Tag: Drive-By Truckers

New releases: Peter Cooper, Drive-By Truckers

 in Americana Music, Nashville music, New releases

New and recent releases: 

Peter Cooper – Depot Light: Songs of Eric Taylor – Red Beet Records – Peter Cooper insists this isn’t a tribute album to the under-recognized anddepot light brilliant songwriter Eric Taylor. Disclaimer aside, you’ll come away with a much better appreciation of Taylor after hearing Cooper’s impressive renditions of songs spanning Taylor’s career. We knew Taylor’s work primarily from recordings by Nanci Griffith and Lyle Lovett, but this collection is a revelation.

Drive-By Truckers – It’s Great to Be Alive – It’s a measure of the full-throttle new live album from the Drive-By Truckers that the review bore a sticker warning radio stations that 17 songs could get you in trouble with the FCC. The band didn’t hold anything back on “It’s Great to Be Alive,” a three-disc collection recorded in late November a year ago at the Fillmore in San Francisco. It’s a raucous retrospective that should please fans and convert others.

Butchers Blind – A Place in America – Electric Giant – We admired Butcher Blind’s “Destination Blues” for the same reason we’re enjoying their new EP A Place in America: Thoughtful lyrics matched with hook-laden melodies, from the reflective “Ghosts” to the affirming “Only Love.” There’s some Wilco in their music, but Butchers Blind consistently delivers a fresh sound.

banquetMax Stalling – Banquet – Blind Nello Records – This new album produced by Lloyd Maines opens with the spirited “Night’s Pay in My Boot” and closes with a country cover of the Beatles’  “Two of Us.”

T.G Sheppard – Legendary Friends & Country Duets – Goldenlane Records – T.G. Sheppard’s new rlease is disnticntly old school ,but pleasingly so. Singing partners include Merle Haggard, George Jones, Delbert McClinton and Lori Morgan, with the album’s most memorable moments coming from Jerry Lee Lewis on “The Killer” and Willie Nelson on “In Texas.”

 

A tribute to John Prine

 in Americana Music, Reviews

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.