Rolling Country 2006 Thread

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.

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Erin Condo, *Leaving Songs* (Joyland Music): not boring at all
But Haikunym is OTM about Buddy Jewell

-- xhuxk (xedd...), April 19th, 2005.

And I just finished reading Werner's pan from last year of the Buddy Jewell album (and listening to said snooze of an album). So where did I get the idea he was critically respected?

one last time listening to Tres Chicas. it's so obviously the kind of folkie-jazz they used to make in the '70s. I detect no feeling at all; in fact, something about this reminds me of the Association, except not as lively. "Man of the people flying first class" indeed. This is like eating a whole bag of yogurt-covered malted-milk balls in the parking lot of Whole Foods. the electric-piano textures are particularly annoying. if the whole record had been at the tempo of the last song, "It's All Right," I might actually be able to listen to it again. but I give it points as one of the most anachronistic records of the year, hints of the New Seekers except the New Seekers were smart enough to cover Roy Wood and Richard Thompson. Roy's right upthread, if this is ND listeners' idea of fonk-ee with them purty harmonies on top, which is what I get from the way the rhythm section interacts and the way you can almost hear the guitarist grinning as he makes a few "rude" noises in "It's All Right," then it is indeed flat-line-the-audience time... xp

the brokeback soundtrack, with 2(!) rufus wainwright songs, and the argentine playing leone, should be much worse then it is, rufus covers king of the road in a really hard way, w/o the decadence or cabaret loucheness that i expect of him.

the new neko album could have been amazing, and her skills as a photogrpaher suprised (she did the interior cover art) and i have listended to it four or five times, and i still remain undecided, my review will be for left hip this time, and well we will see what i think in the end, im really ambigous about it right now.

there is a strange essay in this weeks london review of books, found here, in a round about way about the myth of johnny cash, that i think bitches about the lack of authencitiy, but remains unsettled, but i think that having someone willing to deconstruct the cult around cash's sainthood, to talk about how much he liked money, to point out his sentimentality is a really impt thing--as i think it is to talk about vivian, how badly he treated her, and ias an extension,much domestic shit that june had to do , how much june gave up[ her life for his: heres the article :http://lrb.co.uk/v28/n05/sans01_.html

there is a new comp of junes work with johnny out there, i bought it for 12 bucks canadian, so it must be basically free in america, and i think as something that foregrounds her contributions is really impt to have, and its got a really precise mix.

big and rich are playing stadia here, and in calgary--are they that big, or will their be lots of empty seats?

I'd be so happy if more music crits assessed things this way. Hearts.

no i think tim's right, the problem is with hooks. the bands are ok, the sadies especially (i'm not a huge sadies fan, but i think they back up neko pretty well). i think fox confessor is about 3/4 good. but good isn't great, and the 1/4 that isn't even good bogs the rest down. she's idiosyncratic and all, but i can't help liking her best when she treats herself to a real actual tune.

the album also isn't country or even alt-country or anything particularly related to either.

kelly hogan and neko case should have blown the roof off of everything in site. it didnt.

yeah. i still think they need to do a gospel album together. or maybe a collection of girl-group covers. or both.

I don't get this, though. Ten tracks in 34 mintues is a BETTER investment than 14 tracks in 50 minutes including a load of crap. Seems to me this is the length most albums SHOULD be. (I was gonna say most "country" albums, but why limit it to country? Country just tends to have a better grasp of economy than most genres these days.)

Also, fwiw, I've never been much of a fan of other records Radney Foster's been involved in (though maybe that just means I haven't heard enough of them, or I haven't noticed his involvement.) (And Matt is right to point out that Foster's involvement is limited here.)

the only really good song on Radney is the first one. kinda like Stealer's Wheel or something. it's a strange record that has an '80s production esthetic. sort of like a minor Edmunds or Lowe record, I guess--but not as funny, and I don't think Foster writes as well as Lowe. maybe he should just do covers, like Edmunds? I dunno. he's in Nashville, he is a songwriter. no patch on Elizabeth McQueen--they ought to get together.

speaking of Ms. McQueen, I wish I was flying to Texas so I could attend the Pub Rock Hoot Night on the 12th. her SXSW postcard says she has a version of "Cruel to Be Kind" at www.elizabethmcqueen.com/mp3/cruel.mp3

not happy about what's happening at the Scene here. Bill's gonna be missed.

xps

I've read about the comparison of the album having a "Stonesy" sound, but i think that comes more from Don Was' loose, expansive production. The whole record has a nice & gritty, greasy feel to it, and the songs really stick in the brain without being cheap at all. I think it's just a brutally "honest" record. Was's production, again, is top-notch, and Ray Kennedy's engineering is just as good. The musicians are some of the best in the business, too. Most of all, though, Colter really puts her own stamp on this music. Honestly, I can't believe her voice is still this good. In fact, it's even better than her 70s work, in some ways. I guess she aged like a nice bottle of wine. All in all, this is the most impressive set i've heard yet this year. First listen and you're impressed. Three listens and you're blown away. It's a must-but piece, IMO. Great to see her back and so solid.

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/story?id=1702714&page=1&CMP=OT

Holy goddamn shit! I'm now on my third Marit Larsen track, "Only a Fool," and this one is the country song of the year so far. It'd be too "quirky" or something to ever get country airplay even if country programmers in the U.S. heard it, and I doubt that Marit's trying to get country play, but it's got a banjo or a mandolin or both, a wonderfully catchy rhythm that dominates the start, great hand-clapping; the song drives forward but wiggles sideways at the same time with little twinkletoe steps. And, true to form, the words make it yet another I'm-not-going-back-to-you song, sung in the same happy sly chirp as always: "Well, I say I found the letters you wrote/Mine was the smile and the life that you broke/Mine was the story that you told your friends/Yours were the demons you couldn't defend." Then she goes, "Understand me as of lately I've learned a thing or two," and the twist she puts on "two" could be Miranda Lambert or Natalie Maines. Her voice is a lot smaller than theirs, and I wouldn't say it has a lot of emotional juice - she's not a wailer - but she has a superb instinct for knowing when to insert an extra syllable into a word, when to let another word fall nonchalantly, when to add a momentary, wispy cry.

I'll tell you, the other songs on here will have to be complete dogs for this album not to make my Pazz & Jop ballot. (Assuming I get to hear the album. Amazon doesn't yet know of it, at least in the U.S. Not that I could afford an import album.)

Meanwhile, I'm listening to *I Know You Feel It,* self-released 2004 album by Blazing Country featuring the Lybarger Family, a six-member Missouri family band (i.e, near as I can tell, Blazing Country ARE the Lybarger family -- a mom and a dad and their three sons and one daugher, apparently) discovered on cdbaby (but not LISTENED TO there -- see, that's how much an old-school asshole I am; even with cdbaby bands, I drop them a note and don't listen until I get the CD in my grubby little hands, even though I COULD listen to their music right there on the cdbaby page. You know, I'd rather listen while I'm doing other things but take little notes on the CD cover while the CD's spinning. And not stream a song at a time, which isn't accidental enough and never works like a CD playing through in the background etc etc etc and don't give me shit about it because I've got fingers plugging my ears okay?) Anyway. Blazing Country. Best stuff is either hard/sometimes-fast/somewhat-dark country rock sung by son Dallas(opener "Doin' Time" with tough words and mood worthy of Montgomery Gentry, "Drivin Around Texas With You," maybe "That Left One" which unlike the Bikini Kill obscenity suggested by its title is actually apparently about a guy getting stood Gilbert O'Sullivan style up at the altar) or boppier, poppier, Diddley/Willie & Hand Jive/"Faith"/jitterbug-swing-beat stuff sung by daughter Dana ("Thing Called Love" and "Have I Got Blues for You," both probably a little too lite somehow, and "No More Excuses," which may well be the best song on the album and where Dana Lybarger--who to my eyes looks quite cute and curvy on the cover--comes closest vocally to Natalie/Miranda territory.) I like how these people mix the modern tough-guy redneck rock thing with the cute swing nostalgia; is anybody else doing that?

I dunno, Chuck -- keep the songs on your desktop or in a close to hand iPod and you'll definitely live with them, as I've found. But I understand the comfort of experience.