ILX Gonna Shine in My Backdoor Someday (new post-Fahey folk for ppl posting in Takoma/Tompkins Square threads Pt II)

good piece (covering a lot of the same ground as that recent jesse jarnow piece). only complaint is that -- aside from coining that "cosmic american music" tag -- gram parsons seems pretty irrelevant to this scene? i love gram, but he doesn't actually seem like much of an influence to these musicians.

― tylerw, Friday, July 29, 2016 11:10 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah i feel like obv gram coined a hell of a phrase with cosmic american music but the reality is that he and the burrito bros. were -- esp in hindsight -- a lot more trad than they ever were psychedlic, i mean i know their hippieness or the oddness of a narrative like $1000 wedding seemed odd to trad country but in hindsight the difference betweem them an merle haggard doesn't seem that large...and also the eagles took his shit to the bank and ended up being the template for modern "country" as it's known now

He also said, more specifically, that he was going for something like the country side of the Stones x Buck Owens and the Buckaroos, though doubt that he would mind comparisons to primo Merle. He loathed the "country rock" tag and the Eagles in particular, and I think his sensibility via songs (incl. choice of covers and singing (incl. choice of Emmylou, Burritos, Byrds and ISB; he knew he wasn't the almighty frontman) comes across as much more cosmic or anyway more evocative and sophisticated, at best (somewhat erratic/jaded/contrarian, frequently stoned, died young, blah-blah), than the Eagles at their best, although they were pretty good sometimes.

So he prob does belong in here somewhere, but Fahey seems more central. Dylan should've been in there too.

I feel like the Byrds are more crucial to this stuff than usually stated, I feel like there's a line between them and the Television elements of this "scene"

or put it this way I think McGuinn and Gene Clark and even Clarence White are more important to this stuff than Gram

This tent is getting crowded!

byrds, yeah, otm.
neil young is prob the real connector here. as with every other genre. the godfather.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-svIYcjijahE/Uz7-PGmlSgI/AAAAAAAAiOQ/DKfXdRerKXE/s1600/godfather2.jpg

Along with xpost Barbara Shelley's Newport '16 set, a couple more also somewhut relevant to this discussion:

River Whyless
http://www.npr.org/event/music/487320023/river-whyless-live-in-concert-newport-folk-2016

and Ryan Adams, in a set-down, mostly unplugged set w Infamous Stringdusters + Nicki Bluhm
http://www.npr.org/event/music/487235301/ryan-adams-live-in-concert-newport-folk-2016

They're posting these sets v. gradually---I'm watching for the ones by John Moreland and Julien Baker, who is rec to fans of early Joni and Judee, though doesn't sound that much like either in a literal sense, but got a distinctive ear as well as voice.

seeing these different linealogies being laid out is interesting, but it is weird to see a scene you love slowly turn into one you don't

I don't know, these overviews are like enjoyable slices of a "scene" that cherry-pick the parts that fit the narrative and leave out some of the more interesting aspects (i.e., no Matt Valentine (+EE of course), in either the Jarnow or Snapes piece I don't think, and he fits this narrative a lot better than some of the other folks mentioned I think, minus the attempt to raise his own profile that much). I can see how it is easy—and maybe a good time—to encapsulate it all at this very moment, as most of the folks involved are at least on record 2-3 of their current incarnations, but it is not a narrative I find that interesting despite the fact that we have kind of been hashing out a similar narrative over the last 4 years or so hah hah.

Ehhh, Jarnow mentioned Tower Recordings, which I guess suggests a whole slew of folks. My brain is mush.

seeing these different linealogies being laid out is interesting, but it is weird to see a scene you love slowly turn into one you don't

― ogmor, Sunday, July 31, 2016 12:23 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

haha i don't totally agree w/this but there is always something that's better about scenes before they become a "scene" in a way

or i guess that is to say i hope this stuff doesn't end up just codified as grateful dead-y indie rock

Three Lobed stuff up on Spotify now!

I feel like it's harder to have a 'scene' when it's like, a bunch of dudes who play guitar by themselves in their bedroom. I feel like I saw speculation that a lot of these current folks had band ambitions though and the solo guitar thing is a good way to get your foot in the door/noticed/etc

Ehh, I think it is a pretty broad mix of folks actually, as far as who is sitting and playing alone in their bedroom and who is not. I actually think most of those that had band ambitions always found time to play with others(Gunn, Bowles, Forsyth all examples) but are just now getting high profile band recognition. What I am interested in is how the folks playing in their bedrooms fit in! I think that is where a lot of the more interesting stuff is happening, or at least fills out the picture in a lot more of a flattering light from my perspective. I think a lot of the solo thing has to do with logistics, i.e., it is a lot easier to schedule time to play with yourself (and is a lot cheaper than keeping up a practice space), plus book a tour. Also, you get all the money when you do tour, so it is just a better monetary proposition. Paying a band is no joke, and scheduling time with that band on the road (when the money will probably be minimal) is also no joke. But yeah, playing solo with the lower overhead is probably a good idea for making connections and getting a little notice in order to ramp up to playing in a band, sure. None of it is easy in 2016, minus the playing in your bedroom and throwing stuff up on Bandcamp part (though I find it harder to do myself right now hah hah).

also easier to play solo when you play guitar

nice free music archive session from C Joynes here: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/C_Joynes/Live_at_WFMU_for_Surface_Noise_with_Joe_McGasko_7112016/

I'm all for the full band thing. An excess of solo players saturating the, err, market does no one any good. Gunn, Elkington, Meagher and Bowles--just for example--are all dynamite solo performers, but they shine brightest, imo, when they're together, the very definition of more than the sum of the parts.

I do think certain players are better on their own, but I don't think a lot of this current crop fit into the latter category. They're jammers (I don't mean that pejoratively), "band people" who grew up playing in bands. Can you imagine Robbie Basho "sitting in" with a band? No way.

That said, I'd kill to hear a "full band" Marisa Anderson album. Just in case she's reading this thread...

sorry, ignore the word 'latter' up there

anyone heard of Rhyton?? Thrill Jockey band? Probably more "post rock" than this thread but some of the songs intersect and honestly there's a 60s psych-meets-US Maple thing going on that i love

because US Maple is the Greatest Rock Band of the Last 20 years

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYm0hb0Y99U

some of it is way more folky and acoustic too

further investigation reveals one dude is from No Neck Blues Band! which kinda makes more sense...also another dude from a really obscure improv/psych band I have a record by called Matta Llama

rhyton is great -- new one is all over the place but in a good way. a joe walsh cover! some of it makes me think of sun city girls too.
been checking out the forthcoming xylouris white record and damn, it is amazing.
https://soundcloud.com/bella-union/xylouris-white-black-peak-single

yeah def sun city girls, a little cul de sac

william tyler - modern country has steadily grown on me since release, it's really a wonderful album, but it's so low key and vibey at first maybe i was a little let down because the EP w/the neu cover etc went in a little more over the top rock band jamming direction. however, this sort of weird ry cooder soundtrack meets krautrock meets fahey vibe is great and rewarding.

to ogmor's point, tbh the only people i think are really doing much that's 'new' right now are sarah louise and tashi dorji. that does not, however, mean that the rest of this stuff doesn't sound nice on a summer day, or is good to put on at a party, or to just ~chill out~ to and there's nothing wrong with that

i first listened to modern country half awake in a TSA line at 4am and then again while taking tram into denver, hit all the right spots

modern country has been perfect for hand surfing while i drive around rural vermont

to ogmor's point, tbh the only people i think are really doing much that's 'new' right now are sarah louise and tashi dorji.

metzger maybe but he's kind of sui generis and to attach him to this "scene" any more than tangentally would probably wouldn't be right

I think DBH has a very unique sensibility

wrt to "Modern Country" I agree it's a very chill mental landscape and w/current events as they are that has an increasing appeal

You're right, makes me yearn for the moment Real America will finally be restored! #voteTrump

jk

Thanks for reminding me about DBH though. I loved what I'd heard, will revisit now.

Mood is so gorgeous

ogmor was the one who introduced me to them/him, i don't know that much abt dbh actually though i love both albums to death

part of me would not be surprised if he came fingerpicking stuff from a whole different angle and wasn't even into fahey et al.

i mean, he's from the UK, yeah? prob drawing on a different folk tradition

you know i really dig his music but know really nothing about him, i think i like maintain a sense of mystery

was just listening to dbh's Mood -- really lovely record. need to check out more by him.

i found like, one video of him playing live, self-filmed on a phone or something and it was great but then he took it down. mystery man

Ogmor had posted some of him doing Estelle's American Boy and Hounds of Love by Kate Bush as fingerstyle instrumentals

can i get a repost there? curious to hear.

https://shaunweadick.bandcamp.com/album/sparrows-by-the-cross-at-menasen

nice, i'm always a sucker for "she moved through the fair"

Wild Reeds sounding like fresh air (not Terry Gross) in the Galazy Barn, I guess kicking off livestream of Pickathon:
http://livestream.com/pickathon/events/5911922

Galaxy Barn, that is.

Seeing Sarah Louise live for the first time next Tuesday and am very very psyched.

In the next 2 weeks I am going to get to see Sarah Louise and open for both People of the North and Mike & Cara Gangloff. Gonna be a good couple of weeks.

https://shaunweadick.bandcamp.com/album/sparrows-by-the-cross-at-menasen
― sean gramophone, Thursday, August 4, 2016 9:49 PM (4 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this is really nice, thanks! (actually saw today on Tyler's twitter but ya)

yeah i like it!

got to check out the new imaginational anthem - private press thing coming out soon, and seriously, it is fantastic. not the same old-same old by any stretch. lots of interesting surprises, all killer no filler.