Rolling Country 2006 Thread

oh boy, hadn't thought about a singles list, although those Dierks tracks they're still working are sounding better than ever, cutting through current smog of apathy (Dog Days started early this year). Albums so far include: Jessi's Out Of The Ashes, and probably Electric Rodeo; Rebel Meets Rebel; Legendary Shack Shakers; the Gourds(the way they mess with "roots" is funny and fluent, though Serious moments can drag); Ashley Monroe, probably. (Whether the tweaked version is better or not, her album, with all its flaws, which I blame on the producers, is a piquant listening experience--good n' bad, there's nothing else quite like it, which is one of the main requirements for my Top Tens, of any genre.) Maybe Chatham County Line's Speed Of The Whipoorwill. Black Sage was recorded in 1998, I think xxhux said, so maybe one for Reissues, with Heartworn Highways, and maybe the Big Bill Broonzy box I haven't listened to yet, which comes out in Sept. Also got some indie I need to listen to, ditto the Chicks and Dylan, whenever I get 'em. Must be some major label/mainstream possiblities I'm leaving out--??

here are my running lists, which are a mess and permanent flux. The ones that get "?" are ones where I'm probably stretching the definition of "country". (I.e., the only reason i'm listing leanne kingwell is apparently because it's gotten some country airplay.) What y'all can do is tell me where you'd draw the line with these

ALBUMS
victory brothers/ leanne kingwell? /huck johns? /carter falco/korpiklaani?? PROB TOO WAY METAL BUT IT HAS LOTS OF FOLK POLKAS FROM THE OOMPAH FOREST ON IT /dale watson /toby keith/redhill EP (PROB TOO OLD)/carrie underwood/blaine larsen/dixie chicks/penny dale/ jamey johnson /shooter jennings /riverside PROB TOO OLD/shannon brown /lucas mccain/hank davison band? /irma thomas/oddysey band /dahlia Wakefield PROB TOO OLD/ uncle billy's smokehouse/rhonda towns /red swan? /shawn camp / southwind

SINGLES
carrie underwood = before he cheats /(shooter jennings - hair of the dog)NOT A SINGLE/penny dale - gypsy cowgirl (DO MYSPACE DOWNLOADS COUNT AS SINGLES?)/samantha joe - time for summer EP TRACK/ huck johns - oh yeah (ONE OF HIS LESS COUNTRY TRACKS, SO PROBABLY NOT)/ redhill - all night long (2004 EP TRACK, TOO OLD?) /redhill - rooftop (2004 EP TRACK, TOO OLD?) /b-star "bootleg dreams" EP TRACK/ hot apple pie - easy does it/ (shooter jennings - little white lines)NOT A SINGLE/chris cagle - wal-mart parking lot/ kt tunstall - black horse (200, PROB NOT COUNTRY ENOUGH)/dierks bentley - settle for a slowdown

2006 country reissues james talley - got no bread, no milk, no money, but we sure got a lot of love: 30th anniversary edition / lazy farmer /classic country: sweet country ballads /the duhks - the duhks fonotone sampler MAYBE NOT OLD ENOUGH FOR NASHVILLE SCENE BALLOT ASSUMING THERE WILL BE SUCH A THING THIS YEAR

by the way, edd was right about the first blaine larsen CD (which he sent me his extra copy of) being even better than the new one. maybe a *lot* better, and way less downcast than i'd assumed at the time given the teen-suicide hit off of it (which i really like; just don't think i could bare a whole album of such gloom.) "in my high school" is amazing (didn't christgau vote for it as a top 10 single that year?), a teenage sociology map worthy of *why music sucks.* and i love the song about being the best man at his stepdad's wedding to his mom, and then one (a la chely wright's "back of the bottom drawer") about how all your old failed relationships prepare you for the one that works, and the shawn-camp-penned one about running away from the circus to join real life (which is not country, musically; it's circus music -- like, what, "tight rope" by leon russell, maybe? but really, like a circus. where do those carnival/merrygoround type rhythms come from, anyway? i am totally clueless. i've always just thought of them as circus rhythms, but did they originate in eastern europe centuries ago or something, maybe? and blaine does them a lot more pure than leon or, say, blue magic in "sideshow" or, uh, i guess three dog night in "the show must go on" [actually i forgot how that goes] did; almost could be kurt weill or something, weird.) and the debut's mexico song is better than the new one's mexico song, and the one about preferring to watch stupid human tricks to movies is good (attention deficit country!). and i guess that's the same one (one of two convincingly humble that's-only-my-opinion songs) where he says he wishes country was more george and alan and brad, which surprisingly doesn't even come off at all stodgy or purist, maybe because neither george nor alan nor brad has ever made an album of material this solid. so edd, you say these were all actually demo versions, or based on demos, or what? can't be the former, unless merle haggard dropped in to blaine's high school one day. plus, blaine doesn't get songwriting credit on ALL the songs; only most them, and only partial credit in most cases. (i love the liner note letter from his school gal pal to her friend of the family in the music industry; wonder if that's really how he got signed?) also, dude looks like he's 12 years old!

and yeah, don, cdbaby lists black sage (which otherwise would be way up high on my list too) as '98. "reissue" might be stretching it (cdbaby may have posted it years ago as well), but hey, who knows?

and oops, the duhks *your daughter and your sons,* which came out in canada in 2002,is the one i meant might not have been recorded long enough ago for nasvhille scene poll eligibility, not the fonotone sampler (which was recorded decades ago). (don't they have some rule stipulating that reissue music must be at least five years old?)

yeah, Himes said "at least five years old," so that's why I'd list Black Sage that way. The Fonotone sampler was recorded way before that, of course, but I got it last year, so didn't he also say like Best Of 2006 entries would have to be issued in 2006, not snuck in from ("made most of its impact in") 05, like the Voice 'llowed? Also,the only reason I didn't put the sampler on my 05 was cos it wasn't commericially available. (Or was it? Assumed not, cos single-disc Best-Of-The-Box thingies usually come out some time after the box.)Heh, slow as country songs get worked, most of this year's top Singles list will (quite legtimately) be from last year's albums, judging by last year's Singles list. (If Scene doesn't do it, we can do it here, o course, unless somebody wants to set it up with a real publication--or we could set up a blog for it.) The only one of those that I'm familiar with, that I'd xpost draw the line at, is Kingwell. yeah, some country play, but most of it, like 90% just doesn't have a country feel (musically, and also it's not neurotic enough, not in a country way). xpost circus rhythms seem like they might have some from hurdy gurdies and "street organs" (used to have an album of field recordings of the latter, from Copenhagen, etc)

so edd, you say these were all actually demo versions, or based on demos, or what? can't be the former, unless merle haggard dropped in to blaine's high school one day.

I talked to Larsen about that first record before I wrote that Scene piece, Chuck, and he told me that except for one song, which one I'd have to consult notes I don't have in front of me at the moment, that whole first album is demos. It could be that Merle's contribution (Larsen told me they've never met; it was added later, I guess) is the song that wasn't a demo? And everything I've read about that first record backs up that it was composed of demos; and if you listen, you hear that the sound quality, while perfectly fine, isn't quite what they get on 16th Ave. S. Apparently Rory Feek and Tim Johnson and Larsen made the record on their own and then, when they self-released it and they had a hit with "In My High School," I believe it was, out in Seattle, then that started the ball rolling to get with BNA--Giantslayer, whose offices you can see driving down Music Row, is basically Feek/Larsen/Johnson, set up to make records for Blaine. So I think I was accurate there. I also said in the lead of that Scene piece that he "writes many of his own songs"--to have said "co-writes many of his own songs" struck me as stylistically inelegant (Beyond Fun!!) and anyway, that a young guy like that had *any* thing to do with writing his own material for a major-label country record struck me as pretty amazing. He also told me when I talked to him that one of those "Off to" songs was just him overdubbing himself, in his garage!

I'll go back and consult my notes--I can't remember at this point which of those "Off to Join" songs was added later; and for that matter, I've never seen the original, self-released version of that one, either.

here we go, here's what happened with that first Larsen record.

and this raises a real interesting point about how things are done in Nashville. I did a thing on Mark Nevers at the same time I was working on Larsen's, and Nevers (who cut his teeth engineering at The Castle in Franklin, Tenn., one of the big ol' dinosaur recording studios, where Alan Jackson, Jones, et al ad infinitum, recorded) who's not exactly a shrinking violet in his opinions, went on about how the immaculate, or nearly so, demos that artists bring to the "real" recording session, are the blueprint for the finished product and thus preclude any deviation or looseness. In other words, the demos are basically almost as good as what you hear on the radio, and this seems to be the case with Larsen--they were done here but probably weren't done in a totally top-flight tracking room. One man's demo is another man's super-audio...anyway, below is the story, from something BNA sent me. Larsen throughout my talk with him referred to the songs that ended up on "Off to Join" as "demos." I probably should've quoted him directly!

the 18-year old Larsen recorded and was set to release his debut album, "In My High School" on his producer's own independent label "Giantslayer Records." When a Seattle-based BMG distribution employee emailed the label head of RLG Nashville, Joe Galante, Galante liked what he heard and signed Blaine to the label. But instead of recording an "all new" album as is usually done, BNA asked them to record one more track and also added Merle Haggard to one song. They changed the artwork and title.

The new song is one which was previously recorded by Jerry Kilgore, "That's All I've Got To Say About That"

Wow, cool. And thanks for the info, Edd. And just to be clear, I wasn't accusing you in any way of innacuracy (and hadn't read your Scene piece, actually); I was just trying to figure out for myself how they could be demos. (How, for instance, he got ahold of a Shawn Camp song. Though for all I know they know each other, or that's a cover version, or none of the above. And cdbaby addict that I am, I totally agree with you as far as self-released records having professional sound quality indistinguishable to non-studiophile ears like mine from Nashville; real often, I can't tell the difference.) (Still, "self-released" isn't *exactly* the same as "demo" in my book, especially not when there's an actual regional hit involved. I tend to think of demos as CD-R's with no CD cover or name, and half the time with words magic-markered intelligibly on the disc itself!)

Don, you're right about the Nasvhille Scene poll literal release date rule; technically, Carrie Underwood's not qualified for my list either, I guess. Doesn't necessarily mean I won't (or wouldn't) vote for her; literal release date rules are dumb! That said, I still think I'd have a hard time voting for an eight-year-old album I didn't hear until this year as a "reissue" if it was never actually reissued. (But that's my own self-limiting rule, not yours o'course.)

>words magic-markered intelligibly <

(or unintelligibly, as the case may be.)

yeah, Chuck, I didn't think you were givin' me a hard time; and when I talked to Larsen, I went, huh? when he said that first CD was demos! I made him say it again. and shit, I wish I had written down what song he said was just him on that first record, too. what's so interesting about Nashville is just the level of everyday excellence in performing, songwriting and recording, where a demo sounds great (and I don't profess to have super-ears, just pretty good ones--a lotta times I go visit my buddy Blair Keso, who's a real tech guy who can tell me what mic someone used, what techniques were used to record, etc., and he has quite possibly the best fuckin' turntable/amps/speakers/CD players I've ever heard, and I remember playing Dierks Bentley's last one there and hearing how tinny it sounded--it sounded tinny at my place on my quite serviceable setup, but his equipment is unforgiving).

I'm just real interested in *how* things are done here--and I am lucky to have visited Nevers' little house off 8th Ave. S. and seen the stuff he uses. And on the new PF Sloan record recorded here at Jon Tiven's, you can hear how what seems to be not-great equipment hobbles that record. As Keso pointed out to me, you can rent the world's greatest, hot-rodded mics here in N-ville, so if you have even a decent budget there's kinda no excuse for things to sound less than great. Not that I totally believe in all that pristine stuff, but I do appreciate it. No matter what anyone might say about the actual music or songs on a typical big-labe N-ville record, they mostly sound great, altho Nevers maintains that they've become more compressed than necessary, more pinched-sounding, as labels became somewhat less singles-driven (therefore, they want everything to be potentially a single, and master/mix/compress everything to fit into radio bandwidths far more than they used to).

It really hasn't been a great year for big-label country so far, has it? I forget, did Carrie's record come out late last year? What about Allison Moorer's record? No Depression gave it a good review, ditto Chris Neal in the Scene; I frankly haven't had the heart to listen to it, since I disliked her last depressive Stones/Aerosmith ripoff so much. And she's married to Steve Earle? How is that, for god's sake? And I tried to like Ralph Stanley's new collection of Carter Family songs, but I just can't get into it at all.

So far, Jessi Colter's record might be my fave, followed by Jamey Johnson's debut, followed by Blaine L.

And Talley's reissue, that's amazing.

I don't know right now if there's been any thought put into the Scene's country poll. I guess I could find out. I am supposed to go have a beer with Tracy Moore the new Scene music editor at some point soon, and maybe I'll ask her then.

I do know that the best *record* MADE in Nashville I have heard so far this year is Lone Official's "Tuckassee Take." A Nevers production. And OK, I am a well-known sucker for that sound of Television-style guitars and Pavement semi-skronk, and this record definitely plays off those conventions, but I swear it's an impossibly elegant record, with gorgeous pedal steel that's used intelligently and organically, and thematically, it's about as southern-fried as you can get--the leader Matt Button hails from Looieville Ky. and is obsessed with horseracing, betting, and feeling bereft in the Big City of Nashville, and I think he's an amazing, droll lyricist, and the record sounds amazing. I mean, most Nashville pop bands are so lame--there's a crop of them right now that everyone's raving about, like Lylas, the Pink Spiders, the Clutters, and many more, and try as I might they all sound like the Zombies deballed. No meaningful eccentricity, all toeing the indie partyline, where, to my ears, Lone Offical sound genuinely nuts, genuinely obsessed...and you know me, I often think Nashville lacks true obsession when it comes to pop music, real mania. (We're back now to the overly apollonian demo-thing.)

But I stray from country, and now back to giving Ronnie's CD one last spin before I do my final draft.

My lists might be more varied if I was on any promo lists; I tend to cherrypick from what I glean from CMT, and buy the albums myself. No order yet.

Singles:
"Life Ain't Always Beautiful," Gary Allan
"Are You Sincere," Bobby Bare
"Settle for a Slowdown," Dierks Bentley
"Believe," Brooks & Dunn
"Living In Fast Forward," Kenny Chesney
"Can't Let Go," Anthony Hamilton*
"Bring It On Home," Little Big Town
"I Still Miss Someone," Martina McBride with Dolly Parton
"When the Stars Go Blue," Tim McGraw
"The Seashores of Old Mexico," George Strait
"Your Man," Josh Turner
"Don't Forget to Remember Me," Carrie Underwood

*Haven't decided if I'm actually gonna include this - I mean, to me he's pretty gutbucket soul, which says/signifies country to me. Anyone else? I mean, I know his last album got some Scene votes...

Albums:
Taking the Long Way, Dixie Chicks
Brokeback Mountain, Soundtrack**
Precious Memories, Alan Jackson
The Road to Here, Little Big Town
Greatest Hits, Volume 2, Tim McGraw***
Your Man, Josh Turner
Stand Still Look Pretty, the Wreckers
Living with War, Neil Young**

**Technically December '05, I think. Voting for it anyway. If there's a poll, that is.
***Technically this isn't a reissue? That's how I'd classify it, but...
****Again, not sure if I'd call this country, but it's kinda got that feel, at least in spots.

Reissues:
16 Biggest Hits, Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash
(That's all so far, though the Big Bill Broonzy box thing might make it on.)

Anyone know how best to get on promo lists, particularly from companies that still send out little shiny metal discs via the mail?

Promo lists: I dunno, sometimes it just happens. Send a million emails to a million publicity departments, and you may get on a few. Right now, I'm trying to figure out how to get *back* onto promo lists that I was on only a couple months ago, when I was employed.

Today's mail looks promising, though, from a country perspective, and I'm guessing may well effect my year-end reissues ballot:

Tom T Hall *The Definitive Collection* (Hip-O) (Lots of overlap from *The Essential Tom T Hall,* it looks like, but quite a few tracks differ, and that was on vinyl and this one's a CD so there you go)

Ronnie Milsap *My Life* (see below)

Povertyneck Hillbillies *Povertyneck Hillbillies* (on Rust Records out of Ohio; their first "national" album, supposedly, though most if not all of the songs if not recordings look like they're repeated from the locally released Pittsburgh album *Don't Look Back* I mentioned up above, which I swear was in no way a demo to my ears.)

Johnny Rodriguez *20th Century Masters: The Millenium Collection* (this is the one I'm most excited about! I've always wondered about him, and never heard enough to have an opinion. We'll see. Oddly, he appears to have the same haircut as Ronnie Milsap on HIS CD cover.) (I'm excited about the Milsap, too. Edd, I'm just curious: Any idea what Milsap's *nationality* is? These photos are making me curious.)

The 2006 (mostly) country reissue I've still yet to get to the bottom of (thanks to it having two discs and 46 songs) is the Yazoo *The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of* comp I mention way upthread somewhere. That could wind up on my list, if I ever decide one way or another whether it's got enough songs I need to keep on my shelf.

The Milsap is his new one, xhuxk?
And rather than wade through the 1K+ messages upthread, what do you (and anyone else) think of the Yazoo comp (so far)? I've been flirting with that one...

Ha ha, that's my whole point; I dunno. Seems way too daunting to try to play it start to end, but in my 5 CD changer it's hard to get a grasp on what I've heard and what I haven't. There are definitely some great tracks though. Just this morning I decided that I absolutely prefer "Wild Cat Rag" by Asa Martin & Roy Hobbs to "Sweet Mama" by Yank Rachel with Sleepy John Estes and Jim Jones, fwiw. (As for what I say about it upthead, why not just search the CD's name?)

And yeah, that's the new Milsap. Sounds good so far!

And Thomas, Matt Cibula talks about Anthony Hamilton in re: country upthead. And Little Big Town's album is technically old, from last fall; I voted for it last year, though I wish I'd rated it higher. (And Edd, yeah, Carrie Underwear came out around Thanksgiving I think. The problem with these dumb literal release date rules in critics' polls is that late-year releases tend to get screwed, especially when they're the sort of pop-oriented albums which don't really make their greatness known until they break a couple hit singles. Which is why Pazz&Jop stopped using the rule back in 1979.)

what the heck, Thomas, here's me upthead (i.e., not much, and since I left "That" out of the title it might've been hard to search):

>Also slowly exploring the two-disc, R Crumb-artworked new Yazoo comp *The Stuff Dreams are Made Of: The Dead Sea Scrolls of Record Collecting!: Super Rarities and Unisseued Gems of the 1920s and 1930s.* Quite a hodgepodge, united as the title suggests not by genre but merely by how hard the records are to find, never a good sign, but I'm liking pretty much all of it regardless and loving lots of it, including tracks by Dock Boggs, Andrew & Jim Baxter, Ollis Martinn, the Three Stripped Gears, and especially Wilmer Watts and the Lonely Eagles. Those are all on disc 1; haven't touched disc 2 yet. <

Thanks, xhuxk. And yeah, dumb me forgot about Little Big Town being '05; same thing with Carrie's album (which, fortunately, I voted for last year). I'm so with you on the whole literal release date thing, grrrr. Heck, if that doesn't apply this year, I'll vote for Carrie's album again, and it'll probably be my #1 (in the Scene poll, I mean).

Well, I woudn't have followed Himes's literal release date "rule" (I'd already broken several of his rules in prev years, big shit), but did follow the thought that the Fonototone sampler was promo-only, at that point, since box samplers usually come out later, once the bloom is off the geek fever,if any(as far as I knew, but should have followed up that thought by checking). xpost remember Rosanne Cash's 10-Song Demo? She also said it was the exec's idea to put that out, rather than re-recording. Dunno about Nashville, but Kate Bush and others have said they've been frustrated by inability to transfer the basic feel of the demo to the Real Studio product, which might be one reason she takes so long (so why doesn't *she* put out demos? Hooked on the grandiosity of R.S.? Maybe she feels as committed to the system as most of the remaining major label country stars, and those who are so determined to be major, etc., at least at this point). (Good thread about Dynamic Range Compression, that's in the title.) xpost Tuckassee Take: that's the Lone Official's T for Tucky, T for Tennessee take on things, eh? Yeah, my old Kentucky Woman, b. in TN, is as passionate, talented, "nuts and eccentric" as can be, and I sure do miss her. But even at a presumably safe distance--well yall know email was made for moodswings and mine/mindfield tirades (but I'll have to check out the L.O. for sure)

what nationality is Ronnie Milsap? good question. he almost looks like he's got some "native American" (don't know what else to call it) in him. he grew up in the western part of N. Carolina, and went to a school for the blind in Raleigh. so, could be he's part Cherokee or something?

his "Day in the Life of America" is pretty great on the new 'un; sort of an answer record to Lee Dorsey's great "God Must Have Blessed America" from his last LP, "Night People" (which has been reissued on CD, and highly recommended to those who're like me and can't get enough Allen Toussaint). (and musing on Lee and Allen and country music the other day over a few beers with friends, we decided that Lee Dorsey could've easily applied his liquid voice to country music! there's nothing on the face of the earth that makes me happier than hearing Lee Dorsey sing.)

and good point about Carrie U. and end-of-year stuff. One record I forgot to mention that I really like is Shawn Camp's "Fireball." Excellent piece on him in the new No Depression--I had no idea of the breadth of his talent and accomplishments. Goes hunting with John Anderson, has songs covered by Blake Shelton, hung out with and wrote songs with Roger Miller's son, plays a mean mandolin and guitar, was a respected sideman, and got his second album axed by his label because it didn't sound like John Michael Montgomery! G. Himes did a piece on Shawn for the Scene and I originally thought Himes had really overstated his case; I still think he overstated it a little bit, but that's a really fine record, sorta the modern Billy Swan I guess.

Finally, heard from Yuval Taylor, who's writing a book on the '70s and is somehow making a connection between Big Star's Radio City, Gary Stewart's Your Place or Mine and John Prine's Common Sense. I had made Yuval a burn of that great Stoney Edwards LP, "Mississippi You're on My Mind," and he declared, "Man, that is the greatest country record of the '70s!" It's so nice to have friends who are such enthusiasts.

Jeez, Chilton, Stewart, *and* the Dark Rind Of The Prine! That's one frenched frenz connection I don't wanna think about right now (not no more please). Thomas, I think Haiku said somebody sent him a book to review just because of freelancementalists, not because they knew about his pro writing. (He did review it and I could look it up in Archives, what he said about who sent it etc., but I gotta crash now) So, whether that was the exact deal or not, it might well be now, so try telling 'em about your fine blog (might call it a "blogzine"?), couldn't hurt. I bet some of the cdbaby artists would go for it, at least (not "least" quality-wise). Oh yeah, saw Brandi or Brandy Carlisle on some late night show recently, real good young pop, then saw her in newspaper, captioned "country singer." Is she that, or a bit of that, a bit of other, like Hope Partlow, Leanne Kingwell? (I'm guessing she's less country,and less teenpop in the usual-to-extremo sense, than Partlow, more so than Kingwell.) In same paper, a recent picture of The Duhks' Jessica onstage, hair still short and white, but soft, nimbic even, not spikey, Tattoos across collarbone and shoulders kinda bluegreen algae though, at least in newsprint.

maybe this should be best single (or best reissue?)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGsl0IXPZGI&search=dr%20hook%20cover%20rolling%20stone

i know its not really country, but this one might beat it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgYe-XEHYDo

Wow, just saw Martina do "Til I Can't Make It On My Own," on Tonight Show. Gaw-juss! Strongest and bluesest (feeling-wise, not literally) since "Where Would You Be," at the CMT Video Awards, back when they were still called Flameworthy: little thumbsup, with a virtual flame flickering out of the tip, like out of a lighter, down in corner of screen, the whole time she reached for the heavens, in her gleaming white pants suit and bodice, and couples slow-danced in the aisles. Long hair that night and now, she should always have it, makes her strong! xxhuxx said that Timeless, the covers album this is from, aint' so good, though (who did this song originally?)

That's a Tammy Wynette tune. Great song.

i doubt she can out tammy tammy

She can't, Anthony, but she's not trying - she's just giving the song her own spin. I'm a big fan of Timeless myself; it made both my Scene and P&J ballots last year. The album of McBride's career, hands-down.

I didn't hate Timeless the way some did. It feels a little clinical, a little lacking in imagination, but it sounds good in the background and Martina has rarely sung so craftily.

New No Depression showed up today. Just started Edd's long feature on Frank Black. Also long pieces on Candi Staton, Irma Thomas, Elvis and Allen, and Los Lonely Boys.

Timeless seemed useless to me -- A good singer following the rules, playing teacher's pet to the Defenders of Good Taste. Her previous album was infinitly more interesting. But I've said this before.

New Ronnie Milsap album is great, for his singing if for nothing else. I'm astounded. Has he always been this good? My favorite cut is "Somehwere Dry," but at least four other cuts ("It's All Coming Back to Me Now," "My Life," "Time Keeps Slipping Away," "Local Girls") are on the level of "A Day in the Life Of America," which Edd rightly raved about up above. Most of the others aren't bad; only one I can't stand is the closer, "Accept My Love" (= "except my love," yuck), which my CD changer naturally kept graviting toward. One of these days I'll get more specific songwise; right now, I'd say it's got a shot at my top ten on basis of listenability alone. And as far as ease of r&b soul emoting goes, I'd say Ronnie's right up there with T. Graham Brown, at least judging from this album.

Nowhere near as good (which might say something about how great the Milsap album is): Johnny Rodriguez's new hits CD, which mostly just passes right by me innofensively; not much to like, not much to dislike. The one great cut is "Ridin My Thumb to Mexico," which has only the slightest hint of Mexico (mere seconds of mariachi-like guitar) in its music; there's no Tex-Mex anywhere else (so much for Freddie Fender comparisons), though in "Love Put a Song in My Heart," where said stealer of goats comes closest to Christgau's Englebert Humperdink comparison in his '70s book, he does sing a line or two in Spanish. I also like the Mann/Weill penned "We're Over," and also "(Just Get Up And) Close the Door," and it's hard for me to dislike any version of the Eagles' "Desprado," I guess. Beyond that, shrug. Most of these were apparently # 1 c&w singles, bizarrely. Someday maybe somebody will explain how that happened.

The Tom T Hall best-of is a weird selection, schlockier and way less eccentric (since there's way more later stuff, and only one track from *In Search of a Song* for instance) than *The Essential Tom T Hall.* Only a couple of the cuts ("I Care," "You Show Me Your Heart I'll Show You Mine") make me cringe, though, and most of the later stuff would be pretty special coming from most anybody else. So, a pretty good intro for people who don't know him, and still pretty informative for me. A keeper. But not the one I'll usually put on.

Has that 2 CD Storyteller box of Tom T gone out of print? That's a pretty solid selection.

the t ribute album is also shockingly excellent.

i dont hate mcbride usually, i dont like her, and i often find her middle class melodramatics either patronising, silly, or batshit insane (and only independce day worked), and people keep telling me that im wrong--and you know what, techincal singing doesnt mean shit to me, and shes too precise in her covers for the album to be interesting

Those two live-on-TV listening experiences I xposted are by far my best impressions of her, though never heard a whole album. She should do a live album, seems like. Nick Tosches wrote a Creem feature on Johnny Rod, who was then (the late 70s, I think) one of the very few non-geezer country stars, or male starlets, as T. pointed out. So maybe that's why they let him do "Desperado" as a single or at all, and why it was a hit (he was an oasis/forerunner of the Young Country trend? Though when Hank Jr.led that "We Are Young Country" singalong single he was young mainly in comparison to Willie, etc) But also maybe why he had to cover the bases by sounding like Englebert, so as not scare off geezer (and geezerwashed) listeners? Just speculating. Also, country Biz wisdom was at lose ends then, not like now of course.

This new Ray Wylie Hubbard album is nasty and funny and loud electric blues. It's like an early ZZ Top album with a warped Okie preacher gesticulating about the animal kingdom and other sacred and sinful subjects. Like how "there are two kinds of people in the world: the day people and the night people. It's the night people's job to take the day people's money."

speaking of him ( the "Up Against The Wall, Redneck Mother" connection), I'm writing about Jerry Jeff Walker (yep, he's still around). Any thoughts, anybody?

i want to know more about him, what ive heard i love to peices.

new povertyneck hillbillies album on rust records turns out to be pretty much exactly the same as their album from last year on cort records, almost exactly the same song order even, with only the negligible "go crazy with my heart" and the non-negligible fastball cover "the way" (which i'm assuming they may have hit a legal royalties snag or something with) removed. the songs sure don't *sound* like they've been re-recorded or anything, though i could be wrong. bonus disc is a dvd, presumably the same one they'd put out on their own before (track listing looks very similar, and it's got a mini-documentary about them just like the earlier one did, but damned if i'm going to view them back to back to make 100 % sure...) anyway, it was a good album then, which means it's still good now.

I've always had a soft spot for JJW's early records, Driftin Way of Life and the self-titled album that has "Her Good Lovin Grace" and "Hill Country Rain" on it. He's the most folkie of the three-named Texans, and that can be kinda refreshing at times. Still, he's never really seemd to try very hard, which I suppose is better than trying too hard, but his songs (with the exception of Bojangles) are just really really light, like invisible air light, which, again, might be one of the appealing things about him. I have no clue if any of his post 80s records are any good.

yep, Ronnie Milsap sings so damned well on the new 'un. I wish the songwriting were just a bit better, but shit, this is a good record. unfortunately, the first single "Local Girls" has stalled. Plans afoot to do an "Essential" on him later this yr. And, The Most Intelligent Use of Jew's-harp in a Country Song (This Year) in the first song. I even like the stoopid south-of-border thing he does where he mentions banana Moon Pies and Carlos Santana and a super-woman with year-round tan and limes (I heard it as "lines" the first time I heard it, shit, Ronnie, watch the drugs man!) in her purse. (Altho I am Eating Better these days, occasionally I gotta get a banana Moon Pie and microwave that thing; they're, like, enough calories for a third-world person for a day, but mighty good.)

I have never even *listened* to Jerry Jeff. But I'll ask anyway, even tho I am no fuckin' help: I'm interviewing Guy Clark next week, doing a thing on him for a brand-new outlet I'm beginning a Relationship with. What about 'im, anyone? I got about half-a-dozen of his records from various places, including the new one on Dualtone, and of course I got "Old #1" amongst them--so, are those 2 RCA records his best? I got some listening to do over the weekend!

Finally, Roy's obit of Grant McLennan might be the single best thing I have ever read on the Go-Betweens. "They sound rootless, nearly immune to the pleasures of R&B, soul and country." Beautiful. I have to say, I get sorta lumpen throat when I hear "Darlinghurst Nights" these days, because I'm sorta living with memories and death a bit too closely right now. Great tune. And Barry Mazor on Shawn Camp is just superb, too, as I pointed out above, I think.

Lone Official at Springwater last night here in Nville were just amazing. Not country, not even rock and roll, jazzy in that post-skronk way but just fucking tensile and intelligent, and above all heartfelt, even visionary. Whatever obsessions are fueling their leader, Matt Button, keep at it; and their new package of 3 45s he graciously gave me at the show is just amazing, too--graphically and musically briliant, suggesting: some kind of new post-Southern southern mythopoeia, Robert E. Lee ain't dead at all and staggers drunkenly thru a subdivision that sits on the Battle of Nashville site and makes a collect call to bet on the Preakness, and when he loses his money shoots himself outside the Ryman Auditorium. Again: I think their "Tuckassee Take" is some kind of brilliant record, definitely on my top ten of the year at this moment.

yeah, Edd, ask Guy about Jerry Jeff, apparently they met in Houston, waaay back, and collaborated in various senses at various times, according to various accounts (lots of shit talked about JJW, but some of it is true, apparently). Good Guy tracks on the Heartworn Highways comp, listening companion to the early 70s doc, expanded on recent DVD, I think (CD and DVD each have songs that didn't make the original movie, and the DVD has some the CD doesn't, but not sure how that applies to Guy specifically; then again, it was filmed in his and Susannah's house and yard, so def worth checking out). One of his songs on the CD is about pirates along the Texas coast: picaresque, even! Lots of funny songs on that album, but didn't know he ever did stuff like that (tend to agree with comments on robertchristgau.com about tendencies toward sonic tightness and dryness on his own albums, esp. his voice; one of those good writers who can be too self-censoring, seems like)(but some good material for others, of course)(though always bugged me how often the chorus of "Desperados Waiting For A Train" keeps slamming into the mood of the verses--I know, it's supposed to be jarring, but becomes annoying/moneyshot, like in "Angel From Montgomery," though some vocalists have made those work anyway)I will def have to check out Lone Official!

Edd, stop. But gracias all the same. Anyways, Guy Clark: worst phone interview I've ever had in my long short life. I swear to god there was a point in between questions that I could hear the ice clink in his bourbon over the line. I wanted to crawl into a hole and croak. I bailed and asked if I could speak to Susannah. That went better. Which album is the best? Impossible to say. Old Friends means a lot to me (has one of Emmylou's greatest harmony parts on the title cut) and Boats to Build is terrific. But that live overview, Keepers, is pretty remarkable. When he's on, he can cut more performers than you'd guess. Email me if you need stuff. And, fuck, email me anyway with contact for Lone Official. I need to hear these guys.

thanks, Don and Roy. Roy, I'll stop; I just kinda fell in love with that last Go-Betweens record, quite unexpectedly, like when you see a woman you thought was plain and then one day you realize you can't get her out of your head, and she looks beautiful. And ditto "Horsebreaker Star," which is just great.

I got that LO record from Mark Nevers; it's apparently only out as a UK Honest Jons import, altho I think Astralwerks is planning a release sometime later this year. I'll see about burning you a copy, Roy; I have no idea how to get a promo from Honest Jons, and I guess I need to find out in Astralwerks has any they can send.

Guy Clark: yeah, I think it's a bit pinched, sonically, and "Desperadoes" does kinda strike me as clunky. I mean I have to confess, that whole Austin myth, I've never bought it, and I just don't know about any song with "Desperadoes" in it. But he's good, and I think I get why so many love him, and the Austin thing. I hope he's not drinking bourbon when I talk to him (if he is, he'd better go ahead and offer me some!), the interview's supposed to happen at noon so who knows.

the *verses* of "Desperadoes Waiting For A Train" were good: kid gradually coming to see the limitations of his childhood idol, and then...But the chorus is overdone: maybe overwritten, esp compared to verses, and contrast, which could be jarring to good effect, gets annoying. Same deal with "Angel From Montgomery": one of the best verses I've ever heard in any song is, "How the hell can a person/go to work in the mornin/come home every evenin/and have nothin to say?" To that tune, especially. Be interesting to hear both choruses maybe just at the end of the song, that could be killer, Ah suspect. Turns out Jerry Jeff's got a song, "Blue Mood, " that seems to be a letter to Guy, saying he's heard they ripped off Susannah's songs, just like they did Fred Neil's. Maybe that's why she never seemed to write amny, as far as I knew. "I'll Be Your San Antonio Rose," and-? That's the only one I can think of now.

I'm sure there are more but Sussana also wrote or co-wrote "Come From the Heart" ("Dance like nobody's watching..."), "Black Haired Boy," "Old Friends" and one of my favorite Guy songs "The Cape." I gotta dissent from the dissent about Desperados. I think it's one of the most moving and vivid and honest songs about growing up and growing old I've ever heard. And the refrain is perfect. How could it be anything but an ironic take on Texas/Western myth? It's hardly glorification and it's a mistake to separate that refrain from the narrative. Growing up, the boy felt like he and the old man were cool desperados, and the boy wants to go on believing that. But no, he finds out. An idol who the boy once saw as a legend from a Western movie turns out to be another sad, pathetic old man with tobacco juice dripping down his chin. But a man still worth loving. The man, by the way, is a real person: Clark's grandmother's boyfriend, a wildcat well driller, who taught Guy how to "whittle, spit, cuss, drive a car and sit up straight."

Yeah, I get what he's trying to do, and does do, basically. I've probably heard too many of the wrong (tearjerking and/or labored) versions. But Coe does it pretty well, in the midst of other songs about trying to face mixed feelings/images re heritages, a good theme for the time especially, on Mysterious Rhinestone Cowboy.

This has nada to do with country, but: Jesus H. Christ. THE BELLRAYS. Believe the hype, even if there isn't any. I just saw one of the best live shows in like forever.

heard good things about them, tellus about it! Speaking of Jerry Jeff speaking of Susannah Clark's songs, here's a bit of her "We Were Kinda Crazy Then," which he recorded:
We were kinda crazy then, needin lovers more than friends,
Songs on my guitar, you said were like flowers for your scars,
May you find a friend tonight, may he finally treat you right,
Can you find the same moon I been starin at all night.
Always keep your moon shinin, like some bullet bright,
While this old world wears its heart like a big bullseye,
Don't you ever let them teach you the right from the wrong,
But did you ever find out who wrote that pretty song.
We were kinda crazy then, needin lovers more than friends,
Songs on my guitar, well they're there for you, they always are,
May you find a friend tonight, may he finally treat you right,
Can you find that same moon I been starin out tonight.
There's a man in the moon, darlin'.

> THE BELLRAYS. Believe the hype<

Not on their records, you shouldn't. (Live, I've been told otherwise. But the idea that she's a "soul singer" or "Tina Turner" or whatever people call her these days is totally wishful thinking.) (And are people still comparing her band to the MC5? Jeez...)

I've only heard a few cuts from the new album, which I like, and I think Lisa Kekaula can be called a "soul singer" without doing violence to the term. I wouldn't go so far as "Tina Turner" or the MC5 though. They were hellacious last night--gnashing and thrashing and crashing about on stage, jumping into the crowd--but I'd had a few beers!

Well, I suppose she's got more soul music in her singing than the chick in The Gossip (or the guy in TV on the Radio), I'll give her that. (But actually, I liked Lisa K's album with Now Time Delegation a few years back more than any of the Bellrays stuff I've heard.)

Either way, glad you had fun at her show! I should see her sometime.

Well Tina x MC5= Good Idea, anyway. xpost hey Thomas, you review for Stylus, that should be legit enough to qualify you for promos, if all your own blogs aren't. Don't you get any that way, since they have a "Promos Director" and all...?

Not from major labels.