Record Store Day 2017 – Americana and Roots Music Picks

It’s that time of year again. Well, yes Spring but more specifically for a music blog it’s the annual season of blossoming limit selections of rare and obscure vinyl known as Record Store Day. The event has helped fuel the resurgence in sales and pushing the few remaining pressing plant’s production capacity to the hilt. As is tradition the event will be taking place on the fourth Saturday in April. For 2017 that means Saturday, April 22nd.

Record Store Day offerings are scarce, unique releases, some only available in specific regions. Some are produced in very limited runs, some totaling no more than a few hundred total.
Check out the Americana and roots selections below and take a look at the full list. Get to your favorite indy record early on April 22nd  (I’ll be at Good Records in Dallas) and share those great finds with me on Instagram and Twitter.

Blaze Foley – Sittin’ By The Road [LP] (180 Gram Gold Colored Vinyl, detailed liner notes by film maker Kevin Triplett, limited, indie-retail exclusive)

Brandy Clark – Live From Los Angeles [LP] (previously unreleased songs, limited to 2500, indie-retail exclusive)

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band – Hammersmith Odeon London ’75 [4LP] (150 Gram, first time on vinyl, numbered/limited to 3000, indie-retail exclusive)

The Cadillac Three – Live At Abbey Road [10 ” EP] (limited to 1500, indie-retail exclusive)

Dave Alvin and Phil Alvin, Hard Travelin’ EP (Yep Roc Records) Packaging: 12” Vinyl / Transparent Red

Dolly Parton – Puppy Love [7”] (limited to 2500, indie-retail exclusive

Drive By Truckers – Live In Studio, New York, NY 12/07/16 [LP] (Clear Vinyl, limited to 3530, indie-retail exclusive)

Emmylou Harris – Queen Of The Silver Dollar [5LP + 7 ” Box Set] (Emmylou’s first five studio albums plus a bonus 7 ” single, limited to 1100, indie-retail exclusive)

Gram Parsons & The Fallen Angels – Live 1973 featuring Emmylou Harris [LP] (180 Gram, gold foil jacket and holographic numbered/limited to 2000, indie-retail exclusive)

Hayseed Dixie – Free Your Mind And Your Grass Will Follow [LP] (Clear Vinyl, limited to 1000, indie-retail exclusive)

Head And The Heart, The – Stinson Beach Sessions [LP] (unreleased songs and demos, limited to 3000, indie-retail exclusive)

Iron And Wine – Archives Series Volume No. 3 [LP] (Translucent Blue Vinyl, limited to 700, indie-retail exclusive

Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit – Welcome to 1979 – Live recordings direct cut to acetate at Nashville studio Welcome To 1979. 12″, tip-on style, simple sleeve jacket, white dust sleeve. Side A: 1. Can’t You Hear Me Knocking (Jagger/Richards) 2. Storm Windows (Prine) 3. Heart on a String (Jackson/Buckins) Side B: 1. Atlantic City (Springsteen) 2. Sway (Jagger/Richards) 3. Never Gonna Change (Isbell)

John Paul White & Donnie Fritts – John Paul White Sings Donnie Fritts, Donnie Fritts Sings John Paul White [7”] (limited to 1000, indie-retail exclusive)

Leon Russell – Guitar Blues [CD] (limited to 1000, indie-retail exclusive)

The Lumineers – Song Seeds [10”] (limited to 1500, indie-retail exclusive)

Neil Young – Decade [3LP] (1977 compilation of solo and group hits, remastered, 2 photo reproductions by Henry Diltz, limited to 5000, indie-retail exclusive)

Nels Cline (Wilco) – In The Wee Small Hours [7 ”] (Frank Sinatra cover, limited to 1000, indie-retail exclusive)

Old 97’s – Terlingua b / w Off My Mynd [12 ”] (Opaque White Vinyl, Unreleased exclusive B-sides, etched B-side, limited to 2530, indie-retail exclusive

Pokey LaFarge – Riot In The Streets / Better Man Than Me [10 ”] (B-side etching of original hand-drawn image by Pokey, limited to 1500, indie-retail exclusive)

Robert Johnson – The Complete Recordings: The Centennial Collection [3LP] (150 Gram, gatefold, download, 12×24 poster, numbered/limited to 2500, indie-retail exclusive)

Sharon Jones with the E.L. Fields Gospel Wonders – Heaven Bound b/w Key To The Kingdom [7”] (‘picture frame’ custom jacket with easel-back, limited to 2500, indie-retail exclusive)

Sharon Jones, Corey Harris & Peter McGennis – Bubble Girl (Soundtrack) [12”] (limited, indie-retail exclusive)
Shooter Jennings & Waymore’s Outlaws – Live [12”] (Coke Clear Vinyl, single jacket with white inner sleeve, limited to 500, indie-retail exclusive)

Steve Earle & The Dukes – Live [7 ”] (picture sleeve, limited to 3000, indie-retail exclusive)

Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble – Live At Carnegie Hall [2LP] (150 Gram Marbled Brown Vinyl, download, limited to 3000, indie-retail exclusive)

Townes Van Zandt – Live At Austin City Limits [LP] (limited to 2500, indie-retail exclusive)

Waylon Jennings & The 357’s – Waylon Forever [12”] (Clear Orange Vinyl, single jacket with white inner sleeve, limited to 250, indie-retail exclusive)

Americana Honors Prince

Dixie Chicks - 'Nothing Compares 2 U'

“A strong spirit transcends rules.” Prince

Prince not only appeared to transcended mortality he transcended genre. So it’s not surprising that songwriters and musicians across styles took his sudden death as a call to perform reverent Prince covers to fill the void.

Roots music is no different. Though his music superficially differed from Americana and country music they saw in Prince a prolific songwriters and accomplished musician who’s entire being was defined by his art. Prince created music just as readily as the music created him. They were indistinguishable from each other.

Below I’ve collected a few live tributes in the aftermath as well as Cory Branan and Lydia Loveless superb Record Store Day 2015 purple vinyl split 7″. All are wonderful and you can feel the bittersweet joy in remembrance.

Also a video of Prince doing a Stones classic, because it’s awesome.

Bruce Springsteen – ‘Purple Rain’ – Multicam mix – Brooklyn – New York – http://youtu.be/ifNyqjHHCGw

Chris Stapleton – ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’ – Greek Theater, Berkeley, CA – http://youtu.be/dV_Wp4vVlB8

The Dixie Chicks – ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’ – Horsens Denmark – http://youtu.be/sHBFMjH9NFA

Avett Brothers “Pretty Girl From Annapolis w/ When Doves Cry Interlude” Chicago Theatre – http://youtu.be/DjgHfAtwMsg

Mumford & Sons – ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’ – St. Paul, MN – http://youtu.be/ay0edC0lOh4

Old Crow Medicine Show w/ Margo Price – Purple Rain – Huntsville, AL – http://youtu.be/B1JCj5EWvP4

Cory Branan – “Under the Cherry Moon” – http://youtu.be/zVtSiXiQRE4

Lydia Loveless – “I Would Die 4 U” – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvYjXEiXujo

Prince – “Honky Tonk Woman” – http://youtu.be/MpHtwa8YGBU

Record Store Day 2015 – Americana and Roots Music Picks

130424-record-store-day

Record Store Day, the annual celebration of local record stores for aficionados of the antiquated data storage device known as vinyl will be taking place as always on the Third Saturday in April. For 2015 that means Saturday, April 18.

The crew behind Record Store Day have been the driving force for 8 years on what we’re now seeing as the explosive, and surprising, resurgence of vinyl releases. The most public example of this is last year’s Record Store Day ambassador Jack White’s the recent sales of his latest ‘Lazaretto’ setting a record for first-week sales by moving 40,000 vinyl copies. This eclipsed the previous long-standing record of about 33,000 held by Pearl Jam’s ‘Vitalogy.’

As overall music sales continue to decline , vinyl sales increased to 6.1 million in 2013, up from 4.6 million the year before. By comparison, total vinyl sales failed to reach even one million units in 2007.

As vinyl grows in popularity there’s is pressure on vinyl manufacturers, who like us all were caught off-guard by the resurgence. But shops like United Record Pressing based in Nashville, TN, the shop responsible for manufacturing White’s best-seller are expanding to meet the growing demand.

The demand for vinyl is partially due to it’s described ‘warmer’ sound, BUt the real drive behind Record Store Day is uniqueness and scarcity. Maay of the releases come on colored vinyl or as picture discs and many of the releases are produced in very limited runs, some totaling no more than a few hundred.

This stands in direct contrast to digital music’s hemogeny of sound and structure. an MP3 might be convenient, but it’s never scarce or unique.

Check out the Americana and roots selections below and take a look at the full list. Get to your favorite indy record early on April 18 (I’ll be at Good Records in Dallas) and share those great finds with me on Instagram and Twitter.

Asleep At The Wheel (with Willie Nelson and The Blind Boys of Alabama) – Unreleased single from ‘Still The King: Celebrating The Music of Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys’
Format: 7″ Vinyl
Label: Bismeaux Records
Release type: RSD Limited Run / Regional Focus Release
More Info:
RSD Exclusive single featuring bonus Asleep at The Wheel performances with Willie Nelson and The Blind Boys of Alabama not included on the Still The King album. Signed by Ray Benson, and numbered.
TRACKLIST: “New Spanish Two Step”/”The Devil Ain’t Lazy”

Bob Dylan – ‘The Basement Tapes’
Format: 12″ Vinyl
Label: Other Peoples Music
Release type: RSD Exclusive Release
More Info: The Basement Tapes recorded in 1967 while Bob Dylan recuperated and features many Dylan songs that had appeared on bootleg records prior to the “official” release in 1975. The recording took place in Woodstock and features four members of the Hawks (Rick Danko, Garth Hudson, Richard Manuel and Robbie Robertson – and one American, Levon Helm) better known today as The Band. Individually autographed and numbered by Garth Hudson.

Bob Dylan – ‘The Night We Called It A Day’
Format: 7″ Colored Vinyl
Label: Columbia
Release type: RSD Exclusive Release
More Info:
Limited Edition blue vinyl single featuring two songs from Bob Dylan’s newest release “Shadows In The Night”

Brandi Carlisle – special 7”
single of the new song “Wherever Is Your Heart” + B-side cover of Graham Nash’s “Simple Man”

Johnny Cash – Koncert v Praze (In Prague–Live)
Format: 12″ Colored Vinyl
Label: Legacy
Release type: RSD Exclusive Release
More Info:
Johnny Cash playing his greatest hits behind the Iron Curtain in 1983. Limited edition heavy weight vinyl release pressed on Soviet Red 180 gram vinyl.

Steve Earle & The Dukes – ‘Terraplane’
Format: 10″ Vinyl
Label: NEW WEST RECORDS
Release type: RSD Exclusive Release
More Info:
Steve Earle A-side version of Terraplane (a song not on the record) and a b-side of Robert Johnsons “Terraplane Blues”. Will be mastered at the level of Robert Johnson’s original recording. Most of the versions you hear today are remastered and the db’s are brought up. This one will be as close to the original 78 as possible. Includes download card.
TRACKLIST: A: Steve Earle “Terraplane” B: Robert Johnsons “Terraplane Blues”

Father John Misty – ‘I Love You, Honeybear’
Format: 7″ Colored Vinyl
Label: SUB POP
Release type: RSD Exclusive Release
More Info:
Father John Misty presents a lovely, acoustic version of the title track of his latest album, I Love You, Honeybear, along with a new, exclusive B-side, truthfully-entitled “Never Been a Woman,” on a colored-vinyl, heart-shaped 7”. This release is exclusive to Record Store Day, and it is limited to 5,700 copies worldwide. Includes download card.
TRACKLIST: “I Love You, Honeybear (Acoustic Version)”/”Never Been a Woman”
TRACKLIST: Side A: “The Night We Called It A Day” Side B: “Stay With Me”

Charlie Feathers – ‘Charlie Feathers’
Format: 10″ Vinyl
Label: Sundazed Music
Release type: RSD Exclusive Release
More Info:
Crazy, coveted rockabilly recordings from legendary wildman Charlie Feathers! Includes all eight of his King sides as originally issued in ‘56 & ‘57 – now rare and pricey 45s and 78s – with new notes from Colin Escott.
TRACKLIST: “One Hand Loose” / “Can’t Hardly Stand It” / “Bottle To The Baby” / “Everybody’s Lovin’ My Baby” / “Too Much Alike” / “When You Come Around”

Dom Flemons – ‘What Got Over’
Format: 10″ Vinyl
Label: Music Maker
Release type: RSD Exclusive Release
More Info:
10″ record with nine new tracks. “Included here on What Got Over, there are also a few alternatesto the main tracks I picked for Prospect Hill – versions in which I experimented with the sound and instrumentation but in the end they didn’t make the final cut. I sequenced this EP to be record two of two in conjunction with Prospect Hill. When you reach the end of this album you will have heard the whole Prospect Hill Omnibus! If you take both albums and make them into a playlist it will be a full hour of music.” – Dom Flemons
TRACKLIST: “Big Head Joe’s March”/”Milwaukee Blues”/”Clock On The Wall”/”Keep On Truckin'”/”Hot Chicken”/”Have I Stayed Away Too Long”/”Going Backward Up The Mountain”/”Til’ The Seas Run Dry”/”What Got Over”

Gram Parsons/Lemonheads – ‘Brass Buttons’
Format: 7″ Colored Vinyl
Label: Rhino
Release type: RSD Exclusive Release
More Info:
7″ 45 RPM Vinyl is Circle swatch splatter Bronze on Baby Pink. Part of Rhino’s now celebrated RSD exclusive Side By Side 7″ singles series. Two artists perform the same song. Surprising and unusual performances and repertoire.
TRACKLIST: “Brass Buttons”/”Brass Buttons”

Justin Townes Earle – ‘Live at Grimey’s’
Format: 10″ Vinyl
Label: Vagrant
Release type: RSD Exclusive Release
More Info:
TRACKLIST: Side A: Call Ya Momma, When the One You Love Loses Faith, Worried Bout the Weather, Single Mothers
Side B: Today and a Lonely Night, Burning Pictures, White Gar

Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band – ‘A Little Something From The Road, Vol. 1’
Format: 12″ Vinyl
Label: Concord
Release type: RSD Exclusive Release
More Info:
12″ vinyl featuring live smokin’ versions of classics from the recent Goin’ Home project as well as a couple extra blues nuggets.
TRACKLIST: 1. “Looking Back” 2. “House Is Rockin’” 3. “You Can’t Judge A Book By The Cover” 4. “Woke Up This Morning” 5. “You Done Lost Your Good Thing Now”

Robert Earl Keen – ‘Gringo Honeymoon’
Format: 12″ Vinyl
Label: Sugar Hill
Release type: RSD Exclusive Release
More Info:
Much anticipated vinyl issue of the Texas troubadour’s breakout 1994 release.

Lucero – ‘Jukebox Series #3’
Format: 7″ Vinyl
Label: Liberty & Lament
Release type: RSD Exclusive Release
More Info:
TRACKLIST: “Boom Boom”/”Midnight Special”

Mumford & Sons – ‘Believe’
Format: 7″ Vinyl
Label: Glassnote
Release type: RSD Exclusive Release
More Info:
Bootleg style 7″ hand numbered and hand stamped. First physical release of music from the upcoming album.
TRACKLIST: “Believe”/”The Wolf”

Willie Nelson – ‘Teatro’
Format: 2 x 12″ Colored Vinyl
Label: Modern Classics/Light in the Attic
Release type: RSD Exclusive Release
More Info:
* First time ever issued on vinyl for Record Store Day 2015
* Features duets with and backing vocals by Emmylou Harris
* Produced by Daniel Lanois (U2 Joshua Tree; Bob Dylan Time Out Of Mind; Emmylou Harris Wrecking Ball)
* Record Store Day exclusive featuring deluxe gatefold “tip-on” uncoated jacket and gold vinyl
* Limited to 5,000 copies

Location is everything. When Willie Nelson and album producer Daniel Lanois set out to create a cinematic-sounding album, Teatro, they took over a disused movie theatre in Oxnard, California, and pictured its dusty glory on the LP sleeve. Recorded as-live in situ amid the red velvet seats, Teatro sees Nelson working extensively with his frequent collaborator Emmylou Harris, who joins him for duets and on backing vocals on 11 of the 14 tracks. The other major player is U2 and Paul McCartney collaborator Daniel Lanois (producer of Bob Dylan’s Time Out of Mind, Emmylou Harris’ Wrecking Ball), who produces the album, plays guitar and bass, took the cover photo and wrote one of the album’s songs, “The Maker”, a stunning performance with glacier-thick vibe.

Originally released by Island Record in 1998, Teatro is issued here as a special Record Store Day release. LA and Seattle-based Light In The Attic present the album as it’s never been seen before – on vinyl. Pressed on gold vinyl with a deluxe, gatefold, ‘tip-on’ uncoated jacket, this is a chance to own this unique album in its most beautifully presented form.
TRACKLIST: Side A: “Ou Es-Tu, Mon Amour? (Where Are You, My Love?)”, “I Never Cared for You”, “Everywhere I Go”, “Darkness on the Face of the Earth”
Side B: “My Own Peculiar Way”, “These Lonely Nights”, “Home Motel”, “The Maker”
Side C: “I Just Can’t Let You Say Goodbye”, “I’ve Just Destroyed the World (I’m Living In)”, “Somebody Pick Up My Pieces”
Side D: “Three Days”, “I’ve Loved You All Over the World”, “Annie”

Okkervil River – ‘Sleep and Wake-Up Songs’
Format: 12″ Vinyl
Label: JAGJAGUWAR
Release type: RSD Exclusive Release
More Info:
Sleep and Wake-Up Songs is now being rereleased for Record Store Day, it’s first time pressed ever on vinyl. Including a demo of the EP track “You’re Untied Again” and the never before released song “Knocking Myself Out,” the EP reveals Okkervil River in-between the monumental albums Down The River of Golden Dreams and Black Sheep Boy. Band leader Will Sheff looked back to this EP, remarking, “I can hear in it somebody who is actually getting comfortable with singing, with playing the guitar, with letting music happen naturally.”
TRACKLIST: SIDE A: 1. A Favor 2. You’re Untied Again 3. And I Have Seen the World of Dreams 4. Just Give Me Time
SIDE B: 5. No Hidden Track 6. You’re Untied Again [Solo Sketch] 7. Knocking Myself Out [Home Recording]”

Reverend Horton Heat – ‘It’s A Rave-Up/Beer, Write This Song’
Format: 7″ Colored Vinyl
Label: Victory Records
Release type: RSD Exclusive Release
More Info:
Two brand new, previously unreleased tracks from Reverend Horton Heat on solid red 7″ vinyl with 150 randomly distributed clear pink copies.
TRACKLIST: “It’s A Rave-Up”/”Beer, Write This Song”

Simon & Garfunkel – ‘Homeward Bound/Leaves That Are Green’
Format: 7″ Vinyl
Label: Legacy
Release type: RSD Exclusive Release
More Info:
This collectible 7” 45rpm vinyl releases recreates the origina 1966 “Homeward Bound” single, pairing two essential Simon & Garfunkel cuts from that year: “Homeward Bound” (from Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme) and “Leaves That Are Green” (from Sounds of Silence). A Top 5 single in the US, “Homeward Bound” became a worldwide phenomenon reaching #4 in the Netherlands and #9 in the UK while going Top 20 in Australia and Sweden (where it hit #12). The cover for this RSD 2015 release is based on the German single artwork.

Dolly Parton – ‘The Grass is Blue’
Format: 12″ Vinyl
Label: Sugar Hill
Release type: RSD Exclusive Release
More Info:
Dolly’s seminal 1999 bluegrass debut, available for the first time on vinyl.
TRACKLIST: “Homeward Bound”/”Leaves That Are Green”

Todd Snider – ‘Impending Doom’
Format: 7″ Vinyl
Label: Aimless
Release type: RSD Exclusive Release
More Info:
The A-side of this RSD exclusive 7″ is a Rolling Stones cover, the B-side is an unreleased Todd Snider original.
TRACKLIST: “Shattered”/”Backlash”

st paul

St. Paul and the Broken Bones – Live From The Alabama Theatre
Format: 12″ Vinyl
Label: Single Lock
Release type: RSD Exclusive Release
More Info:
Covers of Sly and the Family Stone’s “Sing a Simple Song” and David Bowie’s “Moonage Daydream” recorded live at the Alabama Theatre on 11/14/14. Released on a 12″ transparent crimson record SHAPED LIKE THE STATE OF ALABAMA.
TRACKLIST: “Sing a Simple Song”/”Moonage Daydream”

Doc and Merle Watson – ‘Ballads from the Gap’
Format: 12″ Vinyl
Label: Vanguard
Release type: RSD Exclusive Release
More Info:
Fan-voted vinyl re-issue of the iconic release, re-mastered from the original tapes and presented in ‘exact replica’ packaging.

Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy & Broeder Dieleman – Split 7″
Format: 7″ Vinyl
Label: Snowstar Records
Release type: RSD Limited Run / Regional Focus Release
More Info:
Bonnie ‘prince’ Billy & Broeder Dieleman cover and translate each other, after having toured together in the Netherlands in 2014. Broeder Dieleman is from the south of the Netherlands, and sings in Dutch. He translated Bonnie prince Billy’s ‘Three Questions’, while Will Oldham does his (translated) take of ‘Gloria’
TRACKLIST: 1: Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy – Gloria 2: Broeder Dieleman – Drie Vragen

Junior Brown – Better Call Saul: Theme 7″
Format: 7″ Vinyl
Label: SPACELAB9
Release type: RSD Limited Run / Regional Focus Release
More Info:
TRACKLIST: “Better Call Saul”/”Better Call Saul (Instrumental)”

Giant Sand – ‘Valley of Rain (30th Anniversary Edition)’
Format: 2 x 12″ Vinyl
Label: Fire America
Release type: RSD Limited Run / Regional Focus Release
More Info:
Marking the 30th anniversary since Giant Sand’s debut album “Valley of Rain,” Fire America brings you this limited edition 2xLP 30th Anniversary Edition. The first disc is the lovingly re-mastered “Valley of Rain” in its entirety, with the addition of the track “Torture of Love,” which was added by Howe Gelb himself. The second disc features extra material recorded as Giant Sand and the pre-Giant Sand line up “Giant Sandworms,” including a “Valley of Rain” remix, a “repaired” version of “Tumble and Tear” along with five fascinating bonus tracks compiled from live and radio recordings from the time period.
• Limited to 500 copies for North America
• Liner notes from Howe Gelb.
TRACKLIST: Disc One: 1. Valley Of Rain, 2. Tumble & Tear, 3. October Anywhere, 4. Barrio, 5. Death, Dying & Channel 5, 6. Torture Of Love, 7. Down On Town / Love’s No Answer, 8. Black Venetian Blind, 9. Curse Of A Thousand Flames, 10. Artists, 11. Man Of Want
Disc Two: 1. Valley Of Rain – Remixed Instrumental, 2. Tumble And Tear – Repaired, + Five bonus tracks

Lydia Loveless & Cory Brannan - 'Prince Covers Split Single'

Lydia Loveless & Cory Brannan – ‘Prince Covers Split Single’
Format: 7″ Colored Vinyl
Label: Bloodshot
Release type: RSD Limited Run / Regional Focus Release
More Info:
Two never before released tracks. Physical Only, Purple Vinyl
TRACKLIST: Lydia: “I Would Die For You” Cory: “Under The Cherry Moon”

Lee Ann Womack – ‘Trouble in Mind’
Format: 12″ Vinyl
Label: Sugar Hill Records
Release type: RSD Limited Run / Regional Focus Release
More Info:
a limited edition 3-Song 12” vinyl – blues classic “Trouble in Mind,” Roger Miller’s demi-obscure “Where Have All The Average People Gone?” and Ralph Stanley’s bluegrass gospel “I’ve Just Seen The Rock of Ages.”

Various Artists – ‘Music To Drink Beer To’
Format: 12″ Vinyl
Label: Legacy
Release type: RSD Limited Run / Regional Focus Release
More Info:
Music To Drink Beer To is a limited-edition compilation put together by longtime friends Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head and Adam Block of Sony Music’s Legacy Recordings. Sam, who’s in the beer business and a raging music geek, and Adam, who’s in the music business and a raging beer geek, sat down over a few beers and a stash of well worn vinyl and picked some of their favorite tracks.
TRACKLIST: 01. “Please, Mrs. Henry”/Bob Dylan & The Band, 02. “Fishin’ Blues”/Taj Mahal, 03. “I Put A Spell On You”/Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, 04. “Gimmie Danger”/Iggy And The Stooges, 05. “Whiskey Bottle”/Uncle Tupelo, 06. “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere”/The Byrds, 07. “What Good Can Drinking Do”/Janis Joplin, 08. “Mannish Boy”/Muddy Waters, 09. “Scuttle Buttin’”/Stevie Ray Vaughan And Double Trouble, 10. “Surrender”/Cheap Trick, 11. “Juicy Fruit”/Mtume, 12. “Electric Relaxation”/A Tribe Called Quest

The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band – ‘You Can’t Judge A Book…’
Format: 7″ Vinyl
Label: Daddy Kool Records
Release type: RSD Limited Run / Regional Focus Release
More Info:
The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band has been creating a whirlwind with their riveting and unconventional elixir of muscular and high voltage country blues capped by gritty growling vocals and striking finger picking. Inspired by the likes of Charley Patton, Furry Lewis and John Hurt, Reverend Peyton is steeped in the great blues tradition but is catapulting its roots into a new era.
TRACKLIST: “You Can’t Judge A Book By Looking At The Cover” B/W “Some These Days I’ll Be Gone”

Chris Stapleton – ‘IN STEREO’
Format: 10″ Vinyl
Label: Mercury Nashville
Release type: RSD Limited Run / Regional Focus Release
More Info:
TRACKLIST: “When the Stars Come Out” “Fire Away” “Tennessee Whiskey”

The Waterboys – ‘Puck’s Blues’
Format: 10″ Vinyl
Label: Harlequin & Clown
Release type: RSD Limited Run / Regional Focus Release
More Info:
Home demos and acoustic tracks recorded in advance of the new album.
TRACKLIST: A1-November Tale, A2-I Can See Elvis
B1-The Girl Who Slept ForScotland, B2- Destinies Entwined

The Mavericks – ‘Mono’
Format: 12″ Vinyl
Label: The Valory Music Company
Release type: ‘RSD First’ Release
More Info:
Early vinyl release for Record Store Day, includes digital download

John Prine – ‘September 78’
Format: 12″ Vinyl
Label: Oh Boy Records
Release type: ‘RSD First’ Release
More Info:
A live record of John playing with a full band. There are loud guitar solos, funky organ playing and a couple of unreleased covers that will really surprise some folks.

Various Artists – ‘Sawyer Sessions Vol 1’
Format: CD
Label: Yep Roc Records
Release type: ‘RSD First’ Release
More Info:
The Sawyer Sessions started simple enough: new town, new building, new vibe. When the Yep Roc Music Group moved to Hillsborough, North Carolina two years ago, they wanted to find a way to integrate themselves into the creative juices flowing just beneath the surface of this historic, southern town. Named after their nearly 100-year-old office building, The Sawyer Sessions are one part video series, one part mobile recording lab, one part way to introduce the music group to their neighbors. But instead of bringing by a pie, they bring a collection of artists with diverse backgrounds and styles – Grammy Award winners, noted international songwriters, all legendary performers. They drop them into to everyday life situations and record them at restaurants, galleries and private homes – the only rule is that it has to be within the roughly 4.3 square miles of their new hometown. This record documents the best of those first year of performances and serves as a “map” of Hillsborough, North Carolina. Limited Edition Record Store Day Exclusive with hand-drawn cover art.

Bruce Springsteen – ‘Nebraska’
Format: 12″ Vinyl
Label: Legacy
Release type: ‘RSD First’ Release
More Info:
• Newly remastered on LP!
• Packaged in faithful recreation of original LP sleeves.
• Remastered from the original source tapes
• 180-gram audiophile vinyl
TRACKLIST: “Nebraska”, “Atlantic City”, “Mansion On The Hill”, “Johnny 99”, “Highway Patrolman”, “State Trooper”, “Used Cars”, “Open All Night”, “My Father’s House”,”Reason To Believe”

The Felice Brothers Cover Nirvana, The Beatles, Bruce Springsteen and The Band [VIDEO]

I’m a huge of of Upstate New York’s Felice Brothers. I always suspected that Big Pink molecules must still dwell in the area and were breathed in by the band as infants leading them to their dark roots musical destiny. Or something…

As great as their originals are the band picks some choice covers on the road. I found some cool covers done by the band and thought I would share.

Enjoy

Happy Birthday Levon Helm – A Tribute in 10 Songs

Levon Helm’s was taken to us too soon, and he didn’t write many songs on his own, but every song he performed he distinguished as his own. On this anniversary of what would have been his 72nd birthday here are some well-known and lesser known songs he left his imprint on. RIP brother Levon. The place isn’t the same without you.

“The Weight”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjCw3-YTffo

“The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down”

“Up On Cripple Creek”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDnlU6rPfwY

“Ophelia”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RjqcTsxx-8

“Poor Old Dirt Farmer”

“Anna Lee”

“The Mountain” (w/composer Steve Earle)

“Atlantic City”

“Evangeline”(w/Emmylou Harris)

Honky Tonkin’ “(w/Sissy Spacek)

Six Rounds Spent – Outlaws

We all know about the Outlaw Country movement, that stylistic and attitude splintering of Waylon, Willie and the others that took their sound out of Nashville and into Texas where some of the most vibrant, and most enduring, country music was created. That’s not what this is.

I wanted to do a list of songs actually about outlaws. The blood shedding type.  Whether as a concept or a literal fugitive it seemed like a rich and natural source for inspiration. Include your own in the comments if you would like.

6. Joe Ely’s Me and Billy the Kid – What does Bob Dylan, Billy Joel and Joe Ely have in common? A song about Bill the Kid. I went with what I think was the best.

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

5. Bruce Springsteen – Nebraska. A song inspired by the 19 year-old Charles Starkweather who, along with his 14 year-old girlfriend Caril Fugate, went on a murder spree killing 11 people in Nebraska in 1958. Springsteen even considered “Starkweather” as the title.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwcOhOv4fho&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

4. Terry Allen – New Delhi Freight Train – Terry Allen’s song begins “Some people think that I must be crazy / But my real name is just Jesse James”, and goea on to be narrated by the outlaw. Originally recorded on Allen’s 1979 album Lubbock (On Everything), the song has been covered by Rick Nelson, and by Little Feat.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsN1AcllQ4I[/youtube]

3. Willie Nelson – Red Headed Stranger -  In true Outlaw Country fashion Willie Nelson wrote a concept album in 1975 about murder. You can imagine how well that went over on Music Row. Red Headed Stranger follows a  fugitive on the run from the law after killing his wife.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4G9wXWr40WA&feature=related[/youtube]

2. Townes Van Zandt – Pancho and Lefty – This song may or may not be about the Mexican bandit Pancho Villa. It is however about betrayal, a manhunt and death. The song has been covered by
Emmylou Harris on her 1977 album, Luxury Liner and was a number one country hit in 1983 for Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtzgwNDZAs4[/youtube]

1. Johnny Cash – Folsom Prison Blues – The best of a pretty great set. A man sits in prison lamenting his lost freedom and recalling his past crime when he “Shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die.”

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1xSt7iganA[/youtube]

Music Review – Mat D’s: Plank Road Drag [self-released]

Country and blues music has always mined the life’s mundane moments and extracted nuggets of domestic mythology shimmering with love, lust, booze, blood, tears, asphalt and diesel fuel.  With these elements masters like Hank Williams Sr., Neil Young, Townes Van Zandt and Bob Dylan – and latter day troubadours like Bruce Springsteen, Steve Earle and Chris Knight – transcend whatever genre they are bridled with and forge minor pedestrian masterpieces.

This second solo release from Sioux City, IA’s Mat D (Mat deRiso) draws from the same humanistic sources. Assuming a more Americana tone than the country-rock his Profane Saints offers, Plank Road Drag works a well-worn sonic landscape but still manages to uncover many dusty gems.

Resurrection Cadillac, the album opener is bathed in the sanctified blues of Leadbelly and Lightnin’ Hopkins as it lurches forward like a revved-up version of Led Zeppelin’s back-porch stomper Black Country Woman.

Street souls collide in Ford Marriage. Mat D colorfully throws his Born to Run-style tramps toward a ramshackle wedding  – “I’ll trade a fan belt and a hub cap for a suit-coat and a tie, we’ll use her panties a a veil and wrap an old rag around her thigh and make a bouquet out of tumbleweeds and hold on ‘til we die, my my.” – until passion’s heat burns away all that’s left is matrimonial ash – ”Turns out a house of love don’t run on truck-stop grease and gasoline.”

Doomed romance continues with Cannonball as family plight and hardship runs as rough as their path toward Texas. Three A.M. refuels the dirt-floor romance, gliding like a fever-dream vision of trailer-part trysts. 40 Watt Moon is the fever aftermath recounting beautiful memories and empty bottles.

Ribbon of Dirt uses the hard-bluegrass of Steve Earle’s Copperhead Road to tell another hard tale of the road’s siren call and Motorbelle is a beautiful, moody white-trash serenade “she was silver and gold from the trailer, she was sequins and jewels from the trash, she was flesh, she was blood,she was lonely, spilling out of old strapless dress with her big hair all pinned up and perfect all that Tammy Faye make-up a mess.”

The album closes with the bluegrass-tinted title song, where Mat d uses hillbilly poetry that could easily be inspired by watching the Coen brothers’ O Brother, Where Art Thou? with the sound down and Guy Clark on the turntable turned way up high.

Mat D’s Plank Road Drag is an ambitious record that hits on all cylinders to set a high water mark for any other contender for this year’s album of the year.

Official site | MySpace | Facebook | Buy

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

News Round Up: Country for Our Country Supports the Troops

  • The Country for Our Country benefit concert will occur  in Tyler, Texas this Saturday night (10/24). The event will celebrate the troops and benefit wounded soldiers by providing them with counseling and support during a difficult transitional period in their lives. The benefit will feature performances by Joe Nichols, Heidi Newfield, Derek Sholl, and Kacey Musgraves and The Big D & Bubba Show will emcee the event.
  • Check out Ryan Bingham’s new video for his song Country Roads.
  • Paste magazine’s Andy Whitman gives his view of the landscape of country (really Americana or alt.country) music of the aughts (’00.)
  • Find Lighten’ (the opposum) over at georgejones.com and get entered to win prizes like: Cracker Barrel Gift Cards, Autographed CD’s, and concert tickets.

News Round Up: Country for Our Country Supports the Troops

  • The Country for Our Country benefit concert will occur  in Tyler, Texas this Saturday night (10/24). The event will celebrate the troops and benefit wounded soldiers by providing them with counseling and support during a difficult transitional period in their lives. The benefit will feature performances by Joe Nichols, Heidi Newfield, Derek Sholl, and Kacey Musgraves and The Big D & Bubba Show will emcee the event.
  • Check out Ryan Bingham’s new video for his song Country Roads.
  • Paste magazine’s Andy Whitman gives his view of the landscape of country (really Americana) music of the aughts (’00.)
  • Find Lighten’ (the opposum) over at georgejones.com and get entered to win prizes like: Cracker Barrel Gift Cards, Autographed CD’s, and concert tickets.