Rolling Country 2006 Thread

So what do people here think of Chris Knight? Enough Rope sounds like I'd like it okay if a more lively singer was singing, which suggests to me the guy's got Steve Earle disease. (Also, I'm guessing they're both Clash fans, judging from Knight's title.) As is, it's real clunky. Xgau is a fan*. the Am i missing something?

*: http://robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?id=255&name=Chris+Knight

Enjoying the new Redhill album, which stretches out their EP nicely. And I'm finding more stuff than I expected to like on the new Trace Adkins -- "Ladies Love Country Boys," "I Came Here To Live," and especially "The Stubbon One" have good (if sometimes predictable) specifics in their lyrics, and he sure sings better than Knight does.

i have given it a couple of listens, its slippery, and i dont think ive given it enough space

just thought I'd mention this LP I got: Jerry Reed and Chet Akins, "Me and Jerry," from '70. Covers of shit like "MacArthur Park" and "Wreck of the John B." as well as the really good stuff, Jerry 'n' Chester just hangin' out on some jazzy instrumentals (the whole thang is instrumental, but the covers are weird) like "Stump Water" and "Cannonball Rag." I mean I like the Duhks but this is really world music. Plus, on the cover, Chet is sitting back waiting for Jerry to change the tire on his convertible.

I was very pleased to find a version on a Waylon 2-for-1 I bought cheap the other week. The quality surprised me, I'd never paid much attention to WJ before.

And the "...after all the loves of my life, you'll still be the one" bit is heartbreaking in every version I've heard.

So, I think Alan Jackson's record is just so sly; what it reminds me of, strangely enough, is John Cale's "Paris 1919." The slide guitar and the air of things recollected at a distance; in fact, Cale seemed peripheral to Europe or whatever the fuck he was singing about then, and so does Jackson to the South, somehow. Myth, which puts him into Haggard territory. What I really like about the record are the musical details, the singing is fine but I have to concentrate more to get what his relationship to his wild youth. It's mythical, so when he sings about the devil sitting there with a grin, that registers, sure, but it's the little guitar figure you remember.

The Glen Campbell - Jimmy Webb LP is magnificent, yes, and yes it's art countrypop: JW's writing at its best is this odd mixture of smart and dumb which I find enormously charming. The country is more of a flavour than a foundation stone, but it is there. An interesting point of comparison is "Watermark" the LP Art Garfunkel made arond the same time, using mostly Webb songs. "Watermark" is also a brilliant record, but much more of a yachtpop proposition than the Campbell. It also has the distinction of being extremely easy to find in the £1 bins, always a bonus.

Even close followers of Glen tend to admit that his LPs in the late 70s and early 80s tended to have only the odd gem, and often the gem turned out to be a Jimmy Webb tune: "Highwayman", "Cristiaan, No", marvellous stuff there.

As for Jimmy's solo LPs, their success depends fairly heavily on your ability to acquire the taste for his voice. Probably, your best bet is to get the "Archive" best of (esp the new expanded version with the Live At The Albert Hall CD, which may be UK-only, I'm not sure). It's really well-compiled and covers most of the goodies from the albums.

I dunno, Gary Bennett's record is nice, but it's the singing that drags me a bit. R.S. Field's production is ace, however. I like it fine, wish he'd gotten a bit more down and dirty.

And shit, I never thought I'd say this, but Alan Jackson really made something like a great album, his new one. Or Alison Krauss did. It kinda got stuck in my head and I have to hear the first 5-6 songs daily--"Fire Flys"especially is just ingenious. Operates in the realm of the everyday uncanny or something like that--Alan Jackson don't even have to try but he's trying here to do something he perceives he needs to try to do, and almost not tries and succeeds. "Sometimes less is more," he sings. I'm impressed.

The song is so over wrought and over the top, and camp theatrical...

Carlene Carter
Charlie Louvin
Tony Joe White
Ray Wylie Hubbard
Joy Lynn White
Hacienda Bros.
Abigail Washburn
Amy LaVere
Dale Watson
The Duhks
James McMurtry
James Hunter

(Any tips for good shows Saturday - Tuesday much appreciated btw, though I don't have any idea of how my time there's going to work.)

http://www.deadog.com/page/DDR/PROD/dwva/PCD-7019a

http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&token=ADFEAEE67818DE4EAD7E20C79A3A40CDAD67FD1BFE5AFB86112F0456D3B82D40AF1844C34FA39A81B8E574B266ADFF2EA2160ED1C0EC57F6D8612D5DF0&sql=10:pr1ibk09fakz

http://billboard.com/bbcom/reviews/album_review_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003122625

http://harpmagazine.com/guides/contributors/detail.cfm?id=527

I've pre-ordered that Alan Jackson Cd. I'm very happy to hear he's made a great album, I loved "Drive".

"tragedy of you," last track on the otherwise blues-punk EP by the bones (from louisiana), is on now and is calling you an asshole and dickhead and reminding me of shooter jennings. here's their page:

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=7483383

nah, actually, the bones guy is even worse singer. probably reminds me more of some long-lost proto-alt-country cowpunk band i can place right now. but i like it okay. the band's blues-punk gunk is better, partly because it pushes harder. weird how much a sucker i still am for silly ancient backwoods birthday party/gun club shtick when i've never been all that big a fan of those two bands. (honestly, i don't own a single album by either of them, haven't in years, though once upon a time i did.) also "bulge" on the bones EP reminds me of one of those sub-fall late '80s british art-punk bands i used to like so much: three johns or janitors or membranes or somebody of that ilk.

A question for our Canadian correspondents: Any thoughts about Matt Mays & El Torpedo, who if I recall the press bio have had three top 20 hits in the great white north this year? Press bio also compared them to Tom Petty w/ Heartbreakers and Neil Young w/ Crazy Horse, I think. I guess I'm sort of hearing it, I dunno. Song on now is called "Cocaine Cowgirl." Matt's voice is not nearly as distinctive as Neil's or Tom's, I'm thinking so far. But his songs do appear to have some degree of drama to them. Maybe he deserves to be lumped in with recent Drive By Truckers? He's not bugging me as much as DBT's have on their past couple of albums, but maybe that just means my expectations are lower. None of this tracks are killing me, either.

On the live album? Sure he does, Don - I mention it in the review.

do all the Harp reviews have to be that short

Well, most of their regular reviews (except the lead one) seem short, but mine run in the print edition as a separate page known as "Last Roundup," sort of consumer-guide-like but without grades and not alphabetically ordered. So I tended to write them short to fit more albums on the page -- That was my own choice. (I wrote four such columns, two of which have run so far in the magazine.)

xps