Rolling Country 2006 Thread

My copy of the Rhonda Towns (her name makes me think of former mining communities in South Wales but that's British people for you) arrived yesterday. First reaction is that it's mixed but when it hits, it really hits. I can't get enough of this slightly retro sounding modern country(politan), further recommendations welcomed.

http://cdbaby.com/cd/mikomarks

And this is the Stoney Edwards CD comp I swear by:

http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:cze997y0krrt

It occurs to me that one thing I hate about Steve Earle's version of "Rednecks" is that he really overplays its conceit, trying way too hard to sing it *like* a redneck (which Randy didn't really need to do at all), and it comes out ridiculous. I also have a feeling that Earle thinks using the N-word is hugely transgressive or some shit; he seems to give it this emphasis for no reason, like "look at me, I'm saying 'nigger', am I a renegade or what?" Though maybe I just imagined that. In contrast, Sonny Landreth (who has never done anything for me, inasmuch as I remember listening to him) really *underplays* "Louisiana 1927," and it's not great, but I don't mind it nearly as much. Maybe it's just that it would be really hard for *anybody* to do that song unmovingly now. (Well, except Steve Earle maybe, if he tried it.) Album also has the Duhks doing "Political Science," by the way, which I look forward to coming up on my random CD changer but it hasn't yet, and I've been too lazy to go un-random.

And Don, yes, I did get your Shackshakers thing. Thanks.

obviously, I'm a fan of Newman's, altho sometimes the cheap shots are a bit much, and it's not the sort of expansive, life-affirming music that I need to counterbalance my dark nites of the soul, etc.

and Don, shit, you absolutely need the Everly's "Roots." If you like the one I sent you. There are maybe 6 or 7 essential "country-rock" records, I went back and listened to a ton of that crap recently, and "Roots" probably beats 'em all except for maybe "Gilded Palace."

well, I'm having no problems with Jessi's record, after a few listens. I really love "Starman" and "You Can Pick 'Em" and "Out of the Rain," somehow the laggy electric piano on this record seems to establish a mood that's reflective but not too wet--she's wandering around the desert and she's staying cool, hydrated, remembering how Waylon used to laugh, maybe. for me, simple-minded fool I am, I just love the groove on most of this, like on "Velvet and Steel." and how she doesn't try too hard to be sexy, like she needs to try.

Shotgun Shack (see www.shotgun-shack.com) "My Guitar is a Memory" is really good if you think of it as a single with four extraneous alt-country B-sides ("recorded live one afternoon at Loho Studios in NYC"), less so if you think of it as an EP; your choice. I guess the second best song is "Welcome Back to the Nest." Title cut (opening couplet: "I got left outside of Austin, my guitar's still in the truck/Daaaaale Watson says he just ran out of luck") kicks much ass.
-- xhuxk (xedd...), November 16th, 2005.

All the contestants are so supremely confident, ambitious and grandiose in their plans, they're unnerving. But that's a common trait, I suppose, in reality 'reach for your dream' TV. You can't be a nebbish with a bit of doubt or desperation in your eye, until you get voted off, like Jewels Harrison did last night.

Criticisms wind up sounding stupid. Big could think of nothing to say that was clever one time so he chirped at the next to last guy for having too many of Steve Earle's stage moves. Shut it, Big. The dude was fine.

B&R opened the show with their hard rockin' "Comin' To You City." I can't follow the reasoning behind putting the midget/dwarf/little person with God Bless Tiny Tim canes/crutches onstage to rock out and grimace at the TV audience. This is bad practice and has to be stopped.

Cowboy Troy plays the comic foil/boob to Wynonna. I think the plan is to make the routine like the Sonny & Cher show if you remember that. I doubt if I'll be able to stick with it for the whole eight episodes.

Thanks for giving it a spin, Edd. I'm in Austin now (I'll keep my eyes out for you Josh; or drop me a line if you're checking the board) with a shitty wi-fi connection in my hotel room--apparently, if I stand on one foot and point the laptop northeast while humming "All My Exs Live in Texas", I get a connection.

Anyways, that's Anne Tkach (ex-Hazeldine and Nadine bassist) singing "Everything You Love", which I co-wrote with my friend Michael Friedman (who is not in the band), and Andy Ploof doing the Richard Thompsony guitar on "Hellbound Train" (a trad arr song, which Chuck Berry also cut), and yeah, I think you're right about the Fairporty qualities. But they're all friends, great people, so I'm not objective, but glad you're enjoying. If anybody else wants a copy (hey don, I need to send you one; drop me a line), just write.

I'm seeing The Mammals tomorrow, maybe Jessi Colter and Roky Erikson tonight. I'll report back.....

I guess the Newman thing isn't bad, having to choose from Sugarhill artists. I mean the possibilities are infinite; but I myself do just like to think about Del McCoury's thought-processes as he sings "Birmingham." did he know the song? probably, because there's really no such thing as local pros any more, and Del's hip. but actually he's boring doing "Birmingham." and it does sorta defeat him. "Rider in the Rain" suits Willy Braun of Reckless Kelly, this kind of artificial sorrow suits him too. but I coulda thought up, any one of us could have thought up, more interesting pairings. Toby Keith doing "Davey the Fat Boy." Gary Allan doing "Lucinda." Faith Hill doing "I Wish It Would Rain Today." Big & Rich doing one like "Political Science" or "It's Money I Love" from "Born Again."
xps

Yep, that's the routine. Troy acts like a goof, she looks slightly annoyed, cocks her eyebrows, makes a face or says something very vaguely
put down. It's really watered down Sonny & Cher.

The entire concept of open call auditions for 20,000 must appeal to an American chump's 'egalitarian' sense. But with a record contract at stake it's only an illusion. Realistically, the only people that are going to get on TV are those already polished to the state of readymade.

No Ted Mack's Amateur Hour. Most of the contestants seem technically better than the people whose names you didn't know on "Hee-haw."

eh, AMG seems to be saying that Dale Watson has mainly recorded for indies (Hightone, Audium, Koch), and just since the mid '90s, so no, probably no hits. (I was probably confusing those with Gene's, too.)

> It's really watered down Sonny & Cher.<

And wasn't Sonny & Cher mostly watered down Louis Prima and Keely Smith in the first place? At least that's the idea I've always had.

Thank you, Don! I think there are all kinds of other reasons why the reunited Green and Mitchell didn't work like the old days. Even if they'd had the old musicians (many are still available - I saw them playing together last year), they would still not have come up with a record to match any of Al Green's '70s Hi albums.

More explanation from the cdbaby page: "'Jack's Corner' is named after a tiny bar surrounded by sage-covered cattle grazing land that has survived the local development of southern California. Although you may work amongst the traffic and congestion of the city, you can drive for about a half an hour down a beautiful country road and come to this very special place where you can dance the night away."

And it occurs to me that lots of the CD takes place in SUBURBIA, really. So I may well be wrong about the desert, who knows. (Also, as anybody who has seen my second book might realize, I totally have a soft spot for Working-Woman Rock).

I'm pretty much done with the Randy Newman tribute, I think. Starting to think the Restless Kelly/Joe Ely cut isn't quite as great as I say above, and the Earle cut not quite as horrible. (I'm not sure I was right about the stress he gives the n-word, either.)Duhks' "Political Science" is kinda cool, a nice Dixieland-style move for them, and funniest when they drop the bomb on their sweet home Canada of course.

New in the 50: Most intriguing one, though perhaps mainly from a British perspective, is Rascal Flatts at #49 with 'What Hurts The Most', the song that ex-S Club lead singer Jo O'Meara attempted to launch her solo career in the UK with last year. Over here, it peaked at #13 then vanished without trace. Its American progress may be slightly more successful, you'd reckon...

-- William Bloody Swygart (thingummy9...), March 16th, 2006.

http://cdbaby_com/cd/j0hnnyrebel [not real link -- mods]

http://cdbaby.com/cd/shaniatwain2

http://cdbaby.com/cd/shaniatwain

I had a copy of one a mid '90s pre-stardom CD by her once, but wasn't very impressed.

I have not heard it yet, but isn't this new one produced by John Cale? Alejandro has always proclaimed his love for slow-tempoed Velvets and Mott the Hoople songs, and he crossed that with a bit of country and Mexican sounds to create that atmospheric minor chord approach of his.
One of his recent cds was produced by Chris Stamey I think, who pushed/encouraged Alejandro into writing an upbeat pop # or 2. I have always liked him live, but the last time I saw him(with several cello players, a violinist and more)I had the impression that his songwriting had gotten into a rut. But I was just glad to see him alive frankly, as he had been in the hospital suffering from hepatitis c and other ailments. He was sitting down for the whole show.

My review of my favorite current band featuring an Escovedo is here:

http://www.villagevoice.com/music/0344,eddy,48162,22.html

Yeah, it was piling on. Unsportsmanlike conduct, personal foul, fifteen yards and ejection from game. Jewels was left for last, which is hard, you could see it coming with the judges who were having a hard time distinguishing between the polish, so the last person up gets dinged for overcooking it somewhat in front of the TV audience.

Cowboy Troy would be good in a redo of that abominable Chuck Norris series about two Texas marshalls who administer savage beatings to a few people -- er, varmints -- every episode. Troy would be great for the sidekind, better than the original sidekick. He's bigger for one, and he could unsling his belt and use it as a lash, bonking people -- er, varmints, in the head with the giant oval belt buckle.

Anyway. Johanna Stahley's *I'm Not Perfect* (she's from NYC, I think) is a better Sheryl Crow album than the last Sheryl Crow album. Sounds more like when Sheryl liked beats, back in her "Leaving Las Vegas" days. First song is called "My Big O (I Can)," and, judging from the album cover photo, may well be about the singer's Big O and the achieving of it thereof. Also, she imitates Steve Tyler in it. Another highlight is the one where Johanna falls for a bartender. And even the songs with sorta dreary words don't sound like they do.

>pro sounding, like Coe's Penitentiary Blues in tone<

Interesting. This reminded me of some redneck asshole when I was in the Army who had what he claimed to be an underground racist "joke" LP by Coe (who I believe *did* use the "n"-word in one of his country hits, as some sort of stupid pun), but in searching on line, this website claims some such records attributed to Coe may have *been* Johnny Rebel:

http://www.answers.com/topic/david-allan-coe

Other websites say there were a couple such "X-rated" Coe albums sold under the name Mysterious Rhinestone Cowboy, exclusively to bikers via *Easy Riders* magazine, and at least one of the song titles sounds explicitly racist, so who knows? (I'm guessing the persona was Coe's equivalent of Clarence Reid's Blowfly? No idea how seriously he took it.)

The actual Coe hit with n-word I'm referring to is "If That Ain't Country": "working like a n***** for my room and board" (not a pun, I guess; I'd remembered it wrong.)

What makes Johanna Stanley's CD so boppy, I figured out, is how her bassist and drummer play full-on late '60s bubblegum soul beats in three straight songs in the middle -- "The Bartender Song," "What You're Doing," and "Misery," the latter of which doesn't sound miserable at all. Tapdancey alley-cat rhythm of "I'm Not Perfect" (a Rickie Lee or Norah Jones move?) and George Michael Diddleybeats of "Nothing I Would Change" are nice, too.

i think that for a variety of reasons (research, vehement anti censorship, free speech, the only thing that kills mould is sunshine, historical value) that johnny rebel should be availble, and that it was wrong to ask cd baby to take it down. though i am often a hypocrite about this, and sometimes my analysis and yellign seems like a calling for censorship, and i most lilkely feel worse about other words