Album Review – Grace Basement’s “Mississippi Nights”
Sometimes an album, artist, or song speaks to you, and you’re not exactly sure why. At first glance it doesn’t fit exactly within your wheelhouse or sensibilities. It’s not something all your friends are listening to, or all the critics are lauding, or the radio is playing ad nauseam until you ultimately succumb to its trace via osmosis. Maybe there’s something there that reminds you of something from the past, or unlocks some appeal you hadn’t identified in yourself previously. There’s just something about it that makes it “cool.”
That was the immediate experience with a band called Grace Basement, and an album released early in 2018 called Mississippi Nights. Though the principle member is a country and folk musician named Kevin Buckley, who is a beloved fiddle player and guitarist in the St. Louis country and roots scene, this isn’t a country record per se, and it’s probably even a stretch to label it Southern rock. It’s roots rock maybe, with prevalent fiddle. But it’s more the entire vibe Kevin Buckley and his conspirators capture in this self-proclaimed side project that is something definitely worth an audience beyond St. Louis club rats.
Mississippi Nights was the name of a rock club in St. Louis that closed its doors in 2007, and taking sort of a lo fi approach to Petty-esque rock and roll, and inferred by Kevin Buckley’s roots leanings, this record is all over the place in a good way, yet in a way that always adheres to hard and fast rules of groove and taste. Insulated from whatever stupid trends may be prevalent in east Nashville, Austin, or Silverlake in L.A. at the moment, or some inane desire to “make it,” Kevin Buckley and Co. can just do what they want, which is to record some really infectious and enjoyable songs, ranging from Southern harmonious roots rock, to outright bluesy numbers, and even some indie stuff.
Spice in compositional approach and tonal variety is certainly at play on Mississippi Nights. The opening song “Rising Sun” starts off with these pounding drums that get the heart beating, but then smoothy transitions to 60’s jangle rock, making way for horns to chime in until it all crescendoes into a brilliant execution of melody. The second song “Summertime Is Coming” is darn near Do-Wop. “Maybellene” is a slow, aching blues song. “Midnight Bell” hits a sludgy Southern rock groove like few others. This leads into “Easy For You/ Easy For Me,” which is so breezy, it could be the theme song for an 80’s sitcom, but is still a great selection.
Mississippi Nights is just a really great exploration into melody and rhythm building, utilizing a broad palette of roots influences, fearless of how they may play with each other or be received by the public. The tones are rich, especially on the vocals which are sometimes incredibly wet in order to utilize space, and in other moments are confined like the tone of a muffled bullhorn to give them a more vintage flavor. Kevin Buckly is no exceptional singer in the sense of having some unique delivery or incredible range, but his singing is endearing in its straightforward honesty. And maybe most importantly, Mississippi Nights proves everything’s better with fiddle. The record often sets the root riff with guitar, but then leans on the four string to drive it home, or handle the solo.
Along for the ride with Kevin Buckley is drummer Jill Aboussie and bassist Greg Lamb, along with guitarist Marc Schneider at live shows. Mississippi Nights is Grace Basement’s 4th album overall, with their previous album being 2013’s Wheel Within a Wheel, which was way more folk and country—what many who know Kevin Buckley may expect. But don’t let this different approach catch you off guard, or harden your heart . That’s what side projects are for—to experiment and screw off, because you never know when you might catch lightning in a bottle, just like Grace Basement has done here.
Mississippi Nights is a fun record, really easy to get into, hard to let go of, and giving of musical enjoyment regardless of your roots music preferences.
8/10
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March 25, 2018 @ 1:16 pm
STOP! I have to save my money for April. There are 7 albums that I have to purchase next month!
I’ll keep this one in mind.
March 25, 2018 @ 4:45 pm
I couldn’t get into the first song you posted, but the second song, “Rising Sun,” is pretty good. It sounds a lot like Spoon and other alt-rock and indie bands I occasionally listened to in college in the early 00’s. I don’t hear anything country, so I’m not sure why it’s here at SCM.
March 25, 2018 @ 5:27 pm
I can’t stress enough that songs are posted just as examples, and don’t always reflect the wide range of influences or sounds a record encapsulates, especially for a band like Grace Basement. I was just having this conversation over on an article about Tami Neilson as well. I don’t recall having this issue a few years ago. Now my album reviews are basically becoming song reviews for whatever songs I select to post, which for an artist like Grace Basement, is never going to be fair.
I remember a few months ago when Whitney Rose released her record “Rule 62,” the only tracks available to post from it were to two mod-style old school rock tracks. On the album itself, there were many hard traditional country songs, but they weren’t available to post. And I swear this is the reason that album was so overlooked by the country crowd.
People are constantly asking for me to post more album reviews, and to feature more music. And I get accused of being insincere in my effort to save country music because “All you do is write rants! Why not focus on the positive stuff?” But the problem is there’s not six or seven great country records being released every week, so I branch out into other parts of the roots world. And then people start complaining, “This ain’t country!” Meanwhile the traffic to my album reviews are at historic lows. It’s so bad right now, I post an album review and people AVOID the website entirely because they say to themselves, “Well, don’t want to read that, and he likely won’t be posting anything else interesting for a few hours.” And nobody likes, shares, or comments them on social media, and so they get completely buried, while the rants go viral. Then I have to hear, “All I see from SCM is negative stuff.”
I am committed to album reviews, but that commitment is a two way street. Websites like Saving Country Music are getting eviscerated because of the new changes to Facebook and the continued political acrimony pulling people away from arts coverage. I cannot continue to post articles people scream at me they want more of, but refuse to read.
Sorry Kevin to use your comment to spout off on a much broader subject. If you don’t like Grace Basement, that’s totally understandable. But Kevin Buckley is a beloved country musician, and this record fits well within the greater roots world. It deserves support just like any good record, and if it’s a country music site that’s the one to step up, that’s better than nobody.
March 25, 2018 @ 5:41 pm
I know you have a recognizable brand name so changing the site name is not feasible but I sort of feel like as country music has come apart at the seams the last few years that I like your takes on Steely Dan or George Michael or whatever just as much as the rants about some lame pseudo country song. So I can’t speak to your readership patterns but I do enjoy the reviews and am glad you continue with them whether they are country, roots, Americana or whatever one calls it but I also like other stuff, too. Maybe it just speaks to how sour I have become toward country music in general and the lack of interesting voices writing about music.
March 25, 2018 @ 6:23 pm
Don’t worry, Trigger, I don’t mind you using my comment to “spout off on a much broader subject.” I completely understand. Just from one regular reader’s perspective, I use the embedded songs in an album review to introduce myself to an unknown artist/band. I could bring them up on Spotify, but it’s obviously easier to just go with the songs that you provide (and assuming that you chose them as good examples). I do remember the problem this posed with the latest album from Whitney Rose, who I adore, so I should keep that in mind.
You are probably the reason why I listen to Whitney Rose and a dozen or so other artists, and I’m sure that I’m far from alone. Yeah, these reviews get far less traction, and that has much to do with them being obviously less sensational (vs. the rants) and with unknown names. I may add an artist to Spotify based on a review of yours, but I (and others I’m sure) won’t comment or share because it takes time for a new artist to make an impression. It probably took a little while for me to fall in love with Whitney Rose or Dori Freeman or Tyler Childers and so on.
As for Grace Basement, I just had the two songs to go on, and they sound overwhelmingly like a standard indie alt-rock band. I was immersed in that stuff in college. Hence, my comment.
March 25, 2018 @ 6:21 pm
Mixing in the occasional roots rock/whatever you want to call it album review is okay in my book. Seems difficult to find a good new rock and roll band these days. Keep ’em coming.
March 25, 2018 @ 6:25 pm
I enjoyed both songs. Would I purchase them? No. Mainly because I don’t purchase unless it’s something I really, really enjoy, which happens to be mostly country, though I do enjoy say, Johnny Rivers old songs, The Righteous Brothers, Mahalia Jackson etc., and I have those and others on my itunes. The 3 CD’s I have on my coffee table, bought by my youngest son (for an easy b’day present LOL) are, The Essential Jimmie Rodgers, Same Train A Different Time-Merle Haggard, and Johnny Horton’s Greatest Hits.But, I’ll listen w/o complaint wherever I happen to hear them.
I don’t use facebook, or twitter- the why is playing out as we speak.
March 25, 2018 @ 6:44 pm
I wasn’t overwhelmed when I first started listening to Midnight Bell but I kept listening and the main guitar riff really grew on me and then I started to dig the way the vocals were phrased over the top of it. Kind of a bit T-Rex ish.
March 25, 2018 @ 9:00 pm
This is cool stuff. Thanks Trigg. Everyone should check out the latest Blake Berglund album too!
March 26, 2018 @ 6:54 am
These songs stink in my opinion. Sorry.
March 26, 2018 @ 7:20 am
Thanks Trig! Glad I have an album to give my friends who enjoy more rock than country to get them more into roots music!
March 26, 2018 @ 8:09 pm
Not bad at all!
Never thought guitar bands would become so unfashionable (in terms of airplay and chart success) so I’m very happy when something like this breaks through all the pop noise.
March 26, 2018 @ 10:44 pm
It’s not country but I like it. I’m a sucker for the lo fi sound.
March 27, 2018 @ 6:12 am
Pretty good stuff. I’ll try and give the album a full listen at some point. They’re the type of band that might have gotten a “Town and Country” feature in the old No Depression magazine. Solid heartland roots rock.
March 27, 2018 @ 10:02 am
This sounds like something I would have listened to in college during the early aughts. Not necessarily a bad thing. It reminded me a lot of a band called Superdrag and countless others I saw back in the day. This won’t be in my regular rotation but is fun for a throwback.
March 27, 2018 @ 11:49 am
“Standing on a Corner” really hooked me into this one, wish there was a vinyl release.
March 28, 2018 @ 6:11 am
As I’m sure Trigger knows, Mississippi Nights was a bit more than “the name of a rock club in St. Louis that closed its doors in 2007.” It was also the place where the late, GREAT Uncle Tupelo played their final shows on April 30 and May 1, 1994.
You are welcome: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWiUkQMs5zM
March 29, 2018 @ 4:56 pm
Good stuff. Thanks, trig.