Rolling Country 2021

Actually, as I said before, he did start off fairly carefully, but---just kept going.
Anyway, um, https://www.nodepression.com/no-depression-reviewers-and-writers-favorite-roots-music-albums-of-2021

I bought Wallen's album before the news broke; still think it's the freshest beer-bro album in ages. The first six or seven songs bury the genre as far as I'm concerned.

― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, December 18, 2021 2:04 PM (one week ago) bookmarkflaglink

Morgan Wade > Morgan Wallen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABxFciR980o

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