Rolling Country 2021

Glad you liked it! Here's the Scene poll results: https://www.nashvillescene.com/music/cover-story/article/21145508/21st-annual-country-music-critics-poll
Of the three they put on the front page, Guyton's EP is a bit too uneven for a Top Ten (of that length), no prob w MacBryde, though I personally would give Cook a slight edge, but then Stapledon may be in some respects Best Male Vocalist, but on Starting Over, he lets/makes his voice carry some very lazy-ass retred songwriting/arrangements too much of the time, although "Cold" and a few others are keepers. Some people have said this all along; I say it now. Oh well, I should read the whole thing.

Also, Stapleton's Songs From A Room really should have been cut down to a single (average LP-length) release. First solo album is still the strongest (before that, he was good w the Steeldrivers, closer to Bob Seger than an expected string band singer).

Stapleton sometimes seems too bar band formulaic to me, but will give him another shot

The new ACL episode that airs this week w/Ray Wylie Hubbard is quite good.

Somebody sent me a Kendalls track from YouTube, which reminded me of this Jeannie K. solo set (with two tracks featuring her Dad, who died backstage soon after---the album was supposed to be comeback or at least return of the Kendalls)---David Cantwell does a characteristically thoughtful profile of where things stood then with her, and backstory of the Kendalls, their lives in music--goes on for about four pages, credibly enough:
https://www.nodepression.com/jeannie-kendall-of-missing-persons/

Another friend responded with memory of a little club they had for a while in Gulf Shores, incl. "a country music museum of sorts", none of which lasted long--she said Dad Royce was already pretty depleted, but his demise apparently came as a shock to Jeannie (and he did insist on going back out on stage that one last time).

All I knew from The Kendalls was “The Pittsburgh Stealers,” but am curious to read that article.

Guess there is no “The” there,

Pony Bradshaw (yep) has made a good and fun album called Calico Jim. Coupla good ol' storytelling songs with fun rhythms and imaginative guitar work. Recommended

Whoa---just got a hard-charging, massive press release about this guy---will spare yall that, but here's his basic bio and links to much very favorable coverage:
https://www.ivpr.co/pony-bradshaw

(IVPR a "narrative-based" firm, check their clientele of venerables and risings, incl. some you might have been wondering about:
https://www.ivpr.co/music)

Very slick looking agency

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/03/us/ozarks-mcclurg-jam.html

In the Ozarks, the Pandemic Threatens a Fragile Musical Tradition

The older fiddlers and rhythm guitar players don’t rely on sheet music, so their weekly jam sessions — now on hiatus — are critical to passing their technique to the next generation

I like Luke Combs and Billy Strings, but the last thing I want to hear on the first day of Black History Month in the year 2021 is another "why can't we all just get over it and get along?" song from two white dudes. Just...stop.

— Charles L. Hughes (@CharlesLHughes2) February 1, 2021

The older fiddlers and rhythm guitar players don’t rely on sheet music, so

i'm not sure not that not relying on sheet music is unique to the old-timey musicians of the ozarks!

Good point

The article references that someone filmed some of the Ozarks jam sessions and has uploaded them to YouTube. The sessions are on hold for now but may resume in the spring in an open-air barn

Rodney Crowell and Friends:
Songs From Quarantine

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a2871083772_10.jpg

Today Rodney is thrilled to share “Rodney Crowell and Friends: Songs From Quarantine” – a 13-song collection of rarities available for two weeks only on Bandcamp. All proceeds will benefit Music Health Alliance, who offers support to the music community nationwide, including critical mental health and COVID-19 resources in addition to access to healthcare, medicines, diagnostic tests, health-related debt relief and more. Every $1 raised equals $30 in Healthcare Resources to #HealTheMusic!

A very special thanks goes out to Ry Cooder, Elvis Costello, Emmylou Harris, Jeff Tweedy, Keith Urban, Taj Mahal, Lucinda Williams, Steve Earle, Rosanne Cash, John Leventhal, The Milk Carton Kids, Joe Henry, John Hiatt, and Ronnie Dunn for offering their music for a great cause.
https://rodneycrowell.bandcamp.com/album/songs-from-quarantine"> https://rodneycrowell.bandcamp.com/album/songs-from-quarantine

Drag City's idea ov folk-pop-country, haven't heard it yet:

JURKEN ON IT

I Stand Corrected is the debut of a new talent AND a new label, Country Thyme. When a label's formed to release a record, you'll usually hear something crucial upon dropping the needle: in this instance, the sounds of an honest-to-god, old-school song cycle in best riches-to-rags style. Classically uneasy, this claustrophobic journey rises and falls on the songs of E.R. Jurken and his spectral tenor, haunted via multiple overdubs, making heart stopping orchestral pop with the orchestra mostly muted.

I Stand Corrected took some time to stand up. During the 20-teens, E.R. Jurken – known to friends 'n fams ('n us) as Ed – drifted through his thirty-somethings, doing not all that well. This directionless course came to a head in 2012 with a traumatic series of events that hung over subsequently like a mist. Ed sold his belongings and began a series of moves, leading back to his former home of Chicago, where, seeking to rally, he bought a guitar off a stranger and got a referral from an old friend to longtime Drag City factotum Rian Murphy, who was interested in the sound of what Ed had in mind. From wounds just beneath the surface of his skin for so long, songs poured forth, with Ed demoing one per week on his mobile phone, featuring guitar and extensive vocal arrangements. After a few months, it was clear the cycle was complete.


Sessions at The Loft with Murphy and Mark Greenberg (engineer/secret weapon of hundreds of sessions, including Wilco, Andrew Bird, Edith Frost, Mavis Staples, Eleventh Dream Day and Richard Thompson), slowly drew the album into full-fleshed form. The sound of I Stand Corrected is often just acoustic guitar, offset by Ed's tableau of vocal arrangements. Murphy and Greenberg added just a touch of rhythm in spots and Paul Mertens (Paul McCartney, Elton John, Stereolab, The Sea and Cake, Brian Wilson) provided several horn arrangements that exquisitely complement the play of Ed’s guitars, keyboards and vocals.

Throughout the process that made I Stand Corrected, Ed's sense of release from an "erroneous" state to a "corrected" one was a powerful energy pointed suddenly outwards as music, which can now be transferred to the listener through the magic of recording technology. In the field of freaky records made by sensitive folk, E.R. Jurken's I Stand Corrected stands to stand tall.
To Be Released 2021-04-23

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/17/arts/music/black-women-country-music.html

Thanks, will read that when get away from email. Considering how many country albums have applied the Mellentemplate of yore, before he started changing it up w various rootsier moves, guess this update is thread-relevant on both counts:

New York, NY (February 16, 2021) – Today, John Mellencamp announces he’s set to unveil his new live album and documentary titled: The Good Samaritan Tour this spring. The documentary, which will be narrated by Academy® Award winner Matthew McConaughey, chronicles Mellencamp’s historic free tour in 2000 when he performed on street corners and in public parks across the country.

In addition, Mellencamp will soon return to the studio to finish recording his 25th album. Prior to the onset of the Global Pandemic, he had already cut ten tracks and plans to record another 17 for the project. Teasing what’s to come, he shared a clip of one new tune, “I Always Lie To Strangers.” Listen to the new track here. Look out for more news on the release date and touring information soon.

The new music is just one of many new projects Mellencamp has been working on including original plays, paintings and more.

His documentary It’s About You is now available to be viewed in full at www.mellencamp.com. The documentary, which came out in 2012, highlights his 2009 No Better Than This tour with Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson.

In addition to music and film, Mellencamp will resume production (Covid pending) for an untitled original play directed by Kathleen Marshall, produced by Scott Landis, and written by Naomi Wallace. Setting the stage, he dropped a video of Connor Antico and Morgan Pereira rehearsing virtually. Watch it HERE.

During the past year-and-a-half Mellencamp has continued to devote much of his time to painting.
Visit www.johnmellencampart.com to see his original artwork.

More release dates for all of the above coming soon!

FOR MORE INFORMATION
Taylor Vaughn
Taylor.Vaughn at umusic.com

thanx to forks for this tasty item on Brandy Clark 12 Stories thread:

n celebration of the one-year anniversary of her critically acclaimed album, Your Life is a Record, eight-time GRAMMY nominee Brandy Clark will release a special new deluxe edition, Your Life is a Record (Deluxe), on March 5 on Warner Records. In addition to all eleven songs from Your Life is a Record, the deluxe album will feature six bonus tracks including “Remember Me Beautiful,” a new song Clark wrote earlier this year as part of NPR’s Morning Edition Song Project. The album will also feature special collaborations with Brandi Carlile (“Like Mine” and “Same Devil”) and Lindsey Buckingham (“The Past is the Past”) as well as live renditions of two album tracks: “Pawn Shop” and “Who You Thought I Was."

Moreover, in honor of the album’s anniversary, Clark will perform her first ticketed Livestream concert Saturday, March 6 at 8/7 CT via Mandolin. Tickets for the show are available now with a selection of purchase options, including a limited number of VIP packages with signed merchandise and a virtual meet & greet. Fans will also have the option to add a digital download of the deluxe album to their Livestream ticket, to be delivered on release day. Full details can be found at https://boxoffice.mandolin.com/collections/brandy-clark.

i'm mostly curious about the live tracks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CH-ANhSFBA

New Ashley Monroe song “Drive “ from her upcoming album. I like the country- surf guitar and her breathy vocals are ok but the composition kinda feels unfinished

From Miranda Lambert's enewsletter:

Announcing The Marfa Tapes

A project by Jack Ingram, Jon Randall and me. Recorded in Marfa, TX. They’re raw. You can hear the wind blowing, the cows mooing... We wanted you to feel like you were right there with us, sitting around the campfire, escaping the world, disappearing into the music. The first song “In His Arms” is out now. Full album arrives May 7th. Song is streaming in the usual places.

Oh yeah, speaking again of SG Goodman, she's on the first new Mountain Stage show since Before Times, with Chuck Prophet, Kim Richey,and Sierra Ferrell. It started airing/streaming March 5, and if you miss that, the downloadable podcast (full show, w songs cut from broadcast for time, ditto full all-hands-on-deck finale) will soon be in their archive.

https://mcusercontent.com/b5194773f4906d9b6b906584a/images/e190197d-e103-4868-87d4-c34fb1a78b4b.png

Without Getting Killed or Caught: Rodney Crowell sez: I'm happy to have been a part of this documentary about my friends Guy and Susanna Clark. This early virtual screening will be the first public showing of the film after its SXSW Film debut. Join me for the film and for a post-show conversation between myself and the filmmaker. Presented by my friends Kessler Presents, the screening will air on March 23 at 7 Eastern, 6 Central.
Kessler sez:
Screenings will happen in real-time on a device of your choosing. Each will feature an introduction from the filmmaker, the full 90 minute film, and a post-show Q&A with artists near and dear to us.

I'd like to see the ones w Crowell and Steve Earle, since they were part of the Clarks' scene and circle, as shown in the sleeper milestone doc Highways and Heartaches

Screenings continue through April:
https://www.withoutgettingkilledorcaught.com/tickets

I'd never heard Mickey Guyton before, but my wife put on her latest stuff today and ... it's not even a little bit country? Like, it was fine, but I was surprised. More pop than anything else. Apparently she had a good performance last night?

Yeah, I appreciate what she's doing but it's not my cup of tea

The Guy & Susanna Clark documentary is premiering at SXSW. Anyone know if it will get a wider release or picked up by a streaming service?

https://americansongwriter.com/the-story-of-guy-and-susanna-clark-unfolds-in-new-documentary-without-getting-killed-or-caught-the-life-and-music-of-guy-clark/

Not yet available 24/7, but scroll up a little bit and see links for streaming-screening dates, this month and next. I heard that SXSW is going to be largely (maybe all?) virtual this time, so may be more opps to see it then.

lol, i should have read back a few days. i'll get tix to one of the screenings.

that american songwriter article is very good.

Can I just say that I’ve always liked that scene but really dislike Guy Clark. Am I alone here?

I know him mostly via xpost-xcept-I-bungled-the-title Heartworn Highways, 70s various-artists anthologies, an 80s Austin City Limits set, the awes all-star 2011 trib This One's For Him, and his last album of new material (released in his lifetime), My Favorite Picture of You, all of which I like very much.

You might like the tribute---Crowell sounds atypically stiff and self-conscious on the opener, but other scencesters of various generations do purty cool.

Brandi Carlile was on Fresh Air today: 42 minute interview (w good-audio music excerpts), and the part I heard was very engaging---whole thing is here, for streaming and downloading, and adds video of her and the twins in gorgeous three-part harmony that doesn't gloss over the point of the song. The interview references her new memoir, Broken Horses, which I'd like to read:
https://www.npr.org/2021/04/05/983815671/singer-brandi-carlile-talks-ambition-avoidance-and-finally-finding-her-place

new Rhiannon Giddens/Francesco Turrisi album "They're Calling Me Home" out today.. very nice.

anyone checked out Ashley Monroe's two new singles?

First of Erich Church's 3-part album Heart & Soul (1 Heart, 2 &, 3 Soul) is out.

This is surprisingly good

https://www.savingcountrymusic.com/post-malone-covers-sturgill-simpson-w-dwight-yoakams-band/

anyone checked out Ashley Monroe's two new singles?

(Seems pretty likely this is gonna be a disco country album)

Good idea!
First listens: maybe I'm overrating it in comparison w the listless Heart (which does have a few maybe-keepers), but am initially relieved and refreshed by E. Church's also-recent Soul, which is not the bourgie nostalgia I feared, but his own brand of poignant, well-focussed musicality (coulda done w/o last line of Lynyrd Skynyrd Jones," but can't kill the overall good impression).

omg Rose Gold is cosmic country electropop lit yall:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyMoM1unzKg

Whole alb is there (10 songs, about 30 minutes, all she needs)("Gold" is the least of it, but gives a taste) Oh sorry YouTube slipped some othr shit in there, listen elsewhere)
"The New Me" //www.youtube.com/watch?v=wva9nvii7ik&list=PLf1hrOwqId83LYpuM4QZWTb7yr35372LU&index=3

"See": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IPjdZs-QdY

"Silk": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aybIsyGTzc

I wish I were this enthusiastic.

May 14, 2021—Acclaimed singer, songwriter and musician Kalie Shorr’s new EP, 3x3, Vol 1: The Chicks, is out today on tmwrk records.
Produced by Eric Mallon and recorded in the midst of quarantine, the project features new versions of three songs from The Chicks’ 1999 album Fly: “Cowboy Take Me Away,” “Cold Day In July” and “Hole In My Head.” Today’s release is the first installment of a special three-part series celebrating albums that have greatly impacted Shorr’s life and career. Additional details to come.
Of the EP, Shorr reflects, “The forced solitude of quarantine led to a lot of self-discovery, and rediscovery. My records became my friends, and my living room became a concert hall. I fell back in love with the albums that made me want to be an artist. When the idea came to pay homage to them, I listened to my personal mantra: why the f*** not? The Chicks were the first country artists I ever heard. Fly was the only CD played in my sisters ‘98 Chevy Cavalier, and I remember spending hours reading the lyric booklet and falling in love with the stories they told. They were my first concert when I was 9 at Madison Square Garden. I swore then that I was going to play there one day, and I’ve been trying ever since.”
This in the wake of new single "Amy," for which the term "power-pop" is bandied about. Open Book stormed my Scene ballot, but didn't get memo about the Deluxe Edition 'til this latest news round-up.

Update re the aforementioned and awesom SGG:
Verve Forecast artists Madison Cunningham and S.G. Goodman will embark on a Fall tour with Cunningham as headliner and Goodman as support. The two singer-songwriters will each bring their own unique style and substance to the tour: California native Madison Cunningham is “poised and precise in her singing and ace guitar playing” (NPR Music) and Kentucky born-and-raised S.G. Goodman is an “untamed rock & roll truthteller” (Rolling Stone)
More cosmic country than rock & roll I say, but okay. Is Cunningham good?

Also: new Rhonda Vincent out 5/28---never heard one of her solo albums, though much liked the one w RIP Darryl Singletary.

And, according to Taste of Country: "The album came quicker than I thought," Carlile tells Good Morning America in a new interview. "It's done."

As she's previously mentioned, the process of writing her memoir also helped Carlile write new music. She describes her next record as "very dramatic." What a surprise. No date yer. Wanna read the book too.

My wife listened to the Carlile book as an audiobook - which includes covers and other songs in between chapters. She really enjoyed it.

Wow, hadn't seen it described that way, thanks! Will check it out.

love the idea that Carlile's new album makes her previous work seem *not* very dramatic

(not saying "oooh i'm excited" i'm saying "that's hilarious")

Dow, I'll see if I can pull up my original Russell review. I think it was flawed because I tried to put too much into the thing. I'm having trouble retrieving it in the e-mail thread.

I wrote this on Loney Fred Hutchins' demos, recorded at House of Cash in the '70s. Despite the subtitle, Buried Loot isn't outlaw country so much. It is straight country in a mode that was already maybe a little dated in 1974, but Hutchins had a feel for the pathos of big-city life as experienced by all the country women and men who left home for the bright lights. Hutchins worked for Cash in the '70s, and he's still out there doing the occasional show, and writing songs.

Here's one from this summer, on alt? trad? country? singer-songwriter with country leanings? Jon Byrd, who's been around in Nashville for 20 years. His EP replicates his live show, and Byrd plays guitar in a sort of post-Willie, somewhat eccentric mode that works when it works.

And here's a piece on Shannon McNally's Waylon Jennings album.

My take on the (pretty darned good) Emily Scott Robinson record.
[NOTHING FANCY]
Emily Scott Robinson
There’s nothing fancy about the spare, folkish music on Emily Scott Robinson’s new album American Siren, and her songs make a virtue of the kind of simplicity that you don’t often find on mainstream country albums. In fact, Robinson—a North Carolina native who lives in Colorado—isn’t exactly a mainstream country artist, but American Siren embodies one aspect of country music in a very confused era. Signed to the prestigious label Oh Boy Records, Robinson sings like she grew up listening to mainstream folk music and country music, so you hear echoes of Joni Mitchell and Patty Griffin in her phrasing. Robinson floats up to her high notes, and she doesn’t take star turns or belt her lyrics to the rafters. American Siren often sounds homemade, as on the piano accompaniment for “Let ‘Em Burn,” which sounds like it was recorded in her living room. Still, it’s a crafty, surprising record, and the eccentric guitar obbligato that runs throughout “Old Gods” is just as effective as the simulation of a standard country band that Robinson uses on “Cheap Seat.” In the end, what’s most impressive about American Siren is Robinson’s sense of discovery: She makes standard themes of sin, redemption and piety seem fresh. It’ll be interesting to see how far Robinson ventures into the messy mainstream of country on her next record. 8 p.m. at The High Watt, 1 Cannery Row EDD HURT

That's good. We were talking about her upthread---I had probs w a few tracks, but overall, wotta debut (has she done EPs, singles of songs not on this?)
Just listened to xpost Loney Hutchins' Buried Loot: don't care about "Pinball King" or some of the other first segment tracks, but soon enough, he's got this self-deprecating realness/fatalism times limberness, vivid succintness---making me think of pre-bearded, 60s Only Daddy That'll Walk The Line-era Waylon---I wouldn't be surprised if Hutchins, or Waylon, wrote the Jennings vinyl track "Nashville Bum," about consuming ketchup soup in conference at coffee shop---"You can change a word or two and I'll give half of it to you"--then he goes to a mix of modesty and flair, passing through some very dark places, like Gary Stewart in his hellish heyday---would Stewart dare to record "Whiskey Lady," the forensic romance. an barstool cowboy's inner infant rock-a-bye serenade of his deadly muse? I think he would, and maybe he did.
(Hutchins' voice seems ideal for demos(these tracks are so well-played and recorded I would have assumed they were finished product): it's transparent,light but never lite. never imitating anybody I can think of, so never overselling, a little distanced, like these might be character studies, and/or just stuff he's lived through along the way, or in some cases still hopes to live through, not being above wistful love songs, maybe another pipe dream or two--
building to the matter-of-fact masterpiece here, "Committed To Parkview," (covered by Cash in the 80s. could have fit The Man Comes Around and other 2000s sets): quite a levelling playfield-rest-academy, another Nashville institution, along with Tootsie's and the Ryman, though you don't have to actually be in the biz to land here, and none of these songs are too biz-referential, incl familiar tropes that aren't belabored very often.
This is on Spotify; he's got a 2009 release on Bandcamp, along with the McNally and Byrd albums you covered (also, I see on there that Byrd has another 2021 album, Byrd's Auto Parts).

Hutchins' "Four Good Reasons" would be good for all the other song stylists I mentioned above, and Doug Sahm too. Can't quite hear any of those four singing "Reedy Creek" as well as the writer does, though. (Stewart might have the upper range, but even his suppressed craziness might be subliminally distracting--or revelatory?! Not like any of Hutchins' better songs really have to be taken as all that normie, which is one of his sneaky strengths.)

Hadn't heard this version of Adele's "Easy on Me" from the Target Deluxe version of 30 feat. Chris Stapleton. Not on Spotify that I can find, unfortunately.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhBP18CqAZ0

Always look forward to this blog's top Songs and Albums of the year lists (fair warning: selections can lean toward saccharine and I've noticed a trend of picking 'insider' tracks about songwriting/Nashville/the biz).

https://thatnashvillesound.blogspot.com/2021/12/that-nashville-sounds-top-country.html

Saving Country Music picks its album of the year:

"But one way you can spy an album that perhaps will be graced with the kind of longevity it takes to be considered the best of a given year is how it grows on you, keeps getting better the more you listen, reveals little details and unlocks bits of wisdom and knowledge with subsequent spins, until it beckons to be heard again and again, and refuses to be ignored or worn out.

How The Mighty Fall by Charles Wesley Godwin has been that kind of record in 2021, where the complexity of songcraft means you don’t tire of listening, where the diversity of sound and subject matter make for a fulfilling experience that satiates most all of your musical appetites, and where the honesty graces the work with authenticity. That is why in an incredible year for country music, and among a murderer’s row of fellow Album of the Year nominees, How The Mighty Fall bests them all."

It's actually not a bad record. "Lyin' Low" I'd suggest to Richard Thompson, maybe. Good tune. Godwin sounds like a more country Gordon Lightfoot...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoqAqcefQng

Not sure if anyone's talked about Elvie Shane's Backslider. I think it takes the lumber and hauls it up to the house, and its cliches go somewhere unexpected, musically and thematically. It's all really good, but this is the one I love: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMAo8sOekIg

I thought this piece one of the smarter ones reckoning with Wallen:

http://trismccall.net/poll-31-end-note-part-1-misrecognitions/

The real reason why the Morgan Wallen album keeps selling is because of the state-of-the-art craftsmanship it contains, that, and the sincerity and strange purity of its sentiment. A shocking number of the 32 (!) songs on the set are keepers; they’re undeniable, even when they’re unpleasant. Dangerous, which is appropriately titled, reveals Wallen to be a messed-up person — one conscious of every sneer directed at the sticks, suspicious of the condescension of outsiders, and defensive of his way of life; i.e., “country-ass shit.” Not since Jamey Johnson’s Guitar Song has a mainstream artist expressed such tacit contempt for coastal city slickers. But while Johnson was convinced that California would soon burn, and only those who’d gotten back to Macon (love allll night) would survive the meltdown of the liberal order, Morgan Wallen grudgingly accepts that none of his vengeance fantasies are going to be realized. The girl at the beach bar isn’t going to follow him back to the Eastern Tennessee hills, beer isn’t really colder or tastier in the mountains, a “little ride around the farm” won’t pry anybody away from the metropolis, and all of these realizations magnify Wallen’s insecurity and bitterness. If there’s one thing we’ve all learned over the past decade, it’s that Wallen is speaking for an awful lot of Americans here — maybe not Americans who you want anything to do with, but your neighbors nevertheless, determined to impose an ill will on a country that they share with you. We ignore them, and shame them into silence, at some peril.

This isn’t to excuse Morgan Wallen’s (or Elvis Costello’s) stupidity. Hitmakers have big platforms, and when the sensitivity and openness that the job requires turns them into a channel for ugly stuff, they ought to be called out on it. Most good artists recognize that they’re vessels for volcanic forces, and when they’re pulled back from the edge, they tend to be grateful to those who do the yanking. Elvis Costello has spent decades apologizing to Ray Charles in various ways; Morgan Wallen was quick with contrition, agreed with his critics, and dropped off his summer ’21 tour to work on himself, which, given the context surrounding the incident, probably mean some kind of detox. And I can’t help but think of another legend who loved to make the normies uncomfortable — David Bowie, who claimed to have no recollection of his mid-‘70s praise of Hitler and fascism, and his bizarre fascination with Nazi memorabilia and iconography. Convenient, yes, but I doubt that was a case of selective amnesia. During the Thin White Duke period, Bowie was zonked out of his mind on every pill and powder in Eurasia. Costello, too, was drunk and high when he went on his tirade; ’79 was probably the apex of his speed ride. Morgan Wallen’s n-bombs were dropped near the bleary end of a three-day bender. Intoxicants don’t just make people stupid. They corrode morals, too. Give a nonstop supply of whiskey and coke to St. Peter, turn the digital recorder on and roll the camera, and it’s dead certain you’ll catch him saying, or doing, something regrettable, and maybe even cancellable.

Yeah, Tris McCall gets it, I think. I think Wallen's record might make a lotta people uncomfortable, even taking into account his missteps. It's a really good country album, and I think what makes it work is his voice, which is on the edge of what you'd call civilized. It's a voice I recognize very well, having grown up in Tennessee and seen the way certain country people, or disaffected semi-urban country people, look at you if they think you're spouting off about Biden or the Covid or whatever it is they believe you're acting superior about. His voice is that look. The vocal filtering I hear on on for example "865" is to the point, as well--great production. And unsettling.

And "Warning" uses trappy production, with also finger snaps, as savvily as any hip-hop-country I've heard lately...

"Warning" is a motherfucker of a song.

that tris mccall piece is fantastic. thanks for sharing, ALS.

Did Jamey Johnson really say all that on The Guitar Song?? Guess I was just listening to the music. *If* Wallen knows that his revenge fantasies are only that (musical evidence?), then he's in better shape than a lot of the people he's said here to speak for---speaking of whom, I'm surrounded by 'em, like Edd, so maybe musical representation, even IF self-aware, seems close to redundant---and McCall is making me think of The Case For Eminem, Art Appreciation lectures back in the day--but maybe I'll give some of the album another shot---nothing I've heard from it makes me want to attempt 32 tracks jeeeeez

(I liked hip-hop a lot more than bro country, also at least Eminem had a sense of humor, but---I'll try again.)

Although a lot of musical representation comes off as redundant anyway.

Yeah, McCall might not be aware that the folks we're surrounded by in thu South might not think their fantasies are fantasies. As Xgau said recently in a piece about country, the representations are hard to escape because the representations *create* the country environment. At least that's what I think he's saying.

Intoxicants don’t just make people stupid. They corrode morals, too. Give a nonstop supply of whiskey and coke to St. Peter, turn the digital recorder on and roll the camera, and it’s dead certain you’ll catch him saying, or doing, something regrettable, and maybe even cancellable.

Citation needed, I think… I’ve never known/believed that drinks & drugs make ppl racist, antisemitic, or whatever else if they’re not like that already. It just loosens their inhibitions. (But maybe I’m wrong.)

You're not

I know there will be a separate lobbying thread, but I'd be interested if this niche group has any passionate must-vote-for country tracks (or albums) in the ilm poll this year. This is my country SOTY and will be high on my ballot. Only other thing I feel super strongly about is The Marfa Tapes, which I expect to place based on the responses in the Lambert thread.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5KKh5gFock

My favorite country / country-adjacent albums this year:

Margo Cilker: Pohorylle
Ingram/Lambert/Randall: The Marta Tapes
Gary Louris: Jump for Joy
Charley Crockett: Music City USA
Vincent Neil Emerson: Vincent Neil Emerson
Ashley Monroe: Rosegold
Alexa Rose: Headwaters

Oh yeah, some excellent picks there, though I still need to check several---keep hearing about Charley Crockett---
Meanwhile, I just listened to an artist Edd covered in the Scene, as linked upthread: Jon Byrd, whose Me and Paul features good originals (co-writes and solo), well-chosen covers, good singing, self-accompaniment on that little nylon-string guitar Edd praises, but what really makes it outstanding is all of the above times the pedal steel guitar of Paul Niehaus, def. a subject for further study----same name as a Swiss surgeon, appropriately enough---this gleaming, unstoppable sound keeps coming around Byrd, a big breath-like cycle--and that's it, just two instruments, one voice in between. The damndest thing. "Cash on the Barrelhead" doesn't quite fit, but doesn't disturb the overall vibe. https://jonbyrd1.bandcamp.com/album/me-paul
More conventional, as most country albums would be, is Byrd's Auto Parts. Full combos, maybe from different sessions, and I like it best when the steel player gets plenty of room---is he Niehaus? Who is the effective female duet partner on one track? Who wrote the two songs that sound perfect for Willie Nelson, the one that would be ditto for Gram Parsons? Who else did what? No notes on this one's bandcamp page, or on Byrd's Web site. "Reputation" sounds like one he might have done in his jangle days w Tim Lee and The Windbreakers, but is also a good, neurotic subject for country--and a good little jolt when the narrator suddenly turns and says. "She wants me to tell you---"
Sahm's "Be Real" is another excellent cover, with an arrangement close to the original, but how often do you hear that, and as Dave Van Ronk said, sometimes you can do it the way it was done first, or you can do it the wrong way.The cover of Lennon McCartney's "Don't Let Me Down" starts well, gets a little boring. But I do like most tracks quite a bit.
https://jonbyrd1.bandcamp.com/album/byrds-auto-parts

Had been meaning to check out Pohorylle. Solid - thanks!

Discovered some true gems from the EOY list cycle. From No Depression's top 5, hadn't heard Adia Victoria's A Southern Gothic or Allison Russell's Outside Child - both exceptional works. Also loved the Sierra Ferrell album Long Time Coming (thanks SCM).

It was nice to see Jason Eady's "French Summer Sun" recognized on a few EOY lists. He has been a favorite for many years - a truly gifted songwriter who knows how to say a lot without much, often about subjects already covered ad nauseum.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1skXt4Q980

Dow, the Jon Byrd "Byrd's Auto Parts" is from 2007. Live these days, he's good if a bit mannered. Another Nashville club regular who isn't very interested in record-making. Much like Davis Raines. Check out Raines' fairly recent song "Dallas" on YouTube. Pretty damn good and the approach is lowkey, much like Byrd's.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aGY3dHL2rY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aGY3dHL2rY

Cool, thx. We've got this now btw lxor.com/ILX/ThreadSelectedControllerServlet?boardid=41&threadid=112512 Starts w Chuck Eddy's 2021 ballot and link also incl. his ballots for all previous/actual Scene polls.

oops, sorry---here tis, hopefully: Rolling Country 2022