Tag Archives: Americana

Kelley Mickwee: You Used to Live Here

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4PAN1TTrishas vocalist soaks her Texas twang in the Memphis River

It takes literally two seconds to feel the Aretha-in-Muscle-Shoals vibe of this disc’s opener, “River Girl.” The electric piano clues you in and the guitar nails it. And if you somehow still didn’t get it, the organ’s answer to the piano and the deep soul of the vocal leave no doubt that Kelley Mickwee has returned home to her native South. After five years in Austin as a member of the Trishas, Mickwee’s reconnected with the musical sounds of her youth, and the results are every bit as good as you might imagine. In fact, it’s startling how much this doesn’t sound like Texas music. The bass has a relaxed groove, the guitar tone is thick, and the drums linger even when they lope into a shuffle. The music hangs in the air like humidity and clings to the spiritual qualities of Mickwee’s singing.

Mickwee’s return to the River City has stirred both musical and life roots, and her songs explore both the overall feel and specific memories of Memphis living. The opener is a declaration of faith that’s echoed by the homesick longing of the follow-up, “Take Me Home.” Co-writer Kevin Welch adds a tremendous guitar solo to the former, and the latter is given some country flavor by Eric Lewis’ pedal steel. Mickwee’s passion runs deep, brooding in “You Don’t Live Here,” beseeching in John Fullbright’s “Blameless,” and prowling in the sultry “Hotel Jackson.” She sings full-throated, like Linda Ronstadt in her Capitol years, and her Austin/Memphis connection provides a double shot of soul. [©2014 Hyperbolium]

Kelley Mickwee’s Home Page

Listen to “River Girl” and “Hotel Jackson“

Carolina Story: Chapter Two

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CarolinaStory_ChapterTwoStrong country duets from Nashville husband and wife

The empathy shared by great duet singers can take your breath away. The ways in which a duo’s voices complement, compete and provoke one another, the weaving of a harmony line above, below and around a melody, and the connection of two voices as they race around banked curves make listeners eavesdroppers as much audience. The Nashville-based Carolina Story, Ben and Emily Roberts, is just such a pair, a married couple whose duets bring mind the the Everly Brothers, Richard & Mimi Farina, and the more recent twang of Holly Golightly and the Brokeoffs.

The opening pair of tracks from this six-song EP sets the bar high. The first finds the duo rolling along to acoustic guitar, banjo, steel and a light beat as they celebrate the forging of their professional and matrimonial relationships in the crucible of a tour. The follow-on “Crash and Burn” is touched with blues, Dan Dugmore’s hard-twanging steel and a vocal that careens into a yodel. As memorable as are their duets, their solo turns on “When I Was Just a Boy” and “The Stranger,” show off lyrical voices steeped heavily in emotional reflection.

The set rolls to a close with the irrepressible duets “I Won’t Let You Down” and “I’m Gonna Love You Forever.” The former would have fit nicely into the 1990s era that found Mary Chapin Carpenter, Patty Loveless and Martina McBride breaking through to radio; the latter is an upbeat love song whose thesis is as direct as the song’s title. Paired with last year’s Chapter One, these six new tracks extend a partnership whose personal dimensions continue to pay off in artistic wealth. [©2014 Hyperbolium]

Carolina Story’s Home Page

Willie Nelson: Band of Brothers

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WillieNelson_BandOfBrothersWillie Nelson returns to songwriting

Willie Nelson’s having quite a renaissance. With Sony’s Legacy division having broadened their scope from reissues to include new material from heritage artists, Nelson’s settled into a surprisingly comfortable home. His turn to classic Americana with Country Music and Remember Me, Vol. 1 led him back to his longtime home at Columbia (now part of Sony) for 2012’s Heroes, last year’s stroll through a set of standards, Let’s Face the Music and Dance and a set of duets, To All the Girls. On his latest, Nelson supplements his resurgent vocal and performing talents with a return to songwriting, penning nine new originals for this set of fourteen tracks.

At 81, Nelson still sounds remarkably fresh, and the cleverness of his lyrics is (as always) buoyed by deeper truths. The songs include the emotionally penetrating lyrics for which he’s renowned, ranging from low-key introspection to the mid-tempo cheek of “Wives and Girlfriends” and “Used to Her.” Nelson’s hiatus from songwriting is the subject of “Guitar in the Corner,” but in typical fashion there’s more than one layer, as he could just as easily be singing about rekindling an interpersonal relationship as returning to songwriting. The selection of covers include titles by Vince Gill, Shawn Camp and Bill Anderson; the latter’s “The Songwriters” is an apt selection for an album on which Nelson’s own pen has reemerged.

Buddy Cannon’s production and the hand-picked band (highlighted by Tommy White’s steel and Jim “Moose” Brown’s piano, and featuring the ever-present harmonica of Mickey Raphael) are spot-on, leaving room for Nelson’s gut-string guitar and idiosyncratic vocal phrasings. Jamie Johnson is the album’s only guest, adding a Waylon-like gravity on a duet of Billy Joe Shaver’s “The Git Go.” Nelson’s artistry is no surprise, but his continued enthusiasm for recording, and his revived interest in writing, is producing unexpected dividends for his many fans. [©2014 Hyperbolium]

Willie Nelson’s Home Page

The Farewell Drifters: Tomorrow Forever

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FarewellDrifters_TomorrowForeverSuperb melding of acoustic roots, folk-rock and pop

Nashville’s Farewell Drifters are often likened to the Avett Brothers, Fleet Foxes and Mumford & Sons, and though there’s merit in these comparisons, lead vocalist Zach Bevill’s earnest tone often has more in common with the uplift of Tim DeLaughter’s Polyphonic Spree than acoustic roots acts. The group’s anthemic unison singing, and the addition of drums and electric guitar, bring to mind the Spree’s larger productions, and the Farewell Drifters’ citation of Brian Wilson as a primary influence is heard in touches of 1960s harmony, such as the opening chorale of “Starting Over,” and the instrumental production.

The opening “Modern Age” spins up from its plaintive start to a rousing mid-tempo awakening, with group vocals and an orchestral chime for extra lift. The acoustic strums of “Bring ’em Back Around” similarly build into a full-on rock song (with nostalgic lyrics that press many the same emotional buttons as Jonathan Richman’s “That Summer Feeling“), and “Motions” turns from spare piano into a drum-and-strings crescendo, transforming the lyric’s pessimistic premise into an optimistic expectation. The productions aren’t as grandiose as Art Decade‘s orchestral rock, but they draw inspiration from the same pop-rock well.

The group’s harmony singing and Americana roots show in the Band-like “Brother,” as well as the martial drum and banjo of “Tomorrow Forever.” The album’s forward motion – both musical and lyrical – is often stoked by backward glances. The chime added to the shuffling drum of “Tennessee Girl” adds a modern sound to a classic rhythm, just as the protagonist’s advance is connected to his past. There are threads of disappointment and hope throughout the album, suggesting that growth comes more often from studied failure than a safe lack of trying. It’s an empowering message, and one the Drifters communicate winningly in both words and music. [©2014 Hyperbolium]

The Farewell Drifters’ Home Page

Tom Freund: Two Moons

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TomFreund_TwoMoonsFormer Silos bassist extends his catalog as a singer-songwriter

Tom Freund is a songwriter who’s something of a musical chameleon. His latest release opens with “Angel Eyes,” a tune whose sharp edged lyric, “funny how when you leave L.A. you gotta drive into the desert / out of the frying pan and into the fire,” is worthy of Randy Newman. Freund’s lap steel further echoes Los Angeles with its David-Lindley-esque tone, and his guitar complements Al Gamble’s organ on “Heavy Balloon” with atmospheric notes and a meaty solo that builds the track to its close. The latter is a fitting background to a lyric that graduates from ambivalence to skepticism to possibility to hope.

Such sophisticated, and often contrasting, shades of emotion are central to Freund’s songwriting. “Happy Days Lunch Box,” ostensibly a nostalgic tribute to childhood, is freighted with adult hindsight, and the anti-love song “Next Time Around” paradoxically embraces the missing embrace of a partner and wraps it in a 20s-styled tune. The album’s bittersweet closer “Sweetie Pie” is an appreciation of a love that’s ended, sung to acoustic guitar and bass. Freund has a nasally voice that suggests Dylan, songwriter Moon Martin, and on the riff-driven “Grooves Out of My Heart,” Joe Walsh, with a nod to Led Zeppelin in the fadeout for good measure.

Freund phrases like Paul Simon on “Same Old Shit Different Day,” and his plea for acceptance “Let Me Be Who I Wanna Be” provides the same sort of rallying flag as Sonny Bono’s “Laugh at Me,” but with a tone that’s satisfied rather than reactionary. In addition to the deft songwriting and wide-ranging musical palette, Freund’s production includes well-placed touches of strings, horns, ukulele and vintage keyboards, guest harmonica from Stan Behrens, and backing vocals from Ben Harper, Brett Dennen and Serena Ryder. Freund’s imagination as a songwriter is matched by his reach as an arranger and producer, making this collection both varied and cohesive. [©2014 Hyperbolium]

Tom Freund’s Home Page

Kelly Willis & Bruce Robison: Our Year

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KellyWillisBruceRobison_OurYearTwo great sounds that sound great together

This married pair has appeared together on stage and on one another’s solo releases, but it’s only in the past few years they’ve focused on working regularly as a duo. Their duets on tribute albums, and what at the time seemed a one-off project in 2003’s Happy Holidays (and its 2006 expansion), turned into a deeper collaboration with 2012’s Cheater’s Game, live shows and now a second album. As on their previous releases, they trade leads, backing and harmony vocals, supporting one another with a familiarity that makes duets more than the sum of their parts. Robison contributes a pair of original songs, Willis one, and they fill out the track list with endearingly selected covers.

The album opens with “Departing Louisiana,” a biographical song whose emotional details suggest a Robison original, but it’s actually from the pen of his sister, Robyn Ludwick. When you count in their brother Charlie, it’s clear that songwriting runs in the family. Robison’s “Carousel” evinces the resigned sadness of Roger Miller’s “Husbands and Wives,” but the mood is turned around by the rolling beat and hopeful longing of Willis’ “Lonely for You.” The album’s covers include Buddy Mize’s “Hangin’ On,” sung with the same enthralled powerlessness as the Gosdin Brothers’ original, and a funky take on Tom T. Hall’s “Harper Valley PTA” that’s become a staple of Willis’ live act.

The lead vocal on T-Bone Burnett’s “Shake Yourself Loose” is so shot-through with emotion that you scarcely need the lyrics, and the duo’s harmony work is as bone-chillingly effective as anything sung by Gram and Emmylou. The album closes with the Zombies’ “This Will Be Our Year,” aptly demonstrating how Willis and Robison’s country roots inform everything they do. Like the best duet acts, this pair builds upon their individual talents as singers, forging a third voice that’s the unique combination of the individual elements. Their strengths as singers and songwriters peek through at every turn, but it’s the way their emotional conversation amplifies one another that sets this apart from their solo work. [©2014 Hyperbolium]

Bruce Robison & Kelly Willis’ Home Page

Hypercast #3: Americana

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A collection of recently released country, Americana, rock and folk, plus a few reissues. Click the artist names below for associated album reviews.

The O’s “Outlaw”
The Coals “Dirt Road”
James Booker “If You’re Lonely (Alternate Take)”
Owen Temple “Johnson Grass”
Tim O’Brien & Darrell Scott with John Prine “Paradise”
The Everly Brothers “Long Time Gone”
Jimbo Mathus & The Tri-State Coalition “Shine Like a Diamond”
Jonny Two Bags “The Way it Goes”
Moot Davis “Use to Call it Love”
Steve Poltz “Song for Hawk”
David Frizzell & Shelly West” “You’re the Reason God Made Oklahoma”
Sid Selvidge “Wild About My Lovin'”
Fearing & White “Secret of a Long-Lasting Love”
Marah “The Falling of the Pine”
James Booker “Yes Sir, That’s My Baby”
Terry Waldo “I’m Just Wild About Harry”
Holly Golightly and the Brokeoffs “Trouble in Mind”
Old 97s & Waylon Jennings “Iron Road”
John Anderson “These Cotton Patch Blues”

Holly Golightly and the Brokeoffs: All Her Fault

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HollyGolightlyBrokeoffs_AllHerFaultAnother winning set of idiosyncratic blues, folk and country

The latest collaboration between Holly Golightly and Lawyer Dave doesn’t really break any new ground, but when you’re in a solid groove, new ground isn’t necessarily the place to plow. Golightly herself says “I’m not looking to achieve something that hasn’t been achieved before. We just do what we do. The songs are really all that changes.” But changing the songs turns out to be enough, as the idiosyncratic combination of folk musics they’ve developed over the past seven years still has new things to say. As before, the tracks are assembled in the studio instrument-by-instrument and voice-by-voice, but the productions aren’t overworked, and their unfinished edges retain the vitality of performance.

The duo’s interests in country, blues and R&B continue to dominate, with vocals that range from sing-out hootenannies to cooler moods that recall solo albums like Laugh it Up. Golightly sings girlish country on “No Business” and adds 50s-styled harmonies behind the resigned lead of “The Best.” The former includes terrific electric guitar, and the latter has a drifting piano that signals the album’s newest instrumental member. Piano is heard tinkling behind the blue waltz “Pistol Pete,” and rolling riffs along the edges of “Bless Your Heart” and “Pefect Mess.” Lawyer Dave picks and strums throughout the album, with plenty of slide to give things twang.

The duo’s penchant for clanking percussion remains a major element of their music, and the blue-folk “Can’t Pretend” once again brings to mind their modern-day take on Richard & Mimi Farina. Tracks that really highlight the pair’s musical ethos include the rough-and-ready stomp heard on “1234” and “Don’t Shed Your Light,” and the slow-moving organ-stabbed blues of “King Lee.” The album’s lone cover is Richard Jones’ “Trouble in Mind,” taken upbeat from its earliest incarnations [1 2] and goosed by a yowling vocal. This is an imaginative album of songs whose roots are yet again twisted and turned into something original. [©2014 Hyperbolium]

MP3 | SLC
Holly Golightly’s Home Page

The Band: The Book

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Photographer Elliott Landy has a Kickstarter campaign (fully funded in five days, but still running) to fund the production of a book of photographs he made of The Band for their first two albums, Music From Big Pink and The Band. Only 30 of the 8000 frames that he produced have been widely published before, with many great pictures having sat in Landy’s fire-proof file cabinet for forty-five years. The Kickstarter campaign offers both a regular and deluxe edition of the forthcoming book, as well as numerous other items.

The O’s: Thunderdog

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Os_ThunderdogJoyous Americana-pop duo from Dallas

The O’s are a Dallas-proud duo whose folk-rock marries the fervent joy of Polyphonic Spree (of which they were once members), the dually-sung testimonial uplift of the Proclaimers, and the guitar and banjo of a string band that brought along a kick drum to keep the beat. Their third album shows what a potent sound less can be, framing the duo’s vocals powerfully with guitar on one side, banjo on the other, and a kick drum (the eponymous “Thunderdog”) in the middle. Fans of the Avetts will know this balance of strings and voices from the brothers’ Gleam EPs, and Taylor Young (guitar, drum) and John Pedigo (banjo, Lowebro) sing and play with the sort of foot-stomping fervor that draws a street-corner crowd. Producing themselves for the first time, the duo brings the energy and spontaneity of their stage act to the studio. Pedigo’s voice is loaded with youthful verve, while Young sings lower and more reserved. Together they relish the sound of their paired voices, holding onto notes as their timbres bounce and interlace. With only a few additions to their basic lineup – a harmonica on the foot-stomping “Cicerone” and a fuzz banjo solo on “Kitty” – the pair makes a surprisingly large sound for such a portable band. Pedigo’s banjo can play lonely, as on the introduction of “You are the Light” and “Levee Breaks,” but it’s more often complemented by Young’s guitar strums. Pedigo adds twang with a dobro-like guitar called a Lowebro, but even as the lyrics lean to earnest folk, the hooks have the ready familiarity of pop songs. The combination mixes immediate familiarity with an unusual sparse-but-loud instrumental mix that gives the vocals a boost. This is an album that’s very easy to like from its first notes, but one that reveals additional depths as your ears roll through to the end. [©2013 Hyperbolium]

The O’s Home Page
The O’s on Reverb Nation