Son Volt To Release 20th Anniversary Version of Acclaimed Debut, ‘Trace.’ Tour To Follow.

SON VOLT'S TRACE  DELUXE REISSUE

While I oh-so-paiently await that long overdo Uncle Tupelo reunion (come on already, we ain’t getting any younger!) I will find solace in the upcoming release of the 20th anniversary version of Son Volt’s spectacular acclaimed debut album, ‘Trace.’

This fall, Jay Farrar will celebrate the anniversary by putting out a deluxe version digitally remastered from the original analog masters. Farrar was heavily involved in the remastering process and contributes highlighted track commentary to the liner notes, which also feature a contribution from No Depression magazine founder Peter Blackstock.

In addition to every song from the 1995 original album, the first disc also features previously unreleased demos for eight album tracks, including “Drown,” “Live Free,” “Windfall,” and an acoustic version of the rocker “Route.” The two-disc version of ‘Trace’ features newly remastered sound and more than two dozen unreleased bonus tracks will be available October 30, 2015, for a suggested retail price of $24.98. The original album will also be re-issued on 180-gram vinyl for $24.98.

Son Volt will also hit the road with original pedal steel player, Eric Heywood, along with multi-instrumentalist, Gary Hunt. The tour is billed as “Jay Farrar Performs Songs Of Trace” and tickets for the tour will go on-sale Friday, August 14. For more information please go to www.sonvolt.net.

The dates will begin with a special AmericanaFest performance at 3rd & Lindsley on September 20. Farrar will also bring the tour to New York City on October 30, and on the same day, Rhino will release a two-disc version of Trace that features newly remastered sound and more than two dozen unreleased bonus tracks.

The second disc contains an unreleased live performance recorded at The Bottom Line in New York’s Greenwich Village on February 12, 1996. At the show, the band played nearly every song from Trace , covered Del Reeves’ “Looking At The World Through A Windshield,” and performed “Cemetery Savior,” a tune that wouldn’t surface until the following year on Son Volt’s sophomore release, Straightaways.

The show also features songs originally recorded by Uncle Tupelo, the vastly influential alt-country band that Farrar started with Jeff Tweedy in the Eighties. Among the standouts are: “Slate,” “True to Life” and the title track from the band’s final album Anodyne (1993).

Track Listing

Disc One
1. “Windfall”
2. “Live Free”
3. “Tear Stained Eye”
4. “Route”
5. “Ten Second News”
6. “Drown”
7. “Loose String”
8. “Out Of The Picture”
9. “Catching On”
10. “Too Early”
11. “Mystifies Me”
12. “Route” -Acoustic Demo*
13. “Drown” – Demo*
14. “Out Of The Picture” – Demo*
15. “Loose String” – Demo*
16. “Live Free” – Demo*
17. “Too Early” – Demo*
18. “Catching On” – Demo*
19. “Windfall” – Demo*

Disc Two: Live from Bottom Line 2/12/96
1. “Route”*
2. “Loose String”*
3. “Catching On”*
4. “Live Free”*
5. “Anodyne”*
6. “Windfall”*
7. “Slate”*
8. “Out of the Picture”*
9. “Tear Stained Eye”*
10. “True to Life”*
11. “Cemetery Savior”*
12. “Ten Second News”*
13. “Fifteen Keys”*
14. “Drown”*
15. “Looking For a Way Out”*
16. “Chickamauga”*
17. “Too Early”*
18. “Looking at the World Through a Windshield” – Del Reeves cover*
*previously unreleased

JAY FARRAR PERFOMS SONGS OF TRACE – 20TH ANNIVERSARY TOUR

SEPTEMBER
20 3rd & Lindsley (AmericanaFest) Nashville, TN

OCTOBER
28 The Birchmere
29 Ardmore Music Hall
30 City Winery Alexandria, VA
Ardmore, PA
New York, NY
DECEMBER
2 The Troubadour
3 Slim’s
5 Aladdin Theatre
6 Tractor Tavern
Los Angeles, CA
San Francisco, CA
Portland, OR
Seattle, WA

Uncle Tupelo’s Pivotal Debut “No Depression” to be Reissued In January

Uncle Tupelo’s No Depression

Great news alt.country fans! On January 28th, Legacy Recordings will reissue Uncle Tupelo‘s widely acclaimed debut LP, 1990′s “No Depression.” The release will be a special two-disc expanded edition featuring rare and previously unreleased material. Of course, the influential alt.country trio would later birth Wilco (Tweedy) and Son Volt (Farrar.)

“No Depression: Legacy Edition” improves on the original album’s “tinny” production. Remastering has been done by engineer Vic Anesini, and the reissue features new liner notes by original band booster Richard Byrne of St. Louis’ alt-weekly The Riverfront Times. The second disc features the band’s original 1989 eight-song demo, Not Forever, Just For Now, which has never been released on CD.

Also included is a recently unearthed 10-song demo tape “Not Forever, Just Now,” recorded by the original UT, Jeff Tweedy, Jay Farrar, and Mike Heidorn in 1989. Below, listen to one of the demo tape’s tracks, an early version of “I Got Drunk” (via Consequence of sound).

The reissue will also include bonus tracks that appear on the album’s 2003 reissue; songs taken from their 1983 self-released Live and Otherwise cassette; and five cuts off the band’s 1987 demo Colorblind and Rhymeless.

Legacy will also issue a limited edition seven-inch vinyl single of Uncle Tupelo’s “I Wanna Be Your Dog” b/w “Commotion” for Record Store Black Friday on November 29th.

Pre-order No Depression: Legacy Edition.

No Depression: Legacy Edition Track List:

Disc One

No Depression (Original Album)

Graveyard Shift
That Year
Before I Break
No Depression
Factory Belt
Whiskey Bottle
Outdone
Train
Life Worth Livin’
Flatness
So Called Friend
Screen Door
John Hardy
No Depression Era Odds & Ends

Left In The Dark
Won’t Forget
I Got Drunk
Sin City
Whiskey Bottle (Live Acoustic)
Disc Two

Not Forever, Just For Now (No Depression Demos, Produced By Matt Allison, 1989)

Outdone
That Year
Whiskey Bottle
Flatness
I Got Drunk
Before I Break
Life Worth Livin’
Train
Graveyard Shift
Screen Door

From Live & Otherwise (Self-Released Cassette, 1988)

No Depression
Blues Die Hard

From Colorblind and Rhymeless (1987 Cassette Demo)

Before I Break
I Got Drunk
Screen Door
Blues Die Hard
Pickle River

Record Store Day’s Black Friday 2013 – Americana and Roots Music Picks

BLACK FRIDAY

The day after Thanksgiving, November 29 – ominously named Black Friday (if you’re in the rush at Wal-Mart it kinda makes sense) – is the busiest shopping day of the year.

The good folks that organize Record Store Day have provided music fans with a holiday treat to make Black Friday more festive.

This year part of the retail bounty special exclusive releases from some of the most popular artists in almost every genre. Of course my focus is on Americana and roots music. Some dandies are being released from The Civil Wars, Blackberry Smoke, Blind Boys Of Alabama, Jason Isbell & John Paul White, Dawes, Uncle Tupelo and more. Some of these realeses are completely exclusive to the record store, some of them making their appearance at a record store before you’ll find them anywhere else.

Head to the official Record Store Day site to get a complete list of releases and participating stores.

Blackberry Smoke / Lynyrd Skynyrd
Lynyrd Skynyrd &
Blackberry Smoke Live 12″
Vinyl Split
Label: Southern Ground
A live compilation featuring six previously unreleased tracks.
Side A Lynyrd Skynyrd Live Slovesburg, Sweden 6/9/12 – “Whats Your Name”, “That Smell”, “Simple Man” – Side B Blackberry Smoke Live Winston-Salem NC 4/12/13 – “Six Ways To Sunday”, “Pretty Little Lie”, “Ain’t Music Left Of Me”

Blind Boys Of Alabama/Jason Isbell & John Paul White
Christmas In Dixie/Old Flame
Format: 7″ Vinyl
Label: Lightning Rod Records/Thirty tig
7″ Silver and White Swirled vinyl
Exclusive 7″ single featuring covers of Alabama classics. These and others on the Tribute to Alabama album.
Side A – Blind Boys of Alabama “Christmas in Dixie” Side B Jason Isbell and John Paul White “Old Flame”

Brandi Carlile/The Lone Bellow
Live Split
Format: 7″ Vinyl
Label: Descendant Records
Brandi Carlile recorded live on the Hard Way Home Convoy Tour in 2013; The Lone Bellow recorded at SXSW March 2013 at the Paste Magazine Stage on Sixth Party, sponsored by Record Store Day
Side A Brandi Carlile – “Raise Hell” Side B The Lone Bellow – “You Never Need Nobody”

The Civil Wars
Between The Bars
Format: 10″ Vinyl
Label: Columbia Records
10″ single containing exclusive studio versions of four cover songs which have been part of The Civil Wars live repertoire
“Sour Times” (Portishead cover), “Between The Bars” (Elliott Smith cover), “Billie Jean” (Michael Jackson cover), “Talking In Your Sleep” (Romantics cover)

Dawes
Stripped Down At Grimeys
Format: LP/CD
Label: HUB Records
Orange LP Version – Recorded live at Grimey’s in March of 2013. Contains songs from the acclaimed Stories Don’t End album and a few classic Dawes tracks. Set is a plugged in yet intimate approach as opposed to the typically bombastic Dawes live experience.
1. “From A Window Seat” 2. “Someone Will” 3. “Time Spent In Los Angeles” 4. “Most People” 5. “Something In Common” 6. “A Little Bit of Everything”

Bob Dylan
Side Tracks
Format: LP
Label: Columbia Records
A compilation of tracks that have never appeared on a formal Bob Dylan album. 180 g, numbered, triple LP package.

Harry Nilsson
Rarities Collection
Format: LP
Label: Columbia Records
RARE Nilsson tracks on 1 LP, 180g and indivually, numbered. A collection culled from the 17 CD Box Set which includes all of Harry’s original RCA albums, previously unreleased demos and radio spots.

Various Artists
A Musical Tribute To The Songs of Shel Silverstein
Format: LP
Label: Sugar Hill Records
Vinyl release of the 2010 star-studded tribute to Shel Silversein. On 45 RPM double white vinyl.
My Morning Jacket–“Lullabies, Legends and Lies”, Andrew Bird–“The Twistable, Turnable Man Returns”, John Prine–“This Guitar is For Sale”, Dr. Dog–“The Unicorn”, Kris Kristofferson–“The Winner”, Sarah Jarosz with Black Prairie–“Queen of the Silver Dollar”, Bobby Bare, Jr. with Isabella Bare–“Daddy What If”, Black Francis with Joey Santiago–“The Cover of the Rolling Stone”, The Boxmasters–“Sylvia’s Mother”, Ray Price–“Me and Jimmie Rodgers”, Todd Snider–“A Boy Named Sue”, Lucinda Williams–“The Ballad of Lucy Jordan”, Bobby Bare–“The Living Legend”, Nanci Griffith–“The Giving Tree”, My Morning Jacket–“26 Second Song”

Uncle Tupelo
I Wanna Be Your Dog / Commotion
Format: 7″ Vinyl
Label: Columbia Records
Side A – Stooges cover (studio, outtake from No Depression sessions)
Side B – Credence cover (previously unreleased studio outtake from No Depression sessions)
“I Wanna Be Your Dog”/”Commotion”

Townes Van Zandt
Sunshine Boy: The Unheard Studio Sessions & Demos 1971-1972
Format: Vinyl Box Set
Label: Omnivore Recordings
The vinyl version of this release housed in a 3 LP box, on clear vinyl. Includes 28 unheard versions of legendary songs by one of our most treasured songwriters. All songs drawn from his most prolific period, 1971-1972. Liner notes by Colin Escott.
This will be exclusive to indie stores for 90 days.

A Far Away Feel – Happy Birthday Gram Parsons

“Left us too soon” and “What might have been” are often terms associated to the brief career of Gram Parsons who overdosed in Joshua Tree, CA on September 19, 1973 at the age of the age of 27.  I say screw that, let’s celebrate the greatness that was!

Though largely unappreciated in his lifetime Parson introduced the world to Emmylou Harris, laid the groundwork for bands like The Eagles, Uncle Tupelo, the Rolling Stones country leanings of Exile on Main Street and Sticky Fingers and was directly responsible for shaping the country rock fusion that resulting in cow punk, alt.country and Americana.

On this 66th birthday of Gram Parsons what is your favorite Gram song? Here’s mine – Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris – Love Hurts (Studio Recording)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bwmiJWFHN0

Intro to Americana – 5 Albums To Get You Started

This si a post for people that night have seen me at Jessica Northy’s excellent online talk show TwangOut. I asked my incredibly well-informed Twitter followers what 5 albums they would recommend to someone just coming to Americana for the first time. Here’s their choices. Of course for a genre as rich as this 5 is just scratching the surface so please leave your choices in the comments section and let’s make this a post for anyone wanting to discover this great music.

Lucinda Williams : Car Wheels On A Gravel Road – This album is Lucinda’s opus and has firmly established her as the Queen of Americana

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ainIBDO6a8E

Uncle Tupelo – No Depression – For many people, including me, this is the band that started them on the road to Americana. After their break up in 1994 principle members Jay Farrar and Jeff Tweedy went on to form Son Volt and Wilco respectively.

Whiskeytown – Strangers Almanac – Ryan Adams veers between spinning gems and a insufferable self-indulgence. 16 Days from this excellent album show’s him at his best.

Gram Parsons – Grievous Angel – If there was ever a singular person you could point to as the Patron Saint of Americana, it would be Gram Parsons. He influenced the Rolling Stones, the Eagles and Emmylou Harris, who joins him on Love Hurts, with his brand of Cosmic American Music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bwmiJWFHN0

Old 97’s – Too Far to Care -This is my personal choice. Yes Rhett and the boys are a pivotal alt.country/Americana ban, but more importantly theyre from my home town of Dallas!

Happy Birthday Woody Guthrie

Today would have been Woody Guthrie’s 100th birthday. I have gone on record as saying that I think direct political commentary in music cheapens it. Inevitably someone plays the Guthrie card to prove that politics and music can result in greatness. I say Guthrie is the proverbial exception that proves the rule. His songs and life, like Martin Luther King’s life and speeches and the Parables of Jesus, are the property of no political party. They transcend politics to speak to the plight and dignity of humanity. No political party has a monopoly on that.

I have collected some cover’s of Guthrie’s song from some current disciples. I hope you enjoy them.

Here’s to teh greatness of music that matters, and to a true American original.

Lucinda Williams – “I Ain’t Got No Home”

Steve Earle – “This Land is Your Land”

Uncle Tupelo – Do Re Mi

Willie Nelson, Arlo Guthrie, Neil Young – “This Land is Your Land” (segment)

Arlo Guthrie and Emmylou Harrris – Deportees
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXOdrk3Ypfw&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PL7B51C7B58B751604

The Band & Bob Dylan – I Ain’t Got No Home

Record Store Day 2012 – Americana Music Picks

If you do live in a place with at least one independent record store, and love music, then you need to know about the upcoming Record Store Day. This internationally celebrated day is observed on the the third Saturday in April of each year. The event was originally conceived by Chris Brown, VP of  Portsmouth, NH’s Bull Moose music store, and founded in 2007 by Eric Levin, Michael Kurtz, Carrie Colliton, Amy Dorfman, Don Van Cleave and Brian Poehner. Exclusive and limited vinyl and CD releases made just for the day by hundreds of artists in hundreds of US and international stores to draw attention the the disappearing mom and pop music stores being affected by a tough economic climate the dwindling customer base that are flocking to buy music online.

This is the fifth year for the event and will offer special releases from Ryan Adams,The Civil Wars, Townes Van Zandt, Carolina Chocolate Drops, Patterson Hood and many more. There many great one offs and creative packaging (where else are you going to find a Buck Owens Coloring Book with a flexi disc?!)

I put together a quick list below of Americana and country artists participating in the event. There’s a good chance that I overlooked something so check the official list of goodies and also check the official participating stores list to make sure yours is on the list. And remember to call ahead for items as not all store will be carrying all releases.

The Black Twig Pickers – Yellow Cat
Format: 7″ 45
Label: Thrill Jockey Records

Blitzen Trapper – Hey Joe b/w Skirts on Fire
Format: 7″ 45
Label: Sub Pop

Bonnie Prince Billy- Hummingbird
Format: 10″ LP
Label: Spiritual Pajamas

Buck Owens Coloring Book w/flexi disc w/ download card 
DETAILS
Format: Book
Label: Omnivore

Richard Buckner – “Willow” “Candy-O.”w/ download card.
Format: 7″

Caitlin Rose – ‘Love Is a Laserquest’ & ‘Piledriver Waltz’ (Arctic Monkeys covers)
Format:  7″
Label: Domino Records

Our friends at Domino Records commissioned Caitlin to cover two songs by the Arctic Monkeys as a very limited edition 7 inch release for Record Store Day this Saturday, April 21st.

 

Carolina Chocolate Drops/Run DMC
You Be Illin
Format: 7″ 45
Label: Warner Bros.

Freakwater – Feels Like The Third Time (reissue)
Format: LP
Label: Thrill Jockey Records

Jay Farrar, Will Johnson, Anders Parker, Yim Yames – New Multitudes
Format: 10″ LP
Label: Rounder

Justin Townes Earle – Nothing’s Gonna Change The Way You Feel About Me Now
Format: 7″ 45
Label: Bloodshot

Lee Hazlewood – The LHI Years: Singles, Nudes, & Backsides (1968-71)
Format: LP
Label: Light In The Attic

Patterson Hood & the Downtown 13 (featuring Mike Mills) After It’s Gone
Format: 7″ 45
Label: ATO

Richard Thomspon – Haul Me Up
Format: 7″ 45
Label: Beeswing Records

Ricky Skaggs & Tony Rice
Format: LP
Label: Sugar Hill

Ryan Adams – Heartbreak A Stranger / Black Sheets Of Rain (Bob Mould cover)
Format: 7″ 45  colored vinyl
Label: PAXAM

Sara Watkins featuring Fiona Apple/The Everly Brothers – You’re The One I Love
Format: 7″ olive green and black splatter
Label: Warner Bros

The Civil Wars – Billie Jean (Live)” Micheal Jackson / Sour Times (Live)” Portishead
Format: 7″ 45
Label: Columbia Records U.K.

The Civil Wars – Live at Amoeba
Format: CD
Label: Sensibility Music LLC

Lydia Loveless – Bad Way To Go / Alison (Elvis Costello cover)
Format: 7″ 45
Label: Bloodshot

Ralph Stanley – Single Girl / Little Birdie
Format: LP
Label: Tompkins Square

Townes Van Zandt – At My Window
Format: LP
Label: Sugar Hill

Uncle Tupelo – The Seven Inch Singles
Format: 7″ Vinyl Box Set
Label: Sony
More Info:
3×7″ box set

Americana Music and the Big Tent

This morning the Americana Music Association  shared a link to an online Spin.com (Meet the New Stars of Americana) past covering the Americana scene in Red Hook Brooklyn and touching on the Americana genre in general.

I take a view much like I believe Jed Hilly and the AMA do, since they sent this article out via twitter and their own official email blast, that any press is good press and it helps to lift all Americana boats in the ocean of mass-media and National consciousness.  It takes a real aberration of opinion, like calling Robert Plant the King of Americana or declaring the predecessor to Americana, alt.country to be dead , to rile my feathers enough to take use this blog as a virtual soap box..

But the article is pretty much what i would expect from Spin magazine. A 20-something speaking using context of indy-rock and language of 20-somethings to establish shared taste and like-mindedness. Ever generation does this. Have you listened to most 20-somethings on the  train talking to one another? It’s like razor wire, like, for your, like, ears. Right?!

I’m just glade that in this instance Uncle Tupelo , Whiskeytown and Bill Monroe are the topic of conversation instead of the whatever skinny-jean and hoodied is the flavor of the week.

If there’s anything in the article that peeves me it’s the reference to Americana pioneer Gillian Welch, who co-produced of the 9 million unit selling O, Brother, Where Art Thou and Alison Krauss, the most awarded woman in Grammy history (26 awards of  38 nominations) as “niche acts.” I think most musicians would love to have that niche. there is also the painfully ham-handed application of sub-genre definitions – “chillbilly, bootgaze, artisanal rock, outhouse, tin can alley, or hobohemian.”

Fans of Americana share, aside from band-wagoners, share a lot of the same attributes as folk, blues and jazz fans. there is a reverence to a purity and reverence to an idea of “tradition” that sometimes gets in the way of innovation and creativity. But in the case of Americana, a mongrel genre at best, the litmus of genre purity, or as I like to call it the “more authentic than thou” argument, makes no sense for a field that can claim genre-bending acts like Those Darlin’s , Hank Williams III and the Legendary Shack Shakers as members.

Washboard lessons held in Brooklyn, John Deere caps and pearl-snap shirts from Urban Outfitters  and a vague grasp of bluegrass history is no threat to Americana.  Age, geography, wardrobe or other litmus tests aside from the musical variety which I partake in ad nauseam, is pure horseshit.

Interviews with Jay Farrar and Twang Nation on Twitter/blip.fm

  • The Phoenix New Times’ Martin Cizmar ponders if, while interviewing Son Volt front man Jay Farrar,  he should ask him about the new Wilco record? (he does.)
  • Annie Zaleski at the Riverfront Times also interviewed Farrar and got some details on his side project Gob Iron, and the connection between Uncle Tupelo and Son Volt’s new label, Rounder Records.
  • Speaking of Son Volt, Kentucky.com’s Walter Tunis is digging their new release American Central Dust.
  • Radney Foster’s 50th birthday bash is tonight at Hills Cafe in Austin at 6pm w/ Radney, Wade Bowen, and many more.
  • And in shameless self-promotional news- Join Twang Nation on Twitter and listen to music I dig up over at blip.fm.

Neko Case and the Desertion of Twang

This post is a riff off a conversation started by a review of “Middle Cyclone” by Juli Thanki over at my friends at the 9513.com

Neko Case’s new release “Middle Cyclone” dropped last Tuesday and I have been listening to it for over two weeks now. In that time I decided not to review it on this site. Though I consider Case’s “Blacklisted” and “Furnace Room Lullaby” to be two of the finest releases in the history of alt.country, I feel that “Middle Cyclone” follows Cases’ last release “Fox Confessor Brings the Flood” in her movement away from alt.country (or country noir) and toward the type of indie-pop Case has pursued in her other band The New Pornographers.

“Fox Confessor Brings the Flood” was the biggest selling release from Case’s career and it looks like “Middle Cyclone” is poised to be even bigger. But when I listen to these releases all I can think about is how much I loved her earlier, twangier work and his that beutiful voice has jumped the fence and perusing a muse more in line with Tori Amos and . It’s not that “Middle Cyclone” is bad, on the contrary it’s quite good, it’s just not the kind of music that I started this blog to celebrate.

I felt the same way when REM shed their early Southern-Gothic-art-school weirdness and relased thier mega-selling big label debut “Green.” I feel this way any time I lesten to Wilco now and remember this was the guy that used to be in Uncle Tupelo. Jeff Tweedy is making more money now and getting more recognition then he ever did in his former band and his bandmate, Jay Farrar persues a sound closer to UTs with Son Volt and labors in near obscurity to anyone outside the alt.country fathful.

I’ll end this rambeling post by putting it out to the readers, do you want bands to stay true to a genre distinction and do you feel betrayed when they move away and pursue new sounds and, sometimes, greater success. Do we prefer them to stay “pure” and yet poorer? Do the genre’s brightest stars have to move away from country music to flex their muscles due to the rigidity of what constitutes the country genre?

need to pursue a larger market to be heard since Nashville has such a strong lock on the country music