Larkin Poe
Larkin Poe played songs from their four season-themed EPs and even threw in a Don Williams cover for dad.
Cayamo update: Larkin Poe
Larkin Poe played songs from their four season-themed EPs and even threw in a Don Williams cover for dad.
Author: Ken Paulson
Larkin Poe played songs from their four season-themed EPs and even threw in a Don Williams cover for dad.
Cayamo update: Will Hoge, Scott Miller
Will Hoge and Scott Miller confer on a song they can perform together.
The covers were particularly entertaining, with Hoge performing “Crying Time” and telling a story about blowing his chance to talk to hero Buck Owns. “What time is the show?” was the extent of his repartee, he admitted.
Miller paid tribute to the Statler Brothers, a group from his hometown.
Hoge and Miller closed the show with an impromptu take on John Prine’s “Picture Show.” It was fun, but rough, and isn’t likely to make it to NPR.
John Prine on Cayamo
John Prine on Cayamo
The Cayamo cruise is an Americana and folk music festival on the water. It’s a great environment for music fans and musicians alike. The first of regular reports from Cayamo:
John Prine laughed and said the 60-minute limit on his Cayamo show posed some pacing problems.
“We usually play for two and a half hours, and we’re trying to cram it all into an hour,” he said.
That meant a little less conversation with the audience, but a full slate of Prine classics, including “Six O’Clock News,” Grandpa Was A Carpenter” and “Hello in There.”
Brandi Carlile seemed overjoyed to sing “In Spite of Ourselves” and blushed when Prine sang “convict movies make her horny.” She then joined in on a powerful rendition of “Angel From Montgomery.”
Prine joked about the gore of early songs like “Six O’Clock News” and later revisited the theme with his closer “Lake Marie” and its intertwining of senseless violence and trying to rekindle a marriage over sausages. The audience “sizzled” on cue.
Greg Trooper: Upside-Down Town
Greg Trooper’s just-released Upside-Down Town ranks with his best work – and that’s saying something.
His last studio album, the Dan Penn-produced Make It Through This World in 2005 was a compelling melding of folk and R&B, and this album builds on that, with touching songs and a Hammond B3.
Trooper remains a storyteller and Upside-Down Town reminds us what a fine lyricist he is.
“They Call Me Hank” is a good example of that. The song, reminiscent of Rodney Crowell’s recent work, paints a portrait of a homeless man’s life in vivid detail, including the fishing that occasionally pays for a beer at “the last bar in town that lets me in the door” and a hint of the circumstances that brought Hank to this place in his life.
Most striking are two songs that touch on aging. “We’ve Still Got Time” is a song of redemption, reminding a woman that “if life were not a crooked road, you’d never find out who you are.”
A similar, but infinitely more joyous sentiment can be found in “Time for Love,” an upbeat and funny take on love a little later in life: “Time is flying by, before you know it honey, there’ll be coins on our eyes… so get ready Andretti, we’re into overdrive.”
It’s probably not a coincidence that this most optimistic of Trooper songs features his son Jack on drums and wife Claire Mullally on harmony vocals.
There are also a number of songs of regret, from the melancholy “Dreams Like This” to the kicking- youself anthem “Could Have Been You.”
Trooper’s band is terrific, and includes Kevin McKendree on keyboards and guitar, Dave Jacques on bass and Kenneth Blevins on drums (when Jack’s not playing.)
Upside-Down Town is an impeccably written and performed album, with soul in all the right places.
Charlie Louvin’s final TV appearance
The Marty Stuart Show on RFD is always a hoot, a throwback to early country music television. Stuart and the Fabulous Superlatives are terrific players and they have a wonderful time.
The show that aired this week, though, was truly something special. It began goofily enough, with the theme from Bonanaza, complete with lyrics. But then Stuart introduced the legendary Charlie Louvin to perform the first of two songs. The show was taped on Dec. 2, 2010 and Louvin died 55 days later. His final song on the show was Tom T. Hall’s “Back When We Were Young.” It’s a powerful moment, and a joy to see Stuart’s obvious love and respect for the veteran performer.
Great Lost Bands: Timberline
I’ve been transferring my favorite vinyl to MP3s and ended up revisiting a terrific country-rock (the best description we had pre-Americana) LP called “The Great Timber Rush” by a young band called Timberline. This was an energetic and highly melodic collection of songs in the spirit of Poco’s “Good Feelin’ to Know.”
They even had one of those great greet-the-audience songs in “Timberline,” a country counterpart to Cheap Trick’s “Hello There” from the same year.
I had the chance to see them perform at the University of Illinois in 1977 and was confident they had a bright future ahead.
But it wasn’t to be. Timberline never gained a commercial foothold and broke up after just one LP.
So what happened to this great lost band? According to a tribute website (and we all should have one of those), lead singer Jim Salestrom went on to a fine career in Dolly Parton’s band and was a member of the Wild Jimbos, along with the Dirt Band’s Jimmy Ibbotson.
I found that reassuring. Timberline deserved better, but it’s nice to know that at least one member is still out there making music.
Salestrom’s website offers a CD copy of “The Great Timber Rush.” Thirty-four years on, it’s still a good listen.
John Oates at the Bluebird Cafe
Nashville has long been the home or hangout of the stars who graced our ’60s and ’70s record collections. John Kay, John Fogerty, Peter Frampton and Felix Cavaliere have all called Nashville home. Now John Oates has established partial residency in Nashville. He showed up at the Bluebird this week to perform in the round with Sam Bush and Jeff Black.
It was an entertaining evening, highlighted by guest Jimmy Wayne’s rendition of “Sara Smile,” with Oates singing harmony. Oates didn’t do any Hall and Oates hits himself , but played lesser-known songs from the duo’s albums and some from his solo albums.
John Oates at the Bluebird Cafe
A tribute to John Prine
After years of tribute albums that tend to be purely celebratory, it’s nice to come across one that’s revelatory.
Cover John Prine? That’s a tall order. He’s a distinctive performer with an unconventional style and phrasing, and a voice that seems built for his songs. Yet there’s a freshness to Broken Hearts and Dirty Windows, thanks to respectful, but not too respectful performances by younger Americana/folk artists.
The goofy upbeat material works best, with Those Darlins’ charming “Let’s Talk Dirty in Hawaiian” and Drive-By Truckers’ rockabilly take on “Daddy’s Little Pumpkin” among the highlights. Particualrly intriguing is “Six O’Clock News” by Lambchop, the rendition most likely to alienate long-time Prine fans. It’s a dark and essentially spoken-word, but compelling.
Tied for clearly having the best time on the album: Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band doing “Wedding Day in Funeralville” and the Avett Brothers on “Spanish Pipedream.”
Fans of My Morning Jacket, Justin Vernon of Bon Iver and Josh Ritter may well discover Prine through these artists’ cover versions. He’s truly a timeless artist and this CD reminds us of just how wry, engaging and consistent a songwriter he has been for almost four decades.
Lorraine – Lori McKenna
By Ken Paulson
You can almost hear Lori McKenna exhale with relief on Lorraine, her new CD and the first in some time without the commercial pressure of a label. She’s back to a sparer sound and continues to write about life’s trials and passages, from the frustration of being taken for granted (“If He Tried”) to the loss of a loved one (“Still Down Here.”) The title song is a thoughtful tribute to her mother, just one of many songs here that resonate with real life. This is music for adults with a few miles on them – and a few more yet to go.
Don Henry’s birthday bash at the Bluebird
Don Henry celebrates his birthday on New Year's Eve eve.
Tom Kimmel. Henry’s bandmate in the Waymores, sat in for a couple songs from that group’s upcoming CD. One of the songs was a direct nod to the Byrds, but both songs had that upbeat ’60s folk-rock feel to them — and that’s a good thing.
Craig Carothers and Danny Flowers joined Henry in the round. Carothers played a new song called “There is No U in We.” Like other Carothers songs, it’s dark and cynical, but also very melodic and funny. Flowers opened the show with his “Tulsa Time” and closed with his “East Batcave Shell Station Blues.” That’s some range.
The Bluebird was packed on a Thursday night; it’s my guess that this is that this show has become a tradition for a lot of folks. It’s really the best part of Nashville: incredibly talented people playing and singing as if they were in their living room and the audience consists of friends that just happened to have to pay a cover.
Video interview with Cowboy Jack Clement
Given the inspiration for Sun 209, it seems appropriate to share this video link of an interview with Cowboy Jack Clement from the Speaking Freely television show. Jack talks about Sun Records, his writing and recording career, Johnny Cash and the fateful day Jerry Lee Lewis walked into the studio. You’ll find a transcript here.
A Righteous Tin Pan South
Tin Pan South is a celebration of songwriting put together by the Nashville Songwriters Association International. The annual festival is remarkable for its scope and depth of talent, and occasionally you can even have a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member drop by. Righteous Brother Bill Medley performed in the round at the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville with Steve Dorff, Bill LaBounty and Bobby Tomberlin. I had no idea he had written “Little Latin Lupe Lu” (the live Springsteen version is better known to many) and he had a good time mocking his own lyrics. Bobby Hatfield, the other Brother, died in 2003. Medley did his own stirring version of “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin” to close the night.