Rolling Country 2021

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")

I've only recently begun listening to her music. (Is there really not a thread about her on ILM??) Actually thought the first track on her first album sounded like it could've been on The Bends.

Hey you're right, she doesn't seem to have her own thread! Seems wrong. I liked her singles and some radio-TV performances, but don't think I ever heard a whole album before this one, mentioned on Rolling Country 2015:

One much fresher, only in part because she's much younger: Brandi Carlile, The Firewatcher's Daughter. Nominated for an Americana Grammy; keep thinking she did a CMT Crossroads session with Elton John, but (she and EJ did something else, right?) but no, CMT was Eltie and Ryan Adams. Same idea, though: catchy drama in denim--this is maybe mostly acoustic, but pushy and electric where it counts, especially on "Mainstream Kid< which burns its way through to the floating, observant, recuperative "Beginning To Feel The Years," and "Blood Muscle Skin and Bone," which somehow natcherly follows the pioneer workbreak of "Wilder (We're Chained"---"and when everything else is gone, our love will still remain"--with something like The Band Perry mixing their glam handclaps, and maybe some cowbell, with post-punk rhythm guitar durr-durr-durr, little train chugging by (not too far from the "Petticoat Junction" theme, come to think of it)
It's all hard-won wisdom, philosophical, sometimes rationalizing, sometimes declaiming, clawed back from the brink, while chasing love, and still capable of extravagant (brandy-rich, costly) moves. Rueful and even twangy enough, occasionally, to qualify as young Americana, if not quite young country, as much (but if CMT ever does another Crossroads, I wouldn't be surprised to see her on there---with---?)

― dow, Tuesday, December 22, 2015 9:12 PM (five years ago)

Also there was some talk of the next one on RC 2018---at one point I typed it as By The Way I Frogrive You, and got some Muppets responses, but this is the Rolling Stone mention I pasted in:

She's always sounded like she probably likes Elton John, David Bowie, Patsy Cline: "Americana"? OK!

Album: By the Way, I Forgive You
Release Date: February 16th
On her sixth studio album, Americana heroine Brandi Carlile ramps everything up a notch, working with Waylon Jennings' rebel-yell son Shooter, who co-produced with Dave Cobb. She takes deep dives into her family history ("Most of All") and offers up an anthem for the downtrodden ("The Joke," a chin-up call to arms for anyone feeling oppressed, was blasted out in a recent appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!). While largely adhering to her unplugged, modern-Appalachian approach, Carlile also pushes a few musical envelopes: "Harder to Forgive" is swoony, luxurious pop, "Hold Out Your Hand" has a wall-of-drums wallop and "Party of One" wraps up with shivery orchestration. D.B.

She did some good stuff on the Highwomen album too, although overall it seemed uneven, considering all the talent and skill involved---too many cooks, maybe. Some people love the whole thing, and it's def worth checking out.

Carlile's ultra-earnest music has never been the kind of thing internet cool kids paid much attention to, but she flew right past 'em through sheer force of will and a lot of talent ... the Highwomen thing didn't hurt either, of course.

i know how much P4k has changed but even still i did a double-take when they published a review of By The Way, I Forgive You. would be interested to know if Alfred pitched her to them or if she was on their list or whatever.

Thanks for pasting all that. I’ve been listening in chronological order, so far have listened to the first four. All of them are like-not-love but admittedly have not done deep listens of any. The one I listened to today, “Bear Creek”, is the most country-leaning of the ones I’ve heard so far - which scratches the itch I’m most looking for right now. I don’t really know how people rate the overall discography.

You might like this too:
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

― dow, Monday, April 5, 2021

Stumblin' in after breaking limbs in the hot sun (unexpected bonus session with a tornado tree), I'm especially appreciative of the restorative powers of xpost Ashley Monroe's Rosegold (not, as I'd thought, Rose Gold, which coulda been her emerging alternate identity, going w this new sound and the Prince association, which I'll mention again). It's not, as I impulsively said upthread, cosmic country electropop lit yall in the get-this-party-started sense: here, the candles are lit, all around the tub,, in the love spa, for relationship maintenance, or---if he's a no-show so far, at least, at most (this is crucial!) keeping yourself tuned up, no matter what else is down the road, in the "Groove," of the "Drive," and it's a total sonic experience, not just about the songs per se, which some reviewers are disappointed by---it's the risk of seductive philosophizing in which notes as sung and played) fill in what the words leave out---but again, risk: she never goes for the big extended bedazzlement between the lines, it's all careful dosage (like I said, 10 songs in about 30 minutes), brushing or swooping by, already gone, as the Eagles say. Yes, this is a kind of country, bits of Beatles (little maybe-mellotron here, little cello there) and Prince (Beatles student too, and the different ways conversational phrases go with the beats, which aren't big, but big enough)aside, she sounds like somebody who might have been swirling around behind or beside any number of male country singers from the mid-60s to early-80s, discreetly still, but now assertive enough (also some acoustic guitar picking)(also the breadcrumb brevity is classic country, from when records didn't cost much, and now streams don't have to cost anything, so shuddup and listen).
Anyway, so far, I find it refreshing, also the way she keeps changing it up, to suit where she's at, from The Blade to the somewhut mysterious Sparrow to this (although could do without "Gold" and the mumbklecore finale).

"mumblecore," that is.

And of course the guarded hopefulness of it seems country.

Ashley Monroe's Rosegold: On very first impression, as (Don's words) "modern art-pop country," it's at its best when sounding "art" and evading "pop" and "country," so stronger downplaying or avoiding hooks and refusing to resolve into pretty melody. Might've been better more austere though I don't know that (perhaps without prettiness gooping the thing up, the art'd be monotonous). I like "Siren" best, "Gold" was great when guttural but lost force rising to the upper register. "Til It Breaks," "I Mean It," and "See" are probably keepers, maybe "Drive" too. "Til It Breaks" works as a conventional song, the others'd probably be better uglier. Anyway, the thing's touching me most when I'm perceiving or imagining a low-pitch rumble and an unwillingness to get on with the tune.

I don't know much about American Aquarium, other than (A) they got their name from Wilco, and (B) I'd been under the impression they were kinda a cross between Isbell and a Red Dirt Party Band.

But I just got FB sponsored post for their latest, Slappers, Bangers, And Certified Twangers Vol. I, which-contrary to suggestions of the title-is not a compilation but 10 newly-recorded '90s Country covers.

The tracklisting is <immaculate>, so many pre-Shania era stone-cold classics given fine readings. Kudos also for resisting the urge to hambone their way through some of these (the opening cut is a tongue mostly removed from cheek version of Sammy Kershaw's "The Queen Of My Double-Wide Trailer"). Feels like a nice night out at the Honky Tonk.

Here's to a Vol II with "Small Town Saturday Night", "Wink", "Sacred Ground", "A Good Run Of Bad Luck" and "The Wrong Side of Memphis".

https://americanaquarium.bandcamp.com/album/slappers-bangers-certified-twangers-volume-one

The Pony Bradshaw album is so good.

Yeah that's an album that I like a lot!

Will check those thx

Legendary songwriter James McMurtry is set to release his new album, The Horses and The Hounds, on August 20.

This first collection in seven years spotlights a seasoned tunesmith in peak form as he turns toward reflection and revelation.

“There’s a definite Los Angeles vibe to this record,” McMurtry says. “The ghost of Warren Zevon seems to be stomping around among the guitar tracks. Don’t know how he got in there. He never signed on for work for hire.”

First track from it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPYWcdrQPxg

No surprises, but sounds pretty good on first listen.

Can anyone suggest some good websites for country music album reviews? I’m looking for something that covers all forms — from contemporary mainstream to alt-country to reissues of traditional, for example. I’m less interested in folk and Americana, though some of that would be okay too. I’m aware of No Depression, of course, but it leans too much toward “roots” music rather than true country music, at least for my tastes. It’s especially hard to find decent reviews of the bigger contemporary artists — most sites seem to thumb their nose at that stuff or review it ironically.

Good question---I don't keep up that well, but suspect you'll have to hop along from site to site, although Rolling Country is pretty well-rounded---you might check up through the middle of this decade; we really used to go to town w the reviews & discussions---also archives of villagevoice.com. But nowadays? I've occasionally looked at savingcountrymusic.com, and seen plausible coverage of for instance Garth's most recent offering by Trigger, who I think is the only poster (also going for center-right editorial comments re country issues on the news). Comments section gets pretty godawful. Taste of Country is mainly or all news, seems like---there must be more---well, Rolling Stone Country is fairly good, and Pitchfork is trying to get with the program too, some thoughtful reviews in the last couple of years--jump around those and No Dep and you'll get some range...

On this date in 1964, Connie Smith signs her first recording contract with RCA Victor. "The Cry of the Heart, her 54th album, comes out August 20th on @FatPossum Records. Pre-order yours here:https://t.co/LlkPaCWLTs pic.twitter.com/zpj4XKXpqw

— Connie Smith (@RealConnieSmith) June 24, 2021

Connie Smith has a new album out this August on Fat Possum.

I’m enjoying the new Vincent Neil Emerson. Just some plainspoken throwback kinda stuff but doesn’t feel like pastiche. Really liked his debut from a couple years back too - nothing on the new one is as instantly catchy as “Fly on the Wall” but I’m still enjoying it.

Yeah--"I'm like a bird caught in a store, lookin' for the door"--but it's not just catchy little phrases, he uses them to tell stories, convey a sense of sometimes complex situations and what he thinks and feels about them, in as few words as possible, for the sake of clarity and realness, with no added drama; he's lived, is living, through enough of that already.
The music has just enough variety to keep the songs distinctive, and suit whatever he's singing about--even a little bit of fluid modern jazz balladry at the beginning and end of "Learnin' To Drown," about his father and himself. A little bit of piano on that one, organ on another, mostly it's fingerpicking guitar, fiddle, bass, no need for drums. Maybe tin whistle and Irish-y fiddle on "White Horse Saloon," and why not, plenty of Irish people went West. A song about Indians getting screwed, also from his family's (on his mother's side) experience. Western swing on the closer, but not a vintage cover; it's another of his lived-in-sounding originals.

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