The latest album from the dependable Mr. Strait is another straight down the line album of his trademark country. Nothing much has varied here from the last few albums other than Strait is now writing a lot more of his own songs. Seven songs here bear his name, all co-written with his son Bubba and long-time Strait scibe Dean Dillon. Production is again shared between Strait and Tony Brown who has been in that role for quite a few albums now. The players are, like the production, smooth and right on target. The vocal delivery is reliable as ever and he seems more connected here than he has at some times in the past and songs like Drinkin' Man show one side of the song direction while Three Nails And A Cross shows another way to gain some deliverance. Other self-penned songs are strong like Shame On Me. The them of drinkin' appears again in Chuck Cannon and Allen Shamblin's Poison. Veteran writers Gary Nicholson and Delbert McClinton co-wrote the rodeo rider reminisce, the uptempo Lone Star Blues which allows the players to strut their stuff. Jesse Winchester's A Showman's Life features harmonies from Faith Hill and is a song about the downsides of life on the road. He delivers it with conviction and some understanding of the subject matter. George Strait ain't going change much now and for that many of his fans will be thankful. Strait is what he is and while here been here for a long time he's also here for a good time and on this album he delivers just that.
Fiery Blue 'Our Secret' Doubloon
The second album from the singer Simone Stevens, Instrumentalist Gabe Rhodes and songwriter Paul Marsteller continues from where the previous album left off. Again they explore the possibilities of these songs with some adventurous production from Rhodes allied to strong arrangements, playing and writing. Stevens is again the vocal heart of these songs which have developed melodies and are strong on atmosphere. The sole outside song is a cover of Lennon/McCartney's I've Just seen A Face which scores through familiarity and being reworked into a uptempo version that has Rhodes mother Kimmie adding harmony vocals over a backing which has Tommy Spurlock's pedal steel guitar well to the fore. This track alone should gain Fiery Blue some attention. However the other songs are likely to reward repeated listening due to their overall quality. They range from the quieter songs like Half-a-Dance and The Moon And I to more drum bolstered songs like Sharpshooter and Crystal Ball. Throughout the elements come together to make Fiery Blue a positive slow burn that is not really roots music but rather playful folk-pop. Our Secret should really be an open one but as with any independent release it will need exposure to breathe.
The Weber Brothers 'Baddest Band In The Land' Self-release
You need something special to live up to a title like that and whether the Weber Brothers have achieved is open to debate. This is robust rock that incorporates some roots rock influences. Formed by Baltimore brothers Ryan and Sam the aim to be bad to be the best, as I think most band do, and set about trying to prove it. They have a tight and full sound owe a debt to the Band and indeed the press release comes with an endorsement from Ronnie Hawkins who previously employed The Band as his band The Hawks. Hawkins see these guys in a similar role. And it's not too difficult to see the debt and the reasoning though The Band had a deeper, more sensitive understanding of the various forms of American musical forms. The Weber Brothers sound like a hot live band and have a workmanlike approach and have recorded this album in a live in the studio situation that gives the songs some vitality and grit and if you like high octane bar-band roots rock then the Weber Brothers deliver but there's not a lot going on here that hasn't been done before. The ideal place to see this band is an a hot, rockin' bar then this album will make more sense and a be good souvenir of an exciting evening. Nothing wrong with that and these guys know how to strut their their stuff but I'm not too sure about being the baddest. I'd say that there may be others who would contest them for the title. But it might be fun to see who wins and in the meantime a listen to some early Mott The Hoople wouldn't go amiss.
JT Nero 'Mountains/Forests' Dishrag
This band are fronted by JT Nero, who would appear to be a singer/songwriter Jeremy Lindsay who has written all the songs here and performs them with a full band which includes singer and banjoist Allison Russell, who have appeared as a stripped down duo in the past. Here producer Zach Goheen wraps the soulful voices of these two in a full sound that has been likened to both of the Buckeys, Jeff and Tim. There is a certain lightness of touch here and some vocal dexterity that would make that comparison seem possible. This is not however an album that will appeal to every Americana listener but rather to those who like it's subtle melodic take on old-time soul. Nero has a very distinctive voice that can soar and swoop and is equally matched by Russell and the accomplished band who deliver these 10 songs with verve. The opening title sets the groove which is followed throughout the album across such rootsier songs as descriptive Gallup, NM and the slight guitar twang of Red Balloon. Oh! Sunny Day has a airiness that matches its title and suggest that nature plays a part in these songs very structure. Making Mountains /Forests a veritable breath of fresh air for some.
Reviews by Stephen Rapid
Fur Dixon / Steve Werner Songs of the Open Road - Volume One Grass & Gravel
This well travelled duo have celebrated their troubadour lifestyle on this, their third, album by recording a set of songs themed to the open road. The songs are all favourite songs from the traditional cannon or from writers they admire. The duo are essentially know for the blend of their voices, his deep and hers hitting the higher register, a combination that works well and allows each to take the lead or to harmonize together. Their sound is Americana folk music that sees them bringing in various flavours from the open prairies, open skies, open roads to closed roads and dead-end options. They add to each song a flavour of the songs location with additional players like Brantley Kearns on fiddle, John McDuffie on pedal steel, Otono Lujan on button accordion and Paul Marshall on bass. They use these instruments to add subtle but telling textures to these songs that give the songs greater scope for telling the stories. These range from Woody Guthrie's Do Re Mi to Southbound by Doc and Merle Watson and Clay Pigeons from the late Blaze Foley through two Mary McCaslin sounds and the traditional De Colores and Dreary Black Hills. The journey you take with them is a pleasure and they mass the metaphorical hours with ease. The arrangements and their captivating singing and choice of songs will leave many looking forward to the (possible) next installment of their American journey. May the road rise with you.
Hillfolk Noir 'Skinny Mammy's Revenge' Self-Release
A raw-boned quartet from Boise, Idaho who have recorded this album the way that many recording were made in the past, all playing into one microphone in a single location. The music is drawing on a legacy of local community string band music. This music has inspired these players to write and perform their chosen songs with enthusiasm and to leave them unadorned by studio trickery and refinements. The original writing and arrangements of older songs are by Travis Ward who plays resonator guitar and harmonica as well as providing the lead vocals. The spirit of punk as well as the back porch informs this music's underling earthiness. The 20 songs covers titles like Washboard Blues, Choo Choo Stomp, Fast Train Blues, The Lord Will Come and the immediately attractive picking of L&N, a song that has been recorded before but has an ageless quality and tells of progress and its path of destruction. That these songs all take a similar sounding path will either appeal greatly if you appreciate what Hillyfolk Noir are trying (and largely succeeding) to get across but others will find it's directness and abrasiveness a little difficult to warm to. Either way the second outing from this band has it heart and soul in an earlier time and that is no bad thing as it offer's its revenge on the homogenized sounds that are even to be found in certain areas of old-time and bluegrass music.
Patrick Sweany 'That Old Southern Drag' Nine Mile
A rock, soul and blues influenced singer/songwriter who likes to rock it up. Nashville based Sweany has recorded this album there with a small number of musicians joining Sweany to realize this set of 12 self-written songs. The focus is a voice that has power and poignancy. Which for a man who lists Doug Sahm and Ray Charles among his influences would be de rigueur. It was produced and mixed by Joe V. McMahan who is central to the free-flowing sound here, he also contributes guitar, keyboards and percussion throughout. This tight unit allows the songs room to breathe easily and find their own space without too many restrictions or pre-conceptions. In many ways this has that classic rock-blues-soul sound that was pre-eminent in the 60s by such artists as the aforementioned Sahm as well as the likes of Al Kooper or Muscle Shoals guitarist and producer Eddie Hinton or in recent times Gregg Allman solo album. Sweany, in truth, is continuing rather than expanding or creating new innovations in this blend of roots based American musical forms. But he's doing it with a style and passion that gives this album its heart and, yes, soul. Listening to this album also brings to mind some other recent exponents of this format but that doesn't detract from what Patrick Sweany brings to his music and to what is a very listenable album that will find him a fans who get to hear his music and understand his measure.
Simone Stevens Right On Time Self-Release
Know to some via her vocal contribution to Fiery Blue, a trio of writer Paul Marsteller, musician Gabe Rhodes and Stevens as vocalist. Right On Time sees her stepping up front and centre to deliver some of her largely self written folk-pop songs. They are warm and attractive songs that utilize a wide range of instruments including at times, cello, clarinet, sax, pedal steel and guitar. This is all topped by Stevens versatile voice which has elements of 60s stylings rather than the over-cooked of many of today's dynamic divas. The production is shared by Stevens and Nadim Isa and again those touches of that earlier era are apparent but underplayed as to never fall into pastiche. Listening to the album I was at times reminded of Tift Merritt, another strong vocalist, especially on the title track, which is actually the only song that Stevens didn't have a hand in writing. It is a Lucinda Williams song which Stevens makes her own. A piano-based ballad it highlights her vocal skills in a tender and tells a story in fleeting glimpses of detail of a loving relationship. However that shouldn't diminish her own writing rather it shows how she can take another writers words and give them her own interpretation. The final track, for instance, tells a relationship that has perhaps run its course with her checking her partners temperature and it is below zero - a cold, cold heart. But Right On Time is anything but cold and while it may not be considered country or even country-pop it has some elements of that mixed among its hybrid influences. The end result is a striking debut that will make Simone Stevens a contender.
The Quiet American - Volume Two Self-Release
Despite the title this is the first album from Aaron Keim, a folk singer, musician and songwriter. He is joined on a number of tracks by Nicole Keim, with whom he made a previous (duo) album Born in the Country, Raised in Town. Keim is another young musician enthralled by the music of an earlier time. The mix here is of original songs like I Will Be The One, Talk Is Cheap and Break The Hold and a set of traditional tunes that includes KC Jones, Wandering Boy, When Death Come (Creepin' In The Room) and Black Jack Daisy. The accompaniment is sparse but effective, Keim proving adept at banjo, acoustic guitar, banjo and other instruments. However the key instrument here is Keim's resonant voice, one that gives these songs their individual presence. He is joined on a number of the songs the sweet harmony of Nicole Keim. On other tracks feature additional instruments but it is largely Keim on his own. on Talk Is Cheap he plays ukulele, electric guitar, bass, percussion and lap steel. On the instrumental Spanish Fandango he plays some dexterous ukulele. This American may not be a noisy one but he knows his way round the selling of a tune. His own songs fit easily beside the traditional tunes handed down through the ages and while they may not become the traditional songs of the future, or indeed cover topics as dark, that may be more to do with the way music is now dispensed rather than with the overall quality of the material. He also is of the here and now and filters these songs through the experiences and musical influences that reflect the age he lives in and shows why many traditional songs still have a relevance to the world as it is today when delivered with a certain energy.
Mike Cullison 'Roadhouse Rambler' Self-Release
The title gives it a way. This is roadhouse rock a blend of R 'n' B, country, rock and soul. Slide guitar, piano and harmonica bolster the first track of this 6 track mini-album. Next up Whiskey Memory is country barroom heartbreak with weeping pedal steel. Cullison is the writer and co-writer of the featured songs and the no-fuss sapient singer who is equal parts Sun and Stax. Drinkin' Songs is another plea for the music of Hank, Merle and others true to the cause. Produced with understanding by Mark Robinson it features some fine playing from the likes of Mike Daly on steel guitar, Randy Handley's keyboards, harmonica from Ben Graves and Robinson's guitar. These six tracks will leave you wanting more and that's the way it should be. This, again, is not something that hasn't been heard before but it needs to be hard again. It makes you feel good and while it is not the hardcore country of those acts rooted in the 50's takes the spirit of that era and drags it screaming into your neighbourhood bar. The mini-album closes with Who Turned You Loose a song with slide guitar and accordion that makes for a mighty fine noise and closes this self-contained example of Cullison's combustible music worth checking out.
Amy McCarley Self-Release
This is a solo album in every sense with Amy McCarley producing, recording, mixing and playing everything on the album in her home studio in Huntsville, Alabama. A process that gave her complete control over what she is recording but can sometimes make the process insular. Much of the music here is minimal, the essence being the voice and guitar and then this is embellished with touches of percussion and instrumental embroidery as required. The songs deal with relationships and the internal strength to not give up when things go wrong. "... I still won't give it up, because I think for sure that luck, will turn my way again" (Faster Than Truth) or the realization that life can be tough but the truth is "there's so much more to life than what's on tv" (Hollywood). McCarley delivers her songs in a committed clear voice that brings here words the emotional content they require. Her only cover, suggesting one of her key influences in Gillian Welch is Look At Miss Ohio and while she is no David Rawlings, who is?, her guitar skills are strong enough to underpin these songs. There are a lot of singer/songwriters out there right now and it's difficult for one to stand out from another. Amy McCarley has the belief and really needs to see if she can find an audience outside of those who get to see her play in person to take her music to a wider audience. Her songs suggest that she will keep on doing what she does and she can only grow from that endeavour.
Steve Mendick 'Immigrants...and other Americans' Prospect Hill
The title tells that Mendick songs concern his country and the many people and cultures that make it what it is and what it can be. Mendick has been influenced by a diverse set of writers both literary and musical. The latter probably headed by Bob Dylan and The Beatles but including such diverse names as Richard Thompson and Neil Young. From that you'll get an idea of where he's coming from. The album has been co-produced by Mendick and band member, multi-instrumentalist Eddie Seville and the album using a full band that includes keyboards, saxophone, violin, cello and backing vocals to give it a robust and rockin' sound. Mendick's voice is upfront and centre in the mix and at times it seems like it could blend a little more with the music around it as he has a good band here but otherwise a lot of the enjoyment of this album will come from your response to the singer and his songs -how well they connect with your own sensibilities overall. A song like The Third Gate makes me think of Bruce Springsteen though Mendick's chorus here doesn't quite take off as one of the Bosses might. Hold The Line has a, to this ears, slight Randy Newmaneque sound. The more reflective All I Can Do For Now is a thoughtful song that has a simpler piano and violin structure, likewise the acoustic led A Different Mirror show another side to Mendick's music. Over the 16 tracks Steve Mendick makes his case for Americans and immigrants. Europeans are welcome to listen too.
Reviews by Stephen Rapid
Slackeyed-Slim 'El Santo Grial: La Pistola Piadosa' Farmageddon
Concept albums are a little thin on the ground in country or alt.country for that matter. This album in some ways is not unlike the Louisiana Stripes the second long-form disc on Hank 111's Straight To Hell album. The title loosely translates as The Holy Grail: The Pious Pistol and it tells the story of Drake Savage - one man and one gun. It opens with sounds and voice. What sound like an American Indian flute leads us in to a sparse and jagged musical landscape. Come One, Come All like a traveling fairground barker invites us into this world of weirdness and widescreen wanderings. Slackeye Slim is Joe Frankland who has worked in collaboration with singer/songwriter Graham Lindsey to realize this ambitious project. Across the 14 tracks which make up the whole story we encounter a musical collage and barrage that has whopping trail hands and barking dogs blended with fuzz guitar and a very English voice alongside Frankland's worn baritone that is both narrator and distorted ghost traveller. There are visions of peyote-induced peaks and lonely valleys. An American landscape that is inhabited by men from every continent and from every creed. Indeed the final song A Song Called Love at times sounds, to these ears, like a bunch of Russian sailors out for a good time in Mexico. Which means like any good novel each listener will conjure up there own visual accompaniment for the sounds on offer. The previous album from Wisconsin-based Slackeyed-Slim Texas Whore Pleaser was a more straight forward affair by all accounts compared to this multi-textured concept. It is hard to single out individual tracks, though Vengeance Gonna Be My Name is available on YouTube to hear, it may give you a detail but it won't give you the full picture of this compelling recording. Fans of Hank 111, of Tom Waits, of Jim White, Clexico or Johhny Cash's The Rambler and any forward thinking roots artists should investigate this album. For there is much to savour and hear on repeated listens on what is one of the more outstanding albums released this year.
Ry Cooder 'Pull Up Some Dust And Sit Down' Nonsuch
Outside the mainstream Ry Cooder can make the music he wants to and he can also express his deeply held views. Ones that have run through his musical career since it began. There's no mistaking the mood of the album its right there from the opening track No Banker Left Behind. El Corrido de Jesse James follows and it Flaco Jimenez on accordion with a band of brass players to give a border sound to the track in which Jesse James tells his friends in heaven that he wants his trusty 44 revolver back so that he can "put that bonus money back where it belongs." Quicksand is about those refugees that come to cross the border into the USA getting caught in the quicksand of the title. After that he targets "rabble rousing politicians on the TV screen" (Humpty Dumpty World), scarred and mutilated soldiers (Christmas Time This Year), dead-end situations (Baby Joined The Army), the working man (Lord Tell Me Why) and the Republican party (If There's A God) amongst other topics and targets. All of this is done with integrity and compassion as well as truth and passion. Much of the music draws from a time when the various forms of roots music, American music were unsegregated. Cooder moves from simple but stately voice and guitar of Baby Joined The Army to the Tom Waits-like rough and tumble of I Want My Crown to the channeled blues of John Lee Hooker for President, a song that is as powerful as it is primal. Cooder is joined in this musical adventure by his son Joachim on drums as well as associates like the aforementioned Jimenez, Jim Keltner, and vocalist Terry Evans as well as other comrades to deliver these tales of a land as morally impoverished now as it was in the Twenties. There is much to admire here on Pull Up Some Dust And Sit Down as there has been on his last three albums and in his work through the years. It is heartening to hear and feel the anger in these beautifully played songs that will find a place in the heart of any Ry Cooder fan.
Nell Robinson 'On The Brooklyn Road' Red Level
A twangy singer who didn't start her singing career in public until the age of 45. This is her second album and it highlights her clear spring of a voice in an acoustic setting. One that seems perfect for her. She has produced this album with Jim Nunally and mixes a selection of her own songs with some covers. Those covers are in good company as here own songs either co-written or written solo are strong. Her interpretation of I'm A Honky Tonk Girl for instance pitches her impassioned voice against a simple guitar and dobro backing. She gives a straight bluegrass style run through of I Saw The Light that has strong vocal harmonies around her soulful lead. Equally convincing is her take on the Elvis classic Can't Help Falling In Love With You, a subtle and effective evocation of love. Darker issues are the subject of Wahatchee, a song written by Robinson and Laurie Lewis, its based on a historical figure who hummed "Yankee Doodle Dandy" while hanging red coat soldiers. I'm Brilliant considers the blight of alcoholism. So the road she travels covers quite a bit of ground but does so with a certain style. The album hits a slightly different place for the final two 'bonus' tracks which are billed as The Henriettas who take an earlier act the DeZurik Sisters as an inspiration. The two tracks are just voice and guitar with Robinson and Cary Sheldon joined by Jim Nunally and they deliver the songs with a sense of fun and some vocal twists. All this makes for a very enjoyable listening experience and shows Robinson a budding writer who will no doubt explore this aspect of here career further. Between some of the tracks there are vocal recordings of her relatives telling stories of their lives from different times, all of which sets a tone that still resonates from earlier times.
Andy Vaughan & The Driveline 'Long Gone' Self-Release
There are out there still a number of bands true to the spirit of Bakersfield, bar-room ballads, beleaguered honk-tonk and big Texas shuffles. One such band is Andy Vaughan and The Driveline, a five piece band who play like they mean it. The play a selection of song that are written by Vaughan (other than one co-write with guitarist Jerry Renshaw) and they are songs that are in line with expectations, songs of leaving, loving, drinking and regretting. The production doesn't have that Music Row gloss and polish but that doesn't deter from the fun that can be had listening to the album and tracks like Honky Tonk Devil, Too Much Thinkin', Long Gone and the obligatory pop at the current state of country radio in So Help Me Hank. The album closes with a more restrained version of the Utah Philips' song Rock Salt and Nails that brings (what I assume are family members) Jennifer Vaughan and Buzzy Vaughan on board on harmony vocals and mandolin respectively for a more acoustic version that shows a somewhat wider scope that they are capable of delivering should they want to. Throughout the five players who also include Tim Stanton on pedal steel, Chip Farnsworth on drums and bassist Erik Kutzler put their heart into this music they obviously love and inhabit. There's nothing new here, no great innovation but then how could there be? This is about honouring and preserving a musical style while at the same time keeping it alive with new songs, committed playing and singing that not only remind the listener of earlier times but of (hopefully) better times to come. If you liked early Derailers or many of those bands like Red Meat that emerged over the last twenty years or so then this Richmond, Virginia band is well worth checking out.
Jon Byrd 'Down At The Well Of Wishes' Longleaf Pine
The Nashville-based singer/songwrites follows up his last album Byrd's Auto Parts with this R. S. Field (and Byrd) co-produced collection of nine new songs. These are in a more reflective and contemplative mode. There are some striking and melancholic songs like I Once Knew A Woman with its subtle twang guitar from Milan Miller, steel guitar by Pat Severs and help from (recording duo) the Wrights, Adam on keyboards and Shannon on backing vocals alongside Sara Beck. Byrd delivers a perfectly judged vocal that is tinged with sadness without getting morose. Throughout the players and producers continue this thoughtful approach to these songs that find all delivering performances that integral to the overall subtle sobriety of the relationships espoused here. The beat picks up with Easy To Be Free to better express the songs changing sense of commitment, something that is shown to work both ways. The title track again highlights a strong vocal delivery from Byrd with Adam Wright on Wurlitzer and Alex McCollough on steel guitar again setting the song's tone, My Days To Come Along closes the album in that overall direction.These songs are not the usual mainstream patented positivity that seems to be the norm, rather these are mature songs that detail life, not some much in the fast line but in the quiet backwaters where emotions ebb and flow. Jon Byrd has made a rewarding and reconciled recording that is can be justly proud of.
Billy Yates 'Just Be You' MOD
One of those artists whose straight down the line country music has been considered "too country" for the current definitions of the genre for some time now. So he now releases his music himself and those who haven't come across his country and who enjoyed the new traditionalist of the 80s and 90s will feel right at home with music of Billy Yeats. He's not alternative, on the fringes or pushing barriers, rather he's writing, producing and singing his take on classic country. He records in Nashville with some of the same players you'll find on major label releases like J.T. Corenflos, Larry Franklin, Mike Johnson and Michael Rojas. His writing picks up on the down home values of love (Our House Of Love, A Mother's Love), home cooking (MFC -Mama's Fried Chicken) and travel - in this case to Norway where Yates has built a healthy following (On My Way - Norway Song). It all sung in a warm, pure voice that is ideal for the music he's making. There are ten songs here, with one bonus track a dance mix of What Goes Around, all are delivered with a sense of fun that has an infectious charm. Just like the man on the cover in fact. Billy Yeates is at ease with himself and knows who he is and wants you to be the same.