Rolling Country 2020

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/

Thx for sharing. I never read Pitchfork anymore but that review is both intriguing (as you say) and actually gives a pretty good idea of what the record might sound like. Is that how pitchfork works these days??

Not sure about other writers but Sodomsky knows his stuff and is always worth reading in my experience. He's become their go-to folk/country writer in the last few years (along with Stephen Deusner) and is doing a really nice job of filling in some gaps they had. This year alone he's reviewed Katie Pruitt, Brandy Clark, Lucinda Williams, Jaime Wyatt, and Kathleen Edwards, and he's also done the retrospective Sunday Review a few times - for The Dixie Chicks' Home, Elliott Smith's s/t, and Miranda Lambert's Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.

https://pitchfork.com/staff/sam-sodomsky/albumreviews/

I like how much ink he gives to the ballads in that Crazy Ex Girlfriend review, even if the score is TOO LOW. "Love Letters" and "Desperation" have long been favorites of mine and seem to get forgotten in the typical narrative hubbub around the shotguns and pool hall confrontations.

Good 'un on Gillian's latest installment (16 tracks, streaming on bandcamp):
https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/gillian-welch-boots-no-2-the-lost-songs-vol-1/

August 27, 2020—Starting Over, the highly anticipated new studio album from Chris Stapleton, is out November 13 on Mercury Records Nashville and is now available for pre-order/pre-save. Listen to the title track: https://strm.to/CSStartingOverSinglePR

Written by Stapleton and Mike Henderson, “Starting Over” begins an album of startling prescience—completed in late February only days before the shutdown began. Across its fourteen tracks are songs that examine life’s simplest joys and most serious struggles. Alongside eleven written by Stapleton with both longtime friends and new collaborators are three carefully chosen covers: John Fogerty’s “Joy Of My Life” and Guy Clark’s “Worry B Gone” and “Old Friends.” The resulting album—both timely and timeless—speaks to and transcends the current moment in ways unimaginable even while it was being created.
The album finds Stapleton back in his second home, Nashville’s historic RCA Studio A (with additional work done at Muscle Shoals Sound and Compass Sound Studio), surrounded by his trusted collaborators as well as some new faces. Produced by Dave Cobb (who also plays acoustic guitar), the record features his beloved wife, Morgane Stapleton (vocals, tambourine), with longtime bandmates J.T. Cure (bass) and Derek Mixon (drums). Special guests include legendary musicians Mike Campbell (electric guitar), Benmont Tench (Hammond B3 organ) and Paul Franklin (pedal steel) as well as the All Voices Choir who are featured on “Watch You Burn,” written by Stapleton and Campbell.

Stapleton’s “All-American Road Show” tour is planned to resume next year. Highlights include headline shows at Washington State’s Gorge Amphitheatre, Chicago’s Wrigley Field, New York’s Madison Square Garden and “A Concert for Kentucky”—a special performance benefitting his newly created Outlaw State of Kind Hometown Fund to be held at University of Kentucky’s Kroger Field on April 24. Presented by Live Nation, the performance is the first concert ever held at UK’s Kroger Field and will feature very special guests Willie Nelson & Family, Sheryl Crow and Yola. 100% of the concert’s net proceeds will go toward Chris and Morgane Stapleton’s Outlaw State of Kind Hometown Fund. Established in partnership with the Blue Grass Community Foundation, the fund will specifically support local and national organizations directly impacting Kentucky, with initial grant distributions focusing on music and arts education. See below for complete itinerary.
STARTING OVER TRACKLIST
1. Starting Over
2. Devil Always Made Me Think Twice
3. Cold
4. When I’m With You
5. Arkansas
6. Joy Of My Life
7. Hillbilly Blood
8. Maggie’s Song
9. Whiskey Sunrise
10. Worry B Gone
11. Old Friends
12. Watch You Burn
13. You Should Probably Leave
14. Nashville, TN
CHRIS STAPLETON’S “ALL-AMERICAN ROAD SHOW”
November 21—Arlington, TX—Globe Life Field*
April 21—Toledo, OH—Huntington Center†
April 22—Columbus, OH—Schottenstein Center†
April 24—Lexington, KY—A Concert for Kentucky – Kroger Field‡
June 5—San Bernardino, CA—Glen Helen Amphitheater§
June 10—Boise, ID—Ford Idaho Center Arena#
June 11—Portland, OR—Sunlight Supply Amphitheater#
June 12—George, WA—The Gorge Amphitheatre#
June 17—Bakersfield, CA—Mechanics Bank Arena#
June 18—Sacramento, CA—Toyota Amphitheatre#
June 19—Mountain View, CA—Shoreline Amphitheatre#
June 24—Salt Lake City, UT—USANA Amphitheatre^
June 25—Denver, CO—Pepsi Center^
June 26—Denver, CO—Pepsi Center^
July 8—Milwaukee, WI—Summerfest at American Family Insurance Amphitheater+
July 10—Camden, NJ—BB&T Pavilion°
July 17—Chicago, IL—Wrigley Field%
July 23—Holmdel, NJ—PNC Bank Arts Center**
July 24—Syracuse, NY—St. Joseph’s Health Amphitheater at Lakeview**
July 28—Gilford, NH—Bank NH Pavilion††
July 29—Gilford, NH—Bank NH Pavilion††
July 31—Minneapolis, MN—U.S. Bank Stadium‡‡
August 5—Cuyahoga Falls, OH—Blossom Music Center°
August 7—South Bend, IN—Notre Dame Stadium§§
August 12—Charlotte, NC—PNC Music Pavilion°
August 13—Raleigh, NC—Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut Creek°
August 19—Des Moines, IA—Iowa State Fair^^
August 20—Tulsa, OK—BOK Center##
September 18—Biloxi, MS—Mississippi Coast Coliseum++
September 23—Knoxville, TN—Thompson-Boling Arena++
October 1—Atlantic City, NJ—Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall++
October 2—Mansfield, MA—Xfinity Center++
October 8—New York, NY—Madison Square Garden++
October 14—Columbia, MO—Mizzou Arena++
October 15—Lincoln, NE—Pinnacle Bank Arena++
October 16—Sioux Falls, SD—Denny Sanford PREMIER Center++
October 22—Nashville, TN—Bridgestone Arena++
October 23—Nashville, TN—Bridgestone Arena++
October 28—Lubbock, TX—United Supermarket Arena°°
October 29—Albuquerque, NM—Isleta Amphitheater°°
October 30—Phoenix, AZ—Ak-Chin Pavilion°°
November 4—Austin, TX—Frank Erwin Center°°
November 11—Estero, FL—Hertz Arena**
November 12—Orlando, FL—Amway Center**
“ALL-AMERICAN ROAD SHOW” SPECIAL GUESTS
*with special guests Willie Nelson & Family, Jamey Johnson and Yola
†with special guests Margo Price and Yola
‡with special guests Willie Nelson & Family, Sheryl Crow and Yola
§with special guests Dwight Yoakam and The Dirty Knobs with Mike Campbell
#with special guests Margo Price and The Dirty Knobs with Mike Campbell
^with special guests Sheryl Crow and The Dirty Knobs with Mike Campbell
+with special guest Sheryl Crow
°with special guests Elle King and Kendell Marvel
%with special guests The Highwomen, Mavis Staples and Mike Campbell
**with special guests Sheryl Crow and Kendell Marvel
††with special guests Elle King and Nikki Lane
‡‡with George Strait and Little Big Town
§§with George Strait and Brothers Osborne
^^with special guest Nikki Lane
##with special guests Willie Nelson & Family and Yola
++with special guests The Marcus King Band and Yola
°°with special guests Jamey Johnson and Yola
For more information please contact
Asha Goodman or Carla Sacks at Sacks & Co., 212.741.1000, asha.goodman at sacksco.com or carla at sacksco.com

Did not know he had a new one coming out. Debut is absolutely gorgeous, classic countrypolitan. Excited to hear this.

Today is the day! Heartfelt thanks to all who were involved in making this record. These are unprecedented hard times for so many of us. It’s my hope you’re finding solace in music, and can take some time to enjoy this collection of songs.
Thank you for Listening To The Music pic.twitter.com/S0MRBilh0F

— Zephaniah OHora (@ZephaniahOhora) August 28, 2020

mega merle haggard vibes on that zephaniah ohora album.

That's a good album, listening to it now. Serves as a good enough companion to the Tender Things album, which is, still, very very awesome

Yeah, think the TTs provide little musical jolts in there, while listening to the whole Ohora at once is maybe too snoozy sometimes, despite effective individual tracks, several of which could be good singles. But I'll keep listening. Do especially like the closer, "Time Won't Take Its Time With Me," which ticks along like a Don Williams song, slipping in some well-aware candor, on his way to wherever. The Merle vibe goes good with this too, and the yodel at the end---I like that he doesn't sound bother to sound *so* much like Merle, doesn't depend on that, unlike---well you can think of several examples.

The little musical jolts is what sets them apart yeah - well put - very relaxed in their playing, amazing guitarist.

Just listened again, and the playing is even more intense and detailed than I remembered----"New Mission Bell" is starting to make me think of the Grateful Dead at their very best, the way it just keeps building, without going on too long.

Maddie & Tae big streaming hit "Die Froma Broken Heart" is formulaic but not in a good, catchy way. Maybe I need to listen to it again and again some more

Not being sexist, Maddie & Tae have other songs I like better.

Yeah----I've listened to The Way It Feels several times, seems pretty uneven.

Dammit---what's a good female-sung country pop album this year? A big glitzy production that doesn't suck, or not too much too often?

(Also, I'm wondering whether to check out hat-bro parody act Hot Country Knights, or whether it would just sound like more of the "real" thing)

Carly Pearce - s/t and Caylee Hammack - If It Wasn't for You

I'd be remiss if I didn't rep for the less big and less glitzy:
Katie Pruitt - Expectations
Brandy Clark - Your Life is a Record
The Secret Sisters - Saturn Return (not too poppy, not too country, but still great)

Brandy Clark’s is immaculately produced

for sure but i wouldn't call it "glitzy"

Thanks y'all, but I thought after I left my post that I should have ruled out the Carly Pearce s/t, which so far has grown on me a little, but still seems like a disappointing follow-up to Every Little Thing. And yeah, Brandy Clark, Katie Pruitt, Lori McKenna, Shelby Lynne, Gretchen Peters, all well-produced singer-songwriters (well Peters' Mickey Newbury trib can get kinda mumblecore, but it works), but yeah that's not what I'm hankering for. Thanks for reminding me of Caylee Hammack, though (spelling-wise that also reminds me that Cassadee Pope has a quarantine-recorded acoustic EP out now).

Not sure how relevant Travis Tritt is in 2020 (or if he ever was relevant since he doesn't even have an ILM thread about him), but he's currently trending on Twitter for ganging up on the libs with his pal James Wood.

Per my friend @RealJamesWoods, type #resist in your Twitter search bar. Block at least twenty of these accounts per day. We will soon make them as irrelevant as they have tried to make the rest of us.

— Travis Tritt (@Travistritt) September 5, 2020

yeah, just saw that . ugh

#resist...make them irrelevant: do they think they're blocking invaders from Twitter itself? Oh well, TT's on yon expost Hot Country Knights parody album too, so maybe he's a full-time parody now (or still? Not that familiar with his work).

he's suggesting EVERYBODY do this i guess

Anyone familiar with Billy Strings, or Circles Around The Sun? They have a single out covering All the Luck In the World by Neal Casal, which sounds pretty great. Maybe need to investigate Billy Strings further

Will check that. Thanks again for mentioning Caylee Hammack, FTNRA: If It Wasn't For You is a lot to take in, flying by, but right away, it's obvious that she doesn't need xpost glitzy production of the kind I had in mind: this is is tight, badass country pop, riding with big sister Ashley MacBryde and classmate cousin Kalie Shorr--- wants to know how to get her wings as a phoenix, and she says "shit" a lot, but always to a point: ""'m so tired of the shit I'm talkin', I just wanna be something, mean something," later she "put my plans in a box" to please the man she loved, "but it didn't mean shit, I'm a small town hypocrite," but so is he, and things are outta control, "You said you'd be runnin', runnin', runnin' this town, but you're still runnin', runnin', runnin' around," and now so is she (I think she adds that). Still later, there's a brief solo acid folk lament from the canyon, "Gold," then re-focus, back to the beat, "Spent all that money in the last two weeks, and it don't mean shit": she's "On A New Level of Life," in the sky Lord in the sky, "Champagne on the plane and I don't mind, champagne on the plane and I don't mind."

Hammack's album is a lot of fun when it works and features some good songwriting... "Looking for a Lighter" could have fit in just as well on the Brandy Clark album imo. The duet with Reba brings out the best in both of them and "Small Town Hypocrite" as you note is the definite high point.
She loses me when she goes too heavy into "NEXT ON ABC!" territory, as in "Family Tree" and "Preciatcha" but get that money i guess.

I should have mentioned "Looking for a Lighter," and Reba too. As a Southerner, Ah 'preciate "Preciatcha"---never heard that in a song before, and any such fresh turnings in presumably mainstream-aimed usage or topics are always worth a gold star or two in the Country Vacation Bible School crown. But I may get sick of it, sure, while playing this set quite a bit.

Swamp Dogg's Sorry You Couldn't Make It is a slightly, yet appropriately weirder return of Memphis-Muscle Shoals country soul, like some of the Stax Country collection. I wasn't expecting his proto-alt.r&b milestoneds like Total Destruction To Your Mind, but at first this seemed like mainly for digging the formal pleasures of vintage style, incl. this version of "Don't Take Her (She's All I Got)," which he co-wrote with Gary US Bonds; it was a Johnny Paycheck hit in the early 70s---main prob on these first tracks is mild-mannered vocals, settling down into the ballads for a snooze (although got some lines, like "Good, Better, Best" keeps sounding like "good, better in bed,"which fits the context better, and might grow on me)---then he picks up the tempo with "Family Pain" ( houseful staying together, "smokin' crack and doin' cocaine"), and when he slow it back down for "I Lie Awake," his voice is still awake and then some: this is true country soul, Doggedly climbing Insomnia Mountain in compulsive country self-torture---Otis Redding and George Jones could sing the shit out of it, but Dogg does it fine.
"Memories," featuring John Prine, is where the appropriate weirdness first appears (I think), with Doggtronics swirling around Prine's jaunty heels (as he repeats the chorus again and again, like old folks sometimes do), even distorting his voice towards the end, like memories sometimes do.
"Billy" I'd seen referred to as a tearjerker, but differently interesting than expected: he's got nice musical flowers, but "The neighbors think I'm crazy," so apparently not a normie gravesite? "You should see Billy, he looks just like you, he doesn't remember you, but I guess that's just as well." Like with Opie's Mom? Memories can be too paniful, I reckon--anyway it leaves a few more little such gaps to fill in, not overselling.
Rude retinue of soundz around the edges of "I'd Rather Be Your Used To Be," which is otherwise vintage Willie-style graceful indignation, but maybe louder.
"A Good Song" ("has universal appeal"), then back to riding the swirl with Prine, for "Please Let Me Go Round Again," where they agree that, "I could build a better mousetrap, from a far mo'better plan." "Hey John, could you build a better mousetrap?" "I gotta better mousetrap right here in my mind!" Also wonders if Somebody might put them on a 2-for-1 plan.

i like the new carly pearce single quite a bit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRvs_oqQQHQ

Holy Moly---some ads in here, but worth the scroll (will have to check her EP, comes out Friday): https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/mickey-guyton-what-are-you-gonna-tell-her-black-like-me/2020/09/07/9dd5ee20-f11d-11ea-999c-67ff7bf6a9d2_story.html

guyton is a solid vocalist and songwriter but "black like me" has entirely too much incremental progressiveness and syrup for my ears... maybe that's the most the contemporary country audience can handle? I'm still hopefully waiting for her breakout moment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-vsF0sHVRA
solid AM country in 2020!

that morgan wallen song is great

right? i tend to not be a fan of the sweet nashville sound but somehow dude's growling voice nicely offsets the treacle.

The Zephaniah OHora album is really superb. Band is so tight and better singing than the first one.

love the metaphor work in these lyrics:

Lauren Alaina - If I Was A Beer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8FaU2WGazY