Rolling Country 2016

"High-Flying Bird"! Really?! During recent discussion of her on Hipster Kisses thread, I linked some Unterberger liner notes for Whiskeyhill Singers etc., but didn't notice that info. Wow.

xpost jeez, bad shade of orange, sorry----now they're covering Sir Doug's "Dynamite Woman", sounds cool

Here's Brent Cobb, Dave's cousin, doing "Solving Problems" from forthcoming Shine On Rainy Day. Yikes. Sententious and contemptuous of the common man in one mumble-peg-sung package set to a post-Mr.Bojangles Genteel on My Mind acoustic guitar sequence. "As they come and go/Like those wannabes on Music Row," of course he's read T.S. Eliot. His cousin produced.

Here's the Brent vid, in the Tennessean's story.

Kelsey Waldon's album is streaming at NPR. It's damn nice.

http://www.npr.org/2016/08/04/488238618/first-listen-kelsey-waldon-ive-got-a-way

― Ⓓⓡ. (Johnny Fever)
Yes indeed. Although don't agree w Powers' intro: "deadpan"? She's right that it be a pan full o' feeling, but Waldon sounds pretty upfront emotional, without ever emoting---she's still indignant when she thinks about people who have fucked with her, or tried to, but mainly impatient, cos she's on her way, so get out of it---unless you've got some endearing young or old charms; she can take a detour while looping back to where "Life Moves Slow", although she's only passing through and doesn't slow down that much herself, and what she really likes about it is it's where "folks still speak their minds": her true roots, or the ones she wants to claim.
Although, like zpost Lori McKenna, she can still relive-live the spooked early displacement in a hometown, like "I couldn't be what my friends wanted me to be"---even aside from what her parents etc. expected. This is "There Must Be A Someone (I Can Turn To), where she's reaching way back to perhaps commercially, even culturally premature country-to-rock-folk etc crossover tendencies of the Gosdin Brothers' original, from an album they made before the one with Gene Clark. This would've been good on that, but anyway, as Powers mentions, the Clarkless Byrds did cover it too:
(who sings on this track?)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymX4CWXwwas
Whole thing has spare, denim jacket, Byrdsy, pre-Eagles, electric country-folk appeal, not too trad and certainly not too fancy, though as with Honeycutters, who I talked about upthread, could use a little vocal variety, like occasional duet or harmonies. Steel guitar and maybe 12-string, sometimes, for the rhythm guitar---especially like that they both get more to do on "Travelin' Down That Lonesome Road", over a dark drone, and Waldon's voice is fuller and more projected than usual. Bass and drums always good, esp. on headphones.
As with xpost Tomi Lunsford's album, this is in the old LP ratio: here we get 11 songs/38 minutes and change---doesn't get me going like Lunsford's, but it's pretty good.

(Powers thinks Waldon's own "Dirty Old Town" is a honky-tonker whose title must have been inspired by The Pogues. Yeah, they did a good version of the late-40s-written Ewan MacColl song, but it was already a folkie staple.)

Uh-oh, that Gosdin Bros. LP w original "There Must Be Someone" *might* have been commercially premature for proto-country rock-folk etc crossover from the country side (in terms of back-and-forth radio play), for lesser known artists, anyway--but it was from later than I thought, and *after* the album with Gene Clark---even got Clarence White on here, and other good rhythm--better than the Byrds' cover (good sound for Youtube, especially it really is from the 7" shown here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qBzdUXstl0

So how about that new Toby Keith song "A Few More Cowboys"....

Didn't wow me on first listen. Lyrics include :

If the White House was in Texas, man, we'd get a straighter answer
If they'd let us smoke what we want, we'd have a lot less cancer
There'd be a bunch more daddies, sons could be proud of
We'd have half the crime, we'd have twice the fun

With a few more cowboys, be a lot less outlaws
With a few more amens, be a lot less bad calls
With a few more yes ma'ams and a lot less yes man
This world would be a better place to live in
With a few more cowboys

If we did it with a handshake, we'd save a lot of paper
That'd save a lot of trees we're shippin' overseas to make her
If we stood by our word, took care of our own
Bought it made in the USA, we'd keep it here at home

With a few more cowboys, be a lot less outlaws
With a few more amens, be a lot less bad calls
With a few more yes ma'ams and a lot less yes man
This world would be a better place to live in
With a few more cowboys

If we had a little more grit, less politics, and more fist fights
Met 'em at high noon, hell, it's about high time
We looked 'em in the eye, got our head out of the sand
Hit 'em with a big John Wayne, by God they'd understand

With a few more cowboys, be a lot less outlaws
With a few more amens, be a lot less bad calls
With a few more yes ma'ams and a lot less yes man
This world would be a better place to live in
With a few more cowboys...

http://www.metrolyrics.com/a-few-more-cowboys-lyrics-toby-keith.html

I agree with Dow, Waldon is not deadpan--she's operating on the edge of deception with fadeaway phrasing and what could sound like undersinging. But it's not, because nearly every song features a moment when you realize she's really trying, where she adds just a little bit extra to make the vocal just a little bit more outgoing. Reminds me of a more technically proficient Gram Parsons, in a way. Also, whoever is playing pedal steel is killing it and defines the whole record. You get a sense some kind of "modal" underpinning guides her vocal approach and her songwriting, too, on my favorite, "All by Myself." This is kinda what Margo Price really ought to be doing, seems to me, and a better record. Yeah, that Gosdin Brothers record is from about '68, innit, and I think it's a transitional thing between the folk-rock-country of the mid-'60s and something more like outlaw, and I remember some amazing Clarence White solos throughout. As far as the Toby Keith tune goes, everyone knows John Wayne used to put on makeup and parade around in a dress behind the doors of his Hollywood mansion. Maybe Toby can shed some light on the way big agriculture has allowed the cowboy ethos to flourish in the United States.

half-cocked political anthems obvs toby's bread and butter; they completely overshadow the more personal songs he's actually okay at writing and singing. kinda reminds me of brad paisley and all those dumb novelty songs. or blake shelton and whatever drunken stupidity he seems to keep putting out there.

so negi in this thread but it's only cuz i care lol

dammit, whatsup with ilx's ability to show prev. posted videos today?? That there Toby op-ed anthem is so goofy it fits with the novelty songs, thus with the ongoing autumn leaves portion of his program (advantage of finally hitting it big in early middle age). Keep smokin' TK, and hopefully you too can be Haggard like never before.

(advantage being you can get philosophical/novelty-tending when, for instance rah-rah for Iraq Invasion eventually makes you look like a sucker, and you might as well salute a "Red Solo Cup", before or after the Red White & Blue)(and then another "boot in yore ass")

Keep smokin' TK, and hopefully you too can be Haggard like never before

sure maybe yeah but that tune is no "fightin' side of me." and it's no "red solo cup" either. he's smarter than this. (and i'm not talking politics. i'm talking songwriting.)

he's def smarter; he's pandering, and doing an increasingly lazy job of it. politics aside, "courtesy" at least had striking imagery and a strong melody. the way he stretches out certain syllables for no good reason on this one makes it sound like he wrote it in ten minutes.

true; even a sometimes surprisingly interesting twilight (on the past two-three=more? albums) can't compensate for just plain robo-phoning it in, rather than building covertly jaded, professionally clever or at least efficient songs/tracks around seemingly DOA ideas/angles (and doing better than that just barely often enough to keep me hangin' on).

"covertly" when he's even pretending to give more of a shit than he still does, or sounds like he thinks he should give more.

Also, whoever is playing pedal steel is killing it and defines the whole record.

No kidding. I like every song on the record on its own merits, but that stuff is an amazing garnish.

So until this video thang gets straightened out (Video Problems thread on Moderator Request board indicates it's happening on other sites etc), I wanna repost the link to xpost Gosdin Brothers' "I Need A Someone (To Turn To)":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qBzdUXstl0, with Clarence White's picking creating a groove which is not *too* happy, lest it distract from sad song (still pretty frisky, considering). Man, if McGuinn had gotten the Gosdins' voices and songs into the Clarence-era Byrds, that could have been something.

Won't even post it as a mere link?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qBzdUXstl0

"There Must Be A Someone (I Can Turn To)" is the correct title, and it's on YouTube, with (most of?) the rest of the original LP, The Sounds of Goodbye, posted as individual tracks, I think (but also a playlist comes up if you search on the album title there)

I tried to trick it, putting the https youtube link in italics, but no.

from Video Problems thread just now:

trying it from vimeo, random choice of vid
https://vimeo.com/178395776

― dow, Friday, August 12, 2016 10:56 AM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Oho! Better than a vertical monad. Now, with the "s" removed:
http://vimeo.com/178395776

― dow, Friday, August 12, 2016 10:58 AM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Still, I'll settle for a link. Now, if vimeo could just add tracks from 1968 Gosdin Brothers country-folk-rock LP The Sounds of Goodbye, feat. Clarence White (in other words, is it mainly/all something about pasting YouTube content, which plays fine on Tube itself---maybe it doesn't want us pasting from it no more?)

― dow, Friday, August 12, 2016 11:02 AM
I should add that not everybody is experiencing this, on ILX or elsewhere: some posters on Video Problems thread report that their Windows 10, iPad, other setups are working fine.

A good mixtape follow-up to xpost Gosdin Brothers' sad-grooving "There Must Be A Someone" is a rippling, kinda Charlie Rich-style single---search it on the 'Tube via this listing Hangin' On , Vern Gosdin with Emmylou Harris, 1976 Vinyl 45RPM
Vern & Emmylou did several others; check a TV duet of "Love Me Right To The End", with a good dobro player, it (and more!) are also on yon 'Tube...

Yep, this is the performance I meant (from 1977, I think): Emmylou Harris & Vern Gosdin : Love Me Right To The End

Now back on Firefox, with YouTube HD add-on, also YouTube Flash add-on I think, so here's Hangin On:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxpU2tp9JnE

And here's "Love Me Right To The End" (a weeper, duh, but good 'un)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_FoDFdegHg

And here's Vern and Hillman w the pre-Byrds Hillmen, perkin' up young Dylan's revenge fantasy (reminder that in Chronicles, Mr. D. credited Brecht & Weill's "Pirate Jenny" as crucial influence on his songwriting):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTjjszaG4c4

"Hanging On" is one of an elite band of songs which have tremendous country, soul and reggae versions: that Vern Gosdin cut on it is great, Ann Peebles and Joe Simon did their different deep soul things with it, and I recommend David Isaacs' early reggae version produced by Lee Perry (released as "Just Enough", it turns up on the Upsetters' "Double Seven"LP, it has amazingly woozy tuning and I love it). I'm sure there are lots of other

(The Gosdin Bothers cut it in '67 on Bakersfield International too, if I recall correctly? Think it wasn't on their LP but was not he CD that came out a few years ago, has some great Clarence White business on there as I remember.)

O hell yes---thanks for the tip!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zK4rM8sTI_c

Lot of intriguing stuff carefully tracked here, some of it on the 'Tube:

http://www.adioslounge.com/clarence-white-and-the-rise-of-nashville-west-1966-67-part-3/

Rolling Country denizens, I hope you'll check out this Western Centuries record ... it is great, and they played one of the best sets I saw at Pickathon last weekend:

http://www.westerncenturies.com/music/

Thanks so much, alpine static, I'm totally smitten with this! Even the rueful philosophical response to life's funky details with is part of the honky tonk catchiness--just bite the token and roll with it, son. And daughter.
Whole thang's on youtube: hitp://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=western+centuries and Spotify and I'm fixing to order it anyway.
Along with xpost Kelsey Walson's album, another unexpected source of cool steel guitar.

dammit hitp://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=western+centuries

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmb_RVPqTMAqOfa5-jvM03hzjPmQlw9Js

Western Centuries got a fleet, fleeting sound--little hints of bluesy disconnection in the backing, and I like the lyrics a lot. Very good.

glad y'all dig it. I'm a longtime HUGE fan of Cahalen Morrison's work, back to his folk duo with Eli West ( http://cahalenandeli.com/ ) ... those guys had/have a sort of interesting/unconventional way with melodies, and they can sure pick. I guess they're still together, but Cahalen's clearly been putting more time into his country music the past few years, first under the name Country Hammer ( http://www.cahalen.com/country-hammer/ ) ... they put out a really good record last year, I think. But it seems they must've added a significant member or two and changed the name to Western Centuries. At least that's my understanding ... one of y'all more patient learners may be able to read up and find out more.

I didn't know they'd changed the name, though, until a couple days before Pickathon, when I went to try to investigate some of the bands I wasn't familiar with and realized this was a Cahalen project. Loved the songs I could find online, bought the vinyl at the fest merch table, saw the band, was blown away ... I went from having no clue about Western Centuries to having a favorite new country band in the span of about 5 days.

here's a graf from their bio. Donna the Buffalo connection here:

Comprised of Seattle-based country musician Cahalen Morrison, jam band veteran Jim Miller (co-founder of Donna the Buffalo), R&B and bluegrass-by-way-of-punk rock songwriter Ethan Lawton, pedal steel player Rusty Blake, and bassist Dan Lowinger, Western Centuries are clearly a diverse bunch. The band is collaborative in nature, but they are – albeit subtly – helmed by Morrison. After years of performing in prominent roots duo Cahalen Morrison & Eli West (whose music made fans of Tim O’Brien, Jim Lauderdale, Dirk Powell, and BBC Radio’s Bob Harris along the way), Morrison formed and led the band Country Hammer, made up of members who have mostly crossed over into Western Centuries.

Yeah, the philosophical asides from daily-nightly rounds def. go w Donna The Buffalo inclinations, though all three songwriter-vocalists interact pretty seamlessly. I figure they bond via primo Hunter-Garcia x country jukebox staples (incl. yer better b-sides).

brandy clark playing NYC's Mercury Lounge on Nov 11, presale tix available now if you buy with amex
https://www.ticketfly.com/purchase/event/1287215

My country tastes definitely fall squarely in the trad camp, but for some reason I decided to listen to Jon Pardi's current album and...I like it? It's got all the songwriting hallmarks I hate about contempo country, but is somehow better.

Playlist is updated.

Only listened to the Pardi album a couple times and felt it starts strong but gets somewhat monotonous after a while; I have to give it another shot. IMHO, at its best, it's the guitar work what prevents it from going down the Luke Bryant road.

Anyone listened to Aubrie Sellers' New City Blues? She's Jason Sellers and Lee Ann Womack's daughter and stepdaughter of producer Frank Liddell, who produced her album.
Somewhat similar to Elizabeth Cook on her Exodus--mangy guitar and out-front drums Singing not quite as assured as Cook's, but she's about 25.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDNJX30r2WY

Yeah, I liked her alright, should listen more:

Aubrie Sellers, New City Blues: As must always be mentioned in front, she's the daughter of Lee Ann Womack, stepdaughter of Frank Liddell, producer of Womack, Lambert, Pistol Annies, and of this, which also incl. writing input from her biological, Jason Sellers, but she doesn't seem that anxious about the pressure. Maybe over-counters it some, though, when her opening "garage country" tag seems applied a tad too literally, as a whole roomful of heavy sounds can make her voice seem a bit anticlimatic, But when she's singing in front of vivid rhythm tracks (varied just so, and discreetly in check on a strong, flexible leash), with thee guitar effects as judiciously applied framing devices, she's got the presence to make it all work, rather than seem like some kind of trendy faux-indie applique on suburban mall denim (we'll probably get the latter from someone else).
Also, she seems implicitly to acknowledge her apprenticeship with some speculative glosses on the tried 'n' true, but nothing overused: "Dreaming In The Day" combines sinuous verses and a sensuous chorus with crisp beats; "Liar Liar" doesn't bother to set yore pants on fire like the younger, pyro Lambert did, because they already are, in her level gaze, 'til she drops you (so she sounds more like the present Lambert, solo or w Annies). "Humming Song" brings convergence and reconfiguration like recent Ashley Monroe. "Like The Rain" even sounds a bit like Mom, but Womack is probably never going to be this young-girl optimistic about a bad boy again (even a few Beach House/The xx fluttery-heart arpeggios toward the end, for more generational irony, if you want to take it that way).
And somehow, most of the album comes off as distinctive and satisfying, so far. Helps that her point of view, despite the co-writes, provides a convincing, unity: no striking insights, but like the title says, here's some new, some city, some blues. The young voice of experience.

― dow, Tuesday, March 8, 2016 1:31 PM

"Somehow"? Seems like I had some underlying reservations or more likely just lack of being grabbed--so unlike most of the Cook album, in that crucial regard---but obviously, right away, it's enjoyable and sturdy. Should let it grow on me, though.

"apprenticeship", for sure, but not bad.

Sturgill Simpson vs. Nashville:

Many years back, much like Willie and Waylon had years before, Merle Haggard said,
"Fuck this town. I'm moving." and he left Nashville.
According to my sources, it was right after a record executive told him that "Kern River" was a bad song. In the last chapter of his career and his life, Nashville wouldn't call, play, or touch him. He felt forgotten and tossed aside. I always got a sense that he wanted one last hit..one last proper victory lap of his own, and we all know deserved it. Yet it never came. And now he's gone.

Im writing this because I want to go on record and say I find it utterly disgusting the way everybody on Music Row is coming up with any reason they can to hitch their wagon to his name while knowing full and damn well what he thought about them. If the ACM wants to actually celebrate the legacy and music of Merle Haggard, they should drop all the formulaic cannon fodder bullshit they've been pumping down rural America's throat for the last 30 years along with all the high school pageantry, meat parade award show bullshit and start dedicating their programs to more actual Country Music.

While Im venting about the unjust treatment of a bonafide American music legend, I should also add, if for no other reasons than sheer principal and to get the taste I've been choking back for months now out of my mouth, that Merle was supposed to be on the cover of Garden & Gun magazine's big Country Music issue (along with myself) a few months back.
They reached out to both of us in October of last year while I was on a west coast tour. Merle was home off the road so I took a day off and traveled up to Redding.
He was so excited about it and it goes without saying that I was completely beside myself along with my Grandfather who has always been a HUGE Merle fan. We spent the whole day of the interview visiting in his living room with our families and had a wonderful conversation with the journalist. Then we spent about two hours outside being photographed by a brilliant and highly respected photographer named David McClister until Merle had enough...he was still recovering from a recent bout of double pneumonia at the time and it was a bit cold that day on the ranch.
But then at the last minute, the magazine's editor put Chris Stapleton on the cover without telling anyone until they had already gone to print. Don't get me wrong, Chris had a great year and deserves a million magazine covers...but thats not the point.
Its about keeping your word and ethics.
Chris also knows this as he called me personally to express his disgust at the situation. Dude's a class act.
The editor later claimed in a completely bullshit email apology to both Merle's publicist and ours (Chris and I share the same publicist) that they didn't get any good shots that day.
David McClister..
2 hour shoot..
no good photos..
OK buddy,..whatever you say.
Anyway, Merle passed away right after it came out.

Some days, this town and this industry have a way of making we wish I could just go sit on Mars and build glass clocks.

Sturgill

hear hear

Margo and Sturgill passed over by CMA shockah

And for the industry viewpoint.