Tin Pan South Festival: Opening night preview

 in Americana Music

You’ll find great music in Nashville’s clubs all this week as they host the annual Tin Pan South Festival, a celebration of songwriters. Venues all over town feature singers and songwriters, typically in the round in groups of four. The performances are short on flash and high in talent.

The 2012 festival kicks off tonight. Among the evening’s highlights:

6 p.m.

Belcourt Taps and Tapas: Sally Barris, Don Henry and Tom Kimmel are all accomplished songwriters, but collectively they’re known as the Waymores, a vibrant new trio with an album due for release.  Plus guest Dana Cooper.

Listening Room Café – Roger Cook (“Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress” and many more), Peter Yarrow of Peter,  Paul and Mary,  and Michael McDermott are joined by Larry Weiss, who wrote “Rhinestone Cowboy” for Glen Campbell and  “Bend Me Shape Me” for the American Breed.

9 p.m.

Commodore Grill – Walter Egan, Mary Gauthier, Ed Pettersen and Jim Photoglo span multiple decades and genres. Egan enjoyed rock stardom with “Magnet and Steel,” Photoglo has had huge success as a country writer and Gauthier writes compelling and often heartbreaking songs.

Eat at Loew’s Vanderbilt: Sherrie Austin, Steve Bogard, Lindsay Ell and Rob Hatch are a great line-up, but the special draw here is the appearance of Elliot Lurie, who wrote and sang the 1972 pop classic “Brandy (You’re A Fine Girl)” for his band the Looking Glass.

Concert review: Spanky and Our Gang

 in Americana Music, Reviews

by Terry Roland

–The new Spanky and Our Gang played to a sold-out audience at Coffee Gallery Backstage in Altadena, California this month, not so much a reunion as an acknowledgement of the way Americana music connects us to our past and to each other.

With the exception of Elaine ”Spanky” McFarlane, the original players are gone. They included Oz Bach, Malcolm Hale and Nigel Pickering. They were important to the sound, the vocal harmonies and the arrangements that made songs like “Sunday Will Never Be The Same,””Can I Get To Know You” and “Lazy Day,” so appealing.

Indeed, their string of hits that made it to the Top 40 during a two-year period from 1967 to 1969, still can be heard on oldies and easy-listening radio stations today. During their active years, they were featured on national television shows like Ed Sullivan, the Smothers Brothers and The Hollywood Palace. But their legacy included much more than a few catchy hits.

With jazz and pop vocal arrangements that foreshadowed artists like Manhattan Transfer, they recast such songs as Leonard Cohen’s “Suzanne,” and “Echoes (Everybody’s Talking)” by Fred Neil as intricate pop vocal symphonies. This work never found a long-term audience and eventually the band fell apart.  During a brief reunion in 1975, they released the album “Change,” which included songs by future Americana artists like Guy Clark and Tom Waits.

The current incarnation includes a collection of musicians who have joined  Spanky’s musical journey over the years. Keyboardist Bob Ebenstein joined her when she was taking Cass Elliot’s place in the ‘80s line-up of the Mamas and Papas. Lead singer and acoustic guitarist Jim Carrick, was a close friend of Nigel Pickering. Gospel singer, Karen Dupont lives close to Spanky in Ferndale, California. Percussionist Eddie Ponder of the Flying Burrito Brothers, worked with Spanky during her L.A. folk-rock days. Bassist Chris Matheos is an accomplished music theorist. To fill things out, Denny Dias of Steely Dan has been added to provide a counterpoint to Jim’s acoustic lead guitar work.

This new band plays an eclectic spectrum of music, much like an accomplished jazz band. Their repertoire is fearless, covering a wide range of songs, including the set opener, “Sinner Man,” which dates back over a hundred years, a tribute to Etta James, a nod or two to Tom Waits, Guy Clark and Fred Neil and some fierce and passionate gospel singing from Karen Dupont. Especially inspired was her cover of Springsteen’s “Cover Me,” which was transformed into a righteous gospel song.

All of this eclecticism would have seemed disjointed without Spanky at the center, rendering acoustic re-arrangements of songs like “And She’s Mine,” and “Sunday Will Never Be The Same.”

Spanky led the musicians more like the heart of a late-night jam session than a frontwoman for a band. While her voice has deepened considerably since the late ‘60s, she still has an achingly soulful howl,whether she sings blues, jazz, folk or country.

The strongest moment of the show came with the closing song “Give A Damn.” This song still resonates, especially with today’s political movements from both the left and right, symbolized in Occupy Wall Street and the Tea Party Movement.

The controversy 40 years ago over the use of the word, “damn” overshadowed the message of the song, which speaks to the need for everyday humanity and compassion for the poor and displaced. But as the two-hour show came to an end, it was clear that taking a good wakeful look around is needed more than ever.

Review: Bruce Springsteen’s “Wrecking Ball”

 in Americana Music

by Terry Roland

Bruce Springsteen’s Wrecking Ball is the antithesis of his nearly 30 year-old Born in the U.S.A.  As a writer, he has always highlighted the dark edges and ragged truth found in an America that has more kinship with John Steinbeck and Woody Guthrie than Ronald Reagan.

While this earlier classic was in many ways just as dark as Wrecking Ball, it still held a hopeful and sometimes nostalgic view of America even while he sang of wounded vets, the decline of his hometown and dancing in the dark. But with Wrecking Ball, there is no nostalgia. There is only the anger of our present circumstances. The songs illuminate how we got here.

The opening track, “We Take Care of Our Own,” is a clear statement of the times and an answer to the arch-conservative movement of today embodied in The Tea Party and the current Republican field of presidential candidates.

It’s an open call for personal and political compassion as a fundamental ideal, a reflection on what it means to be patriotic and ultimately, what it means to be an American today. “Easy Money”and “Shackled and Drawn” contrast the plight of the rich and the poor alike in today’s economy.

One of the most compelling songs on the album is “Death To My Hometown,” which rings out with Celtic anger and a punk-like energy. Again, it stands in defiant contrast to the surrendered despair of “My Hometown,” from the Born in the U.S.A sessions.

In terms of being The Boss, Springsteen has always been the front-of-the-pack when it comes to narrative storytelling. This album doesn’t let us down. After “We Take Care of Our Own,” which serves as a kind of foreword, the stories unfold from anger to sadness to depression, and finally emerge with optimism on “Land of Hope and Dreams,” which borrows heavily from the song “Bound For Glory.,” leaning on the refrain “This Train” to deliver his own rock and roll sermon of faith, straight from the First Church of E-Street. The plus on this one is the late Clarence Clemons saxophone sailing in like an angel. It’s an apt tribute one of the great musical partnerships of American history.

Ultimately, the strongest musical influences and reference point of this album are the folk music of the ‘40s and ‘50s and the civil rights movement of the ‘50s and ‘60s. This album is a clear call to return to that kind of unity. Like his entire body of work, Springsteen never seeks easy answers to his hope and faith in God, country and his fellowman, but instead asks us to take a clear-eyed look at our own despair and to find the will to return to  a patriotism based on truth, reality, compassion and humanity.

Lovett, Scott top chart; Janiva Magness debuts

 in Americana Music

It’s been a relatively stable week on the Americana Music radio airplay chart, with Lyle Lovett again holding on to the top position with Release Me, followed by Darrell Scott’s  Long Ride Home.

There’s only one new album on the chart this week, with Janiva Magness’ Stronger For It entering at #36.

Tommy Womack’s fine Now What!  is back on the chart after dropping off for a week.  It stands at #38.

Albums with the most adds:

– Justin Townes Earle’s Nothing’s Gonna Change the Way You Feel About Me, with 18 new stations.

– Andrew Bird’s Break It Yourself (13)

– Todd Snider’s Agnostic Hymns and Stoner Fables (12)

– Peter Mulvey’s The Good Stuff (11)

Review: Chelle Rose’s “Ghost of Browder Holler”

 in Americana Music, Reviews

By Ken Paulson

—Ghost of Browder Holler is a striking new album by Chelle Rose, a Nashville-based singer and songwriter with roots in Appalachia.

Songs like “Browder Holler Boy,” “Caney Fork Tennessee” and “Weepin’ Willow on the Hill” reflect those rustic origins but it also sounds like copies of Beggars’ Banquet and Let It Bleed made their way into the holler.

Rose has an honest and authentic sound; there’s no compromise here. She marries that candor to blistering rock ‘n roll on the robust “Alimony,” an apparently autobiographical romp that begins: “Well, I married a man ’cause he was kin to Dottie West, found out it ain’t exactly true, it was by marriage I guess.”

It’s a declaration of independence and the fireworks are all in the music.

“I Need You” shows the Rolling Stones’ influence and “Rufus Morgan preacher man” is right out of the Tony Joe White tradition, right down to the “I’m going to tell you all a story about …” intro.

Clearly Chelle Rose has fought hard to get where she is today. And as “Alimony” attests, you’d better stay  out of her way.

Tail Dragger and Bob Corritore – Longtime Friends in the Blues

 in Americana Music

By Joe Ross

The emotion, power and intensity of pure and heartfelt Chicago blues are the elements of Long Time Friends in the Blues featuring vocalist Tail Dragger (aka James Y. Jones) and harmonica player Bob Corritore.

The two bluesmen met in early-1976 on Chicago’s west side when they performed at a tribute to Howlin’ Wolf on the day after he’d passed on. Emotion and energy levels must’ve been very high that evening, and Jones and Corritore began a lifetime of friendship and collaboration.

Tail Dragger got his nickname by occasionally being late to gigs in the 1960s, and he embarked on a career as a full-time “lowdown blues” solo artist in the early 1970s. Bob Corritore’s life was changed in 1968 when he first heard Muddy Waters. He lives the blues in various professional capacities as musician, band leader, club owner, radio show host, and general all-round blues advocate and impresario (producing this and several other albums).

The full group of friends clearly understands the gruff, gritty, Delta-fashioned style of Howlin’ Wolf. For that, we acknowledge and thank Henry Gray (piano), Kirk Fletcher (guitar), Chris James (guitar), Patrick Rynn (bass), and Brian Fahey drums). They keep their playing straight ahead in the pile-driving style of the genre, without too much technical flash. Gray also provides some vocals on “Sugar Mama,” as well as some comments on “Boogie Woogie Ball” and “Please Mr. Jailer,” both excellent showcases for his masterful work on piano.

With the exception of John Lee Williamson’s “Sugar Mama,” all the songs were written by Tail Dragger, whose lyrics offer insight, revelation and modest advice. Blues acolytes will definitely rejoice in grooves produced by this potent teaming of Tail Dragger and Bob Corritore. While they may not have created songs as definitive as Wolf’s “Moanin’ at Midnight” and “Evil,” these guys have fashioned an album that has both musical personality and spiritual underpinnings.

Review: Nathan James & the Rhythm Scratchers

 in Americana Music

By Joe Ross
Nathan James likes to call his genre of music “Washtar Soul.” In 2010, he created an instrument called the Washtar Gitboard that connected a carved guitar neck to a travel-size washboard. He’s also wired and outfitted the gadget with LED lights from an auto parts store and plays a 3-string instrument (Tri-tar) built from a washboard and an axe handle.

More than just a novelty, James says he’s created both a new look and sound to produce his mostly original material that integrates elements from downhome jukes, the streets, vaudeville and Chicago clubs. It’s an entertaining mix that ranges from acoustic blues of the 30s to R&B of the ’60s.

On What You Make of It, James and his trio focus primarily on blues, offering solid originals, stunning guitar work, dramatic vocals and expressive harmonica. The only fully acoustic offering on this album, “Pretty Baby Don’t Be Late,” provides a nice contrast. Hopefully, most listeners won’t be taken aback by the kazoo solos in this number and the cover from Blind Boy Fuller (“Black Snakin’ Jiver”), the most influential and popular Piedmont-blues player of all time.

Nathan James grew up in a rural area outside of San Diego, and he gigged regularly as a teen. After high school, he was ready to pursue his dream of being a professional musician. At age 19, he began touring and recording with James Harman, whose vocals and harmonica are featured on one track.

Because I live near the Wildlife Safari in Winston, Or., I was quite curious about one song on this album, “Rhino Horn,” written by Harman when the touring band visited that outdoor zoo and were inspired by the rhinos. The song’s genesis establishes a funky groove before evolving into quite a story and tribute to the aphrodisiac. James also does a nice job with the cover from Bobby Patterson (“I’m a Slave to You”.) After touring and recording with Harman for over three years, Nathan James set out on a solo career.

James’ current band includes Troy Sandow (bass, harmonica, backup vocals) and Marty Dodson (drums, backup vocals). With unbridled energy, all three musicians have the diversity and talent to get the groove going with different shades and colorings in their music. Guests include saxophonists Jonny Viau and Archie Thompson on two cuts.

A contemporary synthesizer of multiple styles, Nathan James deserves a wider audience.  This group’s varied debut on the Delta Groove label is sure to find them plenty of listeners beyond the streets, juke joints and house parties.

Charting: Justin Townes Earle, Bruce Springsteen, Todd Snider

 in Americana Music

Lyle Lovett’s Release Me shot to the top of the Americana Music Association radio airplay chart, edging out Darrell Scott’s Long Ride Home by just seven spins.

New to the chart: Justin Townes Earles’ Nothing’s Going to Change the Way You Feel About Me Now at #11, Ray Wylie Hubbard’s Grifter’s Hymnal at #22, Todd Snider’s Agnostic Hymns and Stoner Fables at #25, Bruce Springsteen’s  Wrecking Ball at #31, Steel Wheels’ Lay Down Lay Low at #34 and Lucero’s Woman & Work at #38.

Review: Charlie Faye’s “Travels with Charlie”

 in Reviews

By Ken Paulson

— Charlie Faye’s Travels with Charlie is built on a cool concept – residences in ten different cities for a month each, but it’s no travelogue.

With the exception  of the honky tonk song “Two-Timer” cut in Nashville with Chris Scruggs, Kenny Vaughan and Buddy Spicher, the songs don’t reflect their roots.

What they do reflect is a fresh start each month, with a new set of musicians and producer. The end result, currently #12 on the Americana music chart, is surprisingly cohesive and consistent.

Charlie’s work would be filed under Americana at the few real record stores left in America, but she also has a strong pop voice and sensibility. Songs like “Broken Heart Maker” and the buoyant “Obvious to Me” are energetic and hook-laden.

The more reflective material is also strong, particularly “Bitterness” (“I knew you back when we were young and time had yet to lay his hands on us”) and the soulful “Girl Who Cried Love,” which seems to channel “I’d Rather Go Blind.”

Ten cities. Ten months. One fine album.

Sun209: The week in Tweets

 in Americana Music

The Steep Canyon Rangers’ “Nobody Knows You”

 in Americana Music, Reviews


By Joe Ross— Years ago, I predicted that by the time the members of the Steep Canyon Rangers were thirty, they would be well-known far and wide for their brilliant performances and excellent recordings. Now this tight unit from western North Carolina could be one of the most recognizable bands in bluegrass today. Besides having talent and youthful appeal, their visibility was boosted by being Steve Martin’s backup band. They were nominated for a Grammy  for their 2011 album collaboration with Martin called Rare Bird Alert.  Following some excellent releases on Rebel Records, the band now debuts on Rounder.

The band’s certainly been on a fast and nearly vertical track since their 1999 formation and  first gigs at the Mellow Mushroom, a pizza parlor in Chapel Hill, N.C. Since going full-time in 2001, the young, hard-working and prolific band toured heavily. By 2006, they had won IBMA’s Emerging Artist of the Year Award, and 2011 brought them the organization’s Entertainer of the Year Award (with Steve Martin).

Now Woody Platt (guitar), Mike Guggino (mandolin, mandola), Charles Humphrey III (bass), Graham Sharp (banjo, guitar), and Nicky Sanders (fiddle) are riding the wave,  but not resting on their laurels. Platt does most of the lead singing, and the others sing harmonies. I’ve always enjoyed this band’s appealing delivery. characterized by power, passion, emotion  and drive.

With all the same splendid ingredients of previous releases, Nobody Knows You (named for a stout Colorado beer) takes the soulful band to an even higher plane of contemporary bluegrass. The ingredients are all here: a presumably higher budget for recording and production (with 9-time Grammy winner Gary Paczosa) and the  kind of experience that allows them to capitalize on their personalized sound with originality, unique rhythms, dynamics, moods and syncopations.

For example, “Between Midnight and the Dawn” has a creative, conversational call-and-response arrangement. The high-stepping “As I Go” starts with a rousing a cappella quartet before raising hell. Besides the material, this set tells me they also still have the right attitude and gumption to succeed.

If anything’s changed over the years, it’s the  continued development of an adventurous and sensational signature sound that allows them to “cross-market” the band to places where the music might not regularly be heard. The band also doesn’t shy away from adding some less traditional bluegrass instruments into their mix (“Easy to Love” has Jimmy Wallace’s piano; the closing “Long Shot” has John Gardner’s drums).

Seven of the songs on this album are originals written by Sharp. “Knob Creek” is an evocative Guggino instrumental that the band really taps for its minor-keyed emotion, and Humphrey had a hand in writing three (“Natural Disaster,” “Summer Winds,” and “Rescue Me”). Charles’ songwriting collaborators include Jonathan Byrd and Phillip Wofford Barker.

One soulful song, “Reputation,” comes from the pen of Tim Hardin. “Open Country” is a standout track with guests Jon Randall (guitar) and Randy Kohrs (Dobro). It’s nice that lyrics are included in the CD jacket. Now that the Steep Canyon Rangers have achieved great success, I wonder if they’d consider repaying the genre that brought them success by recording a traditional roots or bluegrass gospel album. Regardless, I look forward to their future forays into progressive contemporary bluegrass.

Tin Pan South Songwriters Festival sets 2012 line-up

 in Reviews

Tin Pan South, the pre-emiment songwriters festival, has just released its line-up for the 2012 event scheduled for March 27-31. It’s a wide-ranging collection of talent, spead over ten venues. Attendees can pay cover at the door or buy a weeklong pass that offers preferred access.
Many of this year’s performers are songwriters who have also had successful recording careers, including Ray Wylie Hubbard, Walter Egan, T. Graham Brown, Lari White, Michael Johnson, Peter Yarrow, Sam Bush, Mark Hudson, Felix Cavaliere, Radney Foster, Darrell Scott, Buddy Miller, Lee Roy Parnell, John Oates, Jim Lauderdale, Dickey Lee, Buzz Cason, Shawn Mullins, Jim Peterik, Al Anderson, Shawn Camp and the Wrights.
You’ll find details on the schedule and tickets at the Tin Pan South site. For coverage of past Tin Pan South events, go here.

(Follow Sun209and the festival at sun209com on Twitter.)

New on chart: Carolina Chocolate Drops, Joan Osborne,Sugar + the High-Lows

 in Americana Music, Reviews

The top three positions on the Americana music airplay chart remain steady this week, with Darrell Scott’s Long Ride Home, the Guy Clark tribute This One’s For Him and the Little Willies’ For the Good Times remaining first through third.

Lyle Lovett’s Release Me jumps into #4 in just its second week. It’s also one of the three most-added albums, with 15 stations picking it up this week.

New to the chart this week: The Carolina Chocolate Drops Leaving Eden at #27 (also the most added), Sugar + the High-Lows’s self-titled album at #31, Joan Osborne’s Shake Your Hips at #35, Otis Gibbs’ Harder Than Hammered Hell at #37 and Tommy Womack’s Now What! at #40.

Review: The Hobart Brothers with Lil’ Sis Hobart

 in Americana Music, Reviews


By Ken Paulson
— Crosby, Stills and Nash offered up a successful template, but the merger of singer-songwriters in a group can have widely varying results.  Souther-Hillman-Furay fell short of their promise; Bryndle never took off; the Thorns (Pete Droge, Shawn Mullins and Matthew Sweet) sounded great together, but that’s apparently as far as the harmony went.

And then there are the Hobart Brothers with Lil’ Sis Hobart, the collective alias of Jon Dee Graham, Freedy Johnston and Susan Cowsill.  From the band name taken from the dishwasher manufacturer to the loose spirit throughout, the Hobarts are clearly in this for the fun.

All three have had solid careers, and their songwriting carries the day on At Least We Have Each Other. From the driving “Ballad of Sis (Didn’t I Love You)” to the sweet “Sodapoptree,” the Hobarts  range far and wide musically, but are bound by shared sensibilities.

“I Am Sorry” is a world-class apology song, beginning with Johnston singing “Can you come get me at the Citgo by the airport? My heart may be broken and my battery is dead.” It gets sadder – and more revealing – from there.

There’s a healthier relationship in “I Never Knew There Would Be You,” a lively pop song worthy of Susan Cowsill’s original family band.

The narratives are compelling throughout, particularly, “All Things Being Equal,” a haunting song about the economics of the cotton market sung by Graham.

The Hobart Brothers with Lil’ Sis Hobart is a loose and loving collaboration, fueled by fine songwriting, making At Least We Have Each Other a refreshing change of pace.

Sun209: The week in Tweets

 in Americana Music

The Leonard Cohen Economy

 in Americana Music

By Bruce Rosenstein

Leave it to The Economist, and specifically the Schumpeter management column, to find the intersection between Leonard Cohen and entrepreneurship. The February 25th Enterprising Oldies explores, in a neat package, why all of us (no matter where we are chronologically in adulthood) may have to explore entrepreneurship and other forms of self-employment at some point in our working lives. As we think about how to diversify our portfolio of work experiences, it’s worth digging deeper into how we can apply some of the life lessons of the 77 year old Cohen, a singer/songwriter/poet/novelist who was inducted into the Rock&Roll Hall of Fame in 2008. He’s written such oft-recorded classics as “Suzanne” and “Bird on a Wire,” and the more recent “Hallelujah.” As pointed out in The Economist and a recent New York Times interview, part of Cohen’s recent renaissance has come about because he had to resume touring and recording to help make up for millions of dollars lost in dealings with a former financial adviser. But no matter what the impetus was, the fact is that he has a new album, Old Ideas, and has toured the world recently at far beyond traditional retirement age. What can we learn from his example? 1.    Diversified creative output. He has a tremendous body of work, going back more than 40 years, to draw on. It’s entirely possible that his poetry books are not major money-spinners, but he also has his albums, songwriting royalties (perhaps a considerable sum, given all the cover versions of his songs) and concert fees. 2.    A  powerful personal brand. Mention the name and people instantly associate it with him and his work. 3.    A global outlook. He has a worldwide following, with his books and music available worldwide, and fans everywhere, well beyond his native Canada. 4.    Remaining relevant. People are eager to listen to the new output of this 77 year old man, and he’s adding new fans all the time. 5.    An impressive body of work. One reason millions of dollars are at stake from Cohen’s career is that he has written and recorded so many important songs over more than 40 years. Even if the work you do is not creative in nature, chances are you still may have to/want to work beyond 65. It’s never too soon, or too late to be thinking about amassing a high-quality body of work, diversifying your output, building your brand, thinking globally and remaining relevant. As ties to traditional jobs and employment arrangements continue to evolve and become more tenuous, we will increasingly find ourselves in what could be called The Leonard Cohen Economy.

(Read more of Bruce Rosenstein’s work here. )

Tommy Womack: Angst, art and rock ‘n’ roll

 in Nashville music

We’ve written about Nashville’s Tommy Womack’s inspired, irreverent and deeply personal music on Sun209 in the past, and Tommy has contributed to the site with a piece on his three favorite Kinks songs.
Still, his unique style is tough to capture in words. Our friend Peter Cooper succeeded with a fine article in today’s Tennesseean.

Cooper wrote about the reaction of Womack’s friends to his last album There I Said It!:

“We worried, because we knew he was singing his truth. He’d written who he was, and he was nervous and fragile and in an unrequited love affair with rock ’n’ roll.

And we worried, because we stood with the rest of his audience members in the middle of his performances, to cheer brave songs about being frightened. Isn’t that the kind of reinforcement that makes a guy want to open up another vein?”

Read the full story here.

Darrell Scott’s “Long Ride Home” hits #1, Lyle Lovett has top debut

 in Americana Music

Darrell Scott’s Long Ride Home moves into the top spot on the Americana music airplay chart this week, after a virtual three-way tie at the number one spot last week. The album is being played on 54 stations.
Chart debuts this week include Lyle Lovett’s Release Me at #16, the Chieftains’ Voice of Ages at #24 and New Multitudes, an album of new music and Woody Guthrie lyrics by Jay Farrar, Wil Johnson, Anders Parker and “Yim Yames, “ at #34.
Most added this week: Lovett’s album with 29 stations and Otis Gibbs’ Harder Than Hammered Hell with 13 stations.

(Follow Sun209 on Twitter at @sun209com and on Facebook.)