Tag: Shawn Colvin

Cayamo finale: Elizabeth Cook, David Bromberg

By Paul T. Mueller

Friday, Jan. 23 found the Norwegian Pearl in the home stretch of its return to Miami. The end of the Cayamo music cruise 2015 was just around the corner, but the day’s full schedule of music was an effective antidote to any possibility of negative thoughts. Who has time to mope when there are shows to get to?

Elizabeth Cook

Elizabeth Cook

Elizabeth Cook’s 12:30 set on the pool deck was a lively mix of the spiritual and the secular. The former was represented by several songs from her 2012 EP Gospel Plow, including the title track, “Hear Jerusalem Calling” and “Jesus.” The latter included “It Takes Balls to Be a Woman,” “El Camino,” “Goin’ Down” (with a vocal assist from Todd Snider) and “Methadone Blues.” Cook cut a fashionable figure in her hipster/hippie garb, while Snider went casual as always in cut-off jeans and a white undershirt, topped off with a jaunty nautical cap.

Amy Speace’s final show in the Spinnaker Lounge featured several songs from her new CD That Kind of Girl – the spiritually themed “Three Days,” the lonely love song “In Chicago,” the sad breakup song “Raincoat” (“You were my raincoat/Now you’re the rain”), a post-breakup song (“Epilogue (I Don’t Know How To Stop Loving You),” and the title track, a rueful reflection on the stories we tell ourselves. Backed by Tim Easton on guitar and Megan Palmer on fiddle, Speace also played a few older favorites, including “The Killer in Me” (with a guest appearance by guitarist Stuart Mathis), “Hunter Moon,” “In Salida,” “The Sea and the Shore” and “Vertigo.” There was also a nice rendition of “The Fortunate Ones,” which Speace dedicated to the audience.

David Bromberg

David Bromberg

David Bromberg’s final set, in the Stardust Theater at 3:00, was a varied show that included some solo work, some full-band efforts, and a couple of tunes by band members. From the opener – blues standard “Nobody’s Fault but Mine” – Bromberg moved on to a long rendition of his comic breakup songs “I’ll Take You Back.” Things got a little more serious with “The Fields Have Turned Brown” and a twangy rendition of “Last Date,” but slid back into comedy with “The Holdup,” a crime-caper tale co-written with George Harrison. Bromberg accompanied “Kaatskill Serenade,” on the surface a retelling of the Rip Van Winkle story, with an explanation of how the song is also about alienation, both personal and in a wider sense. Guitarist Mark Cosgrove took the spotlight with a skillfully flat-picked “Alabama Jubilee,” followed by some fiddle tunes featuring himself and Bromberg on guitar, accompanying fiddler Nate Grower. Bromberg closed the set with “Bring It On Home,” including a long discourse on the nature of true love and how he lost it and found it again, and returned for a full-band acoustic encore of “Roll On, John,” featuring Cosgrove’s fine mandolin playing.

Other Friday performers included Lisa Mills, winner of the open mic competition for songwriters, playing in the Pearl’s open-air Great Outdoors venue (backed by Richard Thompson’s rhythm section, bassist Taras Prodaniuk and drummer Michael Jerome); Kristy Lee and Dirt Road Revival, bringing the rock and soul to the pool deck with help from Shawn Mullins, and The Lone Bellow, getting assists from John Fullbright and Brandi Carlile in the Stardust.

Shawn Colvin and Lucinda Williams

Shawn Colvin and Lucinda Williams

Shawn Colvin’s 8:00 Stardust show consisted largely of songs by her large cast of guests, to whom she lent her fine voice and acoustic guitar, as well as Steuart Smith’s electric guitar. The set included Rodney Crowell performing his “The Rock of My Soul”; Jim Lauderdale’s rendition of Gram Parsons’ “Sin City”; Brandi Carlile helping out on “Calling All Angels” and the Traveling Wilburys’ “Handle with Care”; Buddy Miller doing “Let It Be Me” (made popular by the Everly Brothers) and “Poison Love”; Lucinda Williams singing Parsons’ “Hickory Wind”; Richard Thompson with his “A Heart Needs a Home” and a cover of the Animals’ “We’ve Gotta Get Out of This Place”; the Louvin Brothers’ “My Baby’s Gone,” featuring Luke Bulla, and Colvin with her “Diamond in the Rough,” getting assistance from Keith Sewell.

Michelle Malone kept the energy level high on the pool deck with a mostly electric set at 10:30. Highlights included “Weed & Wine,” a lament for lost youth; “Chicken Lickin’ Boogie,” featuring Jimmy Galloway on guitar; a vigorous rendition of “Preacher’s Daughter” that included an extended acoustic guitar workout by Malone, and “Feather in a Hurricane,” with help from Kristy Lee and the Black Lillies’ Cruz Contreras.

Rodney Crowell’s 11:30 Spinnaker set was a loose and joyous affair featuring a crowd on the stage and a bigger one in front of it. It was standing room only as Crowell and a plethora of guests – Joanne Gardner, Luke Bulla, Shawn Colvin, Steuart Smith, Keith Sewell, Dave Jacques and David Bromberg, among others – ripped through a rich and varied set list. Highlights included Gram Parsons’ “Return of the Grievous Angel”; a lively rendition of the Staple Singers’ soul hit “Respect Yourself”; a happy sing-along version of “Like a Rolling Stone,” featuring nice solos from several guests and enthusiastic audience participation, and Crowell’s own “Ain’t Living Long Like This.” After a crack about “long solos and sloppy endings,” Crowell summed up the show as “11 fast songs and one ballad” – the latter being his closer, a moving rendition of his “ ’Til I Gain Control Again.”

At that point, with disembarkation only hours away, many Cayamoans had had about all the musical fun they could stand. But others who weren’t done partying headed for the Atrium and the “No Sleep ’Til Land Jam,” led by the Band of Heathens, which continued well into the small hours of Saturday morning.

Cayamo Day 6: Shawn Colvin, Tim Easton, Black Lillies

By Paul T. Mueller

On Thursday, Jan. 22, the Norwegian Pearl, having left St. Croix the previous evening, was heading north and west through the blue Caribbean, on the homeward leg of the Cayamo music cruise 2015.

Days at sea mean days with more music, and one of the first shows scheduled was Amy Speace’s 11:00 a.m. set in the Spinnaker Lounge. And an excellent set it was, beginning with the title song from 2013’s How to Sleep in a Stormy Boat.

Amy Speace

Amy Speace

“I come from a long line of sailors and priests,” Speace said by way of explaining the prevalence of nautical imagery in her songs. More of her sharply observed and carefully written songs followed, backed by Tim Easton’s guitar and Megan Palmer’s fiddle – “Ghost,” which she said was written for her grandparents; “The Killer in Me,” a song of dysfunctional love; “The Sea and the Shore,” a sad and beautiful ballad that Speace said was “No. 1 for about two weeks on the radio in Serbia – take that, Lyle Lovett!”, and the uplifting funeral song “Hymn for the Crossing,” which Speace said she wrote with Irish singer Ben Glover the day after Pete Seeger died. She closed with a heartfelt rendition of “The Fortunate Ones,” featuring Easton’s fine acoustic guitar.

 

Lucinda Williams played another fine set in the Stardust Theater beginning at 1:30. After opening with a solo acoustic rendition of “Passionate Kisses,” Williams brought out her band for a string of old and new tunes. These included “Metal Firecracker,” “Right in Time” and “Drunken Angel,” all from her breakout Car Wheels on a Gravel Road collection; “Cold Day in Hell,” a bluesy kiss-off song from the new album, Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone; “I Lost It,” featuring an excellent solo by guitarist Stuart Mathis; and “Are You Down,” featuring a jazzy intro and an instrumental break that drew applause from Willliams herself. Other highlights were a duet with Jim Lauderdale on “Jailhouse Tears,” a stark, almost harsh reading of “Unsuffer Me,” and rocking treatments of “Essence,” “Joy” and “Get Right with God.” “This goes out to all of you,” Williams told the crowd before launching into a vigorous romp through Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World.”

Shawn Colvin

Shawn Colvin

Shawn Colvin’s 3:00 p.m. show in the Spinnaker consisted of well-chosen and beautifully executed covers. With stellar assistance from guitarist and part-time Eagle Steuart Smith, Colvin more than did justice to songs including Steve Earle’s “Someday,” Graham Nash’s “I Used to Be a King,” Bruce Springsteen’s “Tougher than the Rest” and the Eagles’ “The Best of My Love.” Reportedly also performed, but not witnessed by this reviewer, were renditions of The Band’s “Acadian Driftwood,” Emmylou Harris’ “Red Dirt Girl,” Tom Waits’ “Hold On” and several others.

 

Tim Easton and Megan Palmer played a third “guerrilla set” in Bar City at 5:00 p.m. This time, Palmer divided her time between fiddle and piano, another instrument on which she is quite proficient. Bob Dylan’s “You Ain’t Going Nowhere” and Easton’s “Don’t Lie” found Palmer at the keyboard and Bruce Lebovitz, a passenger and an accomplished player, taking over the fiddle duties. Palmer and Lebovitz brought a twin-fiddle approach to a couple of songs, including “Factory Girl.” Easton took over the piano for a rendition of his “Festival Song,” featuring a snippet of “Come Together” and some lyrics customized for Cayamo, and singer-songwriter Nellie Clay joined the group for her “Wichita Was a Bust.” The set closed with a rousing take on Big Bill Broonzy’s “How You Want Your Rollin’ Done,” again featuring Palmer on the piano.

Todd Snider drew a big crowd to his 6:30 show on the pool deck, backed by Elizabeth Cook’s band plus guitarist Jason Wilber from John Prine’s band. Seemingly as much at ease in the daylight as at midnight, Snider put on a loose and funny show, with more music and fewer stories than at his show the night before.                   The set included originals such as “The Last Laugh,” “Is This Thing Working?,” “Easy Money” and “Good News Blues.” There were also some fine covers, including the blues classic “I’m Ready,” “Enjoy Yourself,” Texas singer-songwriter Rusty Wier’s “Don’t It Make You Wanna Dance” and Huey “Piano” Smith’s “Rockin’ Pneumonia” and “Sea Cruise.” Snider dedicated his last song, “Come from the Heart,” to Texas songwriter Guy Clark and Clark’s late wife, Susanna, who wrote the song with Richard Leigh.

Black Lillies

Black Lillies

The Black Lillies came to their 8:30 set in the Atrium ready to rock and ready to bring the crowd with them. They brought plenty of energy and excellent musicianship to their own songs, including “Smokestack Lady” and “40 Days and 40 Nights” (an account of the band’s first national tour), and to covers including the Everly Brothers’ “Wake Up, Little Susie” and the Grateful Dead’s “Tennessee Jed” (with Michelle Malone plus two band members, Trish Land on tambourine and Ben Holst on guitar).

Seattle-based band The Dusty 45s kept the Atrium rocking during their 10:30 set, with charismatic front man Billy Joe Huels pushing the pace with almost unbelievable energy. With Huels alternating between guitar and trumpet, the band ripped through some older material – “Devil Takes His Turn,” “Why Darlin’ Why” – and newer songs such as “Chase Your Dream,” “Two Beers in Texas,” “32 Quarters” and “Walking in the Rain.” There were also some nicely done covers, including Herb Alpert’s “A Taste of Honey,” John Prine’s “Glory of True Love,” the 1930 tune “Bye Bye Blues” (dedicated to guitarist Jerry Battista’s father) and “Misirlou,” made famous by surf-rock king Dick Dale.

The Throwdown

The Throwdown

As Thursday turned into Friday, the “Throwback Throwdown” got cranked up on the Pearl’s pool deck. A large cast of musicians, loosely led by Buddy Miller and Jim Lauderdale, spent the next 90 minutes or so doing honor to songs from the past. Highlights included Paul McCartney’s “Let Me Roll It,” getting the soul treatment from St. Paul and the Broken Bones; Fats Domino’s “I Lived My Life,” featuring Miller and Lucinda Williams; Jim Stafford’s “Swamp Witch,” performed with appropriate drama by Shawn Mullins; a convincing rendition of Loretta Lynn’s “You’re Lookin’ at Country” by Kacey Musgraves; Paul Simon’s “Slip Slidin’ Away,” sweetly done by The Lone Bellow; Willie Nelson’s “Crazy,” featuring the powerful vocals of Humming House’s Leslie Rodriguez and nice guitar by Davis Causey, and the Zombies’ “Time of the Season” by the Black Lillies. John Fullbright showed his range with a powerful take on Townes Van Zandt’s “Lungs” and a quieter rendition of Jimmy Webb’s “If You See Me Getting Smaller,” which left the often raucous pool deck in dead silence. The big finale was an all-hands-on-deck jam of the traditional blues “Goin’ Down the Road Feeling Bad.”

JD McPherson, Willie Nelson top Americana music chart

JD McPherson’s Signs and Signifiers moves to the top spot on the Americana music radio chart, followed closely by Willie Nelson’s Heroes.  Justin Townes Earle,  on top of the chart for many weeks, drops to third with Nothing’s Going to Change The Way You Feel About Me.

New to the chart: Kin: Songs by Mary Karr and Rodney Crowell at #29, Americana from Neil Young and Crazy Horse at #33  and Shawn Colvin’s All Fall Down at #38.

Top adds at Americana radio stations: Chris Smithers’  Hundred Dollar Valentine, Americana,  Mary Chapin Carpenter’s Ashes and Roses and  O ’Be  Joyful  from Shovels and Rope.

You’ll find the full Americana music radio chart here.

Follow Sun209: Americana Music News on twitter at @sun209com.

New to Americana chart: Grant Peeples, Jerry Douglas, Rhett Miller

Justin Townes Earle remains at the top position in Americana music radio with Nothing’s Going to Change The Way You Feel About Me, with JD McPherson’s Signs and Signifiers in the second slot.

New to the Americana music chart: Grant Peeples’ Prior Convictions at #37, Jerry Douglas’ Traveler at #39 and Rhett Miller’s The Dreamer at #40.

Most added on Americana music radio stations: KIN: Songs by Mary Karr and Rodney Crowell, Langhorne Slim’s The Way We Move, Shawn Colvin’s All Fall Down and the Honeycutters’ When Bitter Met Sweet.

Americana music news can be found on Twitter at @sun209com.

Review: This One’s For Him, A Tribute to Guy Clark

by Terry Roland

– Released on November 8, two days after veteran Texas songwriter Guy Clark’s 70th birthday, This One’s For Him: A Tribute To Guy Clark, succeeds beyond expectations as a tribute to a much- loved songwriter and a well-produced album of finely crafted country-folk music.

It may be the mark of a great songwriter that a diverse group of musicians can make an album of songs that not only capture the artist’s vision, but emerge with each song realized to near perfection.

Produced by Tamara Saviano whose 2004 release, Beautiful Dreamer: The Songs of Stephen Foster, won a GRAMMY and Clark’s friend and collaborator Shawn Camp, this is a masterfully produced album of 30 handpicked songs by 33 of today’s finest Americana artists.

Some of the greatest of the singer-songwriters of the last five decades have aged into their craft, but none have done so with as much grace, dignity and imagination as Guy Clark. His legacy of song gives his friends plenty of material to work with on this album.

Leading off with a chuckle from Rodney Crowell who says, “let’s give her a good go and make old Guy proud of us,” then proceeds to do so with the opening “Old Time Feeling.” The song sets us up for what is to come; a loving, reflective, funny, heartfelt tribute to one of the great storytellers and craftsmen of American song.

What follows plays at times like short stories, fragments of chapters in a novel, sweet poetry, western stories, tall-tales, cowboy haikus, personal testaments, musings and meditations on regret and joy, life-lessons laced with humor and wisdom, characters of the past aged with grace, remembered loved ones, death songs
and love ballads, all painted with various shades and strokes of lyrical colors.

If this were an exhibit of the lifetime work of a visual artist, it would take several galleries to fill. As it is, it takes this many fine performers and singer-songwriters to do justice to Clark.

The trick with any tribute album is to match material and artist, for the sake of the song and the overall production of the project. Many past tribute albums have turned into well-intentioned, unfocused failures.

But This One’s For Him avoids those traps by tapping into Guy Clark’s original recordings. The album embodies its title by keeping to the simple, intimate style Clark has mastered so well in his own studio work over the years.

It’s a style that allows the beauty of each song to surface. That makes this an anthology graced with continuity and a sense of history. This One’s For Him is the best album of its kind since the classic tribute to Merle Haggard, Tulare Dust.

A decade before Johnny Cash and Rick Rubin came together to make their historic American Recordings, Guy Clark had already released a series of live-in-studio, intimate, stripped-down acoustic recordings on the Sugar Hill label.

Albums like Old Friends, Boats To Build and Dublin Blues offered minimal production gloss in favor of a straightforward and organic sonic experience. While many obscure artists had championed this approach through the years, Guy Clark was among the first major songwriters to elevate purity over production.Today, this remains the gold standard in Americana music.

Some of the strongest moments on the album come from female artists. This makes sense for Clark who has often written songs reflecting a woman’s point of view (“She Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere,” “Magdeline”). Shawn Colvin’s smoky sexy reading of “All He Wants Is You,” Rosanne Cash’s expressive interpretation of “Better Days,” and Rosie Flores’ funky and spirited version of “Baby Took A Limo To Memphis,” all feel as though this was how these songs were intended to be performed – by women.

It’s impossible to mention Guy Clark without a reference to Townes Van Zandt. One touching moment among many is the bittersweet sound of Towne’s oldest son, John Townes Van Zandt narrating “Let Him Roll,” a love story about a Dallas prostitute and her alcoholic lover. It is eerie and touching to hear this tale with guitar- picking, phrasing and a vocal presence that sounds so much Townes. It feels like a tribute from Townes to Guy, channeled by his son.

Hayes Carll brings the country blues out in “Worry B Gone,” while Steve Earle revels in the western imagery of “The Last Gunfighter Ballad.” Both give the songs added grit, which distinguishes them from the original versions.

The old friends of Guy’s also do him proud. Willie Nelson’s “Desperados Waiting For A Train,” haunts in its simplicity. It’s a song that only grows more poignant with time as the singer and the song age.

Ramblin’ Jack Elliot turns in a gentle interpretation of the engaging “The Guitar.” Terry Allen’s “Old Friends,” also plays out with a beautiful country-blues simplicity.

Kris Kristofferson’s reading of “Hemingway’s Whiskey” delivers gut-level authenticity. The track opens with a short tale from Kris of a personal encounter with Hemingway then folds into a quintessential Guy Clark (literally whiskey-soaked) metaphor of life lived to its fullest. The slightly drunk emotion in Kris’ voice comes through as he carries the album’s title lyric with it:

There’s more to life than whiskey
more to words than rhyme
Sail away three sheets to the wind
Live hard, die hard
This one’s for him.

Other moments that will lure the listener to repeated listening include EmmyLou Harris and John Prine’s duet on “Magnolia Wind, Radney Foster’s smooth and easy version of “L.A. Freeway,” and Jerry Jeff Walker’s closing track “My Favorite Picture of You.”

The house band, which recorded live in the studio, included multi-instrumentalist and co-producer Shawn Camp, guitarist Verlon Thompson and keyboard player Jen Gunderman. Listen for Lloyd Maines on an array of dobros and steel guitars, bassists Glenn Fukunaga and Mike Bub and Kenny Malone and Larry Atamanuik on drums. The musical backing is skillfully interwoven with mandolins, lap steel guitars and fiddles.

This One’s For Him: A Tribute To Guy Clark is a living legacy from some very talented friends, a well-deserved tribute to a great craftsman and an early holiday present that invites us to discover or re-discover the best in Americana music through the songs of one of our national treasures.

(Terry Roland is an Americana-roots music journalist who has written interviews, reviews and feature articles for FolkWorks, Sing-Out, No Depression and The San Diego Troubadour.)

Guy Clark’s 70th birthday: A concert and album

Some of the biggest names in roots, folk and Americana music will be on hand to celebrate Guy Clark’s musical legacy on Nov. 2 in Austin.
“Wish I Was In Austin: A 70th Birthday Tribute to Guy Clark,” which benefits the Center for Texas Music History, will feature performances by Shawn Colvin, Rodney Crowell, Joe Ely, Rosie Flores, Radney Foster, Terri Hendrix, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Jack Ingram, James McMurtry, The Trishas, Jerry Jeff Walker, Kevin Welch, Terry Allen and yes, Guy Clark.
The concert, scheduled for Nov. 2 at the Long Center, will also help promote an ambitious two-CD tribute album saluting Clark. “This One’s For Him: A Tribute to Guy Clark” will be released on November 8.