Americana artists were well-represented at last night’s John Lennon tribute at the Mercy Lounge in Nashville. The concert, designed to raise awareness about gun violence and to celebrate Lennon’s music, ran for almost four hours and showcased the talents of a number of Americana music performers, including:
– Bill Lloyd on “Girl”
– Kenny Vaughan on “Cry Baby Cry” and “Bad Boy”
– Tommy Womack on “I’m a Loser” and “Well, Well, Well”
– Chris Scruggs on “Crippled Inside” and “I Found Out”
– Rosie Flores (with Anne McCue) on “Strawberry Fields” and “No Reply”
You’ll find the full roster and another slideshow here.
[cincopa AcCA5ya-CihZ]
Photos copyright 2011 by Ken Paulson
Christmas fingerpicking with Will Kimbrough
Today’s Lick of the Day offers up Christmas music and a remembrance of the attack on Pearl Harbor.
(Will Kimbrough is a respected solo artist and a member of DADDY who has toured with Jimmy Buffett and Emmylou Harris. His “Lick of the Day” appears here each Wednesday.)
Rodney Crowell, Rosanne Cash, John Hiatt and a new generation
One of those only-in-Nashville evenings: On Dec. 19, 3rd and Lindsley will host the Generations Against the Death Penalty benefit concert. The idea is to pair famous parents with their talented kids in support of the cause.
The line-up includes:
– Rosanne Cash, Rodney Crowell and their daughter Chelsea Crowell
– John Hiatt and daughter Lilly Hiatt
– Gail Davies and son Chris Scruggs
– Ranger Doug and son James Green.
Proceeds will benefit Tennesseans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. Tickets are available online.
Kathleen Edwards’ “Voyageuer” rising fast; Danny Barnes, Little WiIllies enter chart
Kathleen Edwards’ Voyageur is the hottest album on Americana music radio this week, moving from #13 into the top four, right behind Ryan Adams, the Jayhawks and Robert Earl Keen.
New to the chart this week: The Little Willies’ For the Good Times (#26), Etta James’ The Dreamer (#34) and Danny Barnes’ Rocket (#40.)
Primed to enter the charts soon is the Guy Clark tribute album This One’s For Him, (reviewed here) which was added by ten stations this week.
Eric Brace interview: “I Love” is nominated for a Grammy
I Love: Tom T. Hall’ Songs of Fox Hollow is one of those rare kids’ albums that will enchant children and adults in equal measure. We reviewed it enthusiastically in April and it’s great to see this salute to Tom T. and the original Fox Hollow album nominated for a Grammy for best children’s album..
Eric Brace of Last Train Home and Peter Cooper co-produced the album.
Here Brace talks about the Grammy nomination and the people who made it possible:
Glen Campbell Ryman show cancelled, Jan. 3 date set
Glen Campbell, who delivered an inspiring set at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville last Wednesday, had to cancel a return trip to the fabled hall tonight. The statement from the Ryman:
“Glen Campbell has been forced to postpone his December 5 performance at the Ryman this evening due to a case of laryngitis. He will perform a make up date on Tuesday, January, 3 at 7:30 pm. Tickets for the December 5 show will be honored at the January 3 date. If ticket holders are unable to attend the rescheduled date, refunds are available at the point of purchase.”
The show was essentially sold out, so there’s a sliver of a silver lining here for those who didn’t want to miss Campbell’s final Nashville show.
“Imagine No Gun Violence:” Nashville Lennon tribute
One of the best annual music events in Nashville each year has been the “Imagine No Handguns” concert, a celebration of the music of John Lennon and an effort to build awareness about gun violence. The show ran in Nashville from the mid-’90s through 2005, and is now back after a six-year break with the updated “Imagine No Gun Violence” title.
We first caught up with the show in 1999 at the Exit In, where we saw an impressive line-up of performers, including Rodney Crowell and Allison Moorer. It’s always a great show, featuring some of Nashville’s top talents.
The show is at the Mercy Lounge in Nashville on Friday, Dec. 9. Cover is $10, exactly what we paid in 1999.
This year’s roster includes:
Alcohol Stunt Band
Steve Allen
Bright Little Field
Austin Edwards
Craig Krampf
Jonathan Carpenter and Grayson Crouch
Katie Cook and Roger Cook
Dez Dickerson
Jason Eskridge
Rosie Flores
Matt Friction
James ‘Hags’ Haggerty
Tommy Keenum
The Kingston Springs
Carey Kotsinois
Bill Lloyd
The Nobility
Dave Paulson
Chris Scruggs
The Jack Silverman Ordeal
Allen Thompson
Kenny Vaughan
Tommy Womack
Jim Lauderdale interview: Robert Hunter, Americana
Jim Lauderdale joined Suzy Bogguss, Will Kimbrough and Eric Brace in an in-the-round show at the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville last night. It was as engaging and entertaining an evening as that line-up suggests.
Lauderdale has been Americana music’s best friend, hosting the annual awards show at the Ryman auditorium, while also releasing some of the genre’s best music. His new album Reason and Rhyme just received a Grammy nomination for best bluegrass album.
We spoke with him after the show last night, while the room was still buzzing and folks were still loud, as evidenced by the background noise on this interview. Here Lauderdale talks about working with Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter and his great respect for Americana music.
2012 Grammy nominations: Americana, folk and blues
The 2012 Grammy nominations are out, with the winners to be named on Feb. 12. The Americana music-related categories and nominees:
For Best Americana Album:
Emotional Jukebox -Linda Chorney
Pull Up Some Dust And Sit Down – Ry Cooder
Hard Bargain -Emmylou Harris
Ramble At The Ryman -Levon Helm
Blessed -Lucinda Williams
For Best Bluegrass Album
Paper Airplane- Alison Krauss & Union Station
Reason And Rhyme: Bluegrass Songs By Robert Hunter and Jim Lauderdale
– Jim Lauderdale
Rare Bird Alert -Steve Martin And The Steep Canyon Rangers
Old Memories: The Songs Of Bill Monroe – The Del McCoury Band
A Mother’s Prayer -Ralph Stanley
Sleep With One Eye Open – Chris Thile & Michael Daves
For Best Blues Album:
Low Country Blues – Gregg Allman
Roadside Attractions -Marcia Ball
Man In Motion – Warren Haynes
The Reflection – Keb Mo
Revelator – Tedeschi Trucks Band
For Best Folk Album
Barton Hollow – The Civil Wars
I’ll Never Get Out Of This World Alive -Steve Earle
Helplessness Blues- Fleet Foxes
Ukulele Songs – Eddie Vedder
The Harrow & The Harvest -Gillian Welch
For Best Children’s Album:
I Love: Tom T. Hall’s Songs Of Fox Hollow
(Various Artists) Eric Brace & Peter Cooper, producers
For Best Instrumental Composition
Life In Eleven – Béla Fleck & Howard Levy, composers (Béla Fleck & The Flecktones)
Will Kimbrough’s Lick of the Day for Nov. 30
Will Kimbrough’s Lick of the Day:
Will Kimbrough, solo artist and member of DADDY, records a cool “Lick of the Day” one day each week.
Concert review: Glen Campbell at the Ryman in Nashville
It was a sad and exhilarating evening at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville tonight.
It’s wasn’t sad because Glen Campbell is suffering from Alzheimer’s or that his performance was part of his “Goodbye Tour.” He’s 75 and ailments strike us all.
It was sad because this is the last tour of one of America’s great pop singers, interpreters and guitarists, and it’s not realistic to expect anyone else to ever perform the work of Jimmy Webb with as much passion and joy.
Campbell had some challenges tonight, forgetting the lyrics to set opener “Gentle on My Mind” when a prompter malfunctioned and stumbling through some stage patter. But his guitar
playing was solid, and his solo on “Wichita Lineman” was stirring.
In full stride, singing the songs that dominated America’s pop and country charts from 1967 through 1977,he was impressive. He played his biggest hits, including “By the Time I Get to Phoenix” and “Galveston,” but also lesser and still memorable hits, notably “Where’s The Playground Susie?” and “Dreams of the Everyday Housewife.” Haunting and beautiful stuff.
It was inspiring to see Campbell pepper the show with tracks from his outstanding final album Ghost on the Canvas. He’s been an artist all his life and he’s going to leave the stage playing new songs. That’s what artists – as opposed to oldies acts – do.
The Moody Blues and Nashville
Tickets for the Moody Blues’ March 21 date at the Ryman Auditorium
in Nashville go on sale this Friday, Dec. 2.
The band that got its start with the 1964 hit “Go Now” still has
three long-time members, Graeme Edge, John Lodge and Justin Hayward, and puts on a good live show that spans more than four decades of music
What’s most surprising, though, is the band’s clear affinity for
Nashville and its music, and vice-versa. That’s clear on Moody Bluegrass Two… Much Love, the second album of Moody Blues songs recorded by some of bluegrass music’s biggest names. And a bonus for long-time Moody Blues fans is the participation of Hayward, Lodge, Edge and former band members Mike Pinder and Ray Thomas.
The material is not quite as familiar as on the first record, but it’s a nice mix of later hits and favorite album tracks. Highlights include Vince Gill on “ I Know You’re Out There,” Ricky Skaggs’ “You and Me,” Jan Harvey’s “Say It With Love” and Sam Bush, John Cowan and Russell Smith’s take on “Nice to Be Here.”
This was a terrific concept the first time and it’s nice to see it revisited in such a compelling way. It’s also a reminder of just how pastoral and softly melodic the Moody Blues could be.
Goat Rodeo Sessions enter Americana Music Chart
Ryan Adams’s Ashes & Fire won’t budge from the top of the Americana Music Radio Chart, holding on to #1 for yet another week, followed by Robert Earl Keen’s Ready for Confetti and The Jayhawks’ Mocking Bird Time.
The big changes are all at the bottom of the chart, with The
Goat Rodeo Sessions featuring Yo-Yo Ma, Stuart Duncan, Edgar Meyer and Chris Thile, entering at #37. The Infamous Stringdusters are at #38 with We’ll Do It Live and the Milk Carton Kids enter the chart at #39 with Prologue.
Among the most added albums are Willie Nelson’s Remember Me
Vol 1, with 14 new stations, and the Little Willies’ For the Good Times with 11 new stations. There’s a trend in there somewhere.
Review: John Prine’s ‘The Singing Mailman Delivers’
Musical prequels rarely work.
Older material – released after an artist has become a big name –almost always disappoints. After all, there’s usually a reason why the hits came later.
Some albums – like the Beatles’ Hamburg tapes and Decca Sessions – have historical value. Most just stink.
That’s why John Prine’s The Singing Mailman Delivers is such a pleasant surprise. The tapes, rescued from his garage, document the birth of his extraordinary career. The audio is a ittle thin, but acceptable, and the contents are impressive.
These are recordings from 1970, one a live studio set without an audience at WFMT radio, and the other a club show at the Fifth Peg
in Chicago.
The studio recordings, made to secure copyright protection,
are essentially the roots of his first two albums. They show Prine working through his now-classic songs, including “Great Society Veteran’s Blues,” later re-titled “Sam Stone.”
The revelatory material is on the performance disc. Although
Prine has only the sparest of stage patter, he already knew how to establish rapport with the audience, joking that future listeners to the recording will talk about how much time this young man spent tuning. They would also marvel at how good he was right from the beginning.
If you see Prine in concert today, you’re likely to hear “Paradise,”
“Angel From Montgomery,” “Sam Stone” and “Illegal Smile.” They’re all here, already set highlights 41 years ago. There’s also the compassionate “Hello In There,” which Prine decribes as being written about people older than 80. That should come as a relief to Prine fans who have been listening to that song for four decades and figured they might be becoming the subject matter.
Although playing to an audience that shouldn’t be encouraged to clap or sing along, Prine is clearly having a good time at the Fifth Peg.
He jokes about a co-write with Francis Scott Key (“The Great Compromise”) and “an old spiritual” (“Your Flag Decal Won’t Get You Into Heaven Anymore”), and even offers up a ragged Hank Williams medley.
The Singing Mailman Delivers is taken from a headline on a Roger Ebert column about Prine, just as he was making the transition from the U.S. Postal Service to a career in music. Neither profession looks very secure these days, but Prine clearly made the right choice. Singing Mailman is a must for any true Prine fan.
Savannah Music Festival announces 2012 line-up
The Savannah Music Festival has been set set March 22-April 7, and will feature more than 100 performances spanning Americana music, jazz, world and classical music, according to Savannahnow.com.
Among the notable Americana acts attending:
-The Preservation Hall Jazz Band with the Del McCoury Band
– Daniel Lanois, Buddy Miller, Brian Blade and The Zion Baptist Mass Choir
– Bela Fleck and The Flecktones
– Abigail Washburn, Tony Trischka and Bruce Molsky
Schedule details are available at the festival’s website.
ACL’s Terry Lickona recaps best of Americana Music Festival
The Americana Music Festival edition of Austin City Limits is being seen across the country on PBS stations this week, and Brian Atkinson interviewed ACL producer Terry Lickona for the Austin American-Statesman about how the show came about.
You’ll find the full interview at the American-Statesman site, but here’s what he had to say about the highlights of the evening:
“I’m huge fan of the Avett Brothers. The fact that they did a new song that night was definitely a standout. Robert Plant and his Band of Joy with our own Patty Griffin was a great moment. I think probably the emotional highlight of the show came at the very end when Gregg Allman performed “Melissa.” We literally didn’t know until the morning of the show whether he was even going to be there because he’s had some pretty serious health issues. That was certainly a poignant moment and a great way to close out the hour.”
Will Kimbrough’s “Lick of the Day” debuts
Will Kimbrough, solo artist and member of DADDY, records a cool “Lick of the Day” one day each week and has given Sun209.com the green light to share them on our site. And if you haven’t heard it yet, check out Will’s outstanding Wings album, available here.
Lisa Oliver-Gray’s solo debut: Dedicated to Love
Tommy Womack wrote an enthusiastic ode to Lisa Oliver-Gray and her first solo album Dedicated to Love on Sun209.com earlier this month.
He didn’t oversell it.
You can tell this was a liberating project for all involved. Lisa steps up front with a fresh and powerful voice and her DADDY bandmates and co-writers deliver songs that are largely buoyant and reassuring.
The album opens and closes with the joyous and melodic “Everybody Wants to Be Loved,” written by Womack and Tom Littlefield, celebrates a relationship that works on “I Can Count On You,” written by Lisa, Tommy Womack and Michael Webb, and honors a beloved grandmother on Lisa’s self-penned “Lucille.”
In other words, this is an album about real people and relationships, but with a decidedly positive perspective. The songwriting and the band, which includes Womack, Kimbrough, album producer Michael Webb, Tim Marks and Paul Griffith – are first-rate.
Here’s Lisa talking about her first solo album:
(Photo by Paul Needham)
Americana Music Festival now online
Austin City Limits is now streaming the 2011 Americana Music Festival Honors and Awards show on its website. The show has been edited down to 56 minutes, so it’s more variety show than awards show, but the music is consistently compelling.
New to Americana chart: Deep Dark Woods, Carolyn Wonderland
Ryan Adams’ Ashes & Fire holds on to first place on the Americana Music Chart for a second week, with Robert Earl Keen remaining in second with Ready for Confetti.
New to the chart this week: Deep Dark Woods’ The Place I Left Behind (Sugar Hill) at #36 and Carolyn Wonderland’s Peace Meal (Bismeaux Productions) breaking in at #37.
The most added album this week is Etta James’ The Dreamer (Verve Forecast) with 16 stations picking it up.