Rolling Country 2022

I'll search that out, thanks Indexed

"When You Say It" is the one that's really getting me on the new one.

Yeah, looking fwd to new alb---here's my RC comments added to blogged version of Scene ballot re 2020:

Good'uns Added After Ballot Deadline/Subjects For Further Study:

S. G. Goodman: Old Time Feeling---Appalachoid high lonesome--associated pitch and power rising bullseye from the persistent and fully occupied folds of fog-smog topography: like The Croz before him, on Joni Mitcherll's debut, Goodman's co-producer Jim James refrains from loading this launch with heavy big-name guests---just close mics That Voice and jumps back. Oh, it gets a bit of echo sometimes, and the swirl of low-reflective resonance also brushes by reverb-y guitar (which can come apart sideways when appropriate), pedal steel, bass, drums (she told Rolling Stone she was inspired by Link Wray's '71 s/t, one of his chicken coop sets)---but mainly That Voice, which is youthful but also one of experience, like debut Joni, with plenty to remember and offload, seeking some relief, but not miserabilist nor wrecking ball, just personalised fragments, scenes, phrases coming toward the brink of clarity---somewhat like early Neko on Bloodshot, when she was covering and writing between Loretta Lynn and Scott Walker. Could imagine Goodman working with Brandi Carlile, the Highwomen, whomever, though for now is still Murray KY collegetown-based apparently. (Before this solo, worked as The Savage Radley with a collaborator who was also a drummer; she's gotta have a drummer, as do my ears)

Also, she sent this out in 2021; hope it'll be on the album:

My Townes Van Zandt cover of "Lungs" is now available to stream everywhere!

I'm not normally one to do covers, they often scare me. I feel it's easier to do a cover poorly than to add to something that was already probably perfect. So when the good folks at Amazon Music offered for me to take part in their Amazon Music Origial series, I was honored, but at a loss for what to do, I chose Townes Van Zandt's "Lungs" because of the odd connection he has to where I live.

Like all small towns, we have our legendary stories, and one story from Murray, KY could be found in a little lemonade stand in the middle of town. You'd drive up to Mr. Jimmy Gingles, ask for a Ginger (Fresh squeezed Lemonade, Orange Juice, and Lime) and you would see a picture of Townes hanging over Jimmy's head while he made your drink. Mr. Jimmy and Townes were friends and running buddies. He's often tell you about all the times Townes vistied him in Murray and how he'd passed out on that very floor in the lemonade stand. Townes also play a few times in a bar where I cut my teeth as performer. It was a thrill to record this with my band and Matt Ross-Spang at the legendary Fame Studios. Hopefully I added to the story of Townes and my home with this cover, but like I said, it's hard to put your spin on something you've always felt was perfect.

Thanks, really liking this. All My Love Coming Back to Me puts me in mind of the Gun Club.

Pitchfork review by GHC: https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/sg-goodman-teeth-marks/

Thanks all for the rec. I'm playing the shit out of it this morning.

The Brennen Leigh (songwriter for LAW, Rodney Crowell, Sunny Sweeny) album with Asleep at the Wheel is as good a traditional 40s/50s western swing revival as you're going to find.

“I’ve been obsessed with western swing music since I was a kid and it’s always been an influence. My records in the past have ranged from bluegrass to country music to folk, but I’d never fully explored swing until now.” So says genre-busting Fargo-born, Austin incubated, Nashville resident Brennen Leigh, whose new collaboration with the kings of modern-day western swing, Asleep at the Wheel, Obsessed with the West (Signature Sounds, out May 6th, 2022) is a showcase not just for The Wheel or Bob Wills fans, but for anyone who’s ever curled up with Lefty Frizzell, Billie Holiday, Willie Nelson or even Louis Armstrong.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3R7CzT4vikQ

Always feel like I have to caveat before posting...not a fan of the guy and his writing, but his nose is undeniable.

Haven't heard most of these:

https://www.savingcountrymusic.com/the-best-country-roots-albums-of-2022-so-far/

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/06/20/a-rising-country-singer-tries-to-win-over-nashvilles-gatekeepers

Thanks, will read. I like her. Punchy, well-written heartland country with real sticky melodies. Her vocals are pretty thin though and can grate after a dozen tracks.

I guess I'll listen to it at some point, but prev Whitters I rated Less Than Half Good and said why in Scene ballot comments:

Hailey Whitters, The Dream: Unless Musgraves is increasingly your go-to guru, and/or The Golden Hour is your touchstone or wellspring or Sgt. Pepper's, I'd say not to waste time with most of this---although "Red White & Blue" is a keeper: here she actually seems to push back against her chronic sluggishness, in a way I don't think I've ever heard (that wordless, rec cry is not a hook in the usual sense, but keeps me waiting for its return), and "Dream, Girl" is a little sneaky, and "The Devil Always Made Me Think Twice" has that stalkin', smokin' beat and riff, the kind of thing she needs way more of---or a sax solo, steel guitar, hick-hop beats--anything to distract from the drab vocals, trite tunes, triter advice, that the people who might possibly benefit from are not likely to hear, because not enough sweetening for the pill to go viral---also, does she really listen to herself? "Happy people don't cheat"? Well, maybe if the cheatee has already made them happy and ready to take things further---but then, also, just to touch all the bases, "do whatever makes you happy"---so that includes, I dunno, cheating, mass murder, shoplifting, gtfo Some say RIYL: Maren Morris, Miranda Lambert, Lori McKenna, Brandy Clark, etc I do, but this don't...But if'n you really like recent Musgraves and that side of McKenna's writing, Whitters is okay, although we agree on the thinness of her voice, the need for more production solutions.

"we agree" re that year's RC and some email conversations.

This song got my attention

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

that’s a good tune there

lately i’ve been doing some country writing on the site i moonlight for and bc the audience is predominantly not country fans sometimes i gotta get a little elementary but people seem to kinda like this dolly parton primer i put together, check it out if you’re so inclined https://www.treblezine.com/dolly-parton-best-albums-beginners-guide/

Has anyone heard the Randall King?

xp thanks for sharing -- have never listened to Hungry Again and will give it a spin

Awrightawrightawright yall

Caught up with @nodepression and talked about reissuing and remastering my album ‘Balls’ 15 years after its release! Check it out! ✨ https://t.co/cs49CrATsw

— Elizabeth Cook (@Elizabeth_Cook) June 27, 2022

Oho----Stoney Edwards finally added to a bunch of streaming services:
https://stoneyedwards.lnk.to/Stream?utm_source=dotmailer&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=217444_UMe%20Newsletter%20-%206%2F27%2F22_231803_US&dm_i=4YUZ,4NS4,9J3W9,MLOJ,1

https://linkstorage.linkfire.com/medialinks/images/64f92cae-864e-4ebd-b2f0-bb665e117cdf/artwork-440x440.jpg

Edd Hurt turnt me on to his LPs----here's xgau, with too low a grade for the second album, but fair-enough takes on both:

Mississippi, You're on My Mind [Capitol, 1975]
Scandalously underrecorded, which I'm sure has nothing to do with the fact that he's black, Edwards remains firm in his allegiances. "Hank and Lefty Raised My Country Soul," he announces, and though he sounds more like Lefty than Hank and more like Merle than either, he's got a right. The voice has Haggard's swing and melismatic burr, but it's more powerful, an advantage except when it gets too thick. And though Edwards literally can't read or write, he makes up good songs and picks better ones. Between "We Sure Danced Us Some Good Ones," a believable account of a good marriage in a music that reserves its honesty for the bad ones, to "Summer Melodies," about innocent fun, he touches all the bases without sententiousness or whoop-de-doo. Country soul indeed. A-

Blackbird [Capitol, 1976]
In which well-meaning producer Chip Taylor provides Edwards with a wonderful title tune about "a couple of country niggers/Stealin' the rodeo" while nudging him in a rockish, folkish direction, probably in the belief that he has a better shot at an audience over there. The results are hardly disgraceful, though Joe Cocker didn't get away with six minutes worth of "Bird on a Wire" either. But the straight country album Edwards did last year was a lot tougher. When people in Nashville get serious, they have a tendency to fall for pretentious schmaltz--that's the story of Mickey Newbury's life. A lot of this, straight country and folkish-rockish both, is too damn close to the edge. B+

Jake Blount's Spider Tales got a good RC reception---The New Faith(9/23) takes his kind of tales further:

This record features ten reimagined and reinterpreted traditional Black spirituals across twelve tracks in addition to two original spoken word pieces...The album manifests our worst fears on the shores of an island in Maine, where Blount enacts an imagined religious ceremony performed by Black refugees after the collapse of global civilization due to catastrophic climate change. Most importantly, it snaps us out of our tragically limited historical vantage point to better understand our actions and culture as they exist in deep time...
"I have long felt a powerful draw to the old spirituals passed down in my community," writes Blount. "I am an unlikely devotee; I only rarely attended church as a child, declared myself an atheist at the tender age of eight and developed a strong antipathy toward Christianity when I began to understand my queerness. Nonetheless, spirituals are the songs I bring to communal singing events. They are the songs I teach. In moments of homesickness, sorrow and fear, they are the songs I turn to for solace."

"The destruction of a way of life entails both loss and growth. The traditional songs I adapted for The New Faith originally developed among a people who had but recently been robbed of home, history, family, culture, and society. The unique history of African American people made our musical tradition an ideal candidate for my ambitious task. The New Faith is a statement of reverence for our devastating, yet empowering past; of anticipation and anxiety toward our uncertain future; and of hope that, come what may, something of us will yet survive.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3p20tC2k-w

https://folkways.si.edu/jake-blount/the-new-faith?mc_cid=f5a7e542c8&mc_eid=b45ecb38a9

His and other tour dates:
https://folkways.si.edu/tour

From New West, Sept. 2:

Recorded live on September 15, 1981, Live At Gilley’s captures Kris Kristofferson at a time in his career where he and his band were firing on all cylinders. Kristofferson was with a full band out on the road that featured Stephen Bruton, Donnie Fritts and Billy Swan. On this night, the band stopped by Gilley’s Honkytonk in Pasadena, Texas to deliver a once in a lifetime performance featuring the hits, “Me And Bobby McGee”, “The Pilgrim” and “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down.”

“What a great album this is! Classic Kristofferson songs throughout, and live!! Kris was in his prime and his vocals were outstanding and very soulful as always.” - George Strait

His vocals, hmmm.

More about that album, from No Dep---don't think I've ever heard a live album from Gilley's, although

“Gilley’s could hold several thousand people, but the club was very intimate. You were right there on the stage with people all around you. You could bend down and shake hands with people,” recalls Mickey Gilley in liner notes written a few months before he died last May. “Right next to the club was the recording studio, and we recorded everything that was done onstage. We could record onto the 24-track machine that we had in the studio, then we would do the mixing … We booked a lot of shows around that time, including some people I didn’t think would want to play the club. We got some acts that made me think, ‘Are you kidding me?’ … Kris Kristofferson was one of those artists that I didn’t think would want to play Gilley’s, because he was such a big name and a tremendous talent.”

Me and Bobby McGee
Here Comes That Rainbow Again
Casey’s Last Ride
You Show Me Yours (And I’ll Show You Mine) / Stranger
Nobody Loves Anybody Anymore
Darby’s Castle
If It’s All the Same to You
The Pilgrim
For the Good Times
Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down
The Silver Tongued Devil and I
Smile at Me Again
Same Old Song
Loving Her Was Easier (Than Anything I’ll Ever Do Again)
Why Me

Of all the dumb things I’ve seen on the internet today, and it’s a very competitive group, this is by far the dumbest. pic.twitter.com/DBPaZbmmXK

— Trey Wilson (@treywilson757) June 29, 2022

If you’ve spent time in rural sub Saharan Africa one thing that might shock you is the popularity of American country music to the point where you can’t go to a bar, party, or wedding without avoiding it 🧵 pic.twitter.com/gpYC7fdq78

— The Zimbabwean (@RisenChow) June 30, 2022

Up close and personal at the @sbBowl!! 😆 Thanks for hanging out with us Santa Barbara! We'll see you tonight @ShorelineAmp!!! https://t.co/XClILe0u7u#CHX2022 pic.twitter.com/BD8MoccKHP

— The Chicks (@thechicks) July 30, 2022

@thechicks you did not disappoint Santa Barbara ❤️ pic.twitter.com/RonYaUvNMx

— Nick Smay (@nicks4445) July 30, 2022

When the Newport Folk Festival approached Black Opry founder Holly G last November about curating a set at the 2022 fest, her initial response was disbelief. At that point, her organization only had one live show — the first-ever Black Opry Revue at the Rockwood Music Hall in New York — under its belt.

“It felt like a very big deal, especially because we were new,” she says. “That was a lot of trust they had to put in me, based on very little information that they had about who I was and what I was doing.”

A lifelong fan of country music who did not feel safe going to country shows, Holly created Black Opry in April 2021, envisioning it as an online space to celebrate the music she loved and offer a refuge for like-minded fans. Almost immediately, her website began attracting the attention of artists from all corners of the country, Americana, and roots world, and Holly became determined to create real-world opportunities for artists who had been tokenized or outright excluded.

Last September, the Black Opry hosted invite-only gatherings at an Airbnb in East Nashville dubbed the “Black Opry Outlaw House” during last year’s AmericanaFest, and the ideas and camaraderie there led to the first Black Opry Revue in New York. Less than a year later, Black Opry has put on more than 30 live revues across the country, featuring dozens of artists, with as many more events scheduled through the end of the year and a spot on next year’s Cayamo roots music cruise.

Reminding me I still need to check out those Dirty Laundry comps recently received

I wrote this month's @guardian music essay on African country music, Jamaica and my family's history with country. With shoutouts to @dustyandstones Uchenna Ikonne @lloydbradley @SoulCountry1 @BlackOpry @outsidechild13 @NTSlive and more. https://t.co/svHUFc63yD

— Jamal Khadar (@khadarfi) August 13, 2022

Live Forever: A Tribute To Billy Joe Shaver, out Nov. 11 on New West:

TRACKLIST:

Willie Nelson Feat. Lucinda Williams - "I’m Gonna Live Forever"
Ryan Bingham Feat. Nikki Lane- "Ride Me Down Easy"
Rodney Crowell - "Old Five And Dimers Like Me"
Miranda Lambert - "I’m Just An Old Chunk Of Coal (But I’m Gonna Be A Diamond Someday)"
Edie Brickell - "I Couldn’t Be Me Without You"
Nathaniel Rateliff - "You Asked Me To"
George Strait - "Willy The Wandering Gypsy And Me"
Amanda Shires Feat. Jason isbell - "Honky Tonk Heroes"
Steve Earle - "Ain’t No God In Mexico"
Margo Price Feat. Joshua Hedley - "Ragged Old Truck"
Willie Nelson - "Georgia On A Fast Train"
Allison Russell - "Tramp On Your Street"

oh shit that looks so good

YEAH Hello in There is a SAD SONG, but what YOU don’t realize is it’s actually a crushing indictment of the AMERICAN DREAM- the couple did everything you’re SUPPOSED to do, but at the end they’re LONLEY & FORGOTTEN! It’s really a more cogent takedown than The Great Gat pic.twitter.com/XK55if6gt2

— OH BOY Records (@ohboyrecords) August 17, 2022

All Roads Lead Back To Red: A Pedal Steel Mixtape / Volume 2 https://t.co/A7GnO8pUs5

This mix picks up where All Roads Lead To Red: A Pedal Steel Mixtape left off, delving deeper into the sessionography of the Velvet Hammer, Orville “O.J” “Red” Rhodes. pic.twitter.com/XJGyRlyhnq

— aquarium drunkard (@aquadrunkard) August 20, 2022

from Omnivore:

http://omnivorerecordings.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Owens-Bakersfield-Gold-OV-485-768x768.jpg

Buck Owens And The Buckaroos
Bakersfield Gold: Top 10 Hits 1959–1974
Release date: September 2, 2022

Forty six Top 10 Hits (including 19 #1’s) on double-CD, triple-LP, and Digital.
Buck Owens is a country music icon. As one of the best-selling artists of the 1960s, he accumulated numerous Top 10 hits with 19 of them reaching the #1 top spot on the charts. Now all of Owens’ Top Ten hits from 1959–1974 have been compiled on Bakersfield Gold: Top 10 Hits 1959–1974.

Collecting 46 tracks, this release is available as a double-CD, triple-LP, and Digital release. Featuring new liner notes from Grammy®-nominee, Randy Poe (author of Buck ‘Em: The Autobiography Of Buck Owens), this is the first collection to compile Buck’s Top 10 hits on vinyl, with a limited edition gold vinyl version for independent retail.

Bakersfield Gold is the ultimate collection of Owens’ biggest hits, with The Buckaroos, Rose Maddox, Buddy Alan, Susan Raye, and more. With its availability across all formats, this is a perfect introductory collection for the new fan, and an incredible ride for those who already love the magic of Bakersfield.

2-CD / 3-LP / DIGITAL TRACK LIST:
DISC 1:
UNDER YOUR SPELL AGAIN
ABOVE AND BEYOND
EXCUSE ME (I THINK I’VE GOT A HEARTACHE)
FOOLIN’ AROUND
LOOSE TALK – Buck Owens & Rose Maddox
MENTAL CRUELTY – Buck Owens & Rose Maddox
UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF LOVE
KICKIN’ OUR HEARTS AROUND
YOU’RE FOR ME
ACT NATURALLY
LOVE’S GONNA LIVE HERE
MY HEART SKIPS A BEAT
TOGETHER AGAIN
I DON’T CARE (JUST AS LONG AS YOU LOVE ME)
I’VE GOT A TIGER BY THE TAIL
BEFORE YOU GO
ONLY YOU (CAN BREAK MY HEART)
GONNA HAVE LOVE
BUCKAROO
WAITIN’ IN YOUR WELFARE LINE
THINK OF ME
OPEN UP YOUR HEART
WHERE DOES THE GOOD TIMES GO
SAM’S PLACE

DISC 2:
YOUR TENDER LOVING CARE
IT TAKES PEOPLE LIKE YOU (TO MAKE PEOPLE LIKE ME)
HOW LONG WILL MY BABY BE GONE
SWEET ROSIE JONES
LET THE WORLD KEEP ON A TURNIN’ – Buck Owens & Buddy Alan
I’VE GOT YOU ON MY MIND AGAIN
WHO’S GONNA MOW YOUR GRASS
JOHNNY B. GOODE
TALL DARK STRANGER
BIG IN VEGAS
THE KANSAS CITY SONG
THE GREAT WHITE HORSE – Buck Owens & Susan Raye
I WOULDN’T LIVE IN NEW YORK CITY (IF THEY GAVE ME THE WHOLE DANG TOWN)
BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATER
RUBY (ARE YOU MAD)
ROLLIN’ IN MY SWEET BABY’S ARMS
I’LL STILL BE WAITING FOR YOU
MADE IN JAPAN
BIG GAME HUNTER
ON THE COVER OF THE MUSIC CITY NEWS
(IT’S A) MONSTERS’ HOLIDAY
GREAT EXPECTATIONS
Cat: OV-485

Ken Tucker on the ff reissued, heretofore elusive ,except as quickly removed playlists and and pricey eBay-bait, A Trip In The Country: Roger Miller bomb in 1970, when audiences were expecting more like "Dang Me," "King of the Road" and so on. None of the other excerpts quite come up to the level of the best-known track, "Invitation to the Blues," maybe because his singing isn't quite as strong as his writing, at least in the more serious, trad country vein, at least not in excerpts, but good coverage, and the album seems worth checking out: https://www.npr.org/2022/08/24/1117092882/this-reissue-proves-roger-miller-was-more-than-just-a-novelty-act
---Although the 37-track King of the Road: A Tribute To Roger Miller is the best place that I know of to get into the full (or at least a good) range of his writing.

We apparently don't have a Maren Morris thread — which we should! — so I'll just post this here. She and Cassadee Pope calling out Jason Aldean's wife for anti-trans bigotry, with Candace Owen piling in in predictable ways.

https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/jason-aldean-wife-brittany-transphobic-post-reactions-1235131821/

Too bad (though totally understandable that) they took the bait. She doesn't deserve the attention. And of course SCM is on it like flies.

Meanwhile---any of yall heard this?? I hadn't heard of it.

I’m so lucky to have a fabulous sister..she’s inspiring to watch and see..
Jan. 2003 Allison Moorer recorded a LIvE album and asked me to join her and one of the best bands I’ve ever heard and played with.. if you haven’t heard it.. do it.. the album is called SHOW. It’s badass. pic.twitter.com/uWnF8AsbKK

— Shelby Lynne (@ogshelbylynne) August 29, 2022

Brittany Aldean may not deserve the attention, but "Sell your clip-ins and zip it, Insurrection Barbie" is a quality zing.

Rolling Stone Top 100 Country Albums

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-country-albums-1234581876/margo-price-9-1234582269/

(Surprise! No Mick Jagger!)

Oops, scroll up to see entries 100-82

New Tyler Childers project - sounds great

https://pitchfork.com/news/tyler-childers-and-the-food-stamps-announce-new-triple-album-share-new-song-angel-band-listen/

Tyler Childers and the Food Stamps have announced a new triple album. Can I Take My Hounds to Heaven? is out September 30 via Hickman Holler Records and RCA. The self-produced project features eight new and traditional songs performed in three different ways—the Hallelujah version was recorded live; the Jubilee builds on those recordings with additional instruments; and Joyful Noise version will be revealed on release day. The Hallelujah and Jubilee versions of “Angel Band” are out now—Watch a video for “Angel Band (Jubilee Version),” directed by Bryan Schlam, below.

Also want to make sure to plug the Wilco/Jeff Tweedy poll here for the Uncle Tupelo-heads

Lotta good replies (oft incl links) on this thread:

What are your favorite country-inflected songs by folks who don't primarily play country? I'm thinking Pavement's "Range Life" and half the Silver Jews catalog.

— Ana (@_motherslug) September 8, 2022

Mine so far:

The dB's--"She Won't Drive In The Rain Anymore": another highlight of very good reunion album (aren't many of those). The true story, as told by Holsapple to https://t.co/FFDmM25VjU:
"It's about my wife evacuating New Orleans during Katrina..." https://t.co/l7PbOcJuhF

— Don Allred (@0wlred) September 8, 2022

also: The Bangles (from Sweethearts of The Sun)
As I said on Nash Scene ballot: In " I'll Never Be Through With You," with Greg Leisz on steel, Hoffs calls like she's called, compelling and compelled: a standoff mebbe, strutting in need and testimony.https://t.co/eSGFcZYgGu

— Don Allred (@0wlred) September 9, 2022

I don't even own a Twitter, so can I just:

Johnny Winter: "Ain't Nothing To Me"
ZZ Top: "She's A Heartbreaker"
Steely Dan: "Pearl of The Quarter"
Sleater-Kinney: "Restless"
Humble Pie: "Theme From Skint (See You Later Liquidator)"

Oh, and Dave Edmunds: "A.1. On The Jukebox" and "Worn Out Suits, Brand New Pockets", which I can't believe wasn't a Buck Owens song to begin with.

Yeh mang, that there Winter comes through my head pretty often.

G./McC. also picks ZZ Top's "She's A Heartbreaker." I'll add more Stones: "Dead Flowers," "Memory Motel," "Wild Hosses," mebbe "Daddy You're A Fool To Cry" ("OOO-ooooo") https://t.co/mWGB2SzClS

— Don Allred (@0wlred) September 9, 2022