Author: Americana Music News

Charting: Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell

 in Reviews

emmylou and rodneyAmericana Music News — It’s three weeks in a row for Cheater’s Game by Kelly Willis and Bruce Robison to top the Americana Music Association airplay chart, with Carrie Rodriguez’s Give Me All You Got in the second spot.

New to the chart this week: Old Yellow Moon by Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell, Minute By Minute by the James Hunter Six and Robert Randolph Presents: The Slide Brothers.

Most added to Americana music radio: Old Yellow Moon, Milk Carton Kids’ The Ash & Clay and Gulf Morlix’s.

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Annie Dressner’s “East Twenties” set for April 8

 in Americana Music

dressnerAmericana Music News — Annie Dressner, a New York songwriter who has relocated to the UK, is following up her Strangers Who Knew Each Other’s Names with East Twenties, an EP set for April 8. We’ve heard an advance copy and like what we heard, but was particularly taken by the whimsical video accompanying her Pledge Music campaign. You’ll find it here.

The EP launch is set for The Slaughtered Lamb in London on April 9.

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The 2013 Bonnaroo line-up, with McCartney, Mumford & Sons

 in Reviews

Paul 2

Americana Music News —
Bonnaroo has announced its 2013 line-up, headlined by Paul McCartney, Mumford & Sons and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.  Other artists booked for the June 13-16 festival in Manchester, TN, include:

Björk
Wilco
Pretty Lights
R. Kelly
Wu-Tang Clan
Daniel Tosh
The National
The Lumineers
David Byrne & St. Vincent
Passion Pit
The xx
Kendrick Lamar
Grizzly Bear
Animal Collective
Of Monsters and Men
Nas
ZZ Top
Beach House
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
Cat Power
Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeroes
A$AP Rocky
Jim James
“Weird Al” Yankovic
Tame Impala
Wolfgang Gartner
Glen Hansard
Gov’t Mule
The Gaslight Anthem
Portugal. The Man
Boys Noize
Billy Idol
Sam Bush & Del McCoury
Dwight Yoakam
Foals
Porter Robinson
Local Natives
Matt & Kim
Dirty Projectors
Trombone Shorty
John McLaughlin and the 4th Dimension
Noam Pikelny & Friends
Amadou & Mariam
Alt-J
Father John Misty
Baroness
The Tallest Man On Earth
Walk The Moon
Preservation Hall Jazz Band
A-Trak
The Vaccines
Earl Sweatshirt
Paper Diamond
Holy Ghost!
Divine Fits
Mike Birbiglia
Purity Ring
Swans
Frank Turner
Big K.R.I.T.
Allen Stone
AraabMUZIK
Cults
Lee Fields & The Expressions
Fatoumata Diawara
Two Gallants
The Sheepdogs
Four Tet
Calexico
Japandroids
Death Grips
Conspirator
Wild Nothing
John Fullbright
Django Django
HAIM
Killer Mike
Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti
Action Bronson
Clockwork
twenty | one | pilots
Reptar
DIIV
Milo Greene
Lord Huron
Futurebirds
Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit
Charli XCX
JEFF The Brotherhood
Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors
Sea Wolf
JD McPherson
Trixie Whitley
Deap Vally
Patrick Watson
Nicki Bluhm & the Gramblers
The Stepkids
Aoife O’Donovan
Bombino
Bernhoft
Matthew E. White

New to chart: Sons of Fathers, Josh Ritter, Otis Taylor

 in Americana Music

sons of fathersAmericana Music News — For a second week, Cheater’s Game by Kelly Willis and Bruce Robison remains in the top position in this week’s Americana Music Association airplay chart, followed by Carrie Rodriguez’s Give Me All You Got.

New to the chart this week: Sons of Fathers’ Burning Days, Josh Ritter’s The Beast in his Tracks, Otis Taylor’s My World is Gone, Kevin Deal’s There Goes the Neighborhood and Rich Mahan’s Blame Bobby Bare.

Speaking of Bobby Bare, his Darker Than Light is the most-added album in Americana music radio this week, followed by Wayne Hancock’s Ride and the James Hunter Six’s Minute By Minute.

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Review: “Cheater’s Game” by Kelly Willis and Bruce Robison

 in Reviews


Kelly willisBy Paul T. Mueller

— Kelly Willis and Bruce Robison have been performing together for years, but aside from a Christmas collection a few years ago, the First Couple of Alt-Country didn’t get around to recording an album together until last year. The wait was worth it; Cheater’s Game is as fine an effort as you’d expect from two pros at the top of their game. Need proof? The album entered the Americana Music Association radio airplay chart at No. 6 three weeks ago and is currently holding down the top spot.

Six of the album’s 13 tracks are covers, which speaks to the confidence Robison, Willis and producer Brad Jones had in this project. They know good songs when they hear them, and they weren’t shy about putting their own stamp on the work of others, including Dave Alvin, Robert Earl Keen and Don Williams, among others. Robison wrote or co-wrote the other seven tracks; they’re worthy of the company they’re in.

Willis and Robison demonstrate their versatility as performers in the album’s range of musical styles. Several songs – the title track, Williams’ “We’re All the Way,” Robison’s “Ordinary Fool” – have a traditional country feel. Alvin’s “Border Radio” gets a bouncy, Latin-tinged treatment, while Razzy Bailey’s “9,999,999 Tears” harks back to Kelly’s bright country sound of the early ’90s. The singer-songwriter vibe is represented by tracks such as Keen’s “No Kinda Dancer” and Robison’s “Leavin’ “ and “But I Do.”

The harmonies Willis and Robison have developed over years of professional and marital partnership are on display throughout the album; nice examples are their acoustic duet on the weepy “Waterfall” and the vintage-sounding final track, “Dreamin’ .“ Both do fine on their own as well – Willis takes a nice lead vocal on Hayes Carll’s melancholy “Long Way Home,” while Robison’s Texas twang predominates on “Leavin’ “ and “Lifeline.”

The rich musical texture of Cheater’s Game comes courtesy of a large cast of excellent supporting players. They include, among others, Dave Jacques, a longtime John Prine sideman, on bass (expected) and tuba (not so much); Pete Finney on steel guitar and banjo; Al Perkins on steel; Eamon McLoughlin of The Greencards on fiddle, mandolin and cello; Fats Kaplin on fiddle and accordion; Lex Price on bass, and Fred Eltringham on drums. Producer Jones takes a few turns as well, on guitar and keyboards.

For an almost- first-time collaboration, Cheater’s Game succeeds admirably. Let’s hope there’s more where that came from.

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Review: Lyle Lovett and Robert Earl Keen in Galveston

 in Americana Music
Lyle Lovett and Robert Earl Keen

Lyle Lovett and Robert Earl Keen

by Paul T. Mueller– 

It could have been, in Lyle Lovett’s words, “Mardi Gras energy” that made his Feb. 12 acoustic show with fellow Texas singer-songwriter Robert Earl Keen so special. Or maybe it was the fact that the two – college buddies, one-time co-writers, occasional collaborators, world-class musicians – were playing a long, relaxed set in a beautiful venue in front of a standing-room-only crowd.

Whatever the reason, the energy was there on Fat Tuesday in the Grand 1894 Opera House in Galveston, Texas. As revelers partied on in the nearby streets, Lovett and Keen, their microphone stands adorned with strings of beads, took turns singing their own songs and a few covers. Playing only guitars – Lovett’s strung with steel, Keen’s with nylon – they contributed riffs and the occasional solo, along with some nice vocal harmonies, to each other’s efforts. Between songs, well-known favorites and seldom-heard gems alike, they amused the audience (and each other) with hilarious tales spanning the arc of their careers, from novice performances in Texas A&M’s Basement coffeehouse to headlining shows all over the world.

One chill-inducing moment came about 90 minutes into the 2½-hour show, when Keen’s performance of “Rollin’ By,” his beautiful elegy to the expansive landscape and dying small towns of West Texas, turned into one of the evening’s few duets. Lovett’s reading of Keen’s evocative lyrics matched his partner’s quiet intensity, and the result was a vivid demonstration of the power of song. The end of the main set brought more of the same, as the two traded verses on their co-written “The Front Porch Song,” and the show-ending “Ain’t No More Cane,” a quieter, but no less powerful, treatment than Lovett’s full-band version on a recent album.

In between, more highlights than can be mentioned here: Keen’s “Merry Christmas from the Family,” which Lovett proclaimed “the best Christmas song ever written”; Lovett’s somber “Family Reserve”; Keen’s powerful “Shades of Gray”; Lovett’s jazzy take on the comically romantic “Her First Mistake,” which earned him enthusiastic applause from his partner; Keen’s sweet road tale “I’m Coming Home”; Lovett’s rendition of the Grateful Dead’s “Friend of the Devil”; Keen’s “It’s the Little Things,” possibly a backhanded salute to the impending Valentine’s Day, and Lovett’s all-out performance of “My Baby Don’t Tolerate.”

Final score: About two dozen songs, a lot of funny stories, and around a thousand happy fans leaving the historic hall to the recorded strains of “Galveston” and “Together Again.” Magic indeed.

Follow Americana Music News on Twitter at @Sun209com.

 

Sun209: The week in tweets

 in Americana Music

New to Americana music chart: Holly Williams, Jim James, Black Prairie, Samantha Crain j.mp/XNvA1m 

RT @WillKimbrough: new blog! rvrb.fm/XH3ov7 58 mins ago

RT @HuffingtonPost: Dave Clark Five bassist dies at age 72 huff.to/12zkuOG 3 days ago

New to chart: Holly Williams, Jim James, Black Prairie

 in Americana Music

HOLLY WILLIAMSAmericana Music News — Cheater’s Game by Kelly Willis and Bruce Robison remains at the top of this week’s Americana Music Association airplay chart, just ahead of Carrie Rodriguez’s Give Me All You Got.

New to the chart this week: Holly Williams’ The Highway, Jim James’ Regions of Light, Black Prairie’s A Tear in the Eye is a Wound in the Heart and Samantha Crain’s Kid Face.

Most added this week Sons of Fathers’ Burning Days, Richard Thompson’s Electric, Kris Kristofferson’s Feeling Mortal and Stella’s Sorry, Stella.

Follow Sun209: Americana Music News on Twitter at @Sun209com.

Sun209: The week in tweets

 in Americana Music

Celebrating Louisiana’s rich musical legacy

 in Americana Music

By Ken Paulson —

A friend tipped us off to the Only in Louisiana event during Grammys weekend and we’re glad she did.  As partial as we are to the theory that Nashville is the center of the popular music universe, Louisiana makes a pretty good case, citing the Louisiana Hayride,  Jerry Lee Lewis and Dr. John, and many others.

Kix Brooks was a special guest at the event and he entertained the audience with color tales of his adventures in Louisiana, including a night in New Orleans when a young Brooks and Dunn overindulged in Jell-O shots and decided to cover themselves (badly) in a karaoke bar. The account was as colorful as the state’s music scene.

Highlights of the event included a mini-set from Wayne Toups and a finale of state song “You Are My Sunshine.”

Bruce Springsteen saluted at the Grammys

 in Americana Music

Los Angeles – We just arrived in LA for the Grammys, so we missed what looks like the coolest event of the weekend, the MusiCares salute to Bruce Springsteen.

Here’s some of what Edna Gundersen wrote in USA Today:

“The night’s entertainment focused more on Springsteen the songwriter than the rockin’ Boss, with artists leaning toward midtempo, reflective material. There were exceptions. Alabama Shakes kicked off the program with a mighty Adam Raised a Cain. Tom Morello and Jim James ripped off the roof with a rough-and-tumble Ghost of Tom Joad. Ken Casey of Dropkick Murphys turned American Land into a punk reel. And Neil Young and Crazy Horse threw some bruising blows into Born in the USA.

Natalie Maines and Ben Harper sang Atlantic City with Charlie Musselwhite on harmonica. Zac Brown and Mavis Staples took My City of Ruins to church. Elton John submitted a dramatic reading of Streets of Philadelphia. Colombian rocker Juanes revised Hungry Heart with Spanish verses. Tim McGraw and wife Faith Hill entwined voices on Tougher Than the Rest. A backlit Mumford & Sons delivered an elegiac I’m on Fire.

Also on tap: Kenny Chesney’s acoustic One Step Up, Jackson Brown and Morello collaborating on American Skin (41 Shots), John Legend’s solo piano version of Dancing in the Dark and Sting’s Lonesome Day.

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New to chart: Aaron Neville, Kris Kristofferson, Steeldrivers

 in Americana Music

Aaron NevilleAmericana Music News — No surprise, but the top  album in Americana music this week is Cheater’s Game by Kelly Willis and Bruce Robison.  The album jumped into the chart last week in the sixth slot, with almost 50 radio stations adding it in a single week.

At number 2 is Buddy & Jim, from Buddy Miller and Jim Lauderdale.

New to the chart this week:  Kris Kristofferson’s Feeling Mortal, Dale Watson and his All-Stars’  El Rancho Azul, the Steeldrivers’ Hammer Down (reviewed on Sun209), Paul Kelly’s Spring and Fall and My True Story, a celebration of Doo-Wop from Aaron Neville.

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Holly Williams to play the Belcourt Theatre Feb. 12

 in Nashville music

Americana Music News — One of the most pleasant surprises on the 2012 Cayamo cruise was Holly Williams. She proved to be a self-assured performer with impressive material. We saw her again at the 30A Songwriters Festival two weeks ago.

Now fresh off an appearance on the Tonight Show, the granddaughter of Hank Williams (yes, that one), is performing at the Belcourt Theatre in Nashville on Feb. 12 at 7:30. Tickets are $15.

Her  new album The Highway  is out now and features guest performances by Jackson Browne, Jakob Dylan and Dierks Bentley. 

 

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Review: Hayes Carll at McGonigel’s Mucky Duck

 in Reviews

Hayes Carll concertBy Paul T. Mueller

— The audience at Hayes Carll’s early set at McGonigel’s Mucky Duck in Houston on Feb. 1 got a little more than it paid for. The singer-songwriter, who grew up near Houston, put on a fine musical performance, but the set also included a comedy show and a magic act. More on those later.

Carll breezed through 14 songs, including material from his four CDs and a new song or two, accompanied by Kym Warner of the Greencards on mandolin and what looked like a bouzouki. Veteran musicians that they are, they moved easily from romantic songs (“Beaumont,” “Easy Come, Easy Go,” “Chances Are”) to rocking road anthems (“Little Rock,” “I Got a Gig,” “Hard Out Here”) to flat-out funny stuff (“One Bed, Two Girls, Three Bottles of Wine,” co-written by Carll and Bobby Bare Jr.,) and Carll’s unique take on “I’ve Been Everywhere”).

Between songs, he told several long and very funny stories about growing up (turns out The Woodlands, an affluent planned community just north of Houston, was not without its “gang” issues), the perils of the road (why buying a van for your first East Coast tour from a used-car dealer in a Gulf Coast town might not be the wisest move), and his family (he claimed that his mother had advised him to pursue a career in folk music because he didn’t have a good enough backside to be a country music star).

Midway through the show, Carll called his 9-year-old son, Elijah, to the stage to make what he called his show business debut – several nifty card tricks, some involving audience participation. Dad proved to be as good at the second-banana role as he is in the spotlight. When Elijah’s act earned a wildly enthusiastic response, the senior Carll came back with a deadpan, “Now, let’s not get carried away.”

The evening’s biggest ovation followed “KMAG YOYO,” Carll’s raucous tale of military experiments with hallucinogens, which featured a couple of vigorous mandolin workouts by Warner. A few songs later, Carll closed with a brief encore. He dedicated the sweet and funny “Grateful for Christmas” to his parents, who were among several family members at the show, and finished up with “I’ve Been Everywhere,” featuring the refrain, “I’ve been to Houston, Houston, Houston, Houston… .” If the music thing doesn’t work out, Hayes Carll may have a future in stand-up comedy.

Follow Sun209: Americana Music News on Twitter at @Sun209com.

Ashley Monroe’s well-crafted “Like A Rose”

 in Reviews
By Terry Roland
ashley-monroe-rose-300x300— The sophomore effort from Ashley Monroe, Like a Rose, is a remarkably consistent and well-crafted album. She is a gifted country vocalist and a skilled songwriter. At 26 she is just embarking on what hopefully will be a long career.
Monroe’s background includes work with Miranda Lambert as one of the three Pistol Annies, whose album, Hell on Wheels, was a best-seller in 2011. Like a Rose stands in stark contrast to today’s mainstream country music. The songs are original, without the formulas, hooks or the overbearing posturing common to most contemporary country. Country audiences responded positively to Hell on Wheels. However, Monroe’s 2006 debut album, Satisfied, didn’t light the commercial spark due her.
Like a Rose will resonate well with Americana listening audiences. Her writing is in the mode of traditional country on songs like “I’m a Dollar Short and Two Weeks Late.”  On “Used” she describes the value of older things found in life. The title track was co-written by Guy Clark based on a conversation they had.  She told him she has ‘come out like a rose,’ in spite of life’s hardships (she lost her father to cancer when she was 13). “Like a Rose,”was written there on the spot. It carries Guy Clark’s trademark lyrical craft with the insight and easy country flow found in Monroe’s songs.
Produced by Vince Gill, Like a Rose has the potential to cross over from the country charts to Americana as well. It certainly deserves to. For Ashley Monroe, this album is a career defining moment. We’ll look forward to hearing more from her in the years to come.
Follow Sun209: Americana Music News on Twitter at @sun209com.

Duos dominate Americana music airplay chart

 in Reviews

Buddy and JimAmericana Music News — Duos top this week’s Americana Music Association airplay chart, with Buddy Miller and Jim Lauderdale’s Buddy and Jim in the number one slot, followed by Kasey Chambers and Shane Nicholson’s Wreck & Ruin and the fast-rising Cheater’s Game by Kelly Willis and Bruce Robison.

Other pairs on this week’s chart: Ben Harper with Charles Musselwhite, and Tim O’Brien and Darrell Scott.

New to the chart this week: Richard Thompson’s Electric (also the most-added album) , Max Gomez’ Rule the World and Daniel Romano’s Come Cry with Me.

 

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Review: Terry Allen at McGonigel’s Mucky Duck

 in Americana Music, Reviews

Terry Allen

By Paul T. Mueller
–Terry Allen played most of his Jan. 19 late set at McGonigel’s Mucky Duck in Houston with a small, secret smile on his face, as if anticipating the punch line to an upcoming joke. Fortunately for the standing-room-only audience (the second of the evening), he didn’t keep the humor to himself, sharing it generously over the course of more than 20 songs and some highly entertaining between-songs banter.

That’s not to say that Allen, a longtime resident of the High Plains of Texas, is a comedy act. Violence and other misbehavior also feature prominently in his gritty narratives, many of them set in the American Southwest and Mexico. Allen’s songs, several of which have been covered by better-known artists, are marked by his quirky outlook and the vivid imagery one might expect from a painter (another of his job descriptions, which also include sculptor and dramatist).

Backed by a capable if unconventional band – his son Bukka on accordion and percussion, Richard Bowden on violin and mandolin, and Brian Standefer on cello – Allen romped through a mix of old favorites and newer material, including seven tracks from his excellent new CD, Bottom of the World.

Some highlights:

  •   “Amarillo Highway,” a rocking tribute to the road warriors of the West Texas blacktop
  •   “Beautiful Waitress,” an offbeat love song of a sort
  •   “Queenie’s Song,” a vitriolic message to the unknown person who shot and killed Allen’s dog Queenie in 1999 (Allen co-wrote the song with the legendary Guy Clark, and his description of Clark’s reaction to the news of Queenie’s demise was worth a good chunk of the ticket price all by itself)
  •   “Sidekick Anthem,” a sweet tribute to Allen’s wife, Jo Harvey
  •   “Gimme a Ride to Heaven, Boy,” a very funny tale about a late-night encounter with a dubious deity on a lonely highway

Allen closed out a several-song encore with “Give Me the Flowers,” in which he suggests that flowers work better as gifts to the living than as remembrances of the dead.

Terry Allen was in fine form and terrific voice for this show, but one could be forgiven for wondering how many tours a man pushing 70 has left in him. Fans of this unique voice in American music might do well to take his floral advice and reward him with the flowers of their attention sooner rather than later.

 

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Sun209: The week in tweets

 in Americana Music

Review: Drew de Man & Old Custer’s “¡Vámanos pa’l Monte!”

 in Americana Music

drew_150by Paul T. Mueller

It’s not always easy to tell what singer-songwriter Drew de Man is trying to say. The subtitle of his Tumblr site reads “Exploring and expanding the roots and branches of rocknroll poetry.” His lyrics tend toward imagery that’s often obscure and sometimes seemingly random. All this may have something to do with geography: de Man is a Georgia native who used to live in Atlanta, where he attended college and later spent several years fronting alt-country outfit No River City. He moved to Portland, Ore., a while back, and his more recent music seems to reflect the looser, hipper vibe of the West Coast.

What hasn’t changed is de Man’s ear for melody and his skill on a variety of instruments. The album’s nine songs feature plenty of nicely played guitar, both acoustic and electric, as well as the other things you might expect – bass, piano, drums – and some you might not – jaw harp, tanpura (something like a sitar), and udu (an African percussion instrument). It adds up to an interesting mix that’s fun to listen to.

Picking obscure instruments out of the mix is easier than describing de Man’s lyrics, but here’s a start. “Kingsferry” is a kind of road tale, played in a catchy, Tom Pettyish way. “Unspeakable Things” reads like something of a memoir, fueled by guitar riffs that Keith Richards wouldn’t be ashamed of. “The Luckiest Guy” is countrified love ballad, played in a style that recalls the Grateful Dead’s acoustic side. “I’d Give a Whole Lot,” the closing track, is a slow, mournful song that seems to be a tribute to a musical hero of de Man’s youth. “I’d give a whole lot,” he sings, “just to hear him play again.” Jerry Garcia? Duane Allman? Hard to say – maybe it’s best to just sit back and enjoy.

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Charting: Kelly Willis and Bruce Robison, James Hand

 in Americana Music, Reviews

Kelly willisAmericana Music News — The hottest album in Americana music this week is Cheater’s Game by Kelly Willis and Bruce Robison. The album breaks in at number 6 on this week’s Americana music radio airplay chart, and was also the most added release, with 46 stations picking it up.

At number 1 for a second week is Buddy & Jim, from Buddy Miller and Jim Lauderdale.

Also new to the chart this week: James Hand’s Mighty Lonesome Man, Kevin Deal’s There Goes the Neighborhood and Mary Gauthier’s Live at Blue Rock.

Among the most added this week: Mary Gauthier, Rich Mahan’s Blame Bobby Bare and Ted Russell Kamp’s Night Owl.

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