Tag: Nick Lowe

Review: Nick Lowe and Los Straitjackets

 in Americana Music, Nashville music, Reviews

By Ken Paulson

Nick Lowe and his Quality Holiday Revue rolled into Nashville tonight at the City Winery. It’s an entertaining hybrid of slightly warped Christmas songs and Lowe’s rich catalog, abetted by Los Straitjackets.

Nick Lowe in Nashville

Nick Lowe in Nashville

For a long-time Lowe fan, the show offers a chance to hear energetic (if slightly slower) takes on “Raging Eyes,” “Half A Boy and Half A Man” and “Without Love.” For those who just wandered in off the street, it’s a warm and often funny holiday show, fueled in large part by Los Straitjackets and unexpected and unconventional songs like a revved-up “Linus and Lucy.”

Highlights abounded, including Lowe’s plaintive rendition of (“What’s So Funny About) Peace Love and Understanding,” famously performed by Elvis Costello and included in the mega-selling Bodyguard soundtrack.

Los Straitjackets are given their own mini-set during the show, and oddly enough, play the first two songs of the encore.

The rich and rewarding evening closed with Lowe’s quiet acoustic performance of Costello’s “Alison,” a song he produced on the groundbreaking My Aim is True.

We’ve seen Lowe’s solo shows in recent years and have always come away impressed.  But this one was special — fast-paced, fun and vibrant.

 

 

Americana music 2011: No Depression’s 50 favorites

 in Americana Music, Reviews

No Depression has released its list of the Top 50 favorite albums of 2011, as voted by its fan community. It’s an interesting mix, with Gillian Welch’s The Harrow and the Harvest at the top, followed by a remarkable range of artists, genres, styles and ages.

Some have complained that it’s a surprisingingly mainstream list for an alt-country site, but that’s the nature of a “favorites” list. Name recognition goes a long way, although we don’t see any names on the list that you can’t make a case for.

Here are the top 25. You’ll find the full list here.

Gillian Welch – The Harrow & the Harvest

The Decemberists – The King Is dead

Wilco – The Whole Love

Lucinda Williams – Blessed

Steve Cropper – Dedicated

Tom Waits – Bad as Me

Dave Alvin – Eleven Eleven

Zoe Muth & The Lost High Rollers – Starlight Hotel

Jason Isbell – Here We Rest

Ryan Adams – Ashes & Fire

Hayes Carll – KMAG YOYO

Eilen Jewell – Queen of the Minor Key

Drive By Truckers – Go-Go Boots

The Deep Dark Woods – The Place I Left Behind

Jayhawks – Mockingbird

Tedeschi Trucks Band – Revelator

Civil Wars – Barton Hollow

Gregg Allman – Low Country Blues

Buddy Miller – Majestic Silver Strings

Paul Simon – So Beautiful or So What

Sarah Jarosz – Follow Me Down

Nick Lowe – The Old Magic

Ry Cooder – Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down

Blackie & The Rodeo Kings – Kings & Queens

Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues

Nick Lowe’s “The Old Magic”

 in Reviews

Someone somewhere once told Nick Lowe to act his age and he took the advice seriously.
His new “The Old Magic” is a masterful album, impeccably performed and produced, but it’s also sad and subdued, a quiet declaration that “the Basher” has abandoned any thought of actually rocking ever again.
You can’t knock that. Lowe has decided to croon through the rest of his career, and the album’s subjects are fitting for a 62-year-old. Maybe too fitting.
“Checkout Time” is representative, a song about Lowe’s reputation after death: “Though I know this road is still some way to go, I can’t help thinking on will I be beloved and celebrated for my masterly climb, or just another bum when it comes to checkout time?”
Then there’s “I Read a Lot,” a devasting ballad about a lost romance. It’s a riveting story, and more MOR than Chuck Berry. The slightly more uptempo “House for Sale” is more of the same, with a little edge: “Take a look inside/this is where love once did reside.”
It’s an impeccable album. Lowe’s voice is still in great shape and his songwriting may be at an emotional high point.
Still, I’ll have to admit I miss the Nick Lowe of “Raging Eyes” and “Half A Boy and Half a Man.” At his peak, Lowe played full-throttle, melodic and irreverent songs that no one could match. Surely there’s still a “So It Goes” in there somewhere.

“The Old Magic:” Free streaming of new Nick Lowe album

 in Americana Music

Nick Lowe’s new album “The Old Magic”  is due out on Sept. 13, which means heightened visibility and promotion. Lowe appeared at both the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Grammy Museum, and has done quite a few media appearances, including a guest DJ role on “All Songs Considered.”
Now Yep Roc is offering the chance to stream the new album before it’s released. The catch – and it’s not a big one – is that you have to “like” “The Old Magic” on Facebook. You’ll find the details here.

Buddy Holly at 75

 in Reviews

This day in Americana music: Buddy Holly would have been 75 years old today, and it’s a measure of his impact that there are two new star-filled tribute CDs celebrating his work. “Rave On Buddy Holly,” currently number 23 on the Americana Music Association chart, veers younger with bands like the Black Keys and Florence and the Machine, though Paul McCartney and Nick Lowe contribute as well. As with all tributes, “Rave On” is uneven, with a number of artists losing the spirit of the original as they strive for something transformative.
The new “Listen to Me” is more old-school, with Peter Asher (of Peter and Gordon, who recorded “True Love Ways”) producing and a more senior line-up, including Brian Wilson, Jackson Browne and Ringo Starr, who sounds like he’s having a particularly good time. There’s something to be said for picking performers who thrilled to 100-proof Holly when he was alive and changing the face of American music.

Nick Lowe at Country Music Hall of Fame

 in Reviews

Nick Lowe at the Country Music Hall of Fame Copyright 2011

Nick Lowe is no longer the “Jesus of Cool” his first album touted, but he still strives to be all things to all people.
In an interview with Michael McCall at the Country Music Hall of Fame this morning, Lowe said his goal as a performer is to be cool enough to attract both young and old.
“You get different generations coming to see you, none of whom are under duress,” Lowe said, noting that the older attendees at Justin Bieber shows aren’t there voluntarily.
Lowe said he’s pleased when people cover his songs (“Nice work if you can get it”), but is disappointed when artists play his songs too faithfully.
He said he was told that George Gershwin hated it when others recast his songs. “He wasn’t really a rock ‘n’ roll guy,” Lowe said.
“I like it when people take liberties,” he told the audience.
Lowe also reminisced about his relationship with Johnny Cash, his father-in-law while married to Carlene Carter. He said he spent an entire drunken eveing writing a song to pitch to Cash.
“At about 4 that morning, I thought I was the great man,” he said.
Carlene was inspired enough by the song to call Johnny to come and hear the song the next morning. Cash did show up, with full entourage in tow.
Lowe recalls that he performed “The Beast in Me” with an awful hangover and a performance to match.
At the end of the song, there was silence. Johnny Cash then said “Play it again.”
“It was even worse the second time,” Lowe recalls.
But something in the song resonated with Cash, who later recorded it to critical acclaim.
Now Lowe performs the song with Cash in mind.
I do it like him,” Lowe said. “I don’t do it like me anymore.”
At the close of his interview, Lowe performed a seven-song set:
1. Stoplight Roses (from the forthcoming “The Old Magic”)
2.Ragin’ Eyes
3.Sensitive Man (also from “The Old Magic”
4.Raining, Raining
5.When I Write the Book
6.What’s So Funny About Peace, Love and Understanding?
7. The Beast in Me

Jonell Mosser: Great Fortune

 in Reviews

Jonell Mosser is one of Nashville’s best vocalists and most vibrant performers – and maybe the most under-recognized.
She’s well-known and loved in Nashville, but has never caught the national break she deserved.
When Ringo Starr, Don Was and Benmont Tench formed a new band in the ’90s called the New Maroons, Jonell was their choice for lead singer. When that band foundered after a Farm Aid show, Jonell’s big break was gone.
Yet she has persevered, delivering soul and rock with passion and purpose. Her live dates are electric, and her albums – particularly “Enough Rope, “Trust Yourself” and the sadly unreleased “Time Will Do the Talkin'” – are thoroughly engaging and powerful.
The new “Fortunes Lost, Fortunes Told” ranks with her best work.
Backed by a terrific band that includes Kevin McKendree, Tom Britt and Craig Krampf, the new album is full of love songs for adults, with all that implies.
“Nicer to Me” is a standout, a gently rocking, confident song that asks for a little more respect: “I know sometimes it’s tough baby, but you could be a litle bit nicer to me.”
“Ordinary Splendor,” is a ballad with a classic sound, written with John and Johnna Hall. It first appeared on her “So Like Joy” and is well worth revisiting.
While most of the tracks were written by Jonell and Tom Britt,the handful of covers are impeccable.
The album’s “single” is “I Can Give You Everything, a hard-charging, riff-laden song written by Al Anderson and Terry Anderson. Mosser has covered Al Anderson before; her “Bang Bang Bang” was wall-rattling rock ‘n’ roll.
Jonell clearly has an affinity for Nick Lowe. Her take on “When I Write the Book” was a highlight of her “Enough Rope” album (and her live show) and here she does a compelling cover of his “Rome Wasn’t Built in a Day.”
Nashville has the good fortune to have Jonell Mosser as an artist in residence, but her talent – and “Fortunes Lost, Fortunes Told” – deserve a much wider audience.