Rolling Country 2013

http://arts.state.al.us/actc/1/radioimages/braxtonoldpic00pixel.jpg
Braxton Schuffert, of Hank Williams' Drifting Cowboys (wrote and recorded w Hank, also his own releases) died last month at the age of 97. Some lively tales in this interview, with a bit of his own singing, as well as Hank's. His voice reminds me of Ira Louvin's "boy contralto," but richer and like Schuffert's more at ease in his own skin. So, he's no tortured genius, but he's not bad, it seems (will seek out some more). 28 minutes, 38 seconds. Can stream or (where it sez mp3 Audio), download, without subscribing to the podcast etc:
http://arts.state.al.us/actc/1/radioseries.html#braxton2

Why does Bryan — a 36-year-old Nashville crooner with solid-though-not-spectacular vocals, whose songs are relentlessly catchy, but tackle standard country fare — elicit such hysteria? It could be because of the dynamic dual character he has created through his music. On one hand, he’s the ultimate guy’s guy, dedicating about half his material to drinking beer with buddies, partying on spring break and watching girls in bikinis. Then, a minute later, he is the ultimate Romeo, wanting nothing more than to take the love of his life out to the country for some romantic off-roading or a picnic for two in the woods.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/luke-bryan-masters-the-two-sides-of-his-country-music-persona-at-wmzq-fest/2013/05/19/9047fdfa-c0a3-11e2-9aa6-fc21ae807a8a_story.html

He's not unique in having these traits though, is he?

I don't think so -- Sounds to me like what lots of male Nash-country tries to do these days.

So...has anybody made it through the new live Eric Church album? Just seems premature to me, don't see the point after just 3 studio albums, but I've noticed a couple people raving about it. Did jump ahead to "Smoke A Little Smoke" to hear it briefly transform into Sabbath's "Iron Man" at the end, presumably a commercial country first but I'm not sure I care that much. The other tracks I've made it through just mostly sounded like rehashes of studio versions. Maybe I need to pay closer attention, but I don't know whether I'm motivated enough. So maybe somebody else should.

Did make it through the imminent debut album by the Henningsens a few times -- A lot of it's just fair, but "Darrell," "Sittin' In An Airport," the single "America Beautiful" and maybe 1 or 2 other things seemed at least a little better than fair.

I listened a lot more than usual before posting this on What Are You Listening To In 2013? As I mention at the end, could easily imagine several of these tracks on a Chicks album; maybe all of 'em, with a tweak here and there (or even without, considering how much classic etc rock makes it into mainstream country these days, and has for some time):

Natalie Maines--Mother Philosophical/romantic/musical companionship on the fly (as much momentum as a midtempo set is ever gonna get) while she pushes herself out of the nest, finds exhilaration and ongoing inner/outer struggle--that increasingly familiar bed "down at the Silver Bell," around a couple of hairpin turns, sounds like, can be like a prison cell, if you draw the shades down just little too far, and yet maybe that's part of the appeal, the kink of it (thought of this again watching latest Mad Men ep, re Draper finally getting too greedy up at the Sherry-Netherland). "Vein in Vain" is even worse than its title, but otherwise she unerringly selects, sequences and sonically illuminates songs written by singers who don't get to me very often: Vedder, Waters, Jeff Buckley, Jayhawks, her co-composer/producer/accompanist Ben Harper, for that matter, Harper and his crew sail jangle 'n' drone right on through 60s/70s (and Dixie Chicks) nostalgia, almost as unlikely as aforementioned midtempo momentum, in my experience.
"Mother" teaches me not to stumble over somewhat Spinal Tappy verses, on the way to what she makes into a glorious chorus--okay, Waters redeems himself here as a writer, but she sings it as a self-aware mother and daughter "Mother's gonna put all of her fears into you", climbing to "safe and warm", which have never been further, in awestruck, scary beauty (thee sublime, ay), from "comfortably numb." So now it also honors what Waters may have been glossing: Larkin's "They fuck you up, mum and dad/They may not mean to but they do/They fill you up with all the faults they had/And add some just for you/As they were fucked up in their turn/By fools in old-style hats and coats"--get back, Daddy Pink!. "Trained", with Harper as Jagger to Maines' Michael or Janet, doesn't even need a literal cowbell to be an effective answer song. "Lover, You Should Have Come Over" is the swoonworthy extended killer, and she does respect Buckley's original rendition when she should, without imitating his Son of Tim acrobatics. "Come Crying To Me" (which didn't make it onto the last Dixie Chicks album, amazingly enough, so maybe the extended hiatus is well-desserved) here is like the Pretenders covering Tom Petty, in a really great way, though could well imagine it as some kind of "Rollin' In The Deep" radio OD. "Free Life" is another cumulative dazzler.

― dow, Thursday, May 16, 2013 10:25 AM (4 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Also, re illumination respect, etc., several of these could and prob should fit the Dixie Chicks, so not like a rawk-off to them or their still-loyal fans.

― dow, Thursday, May 16, 2013 11:08 AM (4 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Gonna miss Kenny Chesney's upcoming local football stadium concert with Eli Young,Kacey Musgraves, and Eric Church but 2 of my nieces will be there. Woulda been interesting to check out

so is the new George Strait worth bothering with? "I Just Can't Go On Dying Like This" is terrific.

Don't know, but his record company is trying hard to get folks to hear it:

George Strait turned 61 on Saturday. Today, he gets a belated birthday present: His single Give It All We Got Tonight hits the top of USA TODAY's country airplay chart, giving the country great the 60th No. 1 single of his career.

Give It All We Got Tonight, written by Tim James, Phil O'Donnell and Mark Bright, is Strait's 115th single.

Strait's record label, MCA Nashville, made the single the subject of a unique marketing push called 60 for 60, enlisting the assistance of fans and fellow artists to get the single to the top of the chart by his birthday.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/music/2013/05/20/george-strait-sixtieth-number-one-hit-give-it-all-we-got-tonight/2326951/

He's second to Vampire Weekend in album sales for the week

At the runner-up position is King of Country George Strait with "Love Is Everything", moving a close 125,000 copies in its initial sales week in the chart. It may have fallen short of the top spot in its debut but Strait's new album sets a couple of new records for the legendary country artist.

"Love Is Everything" becomes Strait's 18th top ten album, tying him with Paul McCartney for the fourth most top ten albums in history among male artists, after such music greats as Frank Sinatra with 33, Elvis Presley with 27 and Bob Dylan with 20. It also gives Strait his 25th No. 1 album in the Country Albums chart, further strengthening his hold on the record for most No. 1's in this category.

http://www.aceshowbiz.com/news/view/00060577.html

I've heard a collection of his first 50 Number Ones, and liked about half, which is pretty good, considering how much shading can get shaved off the ol' persona on the way to the toppermost. His specialty is aging gracefully (incl. discreet updates) and always has been, seems like.
Speaking of considering how much classic etc rock makes it into mainstream country these days, and has for some time, guitar and drums provide most of the interest on Tim McGraw's Two Lanes of Freedom, although I do like all of the Cinemascopic windshield title track, including the bit about God watching (approvingly, sounds like) from "the skyblue ceiling", as the singer and his baby cruise the grand illusion, the nice warm Sunday sundae, anyway. Self-awareness at least keeps "The Book of John" from bathos: he knows how little can be preserved by the family pictures found in an almost-thrown-away "spiral-ring book", but he enjoys 'em anyway. He knows he's coming out of his "Mexicoma", and is very refreshed by it, thank you. Also like the "Sunshine of Your Love"-brushed "Truck Yeah", and the Stax-Volt x modern country "Let Me Love It Out of You", despite the title, which is also in the chorus, and still doesn't kill the vibe.

But jeez, most of it's bland rehash.

Sorry--been trying to ration the posts, but baby I'm bored.
Alfred and xhuxk were right about the Mavericks' In Time. It's almost the only country album to grab me and hold me almost all the way through the first spin: a killer, a chiller. Pistol Annies has been growing on me like carzy, but it and the country-enough-for me Maines took a little while). The other immediate ingredient, believe it or not, is Old Yellow Moon, by senior citizens Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell. Theme set rat off, by "Hanging Up My Heart", which here especially stands for hanging up my hang-ups, hanging my tears out to dry, fuck my feelings if they get in the way (when I don't want 'em to). Good rhythm, especially but not exclusively serving up honky tonk shuffles like "Invitation To The Blues," chased with with "Black Caffeine" and "Bluebird Wine", for inst. The only utterly resigned-sounding interlude is "Open Season On My Heart", and even that is about getting out of the house: "I hit the street, the fireworks start." "Spanish Dancer" brings a woman an unexpected encounter with shades of youth, incl. fear, self-awareness, self-consciousness and desire: a bouquet. But time really has passed, and she knows "he's just a man." Still--Spoiler Alert--she returns his gesture/overture in kind (what the hell). Also dig the way "When We Beautiful" opens and closes with "Guess you had to be there." And the way she can sooo sing along with or behind or ahead of the more restrained/limited yet expressive Rodney, while they're never too far apart.

"When We Were Beautiful", that is.

The e-vent that kicked off this year's thread, with more details. Guess the electronic dance party is countryonica, since all the live acts are country. ? Dang I'd like to go.

http://gallery.mailchimp.com/bf141dbbd818f4f933816b13a/images/2011_CravenLogo_lighter_sm.jpg
KENNY CHESNEY, TIM McGRAW, THE DIXIE CHICKS,
RANDY TRAVIS, PHIL VASSAR, SCOTTY McCREERY,
BRANTLEY GILBERT AND MORE
SET FOR CRAVEN COUNTRY JAMBOREE

The World's Greatest Country Music Festival set for July 11 – 14, 2013;
Weekend tickets available for $179 until June 1st at cravencountryjamboree.com

Craven, Saskatchewan (May 27, 2013) – The Craven Country Jamboree continues to astound with the amazing lineup set to play the World’s Greatest Country Music Festival from July 11-14, 2013 in Craven Saskatchewan. Once again, long-time weekend hosts, Williams and Ree, will serve as festival ambassadors.

“This may be the lineup to end all lineups,” said Troy Vollhoffer, executive producer. “We are always proud to bring the biggest and the best acts that are available, but this year I think we’ve outdone ourselves. The lineup is deep with a great mix of young, classic, and a trio of superstars. There is definitely something here for everyone. It’s going to be an explosive show in 2013.”

Tickets are still available at $179, but they won’t last long. Ticket prices will increase to $199 on June 1st. Visit cravencountryjamboree.com to purchase tickets and camping.

Thursday, July 11 (Beer Garden kick-off party)
8:00 pm – Williams & Ree
9:00 pm – Phil Vassar

Friday, July 12
4:00 pm – Small Town Pistols
5:30 pm – Sawyer Brown
7:00 pm – Brantley Gilbert
9:00 pm – Tim McGraw

Saturday, July 13
2:30 pm – High Valley
4:00 pm – Williams and Ree
5:30 pm – Randy Travis
7:00 pm – Doc Walker
9:00 pm – The Dixie Chicks

Sunday, July 14
1:00 pm – CKRM Big Talent Contest Winner
2:30 pm – Bill Anderson
4:00 pm – Gloriana
5:30 pm – Chad Brownlee
7:00 pm – Scotty McCreery
8:30 pm – Kenny Chesney

About Craven Country Jamboree:
The Craven Country Jamboree is the longest running music festival in Canada offering an amazing experience on the same picturesque site for over 30 years.

In July, fans enjoy world-class entertainment and quaint prairie charm. The festival attracts super stars like Kenny Chesney, George Strait and Taylor Swift, and features new Canadian talent each year.

Besides the main stage talent, the Pump Roadhouse beer gardens features fun local acts to the thousands of people attending each night. As well, there are plenty of ther activities to keep fans entertained like bull-riding demonstrations, a hypnotist, a song-writers circle, and Circus Electronica, an electronic dance party.

Across the river, the Craven Country Jamboree can accommodate 8,500 campers, easily becoming the third largest town in Saskatchewan each year.

With its storied history, famous performers, and friendly appeal, the Craven Country Jamboree puts Canada on the map on the world stage of festivals.

For more information, visit Craven Country Jamboree at www.cravencountryjamboree.com.

From Miranda Lambert News--dig Oklahoma benefit concert on NBC tomorrow night:
http://mirandalambert.s3.amazonaws.com/media/newsletter/archive/2013/05/27/h.jpg
MuttNation Foundation is working with Miranda’s good friends American Humane Association Pedigree Adoption Drive and North Shore Animal League America for the tornado victims and pets in Oklahoma. Cleveland County Fairgrounds at 615 E. Robinson Street in Norman, OK is setup as shelter. OKCLOSTPETS.org also features lost and found pets. You can donate to the effort to assist in this and other pet related rescues at MuttNationFoundation.com.

Miranda will also join husband Blake Shelton, Reba, and Vince Gill for a telethon “Healing In the Heartland: Relief Benefit Concert on May 29, 2013 at the Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City. The concert will be televised at 9PM (ET/PT) on NBC.

I know it's from last year but what do you guys think of Blake Shelton's "Drink on It"? I just heard it on the radio last night. I like the guitars on it: the lines themselves as well as the tones and production. Does his other stuff sound like this? Anything else I should check out if I like this?

Eric Church, Gary Allan.

Oh yeah, my country-loving friend is always talking about Eric Church. Where do I start with him? This year's album?

Home is my best to my ears, but the last one has "Ain't Killed Me Yet" and "Smoke a Little Smoke."

his best too

and of course I meant Chief.

for Gary Allan check out Tough All Over

as for Blake Shelton, my favorite album of his is Pure BS

Lee Hyori's new album starts off with a goofball quasi-bubble-country track, "Holly Jolly Bus" that's not nearly as fun as 2Yoon's goofball quasi-country "24/7," which I talked about upthread. But Hyori's nongoofy "사랑의 부도수표," which Wikip translates as "Bounced Checks Of Love," is a nicely smooth bit of western swing that edges into rockabilly. "Bounced Checks" is written by blues guy Kim Tae Chun.

Will check those out later.

Ann Powers writes about who you would expect here:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/therecord/2013/06/06/188997881/country-musics-year-of-the-woman

oh lord

Would anyone mind putting together a top 5-10 songs of the year so far?

More wtf from Korea, Sunny Hill's "Darling Of All Hearts," sorta Irish folk-country flight-attendant pop.

John - Unfortunately I've only got a top two so far, and one's a Korean track that's letting us know it's only pretending to be country, while the other is a Miranda Lambert single that had its first album appearance two years ago:

1. 2Yoon "24/7"
2. Miranda Lambert "Mama's Broken Heart"

I remember Alfred saying that "Mama" sounded rote back on the album, then hit him as a single. Me too; I passed over at first because it was an obvious toss-off, just Miranda's basic shtick: a deliberately distanced and formalized vignette from someone else's life, with a straw-man mom and a totally bogus generational conflict. Fashion-model rockabilly. Maybe all the distance is what inspires her to lay into it full throat while sounding unforced in the process. Helps that it's in and out after only a couple of minutes, wham-smash-gone.

Hayden Panettiere's "Telescope" would be my number three, except it's probably too last year.

2Yoon's "24/7" might be my overall single of the year so far, but I don't know that I consider anything beyond its opening notes (which definitely are) "country," or at least I've never thought of it that way. Could change my mind though. Beyond that, here's a very rough running list of my favorite country singles of 2013 so far (at least I think all these can qualify as "2013 singles" -- somebody correct me if I'm wrong), leaving out several regional Mexican and Southern soul singles conceivably at least as country as "24/7":

1. Taylor Swift – 22
2. Ashley Monroe – Like A Rose
3. Miranda Lambert – Mama’s Broken Heart
4. The Henningsens – American Beautiful
5. Kacey Musgraves – See You Again
6. Mavericks – Born to Be Blue
7. Pistol Annies – Hush Hush
8. Kacey Musgraves – Blowin’ Smoke
9. Lady Antebellum – Downtown
10. The Band Perry – Done
11. Jason Aldean – 1994
12. Carrie Underwood – Two Black Cadillacs
13. Lady Antebellum - Goodbye Town
14. Johnny Solinger – Rock n Roll Cowboy Man
15. Mavericks – Back In Your Arms
16. Lauren Alaina – Barefoot and Buckwild
17. Brandy Clark – Pray to Jesus
18. Toby Keith – Hope On The Rocks

"1994"!!

wait Jason Aldean recorded a tribute to Joe Diffie? I thought I was the only person who still cared about Joe Diffie.

I feel so much less cool now.

That's what I thought, too! And nostalgia for 1994, besides -- That song cracks me up. Maybe my favorite Aldean single ever, too.

By the way, I should also mention that that list is probably too long: I should really call it "the list of all the country singles I've liked even a little bit so far in 2013." Gets pretty marginal starting with #13 (though I was actually sad to see how low "Goodbye Town" was rated on Singles Jukebox -- It's not great, but I definitely like it way more than several singles that have done better on there lately.) And I'd expect there might be several better country singles than those I've missed, since I basically never listen to country radio anymore.

that's how I feel about "Goodbye Town" too, although not the cool, terrific "Downtown" (maybe they need to write a concept album about city life).

Actually, Golden has a much clearer and better "Downtown" sequel on it, called "It Ain't Pretty." (I actually reviewed the album, positively, for Rolling Stone, but as far as I know they haven't run it yet.) "Goodbye Town" reminds me more of the loneliness I felt in Kix Brooks' "New To This Town" last year, though I think he pulled it off much better. The Lady A song is still quite pretty to my ears, though.

Trying to stick to "official" singles, in as much as that still carries any weight, my current t5 for the year would be:

Sturgill Simpson, "Life Ain't Fair and the World is Mean" (lands about halfway between Waylon Jennings and Dwight Yoakam)
Laura Bell Bundy, "You and I" (yes, a Lady Gaga cover, but a perfect fit for her country-as-drag-revue POV and, production-wise, more Shania than Shania has been in well over a decade)
Kellie Pickler, "Someone Somewhere Tonight" (obviously not as great, vocally, as the version of the song from Pam Tillis' last album, but still very well done)
The Band Perry, "DONE" (basically re-cuts Franz Ferdinand's "Take Me Out" with a guit-jo, which was a great idea)
Charlie Worsham, "Could it Be" (which sounds like Diamond Rio)

Not really impressed by a lot of singles this year, honestly, but it's been a ridiculously strong year for albums. Top 5 at the moment would be Simpson's High Top Mountain, LeAnn Rimes' Spitfire, Jason Isbell's Southeastern, the SteelDrivers' Hammer Down, and Kelly Willis' & Bruce Robison's Cheater's Game.

While listening to the first stanza of "American Beautiful" -

She puts her boots and bandanna on
She has a hankering for Rolling Stones
She likes her vegetables home grown
A lot like the boy waiting out in the truck

- I got an image of Mick Jagger with his personal parts augmented by a cucumber stuffed in his jeans. Not sure I'd call any of it home grown, and the signifiers are a mess, but that's country in the '10s.

Speaking of noncountry, I'm listening to the new album by Schoolly D's favorite artist Tom Keifer. On a quick skim it seems very good; none of it makes any effort to register as country, but it's full of riffs that a lot of male country singers would love accompanying them (and for those of you who weren't paying attention in 2002, Andy Griggs had himself some Keifer licks in the excellent Keifer collaboration "A Hundred Miles Of Bad Road").

Kellie Pickler, whose meh album a lot of you liked last year, won "Dancing With The Stars" last month.

Oh yeah, I like that Tom Keifer album as well. Not allowed to call him "metal" anymore obviously (I think a law finally passed on that a few years ago), so I was hoping I could move him over to "country," but that doesn't really work either. I guess it's just "rock," though rock fans don't care about him much anymore either. Real good album, regardless.

And the new Kellie Pickler single, fwiw, struck me as even more meh than her last album.

Regarding that Sunny Hill track, Mat (who's Norwegian, though I think he's living in Seoul at the moment) points out over on K-pop 2013 that the Irish elements I was noticing might actually be Swedish, and that at one point featuring artist Hareem is playing a Swedish Nyckelharpa - which I guess is five times* as expensive as the pennywhistle he also plays. The pennywhistle is generally Irish, right? (Also sometimes Scottish, and British, and then South African.)

Says LOEN Entertainment in the YouTube description:

The song has a Bohemian polka-rhythm along with Jungle and Rock feelings with it as well.... the musician 'Hareem' joined as a session to make the music even more fun. The greek bouzouki, nyckelharpa, Drehleier, and the Irish Whistle is personally owned by Hareem himself. These instruments are rarely found in Korea, and in this song they make the polka even much more fun to listen to.

And polka makes it country! Or Mexican! And Bohemia makes it folkie!**

*Okay, bad joke, false cognate. "Nyckel" doesn't mean "nickel," it means "key."

**Okay, 'nother bad joke.

Actually, I hear more polka oompah than rockabilly in the rhythm of "Mama's Broken Heart" -- There's something Central European about it, to my ears.

Haven't listened to my Cinderella albums in something like 15 years, not even sure what box the cassettes are in; but if Keifer no longer counts as metal, so much the worse for metal. He can still approximate that high hysteria turn-of-the-'60s-into-'70s pitch that comes from nowhere else.

Also, new Keifer alb, The Way Life Goes, sounds more like what my fallible memory says Long Cold Winter sounded like than like what Fallibility & Crew attribute to Heartbreak Station, which is good since Mr. Fallible Frank far prefers the engaging former to the relatively respectable and austere latter.

Do you think "Mama's Broken Heart" might have some English Music Hall in it too? --Maybe "too" is the wrong word, since I wouldn't be surprised if the polka crazes of the 19th century embedded the rhythm in places as scattered as the West Indies and the British Isles and northern Mexico and from there into the American south.

When I first heard Dwight Yoakam's "Population Me" I immediately thought of the Kinks' "Harry Rag."

Yeah, music hall in re: the Lambert song doesn't seem out of the question to me. But it's that Germanic gasthaus cabaret drinking song swirl or whatever that I really notice (not that drinking songs and music hall are musically exclusive by any means, obviously) (and not that I'm any kind of expert, myself.)

As for the Keifer album, the late '60s/early '70s rock I hear on it seems a lot closer to the Faces or (sometimes country leaning) Stones or even Joplin than to, say, Iron Butterfly or Blue Cheer or Blues Image or Bloodrock or Rare Earth or Uriah Heep or Deep Purple. So I'm guessing metal heads, at least these days, would hear it as a lacking a certain elephantine riff density that has increasingly been considered a metal requirement. (There may be moments of elephantine density here and there; I'm not sure -- My advance CD's back in the car player now, inspired by this thread, after being on the shelf for a month or two -- but if so I don't really remember any. But believe me, I'll take any excuse I can to slot is as metal for Rhapsody readers if I can convince myself it qualifies, so I may be open to persuasion.) Obviously it sort of qualifies as metal merely on the basis of Keifer being grandfathered in as the leader of what was once considered a metal band (Dug Pinnick of King's X's latest solo album, which isn't is good as Keifer's but which I still like pretty well, is grandfathered in partly for that reason, but it also seems heavier to me), but the late '80s might be sort of a historical blip in that bands like Bon Jovi (and maybe Cinderella), who probably wouldn't have been heavy enough to be considered metal before or since, were.

I'm not saying that era were wrong -- and metal fans are ridiculous, in that Blue Cheer, Heep, Purple, etc., are these days widely referred to as "proto"-metal, which is absolute historical revisionism but I've shamefully taken to using the phrase now and then myself just because of how it's so widely understood. Anyway, I'm not sure I'm right about this, but I'm guessing Keifer's new one might feel even less metal (i.e. less heavy) than Cinderella did on even their earliest albums. (Long Cold Winter is easily my favorite too; always was. And right, Heartbreak Station was their respectable blues-rock move. Debut Night Songs, a lot of it an AC/DC rip, was arguably their most metal album, and this year a sort of doom metal band from Ohio, Robot Lords of Tokyo, even covered the title cut.)

By the way, seeing how I'm off on this metal tangent, I should mention that I've also noticed a aural intersection between jiggy Irish and Scandinavian folk rhythms in regards to Irish (Cruachan) and Scandinavian (Korpiklaani from Norway) forest-troll folk-metal bands in recent years. (Lots of drinking song rhythms in that music, too. In fact, in Korpiklaani's case, almost all the songs are about drinking.)

("Mutually exclusive," I think I meant in that first sentence. Though maybe "musically" works too.)

Uh, second sentence. (Oh never mind.)

Frank/xhuxk/jon_oh -- Thanks!

not saying that era were wrong....Jeez. Lots of ungrammatical incoherence in that post.

Anyway, now I'm noticing a few tracks on the second half of Keifer's The Way Life Goes that might approach the heaviness of, say, Stone Temple Pilots or the less muscular side of '70s Aerosmith ("Mood Elevator," "Welcome To My Mind," "Ain't That A Bitch," "Babylon" -- possibly "Solid Ground" or "Cold Day In Hell" on the first half too, though those are probably stretching it even more), but that's as heavy as it gets. Nazareth's Dan McCafferty conceivably still a vocal inspiration too. But I'm still doubtful about calling it metal, by current definitions at least. Also don't hear a "Gypsy Road" on the thing. But I can still see this being Keifer's best album in a quarter-century regardless (and I say that as a weirdo who actually Pazz&Jopped Still Climbing, which peaked at #178 in Billboard, in 1994, though I do remember thinking that a weak year at the time.) If I did count The Way Life Goes as either metal or country, I'd say it would have a good chance on making year-end top 10s in those genres. Probably not my favorite new "rock" album I've heard this year (I'd put it behind Corsair, Mustasch, probably Voivod, and especially the Thin Lizzy spinoff Black Star Riders -- all more metal -- so far), but close.

Since Lady A's "Goodbye Town" was mentioned...I think this might be one of those cases were I realize none of us hear music the same, but this song, which I'm not sure I like all that much overall, has one part, the last minute of the song basically, when he starts riffing about memory and how she's going to think about him someday, that always stuns me because it sounds so much to me like the Scottish band The Blue Nile, especially songs on Hats like "The Downtown Lights". I need to listen to those songs again side by side to see if I'm crazy, but I haven't gotten around to it yet.

Ashley Monroe was set to play here, but the date got cancelled, because she's opening up for Train. Train.

She may deserve such a fate, judging her recent so-smooth-she's-a-stiff appearances on TV. Yeah, it's just TV, and could be nerves, but seems like complacency. Although on Prairie Home Companion, with no cameras, she did muse, "Sometimes I think I'm a 90-year-old man in the exterior of a 26-year-old female." Garrison: "Uh...well...while we're...considering that, could we have another song--?" So, maybe we'll get more such (hopefully in song) from this oracle whose huge waif eyes now sport painted lampshades, keeping stoic watch across the fields.
And might also have something to do with "Being Pretty Ain't Pretty", one of those Annie Up songs with unusual themes. Sure, there have been some books, like The Beauty Trap, and outbursts on every side of the screen, even in these "post-feminist" times, but I can't think of other musical examples, in any genre (oh yeah: Ani, India.Arie, years and years ago). There must be others, but not very often.
"Dear Sobriety" ia a seemingly new kind of cheatin' confessional---but does it have to be addressed to "Sobriety"? Reminds me of Fogerty saying that when he changed "Somewhere dowon the road" to "The old man down the road", the whole song came into much stronger focus for him. S
"Don't Talk About Him, Tina" is just about perfect, especially because the singer, Tina's friend gets more anxious than confident with the memes, maybe infectiously so, while trying to bolster Tina's courage and maybe her own) with drink may well have the opposite effect--ditto the title refrain, which could be like "Do not think of a purple cow", but is still good advice, cos I'd be trying to figure out how to take my leave as gently as possible, while keeping an eye out for her irate ex, if I met her and she was talking that heartbreak stuff, however philosophical(ly obsess, as these things tend to sound, too soon after)Ends in suspense!
"Trading One Heartbreak For Another"--dreading her son's pain and blame for the breakup--how many women have gone through this, why have I never heard a song about it---could nevertheless just seem like a premise for a TV screenplay, if not for the delivery--like Frank said about that xp solo Lambert track. This 'un achieves what one Music Row writer described as a country ideal of "dramatic stasis." Which sounds like a contradiction in terms, 'til you find your life floating in a shotglass, stuck inside a mobile or Mobile. (Patterson Hood's tried for this effect, but doesn't always use his def-sub-Annies vocal limitations cannily).
"Loved By A Workin' Man", though atyoically conventional as written, is also strikingly completed by its delivery: muscular music, confident vocals---so not really uncharacteristic, 'cos this lawwng drink o' refreshment's what they're always looking for, despite the other stuff.

(I'm trying to listen to every album mentioned on this thread, and singles too--so far digging Rimes, most of Maggie Rose, Willie. the aforementioned Mavericks, Marshall Chapman--also must listen again to Holly Willliams and Gary Allan)(sorry about typos)