Tag Archives: Guy Clark

Father’s Day – Songs for Daddy

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For Father’s Day I rustled up some greats singing songs for their dads. I know it’s not an even 10 but I think you’ll like what I have. Share your favorites in the comments or just leave some memory or sentiment for your own dad. Thanks for all the great suggestion from my friends and followers in twitter.  This is dedicated to my own father Jerry Max Lane, and my daughter Isobel and my step-father Joe Herbert whose been more than a father to me in my life.

Jerry Max Lane – Swinging Doors – A snippet of a leaving and drinking song by my dad.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QphvJhBKUho

Conway Twitty – ‘That’s My Job’- For such a macho genre Country Music has never been shy about it’s sentimentality. And nobody could deliver the heartstrings yanking goods like Mr. Conway Twitty.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGstAcxrl7I

George Strait – ‘Love Without End, Amen’ – King George gives Twitty a run for his money. Love Without End, Amen is Cat’s in the Cradle with a better ending.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrTidoW2Erc

Guy Clark – ‘Randall Knife’ – Storytelling get’s no better than Clark’s use of a battered knife as a metaphor for life and a conduit for letting go.

Loretta Lynn – ‘They Don’t Make ‘Em Like My Daddy Anymore’ – The ultimate daddy’s girl! The Coal Miners Daughters sings the praises and quiet grace of her daddy

Charlie Louvin – ‘See the Big Man Cry’ – The jaunty tone of Louvin’s famous “See the Big Man Cry” belies the heartache of a man that sees his boy while walking on the sidewalk on day but can’t approach him and his ex-wide due to court orders.

Reba McEntire – ‘The Greatest Man I Never Knew’ – The darker side of Loretta’s tune. A man’s quiet grace leads to isolation and alienation from his daughter.

Shooter Jennings – It Ain’t Easy – Shooter relays some wisdom on career and manhood handed down from his daddy.

Brad Paisley – ‘Anything Like Me’ – Brad Paisley is a cut above the typical Music City hat acts and his performance of this song on impending fatherhood shows as much.

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

Jamey Johnson – ‘The Dollar’ – Even early in his career and with all the production sheen Johnson is a great songwriter. This is a tale of a boy that saves his change to buy time with his overworked father. An anthem to family challenges in these tough economic times.

John Prine – My Old Man – Tell ’em you love ’em while they’re on this side of the ground.

Concert Review: Hayes Carll – Slims – San Francisco, CA – 5/14/11

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The first thing I noticed about the near capacity crowd at Slims was the lack of Pabst Blue Ribbon tall boys. The brew de rigueur of the skinny jeans and tattoo set has been a main staple for big city shows of the twang variety since I first saw the Drive-By Truckers in New York City in 2006, but the cheap suds were nowhere to be seen. There was the occasional Bud light, local micro-brew (served in plastic cups as not to be too fancy)  and whisky neat but the ubiquitous PBR was oddly out of place. The crowd also skewed older and working stiffs decked out in the pro-shops finest with their blond wives were mixed with a few that looked like extras from HBO’s Deadwood. This was not the hoody and cap set herding to a scene, these people were here for great music.

With a voice pitched somewhere South of Dylan and north of Kris Kristofferson Carll began he show surprisingly with the tearjerker Chances Are but the crowd stayed quiet and ate it up. We were then rewarded with the long-haired honky-tonk road song Hard Out Here. things were less quiet with the “Hell yeahs” and “Yee -haws.”

Carll was in town supporting is excellent new release KMAG YOYO which is an Army acronym for Kiss My Ass, Guys, You’re On Your Own,. He introduced the song as a “Young soldier in Afghanistan, then get’s into the heroin trade and is then injured by an IED. In a morphine induced hallucination imagines he’s working for a secret Pentagon program that feeds you acid and send you in space. Look for it on country radio!” The song is a (fast) talking blues number in the spirit of Dylan’s Subterranean Homesick Blues or Johnny Cash’s I’ve Been Everywhere and it drove the crowd into a frenzy.

About 30 minutes into the set shots of tequila was delivered to the stage. “We played L.A. the other night and not one drink was bough for us. Here we are 37 minuted in the set and we have shots. Thanks San Francisco!” Four more rounds of drinks followed.

Carll took the time to praise the legendary Texas singer/songwriter Ray Wylie Hubbard and explained how when they met to write a song together that Hubbard was in his phase of using animals as subject matter to great success with the song Snake Farm, which Carll sang the chorus of with a surprisingly simpatico crowd. He said they wrote a song called Chickens but had overestimated the poultry-folk movement of 2006. Carll then sang a song he and Hubbard wrote, and was released on Carll’s Trouble in Mind and Hubbard’s lengthily titled A. Enlightenment B. Endarkenment (Hint: There Is No C). With lines like “There’s some money on the table and a pistol on the floor. Some old paper back books of Louis L’Amour…” It’s a natural and perfect result from a a Carll/Hubbard collaboration.

There was also a song from a Carll collaboration with Bobby Bare Jr. and Corb Lund entitled One Bed, Two Girls and Three Bottles of Wine about a Southern California tryst gone limp. The song has a honky-tonk heart of the absurd found in the best Roger Miller or Shel Silverstein numbers.

After about two hours of great song after next Carll and his sizzling band who moved through every instrument  but bag pipes, encored with a rousing version of the Possum’s White Lightning which was a great chaser from a musician cast in the same dry-witted and tuneful mold as Guy Clark and Terry Allen.

Six Rounds Spent – El Corazón

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Passion, jealousy, betrayal, lying, cheating, drinking, drugging, violence,, reconciliation, repeat…ah love. Here are 6 of my favorites. What are yours?

Ridley Bent – Nine Inch Nails

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QU5jxFwEA6U[/youtube]

Ryan Adams – Come Pick Me Up

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRnoh86FD2A&feature=related[/youtube]

Jason Isbell/Drive By Truckers – Goddamn Lonely Love

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

Guy Clark – Dublin Blues

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Sx8lqm2Lw0[/youtube]

Blaze Foley – If I Could Only Fly (at a wedding, no less!)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69YCXgVdyR4[/youtube]

Steve Earle – Valentines Day

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

Johnny Cash – I Walk the Line  (BONUS)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEV58ztuihs[/youtube]

Gurf Morlix – Blaze Foley’s 113th Wet Dream [Rootball Records]

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“He’s only gone crazy once. Decided to stay.” – Townes Van Zandt about Blaze Foley

For Gurf Morlix to create a tribute album for his Austin running buddy and fellow singer-songwriter, the late, great Blaze Foley, was a tricky endevour. Foley wrote songs with such singular originality edging toward cloying sentimentality and corny humor and instead delivering songs of heart-wrenching honesty and dry wit. Once hear Foley do a Foley song you can’t really imagine anyone else doing it.

Not that it hasn’t been tried before. Foley’s songs have been covered by John Prine (Clay Pigeons) and Merle Haggard (If I Could Only Fly.) And Foley has inspired others as as the subject of Austin contemporaries Townes Van Zandt’s “Blaze’s Blues” and Lucinda Williams’ “Drunken Angel.”

Foley’s legacy is ready-made for mythology. He used to jokingly claim to be the illegitimate son of Red Foley and Blaze Starr, to be a news broadcaster from Cincinnati and to have once tried to break into Caspar Weinberger’s house to “see what was on his VCR.” These whoppers are like a seeping breach between a rich source of song-craft inspiration and a need to recreate himself.

In truth Blaze Foley. Born in Marfa Texas (setting for the films Giant and There Will Be Blood and currently a thriving creative community) in l949. He performed in a family gospel act called the Fuller Family with his mother and sisters. He eventually landed in Austin, a city that prides itself on non-conformity, and with his duct-taped boots and clothing, sense of humor and stark, brutally honest songs, stood out.

Gurf Morlix is an Americana music pioneer. A New york native in1981 he moved to Los Angeles where he met a kindred spirit Lucinda Williams. He went on to lead her band for 11 years (1985 to 1996) singing, and playing guitar, and eventually producing her albums. His latter role as producer of Williams’ pinnacle Car Wheels On A Gravel Road led to their acrimonious split. Morlix then went on to play either guitar, bass, mandolin, dobro, pedal steel guitar, lap steel, banjo, piano, harmonica, and a variety of other instruments for and/or produce a literal who’s-who in the the Americana/rock field – Warren Zevon, Mary Gauthier, Robert Earl Keen, Slaid Cleaves, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Buddy and Julie Miller, Tom Russell, Guy Clark, Emmylou Harris, Michelle Shocked, Jimmy LaFave, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Butch Hancock, Mojo Nixon, Jim Lauderdale, Jerry Lee Lewis, Peter Case, Bob Neuwirth, Don Walser, Jon Langford, Steve Earle, Harry Dean Stanton, Charlie Sexton, The Plimsouls, Victoria Williams, James McMurtry, Flaco Jimenez, Rosanne Cash, David Byrne, Kevin Welch, John Prine, Dave Alvin and many more. Impressed yet?

Blaze Foley’s 113th Wet Dream is 15 Foley originals that display the dark-to-light shadings of the man’s talent. Displaying a sense of humor and song-craft Roger Miller would envy on the cuts Baby Can I Crawl Back To You, Big Cheeseburgers and Good French Fries and No Goodwill Stores in Waikiki and the unvarnished melancholy and longing of If I Could Only Fly (featuring renowned Texas singer/songwriter Kimmie Rhodes on backing vocals) and Cold, Cold World that would make his buddy Townes Van Zandt weep. Some of the songs – Oh Darlin’ and Rainbows and Ridges combine elements of both.

Morlix ‘s arrangements and delivery are straightforward and top notch playing adds just the right amount of adornment. Aside from the excellent musicianship Morlix, unlike Steve Earle’s 2009 tribute to his mentor Townes Van Zandt, appears to have no urge to put his personal stamp on the songs.

Morlix was there on that cold February day in Austin when they put Blaze Foley in the ground as a result of being on the business end of a 22-caliber rifle. He was not content to let his songs be buried with him.

This CD is released in conjunction with the documentary film, Blaze Foley: Duct Tape Messiah, which has been 12 years in the making.

official site | buy

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFuOh2TXnHM&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KwR7fk1PGQ[/youtube]

Townes Van Zandt – Play Away the Pain [VIDEO]

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”Townes Van Zandt is the best songwriter in the whole world and I’ll stand on Bob Dylan’s coffee table in my cowboy boots and say that.” – Steve Earle

Though less influential than Hank Sr.,  Townes Van Zandt was no less innovative in his songs and Country/folk/Americana sound and destructive in his lifestyle. As one reader commented on my tweet for my Hank Sr. post “New Year’s is tough on song writers. The best ones anyway.” Indeed.

In the same vein of tribute I will post some of the best Townes Van Zandt covers I can find.

The Be Good Tanyas – Waiting Around to Die

Tindersticks – Kathleen

The Pyles – If I Needed You
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aF6h0u5i0Rc

Alison Krauss and Robert Plant – Nothin’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GitZD89Xrs

Tom Russell – Snowin’ on Ration
http://www.youtube.com/watchv=NuCArD7Gej8&playnext=1&list=PL197C3908C5753F12&index=58

Jimmie Dale Gilmore – Buckskin Stallion Blues

Guy Clark – To Live Is To Fly

Steve Earle – Colorado Girl
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPWSoSgEZM4

Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard – Pancho and Lefty. Certainly not the best version, but the most recognizable and profitable version. Look for a cameo by Townes in the bar scene.

Emmylou Harris – Pancho and Lefty
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRx5r32hsF4

No More Kings

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The other day I     saw a tweet from  the American Songwriter site a story title that caught my eye, like many of the tweets from excellent @AmerSongwriter. Writer Austin L. Ray story on Robert Plant and his new musical venture Band of Joy “The Unlikely King Of Americana.” It’s an excellent take on how a once rock-god followed his muse from the amped-up Blues side of the tracks to where the American genre flourishes wild.

Though it is a great story of a learned musical journeyman I take exception to the title of the piece. Please allow be to indulge the petty grievance of a genre blogger.

My first quibble is with the method of Americana regal ascendancy. Plant was not born into a legacy of Americana lineage, like say Rosanne Cash or Justin Townes Earle, that would align him in a place in whatever a genre monarchy we might imagine. So his crown must be earned.  Putting aside the concept of a violent coup I will focus on the work to goal.

Granted Plant has released two excellent Americana albums, Raising Sand and the current Band of Joy, and Led Zeppelin sometimes infused their sound with an Americana  spice (Black Country Woman and Bron-Y-Aur Stomp are great examples of this) his body of original Americana material is scant. Aside from the few Zeppelin pieces, Raising Sand and Band of Joy are comprised primarily of covers. Though excellently interpreted; these covers do not mount an argument toward an Americana crown
.
If we weigh personal legacy and quality, original material a list to regal ascendancy would be long – Johnny Cash, Steve Earle, Marty Stuart, John Mellencamp, Gram Parsons, Townes Van Zandt etc. And why not a queen? Emmylou and Lucinda come to mind. And it’s not a Nativism issue. I believe Plant’s fellow English countrymen Elvis Costello and Richard Thompson have more of a right to any imagined throne.

Like America itself the Americana genre is a work in progress. And like America many of the settlers in this new land are from another land – rock, country, folk, hip-hop – and the borders are porous and the genre is stronger for it. Not all of these emigres are going to be in simpatico.  Guy Clark fans may have very little in common with Hank Williams III fans, but the bloodline that ties them are there for those who take the time to look.

Jed Hilly, executive director of the Americana Music Association, when asked about Plant’s possible crowning is quoted as saying “Without question.” I have no argument with Hilly’s opinion on this. Hilly heads up a trade group who’s primary objective is to raise awareness. Plant, along with his well-chosen guides, Allison Krauss, T Bone Burnett and Buddy Miller and others as well as the excellent songwriters chosen to be included on his albums, has led to the addition of a an Americana GRAMMY (which I am fortunate to be covering this year) and brought significant awareness to the genre.

But as a blogger for the cause I take exception to this coronation, or in fact any coronation. Like America we serve under no crown but for the exceptional beauty of the music itself. But I do nominate Gram Parsons as it’s patron saint.

Nominations for the 53rd GRAMMY Awards

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The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) announced the nominees for the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards (to be held February 13th, 2011.) Here listed are the nominees in the Americana, Roots categories as well as similar artists in other categories (for a full list of nominees ho the Grammy.com)  Any surprises? Who’s missing?

BEST AMERICANA ALBUM
Rosanne Cash – The List
Los Lobos – Tin Can Trust
Willie Nelson – Country Music
Robert Plant – Band of Joy
Mavis Staples – You Are Not Alone

BEST BLUEGRASS ALBUM
Sam Bush – Circles Around Me
Patty Loveless – Mountain Soul II
The Del McCoury Band – Family Circle
Peter Rowan Bluegrass Band – Legacy
The Steeldrivers – Reckless

BEST TRADITIONAL FOLK ALBUM
Carolina Chocolate Drops – Genuine Negro Jig
Luther Dickinson & the Sons of Mudboy – Onward and Upward
The John Hartford Stringband – Memories of John
Maria Muldaur – Maria Muldaur & Her Garden of Joy
Ricky Skaggs – Ricky Skaggs Solo: Songs My Dad Loved

BEST CONTEMPORARY FOLK ALBUM
Jackson Browne & David Lindley – Love Is Strange – En Vivo Con Tino
Mary Chapin Carpenter – The Age of Miracles
Guy Clark – Somedays the Song Writes You
Ray LaMontagne and the Pariah Dogs – God Willin’ & the Creek Don’t Rise
Richard Thompson – Dream Attic

BEST COUNTRY INSTRUMENTAL PERFORMANCE
Cherryholmes – “Tattoo of a Smudge”
The Infamous Stringdusters – “Magic #9”
Punch Brothers – “New Chance Blues”
Darrell Scott – “Willow Creek”
Marty Stuart – “Hummingbyrd”

Other Americana/roots/indie/alt/whatever artists nominated in assorted other categories:

  • Dailey & Vincent – “Elizabeth” (Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals)
  • Dierks Bentley – Up on the Ridge (Best Country Album)
  • Dierks Bentley, Miranda Lambert & Jamey Johnson – “Bad Angel” (Best Country Collaboration with Vocals)
  • Dierks Bentley, Del McCoury & the Punch Brothers – “Pride (In the Name of Love)” (Best Country Collaboration with Vocals)
  • Ryan Bingham & T. Bone Burnett – “The Weary Kind” from Crazy Heart (Best Song Written for Motion Picture, Television, or Other Visual Media)
  • Johnny Cash – “Ain’t No Grave”/ The Johnny Cash Project (Best Short Form Music Video)
  • Crazy Heart (Best Compilation Soundtrack Album for Motion Picture, Television, or Other Visual Media)
  • Steve Earle – “I See You” from Treme (Best Song Written for Motion Picture, Television, or Other Visual Media)
  • Patty Griffin – Downtown Church (Best Traditional Gospel Album)
  • Buddy Holly – Not Fade Away: The Complete Studio Recordings and More (Best Historical Album)
  • Elton John & Leon Russell – “If It Wasn’t for Bad” (Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals)
  • Jamey Johnson – “Macon” (Best Male Country Vocal Performance, Best Country Album for The Guitar Song)
  • Miranda Lambert – “The House That Built Me” (Best Female Country Vocal Performance, Best Country Song, Best Country Album for Revolution)
  • Ray LaMontagne – “Beg, Steal, or Borrow” (Song of the Year)
  • Los Lobos – “Do the Murray” (Best Rock Instrumental Performance)
  • Mumford & Sons – “Little Lion Man” (Best Rock Song, Best New Artist)
  • Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers – Mojo (Best Rock Album)*The Steeldrivers – “Where Rainbows Never Die” (Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals)
  • Robert Plant – “Silver Rider” (Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance)
  • Pete Seeger with the Rivertown Kids and Friends – Tomorrow’s Children (Best Musical Album for Children)
  • Ricky Skaggs – Mosaic (Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album)
  • George Strait – “The Breath You Take” (Best Country Song)
  • Marty Stuart & Connie Smith – “I Run to You” (Best Country Collaboration with Vocals)
  • Treme (Best Compilation Soundtrack Album for Motion Picture, Television, or Other Visual Media)
  • Hank Williams – The Complete Mother’s Best Recordings…Plus! (Best Historical Album)
  • Lucinda Williams & Elvis Costello – “Kiss Like Your Kiss” from True Blood (Best Song Written for Motion Picture, Television, or Other Visual Media)
  • Neil Young – “Angry World” (Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance, Best Rock Song, Best Rock Album for Le Noise)

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass – Saturday Picks

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Sat Oct 2 (11:00am – 7:00pm)
Here’s where it gets tough….
11:45am – Towers Of Gold Stage: Jon Langford & Skull Orchard – Mekons front man’s current alt.country manifestation.
11:00am – Arrow Stage: Kelly Willis – Austin-based singer/songwriter with a voice as clear as a spring creek.
12:00pm – Porch Stage: David Olney with Sergio Webb – Olney is one of the best songwriters of our time and hos recent release Dutchman’s Curve is one of his best.
12:05pm – Rooster Stage: Jonathan Richman Feat. Tommy Larkins – Imagine Lou Reed if he did funny songs.
12:55pm – Banjo Stage: Carolina Chocolate Drops – This African American string band current big deal in Americana music, and for a damn good reason.
1:15pm – Rooster Stage: Guy Clark & Verlon Thompson – Guy Clark is a Texas treasure, and he makes his own guitars!
2:30pm – Rooster Stage: Songwriter Circle with Steve Earle, Robert Earl Keen, John Doe & David Olney – wow.
2:35pm – Arrow Stage: Kinky Friedman – He didn’t get to be Governor of Texas so we get to see him perform a selection of wry and hilarious songs!
3:30pm – Towers Of Gold Stage: Richard Thompson – If you’ve never seen him, SEE HIM!
3:55pm – Arrow Stage: Jerry Jeff Walker – Another Texas-based treasure.
4:15pm – Rooster Stage:  Buddy Miller – A member of Robert Plant’s Band of Joy and the man who appeared on the final printed issue of no Depression magazine. He’s sort of the Keven Bacon of Americana..no telling who will show up.
4:20pm – Banjo Stage: Gillian Welch – An O Brother, Where Art Thou? alum (associate producer, performer and film cameo) and her partner, guitarist David Rawlings perform beautifully somber tunes from the farthest Appalachia.
5:20pm – Arrow Stage: The Flatlanders feat. Joe Ely, Jimmie Dale Gilmore & Butch Hancock – in Texas this is what is known as an embarrassment of riches. A real Texas suprergroup.
5:45pm -Banjo Stage: Steve Earle & The Dukes & Rooster Stage: Robert Earl Keen – Flip a coin, friend-O

The Best of 2009

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best-09

It’s been a bumper-crop year for Americana and roots music. There are many reasons for this sonic bonanza but I believe the main drive results from an aging generation used to genre defying music now looking for something a little more comfortable, but no less challenging, as they move from their 20s to their 30s. A generation that grew to see mash-ups as a newly formed musical expression are much more comfortable with genre bending acts like The Drive By Truckers and Deer Tick, and the success of recent T. Bone Burnett stewarded projects, the O’ Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack and Robert Plant and Allison Krauss’ Raising Sand brings older performers and songs to a new audience and shows that the music is not only interesting and exciting, and in a culture steeped in hipster irony something emotionally authentic, but it can make money as well.

Maybe part of the boom was the newly added Americana Grammy category (yeah, I don’t buy that either), or maybe this aging population are used to the internet and discovering music their way instead of having pre-fabricated crap shoved down our throats by the big labels whose only business plan over the last decade is to sue the fans and squeeze musicians tighter, and the commercial radio stations that enable them. As a grassroots cultural correction Americana, like punk rock in the 70’s, is a response to this environment of mediocrity. Only this time it’s with a banjo instead of a Fender Jaguar and a Mohawk (though some of these musicians do sport Mohawks) and wielding the power of social media that does much of the jobs the big labels used to do a generation ago. Whatever the reason for all the music, I’m just happy to be a recipient and humble purveyor of all the goods, and I hope some of you readers find some of this stuff interesting as well.

I’ve expanded my top 10 list to 20 this year to make room for this great embarrassment of riches. By doing this I’ve also done away with my addendum Honorable Mentions, which was always kind of like a cheat anyway.

I was honored to be included with 29 of the best music blogger compadres around in the top 20 Bird List, but I have to admit that the list I submitted for that list has changed about 10 more times ultimately resulting in the list you now see before you….enjoy, disagree, fume and fret ,leap for joy, whatever…just get me some of that spiked Nog while you’re up.

1. Charlie Robison – Beautiful Day (turning life’s lemons into Luckenbach lemon-aid)
2. Kris Kristofferson- Closer To The Bone (#2 this year, but career-wide nobody can touch Kristofferson for songwriting.)
3. Gretchen Peters with Tom Russell – One To The Heart, One To The Head (a brilliant Western cinematic duet)
4. Lindsay Fuller and the Cheap Dates –Self Titled (Flannery O’Connor with a telecaster)
5. Miranda Lambert – Revolution (The anti-Taylor works from inside Music City)
6. George Strait – Twang (The King of Country. Period)
7. Tom Russell – Blood and Candle Smoke (Beat poet hillbilly travels dusty roads and smoky coffee shops with members of Calexico)
8. Carolyn Mark and NQ Arbuckle – Let’s Just Stay Here (Quirky yet familiarly cozy Canadian country music)
9. Corb Lund – Losin` Lately Gambler(See Canadian reference above)
10. Grant Langston – Stand Up Man (Bakersfield is alive and well)
11. Wrinkle Neck Mules – Let The Lead Fly (alt.country is alive and well)
12. William Elliott Whitmore – Animals In The Dark (punk and folk ethos delivered with timeless soul)
13. Amanda Shires – West Cross Timbers (Winsome chanteuse travels dark and dusty regions of the heart)
14. Angela Easterling – Black Top Road (Roots/Rock sweetheart with a folk sense of cultural activism)
15. Willie Nelson & Asleep at the Wheel – Willie and the Wheel (perfect union channels the spirit of Bob Wills)
16. Todd Snider – Excitement Plan (Steve Earle should study this release, social commentary doesn’t have to suck)
17. Justin Townes Earle – Midnight At The Movies (the younger Earle continues to make his mark by reaching into country music’s past)
18. The Felice Brothers – Yonder is the Clock (The Basement Tapes run through a dark prism)
19. Guy Clark – Somedays The Song Writes You (A Texas treasure that can do no wrong)
20. Deer Tick – Born on Flag Day (Indy spirit that uses twang as a strong driver)
21. Those Darlins – Self-titled (Riot Grrrl spunk with a Carter Sisters trad reverence)

It’s been a bumper-crop year for Americana and roots music. There are many reasons for this sonic bonanza but I believe the main drive results from an aging
generation of people used genre defying music but now looking for something a little more comfortable, but no less challenging, as they move from their 20s to their
30s. Kids that grew to see mash-ups as a newly formed musical expression are much more comfortable with genre bending acts like The Drive By Truckers and Deer Tick.
The success of recent T. Bone Burnett stewarded projects, the O’ Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack and Robert Plant and Allison Krauss’ Raising Sand shows that the music is not only interesting and exciting but can make money as well.

Maybe it was the newly added Americana Grammy category (yeah, I don’t buy that neither), or maybe this aging population are used to the internet and discovering music their way instead of having pre-fabricated crap shoved down our throats by the big labels whose only business plan over the last decade is to sue the fans and squeeze musicians tighter, and the commercial radio stations that enable them. As a grassroots cultural correction Americana, like punk rock in the 70’s, is a response to this environment of medicocrity. Only this time it’s with a banjo instead of a Fender Jaguar and a Mohawk (though some of these musicians do sport Mohawks.) Whatever the reason for all the music, I’m just happy to be a recipient and humble purveyer of all the goods, and I hope some of you readers find some of this stuff interesting as well.

http://www.thebirdlist.org/

I’ve expanded my top 10 list to 20 this year to make room for this great embarrassment of riches. By doing this I’ve also done away with my addendum Honorable Mentions, which was always kind of like a cheat anyway.

I was honored to be included with 29 of my music blogger compadres in the top 20 Bird List, but I have to admit that the list I submitted for that list has changed about 10 more times ultimately resulting in the list you now see before you….enjoy, disagree, fume and fret ,leap for joy, whatever…just get me some of that spiked Nog while you’re up.

1. Charlie Robison – Beautiful Day (turning life’s lemons into Luckenbach lemon-aid)
2. Kris Kristofferson- Closer To The Bone (#2 this year, but career-wide tobody can touch Kristofferson for songwriting.)
3. Gretchen Peters with Tom Russell – One To The Heart, One To The Head (a brilliant Western cinematic duet)
4. Lindsay Fuller and the Cheap Dates -Self Titled (Flannery O’Connor with a telecaster)
5. Miranda Lambert – Revolution (The anti-Taylor works from inside Music City)
6. George Strait – Twang (The King of Country. Period)
7. Tom Russell – Blood and Candle Smoke (Beat poet hillbilly travels dusty roads and smoky coffee shops with members of Calexico)
8. Carolyn Mark and NQ Arbuckle – Let’s Just Stay Here (Quirky yet familiarly cozy Canadian country music)
9. Corb Lund – Losin` Lately Gambler(See Canadian reference above)
10. Grant Langston – Stand Up Man (Bakersfield is alive and well)
11. Let The Lead Fly – Wrinkle Neck Mules (alt.country is alive and well)
12. William Elliott Whitmore – Animals In The Dark (punk and folk ethos delivered with timeless soul)
13. Amanda Shires – West Cross Timbers (Winsome chanteuse travels dark and dusty regions of the heart)
14. Angela Easterling – Black Top Road
15. Rita Hosking – Come Sunrise
16. Todd Snider’s Excitement Plan
17. Justin Townes Earle – Midnight At The Movies
18. The Felice Brothers – Yonder is the Clock
19. Guy Clark – Somedays The Song Writes You
20. Deer Tick – Born on Flag Day
21. The Builders & The Butchers – Salvation is a Deep Dark Well

News Round Up: George Jones Says Get Your Own Damn Genre!

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  • Happy birthday to Willie Nelson’s longtime drummer and the “Paul” of the Willie’s song “Me and Paul,” Paul English.  Happy birthday also to legendary Texas singer/songwriter Guy Clark.
  • The latest installment of Popmatter.com’s excellent Torch & Twang series Juli Thanki delivers a post exploring ithe intersecting careers of bluegrass legend  Bill Monroe and musician and folklorist Ralph Rinzler.
  • I’m a long time fan of Libertyville, Illinois rocker Ike Reilly. So when I read over at the fine 9513.com that Reilly was teaming up with on-and-off country outlaw 2.0 Shooter Jennings for the song The War On The Terror and Drugs (from Reilly’s upcoming release Hard Luck Stories) I was intrigues. Turns out it’s damn fine! (Song Illinois)
  • Front Porch Musings is offering a sweet playlist from performers playing the Americana-by-way-of-punk showcase showcase The Revival Tour.Featured are Chuck Ragan (Hot Water Music), Jim Ward (At the Drive-In, Sparta), Frank Turner (Million Dead), and much more.
  • Country, roots, Americana- as the rest of us are grappling with nomenclature (fancy word for names) for music, George Jones uses his old-guard status to reclaim flag and call Carrie Underwood and Taylor Swift “not country music.”