TS: Lone Justice or Cruzados or Drivin' & Cryin' or Green On Red or Del Fuegos or Jason & The Scorchers or Long Ryders or Bodeans?

Lots of good stuff about her here

bookmarked. thank you.

this on that thread, from you...

kind of like Petty and Heartbreakers with a better Petty

...reminds me that, yeah, there's a lot of petty-ness in her presentation. and some neko case in that voice. and a little bit of leatherwoods in her songwriting sometimes. it's basically classic rock a decade or two later. real took a while to hit me but i really love it now.

including a (very good) cover of j bieber's "sorry."

except Petty would never stoop to such shenanigans

I know we're all poptimists now but boy oh boy I sure wish the "ironic cover song" would die already

it's the "rappin' granny" of indie rock

One 80s band not mentioned that kinda fits here is The Brandos which were a pretty twangy power pop band that liked the whole bola tie thing.

I sure wish the "ironic cover song" would die already

what makes you think lydia's cover was ironic?

I can only assume it was, given her influences seem to be firmly rooted in the rockist heartland alt country thing. Even if it wasn't ironic, the cover was likely met with that nervous knowing laughter from the crowd, and some cheers of recognition and "oh wow isn't that a ballsy move" and exchanged glances of "is she really...?!" and it's something I've seen a thousand times and never fails to bum me out. It's a cheap tactical move that, pre-poptimism, was viewed as such (see: the groans that greeted Fountains of Wayne's cover of "Hit Me Baby One More Time")

Don't mind me I'm old and cranky

I like all the Lydia Loveless I've heard in passing, especially the one album that has 'machine' in the title...

having witnessed it three days ago, i can assure you it didn't seem ironic and there was neither nervous laughter nor cheers of recognition nor exchanged glances anywhere around me. it was a straight, sober performance of a song that, both melodically and emotionally, fit in quite well with the rest of her set. if she had covered it on her most recent album, it wouldn't have seemed weird at all. also, it's a good song. she's never been shy about doing covers. she's four years older than bieber. i assume his music is part of her environment, same as it would be part of any 26-year-old's environment, and i assume she heard it and thought to herself, "damn, that's a good song."

i'm old and cranky too.

Fair enough. Didn't really consider how close in age they are. Sorta like how I'm finally getting over being surprised by hip garage-punk bands of twentysomethings citing Blink 182 as a legit musical influence

now listening, on the radio, on LA's no-longer-quite-classic-rock KLOS: dwight yoakam, on jonesy's jukebox, talking at length about the blasters, the carter family, the palomino club, the dissonant harmonies of x, etc., while jonesy plays music by dwight, x, etc., between talking segments. if you are in la at this exact minute and you are on this thread you should turn on your radio.

I am and I am, but I'm at work.

a really overproduced Bodeans song came on my ipod tonight, 'you don't get much'. which would have fit in nicely on any late 90s Mellencamp record.

can't believe the Sidewinders haven't been mentioned. Auntie Ramos' Pool Hall kills.

Re popside of Lydia Loveless, she's also mentioned independent-minded Robyn as an inspiration, and LL is the onlu artist on Bloodshot (so far/prob forever) to release remixes. Still sounds not too many light years from the Bloodshot side o' town, and none of her records fall too far from the family tree of this thread.

Speaking of which, I finally got around to Chuck Prophet's 2017 Bobby Fuller Died For Your Sins. He's checking in, noting that '16 was a bad year for rock 'n' roll deathwise, right from the beginning, but him and the boys carried on; later, only actually kinda slow and blue one has them finding an offnight situation, the moneyman's iffy, the doorman's insistent, "the bartender's out in the middle of the street with his pants around his neck....but we got up played and sang and tried to make it rain." Sounds moderately satisfied, although Prophet's not saying he follows the Lord's Example in "Jesus Was A Social Drinker, " but he can appreciate it, so "C'mon, wash me in the water, and I'll wash you."
Mostly it's stomp and jangle, a little bit of Radio Shack "vintage" synth, most noticable, though still blending in, on the deadication to Alan Vega, doin' it with one foot on the altar, one foot on the grave (lively, though maybe a little too long).
Also like the one where he recalls how him and his lost brother used to dress up like astronauts to trick-or-treat--this right before he explains again that all the sweet things he means to tell you are "Coming Out In Code."
He's been watching the news, he knows about the guy who's a jangle-stomping "Killing Machine," having walked into a store and bought a gun, no prob, and there's store girl, takin' a smoke break---also the real life case of "Alex Nieto," shot dead by cops: they thought the taser, which he wore for his job and pointed at them during a confused argument, was a gun. Should they have handled it quite like that uh-well-ah
Fave so far is the one where he dreams about being Connie Britton, brushing her hair everyday, and driving her pink Caddy "up above the clouds, 'til the Trumpets sound, and then I might come down." Bunch of others too, I don't like 'em all, but they're all here:
https://chuckprophet.bandcamp.com/album/bobby-fuller-died-for-your-sins-2

http://yeproc.11spot.com/media/catalog/product/cache/12/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/d/a/davealvinandphilalvin_hardtravelin_cover_sm.jpg

Dave Alvin & Phil Alvin continue their reunion with a four-song EP. Originally released on vinyl for Record Store Day 2017, this limited edition CD includes “Hard Travelin’” (Woody Guthrie), “Mean Ole Frisco” (Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup, “California Desert Blues” (Lane Hardin) and “Kansas City Blues” (Jim Jackson).

This CD is available exclusively from the Yep Roc store and at Dave Alvin live shows while supplies last. Amazon's got the ltd. ed. vinyl for $29.99, Yep Roc lists CD for $9.00. Hadn't heard about this EP.

Which reminds me, recently posted this on the Blasters thread:

yeah so in my experience, Phil is exactly like the close-up portrait (executed in the spirit of the bold urban realist painter George Bellows)on the cover of the Blasters' s/t debut: kind of a rugged moonscape, except heated up, a little flushed, but not too, just a workin' man, with a ripplin' range of big white teeth in the spotlight, eyes closed, into it---live, he's also bobbing around, eyes still closed or tending to be, always seemed, in sound & visual, like something like an orbiting human jukebox of hot songs from several genres, a songster, as they used to say, making his moeny on the road in the great tradition---"Just think of your records as callin' cards, son," the suits started saying way back---so Al Jolson, one of the first if not the first of the record stars, quit recording for a while---reminds me, Will Friedwald, who specializes in writing about American singers, once mentioned in passing,"It was a given in his heyday that Johnnie Ray was a missing link between Jolson and Elvis"---hadn't thought of those two in the same chain, but listened to some Jolson (he came back to recording, got past "Mammy"), and yeah.
Thinking of Phil in more of a direct line to and from Jimmie Rodgers, who was country as in Asheville-before-Nashville: music halls, incl. minstrel at first---he sang or at least posed in blackface, later recorded with Louis Armstrong, frequently had the jazz-blues-country-Tin-Pan-Alley thing going on, vaudeville-wise, and Phil can seem like rockin' vaudeville, and of course there's Rodgers' "Never No Mo' Blues," on The Blasters, and another version on a comp I can't locate at the moment, but even more made me wonder about what if JR lived on into the 50s, the way he adapted to trends, though the take I'm thinking of wasn't exactly rockabilly in the usual sense (reminding myself now that Elvis did rework "Blue Moon of Kentucky").
Another one of the more obvious examples would be the cover of "Old Man of the Mountain," the Cab Calloway song, with Sun Ra and His Arkestra rolling along in the moonlight, no prob---on Phil's amazing Un "Sung" Stories. But really all the time, yeah go see the Blasters.

If this doesn't show, it's the cover of Dave Alvin and Jimmie Dale Gilmore's From Downey To Lubbock, out June 1:

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/91EFdBbX9lL._SL1400_.jpg

Oops, should've incl

DOWNEY TO LUBBOCK was born by immaculate inspiration from live shows Grammy winner Dave Alvin and Grammy nominee Jimmie Dale Gilmore performed together in 2017. Just the two of them were swapping songs and cutting up, each with a guitar and a heart full of soul, musicians who ve been on the road their entire adult lives. The result is an album of blues, rock and folk inspired tunes that both of their fans will enjoy. The album contains 12 songs - 10 covers and two originals - and is destined to be a classic Americana album from two Americana legends. (on Yep Roc)

More blues than I expected, more than I've heard from Jimmie Dale for sure, but his voice and feel fit just fine---"I'm old Flatlander from the high plains," he sez in title-track opener, which is redundant--who would listen to this album without knowing the bio basics? Pretty sure most all their fans are old fans--but still it's a good capsule description of his sound and sensibility. Dig the way they find musical payoffs in the steady march through "You don't believe I love you look at the fool I been you don't believe I love you look at the hole I'm in" and keep going "back to my same ol' used to be," and now sounding pretty proud of himself/sassy with the wry--it is a jug band blues after all: "Stealin' Stealin" by Memphis Jug Band's Wiil Shade.
Even more oops factor in the even ever-more-timely "Get Together" (candidly precarious hopefulness of the verses coming through more clearly to me than on the Youngbloods' verses, so chorus more urgent and troubled too), and "Deportee--Plane Wreck At Los Gatos." Best Dave solos prob on "KC Moan," about which he quotes Jimmie Dale,"There is a time for more Blue Cheer and less Blue Cheer, and this is a time for more." Also good outward bound picking on "Walk On." Only a couple of geezer-snoozers, I think.
Whole thing's here:
https://davealvin.bandcamp.com/album/downey-to-lubbock

Youngbloods' "version," I meant, not "verses."(The song was written by Chet Powers AKA Dino Valente, later of Quicksilver Messenger Service.)

The Long Ryders Return With Help From Dr. Dre: Listen to New Song 'Greenville'

(the song is a little tom petty-ish and a little every single band in the title of this thread.)

Oh yeah, still need to check that album, thanks for the reminder.
Still coming out of a bronchial wet blanket, got braced by this lil palette cleanser, all 17 minutes and 57 seconds of, it CD and vinyl EP. Marvin E., who also worked with the Ramones, sure knows how to load that milk wagon sound----double Maria here, her and Ryan there, him up front, Rolling Thunderite David Mansfield's fiddle and steel over yonder, shotgun of Dave H.'s bass, Don W.'s drums, co-writes, solo, and their greatest cover making its debut---the only track that needs turning up, but so worth it. Etzioni provides succinct, pertinent notes on all songs.

First-ever collection of the earliest, original Lone Justice’s demos.

“Maria & I woodshedded for almost a year before we were ready to take the music we had uncovered out into the clubs. This is the original line-up of Lone Justice.”
—Ryan Hedgecock

Musician and producer Marvin Etzioni first saw Maria McKee and Ryan Hedgecock in a club in 1982, playing George Jones and Hank Williams covers. He convinced them they needed original material. After working and writing, the band added Dave Harrington (bass) and Don Willens (drums), the band worked up material with Etzioni and cut 5 of the 6 tracks at the famed Record Plant. An earlier session provides the 6th track.

The Western Tapes: 1983 exhibits the genesis of this highly-influential band. While the original demo version of “Drugstore Cowboy” has appeared on various compilations, the remainder of the other tracks from the sessions have remained in the can. Two of the tracks appear in their earliest demo form and wound up landing on the classic 1988 Lone Justice debut, “Working Late” and “Don’t Toss Us Away” (written by Maria’s half-brother, Bryan MacLean of the classic band, Love) which would eventually become a Top 5 smash for Country superstar Patty Loveless.

Released in conjunction with the band, the 12″ and CD EP were mastered by Bernie Grundman (who also cut the 45 RPM lacquers). It’s a look into where they started and foretells where they would go.

As Etzioni (who would later join the band) says in his liner notes: “With countless hours together, it was a fun and innocent time. I believed we were creating a 21st century country band.”

They created much, much more.

CD EP / 12″ EP TRACK LIST:
WORKING LATE
DON’T TOSS US AWAY
I SEE IT
THE TRAIN
DRUGSTORE COWBOY*
HOW LONESOME LIFE HAS BEEN
All tracks previously unissued except *
12″ EP does not include a download card
Cat: OV-305

Someone posted their debut on a fb group, and one of the commenters talked about how LJ had this burgeoning following in LA and Dolly Parton was coming to see them, but when Iovine got hold of them, suddenly it was "Maria McKee and the Heartbreakers," which wasn't what they sounded like/wanted to sound like.

McKee talks about early LJ days/dealing with record company weasels here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwSGS9xxaI0

Thanks! We hadden nog geen maatschapij dammit---not that she didn't already project theatricality, and if it had to be Heartbreakers and Big 80s blare by suits' decree also (whose idea was it to bring in Little Steven as producer?), LJ handled it well enough, for the most part. Don't sleep on her solo albums tho.
Speaking of Unchained 1983, more from way upthread, finally legit 5 years ago:

This Is Lone Justice: The Vaught Tapes 1983----blasting their club set in a good li'l studio. No stereo-typical 80s glitz; like the booklet says, "quick and dirty," never blurry, though a few of the originals could use more well-thought-out trad lifts/folk process, a la "Soap Soup And Salvation," which makes well-timed use of "When The Roll Is Called Up Yonder" without getting mawkish; good speedy, confident cover of "Jackson" too. "This Is World Is Not My Home" goes from Carter Family/Woody G. rumination to poignant-with-a-beat "Soap"-style convocation to whooo, ready to meet them angels with sum white line fever (this would be the punkabilly or cowpunk, I take it).

12 tracks of prime Lone Justice recorded in 1983 with 9 previously unissued performances!
It can be difficult to capture the live power of a band on a studio recording. Thankfully, Lone Justice (Maria McKee, Ryan Hedgecock, Marvin Etzioni, and Don Heffington) went into Suite 16 Studios in December of 1983 and laid down much of the set list they were packing Los Angeles area clubs with.

Recorded direct to 2-track tape by engineer David Vaught and with no overdubs, those twelve tracks can finally be heard in their entirety as This Is Lone Justice: The Vaught Tapes, 1983. As Billboard’s Chris Morris writes in his liner notes, the release “offers the best representation of the band in its infancy—hot, full of piss and vinegar, and ready to take on the world.”

Nine of these twelve tracks are previously unissued, and include originals (including “Soap, Soup And Salvation”, which would appear on their Geffen debut two years later) to the covers they made their own in concert (Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash’s “Jackson” and “Nothing Can Stop My Loving You,” written by George Jones and Roger Miller.)

Available on CD and LP (with the first pressing on translucent red vinyl), in addition to Morris’ liners, the package contains an essay from the band’s Ryan Hedgecock, as well as a remembrance of David Vaught from Marvin Etzioni and a loving endorsement from Dolly Parton. With unseen photos and memorabilia, this collection is what Lone Justice fans have been waiting for. This Is Lone Justice: The Vaught Tapes, 1983 takes us back to a time when music had an energy that was hard to contain. Thanks to that studio in Van Nuys, CA, and this release, Justice has been served!

CD / LP / DIGITAL TRACK LIST:
NOTHING CAN STOP ME LOVING YOU
JACKSON
SOAP, SOUP AND SALVATION
THE GRAPES OF WRATH
DUSTBOWL DEPRESSION TIME
RATTLESNAKE MAMA*
VIGILANTE
WORKING MAN’S BLUES*
CACTUS ROSE
WHEN LOVE COMES HOME TO STAY
COTTON BELT
THIS WORLD IS NOT MY HOME*
All tracks previously unissued except *
LP includes download card.
Cat: OV-77

Artist: Jason Ringenberg
Album Title: Stand Tall
Release Date: February 7, 2019
Album synopsis:
The history of popular music is filled with stories of nature inspiring great works. This happens to be the case for Americana music legend Jason Ringenberg’s latest album, Stand Tall, which was conceived in one of the most awe-inspiring places on earth.

Stand Tall was literally inspired by trees--and, as the title suggests, very big ones at that. The album was penned in June 2017 while Ringenberg was commissioned as the artist in residence at Sequoia National Park in northern California. There, the National Park Service provided him with the unique opportunity to occupy a remote mountain cabin for a full uninterrupted months’ time, in order to write and work on his music.

“I found that spending so much time alone in that primal wilderness did wonders for my songwriting,” said Ringenberg, and indeed, this is reflected on Stand Tall, a record filled with characters on a mission. Ringenberg’s point-of-view subjects bounce from time period to time period, ranging from John the Baptist (“John the Baptist was a Real Humdinger”) to John Muir (“John Muir Stood Here”) to a disillusioned Confederate conscript (I’m Walking Home”)--and even his own personal experiences, in particular opening for the Ramones on a string of Texas dates in 1982 (“God Bless the Ramones”).
"Ringenberg, like fellow Nashville resident Jim Lauderdale, should be now be considered icons of determination with careers that have gone through ups and downs but now care only to make the kind of music that they feel in their souls. Both are decent men doing the very best they can to make the world a better place (musically at least). Take a bow and stand tall Jason.”--Stephen Rapid, Lonesome Highway

"Ringenberg has a strong knack for stories and word play, and presents it all honestly, (with a grin or two along the way). Ringenberg remains one of our living legends and it’s great to hear from him again.”--Jim Hynes, Making a Scene
"This is a collection that adds to the legacy, never mind anything else. Jason Ringenberg is still scorching. And you best believe that here everything – and not just the trees – is standing tall."--Hugh Deneal, Maximum Volume

hearing Lone Justice with less 80s production is pretty exciting prospect

news from Chuck Prophet:

Folks,

We’ve got tour dates all over creation with the Mighty Mission Express starting today at the Huichica Music Festival in Sonoma, CA. I’ll get to those in a hot minute.

But first, in other news…

THE RUBINOOS

Over the past months I produced a new RUBINOOS [rhymes with two canoes] LP "FROM HOME” for Yep Roc Records. I probably saw the Rubinoos like 20 times in high school. Although I’m not a power pop bubblegum nerd or whatever, I loved how they were true to their school. Be it Spaghetti Western soundtrack music or the Archies, The Beach Boys, The DeFranco Family, or the Jackson 5, they knew what they loved. And wore it on their sleeves. Rubinoos AF.

After those first couple LP’s, The Rubinoos took the hero's journey and it wasn’t all glorious. Sure they opened 56 shows for Elvis Costello during the Armed Forces tour. Appeared on American Bandstand. Made the pages of Tiger Beat. But before too long Tommy and Jon moved to LA, and Donno and Al took other gigs.

Jon went on to appear as the Doo Wop singing/pizza delivery boy on a number of Sitcoms. Tommy eventually got a Tux and the Real Fake Book and played his share of society gigs. Tommy and Jon did ghost vocal sessions with Kim Fowley for drag queen records. [Or "Fowl Kimley" as Jon calls him.] There were new records with session drummers. Along the way they sang the demo for the Revenge of the Nerds theme song and it was so good ended up in the movie which just further confused people.

But now they're back. Getting all the original guys back together to make this new record was a big deal to me.

And you can read about this new record and hear the premiere and watch the video for their new single "Do You Remember” over at Billboard Magazine. Bring Pop back to the common man!

LINK: https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/rock/8511493/the-rubinoos-do-you-remember

Or jump straight to this video starring Salvadoran dancing sensation Aranivah.

LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Re88FR9rxKc

BETTER CALL UP THE PLUMBER!

Be with us on June 29th at The City Winery NYC to celebrate beloved New York icon Garland Jeffrey, who is doing his last shows. The sexiest man in Scandinavia! The poet laureate of Sheepshead Bay Brooklyn! is retiring from the stage. Stephie and I will be guesting on a song or two. Also on the bill, David Johansen and more. Some tickets still left for the early show. What can I tell you about our old friend Garland? (People get a kick out of hearing he was Lou Reed’s college roommate. Who swept the floor? With who?)

THEY GAVE DUDE A BEEPER

Oh, and another thing. File under: "They gave the Dude a beeper”. Yessir, they gave me a radio show on the Gimme Country Network. I’m spinning lots of 50’s, 60's country. Nashville cats, Wrecking Crew side streets, yodeling cowboys, honky-tonkers, swampers, truckers, rockabilly cats and more. You name it. All that stuff, that funk, that sweet, that funky stuff [Say what].

MORE HERE: https://www.gimmecountry.com/#/radio

Onwards,

Right on. I'm super into Green on Red's Gas Food Lodging LP rn

I saw Dan Stuart (Green on Red frontman) solo earlier this week in a bar for about 10 people. Looking like a retiree, and talked about being out of the music world for about 15 years. Still magnetic.

For the encore, he asked if anyone wanted to hear any Green on Red, and someone said "Time Ain't Nothin'." And he played the most beautiful and slow and mellow version of it.

Listened to Gas Food Lodging on my way home from that show. It really feels like it fits alongside Nebraska, in capturing a early-80s recession helplessness and poverty. But capping it off with a cover of "We Shall Overcome" keeps it from being pitch black all the way through.

This song was powerful too:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KA3jWVaya9E

Yeah I totally get Nebraska vibes from the album too. Or, like I was thinking a few days ago, maybe residing somewhere between ditch-era Neil and the Gun Club. But Stuart on, say, "Sixteen Ways" or even "Illustrated Crawling" off their first EP, lays it on so thick and goes so over-the-top with the hard-luck desperation that it almost anticipates early Pixies or something

Like if Nebraska is sort of the gold standard of "dark roots rock" then "Sixteen Ways"/"Illustrated Crawling" pushes it a step further into grotesquerie and absurdity, and then, like "Nimrod's Son" or "The Holiday Song" takes it a step beyond that

From latest Chuck Prophet newsletter:
First off, in case it got past you, I filmed a travel show for Southwest Air and Luck Reunion. A kind of Anthony Bourdain styled show where you can ride shotgun with me and Aaron Lee Tasjan through the backstreets of San Francisco. The Luck Reunion team are brilliant. This ain't some insidious internet trash. There are real production values. I think you'll enjoy it.

https://southwest.fm/sites-and-sounds/episode-3/

Now that I've got some portion of your attention, I’ve got gigs coming up, and without you there it wouldn't quite seem right. For now though, allow me to fire up this Trader Joe’s Candle, dim the lights and put on this Miles Davis record ["Lift To The Scaffold” - my go-to Miles jam]. Oh the sweetness of doing nothing! yadda yadda Well, I’ve got my own reasons to feel a little bit hopeful. Such as my new record coming down the pike. Soon we'll have a release date and everything. And if that isn't a better tomorrow, for ourselves, and the children of the world, I don’t know what is.

I also look forward to going out and playing the gigs mentioned above, some SOLO, and some with the Steph and the boys. (Check out my crazy asterisk and pound sign system below. I'm patenting the app as we speak.) I'll even be taking songs off the new album out for a spin.
And then there's my great good fortune to be playing some gigs with the mighty Mission Express. The greatest lineup I’ve ever played with out there on the hillbilly highway. And I'm still managing to get lost in it. Not lost lost. Chet Baker lost. Lost in the music.

GIGSVILLE: Get up to the minute details on live shows here: http://chuckprophet.com/gigs/
-----------------------------------------------------------

1/9/2020 LOS ANGELES CA HOTEL CAFE***
1/17/2020 HOUSTON TX THE HEIGHTS THEATER#
1/18/2020 DALLAS TX THE KESSLER THEATER#
1/19/2020 OKLAHOMA CITY OK THE BLUE DOOR*
1/22/2020 EASTON MD STOLZ LISTENING ROOM*
1/23/2020 BALTIMORE MD CREATIVE ALLIANCE AT THE PATTERSON*
1/24/2020 STATEN ISLAND NY HEFFERNAN’S HOUSE CONCERT*
1/25/2020 MONTCLAIR NJ OUTPOST IN THE BURBS*
1/26/2020 WASHINGTON DC THREE DOG SOUND HOUSE CONCERT*
1/28/2020 COLUMBUS OH NATALIE’S GRANDVIEW*
1/29/2020 PITTSBURGH PA CLUB CAFE*
1/30/2020 HARRISBURG PA NOTE WINE BAR*
1/31/2020 SELLERSVILLE PA SELLERSVILLE THEATER*
2/1/2020 VIENNA VA JAMMIN JAVA*
2/28/2020 DENVER CO SWALLOW HILL/DANIELS HALL*
2/29/2020 FORT COLLINS CO MAGIC RAT*
3/13/2020 AUSTIN TX CONTINENTAL CLUB**
3/14/2020 AUSTIN TX CONTINENTAL CLUB**

CHUCK PROPHET SOLO*
CHUCK PROPHET SOLO - CO-BILL WITH JOSH ROUSE #
CHUCK PROPHET SOLO - SUPPORT TO JESSE MALIN ***
CHUCK PROPHET & THE MISSION EXPRESS **

Update from guess who (no, not The Guess Who):

You heard it here first (unless you didn't). I’ve got a new record coming out on May 15 called “The Land That Time Forgot.” On Yep Roc Records. In fact, today’s the day we’re releasing the first single,“Marathon," complete with a swanky video directed by Darrell Flowers and edited by Lauren Tabak which features some fancy footwork from me and Stephie as we trade punches.

Watch/stream "Marathon," and pre-order the album here: https://ffm.to/landtimeforgot

What can I tell you? I can tell you this:

I wasn’t too pleased to learn that Jason Isbell is releasing his new record the very same day as mine.

So I sent a message to Jason and said, “I think it’s only fair that you change your release date.”

He replied and got straight to the point: “Chuck, you know I can’t do that.”

So I said, “You know Jason, I don’t know how this makes me feel. Actually I DO know how it makes me feel. It makes me feel like Amy Klobuchar. I mean I’m in the running and everything but I feel like people treat me as if I’m the person that runs the concession stand at a Little League game. I’m a serious artist, Jason!"

(As you can see, we're on a first-name basis.)

Well, he calmed me down and reasoned, “Chuck, at least we will get people to the polls. I mean the record stores. And once they get in there they can vote however they like. It's their country. Or their record collection as the case might be. Maybe they buy Jason Isbell, maybe they buy Chuck Klobuchar.”

That hurt a little, I won't lie.

But on reflection I thought it sounded pretty reasonable. And reminded myself that Jason is younger and better looking and he probably knows a thing or three.

[DISCLAIMER: This interchange is as I recall it. Jason may not remember it this way. But it definitely happened.]

So, what about this new record? Rock ‘n’ roll has always been about hope and despair, falling apart and picking up the pieces, romance and heartbreak, whistling past the graveyard with a bad moon rising. And San Francisco is all of those things. A place of new beginnings and reinventing yourself married just lately to a bottomless pit of greed filled with robots with ironic haircuts.

When it came to recording, we were priced out of our home turf and ended up in a studio a few miles from the Vermont border where I could hear myself think – which was pretty f*cking scary! Recording with some rock and roll royalty who dressed like lumberjacks in a big old mansion that’s on the National Historic Register.

Musically speaking, this is a radical departure for me. I usually lean on the Rockpile by way of Highway 61 template more than Alison Krauss. But this record has a lot of acoustic energy. It’s a folk record even, in spots. All that with a heaping scoop of Stephanie Finch jump, jiving and harmonizing her way down that old fair lane.

klipschutz and I had a lot of lunches and arguments. You don't want to know how sausage is made, I assume (though it's actually kind of fascinating, but whatever). So what can I say about the first single "Marathon"? It’s seems kind of nostalgic. But it’s not. Once you get past the krautrock bassline and The Everly Brothers acoustics and the relentless groove of The Mission Express, it’s a song about Depression era dances with roots in the Salem Witch Trials and the anxiety of anyone today who’s short on rent again. The gig economy. Reality shows. Exploitation. Dance marathons of the Great Depression were the first reality shows. And like Pro Wrestling, blurred the line between theatre and reality. Okay, I’ll spare you any more MFA gibberish, I gotta run. I got the Discovery Channel on and Naked and Afraid is up next.

Again, watch/stream "Marathon," and pre-order the album here: https://ffm.to/landtimeforgot

(Get up to the minute details on live shows here:
http://chuckprophet.com/gigs/)

he's got a couple of 2020 releases added to his bandcamp now: Strings In The Temple is a live one-off from 2013, a performance of 2012's Temple Beautiful, with the added backing of string octet (scored and conducted by Brad Jones) in our hometown of San Francisco.

We had one chance to get it right. And this film is a document of the twists and turns in the road that brought us to that one-night-only sold-out performance at the Great American Music Hall (Itself a former bordello and a deco SF institution).

The songs performed that night include characters like Willie Mays, martyred supervisor Harvey Milk, Cain & Abel porn kings Jim & Artie Mitchell, mythic oddball "Red Man," preacher/Svengali Jim Jones, politician-turned assassin Dan White, and Emperor Norton...[ yeah, the film's on youtube, I think---but this is enough for me. Most of the songs seem too soft---sentimental and soft on Chuck, over- and underworked, with lots of detailed imagery and Deep turns of phrase that go nowhere much, even when some of the historical "references" are explained in his bandcamp comments. Although the one from POV of Emperor Norton kind of works,in a John Calean way, and "I Felt Like Jesus" is def. Chuck, also Caleian, but here not impending doom so much as the catchy concise pop goes the violets of vio-oh-lence-mode of Chuck and Cale.
Maybe a couple of other exceptions, but overall if you liked the songs already, you'll prob like them even better with these strings, and even if you don't like 'em, strings still help, so mission accomplished either way.
https://chuckprophet.bandcamp.com/album/strings-in-the-temple-live-with-orchestra-at-the-great-american-music-hall

The latest 2020 release is all-new The Land That Time Forgot, and the sound is more mild-mannered than expected for post-Temple presentations---I was expecting something more like 2017's Bobby Fuller Died For Your Sins, talked about upthread and still on bandcamp---but, given that, most of it works better than Temple. even in perhaps delib contrast w rock references---this would make a nice single, kind of like Randy Newman with a better voice:
If Bukowski was good looking
And Napoleon was tall
If Joan of Arc just took her meds
She’d be a movie star
If up was down and down was up
Imagine where we’d be
The New York Dolls would still be here
And music would be free

And I’d be high
As high as Johnny Thunders
In the land that time forgot
High as Johnny Thunders

...And if families stayed together
I’d have a window seat
And all the children of the world
Would have enough to eat
If heartbreak was a virtue
Man, I’d be so virtuous
To get back in your pants
I might hijack a city bus

And I’d be high...

Ditto the lonesome kids who "cranked Metallica" and partied:

Nilli said, “I had a body once
Willie, you have no idea
I could make a grown man bark all night
Anytime, anywhere”
Willie said, “I had a lion’s mane,
Now I sing at the top of my lungs
Till the neighbors get the broomsticks out
And the cops all sing along”

They’d be singing
Love me like I wanna be loved

"Paying My Respects To The Train" could be a bonus track for Buffalo Springfield's Last Time Around, and "Nixonland" has a suitably ominous vibe, though no Neilian guitar waves, still:Just last night I fantasized I was in a time machine
Walking hand in hand with my sister there
Along the San Clemente beach

My fourth grade class took a field trip once
To pay tribute to the man
Did I ever tell you that I was born
In the heart of Nixonland?
But then it gets to some bits of Nixoncana which you might find familiar, maybe from Rick Pearlstein's book---eventually another glimpse from the narrator's own early takes, maybe:
He had a wife and two daughters too
They were with him right up until the end
Holed up like four refugees
High on a cliff over NixonlandMake up your own Neil solos!

"Meet Me At The Roundabout" is kind of early Springsteen turning into Alex Chilton, when it gets to this part:
You took me to a Catholic priest
And I took you to a whore
You took the breath right out of me
Against your kitchen door
We’ve got no obligations
No one to impress
Go on and ask me anything
The answer will be yes

"Womankind" seems Bruce Randy Chilton as hell:
Man made that, man made this
He made the blow-up doll
He made the iron fist
But he didn’t make the wind
And he didn’t make the rain
Or the cold sunshine
On a winter’s day

Meet me down by the powerlines...
Man made this, and man made that
He made the parking lot
He made the pork pie hat
But you carried a child
And you taught it to live
While they short you every hour
For the time you put in

Meet me down by the powerlines

---and a crucial verse in "Waving Goodbye" also seems Chiltonesque in some ways. Still others---well anyway, it won me over, for the most part:
https://chuckprophet.bandcamp.com/album/the-land-that-time-forgot

https://chuckprophet.bandcamp.com/album/the-land-that-time-forgot

Lone Justice and Jason & the Scorchers, I remember them, or rather know of them -
Jimmy Guterman (RIP) was an enormous fan and something he wrote in the mid-'90s (long after they took a shot with a major label) became my introduction to them. I found out later that he wrote gushing reviews for at least one of their debut records for Rolling Stone back in the day, and given his tastes, it's no surprise that he would love them - he was an enormous roots music fan, especially country music, and his favorites leaned heavily in that direction.

Fervor (the later pressing that adds "Absolutely Sweet Marie") and Lost & Found are excellent, fine cowpunk tracing the path from Gram Parsons to alt-country, and Lone Justice's pre-Geffen recordings are nearly as good. (Their meat-and-potatoes debut LP is still enjoyable, but everything they did for Geffen feels compromised, a calculated attempt at mainstream success.)

You might like some of those this-century-released collections of very early, live and studio Lone Justice tracks, finally legit, as discussed upthread. Some of the Maria Ronstadt & The Heartbreakers-type productions were later remastered with Big 80s blare toned down to an extent, on The Millenium Collection for inst, and they always had the songs and skills.

from Rolling Reissues 2020:

I also received the first two The Primevals albums directly from LTM. The reissues were from 2015, but I was not aware of them until recently. RIYL The Gun Club, Cramps, Crazy Horse, Eleventh Dream Day.I wrote about Sound Hole (1986) herehttps://fastnbulbous.com/between-the-cracks-1986-compendium/

--fastnbulbous

Thanks dow! Omnivore's a great label, so while it's a surprise that quite a bit of this early material has gotten a legitimate release, it's not a surprise that it's coming from them. I still have bootlegs but they sound atrocious - they sound like nth-generation cassette dubs that have been heavily processed with noise reduction. Almost impossible to enjoy, so it's pretty awesome that I can start replacing them.

Comments from Nashville Scene ballot (re hacked-in Imaginary Categories):
In the middle of this our life, Maria McKee comes to a clearing and plunges fearlessly into thickets of imagery, following her Beatrice not into Afterworlds, so much as La Vita Nuova ---she to whom the term “Pre-Raphaelite” has long been among the many applied, so you can also call some of these blossoms Pre-R glam or art folk rock, though sometimes it’s just her tirelessly faithful piano, maybe with upright bass, or poised orchestral sojourns---and her voice is in great shape for answering all calls and seeking more. Almost as exhausting as it is astonishing to listen to all the way through with no bathroom breaks, nevertheless it always pulls me right around the rim ov void, along the path of Passion. While she sings and plays and conducts it, I’m a believer, pert near--no time or space to think otherwise, in my case.

Yeah, that one has been talked about a (small) bit at Lone Justice/Maria McKee.

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

bears repeating: this song still rules ^

listening to the 83 Lone Justice demos mentioned upthread, real fun stuff they were a scrappy cowpunk band

I'll cue up the McKee album.

No dedicated Long Ryders thread?

RIP Tom Stevens :(

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

Latest Chuck Prophet newsletter: on the bill of the first new Mountain Stage show in quite a while (because covid), which started airing/streaming yesterday, check site and stations https://www.mountainstage.org/radio/Pages/Radio-Affiliates.aspx Links to pay-per-view concerts coming up later this month:https://www.stageit.com/chuck_prophet_the_mission_express/mid_season_replacement_show_uk/95798 and https://www.stageit.com/chuck_prophet_the_mission_express/mid_season_replacement_show_us/95799, also a lot of other other recent items & linkshttp://chuckprophet.com/

RIP to Lone Justice drummer Don Heffington. I think he had a distinguished career as a session man, did he not?

Pulled out the 'Gas Food Lodging/Green on Red ep' CD for 3x spins in the past couple of days. It is interesting how different the band sound is on the EP to the LP. The s/t EP very much has a 60s garage psych sound and the second one is cold tapping the stones w/dylan's organ sound. Dan Sturt's voice also kinda reminds me a bit of Bonnie Prince Billy.

Yeah, Prophet mentioned somewhere that they had some major disagreements about musical directions.

xpost from Lone Justice/Maria McKee:

2021 is a trip. I learned that the LJ/MM's long time drummer passed away via Van Dyke Parks' twitter:

R.I.P. blessed Percussionist Don Heffington (12/20/‘50-3/24/‘21).
R.I.P. old Saddle Buddy. pic.twitter.com/JF0cO6ehWt
— Van Dyke Parks (@thevandykeparks) March 24, 2021

― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Wednesday, March 24, 2021 7:39 PM (one month ago) bookmarkflaglink

Oh man! The impression that I got from booklets w LJ reissues and prev. unreleased on Omnivore was that he was pretty involved in working up a lot of arrangements, when the suits didn't get in the way; also, as wiki sez: Don Heffington was an American drummer, percussionist, and songwriter. He is known for his solo albums, his work with Lone Justice, and his extensive touring and session work with artists such as Lowell George, Bob Dylan, Emmylou Harris, Jackson Browne, Barry Goldberg, Big Kettle Drum, and Victoria Williams. Much more here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Heffington

---dow

(If I didn't get it all in here, 2020 was quite a year for prev. unreleased etc. Dave Alvin & friends, as noted on his own thread)(and/or the Blasters' thread, hard to keep 'em all lined up)

This mind-melting curation of early live recordings by The Dream Syndicate is testimony from a witness: Los Angeles writer Matthew Specktor. He has created three live albums that carry you from the band’s first show, through “The Days of Wine and Roses,” and into a full live preview of “The Medicine Show.”

Download it from this page, which also incl. Specktor's notes (would like to read his forthcoming memoir, Always Crashing In The Same Car);
https://saveyourface.posthaven.com/the-dream-syndicate-live-1982-1983