Twang Nation – The Best In Americana Music
Americana & Roots Music & Culture
I’m kicking the tires at a local start-up that reminds me of when MTV used to play music videos.So far it’s easy and coll to put the playlist together. I’ll be interested to hear what other folks think about and and look forward to the maturation of Cull TV as a channel for music social discovery and exploration.
Head over to the Twang Nation Cull TV channel and check it out some my my favorites from The Civil Wars, Jason Isbell, Justin Townes Earle, Conway Twitty and many more.
On the night of the 10th annual Americana Music Association Awards, the director of the organization, Jed Hilly, recounted from the stage of the historic Ryman Auditorium a few of the key accomplishment te genre had enjoyed over the last few years. The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences included a separate Americana Grammy category and Miriam-Webster added the word Americana to their dictionary: “a genre of American music having roots in early folk and country music.” I was fortunate to be chosen to cover the Grammys as the official Americana blogger this year and so was personally appreciative of that part formal industry recognition and I think the Miriam-Webster definition is imprecise but Hilly’s assessment is correct, movement now feels like progress.
The nearly 50 panels ranged from topics better suited for barroom debates  (Is  Blues Americana?) to tips and insights in booking shows, using Cloud-based, digital distribution,  steaming music services and tips on using social media to expand your fan base.
As great as the America Music Awards program and panels were the real action was around Nashville. A neat definition of Americana was made even more futile by the contemporary variations on display by the 100 bands showcased at five of the city’s best live music clubs throughout the dates of the conference.
Wednesday night started with Austinite power-couple Kelly Willis & Bruce Robison at the Station Inn. I had see their show several months ago at my home in San Francisco and they had honed the songs and patter over the miles. The married pair emanated a presence and rapport that can only be delivered from two people that have been in the thick and thin together. Jokes about marriage counseling followed by numbers laced with classic country was reminiscent of John and June or George and Tammy. Then across town to catch Blind Boys of Alabama and another Austin resident Hayes Carll at the Mercy Lounge. The BBoA are simply one of the most amazing live acts I’ve ever seen. Their version of Amazing Grace performed over the familiar lonesome strains of House of the Rising Sun will give you hope while making you weep. Hayes Carll delivered his learned honky-tonk with spirit and a Texas crooked smile to charged crowd that hung on every word, even when that song was as wordy as KMAG YOYO.
Thursday was all about the 10th annual awards Americana Music Association Honors and Awards held at the Mother Church of Country Music, the Ryman Auditorium. Once again Jim Lauderdale performed MC duties and Buddy Miller led the house band once again and also triumphed by winning two awards, Artist of the Year and Instrumentalist of the Year. Miller showed the utmost humility by stating after the second hand-made folk-art trophy was handed to him  “Well this is just embarrassing. I feel like I get away with murder,” he said. “I’m really, really not that good. … But I get to play with some wonderfully incredibly talented people.” Emmylou Harris quipped that they should just name the hand-made trophies “The Buddy.” I think she’s on to something.
Robert Plant and his Band of Joy took home the trophy for Album of the Year took acceptation to Miller’s assessment. Saying of his Raising Sand and Band of Joy collaborator “I stole a great deal with my old companions, and I was very fortunate, the last few years, to be welcomed by some spectacular people, especially in this town,” Plant said. “”I’m never going anywhere without Buddy Miller. “ Regarding the Band of Joy win, I would argue that a covers album should not be in the running for album of the year, but if one is Gurf Morlix’s album of Blaze Foley covers “Blaze Foley’s 113th Wet Dream†should have been that album.
Musical highlights included the Civil Wars’ Barton Hollow, the Avett Brothers’ The Once and Future Carpenter and soul singer Candi Staton’s tribute to Rick Hall, founder of Fame Recording Studio in Muscle Shoals, Ala. with Heart on a String.
Song of the Year winner Justin Townes Earle delivered on an up-tempo Harlem River Blues, the Secret Sisters represented country tradition with Hank Williams’ Why Don’t You Love Me and Scott and Seth Avett of the Avett Brothers provided background vocals during Jessica Lea Mayfield’s For Today. Other performers included Lucinda Williams (Blessed), Amos Lee (Cup of Sorrow), Elizabeth Cook (El Camino), Buddy Miller (Gasoline and Matches), and Jim Lauderdale (Life by Numbers).
The show closed out with Greg Allman on Hammond B-3 organ leading Plant, Griffin, Miller, Lee, Cook, Â and others on an extended version of the gospel standard, “Glory, Glory Hallelujah.”
Post awards activities too place primarily in the Basement under Grimey’s Record Store. I walked in on the winsome Amanda Shires mid-set, decked in a lovely dress and monogrammed boots her fluttering vibrato held the packed house in silence. Malcolm Holcombe followed with a two-piece accompaniment that in no way fenced in his frenetic guitar picking as he strolled the stage and growled songs of love and hope. On advice of a friend I stuck around for Pokey LaFarge & the South City Three. Their country-swing-blues sound was a perfect to close a late night.
Friday I was fortunate enough to catch the great Henry Wagons at the Second Fiddle Australian/Americana lunch showcase. Wagons is one of these guys that was born to perform, and it works to his favor that he’s cool to be around. Later that night I headed over to the Mercy Lounge to catch Robert Ellis playing the opening bill at the Mercy Lounge, “I thought I had gotten the shitty slot.†Ellis said grinning at the nearly packed room. He and his band then proved why they are the one to watch in the coming. years. It reminded me of when I first saw Ryan Bingham in New York City in 2007, great things to come. Amy LaVere followed playing her jazzy folk renditions  with winsome charm and playing, and seeming waltzing, with her stand-up bass. I then spent time catching Elizabeth Cook doing her always excellent set and heading downstairs to the Cannery Ballroom to see Jim Lauderdale & Buddy Miller show how it’s done. Did I mention this is the best Americana conference/festival in the world? Then across to catch the Bottle Rockets do an acoustic show at the Rutledge, where the band proved that even unplugged they are one of the best live acts in America.
Saturday I decided to hit the the Americanarama in the parking lot of Grimey’s Preloved Music Record Store to see a current favorite, Nikki Lane,  perform her blend of 60’s surf rock and country noir. Lane charmed the crowd and then wowed them. She also won extra style points from me for sporing a Waylon Jennings logo tattoo on her forearm. I was suprised by the band Hymn For Her that I judged by their name to be a wispy folk duo. They were anything but as they tore through their set of hillbilly garage-rock with Lucy Tight on cigar-box guitar & Wayne Waxing on guitar, kick drum and harmonica. They blew me away with their cover of Morphine’s Thursday.
Overall this year’s conference seems like the community has come into their own with old friends and new mingling to laugh , argue and celebrate the thing that brings us together. Great music.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3skEpvi09Pc&feature=related[/youtube]
As I wait patiently for my last-minute backstage access I give to you Sunday Recommendations. Sunday will be a travel day for Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival stages. The great stuff is scattered like medicinal Mary-Jane smoke in the Golden Gate Park wind. As in HSB in the past.The most fun by far will be on thePorch Stage at 1:25pm with Those Darlins. Ms. Emmylou Harris closing the event is the place to be at the Banjo Stage 5:45.
Banjo Stage
11:00am Dry Branch Fire Squad
1:20pm Bela Fleck & Zakir Hussain & Edgar Meyer
2:45pm The Blind Boys of Alabama
4:15pm Ralph Stanley & The Clinch Mountain Boys
5:45pm Emmylou Harris
  Rooster Stage
11:00am Jessica Lea Mayfield
12:05pm Kevin Welch & Kieran Kane & Fats Kaplin
1:20pm Brokedown in Bakersfield (featuring Nicki & Tim Bluhm, Scott Law, Lebo, Steve Adams & Dave Brogan)
2:10pm Ollabelle
4:15pm Justin Townes Earle
5:45pm The Jayhawks
Star Stage
11:45am The Low Anthem
1:20pm Dr. John & The Lower 911
3:05pm DeVotchKa
4:50pm Elbow
Towers of Gold Stage
11:00am Abigail Washburn
12:30pm Buddy Miller
Arrow Stage
11:00am Joe Purdy
1:10pm The Devil Makes Three
4:00pm Mother Hips
  Porch Stage
12:10pm Dive Bar Dukes
1:25pm Those Darlins
2:40pm Frank Fairfield
3:55pm The Swanson Family Band
5:10pm Over The Rhine
The 10th annual Americana Music Association’s Honors and Award Show at the Ryman Auditorium will be broadcast live Thursday October 13th on Nashville Public Television. Confirmed to attend include Jim Lauderdale, Robert Plant, Lucinda Williams, Gregg Allman, Elizabeth Cook, Hayes Carll, The Secret Sisters, Justin Townes Earle, Jessica Lea Mayfield, The Civil Wars and many more.
An edited version of the award show will be aired November 19, 2011 as a special episode of the new season of the highly-acclaimed PBS series Austin City Limits, (check local listings for exact local day and time). “ACL PRESENTS: AMERICANA MUSIC FESTIVAL 2011” will reach approximately 98% of American TV households via PBS stations nationwide.
“It was time to bring the Americana Honors to another level,” said Jed Hilly Executive Director of the Americana Music Association. “We could not have better partners in Nashville Public Television President and CEO Beth Curley for our Middle Tennessee premiere and Austin City Limits Executive Producer Terry Lickona to take this to a national audience.”
The program, described by Emmylou Harris as “the shining star of Nashville and music everywhere,” will be filmed by High Five Entertainment and co-produced by its President Martin Fischer along with Lickona, Courtney Gregg, Holly Lowman and Hilly.
The Honors and Award Show is the capstone event of the Americana Music Festival and Conference presented by Nissan that will take place October 12-15, 2011 in Nashville, TN. A limited number of tickets are available at ryman.com. For more information go to americanamusic.org
The 12th Annual Americana Music Festival and Conference will celebrate is genres’ evolution as a bona fide musical force on October 12 -15, 2011 in Nashville, TN.
Confirmed so far are Americana darlings The Civil Wars, Gregg Allman, Robert Plant and the Band of Joy, Justin Townes Earle, North Mississippi Allstars, the reunited Foster and Lloyd and the Jayhawks with more to be announced. There will ultimately be nearly 100 performers playing five of Nashville’s best venues during the Festival’s nighttime showcases.
July 31 is the final day to register for the Festival and Conference under the current early bird rate, with priority Honors and Awards show seating going to those who register before the August 1st rate increase. Americana Music Association members receive a discounted rate over non-members. Tickets to the Honors and Awards go on sale July 29 to the general public.
Full Festival and Conference registrants receive entrance to all sanctioned daytime conference music, panels and parties, plus priority access to all evening showcase performances, and a ticket to the critically acclaimed Americana Honors & Awards show on Thursday, October 13th at the historic Ryman Auditorium.
The Honors & Awards will be celebrating ten years and once again Jim Lauderdale will continue his tenure as master of ceremonies, joined for another year by Buddy Miller and his All-Star house band. Over 2,000 artists, music lovers and industry executives attend the annual show, which is broadcast internationally through multiple outlets.
If you love this music this is the event to attend to catch the best and upcoming talents.  I’m still fiddling with the details but I hope to see you all there!
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
I created this blog partly because of my perception of musical classification rigidity and the gatekeepers and sterilized mediocrity of the musical landscape. The country music I had grown up with was no longer represented and the legends, as Johnny Cash proved late in his career, couldn’t get anyone to take his phone calls. The rock stations were no better.
In the summer of 2004 I was a displaced redneck in New York City seeking identity in a city of fiercely individual natives or tides of transplant trying to forget where they came from to portray some idea of New York they carried with them from Cincinnati, Des Moines or wherever they were trying to forget. I was trying to remember…
I would go to a Dwight Yoakam show just off Central Park and then a Pixies a few night later downtown. I was steeped in the proverbial American melting pot, but somehow I felt I was grease ready to be skimmed off the top.
Around this time I uncovered sources of inspiration that would give me hope and change my life. I discovered No Depression magazine and Uncle Tupelo’s last studio effort, the superb Anodyne. I know this was many years after the both of these has been introduced but I traveled many musical roads before heading over the the wrong side over the tracks. Before finding the promised land.
I couldn’t get enough. Everything on Bloodshot Records, The Drive By Truckers, Th, Legendary Shack Shakers, Scott H. Biram, Lucinda Williams, Gram Parsons. This music had the sentimental beauty of the country music I loved and the raw heat I loved in great rock. Music that was Southern without being stupid or condescending. I was a convert, a disciple. I started a blog.
If not for the halo effect if No Depression and Uncle Tupelo I would not have picked up the thread that led me to everything else. I didn’t love it all but I could see how it tied together. Categories can be as harmful as they are helpful. Humans like to define things in order to group as well as exclude. This thing is like these other things but not like those. I get that musicians chafe at edges of genre, that they don’t like to be “fenced in.â€
But there is a sound and a spirit I continue to celebrate on this blog. I’m not paid by anyone to do it and that freedom allows me reflect my taste and ignore what falls outside the periphery. I enjoy a wide variety of music but the theme I set when I launched this site is one that I loosely adhere to. Of course it’s only my ears that i have to appease when reflecting that theme. But I believe my handful of loyal readers are along for the ride.
Recently a writer I truly admire, Adam Sheets, and a musician I have admired but am currently dubious of, Shooter Jennings, launched an effort to create a “XXX†genre of music that to give musicians that don’t fit neatly into the generally accepted genres, especially those artists with country or rural leanings, a wider range of exposure and recognition.
alt.country has mutated into the larger umbrella of Americana and though I have not always agreed with Executive Director Of The Americana Music Association Jed Hilly, but I have nothing but respect for the organization and great people working with him in Nashville. We don’t always see eye-to-eye with what is the best of Americana music when they present their awards at the Ryman Auditorium in the fall, but we celebrate the same genre for different proposes. Hilly’s job is to broaden the appeal for the genre and has done a great job not only organizing a Herculean convention/festival awards show each Fall, but he’s help formalized a radio play list and a Grammy category (which I will be covering for the ceremonies in L.A. next month.)
The XXX movement (it doesn’t really fit the criteria of genre) is a noble effort and I applaud the spirit of it. My concern is that the only unifying factor is the founder’s perception of who is wrongly marginalized.
Most of the bands listed on tier site are on the margin. But Dallas thrash-metal band Pantera is listed along with Justin Townes Earle. Being from Dallas I am a huge Pantera fan, but there they have no overt “Southern†sound, and their 1992 album Vulgar Display of Power went double-platinum. I think most bands would accept that level of obscurity. Justin Townes Earle is the current celebrated poster boy of Americana and recently performed on the Late Show with David Letterman. Agian, that’s some glitzy margin. I understand the frustration and applaud the conversation, but for now I’m willing to hitch my wagon to the Americana mule and rabble-rouse within the family.
In the end it all seems like people who already think about music more than is probably healthy taking the conversation from the fun part, the music, to a navel-gazing level just to have some influence on what is correctly observed as a rigid, antiquated system. But after participating in several cycles of the “what is Americana/alt.country/country/whateverâ€, which ultimately leads to the same “who’s-in-and-who’s-out†mistakes the current system makes. I’m always but for a good fight, but I’m no longer interested to tilt at these particular meta-windmills.
Set those DVRs! Justin Townes Earle rings in the new years by making his debut on the David Letterman Show this Wednesday, January 5th. Jason Isbell will be a member of his band for the event.
This is a pretty sparse post so I wanted to share a great video I cam across.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLU8C9WeIH8&feature=player_embedded#![/youtube]
It’s that time again. The end of the year list that are as common as as spam in your inbox, but it’s tradition and I’m a sucker for tradition. So here we go!
If you follow my twitter feed (http://twitter.com/#!/TwangNation) you’ll already know what’s on this list. I did the countdown as seperate tweets lest week and I got a great response. You also know that its not merely a top 10 but a top 25! That’s right, you get 25% more music for your money.
It has been another great year for Americana/roots music, and from what’s currently coming across my desk for 2011 we can look forward to another. Old-timers are beating on the barn door and upstarts are using old parts to make new works that advance the form while staying true to the roots. The genre appears to be attracting and cultivating the type of nurturing and craftsmanship that labels used to practice in the golden days of the 60s and early 70s. Of course this time without the lavish pay-out. The music industry is in turmoil from the corner office view but from the touring van and the laptop it’s a prime-time for opportunity. And if you’re a burgeoning musician concerned about the current conditions I urge you to purchase Dr. Ralph Stanley’s book Man of Constant Sorry and learn about what REAL hard time look like.
So I raise a pint and celebrate an embarrassment of riches that show the love of craft and and honor in roots that defines a road of American culture that is often overlooked and forgotten but often leads to the promised land.
As the year comes to a close, I’m reflecting on the past four years of writing Minkin’s Music and all the good times with people I’ve met along the way. May the spirit of the season touch your soul and let comfort and joy shine upon you throughout the upcoming year.
Good times come and they go, even a good man will break, he’ll let his troubles bury him whole even though he knows what’s at stake.†– Harlem River Blues
Justin Townes Earle is no stranger to substance abuse. Raised by his mother Carol Ann Hunter (the third of Daddy Steve Earle’s seven wives) in South Nashville followed in his daddy’s inclination toward narcotics at a young age and developed a self-proclaimed serious addiction by the tender age of 12.
According to Wikipedia (grains of salt all around) Earle followed his daddy’s other inclination and did a stint as a guitarist and keyboardist for his father’s touring band the Dukes, but due to poor performance from his drug use he was fired. I’m not sure where this was in his daddy’s own cycle of addiction, but being thrown out of Steve Earle’s band for drug use might have been quite a feat.
While on the road promoting his new release Harlem River Blues, Earle’s demons caught up with him. Last Thursday in Indianapolis Earle moved from an in-store performance LUNA Music Midtown (recorded by laundromatinee.com) to a sold-out show at the venue Radio Radio and things moved progressively from bad to worse as Earle got progressively drunker.
An onstage and offstage altercation leading to an alleged assault of Radio Radio’s daughter (who was running his merch booth), destruction of dressing-room property, and resisting arrest and a night in jail on charges of battery, public intoxication and resisting law enforcement. The sordid details are covered in more details at fellow music blogs Saving Country Music (where I first discovered the story) and My Old Kentucky Blog.
After being released from jail Earle tweeted of his release and took a shot at the venue “Oh and Radio Radio in Indy and all it’s staff can kiss my fucking ass! … leading to some back and forth with followers. Pointedly Earle was release from jail on the birthday of Hank Williams Sr.
Earle has suspended the remaining dates on his tour to enter rehab. I for one hope this is not merely a symbolic gesture and he gets the help he needs. I’m not going to sit here in judgment (when’s the last time you read a blogger claim THAT) of a man that is dealing with things I’ve never had to deal with. It appears he is taking responsibly and dealing with his issues like a man. that’s all anyone can ask of him.