Extraordinary, yet virtually unknown singer-songwriter Americana from 1973
A label as big as Columbia in the early ‘70s was bound to miss a few opportunities, even ones they’d signed, recorded and released. Such was the case for this 1973 rarity, the product of an Indiana singer-songwriter, the famous producer he engaged and the all-star studio band wrangled for the occasion. The singer-songwriter is the otherwise unknown Bill Wilson, the producer, who’d already helmed key albums for Dylan, Simon & Garfunkel, Johnny Cash and Leonard Cohen, was Bob Johnston, and the band was a collection of Nashville legends that featured Charlie McCoy, Pete Drake and Jerry Reed. Wilson had made Johnston’s acquaintance by knocking on his door and naively asking to make a record; Johnston agreed to listen to one song, and by that evening, was in the studio with his unknown artist and hastily assembled band.
The record features a dozen original songs, and though released by Columbia, it was quickly lost in the wake of Clive Davis’ departure from the label (and reportedly a pot bust). The few copies that circulated disappeared before the album could even make an impression as a sought-after, long-lost treasure. It just vanished. It wasn’t until former Sony staffer Josh Rosenthal found a copy in a record store bargain bin that the title dug its way out of obscurity to this reissue. Johnston and Wilson never saw one another after their recording session, but Johnston was able to sketch out the album’s background. Wilson had landed in Austin after a stint in the Air Force, and found that Johnston had set up base there after leaving his position as a staff producer at Columbia. Wilson had some prior musical experience, singing and playing dobro in local bands, but it was as a singer-songwriter with a Southern edge, that he was compelled to make music.
While Jon Dee Graham’s earlier albums haven’t exactly been super-shiny mainstream productions, his latest release takes organic to a deeper level. Recorded over several months of gifted studio time, the album pulled itself together without an up-front plan, and the lack of a clock ticking away budget dollars manifests itself in more loosely finished productions. This isn’t a collection of leftovers; it’s a set of songs and performances that weren’t pre-conceived for release. It’s more finished than a sketchbook, but not as polished as a framed work of art, and the less finished corners reveal some of the artist’s work method.
The confidence to release such an album has grown from Graham’s life experiences, including a near-fatal car crash in 2008. The opening “Unafraid†provides a manifesto, and the album shows Graham’s not so much a fatalist as one who’s no longer derailed by doubt or fear. Working against his own recording history, Graham came to the studio with only fragmentary ideas, developing them with his studio hosts, John Harvey and Mary Podio. Rather than worrying the songwriting ahead of time, he developed the concepts, lyrics, melodies, production and instrumentation in unison. Graham overdubbed most of the instruments himself, but the album hits many of its strongest points when he sings against a lone guitar or piano.
Americanalong ago ceased to be an American phenomenon. The Irish singer-songwriter Bap Kennedy was tuned into American country music long before he discovered some of its roots in his own culture. Though his music traditional Celtic flutes, pipes and whistles, they’re easily merged into the music of an artist whose debut was produced by Steve Earle and whose album, Lonely Street, memorialized the influences of Hank Williams and Elvis Presley. His latest outing was produced by Mark Knopfler, and he’s supported by musicians drawn from bothIreland andAmerica, including the wonderful fiddler John McCusker and legendary guitarist Jerry Douglas. Knopfler’s guitar is also a strong presence as mood setting background for the vocals and other instruments, rather than an instrumental voice.
We’ve followed New York’s Butchers Blind from their debut EP, through their first full length album and a live session. They’re now the subject of a 20-minute video feature that combines live-in-the-studio performance and interview footage!
The Hobart Brothers & Lil’ Sis Hobart bring together three respected soloists from the Americana scene: Jon Dee Graham, Freedy Johnson and Susan Cowsill. The latter had a large helping of mainstream fame in the 1960s with her family’s group, The Cowsills, but since the 1980s she’s made a name for herself a backing vocalist, a charter member of the Continental Drifters and with a low-key solo career over the past decade. Graham’s first notoriety came with the Skunks and the True Believers, and after years collaborating with others (and briefly dropping out of the industry), he began a solo career with 1999’s exceptional Escape from Monster Island. Johnston began his career as a singer-songwriter in the early ‘90s, starting with rootsy sounds that quickly took in more country flavor.
What’s obvious from the album’s very first track, is that the three musicians’ individual paths led them to a place of tight collaboration. Johnston’s indie roots, Graham’s driving rock and bohemian growl, Cowsill’s hook-filled pop, and all three’s immersion in country, blues and folk, come together easily, as if they’d been a group for years. Those fictional years as a family are turned concrete by the shared experiences brought to their songwriting, populating their lyrics with images from blue roads and bluer hearts. Graham’s “All Things Being Equal†reaches outside his personal experience for a harrowing portrait of a failed cotton market, but his “Almost Dinnertime†and Cowsill’s “Sodapoptree†offer gentler notes of warm nostalgia.
Butchers Blind’s two previous releases, 2009’s One More Time and 2011’s Play for Films, showed off a wonderfully melodic form of rock-based Americana. Here they show how well it translates to the stage, recorded in November 2011 at Pianos in New York City.
Vaughan’s productions balance the hard country twang of telecaster and steel with touches of twelve string and Spanish-flavored guitar. Davis’ voice melds a number of influences, including the disconsolation of Hank Sr., the trill of Big Sandy, and the dramatic balladeering of Dwight Yoakam, Chris Isaak and Raul Malo. The tic-tac guitar and train rhythm of “How Long†are pure Johnny Cash, but Davis sings in a higher register that takes the song in a different direction, and the driving drums and slide guitar of “Queensbury Rules†bring to mind the street-smart 1980s rock ‘n’ roll of the Del-Lords. Davis duets winningly with Elizabeth Cook (who sounds like Kelly Willis here) on “Crazy in Love with You†and brings a honky-tonk croon to “Only You.â€
Dark duets album from Aussie singer-songwriter
