Rolling Country 2010

her success ought to be dismissed in this way

Sounds like basic sour grapes, to me.

Btw, it also occurs to me that the last rockabilly song to be a huge pop hit (#10 in the Hot 100, didn't chart country though she has otherwise) would almost definitely have been Miley Cyrus's "See You Again," just a couple years ago.

Yeah, fine if she gets help with the songwriting, too band indie rock auteurs don't do more of this; would also be cool (based on my own live listening experience, and esp those of friends who paid hard-earned big bucks for tickets) if she were more dependable in concert; should go the full Elvis route and have a high note person, low note person and hell mid-range person among her backup singers. She was really good with Def Lep on "Crossroads", however that may have been recorded and/or fixed in the mix (no dis; if artists approve pix, why not audio). Sorry of that's crucifying the poor middle class suburban while girl.

too "bad", sorry "if"

Yeah, Taylor's success has engendered the usual sniping here, and if I don't especially think she's the greatest artist to go down the pike and don't think it has much to do with country music (beyond marketing), I certainly don't think the it-ain't-country line gets at why she's either good or bad. Glad to see it all spurred Frank to his usual eloquence. Posted this on her new single over at SJ, btw:

Whether or not it’s completely premeditated–and I hear some of the relatively subtle vocal turns as little things she or her producer or someone worked out for her, to alleviate her imprecise pitch sense and flat phrasing–this has some good qualities. The stop-start aspect was remarked upon above; the pauses make me listen, and I think she handles the time element of the song pretty well. The big power chords toward the end are nice too. “A careless man’s careful daughter,” though, yeech, that’s not exactly brilliant in my book. In general, she sounds either terrified or trying to act scared, I’m not sure. Don’t hear anything particularly distinctive in the music itself, it’s functional and that’s about it, but it’s a good song. I’d be pleased to like it, and Swift, more, because I hear something in there that’s almost like real talent. But my objection to this would be not that it’s too careful but that it just isn’t detailed enough, even given those moments where she illustrates she could learn to sing more effectively. Functional (objectively pretty terrible) pop singing that’s a kind of genius, absolutely–how on earth do you even critique it? The obvious points about her archetypal quality and all that don’t get it. Baffling.

I think her singing is absolutely brilliant, but it's one of those "Kids, don't try this at home" things. It'd be like people trying to imitate Neil Young: it seems like anyone can do it; turns out very few can.

My guess is that she's just got a really good ear for, e.g., when to go frail and when not. I'm sure I could sit down and analyze it and learn a lot. But I don't think that the analysis would really explain it - just as when I look at my own writing, I can see that assonance strengthened one sentence and ruined another, and that I'm overusing a particular phrase, and so forth. But I wouldn't be able to tell you why it was overuse in this instance but not that, or why assonance worked here but not there, etc. (or when I can get away with "etc." and with an antecedent-free "it"). Writing well isn't a deep mystery, but it's not altogether explicable either; same with singing.

As for Taylor's sense of pitch - Himes said in his country poll writeup that he's heard her being pitch-perfect, and my livejournal friend Cis heard her right on-pitch in London. But obviously this is something you can't rely on. Maybe she uses pitch correction in the studio, maybe she does multiple takes, maybe she's just got a congenial emotional and acoustic environment.

Yeah, I don't know how much Taylor sat down and planned the little things she does in "Mine." I do find the attention to detail pretty interesting. What she doesn't know or doesn't want to know about singing she makes up for with smarts, sure. It's a real American voice. When I listen to someone who's about as young as Swift, like Sarah Jarosz (a bluegrass-indie sorta person), and hear how annoying that kind of voice can be, I realize what a free-fall and frightening world Swift must live in, without the crutch of Received Wisdom. That's pop. The wobbles and drop-outs in Swift's voice do add up to something she's manipulating emotionally, I think.

I'm sure there's a lot of great pop and country where the singer has almost no say as to either the material or the arrangement. Obv. when the singer also writes songs and plays an instrument, and therefore knows something about arranging as well, the label may well want to take advantage of these talents, assuming the talents go in the direction that sales will go. And then there're the singers who demand control and for better or worse get the power to do what they want, either through sales clout or an ally in the biz.

But there are also situations where the artists know the idiom and the audience far better than does anyone in the biz. This happened in Britain in the early Sixties. It would've been commercial suicide not to have allowed the bands to generate material.*

The legacy of the Sixties pulls two ways: on the one hand, the biz became full of people who bought into the ideology that the performers are artists and therefore should be the creators, on the other, you get session men, songwriters, and execs who do know the idiom and attitudes and can generate material themselves.

I'm curious, especially for those of you who haven't read it before, what you'd think of this LVW piece I wrote several years ago. The model I detailed for mid '00s teenpop - teen singer-songwriter working with music biz veterans in their thirties - fits Taylor perfectly, except Liz Rose is older than that (she's almost my age). My thesis is that one reason this model worked is that the teens could bring material that the adults wouldn't think to.

The teens are cool, but they burn out

(Haven't done a good job of keeping up with Shanks, whom I called the decade's best melodist; I've been pretty iffy on his country stuff, and on his recent tracks with Miley. Need to know the material better, though. Nathan Chapman cites Shanks as one of his producer heroes (others are Mark Wright, Daniel Lanois, and Buddy Miller). I've summarized a bit of that Chapman interview here: Nathan Chapman.)

Taylor's timing was lucky: she was creating her first album right when High School Musical came along and siphoned the younger teenpop listeners over to Disney, leaving the teen confessional shelf mostly empty. And Taylor waltzed in and filled the gap.

*A partial exception here is the Animals, who did sometimes use biz songwriters, but those songwriters were Americans experienced in the idiom the Animals were playing (Goffin & King, Mann & Weil, Atkins & D'Errico).

xpost

(It's possible that Taylor's got strong models that I don't know or I'm not thinking of. Maybe Neil Young, even. It's mostly mediocre indie boys whose names I've forgotten who try to exploit the high nasal waver.)

Yeah, though here's an exception (from another show preview)
Rascal Flatts with Kellie Pickler
Man band Rascal Flatts faithfully replenish their turf, every time Gary LeVox's high, lonesome tenor crosses just over the rainbow to sensitive pop atmospheres, while remaining unmistakably (yet courteously)country. If that doesn't float your boat, consider Kellie Pickler. While convincingly portraying a dizzy blonde, she cannily rose from rough origins via cogent association with American Idol and Taylor Swift. Her sweetly well-earned word to us all: "Get on with your life." That's also a line from her song, but reached the word limit and fans will know.

Of course Edd's right about details, and in some ways it's good that some/most ambitious artists have to rely more on these, not having the temptation of over-reliance on a trademark sonic ambience, as sometimes happened to Elvis,Sinatra,Willie,Emmylou, Dolly might yet happen to Toby Keith and LeeAnn Rimes. But over-reliance can result in perceived over-exposure, so Willie, Dolly and Emmylou are at least trying to stay focused on sufficient detail. Now to read Frank's linked piece.

Yeah, good points, I guess Swift might be the teen star who's benefiting most by inter-generational collaboration at this point. Usually what I'm aware of is the older guy's production, in response, so the Black Keys' Dan Auerbach brings what I called a "charged nocturnal atmosphere" to Jessica Lea Mayfield's ruminations, while leaving them sufficiently roomy. Though she's not really pop, in the mainstream or even cross-over indie sense, though may well share a peer audience sector with Swift. And I guess neither is punky tonk gurl Lydia Loveless, in this context. Could see some (rougher-edged members) of Pink's confessional rock segment digging all of the above, mind you. But 60s examples might also include Brill Building pros (self-avowedly competing with each other while) writing in response to the *sound* of Shangri-Las etc, ditto Spector's response as producer and sometimes co-writer. And West Coast session kings playing on most of the Byrds first album, so appropriately.And hey, just thought of this: ever-budding Bobby Dylan with all those great, mostly older session guys too. (Plus early guidance of John Hammond and Tom Wilson)(and xgau would prob emph Fred Rose's sub rosa songwriting workshops with Hank Williams)

Um, well, B.D. was mebbe still a teen when Hammond brought him aboard; you weren't talking teens-only, what with citing Stones, etc.

My reviewlet of the new Little Big Town album (not quite a challenge to the Hold Steady as the most disappointing album of the year -- at least LBT's LP has a great single on it -- but not too far off, either):

http://www.rhapsody.com/little-big-town/the-reason-why-2#albumreview

SJers consider the current Sugarland hit:

http://www.thesinglesjukebox.com/?p=2682

More Jukebox singles roundups. I may have overrated the first two; I still haven't heard the third one.

Kenny Chesney

http://www.thesinglesjukebox.com/?p=2694

John Rich

http://www.thesinglesjukebox.com/?p=2690

Darius Rucker

http://www.thesinglesjukebox.com/?p=2691

the reggae in the Sugarland single was interesting and the vocoder (?) breakdown toward the end, ditto. seems notable that they need to take up their version of island patois in order to express the clingy sentiments of the song. and the video is ridiculous indeed, altho JN does look pretty good in the blue tights.

so far, the new Little Big Town sounds good to me, esp. the guitar moves (which seem almost more the point than the vocals themselves, I am distracted by the trading off in some of it)--they seem like the point of the music almost. Intricate. the slow ones are draggin' me so far, though.

Speaking of Sugarland, Adkins' "Don't Mind If I Don't" sounds much like the first single from the
former's last album.

My Country Fleetwood Mac Contest -- Lady Antebellum vs. Little Big Town (hint: nobody wins):

http://blog.rhapsody.com/2010/08/countrymac.html

Heard of Paz Lenchantin through Jonathan Bogart: sort of "psych folk" or whatever they're calling that stuff; have a feeling that listening to five tracks of hers in a row might cause me to scratch the plaster off the plasterboard, but for one song ("Bloom On The Rose," fifth track down at the Black Tent Press MySpace) this could be a positive attribute - Carter Family type trad material but shifted out of whack and forced into a thick haze. Most of you will hate this.

Think you - and ultimately I - will prefer Juana Molina's "Un Día"; the sliding shifts in the music have an aggressive rather than a hazy effect. Most recent YouTube comment: "Why is this so catchy? And why do I like it? I don't even like Bjork type shit." Finally settles into a Yardbirds/Velvets-type coagulated pounding. I'm hit or miss on her other YouTube tracks; occasional and annoying jazz tendencies, or precious ephemera, which this one avoids altogether. In Argentina she'd built a career as a comedian, which has nothing to do with her music.

Perhaps everyone here knows but Chesney's Boys of Fall is not only a song and a nine-minute video, it's also an hour long paen to football, written and directed by Chesney. It just ran on ESPN but after twenty minutes was so ... I just left it on in the background.

The basic message was that football teaches everyone all they have to know in the game of life, over and over. Everyone says their days as a football player were the best of their lives, so if the former is trye and you never make it past college or high school football, it must be all downhill. Chesney's very
sincere and he's in it with old snaps of himself as a high school receiver and recent ones of his hs football buddies, At some point, "Hey Man, Nice Shot" was used as background music, which was a bit jarring since I was living in Pennsy when Budd Dwyer killed himself in public. Not exactly football music.

A couple people try to make the point -- Bill Curry most notably -- that football brings all the kinds of people who naturally hate each together on the team, the liberals, the rednecks, the etc. Was not my experience in the locker room where most were still unformed in their leanings, which were almost as junior league fascists. It was a nice sentiment, though. Maybe it was true in the old NFL or on Ivy League football teams.

No doubt about it, Chesney loves football. It is lots better than Hard Knocks in the Jets training camp which is only exhibitions of Rex Ryan becoming the most morbidly obese celebrity in bedsheet sportswear that everyone knows, and the Jets as a collection of really big overweight men and physical fitness freaks, all with very little native intelligence and surprising lacks in character and personal hygeine. Which is about the diametric opposite of what Chesney makes the case for.

Ah, now it makes me fondly remember the movie version of Paper Lion. Which made George Plimpton the only liberal in the Joe Schmidt-coached Lions lockerroom. Alex Karras was a gambler, though.

xpost Kinda made me want to go back to the LBT album although, except for "Little White Church," it didn't grab me when I skimmed it on-line.

http://dickdestiny.com/blog1/2010/08/28/patriotic-class-war-song/

Paz has played (most often bass, but also violin and piano) and sung with A Perfect Circle, Zwol, and many in between; best album I've heard her on is the Entrance Band's s/t (sort of like an aural anime of backstreet progressives, somewhat in the historical, Glenn Beck anathema sense, though more about challenging doomsters to stop playing with shadows in the mirror and come get some clean free needles already--or something like that, if we must reduce TEB's phantosaurus sound and vision to mere sense). She's also contributed to some countryoid offerings of the Silver Jews etc. Most relevant to what Frank's describing,she also locked herself into a backstreet Louisville hotel with some very old school country sides, and recorded self-written songs, think it was an EP's-worth, after her brother died. So thanks for reminding me of that, Frank, I'll check it out. George Plimpton's daughter Martha has played a worthy corporate law adversary for The Good Wife, hope she continues to do so.

You got my hopes up for a moment there, Don! Think you meant Zwan, though, not Zwol (who I wrote about at the link below):

Rolling Past Expiry Hard Rock 2010

Meanwhile, I finally saw Mother Truckers Saturday night, at the Continental Club here, their return to town after a brief van tour out West. Definitely sounded more (Stones-style) hard rock than country or college rock or cowpunk live (though "Van Tour" itself qualified as the latter.) Teal (dressed kinda classic hillbilly) is a vocal powerhouse live, and I'd say her hubbie Josh Zee (in a N.W.A. T-shirt and truckers cap) held his own vocally and outdid himself guitarwise, sometimes verging on metal though not as much as the longhaired AC/DC-shirt bass guy Danny G. At any rate, they definitely know how to throw a party -- tons of energy, lots of people (including a few lesbian couples, looked like) dancing, good calls and responses, and I recogized every song except one, I think. (And that one's not on any of their three CDs, looks like.) Favorites were probably "Dynamite" from the second album and "Alien Girl" from the new one; i.e., the most glam-rock ones. Also, as far as I could tell, there were zero college kids in the crowd; possibly even nobody under 30, and I'm fairly positive I wasn't the oldest person there. Just townies, I guess, or people who came here for school years ago then never left. Bottled beer overpriced, but what the heck, still glad I forced myself to go out for once.

Via email from a publicist; any takers?

Was just having a conversation with a friend and the Billboard Top 10 debut of John Mellencamp's No Better Than This album came up. Mentioned that it's John's tenth Top 10 album and that it's offered only in mono which begged the question: "What was the last mono-only album that debuted in Billboard's Top 10?" We're thinking it must have been over 40 years ago as albums were offered in both stereo and mono from the late 1950s onward. Any suggestions? I'd love to make this a contest but since I don't know the actual answer, I'm not sure I'm in a position to declare a winner. Would love to hear your thoughts which I'd share with all the recipients of this inquiry.

Best, Bob Merlis

Also just got word from a different publicist that "I'm All About It," which I talk about above, the fastest and horniest song on my advance of Randy Houser's new album, will be left off the final version "at the request of Mr. Houser", since he "felt that particular track was not representative of him as an artist." (Not sure whether I mind or not; tbh, its novelty was starting to wear off already.)

CMA nominations are out. Miranda Lambert sets a record for the most nominations by a female artist in a single year. Which is a pleasant surprise, unless you're one of the Carrie Underwood fans who have taken to every message board and blog they can find to decry the grave injustice that is Underwood's omission from the Entertainer of the Year short-list.

Some turnover in couple of the major categories, but there's not a whole lot to get worked up about one way or the other. No Laura Bell Bundy anywhere on the ballot, despite the high-profile ACM performance a couple of months back.

The new Marty Stuart is awfully good for the trad-country stumping thing that it is, and Connie Smith sings with him a couple of times, which is always welcome. Also liking the new album by Amanda Shaw, a 19 year-old fiddler from Louisiana, who incorporates a healthy dollop of cajun music and some traditional blues into her pop-country, and she has a husky but not quite ripe alto that reminds me, in a good way, of Alecia Elliott. Have only given cursory listens to the new SteelDrivers and Justin Townes Earle, but liked both pretty well on the first pass, the former moreso than the latter.

This is an interesting news link on the CMA nominations at a music writer's blog, but more for the amount of malicious spam comment (page down, you'll see it):

http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/ourcountry/51632/miranda-lambert-scoops-up-a-record-nine-cma-noms/

(Shakes head)

Yeah, we get bombarded with exactly the same kind of spam at the Rhapsody blog; it just doesn't make it onto the site. Until a month or two ago they were having us sort one by one through the emailed comments, but at some point they decided that meant wasting way too much time, since we'd eventually only wind up approving, say, one out of every 100. So now I just guess every comment just goes into the spam trash can -- I don't even see them in my inbox anymore.

Btw, I wasn't aware that "Rain On A Tin Roof" on the new Little Big Town album was a cover of a song on the first Julie Roberts album from six years ago until I read Caramanica's Times review a couple days ago. I probably still have my advance of that Roberts album in my storage closet somewhere (liked two songs pretty well, as I recall), but I never really got into it as a whole.

I mentioned "Rain on a Tin Roof" in my LBT review, as well. They do a fine enough job with the song, but I probably prefer Roberts' version of it. Her second album was better, but there was some real substance to her debut, as well. "Break Down Here" was the top 20 single, but "Wake Up Older" is the standout cut. She doesn't have much of a range to her voice, but she makes up for it with a mindful sense of phrasing and with solid song choices. I'm a fan, but I can't imagine she'll get a shot at a third major label record after Men & Mascara bricked.

Her second album sounded even more marginal to my ears, iirc. (Though the title track seemed okay, and I'm pretty sure the two songs you named from the debut were the ones that stood out for me at the time.)

Re-listening to Ray Wylie Hubbard's early 2010 album right now, for the first time in months. It's better than I'd remembered, especially if you've got a taste for hard dark mean repetitive deeper-and-deeper-into-the-gravel blues drones (which I do, apparently).

Yeah, we get bombarded with exactly the same kind of spam at the Rhapsody blog; it just doesn't make it onto the site.

Baffling, since my domain's anti-spam mechanism is really good at stripping it all out so I -don't- have to look at it.

So how come nobody ever told me what a great singer Narvel Felts was? Or did somebody, and I wasn't listening? Halfway through his self-titled LP from 1975 which I bought for 50 cents (went #4 country, with "Reconsider Me," "Blue Darlin," and "Funny How Time Slips Away" all hitting), and I'm already kind of blown away. Guess I'd put him in the fancy-pants tradition of guys like Roy Orbison, Freddie Fender, Gene Pitney -- is that way off? -- with almost pop-operatically flamboyant falsetto parts. Maybe a Mexican influence, too, deep down. And a soul one, given that it looks like he hit with "Lonely Teardrops" (presumably a cover of the Jackie Wilson song) a year later. (Okay, just checked Xgau, who B+'s the LP -- "Wotta voice," he says. Also mentions Orbison, and calls him "an r&b singer on the country side of the fence.") Probably some influence of Charlie Rich -- who could also do fancy Latinish stuff -- in there too.

Actually been liking an album by a British folk-rock singer named Johnny Flynn -- coming out on Thirty Tigers in November -- while it's played in the background this week. Didn't expect to like it, either. Haven't paid attention to the lyrics (which may well stink) yet. But the music somehow manages to be minor-key pretty and have rhythmic drive at the same time. Mostly ballads. His MySpace:

http://www.myspace.com/johnnyflynn

And speaking of folk, new album by Heart is mostly if not all acoustic, and also pretty good, and by now they have a connection to country thanks to people like Carrie Underwood and, uh, Sarah Palin or whoever. Here's what I wrote about it for Rhapsody:

http://www.rhapsody.com/heart/red-velvet-car#albumreview

Also heard the new Those Darlins single (7-inch vinyl 45!), "Nightjogger," today, and was very disappointed to find out that they now seem to be trying to sound like Sleater-Kinney-type alt-rock instead of cowpunk. Not sure if that's a one-time deal or not; if not, too bad, because though their cowpunk schtick had limitations, it made them less generic. So I'm wondering if Edd knows what's up.

Have been watching the CMA rock thing on network teevee. Lots of mediocre blues hard rock, specifically Carrie Underwood as the shouter in short hot short shorts and heroically sexy poses. Hotcha.

But that stuff wears out fast, really, if you aren't doing a sixpack.

Way too much Kid Rock. Had no idea he was so much into being the poor man's Rockets.

No idea why anyone likes Uncle Kracker. Sweaty vaseline-coated obesity in a worn RUN-DMC T with unjustified high self-esteem as a mass psychological disorder, I guess. Same for the guy who sings "Unstoppable." Hnad-wringing sincerity and very clean baggy jeans only go so far.

Best performance by far: Miranda Lambert with "Even Prettier." This sounds harsh but I like the
Ray Nitschke as drag queen look and the c&w attack. Plus her band doesn't have the usual six guitarists they put on stage to play what one or two could do.

Zac Brown -- hippie reggae bookended by twenty seconds of hard southern rock jamming to make you think it might be good before it goes bad.

Morgan in a club with Lambert and the really hairy singer/songwriter, whatever his name is. Over yet?

Now let's all order up another beer while Billy Currington does something rote on that's how country boys roll.

Assume you mean the CMT Awards not CMAs (I make the same mistake somewhere above I think -- easy to do), and actually, Kid Rock being a Detroit boy may just be almost old enough to remember who the Rockets were. Pretty sure the "really hairy singer/songwriter" would be Jamey Johnson; I thought "Macon" was okay on that show, I think, but I like it better on the album, and can understand why people might think it goes on too long in either format. Totally drawing a blank on "Unstoppable" -- oh wait, Google says Rascal Flatts? No wonder. I actually had fun watching that show in total though (in a hotel room in San Francisco), but yeah, I had a sixpack (at least) from the bodega down the block to help.

(Also, bad pizza, iirc. And not saying I put away six-plus beers in the duration of the show; probably more like three. But the rest were there, just in case.)

I got the Jerrod Niemann album a few days ago. I'm glad there's better songs than "Lover Lover" ("Bakersfield," "I Hope You Get What You Deserve"). I haven't heard the Funkadelic stylings that edd noted a few weeks ago.

xpost

hey, Gucci Mania, it's track 11 on the Jerrod record. Lunchmeataphobia guitar line, and the vocal thing at the first is George Clinton-like. Who says a country record can't...you get the drift.

decided I liked the Little Big Town record. the vocals are really country, lots of slurs and sliding. and I think it's tolerably Fleetwood Mac-esque. don't get much personality out of the singing, though, the blocks of harmonies don't sound that good to my ears, are are just blocks of sound in the larger picture. but state-of-the-art country record, some very deft little arrangements and guitar sounds and all that.

caught Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver the other night. man, they have their own style, with all sorts of weird fucked-with licks and runs and commentary going on. quick on its feet, rooted but unsentimental. the Dobro player is avant-garde and so is the banjo player. the song-form stuff they did all had something different in it--it was like watching a superior jazz group do their thing, but you got pleasure from the surface of the performance but if you listened hard they were doing all sorts of really outrageous and subtle things as they made transitions. and could play real fast on Bill Monroe songs or real sneaky on covers of Porter and Buck. Doyle plays some ferocious mandolin, no bullshitting around, and each soloist did something unexpected and wholly within the moment nearly every time. in short, real style, finesse and attack and they can sing, too. probably the best bluegrass group I've ever seen by about ten miles--could've listened to them all night.

>>Assume you mean the CMT Awards not CMAs

Yep.

>>(sure the "really hairy singer/songwriter" would be Jamey Johnson; I thought "Macon" was okay on that

It was.

>>Totally drawing a blank on "Unstoppable" -- oh wait, Google says Rascal Flatts? No wonder.

Yep, again. Was making joke, small one. I like the part where RF get to answer insipid questions printed white cards. I guess wholesomeness and piety comprise most of their appeal. Which would be why I don't like them.

>>I actually had fun watching that show in total though (in a hotel room in San Francisco), but yeah, I had >>a sixpack (at least) from the bodega down the block to help.

I had some beers, too. It didn't help as much I thought it might. If I can be so nosy, why in SF?

Oh, I was just there for some Rhapsody brainstorming session the week that show first aired. They flew all the freelancers in, then flew us out two days later. Basically, I checked into the hotel room and turned CMT on, since I don't have cable at home.

Edd, just out of curiosity, what did you think of last two Little Big Town records? (Which I can see how somebody might hear as less "country" per se', but as far as I can tell were just way, way better. Guess I'm not somebody who judges country records by how "country" they sound, though -- just like I don't usually judge metal records by how metal they sound, and so on.) (Actually, my favorite parts of that Jerrod Neimann record might well be some of the less country parts, come to think of it; definitely wouldn't have pegged the two songs that Alfred named as the standouts. Which isn't to say I dislike them.)

Gorge, you were right the first time: the CMA Festival was on ABC last night, and went as you described (no trouble tearing myself away). Jon-oh, I'm so far a bit disappointed in (or of, as the young folks say) the Marty, but at least a fat EP of keepers; wish he'd done more instrumentals, Ebb's comments on Lawson & Quicksilver remind me that there's some kind of sense of moving toward instrumental release in "real" country music, re Paisley's instrumental album, and what Keith Urban can do live, ditto Dierks, I'd think, at least, his press shetts once played up early jam-tending tours with Cross Canadian Ragweed, and the current bluegrass ect seems to draw on the most listenable bits of previous albums. Speaking of ebb, he turned me on to Freddie Curtis's Cuss The Wind album, never on CD, unlike Friend, source of his hit, "Don't Take Her (She's All I've Got", though that may not be the exact title yallknowwhatahmean. Here's my email re Cuss:
"Cuss The Wind" and "Oh Lord, What Are You Doing?" are like
country soul Charlie Rich, ca. "Field of Yellow Daisies", if not more
so, expansive drama taunted by placid beauty.Ditto the majestic "My
Whole World Has Ended": coulda shoulda been a hit, with a little edit
for acceptable radio time. "Sun Comes Up" like a more concise version
of Bill Withers' "Sun Coming Up in Harlen", the twist of "Gotta Go Get
Your Mama", as good a version of "Rainy Night In Georgia" as I've
heard.

Best version of "Rainy Night In Georgia" I've heard this year, fwiw, comes courtesy of Sir Charles Jones, an Alabama-based Southern Soul singer. Some brief notes on his album, and others I've been liking (and having mixed feelings about) in that genre lately, here:

Chitlin Circuit Double-entendre -filled Soul 2004 (and onward) Theodis Ealey's "Stand Up In It" is a song of the year

Cuss is also posted here and there; a few tracks are included among many bonuses on the reissue of Friends: 20 tracks for a good bargain price at Amazon MP3, reissued on S.D.E.G. (Swamp Dogg produced both LPs). Also a couple of other Freddie comps on there. Ebb says Freddie was a WLAC DJ in Nashville, apparently retired now, if not RIP.

Oh yeah, I think Sir Charles Jones used to play around here. I'll check him out.

Gorge, you were right the first time: the CMA Festival was on ABC last night, and went as you described (no trouble tearing myself away)

Huh. I hung on 'til almost the end. It really started petering out when they put Keith Urban on and
Paisley did a sped up "Another Saturday Night" as a second tune.

Something to keep in mind about Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver is that the line-up of pickers in Quicksilver changes pretty frequently-- between most of their studio albums, I believe, but maybe with slightly lower turnover. It usually comes down to whether Lawson is feeling more progressive or more traditionalist at the time. But, in either case, playing in Quicksilver is considered something of a rite of passage for many of the best instrumentalists in Bluegrass. Their live shows are generally much more worthwhile to seek out than their recordings. But their progressive stuff can be really fantastic, and I tend to prefer their traditional stuff to, say, The Gibson Brothers or Dailey & Vincent

I should dig up my DL&Q promos from recent years, prob incl the gospel one, I'm thinking now, having just seem a bunch of apparently mid-60s clips from a show called Barnyard Jamboree, featuring the Rambos, whose gospel melodies, harmonies and electric chording keeps going where I don't expect--I got the Kentucky origins before they were mentioned, but Kentucky kinda like the Everlys, creative initiative-wise (in this case, mebbe some Neapolitan chords come aboard now and then?)Host claims that Dottie Rambo was the first woman to play electric guitar leads on TV, and "What guitar company created the Dotte Rambo Guiar? He says he'll answer after commercial, but doesn't. However, "Dottie Rambo wrote and published over 2,500 songs." Doesn't get any major DL&Q action going in these clips, but still fairly intriguing.

Oh yeah, an excerpt from most/only intriguing press release received this a.m.
Hayes Carll's LABOR DAY BARBECUE He's bringing the party to Luckenbach, TX,the heart of the Hill Country!

This year he'll be performing along side a diverse line upcomprised of; Hard chargin' honky tonk hero (and co-star in the She Left Me For Jesus video) - JESSE DAYTON , Rockabilly Filly - ROSIE FLORES, Soulfulharmonistas - THE TRISHAS, Roots of Rock & Roll show with the kidsfrom Austin's SCHOOL OF ROCK, King of Hot Rod Country - The JOHN EVANS BAND,FIVE time Candadian (way North Texas) Roots Artist of the year, CORBLUND, and headlining this years bash is Austin's own Roots Rockicon, ALEJANDRO ESCOVEDO!

* * * * *
"Hayes Carll is the traveling Texas troubadour for today's X Generation.He's the snarky slacker with a heart of pure Kerouac. He's a modernstoryteller's dream, wrapped in a cloak of country-folk charm."
-TulsaWorld!

WORKIN' MANS BLUES...

Hayes is looking forward to a day off surrounded by friends,good eats and great music!

Seems like he's sittin' on top of the world these days.. He'sjust filmed a show for Austin City Limits, which will air as part of ACL's 36thseason premiering on PBS this fall and was recently featured on the 30min. season finale of the hilarious, hit animated series"Squidbillies" along side Lucinda Williams, Drive By Truckers, ToddSnider, Gillian Welch, David Rawlings, Rhett Miller and Jimmy Dale Gilmore! Keep your eyes peeled for re-runs folks!
Furthermore, he's been busy in thestudio recording ... A LOT! Not only does he have a new record in his backpocket, but Don Imus, who say's "She Left Me For Jesus" is "thegreatest country song ...ever!" asked Hayes to record "King of TheRoad" for his upcoming Imus Ranch benefit album (New West), he's gotmultiple new songs that will be featured in the upcoming Gweneth Paltrow film'Country Strong' AND a holiday single in the works for 2010. Look for Hayes new album to bereleased in early 2011, on Lost Highway!
I'd like to check out the Trishas, and speaking of Alexandro, I've been hearing an unexpectedly vigorous new track; like, where the John Cale-produced tracks tended to sound like J.C. in pop-rock mode with A.E.'s vocals substituted, this new 'un ("In Love With Love", or something like that) sounds like he's invigorated by but not too closely following Cale's geezer swagger. (And maybe Imus's too!)

Ha "Austin's School Of Rock" is at Northcross Shopping Center on Anderson, walking -- or at least, very short biking -- distance from our house. That's where the Walmart's going in, too -- But not a Super Walmart; gotta "keep Austin weird," doncha know.

And Luckenbach, Texas, barely even exists -- no town (population: 3, Wiki says, though that's a 2006 figure apparently) -- just basically a souvenir store and a stage or two. Cute bathroom-break stop on the way to Fredericksburg, though. (Haven't been since the year before last, during a pre-move recon visit. Have yet to see a show there.)

Just in time for Labor Day, Dick Destiny imagines Brad Paisley imagining a more realistic future (click on the "here" link to hear it):

http://dickdestiny.com/blog1/2010/09/03/a-rock-n-roll-weekend/

Wow! Thanks xhuxk.