Tis’ the season for “Best of…” “Top picks…”Depending on your point of view it’s either as welcome as a gift under the tree on Christmas morning or fruit cake. This subjective separation of musical wheat from chafe, truth be told, it’s my least favorite part of doing this blog. I prefer visit each work on an individual basis. And though I do bring a wider view of music, only in rare instances would weigh a work in contrast to something I heard just the week before. This 12-month capsule is constraining, bit with constraints come opportunity to focus the mind.
First- ground rules. No albums of cover songs. So, no Gurf Morlix or Carrie Rodriguez. But ya’ll should still buy the excellent Blaze Foley’s 113th Wet Dream and We Still Love Our Country respectively. No albums where an artist revisits earlier work, or live albums of already recorded work. Sorry Levon Helm, Ramble At The Ryman might get you that Grammy for Americana Album of the Year but you won’t make the TN 2011 list.
My pick for number one spot came to me in April and I pegged it early as the one to beat. Nobody even came close. Austin Lucas’ New Home In The Old World is a fine mix of country, folk and rock delivered in such a seamless and extraordinary way that ibelieveit advances th genre in it’s existence. Same with To the Wind and On To Heaven by Sunday Valley. The Kentucky band captured my attention early in the year with their brand of high-octane honky-tonk/gospel boogie and seeing them live sealed their spot at #2.
Jason Isbell may not care for end-of-year lists but he made mine by creating his most inspired and solid solo record with Here We Rest. A chance encounter at the Grimey’s Americanarama showcase at the Americana Music Association led me to the #9 quirky duo of Hymn for Her.
Canadian Laura Repo’s debut Get Yourself Home landed in my in-box the week I was putting this list together. Repo’s plaintive voice of simple, timeless themes and and the sparse arrangements reach back to country music’s roots and secured her a slot at number 10.
Last year was a great year for Americana/roots music and I reflected this bumper crop by overindulging and creating a top 25 list. On retrospect, this was excessive. this year I’ve focused on the abloute top 10 that I love to listen to from start to finish. Here’s no an even better 2012!
I received an email invitation from the local GRAMMY Foundation representatives to cover the Civil Wars as they participated in a GRAMMY Camp event to have college and high school students sit in on a sound check and a Q&A afterward. I waited on the rest of “the press” and hoped that I would get an opportunity to squeeze in my one or two questions when the band too time to meet with us, I was then told by Christen , the GRAMMY rep, that I was the press. As I stab at my Droid smart phone to pad out my questions and topics they were brought in by their road manager and, in contrast the Southern-Gothic image conjured by their music, they immediately start ribbing me about my name and dashing all pretense. We then spent the next 15 minutes (I was promised 5) in a fun and engaging conversation that I hope is reflected below.
People, like myself, who obsess about music often too reflexively shun anything stained with mainstream success. Like Jack Black’s character, Barry, from the film adaptation Nick Hornby’s High Fidelity berating a father entering Championship Vinyl looking to buy Stevie Wonder’s “I Just Called To Say I Love You†for his daughter’s birthday, we often miss the joy that music brings people and degrade it into our own personal cultural caste system.
Perhaps it was the inclusion of The Civil Wars’ song Poison & Wine in an episode of ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy in 2009. Perhaps it was the Taylor Swift tweeting to her legion of followers that she she was a fan of the band (and then included them in her iTunes playlist). Perhaps it was being hand-selected by Adele to open her United States shows which led her to rave on her blog – “If you’re coming to any of the shows on this trip make sure you get there early to see them. I’ve never been so blown away.â€Â Whatever it is, it seemed that for some the Civil Wars, Joy Williams and John Paul White, were destined to wear the dreaded scarlet M (mainstream.)
It’s interesting to me that one of the shining lights of Americana refuses to be corralled by the label and part of their success may be a result of this refusal to be pigeonholed. It was a unique opportunity for me to meet with Joy and John Paul, and hear their beautiful harmonies soar within a nearly empty Fillmore hall. The hall where legendary promoter, Bill Graham, made his mark by following his love of music. Boundaries be damned. I hope you like the interview.
Twang Nation: I read that you’ve recently spent some time in the company of Rick Rubin and T Bone Burnett.
Joy Williams: Ah, word on the street.
John Paul White: It feels really weird to have that conversation. We were hanging out with Rick Rubin….
TN: Does your popularity help you get an audience with star producers like these where many others would be sent packing if they were to ask?
JPW: I think that everything we’ve done up until now has been done to this point with the music in mind. We don’t pitch ourselves or push ourselves on producers, labels or even listeners. Everything we’ve done has been let’s just make the best music we can and perform it as well as we possibly can, and let the chips fall where they may. The beauty of technology is that word of mouth can spread so easily and so much faster that this entire year we’ve had many great opportunities come to us just from making music we dearly love and performing it as well as we possibly can. When that happened it was just another thing we never expected. If we had reaching out to them and said “We’re the Civil Wars. Like us.” that would have changed things. We like to find things and i’m sure they like to find things. We were extremely flattered when they bring us up.
TN: You guys are great at what you do, but there’s a lot of great music out there. Americana isn’t known for having superstars but you’re the closest it’s come. How did you rise above the fray to get the profile your enjoying? Was it the team around you I saw at the Artist Development panel at the Americana Music Association conference? was it the inclusion of your song (Poison & Wine) onGrey’s Anatomy? You had a high-profile fan (Taylor Swift) that tweeted her affection for your music.
JW: I feel like there have been a lot of small hinge moments on a really big door. I don’t think you can go back and attribute it to just two or three things. We’re very fortunate that the music has connected with people the way that it has. We’ve also worked really hard to do things in a different way. We’ve hand-selected every single person that is now a part of our team and they give a damn because they aren’t forced to work on this. I think people coming to our shows and tweeting, whether they are a celebrity or not, that word of mouth, is one of the biggest gifts you can give an independent artist. it’s exciting to come back to cities where we played to maybe a quarter of the people that we get to play to the next time we’re there. We’re excited that sales are growing , but more than that we we get to play music. We genuinely love what we do and hopefully that connects with people as well. No one is more surprised than we are that this is working out. (laughs)
JPW: I think people tend to gloss over how hard we work. This is the third time we’ve played San francisco this year. There are a lot of cities around this nation that are the same way. at the beginning of the year we were playing to maybe an hundred people and now we get to play this place tonight (the capacity I found on google for the Fillmore that is 1199) , it’s like the old sports adage the more we practice the luckier we get.
TN: I was surprised to see your name as a nominee for the Country Music Awards Vocal Duo of the Year. You were beat out by Sugarland, but the CMAs aren’t known for being unpredictable.
JPW: I would assume a lot of that has to do with CMT (Country Music Television) because we got no country radio play. CMT played the hell out of the Barton Hollow video, and now the poison & Wine video. That got us in front of a lot of people.
JW: It’s interesting to see us played on CMT and the VH1. We don’t know where we fit within a genre, but that doesn’t bother us.
TN: So you don’t think you fit within a genre?
JW: No
JPW: No, but that was never the idea. We didn’t set out to be this and not that. we just wrote music some things were natural – we liked this, and we liked that. We never set out like this is what we want to be and this is what we don’t want to be. When we went out to play it would be she and I went and a guitar. So things starting tailoring themselves to that set-up. By the time we got into the studio we has an idea of what we do, and don’t do. What we like and what we don’t. The record (Barton Hollow) ended up stripped-down and simple because we had spent so much time on the road with the songs, that when we would add instruments they just got in the way. It ended up being a minimalist record but it was never set out to be that way. we never said at any point “If we turn t this way just enough country radio will play this.” or “If we put a banjo on there we’re screwing ourselves.” We just wanted to make the album exactly the way we wanted to and be completely selfish about it.
JW: We just followed our noses.
JPW: And by doing that way we really don’t fit anywhere.
JW: But no complaints about that. We don’t feel ostracized by any group. We’ve had everything from pop to folk to Americana, country..we’re happy with all those titles.
JPW: If you’re not playing the radio game it’s probably in your best interest. because then the Americana fans, the country fans, the folk fans, the bluegrass fans…we even have rock fans, which kind of makes sense since I am such a huge rock and metal fan and maybe hints of that show up in our work. We appeal to all types because we are doing what we love and people pick up on that.
TN: With the Country Music Awards nomination,and the Americana Conference Awards nomination for New/Emerging Artist and Duo/Group of the Year and all the other awards you’ve won, you figure you’ll be up for a GRAMMY?
JW: Well, who knows?
JPW: I have plenty of doubt abut that.
TN: Do you?
JPW: I do.
TN: I’ll place a wager that you’re going to get a GRAMMY.
JPW: You’re asking us to bet against ourselves? I’ll do it, what do we bet?
TN: What do you drink?
JPW: Oh yes, let’s do that. bourbon…whiskey…the older the better.
TN: How about bottle of Bulleit?
JPW: A bottle of Bulleit it is. I hope I lose.
TN: I’ll be covering the GRAMMYS and will be in L.A. to claim my prize. just a couple more questions. you don’t want to be associated by a genre but you can be defined by your influences, who are some of yours?
JW: We couldn’t have more different backgrounds when it comes to this. I grew up listening to a lot of crooners – Ella, Etta, Frank and then it went on to Joni Mitchell, Joan Biaz, Janis Joplin, The Beach Boys and the Carpenters we always playing in my house. Then I got my license and started to drive and had total control of the radio which then turned completely to pop.
JPW: We listened to a lot of top 40 on my mom’s car radio and a lot of country music. Then i was listening to my friend’s Ozzy records, Black Sabbath and Queen and all of that. Then i came back around to listening to the stuff I grew up with and cut my teeth on. The Beatles, E.L.O., Jeff Buckley later…Elliot Smith. Elliot is my guy.He probably sums up everything I love about music.
JW: Mine would be Billie Holiday. Yours would be Elliot and mine would be Billie.
JPW: They’re not that far apart. And they;re not that far apart in temperament if you believe their biographies. We’re not that different.
TN: Who would you like to share that stage with?
JW: Anybody alive?
TN: Alive or dead.
JPW: I got one. For alive I’d say Tom Waits.
JW: Yes! Alive Tom Waits!
JPW: But I’d be terrified. We could just stand next to him and sing harmony and let him be the mad man.
JW: I’d be the happiest person in the world!
JPW: Dead would be Elliot Smith.
JW: Townes Van Zandt for me, or Billie Holiday.
TN: I would love to hear you guys cover a Townes song.
JPW: We talked about “Waiting Around to Die.” i don’t feel like we can go anywhere near “Pancho and Lefty.”
TN: I saw a video on YouTube of you covering Michael Jackson’s Billie jean (see below)
JPW: There’s certain songs, like a Townes song, that makes perfect sense for us to cover. So for whatever reason they sometimes fall flat. We do them as you would expect us to do them. So sometimes it makes more sense for us to take Billie jean or (Jackson 5’s) I Want you Back, that we feel like are great songs but you might be distracted by the production and a lot of people don’t realize how great the songs are. Plus it’s a lot of fun for us.
JW: We’re really not into navel-gazing in terms of what we perform. We take what we do seriously but we don’t take ourselves seriously. I think if you make it like a living room experience, to me, that’s more enjoyable than watching someone sing only their own songs. We always like to keep people on their toes a little bit.
JPW: It can get heavy so we like to lighten things up a bit.
Yes friends, after all these years of talking (and posting the occasional clip) about great music I decided to just into the fray and get out a Twang Nation podcast. Why now? Two reasons. I came back from the Americana Music Association Conference with some great experiences and the technological opportunity fell into my lap. there you have it.
How does it stack up with excellent productions like Freight Train Boogie, 9 Bullets or Country Fried Rock ? I’ll leave that up to you dear listener.There’s a lot of great Americana and roots music out there and I hope I am able to cover just a bit more of it to bring you great music. The production is excellent thanks to my friend (and bartender) Franklyn, the “uh” and “um”marred patter between songs is less smooth (Sorry Brett Deter, at least I got you name in there after the song!)but I take the same license I do as a blogger, you get what you pay for. And it’s untimely not about my sterling delivery, it’s about the music. By chance this maiden episode happen to coincide with the 70th birthday of Guy Clark so I’ve included his classic Dublin Blues to end the program.
Best of all, this was fun and I look forward to doing it again soon. I hope you like it and find some great music , and if you like it please leave your comments below and forward it to friends. Most importantly go buy music and get out and see live shows. if you don’t our greatest fears might be realized, great music will go away.
The Hotel Utah saloon , located South of Market near the waterfront and off a feeder from the Bay Bridge, wreaks history along with the usual bar fragrances.The saloon was built in 1908 and one the watering hole for opium dealers, gamblers, bible-thumpers, police, longshoremen, this was a place of history and an apt venue for a Ellis and his band’s Bay Area debut.
Ellis has been winning accolades from the New York Times and American Songwriter , but aside from all the positive ink (pixels?) Ellis and his excellent band are making their mark the old-school way – steady home gigs and hitting the and taking the show on the asphalt ribbon.
I talked to Ellis , who looks like he could front a metal band but belies that image with his thoughtful and soft-spoken manner as he sips a Jameson neat. We talked about life on the road and the bands first trip to California, the current state of Bluegrass and the Majesty that is George Jones. Ellis was brought up in Houston surrounded by music. His mother taught piano and the last few years he’s paid for his biscuits by teaching Taylor Swift songs to kids (which he enjoys) and paid his live music dues covering classic country playing the legendary Fitzgerald’s club in Houston every Wednesday night.
Ellis and The Boys - Kelly Doyle – guitar, Geoffrey Muller – Bass, Will Van Horn – pedal steel and Ryan Chavez – drums – took the stage at about 9:45 PM to a small but enthusiastic audience and commenced to run through a set featuring many songs from their upcoming New West release Photographs (7/5)
The sparse crowd were caiught up in the band as they slid from classic honky-tonk (Comin’ Home and I’ll Never Give Up On You) to psychedelic edged country rock jams to Tin-Pan Alleys grooves (Two Cans Of Paint). The great thing about the band was the ability to squeeze a great amount of diversity while still coloring within familiar genre lines. Through the sonic twists and turns Ellis’ voice anchors it all with a sound near a Jimmie Dale Gilmore keen blended Harry Nilsson folk nuance.
After plying the band with a round of Jameson they humored me by seamlessly breaking into a reverent version of the Possum’s tear-in-my beer A Good Day for the Roses followed by a rousing version of The Race is On. That’s what I call a damn great band!
Check these guys out when they hit your town and look for great things from them in the future.
From the Gibson/Baldwin Showroom in New York City local resident and legendary Americana performer Rosanne Cash announced the 2011 Americana Music Association Honors & Awards nominees. The announcement was followed by performances by New/Emerging Artist of the Year nominee and The Civil Wars and an all-star set by Levon Helm, Jim Lauderdale and Rosanne Cash (who tweeted that she was brought to tears by the event) which included The Band’s The Weight.
As in years past the nominees are a well-known safe bets with few surprises and tends towards the NPR-side of the Americana fence. No need to look for Whitey Morgan or Rachel Brooke here.
The Nashville -based trade organization moved toward the mainstream with the nominations of Grey’s Anatomy favorites Mumford and Sons and the Civil Wars, the later also aided to stardom by being heralded by no less than Taylor Swift and Boy George. Good for them, despite the mainstream success, these bands are actually great and will find longevity in the Americana community. Both are each nominated for both New/Emerging Artist and Duo/Group of the Year.
The AMA displayed spunk in nominating the extraordinary Elizabeth Cook the Album of the Year field for her latest Welder, Song of the Year nomination for the flash-back country-funk El Camino and Artist of the Year against some limey bloke named Robert Plant.
Recent New/Emerging Artist of the Year honorees Justin Townes Earle and Hayes Carll are each up for Album of the Year for Harlem River Blues (along with Song of the Year for the album’s title track) and Artist of the Year and Song of the Year for Kmag Yoyo respectively.
The Civil Wars and Mumford and Sons each earned nominations in both the New/Emerging Artist and Duo/Group of the Year categories, while Buddy Miller also secured two nods: Artist and Instrumentalist of the Year.
Album of the Year category also includes Lucinda Williams’ Blessed, and the Song of the Year category includes The Decemberists featuring Gillian Welch’s “Down by the Water. And Mumford and Sons GRAMMY-stage mates The Avett Brothers are up for Duo/Group of the Year—which the band won in 2010. Sarah Jarosz, Will Kimbrough, Gurf Morlix and Kenny Vaughan all will compete for Instrumentalist of the Year.
The 10th Annual Americana Music Association Honors & Awards ceremony is scheduled for Thursday, October 13 at the historic Ryman Auditorium in Nashville as part of the 11th Annual Americana Festival and Conference October 12 through Saturday, October 15.
The complete list for Americana Music Association Honors and Nominees:
ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Band of Joy, Robert Plant
Welder, Elizabeth Cook
Harlem River Blues, Justin Townes Earle
Blessed, Lucinda Williams
ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Buddy Miller
Elizabeth Cook
Hayes Carll
Robert Plant
NEW/EMERGING ARTIST OF THE YEAR
The Civil Wars
Mumford And Sons
The Secret Sisters
Jessica Lea Mayfield
DUO/GROUP OF THE YEAR
The Avett Brothers
The Civil Wars
Mumford And Sons
Robert Plant and the Band Of Joy
SONG OF THE YEAR
Decemberists with Gillian Welch- “Down By The Water”
Elizabeth Cook – “El Camino”
Hayes Carll – “Kmag Yoyo”
Justin Townes Earle – “Harlem River Blues”
INSTRUMENTALIST OF THE YEAR
Buddy Miller
Gurf Morlix
Kenny Vaughan
Sarah Jarosz
Will Kimbrough
The extraordinary Elizabeth Cook talks to the Utne Reader about her irreverent career, influences and her upcoming Don Was produced album Welder.
Jim Lauderdale takes time from his South-By-Southwest appearance talk to Spinner.com about, well, his career, influences and her upcoming album Patchwork River, which was produced by longtime production partner Tim Coates and Doug Lancio,. Lauderdale also answers the timless question, “Beatles or Stones?”, in a diplomatic fashion that shows why he’s Mr.Americana.
South-By-Southwest has some great showcases, but I want to highlight three that I would love to attend.The
Roots music blog ninebullets.net is holding the party I wish I was organized enough to pull off. On Wednesday., March 17 at Opa! (2050 South Lamar Blvd.)Â featuring; American Aquarium, Austin Lucas, Kasey Anderson, Glossary and Joe Pug.
No Depression Showcase will take place on Friday, March 19 at the Continental Club will feature Deadstring Brothers, Elliott Brood, Chatham County Line and more.
Not sure who’s putting this one on but on Friday 19 March the Red Eye Fly club will host Lucero. Deer Tick, Justin Townes Earle, Glossary, and Trampled By Turtles.
Also at the Red Eye Fly (man, I want to hot this club next ime I’m in Austin) Legendary alt.country/roots record label Bloodshot Records will hold their 15th SXSW party Friday, March 19th. Included in the line up are label mates Ha Ha Tonka, Justin Townes Earle and Waco Brothers, Rosie Flores and more.
L.A. Times Pop & Hiss holds court with Texas songwriting royalty Billy Joe Shaver. Shaver discusses Bob Dylan, how after all life has thrown at him he still stays optimistic and voices frustration over somewhat indifference to some of his recent releases.
I have come to the acceptance step of the grief cycle, bit Todd VanDerWerff’s excellent and exhaustive re-review of the HBO Western series Deadwood at The Onion’s TV Club brings a smile to my face.
Check out Kim Ruehl’s interview with Santa Cruz’s roots band The Devil Makes Three from the Bumbershoot music festival.
Tom Russell posts a new addition to his blog giving context and back stories to the songs on his upcoming Calexeco-backed album Blood and Candle Smoke.
Bruce Robison posts on his MySpace blog that he will have a song in Texas cartoon mogal Mike Judge(Beavis & Butthead, King of the Hill) film Extract and that he’ll be heading out on tour with Robert Earl Keen and Todd Snider. (via the 9513.com)
Patty Griffin’s upcoming Buddy Miller produced Gospel album Downtown Church will be released in early 2010 and was recorded earlier this year in the sanctuary of the Downtown Presbyterian Church in Nashville, according to her website.
Willie Nelson will join TheBoot.com for a live “Twitterview” next Tuesday, Aug. 25, the same day as the release of his newest album American Classic. You can watch the live chat with Willie, starting at 7:00 PM ET on Tuesday, if you follow Willie Nelson and theBoot.com on Twitter.
Joe Pug will be joining Steve Earle on his upcoming European tour. Pug’s debut LP “Messenger” will be released in early 2010.
Austin’s jazz and western swing band Hot Club of Cowtown has released their new, Wishful Thinking.
The New York Time reviews a show at Joe’s Pub by Works Progress Administration (WPA). the expandable collective, featuring core members Luke Bulla (Lyle Lovett), Sean Watkins (Nickel Creek) and Glen Phillips (Toad the Wet Sprocket) and on this night featuring Sara Watkins (Nickel Creek) pedal steel guitarist and multi-instrumentalist extraordinaire Greg Leisz (Bill Frisell, Dave Alvin, Lucinda Williams, Emmylou Harris, Joni Mitchell, Whiskeytown, and Robert Plant and Alison Krauss and many more)
Chet Flippo sees compelling storytelling in videos by Toby Keith and Brad Paisley in his newest Nashville Skyline post. I see trite, if mildly clever, symbolism mirroring the trite song they represent. For shear technical and style excellence I still have to go with this one.
Are there any more maligned or misunderstood genres of music than hip and country? When asked what kind of music a person likes these two styles are at the top of the excluded list. Now imagine them joining forces in some unholy alliance of country-rap (or as one person I know coined it “crap.”) I can just imagine the exit becoming glutted with the fleeing hordes. Screw ’em….
I was cruising twitter and came upon several posts/tweets the name of Colt Ford. He’s become sort of surprise dark horse on the both the country and the hip-hop charts . I have a soft spot for both country underdogs so I checked him out.
Though not as left-of-center as Buck 65 or Ridley Bent , or as bat-shit crazy as “Insane” Shane Mckane, this 300 lb former PGA golfer comes across as a drinking buddy of Everlast and Bubba Sparxxx that might have passed a bottle with Jamey Johnson (who appears here on the cut Cold Beer) when he was working out the lyrics for Honky-Tonk Badonkadonk.
Like a typical hip-hop album Ride Through the Country offers cameos from other artists and you can judge the performer by the company he keeps.
The title cut is a slow country-rock ride back to Colt’s Georgia roots with smooth backing vocals and guitar furnished by John Michael Montgomery. The excellent Gene Watson trailer-park kiss-off cut No Trash in My Trailer gets a great reworking here and is made better by the great Mike Dekle on chorus.
As mentioned earlier, Jamey Johnson sings chorus on Cold Beer a rollicking party cut and Nashville singer Lindsey Hager provides a smooth counter to the Ford’s gruff lone-wolf with a soft heart lyrics on Never Thought. Saddle Up is a hell raising fiddle laced cut featuring the Alabama rapper Attitude. The bluesy, swaggering Good God O’mighty is tailor made for a good old fashioned hell raising drunk singalong.
The themes on Ride Through the Country are as cartoonish as a typical rap or country album – beer and rotgut, fighting, Southern cooking, pride in vehicle choices (4X4), pride in America, God and the bible, keeping it real – except the mean streets of Brooklyn or Philly are replaced by the dusty, feel good (where even fights are cordial) streets of Georgia. This is about as good as something like this can get and it beats the crap out of anything Kid Rock ever did. Somebody give me a hell yeah!
Tis’ the season for “Best of…” “Top picks…”Depending on your point of view it’s either as welcome as a gift under the tree on Christmas morning or fruit cake. This subjective separation of musical wheat from chafe, truth be told, it’s my least favorite part of doing this blog. I prefer visit each work on an individual basis. And though I do bring a wider view of music, only in rare instances would weigh a work in contrast to something I heard just the week before. This 12-month capsule is constraining, bit with constraints come opportunity to focus the mind.
Are there any more maligned or misunderstood genres of music than hip and country? When asked what kind of music a person likes these two styles are at the top of the excluded list. Now imagine them joining forces in some unholy alliance of country-rap (or as one person I know coined it “crap.”) I can just imagine the exit becoming glutted with the fleeing hordes. Screw ’em….