By Ken Paulson —Down Side Up from Old Man Markley is a riveting, high velocity bluegrass album, with surprisingly potent political content. There’s been some marketing effort to label this as a cross between bluegrass and punk, but that’s trying too hard. The only Clash-like elements are the highly topical lyrics. “The corporate propaganda paralyzes us with fear, destroying our…
Category: Reviews
Unsung Hero: A Tribute to the Music of Ron Davies
By Ken Paulson — Unsung Hero: A Tribute to the Music of Ron Davies is a remarkable collection of songs, all written by Davies, and performed by an amazing line-up of artists. I’m not sure I’ve seen a tribute album this deep in talent and most of it is straight out of Nashville. Dolly Parton, John Prine, Alison Krauss and…
Nick Verzosa and the Noble Union at the Thirsty Armadillo
by Paul T. Mueller –This live set from Texan Nick Verzosa and his bandmates is pretty standard bar-band stuff. Drinkin’, dancin’, lookin’ for love, gettin’ over lost love and so on – you’ve heard it before. But some things here give cause to hope for bigger and better things. Verzosa’s writing is a notch better than the usual for this…
New to chart: Steve Earle, Dawes, Bobby Rush
Americana Music News — For a fourth week, Cheater’s Game by Kelly Willis and Bruce Robison and Carrie Rodriguez’s Give Me All You Got are in the top two slots on the Americana Music Association airplay chart swapping their positions from last week. The Mavericks’ Suited Up and Ready/In Time remains in third place. New to the chart this week: Low Highway…
Billy Joe Shaver: Testifying in songs and stories
By Paul T. Mueller—If you were looking for the perfect artist to anchor a concert series called “Songs of Lovin’ and Redemption,” you could hardly do better than Billy Joe Shaver. Legendary songwriter, road-dog performer, one-time connoisseur of chemical excess, committer of serial matrimony, notorious hell-raiser, born-again Christian – you’d have to figure the guy knows everything there is to…
Review: Beth Nielsen Chapman’s “The Mighty Sky”
By Ken Paulson — It’s the rare children’s album that delights adults as much as kids , but that’s certainly the case with The Mighty Sky, a new album from Beth Nielsen Chapman. The album offers lessons in astronomy through a wide array of pop songs written by Chapman, Annie Roboff and Rocky Alvey, giving parents the chance to play…
Reissue: Cat Mother and the All Night Newsboys
By Ken Paulson — Cat Mother and the All Night News Boys’ The Street Giveth and the Street Taketh Away (Real Gone Music) is a surprisingly fresh-sounding 1969 release with two claims to distinction: It was produced by Jimi Hendrix and spawned a Top 40 hit in “Good Old Rock ‘n’ Roll,” a medley of “Blue Suede Shoes,” “Chantilly Lace,” Long…
Love and redemption with Ray Wylie Hubbard
By Paul T. Mueller — While a church is not necessarily the first place you’d expect to see Ray Wylie Hubbard performing, it does make sense in a way. The Oklahoma-bred singer-songwriter has been called the Wylie Lama, after all, and there’s a certain mystical/spiritual thread that runs through many of his songs. So it’s fitting that he was chosen…
Mike Nesmith on 17-city tour
Americana Music News — Unexpected news release of the week: Mike Nesmith is heading out on tour. While best known as a member of the Monkees (and possibly the most reluctant), Nesmith write and recorded Americana music decades before there was a term for it. He wrote “Different Drum,” Linda Ronstadt’s first hit with the Stone Poneys, “Some of Shelley’s…
Charting: Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell
Americana Music News — It’s three weeks in a row for Cheater’s Game by Kelly Willis and Bruce Robison to top the Americana Music Association airplay chart, with Carrie Rodriguez’s Give Me All You Got in the second spot. New to the chart this week: Old Yellow Moon by Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell, Minute By Minute by the James Hunter Six and…
The 2013 Bonnaroo line-up, with McCartney, Mumford & Sons
Bonnaroo has announced its 2013 line-up, headlined by Paul McCartney, Mumford & Sons and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.
Review: “Cheater’s Game” by Kelly Willis and Bruce Robison
By Paul T. Mueller — Kelly Willis and Bruce Robison have been performing together for years, but aside from a Christmas collection a few years ago, the First Couple of Alt-Country didn’t get around to recording an album together until last year. The wait was worth it; Cheater’s Game is as fine an effort as you’d expect from two pros…
Review: Hayes Carll at McGonigel’s Mucky Duck
By Paul T. Mueller — The audience at Hayes Carll’s early set at McGonigel’s Mucky Duck in Houston on Feb. 1 got a little more than it paid for. The singer-songwriter, who grew up near Houston, put on a fine musical performance, but the set also included a comedy show and a magic act. More on those later. Carll breezed…
Ashley Monroe’s well-crafted “Like A Rose”
By Terry Roland — The sophomore effort from Ashley Monroe, Like a Rose, is a remarkably consistent and well-crafted album. She is a gifted country vocalist and a skilled songwriter. At 26 she is just embarking on what hopefully will be a long career. Monroe’s background includes work with Miranda Lambert as one of the three Pistol Annies, whose album, Hell on…
Duos dominate Americana music airplay chart
Americana Music News — Duos top this week’s Americana Music Association airplay chart, with Buddy Miller and Jim Lauderdale’s Buddy and Jim in the number one slot, followed by Kasey Chambers and Shane Nicholson’s Wreck & Ruin and the fast-rising Cheater’s Game by Kelly Willis and Bruce Robison. Other pairs on this week’s chart: Ben Harper with Charles Musselwhite, and…
Review: Terry Allen at McGonigel’s Mucky Duck
By Paul T. Mueller –Terry Allen played most of his Jan. 19 late set at McGonigel’s Mucky Duck in Houston with a small, secret smile on his face, as if anticipating the punch line to an upcoming joke. Fortunately for the standing-room-only audience (the second of the evening), he didn’t keep the humor to himself, sharing it generously over the…
Charting: Kelly Willis and Bruce Robison, James Hand
Americana Music News — The hottest album in Americana music this week is Cheater’s Game by Kelly Willis and Bruce Robison. The album breaks in at number 6 on this week’s Americana music radio airplay chart, and was also the most added release, with 46 stations picking it up. At number 1 for a second week is Buddy & Jim,…
Shadowboxers step into spotlight with new album
By Ken Paulson — Nanci Griffith cancelled her show this afternoon due to illness, giving the Shadowboxers a chance to step up to the 30A Songwriters Festival’s biggest venue. The young Atlanta band charmed the crowd at Gulf Place Amphitheater with a well-paced set fueled by in large part by ’70s era soul and funk. When is the last time…
Review: Mary Chapin Carpenter at the 30A Songwriters Festival
By Ken Paulson — Mary Chapin Carpenter’s first band date of the new year came this afternoon at the 30A Songwriters Festival. She’s still touring in support of Ashes and Roses, an album she described today as being dark and serious in tone. Still, she said, the album does take a hopeful turn midway through. That said, she proceeded to…
Suzanne Vega at 30A Songwriters Festival
Americana Music News — Suzanne Vega played a brisk set at the Gulf Place Amphitheater today, the first headliner at the 30A Songwriters Festival. It was a career-spanning set and the audience listened attentively under surprisingly dark skies. The sun broke through, along with the hits, at the set’s close. “Luka” and a spirited “Tom’s Diner” (complete with top hat) closed…