Americana

Album of the Week: Dig My Mood - 25th Anniversary

Dusty Wright — Tue, 15 Aug 2023 14:00:00 +0000

Album of the Week: Dig My Mood - 25th Anniversary Dusty Wright August 15, 2023 - 10:00

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Dig Nick Lowe is more like it; an Americana artist through and through even though he's a Brit. 25 years on, this vinyl reissue (with 5-song rarities EP) has to be one of his finest efforts in a very storied and deserving career. And the fact that it followed the equally brilliant The Impossible Bird makes one wonder if this could have been a double album.

The execution of the 12 songs by Lowe (on bass and rhythm guitar) and his stellar backing band (guitarist Steve Donnelly, keyboardist Geraint Watkins, and drummer Robert Treherne) make the whole album feel effortless. And that affords Nick that ability to sing with confidence and conviction. These songs feel like he's lived them his whole life. They have a timelessness that feels like an homage to early Elvis and American crooners like Frank Sinatra, Mel Tormé and Tony Bennett. I could image Sinatra singing the ballads "Freezing" or "You Inspire Me" back in the day.

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a data-cke-saved-href="https://nicklowe.bandcamp.com/album/dig-my-mood-25th-anniversary" href="https://nicklowe.bandcamp.com/album/dig-my-mood-25th-anniversary"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Dig My Mood (25th Anniversary) by Nick Lowe&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

"Man That I've Become" could have been an early hit for Johnny Cash, but even the album's opener "Faithless Lover" could have been a hit for Peggy Lee. Suffice it to say, most of these songs could have been sung by any of the vocal pop stars of yesteryear.

This is a late night album, something to wind down to after a hard night of drinking and/or soul searching. It's a must-listen/own on vinyl.

Lowe is currently on tour with his backing band Los Straitjackets. Check dates here.

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Twenty Four Hours From Tulsa

Robert Cochrane — Mon, 27 Jul 2020 10:48:15 +0000

Twenty Four Hours From Tulsa Robert Cochrane July 27, 2020 - 06:48

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"Frank Lloyd’s Revenge, (the Tulsa Massacre of 1921)"

Scott Baxendale

History always has been a skewed vortex, collated by the victors, excluding irksome narratives that wrinkle the supposedly smooth fabric of society. We are as children spoon-fed the myths and half-truths as a kind of benign dogma. Santa Claus exists along with the Tooth Fairy, and Christopher Columbus discovered America. The final fanciful fact belittles and eradicates the rights of the people who were already there on land that had been and was still rightfully theirs. The same applies to the Aztec and Inca populations of South America. The Aborigines of Australia. A list, long and sorrowful of Western arrogance, of theft and exploitation.

The death of George Floyd, played out and replayed on a loop of shock across the world, has ignited a sense of rightful outrage and a desire to redefine, challenge, and analyse the past we are left to live with. Statues we walk past every day have begun to fall. It is no longer acceptable to ignore the canker beneath the gloss of bronze and marble.

Many years ago I was fortunate to catch the esteemed Canadian novelist Robertson Davies do a reading. The blurb on the flyer stated, "He writes like an angel and looks like God" which was the truth wrapped up in a neat remark. He read from one of his novels where a group of students under the cover of the night, dismantle and replace the plaques on statues. In the morning and in the succeeding days, no-one notices this minor act of humorous vandalism. It however made and continues to make a moot point. What was once sufficiently revered to be commemorated, with time slips from memory and becomes irrelevant. It is there simply because it exists. Marooned in a sea of contemporary amnesia and disinterest.

Once begun, such backwards glances shine disconcerting lights into equally unpalatable corners. Many sacred and revered figures become unstable on their plinths. Winston Churchill, the epitome of whatever it was that made Britain great, had a wealth of unsavoury opinions and deeds. Be it the creation of what were the first concentration camps during the Boer War, or his attitude towards the striking miners of Wales whose stomachs he wished to fill with lead, and the people of India and Africa who sadly suffered such a fate. In more recent times his self-proclaimed heir Margaret Thatcher had her own troubles with miners, created the iniquitous, socially divisive Poll Tax, and the notorious, thankfully repealed, Clause 28 which forbade the teaching, or the mere mention of anything related to homosexuality in the classroom. This from a woman who was friends with the notorious sexual abuser Jimmy Savile, sufficiently so to entertain him over Christmas, yet managed to protect and absolve her Parliamentary Private Secretary, the late Sir Peter Morrison, a man whose interest in young boys was well known, but who was, even when caught, continued to go unpunished on account of his importance to his employer.

In America, Roy Cohn, actively gay, but in the closet, affiliate and cohort of Senator Joe McCarthy, was responsible for the hounding, exposure and sacking of scores of gay men. Cohn succumbed to Aids in 1986. Minorities were always easy targets for the self-righteous and the opportunistic. They wielded no power and couldn't effectively fight back.

During lockdown the thing that having time on ones hands permits is to stumble across new information, most of it illuminating, but some so shocking one is left to ponder why such a cataclysmic event could have been erased from wider public memory.

Singer and guitarist Scott Baxendale has written a perfect elegy for one such incident. Like Vic Chestnuut in cahoots with Nick Cave he eloquently questions the absence of what transpired in Tulsa almost a century ago, from recognition and recall. With the very public passing of George Floyd, mentions began to surface of the Tulsa Riot, and the hushed up deaths of hundreds. By received and conventional wisdom, Pearl Harbour was the first time America was bombed from the air. It was actually in 1921, near the birth of wartime flying, and the recipients of such action were American citizens, at least three hundred of them, and the obliteration of a district that was both prosperous and thriving.

This shocking blemish on America's soul has been covered up. Newspaper reports have vanished from archives, the inflammatory journalism in the Tulsa Tribune that provoked and unleashed this act of brief, but successful genocide no longer exists. Yet Richard Jones, the reporter responsible is revered still in Tulsa, was gifted a house there by his cousin the architect Frank Lloyd Wright for his services to the town, post the incident, and remains a venerated citizen. Things only get hidden and removed because of a sense of shame. Jones even built a church even though the impact of his bile-laden journalism saw a fine one burn. His esteemed cousin had lost his mistress Mamah Borthwick murdered by a black servant, along with six others in 1914. Frank Lloyd Wright was no friend of minorities.

In Tulsa only now are initiatives afoot to deal with the incident that began over a white girl screaming in a lift in 1921. The mere proximity of a black boy to a white girl was sufficient to inflame simmering hatreds. She later refused to press any charges. Her supposed assailant Dick Rowland was the son of a prominent businessman in the district known as Black Wall Street and was in police custody for his own protection. A deputation from the area arrived to seek reason, but Smith's shoddy racist journalism was already in print suggesting "Nab Negro" and thus things escalated. The black community was destroyed for trying to defend itself. They weren't rioting, they were simply being eradicated.

Sometimes it is best to forget, but mostly remembering is a painful obligation that the living owe the dead. Tulsa should be taught across the world, it presently is a negated footnote. Unsavoury people are equally capable of good acts and therein lies the problem in apportioning blame and handing down judgement. Some actions betray the reason for a febrile society, and their negation simply compounds that as the ultimate act of disrespect.

A song is perhaps the best means to stir a slow, but certain reaction. Scott Baxendale's measured gothic ballad deserves to be that provocation. Only time will tell if it helps to reveal what hasn't yet hasn't already been properly divulged. A National Day of Remembrance from now on on June 1st would be a fitting and respectful start.

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Numbers, Dylan & Young

Dusty Wright — Mon, 15 Jun 2020 14:00:00 +0000

Numbers, Dylan & Young Dusty Wright June 15, 2020 - 10:00

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15-60-75 (l-r, Bill Watson, Jack Kidney, Bob Kidney, Terry Hynde, Clint Alguire)

The summer is here. We've safely left our caves for the healing warmth of sunlight and the promise of a better tomorrow. Here's some new music to accompany your journey. While Covid kept us all in lockdown during the thaw of spring, the amount of music created was inevitable. No stadium tours, no wasted nights on tour buses, all summer music festivals canceled; bands and artists have created a tsunami of new "lockdown" music. Some release dates are scheduled for later in the summer and early fall. Numerous singles have been released. And some veteran singer/songwriters are releasing amazing albums in the next few weeks, and having been doing it for 50+ years!

Endure (Outliers On Water Street) - 15-60-75 (The Numbers Band) (Water Street)

If you a regular reader of my music reviews you will know my profound love and support of this NE Ohio-based band. 50 years old this year, and they drop what might be their finest album to date and one of my favorite albums of 2020. Cut live in the studio. 10 blistering tracks of "Country Eastern (like Country & Western)" as Bob Kidney corrected me the other day, each recorded exactly as they are performed on stage -- no headphones, instruments bleeding into each other, played 6-8 times each to find that one perfect take. Looking for the magic that happens when you set up your gear and play it live in the studio. Music done with the telepathy -- like jazz or a well-oiled Rube Goldberg contraption -- that only occurs from playing together for so long.

I spoke to their leader/singer/songwriter/guitarist Bob Kidney and being the well-dressed, smooth talking cat that he is, he shared some insight into why this effort is such a sublimely special album:

"Everyone kept telling me that they love our Jimmy Bell live album. I've been wanting to cut a live album in the studio for years. I can't stand all I fuss that goes into studio recording. Let's set up and play like we do in the clubs. I don't have time for fussing with mixes. We just played these songs live, over and over again, until we got a take we liked, it was a consensus and obvious to everyone including David who usually nailed it."

And why not, I've seen them live for at least 48 years. Saw them open for Bruce Springsteen at Kent State in the early '70s. Danced and sweated with them at JB's on Water Street all through high school and college. Taped them live at Bowery Electric in NYC a few years ago. (That was amazing night of music.) I even see them when I head back home to visit my mother in Akron, OH. Selfishly, I try to make sure that they're playing the weekend I've scheduled my visit.

For you newbies, their current lineup consists of bassist Bill Watson, drummer Clint Alguire, and founding members Jack Kidney, Bob Kidney and Terry Hynde. That original triumvirate is the secret sauce that keeps their enduring flame burning so bright. Brothers in arms, on stage, soldiering on through thick and thin.

And what is about Endure that makes it so special? Most of these "autobiographical" songs will be familiar to their fans. "Back To Disaster" is one such tune and one of my favorites. I first heard Bob play it at The Golden Palominos reunion gig at Le Poisson Rouge in New York City in 2010. It's a riveting agro-blues stomp that ebbs and flows on the crest of Bob's pained lyrics and emotive vocal delivery punctuated by one of his trademark haunting guitar solos. This man makes us believe in his convictions and demons.

"I eat the blues for breakfast / Left over from the night before / The bad news is restless / The Devil's standing at the door"

Each song on this album is a mini-opera. Upon first listen two songs jumped out at me. Brother Jack's exceptional chuggin' "That's the Way the Railroad Runs" and Bob's heartfelt love ballad "Rosalee" -- covered by Chrissie Hynde's Pretenders in 2008 and first recorded for his solo acoustic record -- display what this band does best. Lock into a groove, fast or slow, and swing; thanks to the relentless groove provided by Clint and Bill, thus letting Bob, Terry and Jack to add their azure-hued paint to this glorious canvas.

Witness them in full majesty on the 8+ minute track "Blue Collar," an homage to the working man and the pecking order of greed and one of the most challenging tracks to record. According to Bob, it required Herculean strength from their drummer Clint to follow Bob's vocals and then for Bob to follow Clint's drumming, especially given that they recorded it 8 times. And real intricate tug of war. And lyrically? Bob says this is one of the most important lyrics on the album:

"Well, they say there's no rest for the wicked /

You can be sure there's no rest for the poor!"

Talk about currently relevant.

And as song builds to a final crescendo with a fury of drums and cymbals and Bob's guitar howling, it stops abruptly, pause... Bob states empathically:

"They worship that Green Jesus / And kneel at a bottom line"

Equally impressive is the engineering/mixing/production chops provided by longtime fan Dave Sacchini, who also owns Son of Moondog studio in Kent, Ohio where the album was recorded. He was able to capture the vibe on this track by grafting the ending from another take to create a seamless whole.

Major props to one of the baddest harp players on the planet Brother Jack and his three original tunes on the album -- "Railroad Runs," "Getting By," and "In Stride." It's another album corker and plays like a soundtrack to some Raymond Chandler novel. People who love this band know how important his contributions are to the band's mojo. Besides his vocals and transcendent harp blasts, he plays killer sax, percussion, and keyboards.

And the cerebral Terry Hynde on alto and soprano sax. Bob so values him and says, "he's one of the best sax players of his generation." Watching him on stage he appears to possess the vibe of a transdimensional time traveler, even when he's providing hypnotic percussion while waiting to step up. One just needs to listen to his soloing on "Wolf" on Endure and then compare it to the live video above. Like Charles Lloyd meets Charles Gayle, he creates a tension that mounts and releases just at the right time, Bob dropping back in with a vocal phrase and guitar riff or Jack adding a keyboard line or doubling his line on another sax. It's hypnotic. It makes you dance. You can't help but move your body to this music. Until it's made available digitally, order the CD here. It's the perfect driving music.

Homegrown - Neil Young (Reprise)

Much has been written about the "lost" Neil Young albums. Homegrown is one such affair. Suffice it to say, it was worth the wait. Neil is so prolific it is understandable how this one got shelved. He was busy recording -- On The Beach, Tonight's The Night, Zuma, and touring solo and with Crosy, Stills, Nash & Young during this time period -- 1973-1975. Some of the songs found their way to other releases, but these are the originals. Ragged and real, just like you love Neil. Heartfelt songs worn on his plaid flannel sleeves. Nothing pretension. Songs of keen observations about life. Poetic and moving. Comfortable melodies to play over and over again. "Love Is A Rose" was released on his Decades compilation, "Pardon My Heart" was heard on Zuma, "Star of Bethlehem" on America Stars 'n' Bars, "Little Wing" and "The Old Homestead" on Hawks & Doves. The album will be released on June 19th.

Rough & Rowdy Ways Bob Dylan (Columbia)

This is Bob's first new album of original material since Tempest (2012). Will it be his last studio effort? He's got much to unpack, too. The world and his/our place in it. Sir Bob is not pulling any punches. If the lyrics of the first 3 singles are any indication, this may well be his an epic swan song. It was pointed out to me that the melody of "False Prophet" sounds just like the 1954 song by bluesman Billy "The Kid" Emerson "If Lovin’ Is Believing". Regardless, many folk singers have "borrowed" melodies from old folk songs from the past, and Dylan has done so in the past. It's Dylan's lyrics that distances himself from "The Kid's" original song:

"Well I'm the enemy of treason / Enemy of strife /

I'm the enemy of the unlived meaningless life /

I ain't no false prophet / I just know what I know /

I go where only the lonely can go"

Karma is real. Cause ands effect. Placing your happiness in things that really don't amount to much will not deliver salvation. Gotta serve somebody. Sure, they may us "feel" better, but that's fleeting. That is a false prophet to pleasures that will never bring true happiness.

Two previous singles have already been released in advance of the album "I Contain Multitudes" and the 17-minute, loss-of-innocence "Murder Most Foul," a song that begins thusly:

"Twas a dark day in Dallas, November '63 /
A day that will live on in infamy /
President Kennedy was a-ridin' high /
Good day to be livin' and a good day to die"

President Kennedy's assassination may have killed the dream of a better future for all of us, but perhaps it was liberating in the sense that true Utopia will never be found on this mortal coil. All of things we think bring us happiness, pinning our hopes on our leaders is just another "False Prophet" to lead us astray. The album will be released by Columbia Records on June 19th.

Here's the full track listing:

01 I Contain Multitudes
02 False Prophet
03 My Own Version of You
04 I’ve Made Up My Mind to Give Myself to You
05 Black Rider
06 Goodbye Jimmy Reed
07 Mother of Muses
08 Crossing the Rubicon
09 Key West
10 Murder Most Foul

For the times they are a-changin'...

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Song of the Week: "Angel From Montgomery"

Dusty Wright — Wed, 15 Apr 2020 22:49:47 +0000

Song of the Week: "Angel From Montgomery" Dusty Wright April 15, 2020 - 18:49

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John Prine's classic tune is given a haunting reading by the LA-based alt rock singer-songwriter Jesse Jo Stark. American Songwriter said it best: "Stark's unfiltered raw talent and calm confidence is the perfect way to honor such a song. She exhibits the perfect amount of vocal control while expelling the right amount of soul. She is a natural. The music is country meets contemporary with an alt-rock spin."

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Album of the Week: About Memory

Dusty Wright — Fri, 03 Nov 2017 14:46:58 +0000

Album of the Week: About Memory Dusty Wright November 3, 2017 - 10:46

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Todd Kessler - About Memory (Todd Kessler Records)

A dynamically-gentle, compelling folk-Americana album by an earnest singer-songwriter from Chicago. Todd Kesller once shared his chops on The Voice and that certainly helped raise his profile as an artist of merit and will hopefully afford him a much deserved wider audience for this amazing new album.

Recorded in Los Angeles at New Monkey Studio (made famous by Elliot Smith), About Memory was produced by Marc Daniel Nelson (Fleetwood Mac, Colbie Caillat) and Ran Jackson (Katy Perry, Goo Goo Dolls), and mastered by Eric Boulanger, who has worked with chart-topping artists like Adele, Green Day, and Neil Young.

Check out the video above for the gorgeous single "Old Fashioned Way" and pick up his album today and play it repeatedly. Buy it here.

Song of the Week: "Beds"

Dusty Wright — Wed, 01 Nov 2017 13:56:20 +0000

Song of the Week: "Beds" Dusty Wright November 1, 2017 - 09:56

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Some artists are discovered like that perfect shell on a stroll on the beach -- you look down and you spot it, pick it up, marvel over its beauty, and take it home. Nashville-based, El Paso-born, indie folk artist Jethro Gaglione aka Sierra Blanca has a vibe that is so sweet and fine. Utterly undeniable. A true natural talent. The self-taught multi-instrumentalist's new EP Honorable Mention will be released on Nov. 10th. In the interim, check out his single "Beds," a ballad so evocatively engaging and refreshingly simple, inviting the listener to crawl into bed with him while be serenaded to. And that is why it's my single of the week.

Song of the Week: "Pretty Sure"

Dusty Wright — Wed, 31 Aug 2016 14:52:26 +0000

Song of the Week: "Pretty Sure" Dusty Wright August 31, 2016 - 10:52

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So I got an email early last week asking me to preview a new album. Nothing new as I get hundreds of requests daily from PR flacks asking for the same thing. However, this was a heartfelt message from the lead singer John Saba, Jr. of the Austin-based quartet San Saba County. He wrote that "Pretty Sure" was "one of [his] personal favorites from the album" 5th. Damn, he was right on target. This is one catchy tune, like Green Day filtered through a roots-rock prism. Smart lyrics, chugging rhythm, tight playing; a winner through and through. Looking forward to spending more time with the album. I'm pretty sure it'll be worth the effort.

Song of the Week: "Stoplight Kisses"

Dusty Wright — Mon, 08 Aug 2016 15:38:32 +0000

Song of the Week: "Stoplight Kisses" Dusty Wright August 8, 2016 - 11:38

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Sure, Minneapolis-based brothers Jack Torrey and Page Bunkum's vocals and Americana roots-rock tunes remind one of The Everly Brothers and/or Louvin Brothers, but their band The Cactus Blossoms still swings with a timeless vibe and carries that retro torch forward in a very convincing manner. Moreover, they opened for country legend Dwight Yoakam on Sunday night for Lincoln Center's Out of Doors Americanafest Weekend and the crowd was blown away. This infectious single -- "Stoplight Kisses" -- is from their excellent new album, You’re Dreaming, and was produced by the equally beguiling roots-rocker J.D. McPherson. Buy it on vinyl; support the arts, people.

The Watkins Family Hour - Lincoln Center

Dusty Wright — Sun, 09 Aug 2015 21:52:35 +0000

The Watkins Family Hour - Lincoln Center Dusty Wright August 9, 2015 - 17:52

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Saturday night was a perfect summer evening for free Americana music at Lincoln's Center Damrosch Park as part of the Annual Roots of American Music, Americanafest NYC. The evening featured two of the genres rising stars. The headliners played two sets with the first half of the set featuring mostly original tunes by former Nickel Creek members Sean and Sara Watkin's new band The Watkins Family Hour. They and their extraordinary band entertained a robust crowd of New Yorkers and tourists alike. One of my favorite songs of the evening was their beatiful take on the Grateful Dead's "Brokedown Palace." And co-vocalist Fionna Apple's original song "A Mistake" was quite moving. Yes, she's one of the members of this band.

The second part of the set was a full-on tribute to Bob Dylan’s Highway 61 Revisited performed in its entirety by the band -- guitarist/vocalist Sean Watkins, fiddle/vocalist Sara Watkins, vocalist Fiona Apple, keyboardist Benmont Tench (on lone from Tom Petty's Heartbreakers), bassist Sebastian Steinberg, and drummer Don Heffington, along with guitarists David Garza and Smokey Hormel, and guest stars Shawn Colvin, Pokey LaFarge, Aimee Mann & Ted Leo aka The Both, AND Mr. Al Kooper -- the original keyboardist on Dylan's landmark album from 50 years ago -- on organ and piano. Monster player, no doubt, his work on that seminal record sounded as fresh under the Saturday night stars as is did when he orignally recorded his parts back in the day. Mr. Kooper's between-the-songs banter offered a rare snapshot of what is was like to work with Sir Bob in the studio in 1965. His organ part on "Like A Rolling Stone" was a huge part of the myth and legend that endures to this day.

Besides Al's keyboard chops, and Benmont's, too, some of the highlights of this set included Sarah Watkin's stirring rendition of "From A Buick 6" and retro roots-rock crooner Pokey LaFarge on "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues" as well as singer-songwriter Shawn Colvin on "Ballad of a Thin Man." The encore consisted of Dylan's AM radio hit single sing-along "Rainy Day Woman #12 And 35" with Austin-based musician David Garza leading the crowd.

Opening the evening's festivities was the very competent and earnest folk stylings of singer-songwriter Justin Townes Earle, son of Steve Earle. You may want to catch Lyle Lovett and his Large Band close out this annual series on Sunday evening at 7 pm.

Gig of the Week: David Lindley

Dusty Wright — Tue, 12 May 2015 13:57:54 +0000

Gig of the Week: David Lindley Dusty Wright May 12, 2015 - 09:57

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For L.A.-based stringed instrument maestro David Lindley, the more obscure the stringed-instrument, the more inspiring. Employing a half-dozen guitar-like instruments (several custom-made Weissenborns, a black top Irish bouzouki with added frets, electric oud) in various open tunings, he effortless finger-picks his way into your head and heart. And his droll between-songs banter is both hilarious and informative. Having been employed by some of the world's most-beloved singer/songwriters, such as Jackson Browne and Warren Zevon, to name just two of my favorites, has definitely served his stage presence and chops quite effectively.

Starting the set with an absolutely brilliant rewrite of his much-beloved cover and FM-staple "Mercury Blues" from his must-own ablum El Rayo-X while morphing lyrics from "Tuna Fish Blues" -- the obvious poisoning of our ocean fish and water -- David had our rapt attention. Two Warren Zevon tunes also cut to the bone. Moreover, his Zevon tale about his pal's gun markmensip, cockroach targets, and a bathtub shoot-up had the audience roaring. His cover of Zevon's "Mutineer" was revelatory. (See above.) And Zevon's other chesnut "Beneath the Vast Indifference of Heaven" left us breathless. Lindley's "Down in the Vatican Library" from his Big Twang (2007) album started with another hilarious story before sucking the audience in with his nimble finger-picking. "Meat Grinder Blues," a song co-written with his daughter Roseann, also began with a crazy tale about a local L.A. misanthrope before drowning us with its aural acoustic assault. A genius bouzouki-driven version of "New Minglewood Blues" closed the set. But the audience refused to let him go and David didn't disappoint with his encore -- the old English folk tune "The Cuckoo," a song he covered with his band Kaleidoscope on their third ablum Incredible! Kaleidoscope (1969). 90 minutes of majestic acoustic music and we were hungry for more.

Treat yourself and your friends and catch his next gig on this current tour. The man is a national treasure and a true musicologist.