I'm watching The Highwaymen Live DVD, which I got for Christmas. There are a lot of clips on YouTube if you're interested.
Saw Crazy Heart the other day; its quite alright and if you're stuck for something to do on half price Tuesdays, do check it out. The movie didn't quite blow me away in total. Jeff Bridges is certainly brilliant, no complaints here if he wins the Oscar. Maggie Gyllenhaal does well in the thankless ... well, not quite the Manic Pixie Dream Girl role but close enough. The weak acting link is Colin Farrell (tho I like his songs on the soundtrack well enough). Maybe it was the Character but man he was WOODEN and I felt embarrassed for him having to act next to Bridges.
Bridges certainly does, apart from his own acting chops, have the boozy washed up country thing down, in a spine tingling way. On stage he looked crazily like Waylon, and in other light (mostly the Morning After the Night Before seedy kind of light) looked chillingly like Kris. The movie is based on a book and I wouldn't mind reading that. Of course I hope Ryan Bingham, who has a small role in the picture too, wins the Oscar for the song. The Stephen Bruton songs the characters sing, particularly "Falling an' Flying", are spot on, no wonder the soundtrack is top of the Americana charts for sales and radio plays right now.
This audience footage is interesting, of the Bridges/Farrell concert sections of the movie. The clip says it was half time at a Toby Keith gig -- gotta get that authentic country audience on film for free -- although in an iTunes Celebrity Playlist thing with Jeff Bridges I just listened to he said it was a Montgomery Gentry gig. I don't care enough to find out which is right (I assume the audience person has more incentive to know for sure than the Hollywood B+ lister) but it's interesting if you've seen the final thing.
EDIT!!!!!!! Apparently it is both. Toby Keith with Montgomery Gentry as back up band. This is how much I (don't) know about modern country music, folks.
As any Australian music fan (our kind of music, anyhoo) knows late March and April is always a busy time as we enjoy the spillover of acts brought out for Byron Bay. Sometimes you have to make the choice of two rarely seen (on our shores) highly regarded acts whose only local shows clash with each other.
Not Byron-related but kicking off the season in style is Marianne Faithfull only the week after next. Playing the Concert Hall at the Opera House -- ugh, I have a prejudice against it for popular music -- and I only have a seat at the back of one of the mezzanine boxes but still I can't wait.
"Solitude"
Then, Dan Sultan at the Factory on February 27th -- for a measly $20. For realsm his recent album of late 2009 -- Get Out While You Can -- is a gem of soul, rock and country. For twenty bucks you can't afford not to go.
The above dodgy but illustrative video of Dan was taken by me at the Blue Mountains Music Fest the year before last and that will be my next port of call, in March. As well as seeing two of the Bluesfest drawcards for me Chris Smither and Nanci Griffith, the rest of the line-up is superb. My posts from my previous visit. I'm sure there will be a number of new discoveries but I'm also looking forward to revisiting with the boys from Genticorum, who do fabulous traditional Quebec music.
As for the rest of the Byron folk, well The Flatlanders top the list but they haven't announced any sideshows yet. I'll be there when they do (they have to, right?) I've lined up to see Dr John and the Lower 911 at the Basement; seen him a few times before (but not for yonks) and I might have wavered but the opportunity for a show at a joint that size (real small) cannot be passed up. And ... that might be me tapped out for another year ...
Hat tip Tim. I read about Crazy Heart ages ago but never followed it up, now we have a soundtrack and a trailer.
Cool. Robert Duvall is mandatory for such a fillum. Sorta glad its fiction though, don't think this old world could cope with "a combination of Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson and Merle Haggard." Talk about never getting out of this world alive.
Was dubious about Colin Farrell's tracks but he's not half bad -- none of the above but pretty passable for the job.
If I Needed You is IMHO in TVZ's bottom half of songs buts its the most covered go figure.
I beg to differ with the writers of the "Goofs" section of IMDB for it though:
Revealing mistakes: When Tommy and Bad walk out of a restaurant supposedly in Phoenix, cars are shown with Arizona licence plates on their front bumpers. Arizona does not provide licence plates for front bumpers.
Let's Just Stay Here - Carolyn Mark and N.Q Arbuckle - released in January 2009 but only discovered by me in December in the few weeks I've had it has rapidly climbed into my Most Played list. Carolyn Mark is a Canadian country-folk singer and N.Q Arbuckle is a Canadian country band, neither of whom I'd heard of but who are apparently well established in the (alt) country circuit of the far north. The gruff twang lead vocals of N.Q Arbuckle come courtesy of Neville Quinlan and Mark was formally in an outfit with Neko Case and indeed before I knew that fact that's who she sort of reminded me of. The songs really are uncommonly good, full of winning little details and fun dashes of wry humour. Must have!
Best Dylan Album -- Equal winners: Together Through Life and Christmas in the Heart (I'm with Tom Russell on this gem)
Best Non-Dylan Albums:
I think if you looked at my most played album released in 2009 it would be Leonard Cohen: Live in London but I'm gonna exclude live recordings, reissues and compilations from this ...
1. Easy Come Easy Go - Marianne Faithfull. I got this back in January and here it still is, top of the list.
2. Blood and Candle Smoke - Tom Russell. Typically full-bore TR effort of weaving biography and myth, now with mariachi horns
3. The Bright Mississippi - Allen Toussaint. Refreshing, transfixing, dreamy masterclass
4. Midnight at the Movies - Justin Townes Earle. No sophomore nerves here, proving the first album was not a fluke.
5. Hills and Valleys - The Flatlanders. Slipped a little in list over time but still an album of a grade Americana song to song
6. Traditions in Transition - Quantic and his Combo Barbaro. Genre tinkering with respect and passion, Latin on the wild side
7. One to the Head, One to the Heart - Gretchen Peters. What I said at the time
8. A Friend of a Friend - David Rawlings Machine. Should be higher really, but couldn't drop anything.
9. Mountain Soul II - Patty Loveless. Infectious bluegrassy country, highly polished but full of affection
10. Get Out While You Can - Dan Sultan. Well now, I only got this yesterday so given a few more days it could have really shot up the charts. Brilliant collection of soul, country and blues and heaps more soul. Dan is a star, no doubt.
11. Potato Hole - Booker T From the show in April
12. What Have You Done My Brother? - Naomi Shelton and the Gospel Queens. Preach it, sister
13. Dirt Town City Limits - Mat d and the Profane Saints. See Jim's great review.
14 Today, Tomorrow and Forever - Pete Molinari feat. The Jordanaires. Only an EP, but a perfectly formed one.
15. For the Mission Baby -- Malcolm Holcombe.
16. Ready for the Flood - Gary Louris and Mark Olsen. Was rather "meh" on it for eight of the last nine months but sort of started to grow on me ....
17. Animals in the Dark - William Elliott Whitmore. Should be higher also, what can you do? Lists are stupid. Hat tip Phineas, some very cathartic tracks on here believe me.
18. Cotton - Sam Baker. Also needs more time but exceptional story songs and that kind of creaky Texas voice I love.
19. Lucky One - Raul Malo A little bit country, a little bit croony, very pleasant listening.
20. The Soul of Black John - John Black
Update: Bah I forgot about Shemekia Copeland's Never Going Back. Bah! Should be in the top 10, if the top ten could have 15 places.
This is tremendous news. Someone has written a full length book on one of my favourite records and, in my view, one of the most significant and interesting records of popular music.
That someone, Antonino D'Ambrosio, has an article in Salon which covers the ground much more briefly but is a must-read. I'm glad he hits upon the point of Cash being a folk singer as much as a country singer, that's a song I've been singing for years and is the only way you can appreciate him in full.
Cash demanded that the industry explain its resistance to his single. "I had to fight back when I realized that so many stations are afraid of Ira Hayes. Just one question: WHY???" And then Cash answered for them. "'Ira Hayes' is strong medicine ... So is Rochester, Harlem, Birmingham and Vietnam."
This is a great video I hadn't seen before, Cash doing "Apache Tears" live in 1988.
I can't disagree a public library should quietly cull it from their 2009 collection but I'd hope they'd at least sell it for 50c so I could buy it .... And then frame every single page.
Here's some latter day Charlie, playing out his jazzbo streak which honestly fit more easily than the awkward pseudo Elvis rockabilly thing of the 60s. Pictures and Paintings is a great album you should consider adding to your collection, and if you already have: play it again tonight! Although my favourite song is really probably "Rolling With the Flow."
The Flatlanders -- YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dr John & the Lower 911
Lyle Lovett
Béla Fleck and Oumou Sangaré
Buddy Guy
Jeff Beck
Robert Gordon
Peter Green & friends
Justin Townes Earle
I'll keep an eye out for the Sydney show/s of Orquestra Buena Vista Social Club too but they'll probably play somewhere horrible like the Opera House so I'll stay home and listen to Bebo Valdes records.
Justin Townes Earle during encores at the Annandale. Very similar to last year's gig, which is to say, excellent. Some random YouTubes here.
Note to guitar nerds, that is Henry Wagons' guitar as he broke some strings (for the second time) on his own just before encore. Well, he does have thumbs like sledgehammers, as Guy Clark said!
PS. As well as She Ain't Going Nowhere by Guy Clark I can't believe I left THIS song off my fave country songs list. I SUCK! The dreaded "embedding disabled by request" but GO HERE. I love that whole rekkid those three did together. WHERE IS IT? I own it. WHERE IS IT??
Well here's Guy now, which cannot make up for my shameful omission. Like for reals this song is only pipped by If You See Her Say Hello as my my favourite song ever so how did I blank it that night? Neuroplasticity, how you mock me.
It's not the whole song but it includes my favourite bit of hillbilly haiku:
Well the wind had a way with her hair
And the blues had a way with her smile
And she had a way of her own
Like prisoners have a way with a file
PPS While we (I) are (am) on a YouTube kick -- Dublin Blues by Guy Clark is also a perfect song. The perfect essence of a song, all Platonic like.
Forgive me all my anger
Forgive me all my faults
There's no need to forgive me
For thinking what I thought
I often think this quatrain should be my next tattoo.
As previously mentioned, the delectable Rosanne Cash has an album coming out shortly called The List, which is 12 songs chosen from a list of (I think) 100 country songs her father gave her, as comprising an education in that discipline.
I trust you shall agree this is a pretty good list.
1. "Miss the Mississippi and You"
2. "Motherless Children"
3. "Sea of Heartbreak" (w/ Bruce Springsteen)
4. "Take These Chains From My Heart"
5. "I'm Movin' On"
6. "She's Got You"
7. "Heartaches by the Number" (w/ Elvis Costello)
8. "500 Miles"
9. "Long Black Veil" (w/ Jeff Tweedy)
10. "Silver Wings" (w/ Rufus Wainwright)
11. "Girl From the North Country"
12. "Bury Me Under the Weeping Willow"
I thought I would do my own. Also 12 songs, my own list if in a parallel universe I could sing. These are not meant to be an overview of the history of country music (there's nothing before the early 60s for a start) but just a solidish collection of songs I could listen to all day. I put the last two in brackets just because those are the versions I chose to include but could have used any number of other versions -- both "She's Got You" and "He Thinks I Still Care" have male and female pronoun versions so I chose one of each. It's hard, but on the other hand the top 10 or so really write themselves then the final two spots are tough to divide between about half a dozen tracks. "Sea of Heartbreak" gets brackets cos basically I'll love anyone singing that song. I cheated and gave myself a bonus disc ....
I Drink -- Mary Gauthier
All Her Lovers Want to Be the Hero -- Steve Young
Big River -- Johnny Cash
Once a Day -- Connie Smith
She's Got You -- Loretta Lynn
Pancho & Lefty -- Townes Van Zandt
Sing Me Back Home -- Merle Haggard
Choices -- George Jones
South of Cincinnati -- Dwight Yoakam
Goodbye -- Steve Earle
Sea of Heartbreak -- (Rosanne Cash feat. Bruce Springsteen)
The Lord Knows I'm Drinking -- Cal Smith
Bonus Disc:
Goodbye -- Steve Earle
Willin' -- (Linda Ronstadt)
He Thinks I Still Care -- (Patty Loveless)
Hm. It's not very ... upbeat, is it?
Under the bylaws of 8tracks you're not supposed to make a playlist anywhere (so it mimics internet radio) but ... eh, I hope I can be forgiven this one time. So here it is! (and a direct link)
As even cursory readers of this blog may know, I am a big Tom Russell fan and have been very much looking forward to the new album, not the least because it might be the catalyst for him to actually tour Australia sometime.
Thanks to Shout! Factory I have a free and legal MP3 here to give you from the forthcoming (Sept 15) record Blood and Candle Smoke recorded with Gretchen Peters and Calexico.
"Santa Ana Wind" is a pretty classic Russell song where the historical and mythical American west meet, a grand stage for the doing of love and art and death. And as always his voice is like the wind itself, hot, dry and surging. I'm also a big believer that mariachi horns improve any song.
As I have mentioned several times on the blog before, Tom has been posting reflections on each of the songs from the new album, here's the one of Santa Ana Wind.
Enjoy!
The band:
Tom Russell (vocals) Gretchen Peters (vocals)
Joey Burns (Spanish guitars, bass)
John Convertino (drums)
Barry Walsh (Wurlitzer, piano)
Craig Schumacher (percussion)
Jacob Valenzuela (trumpets)
Nick Luka (steel guitar)
Someone somewhere on twitter the other day pointed my to this Times article about a surprising new Loudon Wainwright III project, an album of Charlie Poole songs. Out tomorrow.
The themes of his music also happen to be some of my favourites when it comes to writing my own songs -- mother, booze, general nonsensicality and death. Lastly, the chaos and fun of rambling around playing music and the inevitable fallout with wives, kids, to say nothing of the damaging effect to one's physical health -- these are subjects I've tackled in song and, of course, in real life. The "Road" is a toll road and you pay the price. But let's not get too morbid here. There's real joy, feeling, and warmth in Charlie Poole's music. He knocks me out.
Here is Dylan introducing a Charlie Poole song on his radio show, with the hilarious (to me) matter of fact noting about artists who obscure their lyrics live. epic lulz @bob
Before my trip I made sure to get three anticipated singer-songwriter countryesque records to spend some quality time with, Journeyman's Wager by Chuck Mead (singer of BR549), Everything you Love Will Be Taken Away by Slaid Cleaves and Beautiful Day by Charlie Robison. After listening to each of them about ten times over a month .... well, I don't have much to say. I can remember the song titles of about two tracks from each, and fewer lyrics or hooks. Journeyman's Wager is the one I feel I should give another shot, there are some catchy up tempo acoustic countrybilly tracks on that one -- such as I Wish it Was Friday. Can't argue with the sentiment anyhow.
I will recommend Dirt Town City Limits by Mat d and the Profane Saints. Jim Pipkin does a great job reviewing it at Hickory Wind, and I'm grateful he pointed out. I haven't got the CD yet -- I will when it gets added to CD Baby -- but I love the tracks on the website. i got Mat d.'s solo record Gasoline Rattle which i also enjoy but I really love the fullm on full band sound on this new one. Check it out!
Of other new records, I listened on rotation all weekend to Quantic and his Combo Barbaro's Traditions in Transition. Quantic is a ackshully a lad from Worcestershire named Will Holland who for many years has been exploring eclectic nooks and crannies of funk and soul under various names and combinations of musos. A few years ago the record the Quantic Soul Orchestra did with singer Spanky Wilson was scorching.
On Traditions in Transition he takes on Latin sounds, and it was recorded in Cali, Colombia with various big names of the genre. It traverses a lot of styles but I like his stuff because it never feels like a dilletante wunderkind dabbling in something exotic, even when there are some subtle hiphop beats under a track it all feels loved. Some are more funky, some dreamier, some more traditional ballroom style Latin, some vocals and some instrumentals, there is even an Indian (as in the sub continent) influence, but all pretty hot.
Apart from that my favourite record at the moment is the Blind Faith album, the one with the Bill Henson-esque cover! I went download shopping for Derek and the Dominoes (after watching this) but Blind Faith was cheaper. All those EC super groups sound the same anyway.
Just checking in from holidays to post that Justin Townes Earle is touring Aust/NZ again in September and October. Tickets here. I think it is not letting me buy one because I am not located in Australia, ironic ha. Hope there are some when I get back.
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