Legendary bluegrass vocalist and mandolinist celebrates 60 years
Vocalist and mandolin player Bobby Osborne has been a legend in the bluegrass world for over sixty years, starting with his radio debut in 1948. With his sights set initially on becoming a country singer, he learned guitar, became a trailblazing mandolin player, and with his soaring tenor voice, a beloved bluegrass singer. Together with his brother Sonny he pioneered changes, such as adding pedal steel and drums to their band’s lineup, that many purists decried. No doubt the drums included on most of these tracks will engender similar criticism, but to fixate on the drumming is to miss the beauty of the band’s playing and the vitality of the singing.
Following Sonny’s retirement in 2006, Bobby Osborne formed the Rocky Top X-Press. On this fourth outing, the focus is split between Osborne’s vocals and the band’s instrumental talents. Winningly, the band spends time down-tempo, giving thoughtful performances on instrumentals like “Man from Rosine,†and welcoming guest performances from David Grisman and Ronnie McCoury. There is some requisite hot-picking, as Mike Toppins’ fingers fly across his banjo strings and Glen Duncan’s bow turns into a blur on the group’s cover of “Rocky Top,†but even here it’s Osborne’s high, keening vocal that gives the arrangement its identity.
Norman Blake (Teenage Fanclub) and Euros Childs (Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci) are pleased to announce details of their debut album together as Jonny. Inter-twining the musical DNA of two of Britain’s most gifted songwriters, Jonny’s debut album proclaims the advent of an irresistibly infectious new strain of psychedelic pop. The self-titled, co-written album will be released via digital download on February 1st and in stores on April 12.
Blake’s Teenage Fanclub and Childs’ Gorky’s toured together in 1997, and when Blake contributed guitar and vocal harmonies to Gorky’s bitter-sweet How I Long To Feel That Summer In My Heart in 2001, Euros remembers “it just felt like he was part of the band… from that point on it always felt like we might do something together in the future, it just took a few years to actually get it organizedâ€. Euros eventually made it up to Norman’s house in Glasgow in 2006 to record “what we thought was an EPâ€, and the duo played a handful of rapturously received live shows, before finally getting down to putting a whole album together early in 2010.
The album artwork (image above) is also revealed to be the inspiration behind their unusual name. Blake came across the image on a friend’s website “and thought it would make a great record sleeve… and name for a band.” “Sleeve first, band-name afterâ€, confirms Childs, “that’s always the best way.”
To kick things off, Jonny are giving away a free, four-track download EP of non-album songs.
Merle Haggard’s stardom as a live performer and country hit maker often obscures how many great albums he’s recorded. This 1977 release measures up to the excellence of his best work for Capitol, mixing biting originals and brilliantly selected covers from the catalogs of Hank Williams, the Delmore Brothers and others. Haggard’s musical range plays well here as he stretches out jazzily on “Blues Stay Away From Me†and adds the old-timey lilt of muted horns and clarinet to “Blues for Dixie.†He ponders mortality with “When My Last Song is Sung,†gives a gently woebegone performance as the distant parent of “Got a Letter From My Kid Today†and sings a moving tribute, “Goodbye Lefty,†constructed from Frizzell’s lyrics.
Alongside the 1910 Fruitgum Company, the Ohio Express was among the purest expressions of producers Jerry Kasenetz and Jeff Katz’s bubblegum ethos. “Ohio Express†was used to name several different musical groups, including singles originally recorded by Rare Breed, a touring outfit originally called Sir Timothy & The Royals, and various aggregations of New York studio musicians fronted by the nasal vocals of singer/songwriter Joey Levine. It’s the latter group that hit with Levine’s “Yummy Yummy Yummy†(a song that plays “God Bless America†to the Archies’ national anthem, “Sugar Sugarâ€), and followed-up with the title track of this 1969 album. Levine would leave the group shortly after the album’s release, and still another edition of the Ohio Express, comprised of future members of 10cc, released the Graham Gouldman-penned “Sausalito (Is the Place to Go).â€
Like the best of the bubblegum groups, the Ohio Express fashioned nursery-rhyme lyrics, earworm pop melodies and sharp studio production into music as effervescent as it is devoid of intellectual calories. If you’re looking for scholarly heft, you need to look elsewhere, but if you want two-minutes-thirty-eight that can lift your mood, “Chewy Chewy†is a good bet. In addition to Levine’s originals, the group covered a pair of 1910 Fruitgum Company hits (“1, 2, 3 Red Light†and “Simon Says,†apparently with reused backing tracks), employing Partridge Family-styled harmony vocals and touches of organ. There’s light psych (“Let it Take Youâ€) and Tommy James-styled frat rock (“So Good, So Fineâ€), and though “Yes Sir†unashamedly borrows from “Yummy Yummy Yummy,†it shows that the hook still had life in it.
Lush, thoughtful, enveloping post-punk instrumentals
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