Rolling Country 2006 Thread

here's part of Jon Weisberger's appreciation of the late Charles K. Wolfe in today's Nashville Scene:

there are scholars whose life and work demand respect, and none deserves it more than Murfreesboro’s Dr. Charles K. Wolfe, who died last Thursday after a long struggle with diabetes and the complications that attend it. No country music writer was more prolific than Wolfe, who published 19 books and was at work on several more projects at the time of his death. And none ranged more freely across the sweep of the music’s history, tackling subjects both broad and narrow. Most importantly, none was more engaged with the object of his study, applying the insights gained from close attention to the music’s early years to the trends and happenings of today.

Those who focused, professionally or not, on the string bands of the 1920s and 1930s knew that Wolfe could be relied on to fill in a blank, or at least to point them in the right direction. But journalists covering country music news, too, knew that he was always ready to provide an informed, clear and pointed context for the latest developments and controversies.

Though country music itself is old, the serious study of country music is not, and it is no exaggeration to say that Wolfe, together with a handful of colleagues, was instrumental in the construction of country music history as a worthy and viable subject. Yet while his research was as thorough as possible, his work was aimed not so much at other scholars as at those who were involved or interested in the music, or who could be persuaded by a blend of passion and knowledge to become so.

By necessity, most of Wolfe’s books were published by academic presses. But he was also a frequent contributor and consultant to both public and commercial television documentaries. His publications in scholarly journals were matched by dozens of liner notes that accompanied contemporary releases and reissues of undeservedly obscure recordings.

The range of Wolfe’s interests—and hence of his knowledge—was simply staggering. The Devil’s Box: Masters of Southern Fiddling, a collection of essays published in 1997, covered subjects ranging from the age of fiddle styles heard on country’s earliest recordings to the career of Tommy Jackson, who played a key role in defining the instrument’s role in the 1950s and beyond. Another collection, Classic Country (2001), offered succinct sketches not only of Hall of Famers like Grandpa Jones (with whom Wolfe co-authored an autobiography) and Bill Monroe, but of forgotten figures like songwriter Arthur Q. Smith and the mysterious Seven Foot Dilly.

With historian Kip Lornell, Wolfe co-authored a book-length study of the great African American blues and folk singer Leadbelly. He also acted as the chief consultant for PBS’ broad American Roots Music series and wrote a biography of gospel legend Mahalia Jackson.

To all of these subjects, Wolfe brought an unalloyed, infectious enthusiasm, and it was natural that the same spirit led him not just to scholarship, but to engagement and activism. Sometimes this manifested itself simply in encouragement and assistance to other students of roots music, including those he taught during the course of more than 30 years at MTSU. At others, it led to lasting collaborations and friendships with a diverse collection of artists and musicians. At still others, it took the form of public commentary and advocacy, perhaps most notably when Wolfe adopted the title of “curmudgeon” to weigh in on personnel changes at the Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum.

Given the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Distinguished Achievement Award in 1990, Wolfe also served behind the scenes in helping to create the organization’s Leadership Bluegrass program. The initiative is aimed at shoring up not only the music’s ongoing creative vitality but its commercial survival.

“In an age when country music seems to be shooting off in a dozen different directions, it is important to remind ourselves that there was once, and still is, a broad mainstream that genuinely defined the genre,” Wolfe wrote in the introduction to Classic Country. Ultimately, it’s the assertion of country music’s importance that points to his greatest legacy. For while his work has its own merits, what may count for most in the end is his insistence that music, and especially country music, matters—that not only does it have things to tell us that we need to listen to, and not only does it have intrinsic joys and rewards, but that these can only be enriched by a deeper knowledge of who made it, and how and why. Whether or not they realize it, every denizen of Music Row, every fan and every artist, from the unknown fiddler tackling the “Black Mountain Rag” to the current toast of the town, owes Charles Wolfe a debt of gratitude

Chris Neal did a nice piece today also in Nashville Scene, about the Country Radio Seminar. it's worth reading in full: title is "Radio Interference." some interesting facts: country radio has 2042 stations right now, up from 690 when CRS started 37 years ago--more than any other format, if I read it right. Arbitron says country listenership is at its highest level in 7 years. and good stuff on satellite/subscription stations like XL and Sirius, who have 9 million listeners, a lot but nothing compared to 230 "terrestial" radio stations. Neal maintains that "long-form" programming might prove a boon to country artists and listeners, too, and cites the venerable Nashville station 95.5 FM, now called "The Wolf," as an example of a traditional station that has opened up its programming, playing what you'd expect but also stuff like the Eagles, Commodores, Quarterflash...and he talks about acts like Pinmonkey, who are apparently getting some nice royalty checks thru their play on satellite. there's more, and as I say, worth reading.

"If you’re touring on a grassroots level like we are," explains drummer Crouch, "you can search demographically by age group and pick, say, 19- to 42-year-olds in Winston-Salem, N.C., knowing that you're going to be there in two weeks. Then you send out a message to those people saying, 'Come check it out.' You can micromarket."

Nope. You were right the first time, Edd. The online version of the Scene fucked up the byline. Jon is a good bluegrass bass player and bluegrass critic in Nashville.

-- George the Animal Steele (george_the_animal_steele...), February 15th, 2006.

Double on their other album on CD Baby, 60 Cycle Hum. "Carol Ann" and "Ghost Train" are the big tunes and the Georgia Satellites sound is even more pronounced on the first half dozen out of ten on the record. The blurbs on CD Baby say they have four albums, none of which I'd heard or seen anywhere until they came available in entirety on-line.

so I think I'm won over by Birde Busch's new folkie record "The Ways We Try." she sounds nice and casual and a bit droll, and I'm sort of in love with the closing track, "Room in the City," a lovely 6/8 ballad with a beautiful little chromatic piano figure and intelligently used pedal steel. I like the way she doesn't try so hard to prettify her voice, and it's a really charming song about songwriting and its relationship to how people actually live: "Had a room in the city/And he needed room to grow/He said 'I've written a thousand songs/Still feel I have nothing to show.'" very nice indeed.

Oops, I misinterpeted an email from the band. I should've said "I hope they get nominated for all the Motor City Music Awards they deserve." Also they have SIX people, not five. EP's still great, though.

*Aquamarine* soundtrack peaks, in great Hope Partlow Samantha Jo tradition with another GREAT summer song, "Summertime Guys" by longtime Disney pop C-lister Nikki Cleary, which has a killer rumbling bounce of a beat I can't put my finger on - not quite Bow Wow Wow, not quite Bo Diddley, but pretty close taxonomincally: early Sweet, maybe? I dunno, something like that. Song is written by Jeffrey W Coplan (who also produced it), Nikki Cleary, and Robert Ellis Orrall, the last of whom sort of existed on the commercial country/late-Creem powerpop cusp once upon a time and had a #32 Carlene Carter duet pop hit in 1983 with "I Couldn't Say No," and bigger country hits later than that I believe. (See above: "barndance mixer" "Boom! It Was Over" on 1995 K-Tel comp *Country Kickers.*)

miko marks, *freeway bound*: one of the things that cdbaby seems like it might be useful for is finding out about black people singing country music, since you can quickly scan CD covers which tend to have photos of singers. i've contacted a couple so far, and really wanted to like miko marks, who like grand funk and michael moore is from flint, michigan. she's pictured with charlie pride in her press kit and hints in there also at having a soul music influence, but sadly i don't hear it in her music at all. what i mostly hear in her singing i guess is reba mcentire, and despite liking a few early reba hits (and one album that's actually on my shelf -- *whoever's in new england* i believe), i'm realizing there's something i inherently kinda dislike about reba's voice. maybe it sounds pinched to me or something? anyway, a couple of miko marks' songs are ok, but nothing has grabbed me so far. which doesn't mean some won't eventually, if i give them more of a chance, and i will.

tea leaf green, *taught to be proud*: these guys are also on cdbaby -- four albums, though oddly apparently not this one. and actually i don't remember contacting them about their music, and can't imagine why i would have. this just fell into my lap, somehow. it came out in '05, though if they have a show coming in new york (one reason they may have sent it to me), i haven't noticed. anyway, i kind of like it. its sound reminds me of *workingman's dead,* extremely pretty/hooky/grooveful folk-rock with nice exploratory guitar endings. best one so far is in a song called, um, "rapture," which is not a blondie cover but a song about how the rapture is coming. which would maybe mean they're HARDCORE christians and scary ones, except the lyrics of "rapture" (sung from the point of view as "a gambler with no bankroll" apparently avoiding the "law man") remind me of "renegade" by styx. they mention the Lord in other songs, though. so still Xtian, i guess.

The Tossers, *The Valley of the Shadow of Death*: On Victory Records, which inevitably makes me think I'll hate it, and the only reason I played it is because they *do* have a show coming up in NYC (opening for Dropkick Murphys, which is appropriate as you'll see), and I can make a few bucks by writing a show preview. Ended up liking it a lot more than I expected to -- maybe the best approximation of the Pogues' *Rum Sodomy and the Lash* by an American band I've heard (the Murphys being more like *Red Roses of Me*), hence belonging on the country thread given country's roots in Celtic folk. The Tossers apparently come from an Irish Catholic neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, which would make me wonder why the hell the singer sings in an Irish accent and spells jail "gaol" on the lyric sheet except that I now live in Sunnyside, Queens, which contains something like 15 Irish bars within a few blocks of my apartment (no exagerration, I swear), and people sure do talk with Irish accents in those, despite this also happening to be the United States. Anyway, the album sounds really good, especially the last couple tracks which get quite dark and beautiful and apparently (according to the liner notes) include within them a couple jigs and/or reels originally performed by the Chieftans.

Speaking of Irish bars, I just had a beer at one on the way home from dropping my daughter off at the Port Authority so she could catch the bus back to Bucks County after the weekend, and they played "The Stranger" by Billy Joel, which I never paid attention to much before (it's about how everybody has a split personality or something) and realized maybe it was an attempt to do a reggae song (by the way, I think Mikael Wood underrated Billy Joel in his Voice lead review a few weeks ago, and I actually myself wrote a Voice lead Billy Joel review once in the late '80s explaining what I don't quite hate about him) and they (= said Sunnyside Irish bar) also played "Richard Corey" by Simon & Garfunkel, which I also never paid attention to much before (it's about how some banker's son owns half the town and the singer works in his factory but the rich guy winds up shooting himself) and realized maybe it was an attempt to sound like the Kinks. Has that ever occured to anybody before? (Also both songs belong here since obviously both Billy Joel and Simon & Garfunkel have since influenced commercial country, though I can't think of specifics now.)

Finally, uh, Rockie Lynne's album is on right now. I kinda hate it I think. Not sure why. He just sounds bland and smug or something. The single "Lipstick" is maybe not all that awful -- just another tequila sunrise about going on a spur of the moment vacation to El Paso and elsewhere and sleeping in the desert with your gal, okay, what the hell, I can live with it. More interesting perhaps is "Super Country Cowboy", which is a sort of post-talking blues rap about how Rockie is this new kind of evangelical psychedelic cowboy playing a new kind of country that acknowledges the existence of the Rolling Stones and mp3s. Or something like that. Seemed rather forced to me. But the rest seems even suckier so far.

(okay, maybe not so brief. sorry!)

pss) miko marks has apparently collaborated with eykah badu, though i'm not sure when.

psss) unclear whether the tossers have *songs* near the level of the pogues's early on; the singer's alright, but he's missing something, i'm not sure what. they sure can reel, though.

-- tea leaf green are WAY more expansive, explorartion-wise, than either nickel creek or little big town. i guess what reminded me of those bands is the mandolins and/or close harmonies, i'm not sure. But 7 of the 11 songs on this album last 4:53 or longer, so yeah, I guess that's why they're considered a jam band. Why I haven't been *hearing* them as a jam band, I guess, is that the jams seem to emerge so naturally out of the super melodic songs, and the jams stay melodic (and rhythmic) while they happen, so i just hear them more as, um, "long incidental instrumental breaks." fairport convention's in there some, and maybe even steely dan. congas on two tracks. i tend to prefer their longer songs.

-- miko marks has a blues and soul influence in her singing after all, but it tends to show up more in her ballads ("don't come cryin' to me," the plight-of-the-impoverished protest "the lonely one," and my fave so far "feelin' the rain") which seem to be less plentiful than her more upbeat songs. which can be fun (esp the road song "freeway bound" and the very vaguely caribbean-lilted-in-a-phil-vassar-kinda-way summer song "all i wanna do"), but which are mostly just two-steps that sound like the kind of stuff that might have showed up on country stations in the early '90s. i may be wrong about her reba influence; miko sounds like *somebody* from that era, though maybe not reba. maybe somebody (even?) more trad-sounding than reba who i can't quite place. either way, i'm liking her more.

-- the tossers seem more interesting in their slower songs ("drinking in the day," "presab san ol," "the valley of the shadow of death", etc) than their more upbeat ones as well. there is something a little rote-sounding and hopscotchy about the latter, like for instance the dad-i'm-in-gaol-don't-tell-mom-and-don''t-come-post-my-bail opener. for some reason both the singer and rhythm section find their footing more when things slow down.

--at least one song from the *high school musical* OST, "breaking free", sounds as much like a pop-country power ballad to me as a teen-pop power ballad (isn't that one of the big download hits? i think so, since it's one of two tracks with a "karaoke instrumental" version at the end of the CD. and come to think of it, the instumental - which i I kind of like; when I first heard it, it was in my random CD changer, and I guessed it was by either tea leaf green or the tossers! -- sounds somewhat rural or pastoral or whatever as well.) the non-karaoke rendition is said to be sung by leading man troy + leading lady gabrielle.

-- finally, back to Nashville: Did anybody else here notice that dykey member Kristen Hall did not perform with Sugarland at the Grammys a couple weeks ago? I did, and wondered what the hell was up, but then forgot about it the next day. Well, yesterday I saw one of those glossy country mags on a newsstand, and it said Sugarland are now a duo -- Kristen claims to have quit because touring was cutting into her time for writing, etc. Sorry, but I don't buy it. The article also hinted that Jennifer Nettles may wind up with a solo career. Given how Kristen and also goofy nerdy guy Kristian Bush seemed to occupy less and less camera time whenever Sugarland showed up on TV as the past year progressed, I'm really wondering to what extent the weirder looking members were being squeezed out of the picture. And I'm not sure who to blame it on, but whoever's doing it can kiss my ass.

>(the most and maybe only country thing about "breaking free" might be gabrielle aka vanessa anne hudgens's vocal inflections as her intensity picks up. i'm guessing if anybody on here has a future, it's her.)

listening to Scott Miller's "Citation" (that's a car which he borrows in the title song and in which he screws his girlfriend he's amazed he has). produced by Jim Dickinson, who has a real genius for recording drums, seems to me. so, sorta Earle-Cougar with more eccentric kick to it, probably belongs on this thread. definitely something like "Freedom's a Stranger" is "country music" or at least folkie country. touches of Mekons creep-oid guitar overlay in "Only Everything," and drums far more tribal and loose than anything attempted in Nashville (well, maybe Mark Nevers does it sometimes). I'm not especially big on Earle-Cougar heartland explorations of youth and age and all that--I have my moments with it and actually like Cougar better than Earle--but this is pretty good, esp. the blues-stomp "8 Miles a Gallon." "Cracker with a truck-stop whore," "invent a big engine, make it run on bullshit," you get the idea, I hope. somewhere in the Todd Snider territory, too. needs and deserves more listens but I like this guy, and sorry I missed his previous stuff. I think he's from Knoxville.

Discuss.

-- There is a female country singer named "Bomshel" (as in bombshell, apparently) who has a debut album coming out on Curb this year.

--Bluegrass band Cherryholmes, who I think I may have heard once and was bored by, have one guy in overalls with a ZZ Top beard who looks like an insane biker that could be the kentucky headhunters' grandpa.

-- Also, there is a photo of Big & Rich jumping on a bed together.

(among other things).

Willie Nelson, "Cowboys Are Frequently (Secretly Fond of Each Other)": Not as good as Ned Sublette's track on *New York Noise Vol. 2* (Soul Jazz, 2006). Also, not as good as anything on my favorite Willie Nelson album *Night and Day* (Free Falls Entertainment, 1999), which has no singing on it, interestingly enough. Disappointing. The way Willie says "fuck" is even clunkier than the rest of it. (6.5.)

I'm surprised to hear this Anthony - I've seen NC live three times now, and they're one of the best live acts I've had the pleasure of experiencing. Maybe that's changed in the past year, but their shows have always been sincere, exhuberant and a real artist-audience connection moment. Venues were great - Borderline, Academy Islington, Union Chapel (rip). Nothing smarmy IMHO, in fact, when they break out the acoustic finale section I'm always stunned into blissful silence and remember why the hell I bother with music at all.

Chuck, your take on Roseanne is the first dissenting view I've seen--everything I'm aware of has been laudatory. I haven't even heard it yet myself. Just sitting down with Marshall Chapman this evening, for real--had it on in the background a couple days ago and got involved in something else. However, I did snag a copy of her autobio "Goodbye Little Rock and Roller" from her publicist Tamara Saviano, who also got me a copy of the new Radney Foster--I've always kinda liked his work--and the "Rednecks and Bluenecks" book, in which Saviano plays a part: she was operations manager at the Great American Country cable channel, CMT's competition, and ran afoul of some right-wing attitudes re Charlie Daniels' "Open Letter to the Hollywood Bunch." She got the Daniels piece from a publicist, and she asked him to take her off that e-mail list, and then fired off a response to the publicist suggesting that perhaps Charlie might be due a boycott himself (this was around the time of the flap over Sean Penn and the Dixie Chicks). anyway, she got fired, since although technically the email wasn't a company thing, it did have her company signature at bottom. now she runs a little media/publicity company on Music Row, very nice person. and obviously, a Democrat. she won a Grammy for the Stephen Foster tribute CD "Beautiful Dreamer."

anyway, "Rednecks" is a good look at the politics of Nashville--superior journalism. and Marshall's book I've scanned, but it's funny, elegant, affecting, so far. looking forward to relaxing with "Mellowicious" tonight...

has anyone heard battlestar america--they call themselves hick hop, and politically interesting (ie left), and aside from geography seem pretty standard hip hop, but they have flow, and the musics tight--mp3s here: http://www.b-star.net/what_we_do.html

I've got the Battlestar America CD around here somewhere; impressed me not at all when I played it last year, but I'll try to try again.

Now listening to Brityn Lotz, *Straight Ahead* 2005 self-released/cdbaby-distributed pop-soul-country from Louisiana, a solid ten songs including good-enough covers of "I Feel the Earth Move" and "Knock on Wood," though the two best and most rocking tracks are clearly "Back to Lafeyette" (I swear I like pretty much any song that mentions "the Ponchatrain" and I STILL think it's a hotel in Detroit) and "One Eighty" (about a a lady having a midlife crisis and pulling a 180, lots of specifics therein). I also enjoy the early '80s MTV semitechnopop production of "Lightly" (about angels, yet it doesn't make me gag at all) and the talked part at the end of "I Don't Play That Game." Good album, not remotely shy about incorportating r&b.

>Chuck, your take on Roseanne is the first dissenting view I've seen--everything I'm aware of has been laudatory. <

Yeah well, not to cynical, Edd, but it's a *concept album (at least ostensibly) about Johnny Cash (and other country hall of famers in her family) dying.* "Laudatory" is kind of a foregone conclusion, isn't it? With that concept, she could've released a blank CD, and every country critic in the world would have gotten down on their knees and sung hosannas. (And the ones who don't give a shit won't review it anyway, right?) The album's okay -- not as dire and dreary as some stuff I've heard by Rosanne in the past two decades, which is an accomplishement, given the concept. But she was way better in 1981.

Birdie Bush seems more interesting to me. I need to take her home and put her in my CD changer with the new album by Espers, and figure out which (if any) has more Fairport Convention pastoral gorgeousness. (They're both from Philly, right? Where phreak pholk lives, I guess.)

By the way, for aficionados of the white-black conversation that Simon Reynolds thinks barely exists right now, "Rush" starts its drone w/ hip-hop/r&b beats accompanying it, but then shifts to rock beats for the rest of the song.

Plus Bertha Payne telling that guy to get off the pot obviously also connects to whatever Millie Jackson LP pictured her on the toilet.

Yeah, Chuck, Pinmonkey is pretty blah. I probably always give too much of a free ride to those kind of powerpoppy things, but altho "Big Shiny" is certainly nice and I quite like two or three songs, they have nothing to say. I just filed a Nash Scene piece on them, and so I have listened to their
'02 Paul Worley record and the new one a lot. I can't discern any real difference. just formalists--shit, they can't even work up enuff anger in the song about not getting a good table to make it sound real. one of those records that sounds good until you listen close, then it still sounds good but why bother. they're Poco--in fact, they're doing a show here with Poco soon. "Lot of Leavin' Left to Do" does what Pinmonkey tries to do with much more power and commercial savvy, as does the best stuff on Dierks' last 'un. they need to find something to sing about, Pinmonkey does--like beer and trucks and stuff.

and Chuck, glad you're diggin' the Keith Anderson record. I still find some of it under- or badly sung, and that pederast-Jesus song still makes me gag, but it's grown on me over the last few months--esp. "Plan B," which I think you mentioned above.

and in total agreement about Roseanne Cash--she was far better twenty-five years ago. finally heard a few tracks from the new one, and I don't get the critical love--absolutely she's always gotten a free ride from critics. give me the feisty Carlene Carter any day.

and I finished the "Rednecks and Bluenecks" book. I recommend. the chapter on the history of country in wartime and election time, "Town & Country, Jungle & Trench," is great. Dave Dudley's '66 "Talkin' Vietnam Blues" and Harlan Howard's '68 album "To the Silent Majority, With Love," which contains the awesome lines: "They're needing you boy and you're sitting in your coffeehouse/Whatcha gonna do when your woman begs you save her from a mouse?" the fabled Nashville songwriting at its most trenchant.

yikes! which track is this, edd?? guess i need to listen closer...