Tommy Womack on “a very special voice”

 in Americana Music

Lisa Oliver Gray sings with Tommy Womack

By Tommy Womack

I was playing a gig in Florida three or four years ago. A fan asked me to play that song from my new record, “the one with Emmylou Harris on it.” I said I’d never done a duet with Emmylou. My new friend was quizzical. Surely I had done so! No, I countered. You mean the other best voice in Nashville, Lisa.

“Dedicated to Love”, the debut record by Lisa Oliver Gray, is a triumphant celebration of a life well-lived, a showcase for a very special voice only now getting its due, and a studio collaboration of some of the finest names in underground Americana Nashville (including me!) By turns as sweet as the aforementioned Ms. Harris, as full-throated as Johnette Napalitano, and infused with a deep gospel brogue, with a drizzle of Billie Holiday, Lisa’s voice brings out the best in others and shines on her own.

An in-demand session and stage vocalist, Lisa has harmonized with Lee Roy Parnell, Marshall Chapman, Will Kimbrough, David Olney and, for the past 15 years, me; which makes me one lucky guy.

We met on a dance floor in 1983, fellow students at Western Kentucky University. We both sang in different bands. One night she got onstage with me to sing harmony on “Like a Rolling Stone”. I thought to myself, she’s got something. Then I saw her sit in with a house band on Patsy Cline’s “Crazy” and flat-out own the sucker. The kicker came around 1996 or 7, long after we’d both moved to Nashville. I saw Wayne Kramer one night call out to the crowd that he needed a female singer to join him on his next number. Lisa drew the short straw and proceeded to amaze me with the ease with which she not only riffed with Wayne musically, but parried his every verbal offering with one of her own like they were George Burns and Gracie Allen working the vaudeville boards for twenty years already. That’s when I knew I had to make her my own.

Lisa was born and raised in Elizabethtown, Kentucky to a large and loving family. Singing at home and in Church, she grew up never knowing a life without singing. After years of cover gigs in Kentucky bars, Lisa moved on to Chicago for a stint singing jazz, then on to Nashville in 1989. I followed to Music City some years after that, and our stars orbited, Then I saw her with Wayne Kramer, asked her to join my band, and it’s been Heaven on wheels ever since.

Lisa is a member of DADDY, my band with Will Kimbrough, and it is essentially DADDY who backs her up on “Dedicated to Love”: Will and me on guitars, Tim Marks on bass, Paul Griffith on drums, and the always entertaining fellow Kentuckian Michael Webb on keyboards.

Lisa’s a Believer; let’s just be straight up about it. She’s not going to shove it in your face, but her songs are positive, life-affirming offerings. “Be Still a While”, “My Pretty Song” (co-written with Irene Kelley) and Will Kimbrough’s “Open to Love” are sunshine made into sound. “Adam’s Rib” is a smoky, snaky blues the Staples Singers could have made their own. The whole stew is part rock and roll, part country swamp, and all love. It’s all about the love with Lisa. That’s why I love it and I think you will too.

(Tommy Womack, author of the Cheese Chronicles, is a solo artist, songwriter and a member of Daddy. He also performed at the 2011 Americana Music Festival.)

D.J. Fontana at the Country Music Hall of Fame

 in Americana Music

Bill Lloyd hosted another remarkable “Nashville Cats” session at the Country Music Hall of Fame this afternoon, interviewing pioneering rock ‘n’ roll drummer D.J. Fontana.
Fontana, Scotty Moore and Bill Black were Elvis Presley’s first band, playing such classics as”Heartbreak Hotel,” “Jailhouse Rock,” “Hound Dog” and “Don’t Be Cruel.” Over time, Fontana drummed on almost 500 Presley recordings.
Some snippets from today’s conversation:
– On the effort to replicate Sun Studio’s distinctive sound by putting microphones in the hallways on “Heartbreak Hotel:” “Nobody I ever knew got that sound again.”
– Asked whether the band was exposed to rhythm and blues in those early days, Fontana said Bill Black wouldn’t let them play the radio in the car on road trips because “he didn’t like noise.” If you played the radio, Black “would kick it out.”
– Asked whether it was different to play with Los Angeles-based session men a few years on, Fontana said he saw no change: “If you play good, you play good and that’s it.”

TV holds key to growth of Americana music

 in Americana Music Festival, Reviews

The Avett Brothers at the Americana Awards show

By Ken Paulson

Television is a very big deal to the Americana music community.
For years, the Americana Music Association has worked to establish the genre with the general public, and TV is the key.
Any medium that can make Snooki a household name should do wonders for Buddy Miller.
That’s why news that WNPT, Nashville’s public television station, would broadcast the 2011 Americana Music Festival Honors and Awards show , and that Austin City Limits would do a show of highlights, was so welcome. A broader audience would finally see what Americana music was all about.
Yet the early results were discouraging. That initial live broadcast from the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville showed large expanses of empty seats early on, due to a late-arriving crowd. Unbelievably, the opening graphic noted that the evening was dedicated to the memory of “Jim” Hartford rather than John Hartford. And then early in the show, transmission difficulties meant audio and video drop-outs during performances by Justin Townes Earle and Elizabeth Cook. Ouch.
Things were better for a rebroadcast two days later, although the length of the show was apparently longer than the original estimate. If you have a TiVo, you didn’t see a dazzling finale.
But the good news is that the music overall was stunning, the performances passionate and even the presentations were well-paced. Austin City Limits should find it relatively easy to mine the two-plus hour show for an hour’s worth of great music, drawing on performances by Robert Plant, the Avett Brothers, Jim Lauderdale, Lucinda Williams, Emmylou Harris, Miller, Cook, Earle and more.
That kind of quality exposure will build awareness of Americana, but will also amplify the sales pitch to prospective music festival sponsors.
My guess is that Austin City Limits, scheduled for Nov. 19, will edit out acceptance speeches, which may be just as well. The message relayed by Mumford and Sons thanked “the Nashville community,” which is exactly what the Americana Music Association doesn’t need. Americana needs to be seen as a vibrant worldwide genre, which just happens to have an office in Nashville. National television exposure is critical to making that happen.

 

Hank Williams’ “Notebooks” enters Americana chart

 in Reviews

The highest entry on this week’s Americana music chart (# 17) is “The Lost Notebooks of Hank Williams,” a collection of songs built around handwritten lyrics found on the day he died. The mix of artists is remarkable, and includes Bob Dylan, Alan Jackson, Lucinda Williams, Jack White, Norah Jones, Vince Gill, Rodney Crowell, Levon Helm, Jakob Dylan, Sheryl Crow, Merle Haggard and Holly Williams.
Also new to the chart: Bearfoot’s “American Story,” (# 39) Haggard’s “Working in Tennessee,” (# 36) Great American Taxi’s “Paradise Lost” (#37) and Southern Culture on the Skids’ “Zombiefied.” (#39.)
Robert Earl Keen’s “Ready for Confetti” is the nation’s most played Americana music album, moving past the Jayhawks to regain the top spot.

Americana party: Chuck Mead, Garland Jeffreys, Nikki Lane, Amy Speace

 in Americana Music Festival

Thirty Tigers threw a closing night party at the Americana Music Festival in Nashville, showcasing a remarkable line-up.
After a strong opening set by Amy Speace, Nikki Lane, a retro country singer with a rock edge, followed, previewing songs from her new “Walk of Shame” album. You just know Lee Hazelwood would have loved to produce her.
Then came the highlight for the record geeks in the audience (and I am one.) In the mid-’70s, Garland Jeffreys was a fresh new voice, and his “Wild in the Streets” was as big a radio hit as you could get without actually having a hit. Over the years, he’s released smart and topical records, but the commerical breakthrough never came. I’ve been waiting 30 years to hear him play “Wild in the Streets” and 35 Millimeter Dreams.” I was not disappointed. His new album is “King of In Between.”
Raul Malo was up next, but cut his set to two songs because of loud conversations in the bar. Shelby Lynne is the only other performer I’ve ever seen do that.The Malo fans were not happy.
Chuck Mead then closed the show with an entergetic and entertaining set, including his salute to engagments, “She Got the Ring, I Got the Finger.” The show was just three blocks from where Mead and BR5-49 first rocked lower Broadway, and a reminder of just how dynamic a performer he has always been.

Americana Mojo: Bottle Rockets, Kenny Vaughan, Luther Dickinson

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Brian Henneman of the Bottle Rockets (Ken Paulson photo)

One of the least heralded Americana Music Festival events was also one of the coolest.

This afternoon, SiriusXM recorded a Mojo Nixon show in Nashville, with live performances from the Bottle Rockets, Kenny Vaughan and Luther Dickinson of the North Mississippi All-Stars.

Mojo was his usual crude self, and the performers delivered impeccable mini-sets, dialed down to a studio seating just a few dozen people.

It was an inspirational setting with a picture window view of the Ryman Auditorium appearing just over the performers’ shoulders.

Americana Music Awards: Buddy Miller’s big night (again)

 in Americana Music Festival

Buddy Miller at Americana Music Awards

Tonight’s Americana Music Awards show sent two clear messages about the Americana Music Association:
1. The genre is inclusive, embracing young and old, rock, folk and country.
2. Forget all that. We love Buddy Miller.
Miller, an extraordinary guitar player and tonight’s awards show bandleader, won both the artist of the year and instrumentalist awards, and is a member of Robert Plant’s Band of Joy, which had the album of the year.
This continues Miller’s domination of the awards over a span of years, so much so that Emmylou Harris has joked that the Americana award should be called the “Buddy.”
The awards:
Album of the Year: Band Of Joy, Robert Plant
Artist of the Year: Buddy Miller
Instrumentalist: Buddy Miller
New/Emerging Artist: Mumford and Sons
Song of the Year: “Harlem River Blues” by Justin Townes Earle
Duo/Group of the Year: The Avett Brothers
Lifetime Achievement Award for Songwriter: Lucinda Williams
Lifetime Achievement Award for Performance: Gregg Allman
Lifetime Achievement Award for Instrumentalist: Jerry Douglas
Jack Emerson Lifetime Achievement Award for Executive: Rick Hall
Trailblazer Award: Bob Harris
(More coverage and photos to come.)

Will Kimbrough at the Rutledge

 in Americana Music Festival

Tonight’s Americana Music Festival midnight show at the Rutledge features Will Kimbrough, voted 2004 Instrumentalist of the Year by the AMA and a repeat nominee in the same category in subsequent years. Kimbrough is also a fine singer-songwriter and this is a great opportunity to see his solo set.

Kimbrough is just off the road with Emmylou Harris and earlier toured with Jimmy Buffett. His “Nobody From Nowhere,” written with Tommy Womack (also booked for the festival), and “Wings” were featured on Buffet’s “Buffet Hotel” album.

Earlier in his career, Kimbrough fronted fun and fresh rock bands Will and the Bushmen and the Bis-Quits, who were signed to John Prine’s Oh Boy label.

In recent years, Kimbrough, Womack, John Deaderick, Paul Griffith and Dave Jacques have toured and recorded as DADDY.

To top it off, Kimbrough posts videos of his favorite licks, a weekly feature inexplicably named the “Lick of the Day.”
Here’s a sample:

Celebrating the music of Muscle Shoals

 in Americana Music Festival, Reviews

The 2011 Americana Music Festival began last night with an event that illustrates the genre’s greatest strengths: outstanding performances and a respect for what has come before.
The 90-minute concert celebrating the Muscle Shoals sound was equal parts energy and nostalgia, with legendary figures like Dan Penn, Spooner Oldham, Jimmy Johnson and David Briggs sharing the stage with some of Nashville’s most soulful vocalists.
With Webb Wilder on hand as MC, the evening walked through the history of FAME Studio and Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, from soul to pop and rock.
Highlights were plentiful. From Jonell Mosser’s take on “Dark End of the Street” to Mike Farris’ “I’d Rather Go Blind” to Jimmy Hall’s “Land of a Thousand Dances,” singers delivered faithful, but moving performances. Special treats: Candi Staton’s “He Called Me Baby” and Dan Penn’s “I’m Your Puppet.”
Billy Burnette performed “The Letter,” which was recorded in 1967 by a young Alex Chilton and the Box Tops at FAME. Oddly, he did the live Joe Cocker arrangement that came three years later.
The show closed with Burnette kicking off an all hands-on-deck performance of Bob Seger’s “Old Time Rock ‘n’ Roll.” The song belongs in the “Played Badly at Weddings Receptions Hall of Fame,” but proved to be a vibrant and fitting close.

(Pictured: A  scarce Muscle Shoals anthology.)

Jayhawks, Will Hoge headline Americana Music Showcases

 in Americana Music Festival

Tonight’s Americana Music Festival in Nashville kicks off with the week’s highlight, the 10th Annual Americana Honors and Awards show. Performers include Lucinda Williams, the Civil Wars, Elizabeth Cook and Buddy Miller, plus many more.

Club showcases begin at 10 p.m., with the reunited Jayhawks (currently in the top spot in Americana radio with “Mocking Bird Hill”,) headlining the Cannery Ballroom at 11 p.m.

At exactly the same time in the adjoining Mercy Lounge, Will Hoge will take the stage in support of his new album “Number Seven,” which is #13 on the Americana chart.

The Station Inn features Mollie O’Brien and Rich Moore at 10 p.m., followed by storied songwriter and singer J.D. Souther. In addition to a rich solo career and his role in the Souther Hillman Furay Band, Souther wrote “Best of My Love”, “Heartache Tonight”,”New Kid in Town” and “Faithless Love.”

Here’s the full line-up for tonight:

The Basement

10 pm Amanda Shires
11 pm Malcolm Holcombe
Midnight: Pokey LaFarge & the South City Three

The Station Inn

10 pm Mollie O’Brien and Rich Moore

11 pm JD Souther

The Rutledge

10 pm Frank Solivan and Dirty Kitchen

11 pm Gurf Morlix

Midnight: Lori McKenna

The Mercy Lounge

10 pm Lera Lynn

11 pm Will Hoge

Midnight: Romantica

The Cannery Ballroom

10 pm Carrie Rodriguez

11 pm The Jayhawks

Americana Music Festival opening night: Spanning the decades

 in Americana Music Festival

The reunited Foster and Lloyd

There’s plenty of time-tripping to be done tonight as the Americana Music Festival opens in Nashville.

It’s a measure of the genre’s wide embrace that performers who first hit their stride in every decade since the ’60s – and songs that were written years before that – are in the mix of showcase performances.

At the Rutledge at 9 p.m., country music legend Connie Smith will perform. She had her first number one record in 1963 with “Once A Day” and just released a new album, “Long Line of Heartaches.”

Marshall Chapman, playing at 8 p.m. at the Station Inn, began her recording career in 1977, and has long been one of Nashville’s most respected and irreverent songwriters and storytellers. Some of her performances include readings from her very entertaining books. The latest is “They Came To Nashville.”

The reunited Foster and Lloyd (pictured) emerged in the mid-’80s, when they brought a fresh sound to country music with songs like “Crazy Over You” and “What Do You Want From Me This Time?” Their new album “It’s Already Tomorrow” may be their best.

You get the idea. Just look at the line-up at the Cannery Ballroom tonight. From the Muscle Shoals tribute to The Blind Boys of Alabama (founded in 1939), to the very contemporary breakout duo The Civil Wars, the bill and the festival cut a wide swath across American music.

Ryan Adams’ “Ashes & Fire” is top chart debut

 in Americana Music

The top three slots in this week’s Americana Music Association Chart carry overfrom last week, with the Jayhawks’ “Mocking Bird Time” at number one, followed by Robert Earl Keen’s “Ready for Confetti” and John Hiatt’s “Dirty Jeans and Mudslide Hymns.”
The top entry on the Americana chart is Ryan Adams’ just-released “Ashes & Fire,” breaking in at number 16, with 178 spins.
Among most added albums this week: Crooked Still’s “Friends Of Fall” and Merle Haggard’s “Working In Tennessee.”

Preview: Americana Music Festival 2011 in Nashville

 in Americana Music Festival

The 2011 Americana Music Festival lights up Nashville this
week, bringing a remarkably diverse and talented range of artists to the city’s venues.
And of course, it also prompts the question: “What is
Americana music?”
Peter Cooper of the Tennessean took a stab at it in 2003:

American music is “country music that is too rooted and true for contemporary country radio programmers. Twangy music that draws from blues, folk and rock forms. Music with smart and
literary lyrics that can be more layered and “difficult” than most
radio fare. Or maybe it would be simpler to say that what they mean is ‘Johnny Cash Music.’

Not bad. That description holds up well today. The biggest change over the years has been a broadening of the genre by the Americana Music Association and radio programmers, inviting more alternative folk performers and storied rock artists into the tent.
That means you’ll see country legend Connie Smith at 9 p.m.
at the Rutledge and emerging folk duo The Civil Wars at the Cannery Ballroom two hours later. You’ll hear the rootsy Knoxville band the Black Lillies one night, and Bobby Keys, saxophonist for the Rolling Stones the next.

Among the performers scheduled for the Americana Music
Festival, which runs from Oct. 12-15:

– The Jayhawks
– North Mississippi AllStars
– Elizabeth Cook
– Keb’ Mo’
-The Bottle Rockets
– Foster and Lloyd
– John Oates
– Kelly Willis and Bruce Robison
– Marty Stuart
– Blind Boys of Alabama
– Blackie and the Rodeo Kings
– Hayes Carll

The highlight of the week is the Americana Americana Honors and Awards Show, scheduled for the Ryman Auditorium on Oct. 13. The show recognizes the best in Americana music and always features stellar performances. This year the show will be broadcast live
for the first time on Nashville Public Television. An edited version will be featured on Nov. 19 on Austin City Limits.

Ticket information for the week’s showcases available at the Americana Music Association website.
You’ll find schedules for Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday on Sun209.

Americana Music Festival schedule: Wednesday, Oct. 12

 in Americana Music Festival

Sun209: The Americana Music Journal will be providing extensive coverage of the Americana Music Festival in Nashville all week. Here’s a quick look at opening night:

7 pm Music City Roots at the Loveless Barn, featuring Grayson Capps, The Wilders, Elephant Revival, The Milk Carton Kids, and Scott Miller and Mic Harrison of the V-Roys

The Basement

8 pm Brian Wright
9 pm The Greencards
10 pm Lake Street Dive
11 pm The Dirt Daubers

The Station Inn
8 pm Marshall Chapman
9 pm The Wronglers with Jimmie Dale Gilmore
10 pm Kelly Willis and Bruce Robison
11 pm Peter Rowan

The Rutledge

8:15 pm Marty Stuart

9 pm Connie Smith

10 pm Mountain Heart

11 pm David Mayfield Parade

The Mercy Lounge

8 pm The Gourds

9 pm Kenny Vaughan

10 pm Foster and Lloyd

11 pm Hayes Carll

The Cannery Ballroom

8 pm Muscle Shoals Tribute

10 pm Blind Boys of Alabama

11 pm The Civil Wars

Americana Music Festival schedule: Thursday, Oct. 13

 in Americana Music Festival

The big event in Thursday’s Americana Music Festival schedule is the Honor and Awards show at the Ryman Auditorium. Here’s a quick look at the showcases that follow:

The Basement
10 pm Amanda Shires
11 pm Malcolm Holcombe
Midnight: Pokey LaFarge & the South City Three

The Station Inn

10 pm Mollie O’Brien and Rich Moore

11 pm JD Souther

The Rutledge

10 pm Frank Solivan and Dirty Kitchen

11 pm Gurf Morlix

Midnight: Lori McKenna

The Mercy Lounge

10 pm Lera Lynn

11 pm Will Hoge

Midnight: Romantica

The Cannery Ballroom

10 pm Carrie Rodriguez

11 pm The Jayhawks

Americana Music Festival schedule: Friday, Oct. 14

 in Americana Music Festival

Sun209: The Americana Music Journal will provide extensive coverage of the Americana Music Festival in Nashville all week. Here’s a quick look at the showcase schedule for Friday, Oct. 14:

The Basement

8 pm Meg Hutchinson
9 pm Tommy Womack and the Rush To Judgment
10 pm Ian McLagan, formerly of the Faces
11 pm Henry Wagons
Midnight: New Country Rehab

The Station Inn

8 pm The Packway Handle Band
9 pm The WIYOS
10 pm David Wax Museum
11 pm The Farewell Drifters
Midnight: The Black Lillies

The Rutledge
8 pm The Vespers
9 pm Matraca Berg
10 pm Eric Brace and Peter Cooper
11 pm The Bottle Rockets
Midnight: Will Kimbrough

The Mercy Lounge

8 pm Robert Ellis
9 pm Amy LaVere
10 pm Elizabeth Cook
11 pm John Oates
12am TBA (In the past, the TBA shows have been very pleasant surprises)

The Cannery Ballroom

8 pm Secret Sisters
9 pm Keb’ Mo’
10 pm Jim Lauderdale and Buddy Miller
11 pm North Mississippi Allstars

Americana Music Festival schedule: Saturday, Oct. 15

 in Americana Music Festival

Sun209: The Americana Music Journal will have extensive coverage of the Americana Music Festival in Nashville this week, but here’s a quick look at shows scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 15:

Free programs: The 1861 Project, a new album revisiting the Civil War in song, will be showcased at the The Southern Festival of Books at Legislative Plaza at 2:30 p.m.
At 3 p.m.,Musician’s Corner at Centennial Park will feature a tribute to Tom T. Hall, as well as performances by Ben Sollee and Nanci Griffith.

Festival showcases:

The Basement:
8 pm The Deep Dark Woods
9 pm Patrick Sweany
10 pm Hymn for Her
11 pm Sam Llanas, formerly of the BoDeans
Midnight:  Farewell Milwaukee

The Station Inn:
8 pm Gleny Rae Virus and Her Tamworth Playboys
9 pm Sierra Hull and Highway 111
10 pm Tara Nevins
11 pm Catherine Britt
Midnight: Brigitte DeMeyer

The Rutledge

8 pm Chris Altmann
9 pm Ryan Tanner
10 pm Blackie and the Rodeo Kings
11 pm Great American Taxi
12 am Orbo and the Longshots

The Mercy Lounge:

8 pm Matrimony
9 pm Tim Easton
10 pm James McMurtry
11 pm Bobby Keys and the Suffering Bastards
Midnight: Deadman

Saluting Duane Allman and southern rock

 in Americana Music

In remembrance of Duane Allman and on the 40th anniversary of his death, the Country Music Hall of Fame will host “Brothers and Sisters: The Rise of Southern Rock.” The Oct. 29 program will feature figures who were pivotal to the history of Southern Rock, including Charlie Daniels, Bonnie Bramlett, Jimmy Hall of Wet Willie, Ed King of Lynyrd Skynyrd and Mike Hyland of Capricorn Records. The discussion is scheduled for 1:30 and is free with admission to the Hall of Fame in Nashville.

Review: Chip Taylor and the Grandkids

 in Americana Music, Reviews

Chip Taylor’s new album is a family effort, teaming him with his grandchildren for a refreshing and engaging kids’ record. Golden Kids Rules  (Smithsonain Folkways Recordings) features songs they wrote and performed together.
The title song sets the positive and loving tone: “5-6-7-8 who do we appreciate? Kids, even if they’re breaking some rules.”
“Big Ideas” is sweet and melodic, but also a confident statement from a 10-year-old: “Take a good look at me I’m not just a kid I’ve got big ideas. I don’t tell them to everyone. What about you?”
Not that the album is free of tension. “Daddy is a Red Sox Fan/Mommy Is a Yankees Fan” asks “What’s a little girl to do?”
You get the idea. It’s a fun and smart album that will entertain you and your kids (or grandkids.)
It’s a bit of a surprise to see the man who wrote “Wild Thing” record a song called “Magical Horse,” but this album, like his recent collaborative effort Rock and Roll Joe, makes one thing very clear.
Chip Taylor plays well with others.