“Cowboy†Jack Clement has carved out a storied career as a sinsinger/songwriter having his songs have been recorded by folks such as Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, Ray Charles, Carl Perkins, Bobby Bare, Elvis Presley and more. A producer for Townes Van Zandt and Waylon Jennings and DJ with a weekly program on Sirius XM Satellite Radio’s Outlaw country)
The Memphis-born, 81-year-old, Clement recently lost his house to a fire in 2011. Now some of his friends are coming together at the War Memorial Auditorium in Nashville January 30 to help out.
According to American Songwriter “one of those musicians was Artist Growth founder Matt Urmy, who Clement recently produced, Artist Growth joined up with Dub Cornett, a long time protege of Clement’s, to put together Honoring A Legend: A Tribute To “Cowboy†Jack Clement, featuring an all-star list of artists influenced by and associated with Clement.”
Emmylou Harris, John Prine, Dan Auerbach from the Black Keys, Kris Kristofferson, Charley Pride and more will gather to pay tribute to “The Pied Piper of Music City.â€
All proceeds for the concert will go toward The Music Health Alliance and launching the “Cowboy†Jack Clement Fund to help the cost of medical bills for musicians not covered by insurance.
Dan Auerbach
Bobby Bare
Marshall Chapman
Rodney Crowell
Jakob Dylan
Emmylou Harris
Charley Pride
John Prine
T-Bone Burnett
Billy Burnette
Shawn Camp
Mary Gauthier
Kris Kristofferson
Nikki Lane
John C. Reilly
No current performer has straddled the music Row and Americana divide as deftly as Jamey Johnson.
His throwback sound, Alabama growl and biker looks appeals to those (like myself) that pine for the days of Waylon and Willie and the boys while his ear for a melody was able to grab the attention of the mainstream country radio and fans with his top 10 hit “In Color.”
Johnson is an unapologetic neo-traditional disciple of country music’s greats. He’s opened for Willie and done George Jones songs in the presence of the man himself. His next effort is to a man that influnced those giants.
On October 16th Johnson will be joined by Willie and many others on his new album, Buddy Cannon-produced Livin’ For a Song: A Tribute to Hank Cochran. (vinyl beginning Sept. 25.)
Cochran, who died at age 74 in 2010, is considered one of the greatest songwriters in the history of country music. He helped evolve the perfect country template established by Hank Williams a generation earlier.Â
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“If I had to dream up somebody like Hank to influence songwriters, I couldn’t have done a better job,” Johnson says. “That’s what he was– not just for me, but for Willie and for a lot of people–just a helpful friend. If he knew you needed help with something, he could help you. He was there. And that’s what I want to be for the people in my life, same as Hank. He influenced me, not only as an artist and songwriter, but also as a person.”
Cochran’s songs transcended the country genre to become American standards (a practice closely studied by Willie) his catalog includes “I Fall to Pieces,” “She’s Got You,” “Make the World Go Away,” “The Chair,’ “Set ‘Em Up Joe” which Johnson covered on 1010’s The Guitar Song. His songs have been recorded by artists including Eddy Arnold, Patsy Cline, George Jones, George Strait, Elvis Presley, Elvis Costello, Ray Price, Ronnie Milsap, Jim Reeves and many others.Â
Recording a collection of Hank Cochran tunes in a pop-country saturated industry takes guts, and truly reflects the original Outlaw spirit the hat acts on the radio brag having. When it came time to take the next step in his recording career, he listened to his heart and decided to embark on a labor of love. In a daring career move that is consistent with Johnson’s penchant for bucking conventional industry wisdom to create a unique path, he decided to devote his time and creative efforts to honoring his late friend and celebrate traditional country music.
Besides having a professional affinity to Cochran he also has a personal one. “Shortly after he first met Jamey, Hank was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer,” says his widow, Suzi Cochran. “So for the two years he lived after that, Jamey would get off the road and pull his bus right up to the hospital, run up and see Hank and raise Hank’s spirits. The last time Jamey saw Hank was the night before Hank died.” Johnson joined Buddy Cannon and Billy Ray Cyrus at Cochran’s bedside as they handed the guitar back and forth while singing Cochran’s songs. Cochran died about six hours later.
“Hank adored Jamey,” Suzi Cochran says. “Hank loved Jamey. Jamey was a constant in the last chapter of Hank’s life.
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“This is incredible,” she says of the tribute album. “I wish Hank had been here to see it. He wouldn’t believe it. He would have cried. He’d be happy. It’s exactly like Hank would have done it.”
I am really looking forward to hearing this release and look forward to hearing classic from it live when Johnson joins Willie Nelson and The Band of Horses on the Railroad Revival Tour 2012.
Track listing:
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1. “Make the World Go Away” – Jamey Johnson and Alison Krauss
2. “I Fall to Pieces” – Jamey Johnson and Merle Haggard
3. “A Way to Survive” – Jamey Johnson, Vince Gill and Leon Russell
4. “Don’t Touch Me” – Jamey Johnson and Emmylou Harris
5. “You Wouldn’t Know Love” – Jamey Johnson and Ray Price
6. “I Don’t Do Windows” – Jamey Johnson and Asleep at the Wheel
7. “She’ll Be Back” – Jamey Johnson and Elvis Costello
8. “Would These Arms Be in Your Way” – Jamey Johnson
9. “The Eagle” – Jamey Johnson and George Strait
10. “A-11” – Jamey Johnson and Ronnie Dunn
11. “I’d Fight the World” – Jamey Johnson and Bobby Bare
12. “Don’t You Ever Get Tired of Hurting Me” – Jamey Johnson and Willie Nelson
13. “This Ain’t My First Rodeo” – Jamey Johnson and Lee Ann Womack
14. “Love Makes a Fool of Us All” – Jamey Johnson and Kris Kristofferson
15. “Everything But You” – Jamey Johnson, Vince Gill, Willie Nelson and Leon Russell
16. “Livin’ for a Song” – Jamey Johnson, Hank Cochran, Merle Haggard, Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson
One of the things about being one of the best songwriters in the world, loads of folks want to cover your work. The other night over at the Twang Nation Jamboree at turntable.fm the DJs holding forth ran with a Kris Kristofferson covers theme and it sounded pretty great. I thought I would try and track some down and post them here.
Bobby Bare croons a smooth version of Come Sundown. Nothing says heartbreak like a huge white tie.
Try and look over the full-on Nashville Sound and syrupy strings and try and concentrate on the awesomeness that is Mr. Ray Price covering For The Good Times.
Most people think Janis Joplin was the first to cover Me And Bobby McGee. Those people are wrong. Roger Miller was the first artist to have a hit with the song, hitting No. 12 on the US country chart in 1969.
Yeah it’s not technically covers but the himself is being backed by the Foo Fighters on Sunday Morning Coming Down and doing The Pilgrim, Chapter 33 being backed by Elvis Costello And The Sugarcanes.
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.
Austin singer-songwriter Rusty Weir died October 9, after two years of struggling with cancer. Wier was considered a country legend and he was inducted into the Austin Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2002.
The New York Times reviews the Jamey Johnson show at the Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn. Johnson played two new songs, Back to Macon and Nothing Is Better Than You from hos upcoming release.
The New York Times also features a review of the Roseanne Cash’s sold-out concert at St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn. Cash performed many songs from her stellar career as well as from her newest album, The List.
Peter Cooper at the Tennessean celebrates geezerdom by detailing the steller and ongoing careers of country music legends Kris Kris Kristofferson, Bobby Bare, Loretta Lynn, Bill Anderson, Tom T. Hall, Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard. What other genre has artists over 70 making some of the best music of their careers? I mean besides Blues, R&B, Gospel and Jazz that is
As you can see there have been some changes here at Ranch Twang. Not all the kinks are ironed out so I will be working on them this week. Let us know what you think of the new look and , as the sign says, pardon our mess.
The 9513’s Matt Griffin draws comparisons to Levon Helm’s newest release, Electric Dirt, and Johnny Cash’s latter career reviving American Recordings.
The Academy of Country Music has chosen the The Ryman Auditorium as the Venue of the Year. Special awards to be presented at the 2nd Annual ACM Honors, scheduled for September 22 at Nashville’s Schermerhorn Symphony Center, will be the Jim Reeves International Award to Dolly Parton, the Mae Boren Axton Award to David Young, the Poet’s Award to Merle Haggard and Harlan Howard. Lee Ann Womack will host the evenand there will be special performances by Bobby Bare, Vince Gill, Randy Houser, Jamey Johnson, Miranda Lambert, Jim Lauderdale and Patty Loveless.
The Country Music Association Awards announced the nominees for their 43rd annual awards ceremony. All the usual suspects, Paisley (leading with 6 nominations), Chesney, Swift, Urban. A nod to tradition – George Strait. Some black horses added – Joey + Rory for Vocal Duo Of The Year and The Raconteurs with Ricky Skaggs and Adhely Monroe performing the song Old Enough as the Musical Event Of The Year (?) Duller than the Grammys I say. Tune in to see Jamey Johnson perform and try to refrain throwing things at the TV when Kid Rock takes the stage.
Johnny Cash dies On this Day, 2003, at Nashville’s Baptist Hospital, of complications from diabetes, 4 months after death of wife, June Carter.
PopMatters.com has Juli Thanki’s newest Torch & Twang post (Louisiana Woman, Texas Troubadour)Â Thanki bypasses the standard view that Loretta Lynn’s best duet partner was Conway Twitty and makes her case for Ernest Tubb.
Best Buy is offering an exclusive EP from Miranda Lambert today which includes her new single “ Dead Flowers†from her upcoming album Revolution. The EP includes three bonus tracks from her prior album, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. The cost of the EP is $1.99, or you can pre-order Revolution and get the EP free. (via My Kind of Country and the 9513.com)
Kris Kristofferson, Ray Price, Bobby Bare Jr. and My Morning Jacket are some that will pay tribute to writer, artists , country music songwriter and Playboy mansion resident Shel Silverstein on Turnable, Twistable Man which is produced by Silverstein ‘s friend Bobby Bare.
Murfreesboro, Tennessee-based quirky indy Southern rock band the Glossary is giving their new 2007 album, The Better Angles of Our Nature, free from their official site and in different quality formats. I’ll review it soon, but after a couple of passes on the iPod it’s a great one.
The Americana Music Conference & Festival is next week. It’s shaping up to be one of the best one yet. Keep up with the latest from the AMA event on their Twitter posts. If you see me there buy me a beer!
Happy birthday Patsy Cline (Sept 8 1932)
Another use for texting? Apparently looking for the country crooner that stopped in your town and might have knocked you up is now on that list. A certain lady with a Wisconsin phone number is currently looking for this Rodeo Romeo. (via NashvilleScene)
From JamBase – John Doe (X, The Knitters) and The Sadies join forces for Country Club, an album of classic country covers and originals due out April 14, 2009 on Yep Roc Records.
“Country Club is the result of a drunken promise or threat I made to Travis and Dallas [Good, of The Sadies] the first night we played together in Toronto. These happen all the time but it’s rare that anyone remembers them the morning after, let alone follows through and makes it a reality. I’m really glad we did,†says Doe.
By including varying yet equally beloved movements within the country music pantheon, Doe and The Sadies were able to cover their heroes while filtering the pop sensibilities of ’60s Nashville through the electric honky tonk of Bakersfield, CA.
“We’re not sure why it sounds like it’s from the sixties. Maybe that’s our favorite era of country music or maybe that’s what we listened to when we first learned how to play it,” remarks Doe. “But what was called ‘Countrypolitan’ always seemed one of the coolest hybrids of country music. But we agreed quickly and completely that there were going to be no string sections, horns or choirs. Bakersfield vs. Nashville was never a dispute . . . Bakersfield!” Dallas Good of The Sadies continues, “The songs chosen were very ambitious, and while we haven’t re-invented the wheel we have created a cohesiveness between several hit country & western singles and our own styles.”
Country Club also features guest turns from D.J. Bonebrake, Kathleen Edwards, Eric Heywood and more.
Tracklist & Credits:
1. Stop the World and Let Me Off
Songwriter: Carl Belew
Made famous by: Waylon Jennings
2. Husbands and Wives
Songwriter: Roger Miller
3. ‘Til I Get It Right
Songwriters: Red Lane, Larry Henley
Made famous by: Tammy Wynette
4. It Just Dawned on Me
Songwriters: Exene Cervenka, John Doe
5. (Now and Then) There’s a Fool Such as I
Songwriter: William Marvin Trader
Made famous by: Hank Snow
6. The Night Life
Songwriters: Paul F. Buskirk, Walter M. Breeland, Willie Nelson
Made famous by: Ray Price
7. The Sudbury Nickel
Songwriters: The Sadies
8. Before I Wake
Songwriters: The Sadies
9. I Still Miss Someone
Songwriters: Johnny Cash, Roy Cash Jr.
10. The Cold Hard Facts of Life
Songwriter: Bill Anderson
Made famous by: Porter Wagoner
11. Take These Chains from My Heart
Songwriter: Fred Rose, Hy Heath
Made famous by: Hank Williams
12. Help Me Make It Through the Night
Songwriter: Kris Kristofferson
13. Are the Good Times Really Over for Good
Songwriter: Merle Haggard
14. Detroit City
Songwriters: Danny Dill, Mel Tillis
Made famous by: Bobby Bare
The man was napping on the tiny, cluttered Maxwell’s stage while various battered and bruised instruments were carted out and placed on the stage around him.
Well he seemed to be napping…and then he suddenly rolls over and does a couple of labored push-ups and then be was up and at the mic sporting an aged Gibson SG with a butterfly sticker. The large man with the mop of curly hair, a “Nashville U.S.A” trucker cap and legacy bonifides (his daddy is the legendary Country outlaw musician, Bobby Bare) from that very same Tennessee city engaged in quirky yet familiar song arrangements, and with a voice that could lull a preacher’s daughter into a life of sin, commenced to tear up the house on this Thursday night.
Songs of love found, lost, found again…drug abuse, beauty all done with humor and whit. Bare featured many songs from his forthcoming September ‘06 Bloodshot records release “The Longest Meow”. “Just pretend you know this song and clap..” he instructed the audience while introducing the new material. Older material from 2004s “From the End of your Leash” was represented with “Valentine” and “Terrible Sunrise.”
In a world of Corporate pre-fabricated music it’s nice to see there are Bobby Bare Jr.s out there making music for the sheer deranged pleasure of it.
“Cowboy†Jack Clement has carved out a storied career as a sinsinger/songwriter having his songs have been recorded by folks such as Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, Ray Charles, Carl Perkins, Bobby Bare, Elvis Presley and more. A producer for Townes Van Zandt and Waylon Jennings and DJ with a weekly program on Sirius XM Satellite Radio’s Outlaw country) 
The man was napping on the tiny, cluttered Maxwell’s stage while various battered and bruised instruments were carted out and placed on the stage around him.