Sometimes Nashville’s major labels behave so ridiculously, they do things you thought could only exist in a make-believe world, and this is the case with Curb Records and their incessant, redundant “Greatest Hits” album releases for perfume magnate Tim McGraw.
This is an important album. It is important for the burgeoning country scene in Michigan. It’s important for Bloodshot Records. And it’s important for all REAL country fans. There’s nothing groundbreaking here, but in some ways that’s what makes it so important. It is straightforward, honest to goodness, good old fashioned country music delivered with no frills, and it’s about time something like this found its way back into “New Release” listings.
I know some of you think that I’m a little crazy for touting Austin’s 15-year-old fiddling phemon Ruby Jane so highly. That is because you have never seen Ruby Jane live. If you had (or have), then you know that despite all of my ridiculous accolades, nothing I’ve written about her does any justice to how astonishing a Ruby Jane Show is. It is the best music I have ever seen live.
Every once in a while an album comes along that you can tell the extra effort was put out to make it right. It’s far beyond just a collection of songs, it unfolds like a story, with all the songs together becoming stronger than the sum of their parts. Its an album that shows patience and wisdom. There’s a grand vision, and more importantly, that vision is realized in the final cut. Deguello Motel is one of those albums.
Right now the #1 country song in America is Kenney Chesney’s “The Boy’s of Fall.” How anybody can even take Kenney seriously after he clearly lip synced his performance at at the ACM Awards in April, I have no idea. Well I’m feeling froggy, and I find this song a little offensive, so I think it is time to take the cover off the smoker, get a bag of Kingsford, throw some mesquite chips on top, and do a little roasting.
Roger Alan Wade, one of the best songwriters out there, has released his new album called Deguello Motel, created from sober reflection of 30 years of hard living. Wade, known just as much for his irreverent songs and being the cousin of Jackass’s Johnny Knoxville as he is for penning songs for Waylon Jennings and Hank Jr., took a more serious approach with this album than his previous two. . .
I am happy, proud, and humbled to announced that two of the best podcasts out there, Outlaw Radio Chicago hosted by Jashie P, and The Reverend Nix shows of Stink Finger Radio and the Mojo Medicine Show are now permanent fixtures (till I figure out how to screw it up) of the SCM LIVE media channel. Outlaw Radio has been archiving their show on the site for a while, but now it will be broadcast here LIVE!
The Ryman is what lower Broadway revolves around, and it is easy to think that however it goes, so goes lower Broadway. When The Ryman was virtually shuttered in 1974 and The Grand Ole Opry moved to the Opry House, that is when the seeds of the lower Broadway decline were sowed.
This is not music that you sit back and marvel at the eloquence as your foot taps. It is like a chest-thumping ritual that makes you succumb to the carnal cry of the country. Imagine the music you would hear coming out of a ramshackle shack far out deep in the woods in the dead of night, with a dusty light and the raw energy of people and music bleeding out between the cracks of the old boards that are perceptibly pulsing to the sweaty beat. This is Hillstomp.
There’s been lots of talk lately here and other places about what makes an Outlaw, who are the real Outlaws, who are the fake ones. Well Nancy Dunham from The Boot had Merle Haggard cornered and answering questions, and was bold enough to ask him some smart ones, and Merle replied with some bold, smart answers.
Now that we’re all able to take a deep breath after the Justin Townes Earle breakdown in Indianapolis and his subsequent tour cancellation and rehab stint, there’s a few things that need to be said, first and foremost being that with all the allegations and points of justification out there, and with legal matters pending, it is the responsibility of ALL of us to assume that Justin Townes Earle is innocent until he is proven guilty.
Whitey Morgan & The 78’s self-entitled album through Bloodshot Records will not be out until October 12th, but you can get a first listen to the album next Tuesday, Oct. 5th on SCM LIVE at 8 PM Eastern!
This first listen isn’t gonna be some uber-compressed Mp3 type stuff. Oh no. This bad boy is gonna be done by the magic of needle on VINYL for that true, warm, analog sound!
“I would have left anyway because I was not happy with a lot of things. It could have been so easy. Just the way it happened, the way it went down is what made me so hurt by it. Just tossed out like a bugger, or like a groupie.”
“I know it happened for a good reason. I’m happier now anyway. You know, if it wasn’t for that I wouldn’t be playing with The Gallows. I’m just thrilled to be with these guys.”
When I went to see Joe Buck a couple of weeks ago in Denton, TX, he was billed as “Hank III’s Bass Player.” Yeah, I know; people need a context to understand why a name on a calendar is something to pay attention to, but Joe Buck is so much more. To people who know his music, there is no peer to the amount of energy and passion he brings, and his songwriting reveals great wisdom once you get past the rawness of the presentation.
The diversity in this insurgent roots movement gives us strength. If you ask me, Scott Biram, Hillstomp, or Larry & His Flask are much more country than most of the stuff you can hear on the radio that flies that flag. Hank Williams and Jimmy Rodgers were both country bluesman, and I see that same spirit, and musical open-mindedness here.
Justin Townes Earle, recently accused of assault charges in Indiana, has canceled his current tour, and will be checking himself into a rehab facility.
His publicist has released this statement:
“Earle is strongly committed to confronting his on-going struggle with addiction, and thanks his family, friends and fans for their continued support through this difficult time.”
Last Rites of Ransom Pride, written by Ray Wylie Hubbard, and starring Dwight Yoakam, Kris Kristofferson, and Lizzy Caplan, is like a Cormac McCarthy novel set to life: brilliant characterization in by-gone, almost mythical settings. This is not a heavily thematic movie, but there is enough plot and artistic attention that you do not walk away feeling like you indulged a guilty pleasure.
This is going to be a long one. So for those short of attention, let me summarize by saying that compared to most of the independent/Outlaw/underground country I am used to listening to and reviewing, this album is somewhere between mediocre and average. But compared to the rest of the material coming from major labels in Nashville, this album is remarkable.
A review of Jamey Johnson’s new album The Guitar Song is coming, but since every time the words Jamey and Johnson are mentioned a brew ha ensues, I hope with this to get some of the drama and positioning statements out of the way so the review can purely be about my take on the album, and not the sideshow the mention of his name creates.
Justin Townes Earle’s Thursday night (10-16-10) performance at Radio Radio in Indianapolis apparently went horribly wrong, with Earle drinking heavily on stage, getting in verbal altercations with the audience and venue staff, reportedly trying to start fights and breaking things, and eventually taking it outside where he continued to taunt audience members until he was eventually arrested.
I noticed this for the first time last year, that as the birthday of Hank Williams approached, people were looking at it more than just a bulletin you would pass along on social network sites. It felt like a full blown observance, maybe even a quasi-holiday. And the days leading up to it, there was anticipation.
The upper Midwest will be getting it hard and heavy in the next month or so. In a surprisingly quick turnaround, Hank III, whose still has a few more dates on his East Coast tour, will be heading out again October 10th for 16 dates and possibly more to come. Also Jayke Orvis, Rachel Brooke, and James Hunicutt will be leaving on a Midwest tour of their own…
What set me off was the introduction. And when I say “set me off,” I mean it hit my ears like an unprovoked insult. With a couple of uninformed, arrogant, and belittling sentences, the awesome legacies of dozens of New York-based folk artists were reduced to a trifle in such an irresponsible manner, I could palpably feel the anger pulsing through my veins and I lost a night’s worth of sleep…
In some of his songs the ambiguity of the lyrics allows them to hit your brain and bend to your own life’s experiences and needs. It’s like a cure all. Normally in an album review I would list certain songs, talk about them, compare them with each other and other songs for other artists. I would pick out favorite tracks, and talk about the weak ones to prove my objectivity. But with Possessed this seems like folly. There are no weak tracks.
