Rolling Country 2015

Some other good collections of country etc rarities also on that page.

x-post -re Zac Brown, knew he likes to please all, but did not realize that meant 8 covers in his set including from Beatles, Queen, Charlie Daniels, Dave Matthews,Led Zepp, Marshall Tucker...

Lindi Ortega, Faded Gloryville:
cute voice knows when to go against type, for desolation angel/veteran perspectives like the title song but naming the album for it turns out to be something of a bait-and-switch, as the bluesy, moody, sometimes lilting beat ( thus sometimes reminding me of Arthur Alexander's "You Better Move On") gets mischievous behind the sad 'n' sexy vocal on "When You Ain't Home," faster for "Rough Neighborhood," where she offers weed for cigs, faster still in "Run Amuck," knowing when to relent a little, as another means of increasing the momentum in "Tell It Like It Is" (one of several new originals with titles of classics she might be expected to cover, considering her style--again, going against type just that much). Even there, she's effectively back and forth between confidence and vulnerability---like the love pilgrim's almost losing her nerve at times; the suspense! (Also almost making me forget she darn well should be confident in the studio, considering that this is her sixth album.) And does sound sincerely sorry for having to tell the boy "You're too clean-cut."
Rec to fans of Nikki Lane, Amy Farris, Bonnie Raitt (70s and recently), also Brende Lee, when she's comin' on strong.

Managed the spelling this time, but left out several intended commas; sorry.

I'd say John Prine phones it in, but that would imply more effort than is evident. Most of the rest of this is pretty darn good (even Kristofferson, although he hands off lines to others). The Original Carter Family selections don't reach me like other configurations of Carters, but then again there are lots more of the latter (maybe the doc is about the Carter Legacy, and how it moves on through more toe-tapping eras?) Fave so far is the title song, "Do not disturb this daydream," in which "the sparkling trout" is eyed by the kingfisher, and "Someone with golden hair/Looks a lot like you."

OMNIVORE’S SOUNDTRACK ALBUM
FOR AWARD-WINNING DOCUMENTARY
ABOUT THE FAMILY AT THE HEART OF COUNTRY MUSIC
THE WINDING STREAM: THE CARTERS, THE CASHES
AND THE COURSE OF COUNTRY MUSIC
COMING OCTOBER 16, 2015
Features songs of the Carters performed by Johnny Cash, Mother Maybelle and the original Carter Family, Rosanne Cash, George Jones, John Prine, Carolina Chocolate Drops, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band with Kris Kristofferson,
Old 97’s Murry Hammond, and others.

The Carter Family
MACES SPRING, Va. — There is a stream that courses through American roots music. Its source is in the Appalachian foothills in a place called Maces Spring, Virginia. It was there that A.P. Carter, his wife Sara and his sister-in-law Maybelle began their careers as three of the first stars of country music. From their earliest days as Victor recording artists to their international success via the phenomenon of border radio, the original Carter Family made their mark on the history of American recorded music.
Beth Harrington’s documentary about this saga has played festivals and won awards and accolades across the globe. Omnivore Recordings, in conjunction with Harrington, is proud to present the soundtrack to this very important film: The Winding Stream — The Carters, The Cashes and the Course of Country Music.
The film will be in theaters around the country this fall. Screenings in select cities will feature local artists performing Carter Family music. Check ArgotPictures.com for details.
The soundtrack will hit stores on October 16, 2015. With songs from the iconic original Carter Family, performed by them as well as the likes of George Jones, Johnny Cash, John Prine and Rosanne Cash, The Winding Stream sends listeners on an audio journey through the history of the music we now know as “country,” how it came to be, and how it endures today.
With liner notes from Harrington, pictures from the John Carter Cash archives, and mastering/restoration from multiple Grammy ® winner Michael Graves (whose most recent win was for his work on Omnivore’s Hank Williams: The Garden Spot Programs, 1950), this CD and digital release is a must for those who know, love and want to learn more about this truly American musical genre, its origins and its legacy.
According to director Harrington: “The story of the Carter Family is one about gleaning the best of American roots music and passing it on. That’s what the Carters did with their song collecting and writing and that’s what happened with their music down through the generations of family music-makers as well as other musicians. This soundtrack to the film is in that tradition, highlighting the work of the Carters themselves as well as a variety of family and friends interpreting that music. It’s exciting to have it out there on Omnivore.”
Track Listing:
Bear Creek Blues – John Prine

Lord, I’m in Your Care – Grey Delisle & Murry Hammond

Bury Me Under the Weeping Willow Tree – The Original Carter Family
Single Girl, Married Girl – The Original Carter Family

Worried Man Blues – George Jones

Hello Stranger – Carolina Chocolate Drops

Keep on the Sunny Side – The Original Carter Family

Cannon Ball Blues – The Original Carter Family

I’m Thinking Tonight of My Blue Eyes – The Original Carter Family
Wildwood Flower – Mother Maybelle & the Carter Sisters

Will the Circle Be Unbroken – Johnny Cash & the Carter Sisters

In the Shadow of Clinch Mountain – Murry Hammond

Sweet Fern – Maybelle & Sara Carter

Gold Watch and Chain – The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band With Kris Kristofferson
Step Light Ladies – Home Folks, Joe Carter & John McCutcheon

The Winding Stream – Rosanne Cash
# # #
Watch (and feel free to post) the Winding Stream soundtrack trailer:
http://youtu.be/6mXcbJ5dlu0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mXcbJ5dlu0&feature=youtu.be

Just saw Chris Stapleton and band perform two songs on morning TV. My first response: "Oh, good, we've got a new Jamey Johnson." My second: "This is the song they play on the soundtrack while the biker gang gets massacred by the cops." Boring, turgid 70s rock balladry labeled country. Mandatory beards on everyone but his harmony-singing wife.

BTW, watching him sent me to Johnson's website in a "whatever happened to that guy?" mood. Turns out he's on tour, and is playing NYC (Irving Plaza specifically) on 9/15, a show sponsored by XM Outlaw Country. I haven't listened to his albums in a couple of years, but I wouldn't mind catching a show. Except a) it's a Tuesday night, and I have to be up at 5:30 AM for work, and b) tickets are $68.50. FUCK OFF.

http://www.inforum.com/variety/3830809-bluestem-performer-merle-haggard-todays-country-music-its-crap

"I can't tell what they're doing," says The Hag. "They're talking about screwing on a pickup tailgate and things of that nature."

Last time I saw Jamey Johnson he was actually opening for Haggard. Perversely (or in some other odd context I missed), he (Johnson) played a set of almost all ballads and slow songs.

if I were going to judge xpost Stapleton by two songs, it would be the first described, not the second; nothing on the solo debut reminds me of Scott Stapp and his ilk. I hadn't thought of Jamey Johnson, but okay, ditto Seger, whom I had thought of, from the first time I heard him with the bluegrass Steeldrivers. Not like there's a flood of Johnson or Seger product these years, so CS is welcome to fill the gap (with original material even---no having to wait for Seger's occasional country covers, like "Blame It On The Moon").
Saw Johnson and band on a festival stream several years ago: continous slow groove, playing their way in and out of most of The Guitar Song, with an intimate vibe I don't expect from a festival (audience seemed into it).

I don't know where I heard this, but Steven Tyler is recording a country record? Has anything come of this? No idea why I'm asking.

1 song released, album still to come...http://tasteofcountry.com/steven-tyler-love-is-your-name-video/

i heard this on the radio yesterday and was sort of taken aback that today's country radio programmers are giving it a shot

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBGUfVuBkMg

Tyler showed up during Hayden Juliette Barnes' live-enough version of "Crazy"---promoting her fictitious Patsy biopic on Nashville---and did no harm, possibly in part because he didn't sing that much, but when he did, sounded okay. Still need to check Cam, thanx for reminder
Don Henley's guest-star-ladenCass County turned out to be surprisingly painless, enjoyable, even. Starts with one of four well-chosen covers (all present on this deluxe edition, that is): Tift Merritt's "Bramble Rose," which he starts in surprisingly good voice---not just lack of the strain I remember; he actually seems to have a feel for the phrasing and pace---then hands it off to Miranda Lambert, who passes a verse to Mick Jagger---also good, even though he plays it straight. "Cost of Living" meets Merle Haggard, Martina McBride's good on "Old Flame," although the story gets cut short, probably because it's based on a real-life episode, according to him. Dolly Parton is excellent, duh, on the Louvin Brothers' "When I Stop Dreaming," but she doesn't obliterate Henley vocal, so give points to both vox.
Some other voices are more in the background, like "two out of three Dixie Chicks," Vince Gill, Lucinda---though NPR streams aren't always as good as they should be, and my headphones are certainly not for audiophiles, but I like the way he melds near-subliminal yet unmistakable Lee Ann Womack to a chorus that would otherwise probably get monotonous.
Even at least one cratedigger's catnip find, at least for me: "She Sang Hymns Out of Tune," with a low-key, sneaky surrealism that surely suggested some Gram Parsons originals, and had me thinking that this presentation surely is the mature, generous Henley, since Parsons reportedly loathed the Eagles--but apparently it was written by one Jesse Lee Kincaid, and recorded by Nilsson, on his Pandemonium Shadow Show (also by the Dillards on Wheatstraw Suite);
Speaking of the Eagles, I never was a big fan, but the overall sense of radio-ready structures here even extends to up- and downtempo tracks that would improve several of their albums.
Catchiness etc. also gets past most editorial moments, so more points for not playing the old man card too much (trepidation of atmospheric "Train In The Distance" could be felt by anyone, most likely).
Here's the dee-luxe:
http://www.npr.org/2015/09/17/440361538/first-listen-don-henley-cass-county

Hayden *Panettiere*, duh.

Vol. 1 was purty cool, with that Buck stuff that the Beatles were evidently listening to (and covering "Act Naturally"). Also we wouldn't have Dwight Yoakam as we know him on albums like Three Pears, if not for Buck x Beatles. This one takes him into the post-Beatles 70s:

http://d31hzlhk6di2h5.cloudfront.net/20150924/f4/eb/4f/aa/b6fd35659e7a5c27a954aea7_280x280.jpg

OMNIVORE’S BUCK ’EM! VOLUME 2 (1967-1975)
TELLS THE NEXT CHAPTER OF BUCK OWENS’ STORY
Fifty-song, 2-CD set features album tracks, rarities,
seven previously unissued tracks,
and liner notes from Buck Owens and biographer Randy Poe.
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — After the unprecedented success of Buck ’Em! The Music of Buck Owens (1955-1967), Omnivore Recordings is prepared to take the country icon’s story to the next stage with Buck ’Em! Volume 2: The Music of Buck Owens (1967-1975). Street date for the new two-CD set is November 13, 2015. Volume 1 remains available.
If Volume 1 started the story, Buck ’Em! Volume 2 continues it, tracing the influential music of Bakersfield’s hero via an impressive 50 tracks.
From #1 singles like “Who’s Gonna Mow Your Grass,” “Johnny B. Goode,” and “Tall Dark Stranger,” to favorites including “Ain’t It Amazing, Gracie” and the original version of “Streets of Bakersfield,” Buck ’Em: Volume 2 continues the journey of Alvis Edgar Owens, Jr. [Buck] throughout his run into the 1970s and into the homes of America on Hee Haw.
Featuring notes culled from the best-selling book, Buck ’Em! The Autobiography of Buck Owens by the artist with Randy Poe, and featuring photos and ephemera, the legend of Buck reigns supreme with this capper to the first volume. With mastering from Michael Graves, whose work on Hank Williams’ The Garden Spot Programs, 1950 earned him a Grammy, the listener is not only reliving history, but hearing it better than it’s ever sounded.
Buck ’Em! Volume 2: The Music of Buck Owens (1967-1975) is not just a sequel to an impressive and successful release, it is the continuation of the appreciation of a true American legend.
Disc 1:
1. Happy Times Are Here Again
2. Sweet Rosie Jones

3. Your Mother’s Prayer
4. You’ll Never Miss the Water (Till The Well Runs Dry)
5. If I Had Three Wishes

6. Let the World Keep on a Turnin’ — Buck Owens and Buddy Alan

7. Things I Saw Happening at the Fountain on the Plaza When I Was Visiting Rome or Amore

8. Darlin’, You Can Depend on Me (alternate version)
9. I’ve Got a Tiger by the Tail (live at the White House)
10. Who’s Gonna Mow Your Grass
11. We’re Gonna Get Together — Buck Owens and Susan Raye
12. I’ve Got You on My Mind Again (live in London)
13. Johnny B. Goode (live in London)
14. Today I Started Loving You Again — Buck Owens and Bettye Swann (outtake)

15. Big in Vegas (live in Las Vegas)
16. Las Vegas Lament (live in Las Vegas)
17. The Kansas City Song
18. Down in New Orleans (early version)
19. Tall Dark Stranger (live in Scandinavia)
20. I Wouldn’t Live in New York City (If They Gave Me the Whole Dang Town)
21. Bridge Over Troubled Water
22. (I’m Goin’) Home

23. Ruby (Are You Mad)

24. Corn Likker
25. I’ll Still Be Waiting for You (live in Reno)

Disc 2:
1. Arms Full of Empty

2. Ain’t It Amazing, Gracie

3. You Ain’t Gonna Have Ol’ Buck to Kick Around No More

4. I Love You So Much It Hurts

5. Something’s Wrong

6. In the Palm of Your Hand

7. Streets of Bakersfield

8. The Good Old Days (Are Here Again) —
9. I Won’t Be Needing You
10. It Never Will Be Over for Me
11. Big Game Hunter

12. (It’s a) Monster’s Holiday
13. Stony Mountain West Virginia
14. Holdin’ On

15. On the Cover of the Music City News (live in Japan)

16. Made In Japan (live in Japan)

17. Somewhere Between You and Me — Buck Owens and Susan Raye (live in New Zealand)
18. Rollin’ in My Sweet Baby’s Arms (live in Australia)
19. Great Expectations

20. 41st Street Lonely Hearts’ Club
21. Weekend Daddy

22. He Ain’t Been Out Bowling With the Boys (outtake)

23. A Different Kind of Sad (outtake)
24. The Battle of New Orleans

25. Country Singer’s Prayer

re 9/20 Music City roots webcasts

For The Benefit Of Mr. Womack
Show Preview by Peter Cooper

“I worry often,” Tommy Womack once sang. “I live in terror of what life may have in store.”

Tommy—who has long been among Nashville’s most inventive, idiosyncratic and essential roots musicians—was right to worry. In June, he was driving to a gig when, suddenly, he wasn’t driving anymore. Instead, he was being rushed by ambulance to a Kentucky hospital. The verdict: cracked pelvis, cracked vertebrae, cracked sacral bone and cracked bank account.

So, here’s what we’re going to do about it at Music City Roots: On Wednesday, September 28, at 7 p.m. we’re throwing the greatest rock ‘n’ roll party of 2015. And you’re invited, but you’re going to have to pay some dough to get in. Not a lot of dough, but enough so that if enough folks pay it, it’ll help Tommy, his wife Beth and his son Nathan through a difficult time.

But, friends, this will not be a night of somber reflections on the frailty of life. This is a night of celebration, of redemption, of victory. Tommy Womack is carrying on, like a cockroach after the bomb. And even if you’ve never heard Tommy’s amazing, amusing, acerbic music… or read his genius memoir, The Cheese Chronicles… or read his monthly column in The East Nashvillian… or seen his weekly Monday Morning Cup of Coffee video blog… or heard his Friday Happiness Hour on East Nashville Radio… or heard Jimmy Buffett or Todd Snider or Jason and the Scorchers or Government Cheese or Daddy or The Bis-quits play his songs… this show is going to be epic.

How epic? Lots epic. Why epic? Because so many of Nashville’s city-shaping rock ‘n’ rollers love Tommy Womack, and they’re coming out to give to him by playing for us.

Jason and the Scorchers invented country-punk and became Music City’s first important rock band. They’ve toured with Bob Dylan, played the Kennedy Center and won the Americana Music Association’s Lifetime Achievement in Performance award. They haven’t played Nashville in years. They’re playing this show and offering a set that will likely include the searing “Self Sabotage,” which Scorchers’ frontman Jason Ringenberg wrote with Tommy.
Rough and tumble guy Webb Wilder and his Beatnecks band arrive on our stage just days after the release of Webb’s brand new album, Mississippi Moderne. In 1986, Webb trumpeted Tennessee’s rock readiness with a sparkling debut album called It Came From Nashville. In the years since then, he has maintained his hybrid vigor and demonstrated his mastery of what he calls both kinds of music: rock and roll.

Also with a brand new album – one called Get Loud! – is Dan Baird, with a band that thrives on the guitar weaving of Baird and Scorchers’ guitarist Warner Hodges, and on songs that are often co-written by one Tommy Womack. Half of Dan’s regular band, Homemade Sin, is already overseas, readying for a major tour, but Dan and Warner stuck around to play one last stateside show, for their fractured friend. Dan came to worldwide attention in the 1980s as the wild-eyed guitarist/singer for the ferocious Georgia Satellites.

At this Tommy-fest edition of Music City Roots, we’ll also hear from one of Tommy Womack’s dearest friends and most frequent collaborators, Will Kimbrough. Joining Will is Nashville’s godfather of pop, Bill Lloyd, who shares Bowling Green roots and an elevated musical sensibility with Tommy. Then there’s long, strong, and tall Marshall Chapman, a singing, songwriting Nashville fixture since the Outlaw era. Marshall’s songs have been recorded by Emmylou Harris, Joe Cocker, Irma Thomas, Jimmy Buffett, and many more, and American Songwriter magazine called her most recent song-set, Blaze of Glory, “One of the year’s finest singer-songwriter albums.” Oh, and also joining will are his bandmates from the roots rock collective, Daddy. That’s all of his bandmates. Including a fellow named Tommy Womack.

I first became aware of Tommy in the 1990s, while visiting Nashville from my home in South Carolina. I was riding in Jason Ringenberg’s truck, listening to the Scorchers’ not-yet-released Clear Impetuous Morning album.

“I wrote this with Tommy Womack,” Jason said.

“Who?” I said.

“You don’t know who Tommy Womack is?” Jason asked.

“No.”

Then Jason took a hard, fast left turn into the parking lot at Bookstar on West End Ave., said, “Wait here,” and jogged inside. He emerged with a just-purchased copy of Cheese Chronicles, handed it over and said, “Read this. Love it, and buy it for somebody else someday. Everybody needs to know Tommy Womack.”

I’ve bought more than twenty copies of Cheese Chronicles, and given all but one of them away.

We at Music City Roots are pleased to present this one-of-a-kind evening, in support and celebration of an artist who is an important part of our tribe. Tommy Womack graced our stage in June, just two days before his accident, appearing with his Government Cheese bandmates. His music exemplifies the spirit, the honesty, the edge and the humor that are at the core of what we do.

Watch The Music City Roots Web Stream
Can't make it to the show? We've got you covered! Each show is streamed for free on our web site. Tune in
Wednesday at 7pm-9pm CT.
Live on Hippie 94.5 FM or worldwide at www.musiccityroots.com (radio stream link on here too)

this is the 9/30 show, not 9/20! Sorry.

the Thomas Rhett isn't bad at all. I'm taken with "Die a Happy Man" and "Anthem."

All shows are archived as well.

the Thomas Rhett isn't bad at all. I'm taken with "Die a Happy Man" and "Anthem."

― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, September 29, 2015 9:07 PM (3 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

agreed, I think I still like Crash & Burn most of all, but Anthem is really great, considering how awesome most of his singles have been I think of him as just a singles guy, he makes better albums than I expect.

That xpost Buck 'Em! Volume 2 turned out to be a suitably moody, dependable companion to a long-ass gray day, mostly spent waiting for an appointment that will not have been so exciting (probably, hopefully).
Like most boxes these days, it starts with 4-5 duds, incl. oh-so-serious ones that make me think he's only good at the drollery, often wry, which I mostly know him for---wrong. There are good rueful ballads later on, with bracing music vs. depression, rather than overselling the tearjerking (more like "well, hell") lyrics. And even those can take some apt gray day turns, into a door between us without a key, or waitin' for a train you know has gone, and there are the classics like "Streets of Bakersfield, "I didn't want to be Some-body, I just wanted to be me....You don't know me, but you don't like me." Can see how he was a favorite of Gram Parsons. Some of the lesser, later tracks (after he became a fixture on Hee Haw) rely too much on the classic Bakersfield Sound, the template of it, that is, and can't really conceal mediocre material, though seems like he's not really trying to con us, just honestly, "That's all I got."
Some of the funny stuff is like that too, but plenty of it isn't----like the City Girl---"I like to watch Johnny Carson"---meets the Country Boy---"Let's go see the Martian." Just my taste, but also dig the country-psych pop of "Who's Gonna Mow Your Grass?", with fuzz guitar, harpsichord, shifty Southern suburban rhythms and scrambling drums. "Tiger By The Tail, several songs with cities in the names, mostly celebratory, maybe all, if you include the deadpan put-down of New York which cites some stuff/describes it in terms that are innerestin'.

Jason Boland and the Stragglers, Squelch: social commentary, which can seem self-righteous and lazy in its way, especially since he's always reliant on basic Waylon-to-Sturgill templates, but sometimes it really works, the more personal-is-political he gets (and not nec. "political" in the usual sense; like there's one about finally making it out of a small-minded smalltown, to New Orleans, which is "buzzin' like a sign," and it doesn't go at all like I thought it would).
So it's uneven, but def worth checking out:
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/08/05/arts/music/press-play.html?_r=0

thomas rhett's voice on "crash and burn" bugs me so much

Yeah, I still need to check that guy. Good name too.
Barry Mazor, occasional Rolling Country guest of yore, recently provided WSJ readers with an appealing description of Tennessee Ernie Ford's new Bear Family box, which I hope will be on Spotify, like a pretty good number and variety of other boxes.

‘Tennessee Ernie Ford: Portrait of an American Singer’ Review
A look at Tennessee Ernie Ford, a performer who spanned pop, country, rock, gospel, R&B, and even comedy
By Barry Mazor
Sept. 30, 2015 5:55 p.m. ET

A handsome country-music vocalist came along in the 1950s with a strong, winning personality and rugged physical presence, admired by men but especially attractive to women. Starting “down home,” he soon reached audiences across region and class lines, and his impressive versatility led to well over 150 tracks of rocking boogie, hard country, R&B, near operatic pop tunes and a genre he especially treasured—polished gospel singing. His career trajectory took him from Tennessee, where his career started, to Hollywood—and to massive success on both the country and pop singles charts, and some 90 million albums sold. He was also a gifted comedian, able to hold his own with Lucille Ball and Minnie Pearl on the small screen, so this was not Elvis. This was Tennessee Ernie Ford (1919-1991), recalled by many today only for his indelible, finger-snapping, roots-pop hit “Sixteen Tons.”
Tennessee Ernie Ford ENLARGE
Tennessee Ernie Ford Photo: Courtesy of Jeffrey Buckner Ford and Murphy Ford

Ford’s adventurous 1949-1960 secular recordings for Capitol Records are the focus of a new, enormously entertaining 154-track boxed set, “Tennessee Ernie Ford: Portrait of an American Singer” (Bear Family Records). Music historian Ted Olson’s detailed notes track this “stellar singer who refused to let arbitrary genre rules dictate how he should interpret a song.” The records themselves, though, as they evolve in production and performance, ultimately tell the rich story.

Recording at Capitol’s famed Los Angeles studios that were home to both country and pop stars (Jimmy Wakely; Nat King Cole), Ford ably filled the space between those fields, and overlapped both. The diverse women who occasionally joined him for duets—Helen O’Connell, Kay Starr, Ella Mae Morse, Molly Bee—match the varieties of his own stylistic range.

Back-up musicians on the early sides include such top country instrumentalists as Speedy West and Moon Mullican, but they give way to a wide array of West Coast pop and jazz players as producer Jack Fascinato comes to work with Ford on pop follow-ups to the 1955 “Sixteen Tons” smash phenomenon.

Many of “hillbilly sophisticate” Ford’s early-’50s hits, such as “The Shotgun Boogie,” were in a rhythmic mode more slamming than the country boogie of the 1940s, presaging the rockabilly soon to come, and those sides hold up very well. By contrast, such showy vocal melodramas as “The Cry of the Wild Goose”—all-too-apparently designed to milk the wordy, operetta-like genre built on songs like the “Soliloquy” from Rodgers & Hammerstein’s “Carousel”—now come off as overwrought and kitschy.

In the wide space between those extremes, though, lie most of the interest, excitement and surprises in this collection. Ford’s smart phrasing and diverse musical choices lead to fresh ways to pull traditional country toward pop, and pop toward roots music. “You Don’t Have to Be a Baby to Cry,” originally a simple cry-in-your-beer honky-tonk number recorded by Ernest Tubb and Moon Mullican, becomes a bluesy, knowing pop number in Ford’s rendition. The 1920s country ballad “Left My Gal in the Mountains” is given a smooth R&B treatment reminiscent of Ivory Joe Hunter’s “I Almost Lost My Mind,” and it works. He takes modernizing country songs from Hank Williams or Merle Travis and updates them further, in elegantly simple ways, making them accessible to more urbane tastes. And his clean, moving pop versions of songs considered commercial folk—“Barbara Allen,” “In the Pines,” even “My Grandfather’s Clock”—breathe fresh air into each. This important set convincingly makes the case for Ford’s strong roots-pop legacy.

Mr. Mazor, author of “Ralph Peer and the Making of Popular Roots Music” (Chicago Review Press), writes about country and roots music for the Journal.

More Tennessee Ernie box details covered, in a piece jpegged and tweeted by Conqueroo's Cary Baker:

https://twitter.com/Conqueroo1

I'd paste in the jpeg, but prob too small to read here, judging by prev attempts

Patty Griffin, Servant of Love---Despite the title, nothing submissive about this 'un. Sometimes a dry martini prowl, sometimes more of a search party vibe, or burnished thickets of guitar, over the waves---then again, she's come to think of love as "waves chipping at the rocks, 'til they turn to sand/I would have told you, but you never asked me." Umm, okay, maybe just as well...call it Americana (nocturnal psychedelic treatments of tradition-associated frameworks, somewhat like Robert Plant's Band of Joy, which she sang in), though country enough at times for songs that would be great for Dixie Chicks (or Courtyard Hounds, Natalie Maines); she wrote some of their best tracks ever, you know. Also some of it seems pretty well suited for the latter-day voice of Plant, her ex. Maybe more than her own voice, actually; lots to take in here, anyway.

This is a quick, third-quarter reminder that all available tracks mentioned on this thread (and/or an album selection from each listed) are being updated to the thread-specific Spotify playlist as posted. I just did another (painfully meticulous, three day) top-to-bottom sweep prior to posting this message and have revised as of today with everything that's been added since first mentioned. This thread leans heavily into late / best of 2014 so there's a fair amount of that mixed in. Subscribe if you're into it and let me know if I've missed a track that's available in the US.

Link is below; it's 168 tracks and ten hours.

Rolling Country 2015 Thread Spotify Playlist

Thanks, forks, will check.
Spent most of my lunch break w Oh My Goodness, by Donnie Fritts, mostly known as a songwriter and Kristofferson's long-time keybooard player (saw him with KK in Pat Garrett and Billy The Kid, so yeah goes back pretty far). Not a good place to soak up the good vocal influences, so maybe that's why it took me a few tracks to get into this. Not that he sounds like his boss, but at times just a bit like a sub-Levon, sub-Bobby Charles, even---he knows how to phrase, but thin pipes can make him a little bit too Mr. Pitiful. Still, musical smarts win out, and he gets aboard the studio bus, which never seems crowded, despite having members of the Swampers, Alabama Shakes, St. Paul And The Broken Bones, John Paul White, even John Prine at one point. It's actually an intimate, mostly late night, sometimes slightly surreal setting, with Spooner Oldham's (and maybe Fritts', and even Will Oldham's) elegant keys, especially, suggesting early Randy Newman (or, you know, vice versa; Spooner's been around a long time too). "Lay It Down" is even a Sir Doug-worthy, anguished call (to self and other) for no-bullshit face-to-face. "Choo Choo Train" could even be a Newman---or Loaded-era VU---track. I think. It is a down home geezer album, but rec to those who like any of the musical associations mentioned, without being dependent on them.

streaming here longer than usual, dunno how much longer:
http://www.npr.org/2015/09/30/444185211/first-listen-donnie-fritts-oh-my-goodness

http://www.npr.org/2015/09/30/444185211/first-listen-donnie-fritts-oh-my-goodness

Despite years of trades with Edd Hurt, he still comes up with some post-Dylan Nashville outcats (mixing country, pop, rock, funk, etc etc) I hadn't heard of, plus youtubes re all 50 albums:http://www.nashvillescene.com/nashvillecream/archives/2015/10/14/blonde-on-blonde-and-beyond-50-classic-albums-of-nashvilles-post-dylan-era-part-i-1966-72

cool i'm adding all the available singles from that to the spotify list because why not

Here's part 2 of my post-Dylan outcats list, that Don refers to. Out of this list, my take on it is that the Cavaleers, Earl Richards, Dee Mullins and maybe Larry Hosford aren't that well known; the Beau Brummels, Moby Grape, Skip Spence Nashville records have been recognized, I think. The Mother Earth record I picked is probably not as well known as the "Tracy Nelson Sings" Mother Earth album, the Gary Burton record is not as well known as it should be, "Moldy Goldies" has been out of print for decades, and the disco records I picked--Scooter Lee and Joe Simon--aren't in any kind of canon, though Scooter apparently has a small cult.

http://www.nashvillescene.com/nashvillecream/archives/2015/10/15/blonde-on-blonde-and-beyond-50-classic-albums-of-nashvilles-post-dylan-era-part-ii-1973-2008

adding all that in, i happened upon a new album, 'Momentarily Yours', from Larry Hosford that is worth a peek.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_dgywH-Xo4

Larry Hosford apparently is still at it, still has a cult of followers. Portions of both Cross Words and a.k.a. Lorenzo were done in Mt. Juliet at Bradley's Barn. I think the former is actually the stronger record.

Dow, I'm curious which records out of that list you didn't know.

Oh man! Quite a few from your Part 1 list that I'd heard of, but hadn't heard: Col. Jubilation B. Johnston's album (think Marcus mentioned this in the first, early 70s edition of Mystery Train), The Beau Brummels' Bradley's Barn, Moby Grape's Truly Fine Citizen. John Stewart's California Bloodlines, about half of Gary Burton's Tennessee Firebird (found some of it online); think I've heard some things by Dee Mullins and Dianne Davidson (heard all the others I just mentioned elsewhere as well [incl. the Col.'s crew, going by their other names). Still need to check yr. Pt. 2.

OK, from Post-Dylan Nashville Part 2, had not heard these particular tracks, from artists I was otherwise somewhut familiar with---ones listed by: Earl Richards, Paul Kelly. Jack Nitzche, Larry Jon Wilson, Mac Gayden, Cowboy Jack Clement, Swamp Dogg, Joe Simon, White Animals.

Oh yeah, and I def need to give xpost Hosford another shot. I long ago tracked down this LP, after reading what xgau wrote in his 70s Record Guide, currently archived on his site:

Larry Hosford: Cross Words [Shelter, 1976]
A funny country singer-songwriter with complicated emotions and an elusive, strangely ageless vocal persona--mellowed-out Homer and/or Jethro, perhaps, or comic-relief L.A. cowboy gone crackerbarrel, or crackers. His wife calls him Daddy, calls his bluff, and then just calls a cab, but don't worry--here's a man who don't worry--here's a man who knows that love gets easier when you own a blanket with a switch on it. B+

Uh-oh, didn't sound like I somehow thought it would--too soft, mebbe? Don't really remember, but I'm sure I didn't give it a chance to grow on me.

about 30 of those 50 were on spotify; should leaven that country playlist quite a bit

enjoyed Kacey Musgrave and band live last night in DC. Mentioned it on her thread, including the covers she did.

recently heard this brothers osborne song for the first time and am quite enjoying it: http://youtu.be/zY6cMMtLCcQ

A-List Nashville studio & stage cats, "oldfangled" but also backing younger stars like Lambert and Musgraves---didn't know 'til I read this that they have couple of their own albums---anybody heard 'em?
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/23/arts/music/the-time-jumpers-country-swing-standard-bearers-thrive-in-nashville.html?ref=music

o forks, please be sure to add Whitney Rose, Heartbreaker of the Year to RC Spotify list thanks. As with xpost Lindi Ortega, it's rec to those pining for the late great Amy Farris, also for Roy Orbison and good David Lynch movies. Cool intensity, no spookier than true romance, and not too reliant on atmosphere: some architecture in there (love the mini-bridge of "Only Just A Dream," also the guitars there and elsewhere, reg'lar and steel, hovering, prowling, serenading, warning, also various uses of drums and, occasionally, keys, organ and piano (the latter somewhut Floyd Crameresque on the rocks in "The Last Party, " but it's not a lift of his "Last Date"). "Be My Baby" is an on-the-nose choice in this context, but it works esp. with producer Raul Malo's non-showboat, non-wallflower vocal turn.
Still, despite the breathing room, 10 tracks and 37 minutes seem like a little too much of a good thing, like a bottle of wine at one sitting, 'til the finale, a metamorphic reworking of "A Tear In My Beer" adds just enough variety.
Also intrigued by another Spotify offering, Cam's Welcome To Cam CountryEP---debut album out Dec. 11.

Ortega and Nikki Lane are a bit more down-to-earth, or down-to-firescape. Rose isn't pretentious, but stays closer to her Senior Prom dress, o yes. A princess who knows how to get past the guards.

x-post -- have not heard Time Jumpers albums. Recall I think Roseanne Cash mentioning them when I saw her with Vince Gill (most recent and famous member of that project).

Speaking of Vince, when I saw Ashley Monroe perform last night, she said she liked to go over to Vince's house and just sit there until he said, hey lets work on a song and would pick up his guitar.

Still haven't made up my mind re Chris Stapleton. I see he's gonna be on the CMA Awards Wednesday night the 4th

Chris Stapleton will be joined by award-winning musician and actor Justin Timberlake for a special performance on “The 49th Annual CMA Awards.”

Celebrating his first artist nominations, Stapleton is a contender in three CMA Awards categories: “Album of the Year” for his acclaimed debut album, Traveller, which he co-produced with Dave Cobb, “Male Vocalist of the Year” and “New Artist of the Year

the one stapleton song i heard sounded like a led zep 'levee breaks' homage iirc.

yep

i'm just getting into the carrie underwood album and it's really good! i hadn't really been into her as an albums artist before but this is probably her best yet. "church bells" and "choctaw county affair" are particularly great, she really suits those bolshy/gothic narratives

I haven't listened to it (yet). Jon Caramanica was very negative in the NY Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/22/arts/music/review-carrie-underwoods-storyteller-values-power-over-finesse.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FUnderwood%2C%20Carrie&action=click&contentCollection=timestopics®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=collection&_r=0

“Storyteller” is her fifth album, and even though a decade has passed since her debut, Ms. Underwood is still preoccupied with power, not texture or finesse. She largely picks songs that serve as launch platforms for her ballistic-missile voice, but they don’t cohere into a whole identity. Her voice is pure, lean, potent — it doesn’t have multiple settings. By tone alone, it can be difficult to divine when she’s ecstatic, or aggrieved, or wretched.

That means Ms. Underwood sings with equal intensity on the insipid “Heartbeat” and “The Girl You Think I Am,” an unrelentingly treacly song about being daddy’s little girl, as on the breathy, sly “Relapse,” about falling back into old habits. She calls her lover, in quick succession, “time that I’m wasting,” “some wine that I’m tasting” and “a high that I’m chasing,” in a voice that recalls Lita Ford more than any country singer.

psssh Caramanica, never put stock in his opinions

Maura, Jewly Hight and S. Erlewine all reviewed it well