask to be buried in shallow graves so they can feel the rain, and then there's a ring-around-the-rosey-pocket-full-of-posies plague part); Willie probably improves the song, but I haven't heard DMB's version in years (and only once or twice then), so I'm not really sure. It's okay, I guess; interesting words. (I've always assumed Matthews is a smart guy; he's just never made me care about his smartness.) Beyond that, not much on the Willie album drew me in -- there's one sort of jazzily sung and instrumented cut in the middle (maybe "Keep Me From Blowing Away"?) that had some jauntiness to it, and "When I Was Young and Grandma Wasn't Old" is a halfway decent memory song....but beyond that, shrug. Given all the covers, I'm wondering whether this a Johnny Cash style critical respectability for the country legend move. If it is, I guess it's not an awful one. But I can't imagine I'll be playing it again.

-- xhuxk, Thursday, 27 December 2007 13:53 (1 month ago) Link

Oops, sorry about that double cut-and-paste. (Readers of this thread are going to start thinking they're crosseyed if this keeps happening more.)

Otherwise, I've been liking a lot of songs on the new Hayes Carrl album, a few on the new Zane Lewis album, and maybe a couple on the new Chris Hicks album. Whoever they are. Will explain more sometime.

I guess what I'm asking, Edd, is why you think "perfectly serviceable mainstream country, complete with sound effects" would be less interesting than something that would have "married bad old Nashville to good old alt-country in any meaningful way". I'm not even sure what the latter could mean -- it sounds about as interesting as, I don't know "marrying metal to grunge" or something: A hybrid of two related subgenres that share a ton in the first place, so what would be the big deal?

the whole No Depression ethos is by folks who discovered punk (or post-punk) and crazy ol' country music at the same time. Miranda's record is for those people, it seems to me; and as I might've related here, I heard a guy who lives fully in that world tell me that Miranda's record meant "we won!!" (his words). As in, the people who discovered punk and old-time country at the same time and thought that was the thang. They won, alt-country won, on that record. They didn't win shit in my opinion. I hear it as an overly professional, right, simulation of the offhandedness of several basically alt-insurgent-whatever-country modes--musically, mainly, but sure, also lyrically. I think that there would be a way to marry alt- whatever to bad old Nashville in a truly meaningful way, but I don't think you can do it in Nashville. Because no matter what, thangs is just too fucking professional there, as far as the mainstream shit goes--just listen to Justin Earle's new record, it does the same thing except it's not on Columbia but on Bloodshot. In other words, I think it's a good record but that stuff's being read into it that amounts to wishful thinking; and the "concept" that Xgau refers to (and which I refer to in my original review of the record where I call it "a conceptual wonder") is exactly that--alt- meets the Row and has a big old time. We won.

I mean, I'm attempting to work out why I think critics might just have overrated Miranda's record a bit. One thing that hit me in Himes' Scene essay is how he says both Miranda and Carrie use a " '70s arena-rock template that rules Music Row these days." Huh? How is Crazy Ex-Girlfriend arena-rock? The whole idea is in the drum attack, which ain't Music Row arena-rock big-hair standard but a rockin' indie punk thwokking. The spareness of the whole thing--and the way those sound effects creep in there creating the illusion of spontaneity they were after--isn't arena-rock. As for Carrie's record, I hear it as a '90s pop/rock template, in my notes for it I know I heard the inevitable '90s powerpop pastiche (sounds like Jellyfish, and studio dudes in Nashville are all about music like that, just ask Ray Kennedy). So I think the whole comparison breaks down, but that's Geoff's take, there are other things in that essay I agree with.

But yeah, I think Christgau got it right--Miranda is the year's concept. So OK, I hear that as alt- meets the Row. For ex., Elizabeth Cook: produced by Rodney Crowell (heir at one time to ol' Gram hisself and with impeccable outlaw cred having worked w/ Emmylou herself, had his songs cut by Gary Stewart). Me, I coulda used a ton more guitar from Cook's husband Tim Carroll on that record--I dig his playing. And she covered Lou Reed, whose third VU record has to be at this point an Outlaw Country Folk touchstone. Punk. Where Cook's record sorta let me down--love that single and like her singing--was that it didn't go far enough in its spareness, and it sounded underpowered. Pam Tillis' record did the same thing but it really was Nashville '70s folk-country in supposed High Semipopular mode (Tillis as interpreter, cf. Bonnie Raitt). Kelly Willis was some kind of attempted mannerist pop record. I'm just picking examples of the records that made the critics' list. The above records, and a record that didn't seem to make the list but tht I found very very indicative of the mindset of Nashville (because I want to try to understand that and interpret that), Song of America, featured all indie or alt- figures--Cook, Banhart, Suzy Bogguss (who's a Nashville Eclectic, jazzy American Songbook division, and banters with Garrison Keillor on his fucking show), Grascals, etc. No big country stars at all. I guess what I'm trying to get at is what passes for Quality and Innovation in Music City--I think it comes down to the alt/punk thing I've already talked about. Virtuous. This is the concept, and Lambert's record the major-label stab at that, everybody's doing it. I think "Dry Town" and "Famous in a Small Town" are great; the rest of it I like fine.

should be above, the records I cite all featured a combination of indie-alt people and the usual A-listers.

Edd, I don't think "alt" is a concept or a sound; it's a demographic. But as for how Angry Ex-Girlfriend sounds, maybe it's something that an alt-person would approve of, but it doesn't sound to me like it's something that an alt-person would make. It rocks too hard, and Miranda sings with too strong an emphasis. But then you listen with far greater concentration than I do, and while I've heard songs here and there by all those other people you mention, I haven't heard any of their latest albums. But as for what I like about e.g. the song "Gunpowder and Lead," it seems a lot closer to LeAnn Rimes' "Family" and Carrie Underwood's "Flat On The Floor" (to name those artists' respective album openers) than to anything I've heard from alt-country ever: acoustic opening played with concentrated intensity, followed by blistering hard rock. I don't know. Maybe Jason & The Scorchers went for something like that back in the day, but I don't remember them having the chops to pull it off. Of course, how the Rimes and Underwood rock out may be a "conceptual" block to an alt-country aficionado, in that LeAnn's still throwing around unashamed big-voiced divaisms and Carrie's got some big-bubble Leppard tunefulness on her track (but then I think Leppard's got at least as much claim to "punk" heritage as alt-country does, but then maybe the claim that any of these have to such a heritage zero). Also don't think the Carrie track quite jells, but the problem isn't conceptual. I'd love to hear it sung by co-writer Ashley Monroe. By the way, the guitar at the end of "Gunpowder and Lead" is very much from "Sympathy For The Devil" (which means it could find its way onto a Brooks & Dunn album), but what I'm not hearing in that song is any of the pale miniaturism that afflicts alt-country. And I (therefore?) don't get what's so different between the instruments on "Family" and the instruments on "Gunpowder and Lead," not to mention the instrumental approach to Brooks & Dunn's great triple play "Tequila," "Drop In The Bucket," and "Drunk On Love." The latter three are a bit different in being even more maniacally groove-oriented than the rockers on the Rimes and the Brooks & Dunn (and on the Tritt and the Anderson and the...). But none of those sounds, Miranda's or anyone else's, are shy about filling the room.

But rather than speculate as to why Mr. Alt Person likes Miranda but won't get close to LeAnn or Brooks & Dunn (my theory is that one reason Mr. Alt Person isn't singing the praises of "Tequila," which is practically Sam The Sham And The Pharaohs, or "Family," or "Easy Money," or "Should've Listened," is that he hasn't heard them; those aren't the songs or styles of those artists that are getting radio emphasis, and the fellow probably isn't listening for the album tracks).

None of which explains why Miranda topped my list. More and better rock songs, with more and better hooks and good seering singing. Thought she flubbed her nonrockers, but fortunately there weren't many of them. But the Tritt, Wilson, Rimes, and Brooks & Dunn albums were only a song or two from matching it.

The latter three are a bit different in being even more maniacally groove-oriented than the rockers on the Rimes and the Brooks & Dunn (and on the Tritt and the Anderson and the...)

Er, those three are on the Brooks & Dunn, but they're even more maniacally groove-oriented than the rockers on the Rimes and the Lambert (and on etc.)...

I guess even if "alt meets the Row" is the concept, it's too weak to register with me as much of a concept. I'd say that the concept is "angry ex-girlfriend," passions and vengeance twisted beyond health, while rocking hard, OR "'Kerosene' was the best song on my last album so let's do it some more" OR "'Before He Cheats' really kicks butt even if Carrie Underwood has big hair" OR "'The Mindy McCready Story w/ Miranda Lambert in the starring role," except the reason it's conceptual is that fortunately she's not leading Mindy McCready's life, and the whole point is that Miranda's having a heel-clicking, hair-throwing, headbanging good time playing these roles, pretending she's stepped out of an episode of Cops or out of the files of her dad's detective agency or something. Anyway, it's role-playing, dressup, which works for her, but it actually does feel a bit more distanced than I'd like. (Not that Gretchen and the rest aren't also role playing, but they're not so much "Watch Me Play This Role.")

By the way, Mindy McCready was released from jail about four weeks ago.