Rolling Country 2010

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.

Caramanica on Brooks & Dunn's farewell show, in Nashville two nights ago. (He likes them but calls my favorite song by them "banal." Which it probably is, but it's still great).

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/04/arts/music/04farewell.html

Now, to start battling Burnt Orange traffic from Austin to Houston. (I was thinking "it's a Saturday morning, taking 290 will be a breeze!" And then I remembered the Rice game.)

Yeah, my Texas alum pal is coming over to watch it around noon. Complete with his Texas shirt and cap.

A roundup of recent Texas country releases I did for Rhapsody. (The Randy Rogers, Ryan Bingham, and Willie Nelson reviews are by Linda Ryan, not me; haven't posted my own reviews of the Ray Wylie Hubbard or Jason Boland albums or the Kevin Fowler single here before):

http://blog.rhapsody.com/2010/09/texascountry.html

Also, my review of the new James Otto album:

http://www.rhapsody.com/james-otto/shake-what-god-gave-ya#albumreview

yeah, the first Little Big Town record is the best to my ears. the second one seems a bit too derivative of those weedy CSNY harmonies. I really do like the new one as a piece of formalist pop, but basically, I wish the singing on all of them were toned down a notch or two. talked to someone about this the other day as I was waiting to catch a song or two by David Olney at the Country Music Hall of Fame--he said he'd "figured out" the way LBT's producer had stacked the harmonies and added one voice, then another, as a formula, which I guess I understand. but we agreed this was as I probably said before state-of-the-art country record-making. it's good.

I wrote up something on this year's Americana fest now happening in Nashville, for last wk's Scene. they gave out awards last night--Rosanne Cash got record of the year, the Avetts duo, the usual instrumentalists, and they gave some lifetime awards to people like Wanda Jackson. emerging artist to Hayes Carll, who made his first record, what, 7 or 8 years ago? baffling.

in general, may I say that I thought I did a good enough overview of Americana, talked to a couple of artists and the director and a radio person or two and a Journalist--Barry Mazor, who's always cogent and quotable and who, no surprise, thinks Americana is lot more viable and interesting than I do, probably. I didn't have space to talk about what is obviously most interesting about the whole thing, which is the relationship of Americana to country music itself. No one would admit to me that country looks to Americana, however cloudily, as a source of inspiration or at least gelt, but Dierks Bentley is playing the Americana show this year. The usual boilerplate about how Americana artists are artists but country music is profit-making. One comment I could not use that sorta amazed me; asking about why black artists are underrepresented, an unused source said, "Well, they must not've sent us their record. We don't push stuff unless someone takes the time to send us their music." So the AMA isn't exactly A&R all over again. Anyway, I guess I think Americana starts in the '70s but picks up steam in the punk/new wave era when many people began looking to country music and other old-tyme stuff for inspiration, like Jason's Nashville Scorchers. Costello in his mid-'80s phase. And a lot of stuff no one remembers for perhaps good reason, like those three Alpha Band records T-Bone Burnett did in the late '70s, or Randall Bramblett's two Polydor albums (the latter of which are quite good actually, esp. the amazing "No Stone Unturned.") So much of modern country is sonically and even musically kind of innovative or at least try-anything, but that effort is scorned as selling out by the Americana crowd. It's the same historical overview you get from both sides, though, with its emphasis on the Classic Rock era more or less. And while I thought Dierks' record was not all that great (altho it is quite listenable and there are some good moments), what it did was update Charlie Daniels and Southern rock for the bluegrass generation. which is interesting, for sure. And for sure, folks will tell you that Up on the Ridge came about because Dierks just decided to do his thing, not that a small army of people made sure he did it within certain parameters or with an eye to the Americana audience.

And right, I also kinda liked Ray Wylie Hubbard's latest, grew on me and I ended up listening to it a lot. he's funny.

the first Little Big Town record is the best to my ears. the second one seems a bit too derivative of those weedy CSNY harmonies

By "first" do you mean the actual first, which I've never heard and which no one here has talked about as far as I know, or do you mean the second, which is the first one that scored big (and which I reviewed way back when)?

Being a Johnny Come Lately to this country stuff, I'd never thought ten seconds about Dottie West until two days ago, when a Wikip sentence about her plastic-surgery sex-appeal makeover intrigued me and I listened to a few of her tracks. My ignorance didn't stop me from making a couple of posts about them on my lj (here and here. Suspect that the musical difference 'tween 'fore and after may be less fundamental than it at first seems, given that prior to the change she had leanings towards toney soul, so the disco-cum-adult-contemporary postmakeover tracks may actually be somewhat in line with where she was headed earlier. Surprised how much I liked the bedroom soul of the Kenny Rogers duets such as "What Are We Doing In Love," Kenny especially - Dottie's voice seeming a bit shot in comparison, though she uses the rips in her voicebox to pretty good effect. I prefer her in the '60s, I think, but these opinions come after listening to ten songs of hers total.

saw jamey johnson for the first time last night. saw some discussion of him way upthread as diffident onstage. not sure i'd use that word. my friend jim said "taciturn." that sounds right. just doesn't feel like talking. and not just to the audience. he barely looked at, or talked to, any of his bandmates either. they're a damn good band, by the way.

the show had an improvisatory feel to it, like they were winging it sans setlist. every song, with maybe one exception, started with jamey seemingly noodling alone on his acoustic guitar, as if trying to remember the chords to a long-lost song. there'd be no eye contact with anyone in the band, and you'd think maybe he was literally noodling, but then he'd start singing, and the band would slowly join in. wayd battle, his upside-down lefty lead guitarist, re-tuned for nearly every song, and he did so, without fail, AFTER jamey had already started the song. he also switched several times between acoustic and electric, again doing so only after jamey had begun singing, making it pretty clear that he, at least, had no idea what jamey was about to play. and yet when they all did kick in, they were tight, and perfectly understated, and beautiful. despite two electric gtrs on stage, the pedal steel did most of the lead work, and jamey did a nifty solo or two himself on his acoustic.

they played lots of new songs, and one of the only things jamey did say to the audience was that it was their first time for a lot of the songs. he heavily emphasized slow ballads. i was under the impression the double album was half and half, ballads and rockers, but if that's the case he pretty much left the rocking half alone. there was more than a little grumbling in the crowd about the slowest ones, but i didn't care, i thought that's where he was at his best, with that great baritone, and with that subtly sophisticated acoustic guitar work (man doesn't show off, but man can play). every time he did play a rocker, he'd slow it down again, almost in an exaggerated way, with the next song. people around me grumbled, i smiled. he didn't play any of the (relatively) upbeat ones from the lonesome song either, no "women," not even a "between jennings and jones," no matter how loudly people yelled for 'em. i could've done without the "turn the page" cover, which i actually think strained his voice. i was glad that he didn't use that song to actually turn the page. he just kept being himself.

sorry to ramble. it was one hell of a show.

p.s. i don't mean to suggest everyone else in the crowd hated it or anything like that. there was some grumbling. but he kicked people's asses. in the good way.

good to hear. debating driving two hours on a work night to see him in richmond.

Fresh Air recently re-ran a bunch of their country interviews (with decent amount of music in each). They're all posted, and you can listen to: Charlie Rich, Dolly Parton, Carolina Chocolate Drops, Doc Watson, Charlie Louvin, John Doe (promoting the collection of jukebox chesnuts he did with the Sadies, though they're not at the Fresh Air session), Ricky Skaggs, Charlie Haden (yeah, his family had an Okie string band when he was a lad, used to play live on the radio, and he's done some countryoid thangs with Frisell and Metheny), Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Bobby Braddock, George Jones. Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash, maybe some others http://npr.org/templates/archives/archive.php?Id=129527317 of course NPR's got a buttload of concert archives, but these were certainly better-than-average interviews, and relatively decent talk/music ratio.

Sorry, I italicized, here's the actual link:
http://npr.org/templates/archives/archive.php?thingId=129527317

Wondered about Mel McDaniel upthread when somebody asked what the last rockabilly album to have been a high country charter might've been, so I checked out his Just Can't Sit Down Music from 1986 (#25 country chart peak), and it comes pretty close -- The Springsteen B-side cover "Stand On It" is absolutely rockabilly (and even explcitly talks about dancing to rockabilly bands), but I'd say maybe half of the other tracks ("Lower On The Hog" which John Anderson had also done a great version of a few years earlier -- are the bottom pig parts always necessarily cheaper by the way? I never noticed; "'57 Chevy And You," "Just Can't Sit Down Music," "Oh Naomi," maybe "Chain Smokin") have at least some remnant of rockabilly in their singing and rhythm, though I don't know if purists would embrace them. No surprise that McDaniel apparently got into music in Tulsa around 1956, after seeing Elvis. Biggest hit (a #1 in 1985) was "Baby's Got Her Blue Jeans On," which I remember but which never killed me. Christgau gave his 1987 best-of album a B+.

My general feelings about "Americana" (does nobody call it "Alt-Country" anymore?) are on record, no need to repeat them, but I will say since Edd mentioned them that I kind of liked the self-titled 1976 Alpha Band LP that I picked up for $1 last year, but couldn't stomach J. Henry a/k/a T-Bone Burnett's 1972 The B-52 Band And the Fabulous Skylarks, which was almost as dull as, uh, the Avett Brothers are now. Go figure. James Talley has to count as proto-Americana too, right? And it probably all just goes back to the Band, when you get down to it. Did a "Cowpunk Essentials" column (starting with Jason and the Scorchers, whose Fervor I like a lot) for Spin a few months back, but can't find it on line; still think '80s cowpunk had a real energy later alt-country didn't.

Don't know Dottie West's stuff at all, with or without Kenny Rogers (though I suspect I've at least overheard some of the latter), but of course now I'm curious. Been pondering Frank's livejournal question about country guys taking glamour in an idisyncratic direction or countermoving toward country hipness, and I'm not sure I have an answer, though the question did make me think of Phil Vassar (one of the only country guys who seems to make no attempt to look "country" -- in fact, in the few pictures I've seen, he often looks fairly urban and cosmopolitan) and Big Kenny (who is probably one of the few country guys in recent years to present himself as an outright weirdo), but also of Gary Allan and Dwight Yoakam (who, more than Toby or Brooks & Dunn I think, seem to have figured out a way to look both "cool" -- partly meaning strong and silent and shadowy and mysterious and laid-back, but maybe sophisticated, too --and "country" at the same time). Also reminded me that it never registered with me until Caramanica's piece last week that only one guy in Brooks And Dunn -- Brooks -- ever wears a cowboy hat; shows how unobservant I am. Also makes me wonder how and when cowboy hats became the favored male country music headgear instead, of, say, farmers' hats, and why. I usually forget that it's even a costume.

And nah, new Jamey Johnson is definitely not half rockers. Not even close. (I've got a long piece on it in the Voice next week.)

By the way, here's Edd's Americana cover story (which I still need to read):

http://www.nashvillescene.com/nashville/has-americana-arrived/Content?oid=1798554

Oops, scratch that, actually here (though that previous link does refer to some related pieces, which might or might not be worth looking up in their own right):

http://www.nashvillescene.com/nashville/as-americanas-identity-takes-shape-andmdash-and-boosts-sales-andmdash-the-fledgling-genre-revels-in-its-new-momentum/Content?oid=1798562

Which reminds me that Frank asked this on his livejournal a couple days ago: "why isn't anybody not on Rolling Country talking about cultural stuff like this, limitlessness versus defeat etc.? Or are there lots of people doing so? I can't say I know the discourse." I can't either, though I wouldn't be surprised if blogs like 9513 and Roughstock, or the Nashville Scene itself, might deal with those questions on occasion -- I dunno, maybe in comments boxes, if not articles themselves? But I don't read them enough myself to know.

Most off-the-charts/over-the-top vocals on that Narvel Felts LP I mentioned here last week, fwiw, would be in "I Remember You," where his singing shifts smoothly from manly to almost ridiculously glam-twee; seriously, the high parts could be Russell Mael in Sparks. Can't think of any other country that does that -- Freddie Fender or Roy Orbison operatics, inasmuch a I've heard them, included (is what they do called melisma, btw, or there another technical term for it?) But maybe it's a Lou Christie or Frankie Valli influence?

Big Kenny (who is probably one of the few country guys in recent years to present himself as an outright weirdo)

Speaking of Big Kenny, I cant recall any talk here about his solo album (which I think came out in late '09), nor did I hear anything from it on the radio, though I guess "Long After I'm Gone" was a single. I'd almost think it was never actually released--except that I saw a physical copy in a Target today.

By "first" do you mean the actual first, which I've never heard and which no one here has talked about as far as I know, or do you mean the second

The first one--2002, Monument, self-titled. The one with "Don't Waste My Time," one of their best songs and a single that charted respectably back then. And which is a fine record--early-Byrds guitar jangle, later Byrds rocking jangle, Petty organ, soul inflections meeting California country-pop-rock. "Modal" melodies--"Somewhere Far Away" references "On Broadway," while "A Thousand Years" (amazing track) contains Robyn Hitchcock moves with Badfinger slide, album ends with orchestral pop--strings, His Name Is Alive with boondock fixations. Actually I think their second album, The Road to Here, is their most consistent and thematically unified, with country-funk-disco in "Boondocks" and "Mean Streak" and "Looking for a Reason" rocking hard as shit, plus a song about marrying into the wrong side of tracks called "Welcome to the Family." Only drag is "A Little More You," but this is a record about loving yourself and where you're from--the boondocks--that also addresses utopia after-the-fact in the brilliant production and arrangements (which threw me--the Dobro, banjo, mandolin and so forth seemed like a sellout to country musical tropes, but it's all used perfectly, esp. love the doomsday riff of "Bones). And I always hear the opening line of the record as "There's a coal field runnin' up and down my spine." Like a good Chic record, this is where the tropes and the big-picture lyrics really add to critical mass and explode. And the music is truly inspired, some far-out shit in there, as in the fade to "Good as Gone."

A Place to Land (released twice in '07 and again expanded in '08 by Capitol who also broke the single they did with Jake Owens and Sugarland) is more overtly pop--I hear the Go-Betweens in there, Exile Stones, the Faces, "Vapor" appears to rewrite Neil's "Old Man," while the first track, "Fine Line," is one of the more overt Fleetwood Mac rips (I hear "Go Your Own Way" in there, as if the Go-Betweens sexual tension spilled over into more lucrative territory here). It's a really good record but doesn't hang together as well as Road. And the harmonies and the use of the to my ears rather personality-challenged male vocalists got more savvy over these records; again, it's like Chic in a country context, everything is controlled and laid out there in a way that can seem arty until you realize how much pent-up emotion they're channeling thru the intricacies.

Yeah, there's a thing some acting teachers try to teach, about getting yourself free enough to feel an emotion, but then not try to express it--try to hold contain it, and let it find a way out, against the character's will, because that's what can seem the most credible in a lot (not all scenes). But it's really hard to do right; ditto in music, though it's clearly the thing to do in some traditional, ritualistic ballads, or modern songs that try to emulate them. Speaking of Big Kenny, thanks so much for mentioning that solo album, Mr. President! Here's another that may not have been properly distributed at all in its conjectural first release, and I can't really remember having seen its re-release, despite B&R's apex right about then (streams from this and the Jon album may still work at the original villagevoice.com post)

Wurlitzer Dawgs Out!
By Don Allred Tuesday, Oct 4 2005
Live a Little, Big Kenny's re-released, pre—Big & Rich solo album, brings the noise candy, not the nose candy. It's a skyful of Purple Planetberries, exploding on cue, presented 2 U by B.K., a psych-pop-goes-the-country P.T. Barnum, bopping through amber waves with his drum machine: a confidence man, in every sense and nonsense.
A true con artist has to love his (and all!) mythology, so Kenny's as much wistful crooner as carny barker when singing through a megaphone-like vocoder about "a place where dreams come true." He gets his comeuppance in "Cheater's Lament." Even more so, in "Think Too Much," with virtual drumsticks bouncing off the impervious cello-and-viola cloud of his Orbisonic orbit.
But Roy O. was a Traveling Wilbury, of course (alchemizing with a Bard, a Beatle, an ELO, and a Petty). Which may be why his lonely soul mate Big K.'s only answer, my friends, is the molten-candle-wax Spaghetti Western Mystery Tour that never ends. (With a tip of Big's feathered top hat to "Dor-oh-thee, and Lit-tle To-To," in "Rather Be.")
Down here on the ground where the air is brown and El Lay meets Nash Vegas, Big Kenny's compadre, young Jon Nicholson, listens to the silence all night long. Oh, he can soul-shout all he wants to, but li'l pauses keep getting in between the spooky teeth of Wurlitzer piano on his debut joint, A Lil Sump'm Sump'm. He can dream about a blissfully rolling, Michael Hurley—worthy "Grass River," and a "Grandma" who gets high and flies to glory, with Big & Rich singing along. But he'll wake up, shook up by a girl who "steps to the car," to ask if he's cool. Probably meaning "Are you a cop?" But he's shivering: "Well, how would I know, how does anybody know?" How is his (small-time showbiz) hustle any different from hers? "If you listen to yourself, you're just lying to yourself." But actually, it's OK. Jon's cool.

1000 words I wrote about the new Jamey Johnson album:

http://www.villagevoice.com/2010-09-15/music/jamey-johnson-sprawls-out/

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/clicktrack/2010/09/glower_power_down-and-dirty_co.html

Really really wish i had made that highline show.

Ah, so the ones about L.A. being the Bad Place are the most L.A.-softee-rock of the bunch? And right, Jamey's beard is outta hand. I had the pleasure of meeting Jamey and doing a profile of him for his last record and reviewed The Dollar when it came out in '06. Women I know say he's a hunk and they LIKE his beard. Gosdin's "Set 'Em Up Joe" seems about uncoverable to me, because Gosdin was about twict the singer Johnson is, but hey, what the hell. ("Set 'Em" is the song they play at ever single Ernest Tubb Midnite Jamboree, btw--the long-running radio show now taped, once live, at the ETMJ/ET Record Shop out near Opryland in these parts. Followed by Tex Ritter's enocomium to Tubb ("the tall man with the distinctive voice and smile...") and then some of "Walking the Floor." All of which gives the feeling of timeline that I guess Johnson is going for here. I like him fine, but he's limited, me not being a huge fan of Waylonisms (I like him, don't love him, Jessi did). I note, thinking about country's notions of glamour and hipness Frank and Chuck seem to be musing on, that Jamey looks more like one of the Avett Brothers than he does Brooks & Dunn. Does this bode a paradigm shift within country? And I note that I just find a lot of Johnson's music turgid. My favorite moment of his probably remains "Mowing Down the Roses." But his covers of Whitley et al are mostly good. I sensed a lotta Alabama angst in Johnson there in the Mercury offices high above Nashville and that's fine, I feel that way myself these days much of the time. This and Elizabeth Cook's record are the Quality Anti-Nashville Nashville albums so far this year and I think Cook writes better songs but Johnson sings better, or at least I am not annoyed so much by Johnson's vocals as I am Elizabeth's very nice Dollyisms.

Maybe inevitably, the new Jamey Johnson album gets its own thread:

Who wants to talk about Jamey Johnson's new double album, The Guitar Song?

I'm not sure I totally understand Frank's notion of "country hipness," having taken a look at his LJ stuff and some cool Dottie videos. What you may get out of listening to Dottie West is a mental comparison of how a jazz singer or a "straight" "pop" singer might've tackled "Country Girl." Blossom Dearie would've turned it into a celebration of a city girl's fantasy of what country life is like, but West comes from the recognizable stance of a person who'd been immersed in the country and no big deal therefore, which comes across in the matter-of-fact singing--the way she phrases steadily across from verse to chorus. But a hip performance...I don't know how you'd even bring that idea into that music, actually, because it's just so opposed to the entire idea of hip circa the actual West recording. Because the West performance is beyond asking questions about what she even means to do, she's just doing it and her audience wants it that straight and can only deal with it delivered that straight.

But I'd venture that all current Nashville big-time country is more or less exploring this idea of country hip, because Nashville is a country-hip town to begin with. Jamey Johnson looks like he's in a metal band or in Black Mountain or the Avett Brothers, Urban, Paisley, Allan, Yoakam, Vassar, Bobby Pinson all are playing with this idea. Eric Church doesn't seem to be so much. Elizabeth Cook--whose album will doubtless vie with Jamey's in the Scene poll as disc-of-year--is all about that, which actually both helps her and limits her music. At least half of her new one, which contains some brilliant stuff and hangs together conceptually well enough for me to give it a high A grade, tries to inject some funk or rock into the country structures, but it gets stuck somewhere for me--the rockers don't rock enough, but the words to the flat-out country tunes are absolutely great. And this may be one tentative key to why country and hip are hard thangs to reconcile--the words are just so important, don't toy around with them. Country's sonics are flat cardboard so much of the time; certainly Dottie's backing in that old video of "Country Girl" is a pretty uninflected waltz, just functional, just like it oughta be.

I think a question to ask would be: how improvisational has country ever been, in the studio or on stage? How much has it taken liberties with its form compared to pop or jazz or even soul? And more to the point, how would county audiences today react to someone stepping on the form or being too, too hip in that way? Because formally, Johnson's record is way retrograde, but the sonics are a higher grade of cardboard and that's what's selling the thing, besides his great beard and overall great bad-ass attitude, to those of us who wanna be hip, I know I do.

http://downwithtyranny.blogspot.com/2010/09/whats-wanker-to-do.html

This just whipped up homemade video of an old song is worth a quick look. The Foremen -- ha!

Well this touches on what I mentioned earlier about Paisley and Bentley getting more toward giving instrumental interludes more room to develope at times (or Paisley's whole album, a while back). Mind you, they aren't doing duets with Ornette Coleman or Weedeater. it's still in acceptable/traditional ways of stretching out, bluegrass and Southern Rock's jazzier,jammier inclinatations (but with hats still on and cowboy shirts still clean)But it can be refreshing if it sounds like it's finding refreshment (mostly live, ditto Keith Urban and a number of others) Anyway, was wondering about Mandy Barnett, and google read my mind of course, hence the most fascinating press release of the past five minutes, incl. a bunch of releases at the end, which might be pretty decent:
_LEBANON, Tenn_. (September 20, 2010) As you start thinking about holiday
entertainment and stocking stuffers, you may want to consider some new music
that provides all the authentic sounds of the holiday traditions so many of
us cherish. The newest CD in Cracker Barrel Old Country Store's exclusive
music program is _Winter Wonderland, _the holiday album by acclaimed
vocalist Mandy Barnett. In addition to the title track, holiday standards
such as "_Jingle Bell Rock_," "_A Holly Jolly Christmas,"_ "_Marshmallow
World_," "_I'll Be Home For Christmas_" and "_White Christmas_" are all
included in this wonderful collection of holiday songs. Mandy has recaptured
the Golden Era with the song choices and production on this album, along
with a musical cast of veterans such as Harold Bradley, Lloyd Green, Louis
Nunley, Gene Chrisman and Tony Migliore, who lent their talents to render an
instant classic. You may care to know that guitarist Harold Bradley and
back-up singer Louis Nunley appear on the original versions of several of
these songs, including "_Jingle Bell Rock_"! This album is now available,
but only at Cracker Barrel.

"I wanted this album to be a classic and to remind people of the simpler
times they had when they were children," said Mandy, in talking about how
she approached recording this CD. "It was important to record these songs in
an authentic fashion so people would connect with them emotionally," she
added.

Mandy Barnett became well-known as a teenager when she starred as country
music legend Patsy Cline in the stage show "Always...Patsy Cline" at the
celebrated Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, TN. The performances were sold out
nightly and received impressive reviews across the country. Mandy went on to
record various albums, including one with legendary producer Owen Bradley.
She is an active performer nationally and internationally, and is a frequent
guest on the Grand Ole Opry.

Mandy is also a frequent guest at Cracker Barrel. "I am hooked on Uncle
Herschel's Favorite," she says, referring to Cracker Barrel's signature
breakfast offering. She also likes to order the Country Fried Chicken
country dinner plate and macaroni n' cheese, which she calls real comfort
food.

"Mandy has a strong, resonant voice that warms your heart as soon as you
hear it," says Cracker Barrel's Vice President of Marketing Peter Keiser.
"Cracker Barrel is very pleased to provide this high quality, pleasing CD
for our guests' holiday entertainment and gift-giving."

Cracker Barrel's exclusive music program features numerous projects. In
September of this year of this year, Cracker Barrel released the self-titled
_Rodney Atkins_, which includes four #1 hits. In July, the company released
Craig Morgan's _That's Why- Collector's Edition_,_ _and in May the release
of Wynonna's Love Heals debuted at #7 on the Billboard Magazine Top Country
Albums chart. February's release of _Dailey & Vincent Sing the Statler
Brothers_ debuted at #1 on Billboard's Top Bluegrass Albums chart, where it
spent nine weeks in the top position and 18 weeks overall in one of the
three top positions since its release on February 1st. Releases in 2009
included November's _Songs of Love and Heartache_ by Alan Jackson,
September's release of an exclusive new version of _The Foundation_ by the
Zac Brown Band, August's George Jones' release of _A Collection Of My Best
Recollection_, May's release of Montgomery Gentry's _For Our Heroes_, which
debuted at #5 on Billboard Magazine's Top Country Albums chart, and March's
release of Dolly Parton's _Collector's Edition of Backwoods Barbie__, _which
debuted at #9 on that chart. Over the last few years, Cracker Barrel has
released exclusive CDs with Bill Gaither, Kenny Rogers, Ricky Skaggs, Aaron
Tippin, Alison Krauss & Union Station, Josh Turner, Amy Grant, Sara Evans,
and Charlie Daniels_._Think you mentioned some Cracker Barrel comps, xhux?