Rolling Country 2020

Media inquiries: IVPR/Maria Ivey, maria at ivpr.co

Elizabeth Cook album Aftermath out 9/11, according to Australia Rolling Stone. Produced by Butch Walker. New single (w link to video in article): In “Perfect Girls of Pop,” Cook mines a vein of restless, jangling college rock, but Bevis & Butthead might not object: bass & drums sound upfront here, guitar also goes to deeper twang at times (and her voice keeps it kinda country, ditto sad frustrated lyrics, given strong broody ominous support by music) Also has track list etc. (did not know that she has a fishing and interview show): https://au.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/elizabeth-cook-perfect-girls-of-pop-new-album-aftermath-12987/

joint memoir
Me and Sister Bobbie: True Tales of the Family Band arrives later this year
https://link.pitchfork.com/view/5be9cb902ddf9c72dc17acfdcbt13.fo4/6ec40f78

Dixie Chicks pivot to "The Chicks" should be noted here as well as their solid new single.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwBjF_VVFvE

https://ecp.yusercontent.com/mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Ffiles.constantcontact.com%2Fcc8c3328701%2F97fa8794-7b46-487a-adcc-83ba7cb1e772.png&t=1593226941&ymreqid=50d5b170-e206-80ee-2fbf-f20054018300&sig=x17XqIhAO36va.qYk7yCow--~C

Willie Nelson’s Iconic 4th Of July Picnic To Air As Epic Hybrid Concert Film
Live virtual performances to tell the story of the Picnic’s past and where it’s headed; Tickets available now via Luck Productions

June 26, 2020 - Nowhere, TX - As Luck would have it... we’re bringing Willie Nelson’s annual 4th of July Picnic to the people this year; part Picnics past, part what’s to come, and all in the spirit of the Picnic’s storied history. On July 4th, starting at 3:30 pm Central, fans will be able to enjoy interviews with characters from the Picnic’s past, and see new, live performances from their favorite Luck Family artists.

This year, Luck Productions was set to host the 47th annual event, welcoming the Picnic back to its hill country home. While the droves of sweaty Texas hippies and extended family members—blood kin and musicians alike—won’t be crowding into Willie’s Luck, TX, ranch this summer, the man himself will be performing alongside his band from his nearby recording facility, Pedernales Studios. In addition to Willie, performers will include the likes of Sheryl Crow, Ziggy Marley, Margo Price, Steve Earle, and Kurt Vile. A full list of confirmed performers can be found below. Tickets for digital admission are $35 ahead of the event and $45 day-of-show and can be purchased www.williepicnic.com.

This July 4th, the Picnic will kick off with a Prime Cuts episode with Chef Scott Roberts of Salt Lick BBQ and special guest Ray Benson, followed by live-streamed performances from Luck’s Saloon and Chapel stages before leading into a 90-minute concert film segment. The film will feature remote performances from Picnic artists, an all-star house band curated by The Texas Gentlemen’s Beau Bedford (featuring Charlie Sexton, John Michael Schoepf, and Josh Blue), and interviews and Picnic memories stitched in throughout. Additionally, SiriusXM’s Willie’s Roadhouse will broadcast the 90 minute stream to subscribers.

Tickets to the event grant access to highly curated food and beverage delivery packages from Assembly Kitchen, Austin Food and Wine Alliance grant recipients, and Sourced Craft Cocktails.

One dollar from each ticket sold will support The Luck Reunion Fund, managed by the Austin Community Foundation, directly benefiting five designated organizations. Budweiser, Michelob Ultra, and Karbach Love Street will also be matching donations. Beneficiaries for this event include All Together ATX, Six Square, Health Alliance for Austin Musicians, SIMS Foundation, and Central Texas Foodbank.

“Our goal with the 2020 Picnic is to bring it back to what it was—in the only way we can during these times. We were set to host this year's event at Luck, to welcome the Picnic back to its hill country home,” says Ellee Fletcher Durniak, co-founder of Luck Productions. “The Picnic is really one of a kind, it has always been scrappy. Cars on fire. Mass arrests. You name it...it happened at the Picnic.”

What: Willie Nelson’s 4th of July Picnic concert film experience and live stream
When: July 4th, 2020 at 3:30 pm Central
Where: www.luck.stream and www.williepicnic.com
How: Tickets can be purchased here; $35 pre-event, $45 day of show
Who: Willie Nelson & Family
Asleep At The Wheel
Charley Crockett
Devon Gilfillian
John Doe
Johnny Bush
Kinky Friedman
Kurt Vile
Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real
Lyle Lovett
Margo Price
Matthew Houck (Phosphorescent)
The McCrary Sisters
Particle Kid
Randy Rogers & Wade Bowen
Ray Wylie Hubbard
Robert Earl Keen
Shakey Graves
Sheryl Crow
Steve Earle
The Peterson Brothers
Vincent Neil Emerson
Ziggy Marley

For more information, please visit www.williepicnic.com.
Media inquiries: IVPR/Maria Ivey, maria at ivpr.co

Clint Black's new Out of Sane is totally likable-- Maybe could use some more levels or gimmicks or angles or variety but tight lil combo w the drums and slide gtr and fiddle and steel and he’s idealistic at times, pretentious never, straining never, maybe still kinda gullible but learned to be cautious too, trying to balance---still among the hopefuls, as he goes out once again in a minor key, to “Find Myself”: “If I get back before I return, do me a favor and keep me there,” sounds like he’s not kidding. He may joke but never kids, one of those guys.

There's sometimes a little bit of honky-tonk-ish piano, some liquidy electric keys too---and backup female vocals just a little bit on one track, could use a little more of that, or guest duet, but still it's pretty good.

Been listening to The Tender Things, lotsa twang and steel guitar fun. Gary Newcomb plays with them, as well as Ricky Jackson and Robert Ellis. it's NICE

loving that Tender Things album. extremely my shit

Hah great! Been listening to that every day of past week.

New Gillian Welch and David Rawlings joint released today:

https://gillianwelch.bandcamp.com/album/all-the-good-times

ah, thanks for the heads up!

Been diggin' this Western Centuries 2020 joint
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNB0ARs-QH0

Need to dive into their new LP asap

Yeah, gotta check that, Tender Things too---meanwhile:

“Anybody see a problem,” he wrote, alluding at the fact that people can wear masks on crowded airplanes, but are not allowed to gather in live music venues.

https://www.countrynow.com/randy-housers-instagram-post-sparks-debate-jason-aldean-and-miranda-lambert-weigh-in/

Two probs: picture of masked people crammed together like eels in an airplane can is rong; pic of empty theater is because so far apparently no promoter wants to separate seated patrons and enforce staying in seats, also they might get mad if try to make or ask to wear masks. But surely some people would be reasonable; enough to suit promoters?

Speaking of Gillian, did yall see this on her thread?

Unearthed from a cache of home demos and reel-to-reel recordings, Boots No. 2: The Lost Songs is the second release of archival music from the vault of Gillian Welch and David Rawlings. This remarkable 48 song collection, spread over three volumes, was recorded between the making of Time (The Revelator) and Soul Journey. It is an intimate glimpse at the artist’s sketchbook, containing some lifelong themes as well as some flights of fancy. The versatility and quality shown here greatly expand the Welch/Rawlings canon, and confirm that the acclaimed studio albums from the pair have never been an accident but a clear artistic choice. So far digital only:https://store.aconyrecords.com/products/boots-no-2-the-lost-songs-vol-1
https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0675/9735/products/1e9dc3af-4c0d-4fc5-8021-3524e0dc0f449320812402375070028-LARGE_27348fde-d2f3-4b10-a43c-b0bca7c27f17_grande.jpg?v=1594828134

Midland Get Hardsonned In BBQ Beef

https://www.texasmonthly.com/news/midland-sams-bbq-photo/

Heard a new Mike & The Moonpies record yesterday, Touch of You: The Lost Songs of Gary Stewart. Had never heard of Stewart before but digging these covers a lot. Should I delve into Stewart's discography?

Yes! “Out of Hand” is my favourite (not sure if this is a canonical choice), the run of LPs that he made for RCA in the mid-late 70s is fantastic.

Nice, will check it out asap

Another fine set of choonz is the new album by The Western Terrestrials, called Back in the Saddle of a Fever Dream. This, with The Tender Things and Western Centuries new albums are my fav (alt)country albums this year. It's a good year so far!

Yeah, look for Out of Hand/Your Place Or Mine, two of his best LPs on one CD, like it says below. Also You're Not The Woman You Used To Be, think that might have been on another twofer later. Greatest Hits on RCA and on Hightone, where he came back, at least artistically, much later. Also Best of the Hightone Years (is Hightone still around? Thanks Hightone!). And the spooky Live at Billy Bob's I mentioned upthread. As for the true Gary Experience, and why I doubt good ol' Mick & The Monnpies can come close, although I'll check it out, here's my testimony in the Voice, long ago (it's short):

Out Of Hand

A bar-stool freebird of yore avoids a million nights alone
by Don Allred
January 28 - February 3, 2004 Issue 04

His songs flash by like whole lives.
photo: Andrew W. Long
Gary Stewart
Live at Billy Bob's Texas
Smith Music Group

(The following paragraph was written for a country music poll ballot in
December, right before I glanced up from my laptop, and saw the chyron crawl
beneath Larry King: "Singer Gary Stewart has just been found dead in his Florida home."
[Wife died, and he shot himself in the neck, a fairly slow way to go.])
On Live at Billy Bob's Texas, Gary Stewart is but a ghost of himself. Now
fitting the "quiet ones you gotta watch" barkeep's pro-file, this
free(dom'sjustanotherword)bird of yore (once hyped as the "Springsteen of country," when he
and the new Boss were go-cart Mozarts versus mid-'70s murk) no longer shivers
and wails, but leaves dusty fingerprints all over gleaming, surging
honky-tonkcore, the Lost City of his Greatest (mostly shouldabeen) Hits. The band's
eager, but also well disciplined, and totally unannotated, like ghost riders in the
sky.
(Later): Yeah, another dead guy. Once upon a time, he was Dr. Fun and Mr.
Doom (and self-awareness, and headlonging), simultaneously. Gary still sounds
like an impossibly corny, truly inspired evangelist, on Out of Hand/Your Place or
Mine, his two best LPs on one CD. Songs flash by like whole lives, but really
they're just his moments, ticking away.
Live cuts like "An Empty Glass (That's the Way the Day Ends)" turn the tides
down like blankets, till I'm bathed in (pace tua, St. Sade!) the *truly* sweetest taboo (of self-pity).
Tiring, soothing. I just stare through his stare, on the rocks, as he
imagines/avoids/follows her stare. "Maybe you feel cheated, for having married so young,"
he mutters to himself and his significant other, while shifting on his bar
stool, in the still-rousing "Ten Years of This." ("A million nights alone!") So:
Mebbe getting married is cheating? No! Not always!
The Live CD is labeled with Gary's chipmunky, half-quizzical half-smirk.
("Crazy world, haint it.") Vividly painted. Like one of those commemorative plates
advertised on late-night basic cable. I try to put it away, but then a-l-l-l
his damned drinkin'/cheatin' songs start swirling through their rounds again.
Scores unsettle themselves, in Gary's man-made afterlife. (Reminding
25-years-teetotaling me: For the first time in eight years, I gotta find another job,
and now Bush wants Mars.) Art sucks.

.

new Lori McKenna sounded nice after one late-night listen

Dow, fwiw I have never come across You’re Not The Woman You Used To Be on CD - I think they were pre- Out Of Hand recordings that MCA put out after OOH did alright. Edd H used to say on here that YNTWYUTB was his favourite Stewart material, I’ve never heard it. It’s one of those records I keep an eye out for.

Yes, according to discogs, you're right: almost all of it was prev. on the Kapp label. Never on CD, also according to discogs, although they do list the 80s cassette reissue that a friend of mine had, that's how I heard it. Amazon's got the vinyl for $7.79---tape for $68.35!
https://www.amazon.com/Youre-Not-Woman-You-Used/dp/B000002QD0/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Gary+Stewart+You%27re+Not+The+Woman+You+Used+To+Be&qid=1595632840&sr=8-1

Discogs marketplace has several, though looks like only one is US:
https://www.discogs.com/sell/list?artist_id=264158&ev=ab&sort=title%2Cdesc&q=You%27re+Not+The+Woman+You+Used+To+Be Prob somewhere else online, but I don't even have a working turntable, don't know most places to look for records.

It was rumored that all the Kapp label masters were destroyed in the Universal fire.

In better news, Hightone is apparently part of Concord Music Group now.

I could buy it - I’m in the UK as it happens - but one day I’ll find a copy in a shop and it’ll be excitement!

Lori McKenna makes it sound so easy, man

Retweeted by Ned:

http://d1w8cc2yygc27j.cloudfront.net/-3424050904899577017/4542045592072958183.jpg

Wait

I think I’ve listened to enough contemporary Americana and left-of-centre country LPs to conclude that almost everybody making them listened -a lot- to the first couple of Sheryl Crow albums, Tom Petty’s Wildflowers and John Mellencamp’s Human Wheels growing up.

— Thierry Côté (@tcote) July 29, 2020

Loving the Lori McKenna - thanks for flagging, as I only seem to hear about her albums through word of mouth.

Also, how is there not an ilm thread dedicated to her work? Think there's enough fans for an albums poll?

Regulars to the thread will enjoy streaming TexasFM out of Lubbock.
https://www.texasfm.com/

Recently played:
Ashley Ray - "Dirty Work"
Steve Earle - "Guitar Town"
Flatland Cavalry - "No Shade of Green"
Koe Wetzel - "Sundy or Mundy"
Chris Knight - "It Ain't Easy Being Me"
Turnpike Troubadours - "Every Girl"
Josh Weathers - "Before I Met You"
Jarrod Morris - "Stampede"
Robert Earl Keen - "Amarillo Highway"
Parker McCollum - "Pretty Heart"

Am I the only one who likes the country grunge stylings of Koe Wetzel?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqYB32IReWo

I love this song
https://youtu.be/Hw4MiegZxsU

wow, good song john

the Caylee Hammack album has some very good songs and several i will not be listening to again.

new morgan wallen song is really good

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Db_mZ_2gtLg

Rip Justin Townes Earle

Was gutted to hear about JTE last night. Though I'd lost track of his recent releases, his first two albums hold up and were among my very favorites in their release years. By all accounts he was a genuine character and a sweet guy who understood pain and estrangement firsthand, and his songs were imbued with stories that reflected those experiences.

I once quite literally bumped into him and Jason Isbell unloading on the afternoon of a show at the Double Door years ago, and they were both sweet and happy to chat for a minute. I remember his scarecrow smile and the way he filled up the stage with humor and stories that night...RIP.

Such sad news. RIP. Bummer we keep losing guys to addiction (I assume...sorry if I'm wrong). I'm so glad Isbell got out on the right side.

Yeah, I posted this on ILE's Rolling Obituary 2020 last night, don't go there unless you want to risk losing your shit:

O shit. The first album of his I heard, Midnight at the Movies, seemed like a well-negotiated rendezvous with somebody who brought a degree of balance, sanity, replenishment into his life, minus the drugs he'd run with since boyhood---and he was happy, he was, with a sense of wonder and nervous vibrancy, not letting himself run away---and the albums that soon followed (and The Good Life, which preceded) could be a lot moodier, Harlem River Blues, for instance, but he kept finding new ways to make music, new turns---but then gradually they got wearier, more fragile--until The Saint of Lost Causes, released at the end of May, 2019, seemed to me like his best in a decade, a return and a leap forward, developing from some of the best bits, glimmers and sparks, of prev. 2010s efforts. RIP. I suspect old traveling companion Isbell will write some more songs about him.

― dow, Sunday, August 23, 2020 9:53 PM

Frequent tour colleague Samantha Crain's good thread of memories, click post below for link:

Some of my best memories of Justin Townes Earle

1) upon finishing our first tour out with him in 2009, standing outside Gruene Hall in New Braunfels, TX saying our goodbyes, Justin hands me $400 (apart from our payout) and says "$100 for each of ya, I know it's hard out there"

— Samantha Crain (@sjcrain) August 24, 2020

@JasonIsbell
Justin bought the suit I got married in.
9:08 PM · Aug 23, 2020

Sad news, RIP. "Harlem River Blues" is the album I know the best. Would like to check out some of the more recent ones.

Bandcamp's got some, other places maybe more. The last one in his lifetime, The Saint of Lost Causes, roolz among later works, I think: https://justintownesearle.bandcamp.com/album/the-saint-of-lost-causes

Pic posted by Steve

Justin Townes Earle 1982-2020 pic.twitter.com/AzerqkUZa1

— Steve Earle (@SteveEarle) August 24, 2020

GRAMMY-WINNING ICON WYNONNA ANNOUNCES ‘RECOLLECTIONS’ EP

FEATURING INTIMATE RENDITIONS OF CLASSIC SONGS BY
JOHN PRINE, FATS DOMINO, GRATEFUL DEAD + MORE

OUT OCTOBER 30 VIA ANTI-

"Wynonna is the latest left-field addition to the eclectic roster of Anti- Records, where she expects she’ll have the freedom to explore her musical instincts.” – Boston Globe

“Wynonna was in perfect form and seemed utterly reinvigorated by her new
artistic surroundings.” – Rolling Stone on 2019 AMERICANAFEST set

Recollections, the captivating new EP from Wynonna, marks both a literal and a figurative homecoming for the GRAMMY-winning songstress who recorded much of the collection while quarantining on her Tennessee farm in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Forced off the road for the first time in years, she found herself reconnecting with her roots as she sang once again for the sheer joy of it, performing a series of loose and lively covers with her husband, former Highway 101 drummer, multi-instrumentalist and producer Cactus Moser.

The gritty “King Bee,” a half-century-old blues tune Wynonna and Moser have been performing live together for years, gets an extra boost of swagger from the couple’s palpable chemistry, with Wynonna bouncing swampy, distorted harmonica riffs off of her husband’s searing slide guitar. “ ‘King Bee’ reminds me of why I love the blues so much,” Wynonna said.

“I’ve learned a lot being at home these last few months,” Wynonna reflects. “When there’s no touring, no concerts, no band, no lights, no action, all that’s left is you and the song. All that’s left is your gift.”
‘Recollections’ EP

1. I Hear You Knocking (Fats Domino)
2. King Bee (Slim Harpo)
3. Feeling Good (Nina Simone)
4. Angel From Montgomery (John Prine)
5. Ramble On Rose (Grateful Dead)

"KIng Bee" is streaming somewhere, but my browser won't go there, says insecure. I liked Wynonna and The Big Noise in studio and live, hope they'll be back some day.

It's on Youtube ffs---if this doesn't show, it'll pop right up on yon 'Tube, or should:
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=pyFHsmzgOq8&feature=share

I have never been a big fan but this review piqued my interest

https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/mary-chapin-carpenter-the-dirt-and-the-stars/