Rolling Country 2006 Thread

No Depression Top 40 of 2005

Dunno if it's on the racks yet, but the new No Depression features Edd's fine speculative essay on pop and country, so don't miss it. (The title, which I assume wasn't the author's idea, is kinda huh?) Also David Cantwell on a bunch of Haggard two-fers. However, Don McLeese, who I like and respect, is just wrong about the new Van Morrison.

Roy: So did McLeese like the Van Morrison album? Do you? And if so, why? Struck me as a pointless snoozefest; did I miss something?

I haven't heard the old Gene Watson, but I think Gene Watson ...Sings, the album that came out a couple years ago, is far superior to the latest one: stronger songs, stronger lyrics that go from hilarious to heart-wrenching. His steady big-but-casual voice keeps everything on an even keel; much beauty in the singing, but not in a way that shouts "BEAUTY" at you. If his back catalog has enough good material, this guy may be a major artist who's been generally overlooked - possibly because his style isn't the type that's thought of as "major."

Also, Chris Cagle's new single which just hit the country chart at #56 is "Walmart Parking Lot," which I remember liking on his album, so maybe I should pull his album back out.

My favorite album in the world this week is Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band's *Hammersmith Odeon, London '75.* No kidding. I forgot how much he used to love Mitch Ryder! And about time somebody acknowledged "Come A Little Bit Closer" by Jay and the Americans (missing link between "El Paso" and "Gimme Three Steps," as everyone knows.)

Paisley: the music is pleasant enough, with a nice little stroll to it, but it's the lyrics that make him interesting (to the extent he is interesting). The ones that popped into my head were the dead flowers one. Marry me or I will kill this flower!

(And speaking of marketing plans, nobody ever answered my Sugarland conspiracy theory up above. Does that mean everybody thinks I'm nuts?)

heard a song called a six pack from perfect on the radio today, i made a joke about country being the soundtrack to functional alocholism(sp)but the song was great--does anyone know who did it.

Might be both, actually. But yeah, butch is what I had in mind.

Willie 92.5. Wide Open Country

So, a friend of mine is driving me home, and she puts on Willie and the first song we hear is "Kerosene." Then some sentimental slow songs I don't recognize.

The playlist seems to be modern country and old tracks in a mix, perhaps leaning towards the rock end of each, maybe keeping an ear to what the satellite stations are doing. According to their Website (they stream their signal, if you're interested), these are the last five tracks they played:

DESPERADO
Clint Black

THE LUCKY ONE
Faith Hill

A THOUSAND MILES FROM NOWHERE
Dwight Yoakam

MY BABY LOVES ME
McBride, Martina

THAT AIN'T MY TRUCK
Rhet Akins

xp, chuck, my ramblin' above about "deforming aspects of Nashville biz." well, it seems to me that since N-ville is all about song publishing--that's the engine that drives it--that right there is a "deforming aspect" of the biz. the constant need to feed singers with songs that might or might not fit their persona? and I think that the other big thing is the notorious practice here of using those studio musicians, which I am not saying is by definition a bad thing, since they're the best in the world.

the other big thing is the *oppositional* quality that arises here, with anyone who doesn't fit into the machine, as they say...which seems to me *needlessly* oppositional. I can't tell you how many times I've been embroiled in some ridiculous conversation about how some big country act of another spells the end of musical civilization...plus, any *rock* or, name yr. genre that ain't country, act that tries to make it in Nashville has a hard time, because of that machinery, and because they define themselves in *opposition* to it instead of going with it, or ignoring it , or whatever.

but that's changing a little bit, seems to me.

and too, I wrote that in response to the book I was reading, the "Rednecks &" book, which is good, but which is also a bit dizzying--you come away even more unsure of all the political-social relationships here. I suppose all music-biz encourgages cynicism in those who are part of it, but I would say that there's a kind of *genteel cynicism* in Nashville that's unique, and maybe that's all I was trying to express. Because I never want to be one of those people who rails against the "music biz" and all that. and I think you're right Chuck--Nashville does leave good music "intact." I think it's the "gestalt" if you will, the *attitude* the town has toward itself, the world, and so forth, that is "uniquely deforming," you get the sense that they oughta concentrate more on music and less on mythologizing itself, but then where would the fun lie in that? and which ties into Garth Brooks. and I know that for a large part of the musical community here, country music is something they wish would go away.

this is what happens when I read books...

so has anybody heard the Tres Chicas record that ND writes about? any comments about the Kristofferson piece by Friskics-Warren in the current issue? I talked to Bill at length about this record, and don't agree with him at all--but think it's a fine piece/defense of a record I find just *not there*. as for that title for the ND essay, Roy--yeah, that was Mr. Alden. nice photo of Sara Evans, though, that photogenic little thang...

multiple xps---back to this Shawn Camp record....

Well, country doesn't look so bad in that area when compared to hip-hop, or mainstream rock, or metal, or indie (see: asinine reactions to Liz Phair still having a sex drive), or teenpop, or certain other genres to be named later. (Though basically, I still agree with you.)

I excoriated it above. I over-stated the case, I think, but I was right about ND going for it. Musically it's got more texture than I allowed, but no heft. And the original songs are mostly pretty bad, even if you have more tolerance for mixed metaphors than I do.

the first song, "too good to be true", on alecia nugent's new rounder album *a little girl...a big four line* is super catchy and energetic pop bluegrass in the tradition of, say, ricky skaggs's "highway 40 blues," but i don't hear anything else on the rest of her album that compares. a few tracks seem possibly okay, though. i need to listen more. as far as i know, she is unrelated to ted, but maybe i'm wrong.

got a new album in the mail by a new black woman country singer named rhonda towns, and it *didn't* come via cdbaby channels. the press packet says "she entered and won Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity's Miss Black Culture Pageant" and "she enjoyed the honor to perform at the First Annual Black Country Music Show in Atlanta, Georgia" (which I never heard of, and which I'd like to learn more about) and she has appeared on BET, "providing some audience members with their first real exposure to country music." interesting. except so far, the album is boring me -- very adult-contemporary reba mcentire style. but that's what i initially thought about miko marks up above, too, and i turned out to be wrong. so i'll keep listening. i just noticed she covers "slow rain" by dobie gray (who made has made good country albums himself), not to mention a version of "the lord's prayer."

Soon I'll have more to contribute than silly ND alerts.

"The third annual Black Country Music Special took place at the Aaron
Davis Hall Theatre in New York City Feb. 14. The event, which
coincides with Black History Month, featured artists such as Big Al
Downing, Will Glover, Vicki Vann and K.C. Williams"

it seems all I've done over the last few days is listen to the Kinks and Ray Davies, for something I'm cooking up here. but I have lent an ear to some of Radney Foster's new one "This World We Live In." and I'll say that the first track, "Drunk on Love," is actually funky and rips off Sheryl Crow and Nilsson's "Coconut," and he talks his way thru some of it, has a nice unpretentious voice...altho he does say "bidness" and I'm not sure about that. anyway, what he seems to be going for is pub-rock or the Fab Thunderbirds with Nick Lowe kinda-thing as on "Big Love." it seems to thin out pretty quickly, and I'm not sure that his voice, unpretentious as it is, can really sustain.

thx for the take on Tres, Roy, I must've missed your comments upthread. I don't think the songs are any good, nice "textures."

and I like Daniell Howle's "Thank You Mark." nicely jazzy. which come to think of it might mean not much, but it's pleasant. it's in the stack along with Jessi's record, Shawn Camp, etc.

and I really have grown attached to Jamey Johnson's record. in fact got myself a jones for it for a while. and ended up liking Scott Miller's "Citation" quite a lot, which suprised me. Dickinson's production really helps, of course, but I think his songs are good, especially the one about Sam Houston and the I'm-in-Iraq-but-Jody's-fucking-my-girlfriend song (and Scott'll get her back, Jody, so enjoy it while you can).

finally, I recommend the new Numero female-obscuro-folkie comp "Ladies from the Canyon." the repros of the album covers, and the liners, are worth the price, but shit, some of the music ain't any worse than the folkie stuff that made it out into the world. some better. and Ellen Warshaw, who was the only one to make it to a halfway big label (Vanguard) landed here in Nashville, where she runs a B&B, works as a massage therapist, and still writes songs. her version of "Sister Morphine" isn't really worse than Faithfull's...

Well, he's not, not anymore. He was in 2003, though.

Here's what I wrote about his last album:

http://www.villagevoice.com/music/0337,eddy,46856,22.html

*Edd, could you tell me a bit more about the SSS / Silver Fox stuff? Mostly I know those labels for their soul output*

well, that's pretty much what I know, Tim. Sundazed put out two comps last year of SSS/Silver Fox stuff. "My Goodnes, Yes!" is the better of the two, by far, concentrating on Silver Fox material. the big name is Bettye LaVette, who did all her Silver Fox recording with the Dixie Flyers in Memphis. and as far as I'm concerned (having just gotten 3 discs, put together by LaVette's manager/husband, of the bulk of her work from the early '60s thru about '82, with some very nice stuff done on an Atlantic session unreleased in the USA but somehow or another avaiable in Europe) that's her best period. anyway, the other Sundazed comp, "Shake What You Brought," is far less compelling, lots of lame retreads of the fashionable sounds of the era. there's also a Kent 20-cut comp called "Cryin' in the Streets" that contains many songs not on the Sundazed, including Calvin Leavy's "Cummins Prison Farm" which is a great companion piece to Bobby Womack's 1970 "Arkansas State Prison." Shelby Singleton just grabbed up anything he could find, so it's really inconsistent, but "My Goodness" has a couple of really nice Robert Parker Allen Toussaint songs on it.

and George did good on that Hank III record in the Voice. Hank Jr. wouldn't have done it that way.

I'll have a glance at the Sundazed CDs, but I want to know more about the country stuff these people recorded.

What I know about this country soul stuff comes from the sleeve notes of Charly reissues from the 80s, and from Barney Hoskyns's book "Say It One Time For The Brokenhearted: The Country Side of Southern Soul" which isn't faultless but is very useful.

Heh heh, hate to do this again, but:

No Depression Top 40 of 2005

** - http://www.villagevoice.com/music/0148,couch,30258,22.html

A la Eddy Grant, if that wasn't already obvious.

Turns out the Cowboy Troy soundalike rapper, Dolio the Sleuth, IS also their turntablist, and he's probably not as inept at the latter as I suggest above; his scratching sounds less clumsy on subsequent listens. Six other people (all lighter skinned than Dolio) in the band. Singers are Rench (male) and Veronica Dougherty (female). Bass player is named "gAOl."

OK, today's booty from the library consists of Lizzie McGuire, DVD, episodes 12 through 22; Talk to Her, a film by Pedro Almodóvar; The Dukes of Hazzard (CD not DVD); Buddy Jewell Times Like These. I suspect that the Jewell and the Almodóvar won't qualify as teenpop, though I haven't listened or watched yet, and you never know. I'll report back on Lizzie McGuire (so far Hilary Duff is a complete cipher to me, even though I love "Come Clean" and "Fly"). Which leaves The Dukes of Hazzard, which I've had on continuous play all afternoon and is chock full of greatness, including as its leadoff (speaking of booty) a very strange and spooky version of "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" by Jessica Simpson. What it is (speaking of the conversation between black and white that Simon Reynolds doesn't think exists right now) is a Jam & Lewis dance track, almost all of it treble percussion and handclap, Jessica making her voice uncharacteristically thin, sketching in the melody, with banjo and harmonica occasionally inserted, a bit of guitar from Willie Nelson, almost no bottom. And it leads into maybe the most searing Allman Brothers song ever, "One Way Out," and for the rest of the album (with the exception of a negligible Willie cut at the end) you've got blistering '70s Southern rock by the likes of Skynyrd and Hatchett and Vaughan and Daniels (speaking of black-white conversations from the past), and blistering recent faux Southern rock by the Blueskins and the Blues Explosion that matches the Allmans song in quality and actually outdoes the Skynyrd, Hatchett, Vaughn, Daniels stuff. And - speaking of bubblegum as Southern rock or vice versa (producers Kasenetz & Katz, the fellows who'd brought us "Yummy Yummy Yummy" and "Chewy Chewy" and "1, 2, 3 Red Light") - there's Ram Jam's "Black Betty," which is 120 years of American stomp condensed into three minutes. The Blueskins and Blues Explosion tracks totally floor me. The only thing I know about the Blueskins is they're Yorkshire Brits on the same label as the Arctic Monkeys. Their song - "Change My Mind - starts with an acoustic slide, but in its heart it's scrappy slimy vinyl-pants L.A. sleaze metal (which was the teenpop of the late '80s). The Blues Explosion's "Burn It Off" reminds me of the Johnny Thunders Heartbreakers, a great Stonesy groove but with a girl-groupish call-and-response type poppiness. I don't know if Jon Spencer quite has the voice for what he's trying to do, but Thunders didn't either, yet it worked often enough and so does this. I've got one Blues Explosion album that I played a couple of times and set aside for its being too distant and mannered, but maybe I need to go back and rethink it. I'd liked Spencer's sense of humor back in Pussy Galore.

>the *dukes of hazzard* soundtrack is an excellent if somewhat obvious collection of redneck rock of many stripes, though even i can't stand jessica's breathy "boots" remake. only recent country artist on it is montgomery gentry, whose "hillbilly shoes" is better than i'd remembered. but there's also allmans, skynyrd, molly hatchet, james gang, stevie ray vaughn, cdb ("south's gonna do it again" always amazes me by how JAZZY it is -- it basically turns into glen miller in the middle!), and the completely insane looong version of ram jam' s "black betty", which my otherwise now wu tang obsessed kid sherman made me play six times in the rentacar this weekend (he'd never heard it before. he hated molly hatchet's singer, though, and whenever montgomery gentry came on he said "is this big & rich"?) also a dirty southern culture on the skids party number that blowfly or hasil adkins would appreciate, a typically worthless piece of blackface bullshit by jon spencer, and a rocking cowpunk tune by the blueskins, who i never heard of before. anybody know who they are?
(i do think "boots" by jessica is "interesting", i guess. kelefah wrote a pretty smart review of it in the times friday; it's quite the montage, with that reggae dancehall beat and all. but i could give a fuck for most reggae dancehall beats, you know? and britney did the same montage better in her 'i got that {boom boom}' ying yang and banjo collab last year. and i wish jessica sang instead of getting hushy {just like i wish the ying yangs weren't getting hushy so much lately}; she has a reasonably tolerable singing voice {not as cool as her sister's, but what the heck}; why not use it? plus ram jam's extended 'black betty' has a WAY better and more surprising hoedown in the middle, believe you me; whoever i decided to include it on this album is probably a genius.)
-- xhuxk (xedd...), July 25th, 2005.