Tag Archives: Americana music

Music Review: Somebody’s Darling – Self-Titled (Shiner Records)

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While attending the Americana Music Conference in Nashville last September  I was lucky enough to go to some great shows. John Fogerty , Charlie Robison, Radney Foster, The Bottle Rockets, Angela Easterling….all great. But the show that stuck with me most was my favorite sort, a complete surprise.

Texas has a long, rich legacy of musical contributions as big as the state itself, and they run the across all genres. But if anyone asked me for a recommendation of a current musician or a band that best personifies what I like best about Texas music I would hand them a copy of Dallas’ Somebody’s Darling self-titled release. Gritty, balls-to-the-wall rock,  not the anemic variety seeping from mainstream country station over the last decade from execs that think Creed is rad, but the kind of Lynyrd Skynyrd or Charlie Daniels (listen to the fiddle-banjo fueled barn-blazer Another Two Step to fetch a hankering for ‘shine and a bar fight) meets Replacements ( listen to the cuts Lonely as well as Farewell for power-punk ferocity spiced with pedal steel!) And with the current re-issues of Exile on Mainstreat you miss that 70’s Stones swagger just listen to Cold Hearted Lover for enough bluesy heat sure to burn a hole in your highball glass.

On the  brazenly fearless and apologetically sentimental yearn of the opener Horses and Easy Amber Farris takes her rightful place with other powerful Texas singers, like Janis Joplin and Michelle Shocked,  that can belt it out and also work the nuanced edges of a song. The band – David Ponder n searing Lead Guitar, Nate Wedan as a force to be reckoned with on  Percussion and the understated Michael Talley on Bass. This is a crack band that does what they should do, make it all seem seamless and effortless. The solid songs and passionate performance on this release and live shows why they were the winners of the Shiner Records’ Rising Star Competition and have a sterling future ahead of them.

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[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3SN1pUmu94[/youtube]

Twang For Tots Celebrates Album Release and Helps School

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While lawmakers and administrators appear to be cutting school music and arts budgets even more this year in California, San Francisco school teacher Marisa Martinez is  helping kids learn while providing a big dose of musical inspiration with her newly-released compact disc, “ABC And Chickens”. A San Francisco album release party and benefit concert, Twang for Tots, will celebrate the new record.

“Twang for Tots” is a benefit concert to support music in the schools through the production and sale of an educational CD for children created by Martinez, a kindergarten teacher and longtime San Francisco musical performer. After completing her master’s thesis on the crucial interaction between music and art in a young student’s educational development, Martinez realized that ongoing cuts in music classes both in her San Francisco Unified School District and hundreds of schools across the country were robbing students of that important component of schooling. Aimed at the pre-K to 2nd grade set, the 18 songs on “ABC And Chickens” help kids learn counting, naming the days of the week, spelling, social skills and other important lessons.

Working with San Francisco producer Phil “Philbillie” Milner, Martinez gathered a few friends who happen to be some of the most noteworthy players in San Francisco, all former or current band mates – guitarist Eric McFadden (George Clinton, Eric Burdon), drummer Paulo Baldi (Les Claypool, Cake), cellist Sam Bass (Les Claypool), bassist/tubist Ed Ivey (Faraway Brothers, Brass Monkey Brass Band) and multi-instrumentalist Jenny Kerr. Martinez composed most of the songs and sang or played on every cut. The recording sessions were great fun for the musicians and more than a few admitted they learned something new just being involved.

The Twang For Tots concert features Eric McFadden, The Jenny Kerr Band  and J.L. Stiles and proceeds from the concert will help defray production costs, and proceeds from CD sales will help provide materials for ongoing music classes which have been cut due to the current budget crisis in California, a cutback that has hit SFUSD especially hard. Martinez’s school in the city serves students from the highest-poverty areas in the city, and her commitment to making the difference for kids who will truly benefit from her passion has become well-known to school parents struggling to keep their youth moving forward as the district continues to cut programs.

What: Twang For Tots Celebrates “ABC And Chickens” Children’s Album Release
Where: Restoration Workshop, 630 Treat Ave Suite C, San Francisco CA 94110
When: Friday June 4, 2010  7:00 – 10:00 PM
Cost: suggested donation $10 – $20, sliding scale
Web: www.abcandchickens.com

News Round Up: Kris Kristofferson Releases Early Demo Compilation

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Kris Kristofferson’s latest is actually some of his earliest. Please Don’t Tell Me How the Story Ends: The Publishing Demos 1968-72 is a collection of raw demos made to shop his songs around to singers while sweeping floors at Columbia Studios in Nashville (where he later first met Johnny Cash.) I listened to 16 cuts from the album streaming over at NPR and it’s a beauty. The back and forth with Kristofferson and the recording engineer does not take away from the artistry from this master songwriter. There are classics like Me and Bobby McGee,made famous by a woman that dated Kristofferson for a time, Janis Joplin. There is also the title cut which was recorded by Bobby Bare and If You Don’t Like Hank Williams latter recorded by Hank Williams Jr. With Willie and Merle Haggard coming out with releases this month Please Don’t Tell Me How the Story Ends just makes this one of the best bumper crops in quite some time. The down-loadable version is on sale now at Amazon.

News Round Up: New Releases by Elizabeth Cook, Jim Lauderdale and The Sadies

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  • The Hangover & Daily Show star (and amateur banjo player) Ed Helms is launching the LA Bluegrass Situation festival  (March 18th – 22nd) featuring Steve Martin, Emmylou Harris, The Steep Canyon Rangers, Nickel Creek. See the somewhat silly video introduction of the festival from Helms.
  • Canadian roots/surf rockers The Sadies will release their new album, Darker Circles, on May 18, 2010 on Yep Roc Records. The album will be produced by the Jayhawk’s Gary Louris.
  • Honky-tonk angel Elizabeth Cook will release her new album, Welder, on May 11th on 31 Tigers. Produced by Don Was (Rolling Stones, Kris Kristofferson), Welder will feature guest appearances by Dwight Yoakam, Rodney Crowell and Buddy Miller.
  • See the new video by Peter Wolf working on his new Americana-tinged album, Midnight Souvenirs, (UMe/Verve / April 6). Tragedy features duets with country music legend Merle Haggard, Neko Case and Shelby Lynne.
  • Mr. Americana, Jim Lauderdale, will release his new album Patchwork River, on Thirty Tigers May 11. He co-wrote the album–filled with such highlights as “Alligator Alley,” “Louisville Roll” and “Patchwork River”–with longtime Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter whom Lauderdale has praised as “one of the greatest writers that has ever lived in my book.
  • The mighty Drive By Truckers’ new release, The Big To-Do, will be released on March 16th. Partnering with Ghost Town Media, the band will release a series of webisodes that tell the behind the scenes story of each song from the record.  You will see footage of the band working on The Big To-Do  in the studio in Athens, Georgia, clips of the band performing the new songs at sound check and in concert, and in depth interviews with the band members telling the stories behind the songs.  The first of these websiodes will feature Mike Cooley’s Birthday Boy, the final song recorded for the album.