Americana Music News – The Americana Music Association has announced plans for ”Cross County Lines,” a daylong concert promoting roots and Americana music, set for the summer of 2014.
Americana Music News – We saw the diversity of Tin Pan South tonight at two 6 p.m. shows in distinctly different venues.
J.D. Souther hosted an evening at Douglas Corner, where the room was dark and the audience was hushed and almost reverential. The club was packed and the sign outside said the room was at capacity (which happened with some disappointing regularity this week.)
Across town, the irreverent foursome of Don Henry, Karen Staley, Jerry Vandiver and Jack Sundrud held court at the much brighter Commodore Grille at the West End Holiday Inn. Henry sang about a guitar tossed into a tree after a spat, Staley described her “Thyroid Condition” with a nod to Hank Williams Jr. and Vandiver delivered the pun-plentiful “Athens Grease.”
–I met Kenny O’Dell at a press conference announcing the new Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame earlier this year, and mentioned how much I had enjoyed his Beautiful People album, released in 1967.
O’Dell, who is a member of the Hall of Fame, was gracious and seemed surprised that anyone remembered the pop album he recorded before going on to fame in country music.
Now with the re-issue of that album on Real Gone Music, many more can appreciate this modest pop gem. Largely a collection of quick recordings pulled together to capitalize on O’Dell’s Top 40 hit “Beautiful People,” the album features the hits of the era – “Kentucky Woman” and “Different Drum” among them – and also his “Next Train to London,” which became a hit for the Rose Garden.
O’Dell’s vocals were similar to Bobby Vee’s, so it probably wasn’t a surprise that Vee’s cover of “Beautiful People” also broke into the Top 40, undercutting O’Dell’s own chart success.
O’Dell went on to write “Behind Closed Doors” for Charlie Rich and even had his own career as a country artist, butthis bonus track-laden re-issue of Beautiful People shows him to be a strong pop writer and performer as well.
By Ken Paulson – It’s the rare children’s album that delights adults as much as kids , but that’s certainly the case with The Mighty Sky, a new album from Beth Nielsen Chapman.
The album offers lessons in astronomy through a wide array of pop songs written by Chapman, Annie Roboff and Rocky Alvey, giving parents the chance to play spot-the-genre while their kids learn about the moon and stars.
There’s the joyous pop of “Big Bang Boom,” the doo-wop of “The Moon,” the straight ahead “Rockin Little Neutron Star” (with Bill Lloyd and Steve Allen) and of course, the “Zodiacal Zydeco.” “You Can See the Blues” could have been written by Leiber and Stoller – if they had been astronomers.
Speaking of astronomers, the lyrics to The Mighty Sky were written by Alvey, the director of Vanderbilt Dyer Observatory in Nashville. They’re both informative and engaging, teaching in the most entertaining and low-key way.
Highly recommended.
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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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Joseph and Victor Wooten at 3rd and Lindsley in Nashville.
Joseph Wooten, keyboard player for the Steve Miller band and a solo artist, invited his brothers for a reunion and Christmas party in Nashville on Dec. 21. Soul classics prevailed, plus the funkiest version of Mel Torme’s “The Christmas Song” ever performed.
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Nashville – For a genre that sometimes struggles to establish itself, Americana Music was very visible at tonight’s Grammy Nominations Concert at Bridgestone Arena.
Guest presenters the Lumineers were nominated along with the Alabama Shakes for the Grammy award as best new artist. Mumford & Sons’ Babel was nominated as best album of the year. Throw in a Johnny Cash salute from Dierks Bentley and The Band Perry and you could almost overlook the fact that Maroon 5 was about 30 percent of the show.
The musical highlight of the evening was fun. and Janelle Monae doing “We Are Young” with a string section. The audience sing-along was joyous.
You’ll find a full list of Grammy nominations here.
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By Paul T. Mueller–Brand New is billed as the debut album of Nashville singer Brittany Spriggs. At five tracks some would call it an EP, but maybe that’s just semantics. Either way it’s fair to call it a radio-friendly first outing for an up-and-coming country artist.
Country by the current Nashville definition, that is – glossy pop with a bit of twang. Spriggs’ father, Nashville guitarist and songwriter Michael Spriggs, produced the project and plays acoustic guitar, accompanied by a competent cast of fellow Music City veterans, including past or current members of Little Texas and Jason Aldean’s road band.
All of it is in service to Brittany’s voice, which sounds great – from soft and warm on the quiet ballads (“Deeper,” “I Don’t Know”) to powerful on the rockers (“Full Moon Friday,” “That Song Was Better Than You,” “Undone”). Whether the material is distinctive enough to make Brittany Spriggs a star remains to be seen, but Brand New seems like a promising start.
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Americana Music News –Eileen Ivers, an extraordinary violinist best known for her performances with Riverdance, comes to Nashville on Friday, Oct. 26, for a concert at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center’s James K. Polk Theater.
It should be a good fit. Just as Nashville has outgrown its country music roots, Ivers has moved past her reputation as a Celtic musician to embrace the sound of multiple countries.
With her band Immigrant Soul, Ivers explores a range of world, funk, pop, jazz and Irish music. Ivers’ fiddle work is impeccable and energizing, regardless of the genre.
A 9-time all-Ireland fiddle champion, Ivers first came to prominence as a member of Cherish the Ladies.
Carpenter, who played the Ryman Auditorium Friday night, is being recognized for a body of work that includes “I Feel Lucky,” “Down at the Twist and Shout” and “He Thinks He’ll Keep Her.”
Henley wrote a number of hit songs, including the Bette Midler hit “Wind Beneath My Wings.” Both Arata and Williams enjoyed success writing for Garth Brook. Among other Brooks hits, Arata wrote “The Dance” and Williams’ wrote “Ain’t Goin Down ‘Til the Sun Comes Up.”For more information on the inductees, see the Hall of Fame’s website.
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Americana artists loom large at this year’s Freedom Sings concert at the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville.
Gretchen Peters, Kim Richey, Bill Lloyd, Ashley Cleveland, Danny Flowers, Don Henry, Jonell Mosser and Jason White are among Americana-linked performers scheduled for the Oct. 3 event.
(Disclosure: I help plan and host this fund-raiser each year.)
“ Fourteen years ago the First Amendment Center took a distinctly musical turn.
Our Nashville-based center decided to take advantage of its presence in Music City and organized a charitable event focusing on free speech and music. The concept was simple: Music is free speech with a melody; this new “Freedom Sings” project would feature songs that had once been censored or challenged.
This year’s Freedom Sings concert … will focus on the years 1972-1974, which we’ve collectively tagged “The Watergate Years.”
As we researched music from those three years, we were surprised at how apolitical popular music had become. The strident anti-war anthems of the late 1960s were gone, and only a handful of songs seemed to focus on the turmoil of the times. This was a period in which the nation was still trying to extricate itself from Vietnam, we had our first taste of the oil crisis and the presidency was embroiled in scandal. And yet pop songs largely avoided all of those issues.
This year’s Freedom Sings focuses less on censored music and more on the songs and artists that broke new ground, addressing new topics in new ways. These include “Superfly,” Curtis Mayfield’s take on inner city life, Merle Haggard’s, “If I Can Make It to December,” Paul Simon’s poignant “American Tune” and Randy Newman’s “Sail Away.”
Eleven is the title of Martina McBride’s latest album, and those digits began the onscreen countdown for her performance at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville tonight.
That bit of stagecraft foreshadowed a generous two-hour set spanning most of her hits and a surprising number of covers. Martina told the audience from the outset that this would be a more intimate evening, allowing her to perform at her own pace and interact with the audience.
Despite her gift for ballads, the set was consistently up-tempo, with particularly driving performances of “This One’s For the Girls” and “When God-Fearin’ Women Get the Blues,” among others.
We’ve always admired McBride’s gravitation to songs with a social conscience and she delivered both Gretchen Peters’ “Independence Day” and Buzz Cason and Tom Douglas’ “Love’s the Only House” with passion and energy.
Most surprising was her remarkable arrays of covers, including “Rose Garden” and “Help Me Make It Through the Night” from her Timeless album. Her take on Roger Miller’s “King of the Road” was great fun, and her encore of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’” and the Eurythmics’ “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)” were as joyous as a 1984 prom.
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By Ken Paulson –Nick Lowe has been a regular in Music City in the last year or so, opening for Wilco at the Ryman Auditorium and being feted at the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Still, it was a real treat to see him deliver a decades-spanning acoustic set at the Mercy Lounge Saturday night.
The 64-year-old Lowe has aged gracefully, with wry observational songs replacing the buoyant rock songs of his early years. His intimate performance meant every lyric resonated, particularly those of “I Read A Lot” and “House for Sale,” heart-rending tales of lost love.
The most surprising audience reaction came during “I Trained Her to Love Me,” a dark and chilling song about a manipulative man who seduces and then abandons. The audience found this hilarious, and a bemused Nick played to it.
Lowe didn’t neglect his catalog. ” Old favorites included “Without Love,” “When I Write the Book,” “Heart,” “Raining” and his sole hit “Cruel to Be Kind.”
“What’s So Funny (about Peace, Love and Understanding?” is his best copyright and though his current rendition isn’t the full throttle rocker recorded by Elvis Costello, the spirit is intact. “I Knew the Bride (When She Used to Rock and Roll)” was a particular treat.
Nick Lowe remains an extraordinary songwriter and a compelling performer. He’s not to be missed.
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Americana Music News – This year was another extraordinary Americana Music Festival, with an overflowing slate of talent. Here’s a sampling of images that only hint at the range of artists:
Photos copyright 2012 by Ken Paulson. Follow Americana Music News on Twitter at Sun209com.
One of the highlights of Americana Music Festival week in Nashville is Americanarama, sort of the ultimate in-store, but held outside in the parking lot of beloved record store Grimey’s.
We dropped by to watch impressive sets by the Howling Brothers, Amy Cook and Kim Richey, who recently moved back to Nashville and has been recording a new album.
We also dug through thousands of $1 albums, and ended up buying 25 relative obscurities, including a two-disc album capturing the highlights of the Nixon-Kenedy debates. We wonder if they released a single.
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Americana Music News — The Americana Music Festival returns to Nashville this week. It’s a world-class music festival at a very economical price. For $50, you have access to shows by an amazing array of artists over four nights. Details here.
–Kathy Mattea revisited her roots on multiple levels tonight at the Bluebird Café in Nashville.
She reminisced about appearing at the Bluebird 30 years ago and the performance that led to her first recording contract.
But she also explored far deeper roots at this album release show for Calling Me Home, a collection of Appalachia-infused music, building on her earlier Coal.
The 90-minute concert drew from the new album, most notably “Hello, My Name is Coal,” “West Virginia Mine Disaster” and “The Wood Thrush’s Song.” These are songs of integrity, performed impeccably by an outstanding band. Mattea even picked up the banjo for two songs.
Although the evening had a somewhat solemn tone to it and Mattea urged the crowd to have a second glass of wine, there was no mistaking the exuberance of her cover of “Gimme Shelter” as a storm gathered outside. It was as though Mick and Keith had grown up in West Virginia.
Although Mattea’s music is now fueled by bluegrass and folk, she didn’t neglect the hits, performing “Love at the Five and Dime,” “Lonesome Standard Time” and the always touching “Where’ve You Been, and leading the audience in a sing-along of “18 Wheels and a Dozen Roses.”
Fans of the “Walking Away A Winner” era may be surprised by the more traditional Kathy Mattea, but she’s walking her own path now, embracing the music she loves and performing it very well.
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Americana Music News – One of the most anticipated acts at this year’s Americana Music Festival in Nashville is Corb Lund, whose new album Cabin Fever broke into the Americana Music airplay chart this week at # 24. Lund will play at the Mercy Lounge at 10 p.m. on Sept. 12, opening night of the festival.
If you can’t attend the festival , here’s a list of upcoming shows:
Aug. 10 – Dawson County Fair – Glendive, MT
Sept. 21 – Firehouse Saloon – Houston, TX
Sept. 26 – The Blue Light – Lubbock, TX
Sept. 27 – Mercury Lounge – Tulsa, OK
Sept. 28 – Love And War In Texas – Plano, TX
Sept. 29 – Cattlelacs Chainsaw Art Gallery – Manchaca, TX
Oct. 1 – Bar SS – Laporte, CO
Oct. 2 – Bar SS – Laporte, CO
Oct. 3 – The Soiled Dove Underground – Denver, CO
Oct. 4– Oskar Blues – Lyons, CO
Oct. 5 – Turn Of The Century Saloon – Montrose, CO
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–It’s hard enough to write a CD’s worth of intelligent, engaging songs in one’s native language. To do so in one’s second language, as Russia-born singer-songwriter Natasha Borzilova has with Out of My Hands, is a pretty impressive achievement.
On her third solo release (she’s a former member of Bering Strait, a country band she started in her homeland and later brought to the United States), Borzilova explores themes including new love, lost love, depression, new motherhood, the loss of a parent and even Russian lullabies. She does this with a world-class voice and a Russian poet’s sensibility.
For example, on “Gypsy,” she sings, “I’m not asking for your heart/Just let me read your hands/I saw the future in your palms/But I didn’t find myself.” Combined with Billy Panda’s beautiful mandocello, it’s enough to break your heart.
Borzilova plays guitar, but her best instrument is her warm, expressive voice, which is capable of wide emotional and musical range. She uses it to great effect on the album, which she also produced.
Backing is provided by an impressive cast of Nashville veterans: guitarist (and bandleader) Panda, guitarist Bob Britt, bassist Alison Prestwood, drummer Tommy Harden and keyboardist Michael Rojas. Borzilova’s husband, John Caldwell, recorded and mixed the album, and contributed some hip-hop vocals to “Long Night,” which also features Borzilova singing verses from traditional Russian lullabies.
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RT @ronnyboy1: So pretty. Nashville’s Music City Center opening! Songwriters Hall of Fame #picstitch @ Music City Center http://t.co/IUHH4S… 3 days ago
RT @JasonIsbell: Couple misquotes in the Garden and Gun piece. 1st, it was Elizabeth Cook, not Patty Griffin, who told Letterman about us. 5 days ago
RT @KellyWRobison: Recovered from the 2 beers I drank at Lloyd Maines tribute just in time for tonight’s gig-Pflugerville Fest!! Tonight’s … 5 days ago
RT @SteveEarle: Boston, thanks to everyone who supported the Give US Your Poor table this past Sunday . This was a part of Give… http://… 5 days ago
RT @RonSexsmith: Produced by Steve Earle, It sounds more like a demo to me than a proper record but it has a few good songs on it RS http:/… 5 days ago
RT @AmericanaFest: THANK YOU @BuddyandJim for making yesterday’s Americana Nomination Ceremony extra special & fun. We love u guys!! http:/… 7 days ago
RT @HonkyTonkShell: Kip Moore, Will Hoge, more entertain crowd at Grammy block party | Tune In Music City | The Tennessean http://t.co/3uGQ… 7 days ago
Sun209 chronicles rock, roots and Americana music, drawing its name from the catalog number of Elvis Presley's first single, the Big Bang of contemporary music.
Review copies and press releases: PO Box 432, 3908 Lebanon Pike, Hermitage, TN 37076.
E-mail: sun209editor@gmail.com.
Americana Music News – The Americana Music Association has announced plans for ”Cross County Lines,” a daylong concert promoting roots and Americana music, set for the summer of 2014.
By Ken Paulson
By Ken Paulson – It’s the rare children’s album that delights adults as much as kids , but that’s certainly the case with The Mighty Sky, a new album from Beth Nielsen Chapman.
Americana Music News – The 
By Ken Paulson
By Paul T. Mueller–Brand New is billed as the debut album of Nashville singer Brittany Spriggs. At five tracks some would call it an EP, but maybe that’s just semantics. Either way it’s fair to call it a radio-friendly first outing for an up-and-coming country artist.
Americana Music News – 
By Ken Paulson
By Ken Paulson
Americana Music News – One of the most anticipated acts at this year’s 
By Paul T. Mueller
Sun209 chronicles rock, roots and Americana music, drawing its name from the catalog number of Elvis Presley's first single, the Big Bang of contemporary music.
Review copies and press releases: PO Box 432, 3908 Lebanon Pike, Hermitage, TN 37076.
E-mail: sun209editor@gmail.com.
