Rolling Country 2011

That album's been growing on me, actually. So has Steel Magnolia's album, which I think will always be connected with Thompson Square in my head, since they're both harmonizing married couples who put out their big-label-distributed quasi-indie breakthrough debuts -- one more pop-rock-influenced, the other more pop-soul -- within just a couple weeks of each other. They sound like two sides of the same coin to me, and really, I'd have to flip a coin to figure out which I like more. They're both pretty darn good. (By the way, though everything you'll read will tell you the new hit one is their debut, Thompson Square actually self-released an earlier, also self-titled, album four years ago, on a local Tennessee label called Sixgun. Entitely different tracklist, and presumably without Aldean's band backing them up. I haven't heard it, though.)

That makes me curious enough to scrounge for it on the net. Did it have any title?

Thompson Square's back end doesn't do much for me but the first two-thirds makes up for it.

I actually like the last cut, "One Of Those Days," and cut #10 "As Bad As It Gets" is one of my favorites on the album.

Rhapsody is carrying the first Thompson Square album, which confusingly like the new one is called Thompson Square. (That's how I found out about it.) Unfortunately, the shared title seems to have mixed up the site's electronic data tools, which mistakingly pasted my review of the new album to both records. I'll try to get that fixed; meanwhile, here's a link to the 2007 one:

http://www.rhapsody.com/thompson-square/thompson-square

Hmmm, anyone who buys that thinking "Are You Gonna Kiss Me Or Not" is gonna be in for a big surprise.
I doubt if it's possible to stumble into a purchase anymore since digital makes taste and try before you buy almost automatic.

They took the bottle of Romilar away for the major label. Actually, that's too harsh. It's much much more country, almost all slow mood pieces and ballads. Except "Not Far Enough" which sounds Neil Young-ish, or moreso Tom Petty and Co. doing Neil Young. And "Kennesaw." The rest is OK if you're big on the singing but the songs aren't nearly as good. Not bad tunes per se, just pretty but meh.

Heard "Are You Gonna Kiss Me Or Not" on the car radio for the first time today (either Austin country radio is lagging behind everybody else, or I just don't listen much anymore, or both), and wow -- what a great car song. Big clanging supermelodic Mike Campbell style jangle all through it, basically what George has been saying all along I guess, not just at the end, which I'd implied in my Singles Jukebox writeup. Definitely had been overrating that one. Guess I need to play the whole CD in the car.

Curious what people think of Sierra Hull's new stuff (http://www.sierrahull.com/daybreak/) - ostensibly bluegrass, but clearly shooting for some cross-over appeal...?

xp "Definitely had been underrating that one," I meant.

Of no concern to anybody who doesn't live here, but I enjoyed reading this Austin Statesman article yesterday, grading local dive bars and dancehalls on their Texas-ness, even though it's annoying that the writer seems to dismiss just about any country music that isn't decades old (and especially isn't Willie, Waylon, or Cash) as "generic pop country." (He also doesn't mention that Texans have really bland taste in beer -- seriously, Lone Star and Shiner Bock are kinda gross -- but that's OK.) Anyway, I don't think I've been to any of these establishments, including the three on Burnett, which are very close to here.

http://www.austin360.com/music/in-search-of-the-real-texas-experience-in-1299546.html?printArticle=y

Got a CD by Pieces by an upstate NY Southern rock five-piece creatively calling themselves The Steven L. Smith Band in the mail; sounds decent so far -- recalls Kentucky Headhunters at points (though the KH's rocked "Big Boss Man," only cover song here, a lot harder, and these guys seem to have more piano and sax parts, which sound pretty good.) Backup vocals in one song each by Jimmy Van Zant (Ronnie/Donny/Johnny's cousin apparently -- can't keep all those guys straight) and Crystal Gayle.

http://music.slsmith.info/

"CD called Pieces," I meant.

A new 1550-word roundup/overview piece I wrote for the Voice on current Southern Soul (much of which is certainly lower-case, if not upper-case, country):

http://www.villagevoice.com/2011-03-09/music/southern-soul-guide-sweet-angel-mel-waiters-and-luther-lackey/

Hee, hee...

AARON LEWIS’ DEBUT SOLO CD ‘TOWN LINE’ DEBUTS AT #1 ON BILLBOARD COUNTRY ALBUMS CHART AND #7 ON THE TOP 200 ALBUMS CHART

AARON LEWIS has been resoundingly welcomed into the Nashville community as his debut solo CD TOWN LINE enters the Billboard Country Albums Chart at #1.

For all the atrocities on display in "Country Boy" - the auto-tuning of George Jones bothered me the most...

http://new.music.yahoo.com/programs/the-new-now/19407/justin-biebers-girlfriend-lands-viral-hit-for-14-year-old-michaela-wallace

The latest atrocity, placed here because of the pro Nashville-songwriter product giveaway buried in the story. Which was delivered on my Yahoo news landing page as some kind of amateur effort that just happened to go 'viral' on Yahoo.

What was that record I reviewed made around the concept of the dolls that were in competition with Barbie a few years ago, xhuxk? Oh yeah, Bratz. Sounds just like that.

I'm patently sick of the Taylor Swift cadence. Which is the same for every semi-ballad she does, climaxing in "Back to December" which ties it to a tremolo guitar line. Dub it the home girl West Lawn/Wyommissing/Governor Mifflin Pennsy rhythm. Which means nothing to you if you weren't living there. But I was.

Crystal Bowersox makes me ill. It's the tattoo on her back that looks like someone sicked up their lunchmeat on her shoulders while she's singing about "God" and "mentioning you."

Oh god, she just sang, "Mommy dear" and "bourbon breath."

And why aren't we talking about the Band Perry more? I'm beginning to thing that out of two tunes I there's the possibility they're as good pop rock through-Nashville-launderers that Thompson Square.

Take out the fiddle applique which just traces the vocal, turn up the guitar, or add a Hammond or a piano.

This is another one blown in the singles column because it was white, rock, and the lyrics weren't up to literary snuff again, right?

The thing that bugs the shit out of me, and I know it's just because it's a Kentucky thing, about the Bowersox line ("And you'd come home with bourbon breath/Jack in the air") is that Jack isn't bourbon. It's whiskey. So not only does the line scan poorly on its own merits, it's also *wrong*.

That said, for all the gross tats and white-girl dreds, I do think she has a better voice than some of the women currently on country radio.

I honestly don't think I've ever heard a Crystal Bowersox song.

Have liked both Band Perry singles (though the first one didn't hit me until I finally heard it on the radio -- somehow, listening over shitty laptop speakers doesn't bring out the rock sound in country-pop songs for me like car radios do); haven't heard the whole album yet, but one is supposedly being sent to me. Will opine here once I get it.

Listened to the JaneDear Girls album this week, albeit over shitty laptop speakers (via Rhapsody.) Hit me as lightweight, consistently catchy, not really all that memorable, but maybe it just needs more listens, which I may or may not get around to. And yeah, John Rich's presence (as producer) is insescapable in the sometimes slightly dancey rockpop. One song uses AutoTune T-Pain-style. They seem to do the Taylor Swift cadence thing a couple times, too. Seemed okay, overall (I'd definitely pay a buck for the CD if I see one 10 years from now), but not probably nearly as good as Thompson Square (or Steel Magnolia or Stealing Angels.)

I'm not sure how much Berks County I actually hear in Swift's phrasing, by the way. But George has spent more time there than I have, I'm sure.

So far I'm pleasantly surprised by Teddy Thompson's new Bella. Kid's got his own unpretentiously 50s-based vocal approach (and richness), somewhat like less daring but enjoyable Orbisonic, plus Del Shannononian, Everlysesque, Billy Swannese etc phrasing, with deft, not specifically retro arrangements (do include singing strings, but not too often).

http://www.smartchoicemusic.com/store/files/details/16/40001271617.jpg

Exciting new box from Bear Family...

Details, please!

Heard the new solo album by Tara Nevins from Donna the Buffalo this week; probably too folksy and reverent (and it’s not like I go back and listen to whatever Donna the Buffalo CDs I still own much anymore), but I got through it painlessly, which doesn't happen with folk-country albums often, and it could conceivably grow on me.

Favorite country song I heard this week that I'd never heard before was "Country Mohammed," by immigration-obsessed Seattle-based Bosnian-Bulgarian-Japanese-American world-prog-metal band Kultur Shock, who Frank wrote about for me once at the Voice but who I'd basically forgotten about. Said Middle-Eastern hoedown was on their 2009 Integration; new album, Ministry Of Kultur is even better. (For a brief unsavory description, see the Rolling Past Expiry Hard Rock thread.)

Haven't listened to the new Tara yet, but solo debut Mule To Ride had some pretty fiery wiry dizzy comin' round the mountain outbursts, far beyond any Donna The B I've heard. Meanwhile, I'm smitten by Miss Willie Brown, a duo jumping into the Dixie Chicks gap, re bringing hearts and minds under stress through popwise whirlwinds of observation and expression--four songs of concise expansion and uncommon range for such a brief set can be found here http://www.misswilliebrown.com and another is linked in the following press release, which also heralds a four-song EP containing none of the ones on their site's jukebox, far as I can tell--so haven't heard those yet--but the ones I have heard are also rec to fans of (for instance) the cable series Army Wives, Little Big Town and um Van Zant I think (thinking of those last two while "The Bible" surges from verse to chorus again). Here's an excerpt of the press release:

-----Original Message-----
From: Mary Hilliard Harrington <maryhilli✧✧✧@thegreenroo✧✧✧.c✧✧>
To: bamall✧✧✧@a✧✧.c✧✧
Sent: Mon, Mar 14, 2011 9:05 am
Subject: Miss Willie Brown Releases EP And Hits The Road!

If you're having trouble viewing this email, you may see it online.
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A&M/OCTONE’S MISS WILLIE BROWN RELEASES FIRST MAJOR LABEL EP

Spring Tour With Country Music Star Dierks Bentley Begins March 17

2011 Tour Kick-Off Show Planned For
Tues. In Nashville


Nashville, TN - March 14, 2011 - A&M/Octone Records’ first country act Miss Willie Brown is set to release their first major label EP digitally tomorrow. Kasey Buckley and Amanda Watkins—usually found finishing each other’s sentences, talking over each other, making each other laugh and cry—are the two singers and songwriters who make up Miss Willie Brown, and the release of their self titled EP marks the arrival of a dynamic new duo in country music.

Produced by award winning producer Keith Stegall (Zac Brown Band, Alan Jackson, George Strait), the four track EP includes the up-tempo and funked-up tracks “Sick of Me,” “Good Fight” and Couyan Crazy.” It also covers tender emotional territory with “Freeland,” the story of two women waiting for their men to return from fighting overseas. Kasey and Amanda wrote and both sing lead vocals on all four tracks.

“Keith really jumped into our heads in terms of knowing what we like,” says Amanda, while Kasey adds that, “Amanda and I made a promise to each other a long time ago that we would do whatever was best for the song. It’s hard to do a lot of the time, because interests conflict and collide...but the song is everything to us. And now we’ve put some of those songs we love to play live on this EP, so we could get out on the road and hopefully start building a fanbase show by show. We want to tour hard...like the guys do!”

To preview “Sick of Me,” click here:http://www.thegreenroompr.com/misswilliebrown.html

Miss Willie Brown will celebrate the EP’s release and the start of their first major tour with a special show Tues. at the Rutledge in Nashville at 6 P.M. Immediately following the show, the duo will head out for a 30 date run on the JAGERMEISTER COUNTRY TOUR FEATURING DIERKS BENTLEY.

For a full list of tour dates and more information, visithttp://www.misswilliebrown.com

###

Since I've mentioned it here a bunch of times, I should now mention that I've decided Steel Magnolia's album is in fact definitely not as good as Thompson Square's album. Still like most of it okay, especially "Bulletproof." But though their voices sound richer in general to me than, say, Lady Antebellum's, they also partake in a certain kind of commercial-post-jam-band ickiness (a la Dave Matthews? John Mayer? Maroon 5? somebody like that) that can really make me wince, especially in their way beyond embarrassing faux-reggae tune "Rainbow." Haven't yet decided whether the line "I'm not Jamaican/but Jamaican me lazy" (in a different song!) is racist.

My recent favorite country singles so far

Someone Else Calling You Baby Luke Bryan
I Can't Love You Back Easton Corbin
Colder Weather Zac Brown Band

And Jamey Johnson's record from last year is nice, esp the song Front Porch Swing Afternoon

(oh sorry - that Bonnie Owens 4CD box came out in '07 - I guess it's back in print is all)

Goldy Locks takes on Ted Nugent on CMT

After some production stops and starts, Running Wild with Ted Nugent is set to air on CMT on March 23rd. Four consecutive episodes will air beginning at 1 a.m. central time. (Lady pro wrestling personality) Rock singer/songwriter Goldy Locks appears as one of the contestants in the raucous series which features Nugent as a survivalist trainer who then hunts his own students. “I eat maggots on the show!” – Goldy

Set your TiVo and enjoy. Thanks in advance for watching and if you want to see more of Goldy on network, TV, tell ‘em so! Call 615.335.8400 or PLEASE email i✧✧✧@c✧✧.c✧✧ with your comments and ask for more Goldy Locks!

So, I finally got around to hearing the Band Perry album from late last year this week, and I think I like it a lot. Haven't been able to give it totally undivided attention yet, but for several plays in the background (at home, and in the car on the way to and from SXSW), the cuts that regularly jump out at me are tracks five and six, "Miss You Being Gone" and "Double Heart," which also seem to be the two real rockers on the record -- might well have missed a couple others so far, though.

Tara Nevins' new album has been growing on me too. Agree with what Don seemed to suggest about a previous solo record, that this is more sonically and emotionally intense than what she generally does with Donna The Buffalo. Cuts grabbing me most are probably "Tennessee River" and the fast reeling instrumental "Nothing Really."

The Band Perry -- deserving of some points for being a lot more pulled back that usual. Dependent on Kimberly Perry, who steals the entire show in the way of a vocal phenom like Noddy Holder. Of which none exist in Nashville.

She's right in the range of Slade's Noddy re "Play It Loud" which isn't that loud an album. But which the vocal rips through all the tunes based on country themes. With Slade it was cruel treatment of horses and the poor. The Band Perry makes it more self-obsessed American. The signature tune being about having to die to get people to notice you.

"Miss You Being Gone" is train beat country, which was most of Don Powell's beats on the hit Slade tunes in England.

I call The Band Perry glam country. With production pulled back, the emphasis being on the singer all the time. There are people doing hoo-hoo-hoo's and Kimberly Perry doing rock n roll emphases. So when the beats are legitimately country like on "fortune teller" the country instruments added aren't phony appliques, as usual. They're only gratuitous (the mandolins, accordion wheezes, fiddles and banjo strokes.)

Which is to say The Band Perry is one of my fave records this year. Probably a bit more than Thompson
Square although I can't tell you why precisely right now. It's not because there are more jangle classic rock guitars. It's the personality of Kimberly Perry.

Might have to walk The Band Perry record back a bit. There's a universal solvent character to KP's voice that wears me out a bit depending on the mood.

And if you get cable maybe you've seen the ubiquitous General Electric commercial with the line dancing set to Alan Jackson's "Good Time." Good time for GE, indeed, until the frontpage New York Times on the company's tax dodging.

That was the last affront. ;)

So I did a song on it, "GE & Jeffrey" country-style, borrowing Jackson for a couple seconds.

http://dickdestiny.com/blog1/2011/03/29/ge-jeffrey-the-tax-cheat-boogie/

frontpage New York Times on the company's tax dodging.

This was a great, if absolutely depressing piece; was actually thinking of linking it here a few days ago, because of that Alan Jackson commercial (which is now inescapable during Sunday morning political talk shows). Anybody who hasn't read it, really should:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/25/business/economy/25tax.html

I want someone to glue "GE & Jeffrey" to the line-dancing video. Windows Movie Maker on my pc won't do it because of some software glitch having to do with memory size.

Shockingly, 60 Minutes took the opposite tack than the Times, giving a lot of time to some flack from Cisco explaining that the alleged 35 percent tax rate was what was causing the exodus. So he offered a bit of blackmail in the form of give us a 5 percent tax rate on the money and jobs we've already taken overseas and we'll come back. Stahl meekly added that the US government had already tried that bribe in 2004 and been rooked. No jobs were brought back.

Before the corporate police drag it away for being truth in advertising.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWPWx_PwawE

Had a complete listen to the JaneDear Girls album. It's been <strike>pirated</strike> distributed for free by YouTube and been there undisturbed for almost a month so the label must have already given up on it.

It features a good dose shiny poppy hard rock. "Wildflower," the hardest -- "Free Ride," "Lucky You," "Shotgun Girl," "Merry Go Round." The latter is an almost direct rip of Big & Rich style. "Free Ride" sounds like the Donnas with a totally pointless fiddle glued on when the guitars are chugging and chomping. Why even add it? I never get that.

The album's not bad, adequate as hard pop rock, but a little too heavy in spots on the hack work for even me.

If Pauley Perrette's Lo-Ball had ever got out of major label hell demo-land ten years ago this is what they might have sounded like. But they wouldn't have had fiddle or the ticky-ticky novelty banjo that Big & Rich are so fond of.

I liked what I saw of them live on late night.

God, if I had a recording budget like this. Come to think of it, I don't need a recording budget like that.

ARE YOU GONNA KISS ME OR NOT

Hey George, curious what you'd think of the new Foster and Lloyd album. They've never really been on my radar, though I remember them being plugged by say Rockpile/Replacements/Bodeans fans at Creem years ago; had some country chart success in the late '80s (including four top 10 hits), but haven't charted since 1990, when they apparently split up. It's Already Tomorrow seems to be their first album since then; Tom Petterson from Cheap Trick is playing bass, and there's lots of jangle (Foster and Lloyd are both guitarist/vocalists), Everly Brothers harmonies, and some chugging semi-hard rock (at least "Hold That Thought," maybe more.) That said, most of it is making me shrug so far, and I'm trying to figure out why. Sometimes you're more open to this kind of thing than I am.

Elsewise, are Nashville releases just on hold, or what? Have any albums at all come out in the past couple months? Weird.

Christgau seems to be going somewhat alt-country crazy lately, in his msn.com Consumer Guide-style blurbs. A few links:

Those Darlins

http://social.entertainment.msn.com/music/blogs/expert-witness-blogpost.aspx?post=11d05e82-72da-4256-8e5f-c76c029b0f37

Drive By Truckers (he also did a long essay about them last month, fwiw)

http://social.entertainment.msn.com/music/blogs/expert-witness-blogpost.aspx?post=11d05e82-72da-4256-8e5f-c76c029b0f37

Loretta Lynn tribute/Lucinda Williams

http://social.entertainment.msn.com/music/blogs/expert-witness-blogpost.aspx?post=de166b12-0e0a-4266-ad98-92f821f15cfe

Oops, actually this is the correct Drive By Truckers CG link:

http://social.entertainment.msn.com/music/blogs/expert-witness-blogpost.aspx?post=e1147bdb-abac-451a-a668-623dd45790bd

And his longer essay about them:

http://bnreview.barnesandnoble.com/t5/Rock-Roll/The-Righteous-Path/ba-p/4507

As I said, I couldn't even bring myself to bother checking out their new album, since everybody seemed to be saying it was even mellower than their previous few, and I've definitely passed the mellowness-tolerance threshold with those guys.

Hmm, Foster and Lloyd "It's Already Tomorrow"... Hasn't yet been <strike>pirated</strike> freely distributed on YouTube and there's no obvious blogspot steal of it. Don't have a review copy but I did give a listen to the promotional they put on YouTube. Title cut has the jangle, sounded good but maybe more on the Byrds side of things because of the 12-string. B. Too stodgy swamp blues thing with some hard guitars was next, singing about a mandolin and learning to sing from a bird or something, my attention started skipping off it. Third sample tune was the lachrymose country lullaby mode and I couldn't take more than ten or twenty seconds of it. Maybe the rest of the album sounds better. By itself, wouldn't have made me curious to hear the rest.

Christgau does kind of a disservice to the Donnas in comparison with Those Darlins, I thin'. Coulda seen that coming.

"Be Your Bro'" is irritating. Liked "Red Light Lover" a lot more but I still wouldn't pop for an album. The determinedly thrift store rock genre has really never done much for me. Much better live, right? If more of the record is sacrificed upon the altar of YouTube perhaps I'll revise my opinion.

You folks watching the Academy of Country Music awards?

Yeah, in the background. The Brokeback Mountain gay joke in reference to Gyllenhall/Swift at the beginning was offputting. Blake playing the clumsy stupid guy to Reba was not exactly Tommy and Dick Smothers. Then there was the Brady guy skit. Carrie Underwood did hard rock bordering on metal.
I think she's performed that tune about 1,000 times on TV. It gets louder and more thrusting but not better everytime.

Steve Tyler made weird noises during her song and "Walk this Way." Rihanna looks great, did another hard rock tune with Jennifer Nettles in which a guy who looked like the lead guitarist for Extreme in 1991 played a senseless solo. Ronnie Dunn was sub-mediocre. Brad Paisley won another award, it's pro forma, He's so famous he always gets a percentage of the spoil whether he's earned it or not. Toby Keith outright blew, pretty much mumbling his way through or phoning in whatever it was he was doing. xhuxk'd now, probably.

I foolishly expected it to be more tuneful than it was so some of the time was spent in reading "YOU Never Give Me Your Money," a new Beatles book I got for my birthday.

Now Alan Jackson is introducing some people: stocking cap Zach and James Taylor. Stocking cap, in Las Vegas, yet. Is he totally without pity?

James Taylor looks like he's missing his false teeth. Which actually may be the case since he's playing sitting down.

I didn't watch; was proof-reading galley proofs for my Greatest Hits book. Have since watched the Underwood/Tyler and Rihanna/Nettles duets on youtube. Okay, I guess, but not okay enough to want to hear them again. Thought Nettles outsung Rihanna.

Otherwise, am really liking Martina McBride's "Teenage Daughters" and Eric Church's "Homeboy." Both rock music as much as country, but different kinds. Bet George will like the McBride more; I probably do too, but haven't decided definitively yet.

One of its worst aspects was how totally tone deaf the production and delivery were to the times. It's Vegas and all -- but -- even Vegas has been slammed hard by the <strike>New Depression</strike> Great Recession. Everyone is exuding the height of opulence, there's all this backslapping and self-congratulation, and what's delivered was just not that great. When the centerpieces of the "country awards" show are Carrie Underwood's version of cock rock and a screaming overlong guitar solo while Rihanna is onstage, you're just telegraphing your total detached bankruptcy. Hey, we're rich and great so fuck all the rest of you. The only thing actually missing was Charlie Sheen. He was in Chicago, right?

Sex and the City 2 was on cable over the weekend and I caught a glimpse of it. It was panned -- got a 20 on Metacritic, I think -- and the women on the awards show just looked a lot like the actors in that movie. Horribly overdressed, looking like an assortment of plutocracy stereotypes, as appealing as gold toilet seats in casino lavatories. They made my skin crawl which was why I started reading a book.

One of its worst aspects was how totally tone deaf the production and delivery were to the times. It's Vegas and all -- but -- even Vegas has been slammed hard by the <strike>New Depression</strike> Great Recession

I'll play devil's advocate. People want to escape and Vegas plus country lyrics helps them do so. McBride's "Teenage Daughters" was arguably relevant and hey Miranda Lambert won a bunch of awards. Plus didn't you think Taylor Swift playing a banjo on a porch while wearing a plain clothed 1930s style dress suggested an understanding of the recession?

Yeah, you got me, didn't mention Martina McBride who was tolerable. I liked the studio version of the song better. The live set was off in the mix but it seemed that way for everyone to me. For me Taylor Swift crossed into irritating over a year ago so my persoanl antagonism cancels the homespun thing out.

I've gotten used to Taylor's weak live vocals

From CMT site:

Chely Wright is engaged, according to People magazine. "Out country singer Chely Wright and her fiancée, Lauren Blitzer, a GLBT Civil Rights activist, have set a date and plan to be married in Connecticut Aug. 20," a representative for Wright told the magazine. "They met through their youth advocacy work and say that their passion for Scrabble holds them together." Wright publicly came out last year. The singer, 40, who publicly discussed her depression and thoughts of suicide, has since become outspoken about her sexuality and wrote a memoir, Like Me: Confessions of a Heartland Country Singer.

Don't know if any of you are paying attention to American Idol, but it's got two country singers this year, both good: Scotty McCreery, got a trad voice even on nontrad material, maybe too imprisoned in it, but nice to listen to (here's "The River"; and Lauren Alaina, a 16-year-old with a big blustery voice who knows when to wallop you and when to hold back; on "Candle In The Wind" she went from soft and sensitive to a restrained wail as if it was all of a piece. She's got Carrie/Kelly versatility, could become someone special.