Tag Archives: Country

Buck Owens: Buck ‘Em! Volume 2 – The Music of Buck Owens (1967-1975)

BuckOwens_BuckEmVol2A stellar second chapter of the Buck Owens catalog

With the wealth of terrific material included on the first volume of Buck ‘Em!, a second volume had a high mark to reach. But by splitting the sets by era – 1955-67 for the first set, 1967-75 for this set – this second collection is no second helping. Volume one established Owens’ Bakersfield legacy, while this second chapter shows how he extended his reach, responded artistically to changing times, and used his commercial success to free himself of commercial restrictions. As on the first set, these two discs include hit singles, well-selected album cuts, and a sprinkling of tracks previously unreleased in the US. And also as with the first set, the liner notes are cannily drawn and craftily assembled from Owens’ like-titled autobiography, giving the artist an opportunity to expound on his own work.

By 1967 Buck Owens was one of country music’s biggest stars, having landed eight albums and twelve singles at the top of the charts in only four years. He kicked off 1967 by expanding his fame internationally with a concert in Japan and its subsequent chart-topping album. This set picks up later in the year with sessions that produced “Sweet Rosie Jones,” the like-named album, and the title track of what would become 1970’s You Mother’s Prayer. For the first time since Owens began his streak of hitmaking, the drummer’s throne was occupied by Jerry Wiggins, in place of the departed Willie Cantu. “Rosie,” “Let the World Keep On a Turnin’” (sung with Owens son, Buddy) and “I”ve Got You on My Mind Again” all charted Top 10, but it took “Who’s Gonna Mow Your Grass” to get Owens back to the top spot.

Throughout 1968, Owens expanded his reach, recording the Latin and polka-styled instrumental album The Guitar Player (represented here by “Things I Saw Happening at the Fountain on the Plaza When I Was Visiting Rome or Amore”), adding Don Rich’s fuzztone guitar to “Who’s Gonna Mow Your Grass,” and teaming up with Susan Raye for “We’re Gonna Get Together.” The latter, recorded in 1968 wasn’t released for two years, which hints at Owens’ incredible productivity. 1968 found Owens playing a command performance for President Johnson at the White House, represented here by “Tiger By the Tail,” and also marked the departure of steel player Tom Brumley, who was replaced early the next year by JayDee Maness. Maness would leave by year end, leaving Owens without a steel player in the band.

1969 started similarly to 1967, with an international tour that yielded the live album Buck Owens in London and the chart-topping single “Johnny B. Goode.” Live recording continued to be a regular feature of Owens’ catalog, with “Big in Vegas” (a rewrite of Terry Stafford’s “Big in Dallas”) and “Las Vegas Lament” recorded live in Las Vegas, and “Tall Dark Stranger” recorded in Scandinavia. 1969-70 saw many more changes for Owens, including a move from Capitol’s famed Los Angeles studio to his own place in Bakersfield, the arrival of keyboard player Jim Shaw (who’s terrific live piano playing can be heard on “I’ll Still Be Waiting for You”), and perhaps most importantly, Hee Haw. The latter, initially a CBS network show, provided the sort of financial compensation that records rarely did, and it freed Owens to chase his musical muse without lashing it to commercial considerations.

1970-71 saw Owens in the Top 10 with “I Wouldn’t Live in New York City (If They Gave Me the Whole Dang Town),” a cover of Paul Simon’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” and the title track from the bluegrass album Ruby, but it wasn’t until 1972 that he returned to the top of the charts with “Made in Japan.” Musically, Owens had moved well beyond his Bakersfield Sound, but his writing and voice, particularly the latter, provide a surprisingly straight line through his entire catalog. The twang of steel guitar rejoined the band in 1972 with the arrival of Jerry Brightman, but before he came on board, Ralph Mooney added his stellar playing to “Arms Full of Empty” and “Ain’t It Amazing, Gracie.”

Owens’ records through the mid-70s never regained the chart performance of his earlier releases, but there were still plenty of excellent albums and singles, including Gene Price’s “Something’s Wrong” and Owens’ “In the Palm of Your Hand,” the latter highlighted by Don Rich’s fiddle. Even more important was an album track that would be remade into a huge hit fifteen-years later, Homer Joy’s “Streets of Bakersfield.” The original is more sedate than the chart-topping remake Owens recorded with Dwight Yoakam, but it provided the template for the hit. Owens returned to the Top 10 in 1973-74 with a string of upbeat novelty songs, “Big Game Hunter,” “On the Cover of the Music City News” and “Monster’s Holiday,” but his mirthful side was about to go into hibernation.

In July, 1974, Don Rich, was killed in a motorcycle accident, and Owens fell into a deep depression. He’d continue to record and release records, but the latter-half of the ‘70s found his singles failing to make much of an impact on the charts. His last Top 10 single for Capitol, “Great Expectations,” was also the last to feature Don Rich. By 1981, Owens had turned his attention to his many successful business ventures, and he began a hiatus from the charts that lasted until “Streets of Bakersfield” and Dwight Yoakam reinvigorated his interest in recording and performing. In the mid-90s he built the Crystal Palace in Bakersfield, where he’d regularly perform to enthusiastic crowds and broadcast live over his own KUZZ radio.

Omnivore’s 2-CD set was remastered by Michael Graves, making this both a well-curated collection and the best reproduction of these tracks yet on CD. The 28-page booklet includes full-panel photos (including a great shot of Owens laying down the vocal for “I Wouldn’t Live in New York City” on a New York City sidewalk), and album cover reproductions. The track list includes eight recordings previously unreleased in the US: an alternate take of “Darlin’, You Can Depend on Me,” a stupendous outtake of Owens singing “Today I Started Loving You Again” with soul singer Bettye Swann and members of the Wrecking Crew, an early version of “Down in New Orleans,” and outtakes of “He Ain’t Been Out Bowling With the Boys” and “A Different Kind of Sad.” This is an essential companion to the volume one, and a must-have for any Buck Owens fan. [©2015 Hyperbolium]

Buck Owens’ Home Page

Plainsong: Reinventing Richard РThe Songs of Richard Fari̱a

Plainsong_ReinventingRichardRichard Fariña’s songs reimagined for the new millennium

Richard Fariña’s untimely 1966 death silenced one of the folk movement’s rapidly blossoming voices. The albums he recorded with his spouse Mimi have survived in reissue [1 2 3] and anthology, but for many listeners, Fariña’s voice doesn’t come to mind until their ears are rung by the dulcimer of “Pack Up Your Sorrows” or stung by the protest of “House Un-American Blues Activities Dream.” His songs continue to find their way into the setlists and records of other artists, but for the most faithful, they’ve served as on-going guideposts. Two of those loyalists, Iain Matthews and Andy Roberts, co-founders of Plainsong, have been performing Fariña’s works on stage and in studio for more than forty years, and now come back together to pay a more consolidated tribute.

The trio, including Mark Griffiths, offers fifteen of Fariña’s songs, including the previously unrecorded “Sombre Winds.” They focus on the songs, rather than the Fariñas’ original performances, imagining how they might sound if written and recorded today. Well, that’s not entirely true, given the bluesy doo-wop treatment of “One Way Ticket.” Perhaps it’s fairer to say that this is the sound of artists who have so deeply absorbed these songs, they can turn them back out to the world in any number of interesting forms, converting the “Sell-Out Agitated Waltz” into soulful straight time, taming the agitated ask of “Pack Up Your Sorrows” into a placid invitation and turning “Hard Loving Loser” into a summery country tune. These broader interpretations show off both the material’s innate strengths and the the interpreter’s imagination.

Other titles, including “Another Country” and “Lemonade Lady,” are given to more subtle changes, adding flecks of the interpreter’s wares while keeping closer to the original mood. The musicianship is superb throughout, and the vocals, though sung in close harmony similar to the Fariñas, are comprised of of male voices whose timbres align more closely than the Fariñas’ high-low pairing. The difference in the vocal pattern is a blessing, as it gives each interpretation an original top line, even when the songs aren’t radically reworked. It may be hard for listeners to hear past the Fariñas’ original recordings (and, in particular, surrender Richard’s driving dulcimer), but doing so lets you hear these songs anew. And in the hands of artists who’ve had a lifelong love affair with the material, the results are fresh and fascinating. [©2015 Hyperbolium]

Hank Williams Jr.: Hank Jr. Sings Hank Sr.

HankWilliamsJr_HankJrSingsHankSrA dozen covers gathered from Hank Jr.’s back catalog

Hank Jr. has paid tribute to his daddy’s work many times, starting with the 1963 soundtrack album Your Cheatin’ Heart (and Rhino’s 1998 reissue, Hank Williams, Jr. Sings Hank Williams, Sr.) and continuing with 1969’s Songs My Father Left Me, 1975’s Insights Into Hank Williams, 1993’s A Tribute to My Father, a handful of singles and album tracks, and even a series of Luke the Drifter, Jr. albums. This Cracker Barrel exclusive gathers a dozen covers, ranging from the ghostly father-son duet of the opening “There’s a Tear in My Beer,” to a concert mashup of Jr’s “Family Tradition” with Senior’s “Hey, Good Lookin,” to the 1986 hit “Mind Your Own Business” with Reba McEntire, Willie Nelson, Tom Petty and Reverend Ike. The songs are classics, the voices solid, and the productions modern. It’s nothing revelatory, but it’s lively and engaging, and a nice set for fans of the Williams. [©2015 Hyperbolium]

Hank Williams Jr.’s Home Page

Tommy Emmanuel: It’s Never Too Late

TommyEmmanuel_ItsNeverTooLateExtraordinary solo fingerstyle acoustic guitar

Australian guitarist Tommy Emmanuel is a magician. On his first solo all-acoustic album in more than a decade, he shows off the precision, dexterity and soulfulness that earned him one of five “Certified Guitar Player” titles bestowed by Chet Atkins. Emmanuel picks lead, rhythm chords and bass so seamlessly that his solo recordings often sound like multiple guitars. Rather than reducing his original compositions and reimagined covers to fit a single set of strings, his playing expands to orchestrate the songs. He picks the R&B “One Mint Julep” as a slow blues, with his percussive chords backing surprising turns in the lead. He adds Spanish flair to “El Vaquero,” paints a Western sunset in “The Duke,” and salutes Chet Atkins with “The Bug.” Emmanuel is a virtuoso in the truest sense of the word, a skilled artist whose technical mastery never overshadows his expression. [©2015 Hyperbolium]

Tommy Emmanuel’s Home Page

Billy Shaddox: I Melt, I Howl

BillyShaddox_IMeltIHowl70s-pop tinged country, rock and folk

Billy Shaddox’s 2013 solo release, Golden Fate, threaded an Americana base with double-tracked vocals that echoed the country-inflected early ‘70s soft-rock of acts like Lobo, America and Gallery. His second album follows a similar path, mixing unabashed pop with rootsier fare that moves the banjo and guitar forward. Shaddox’s voice is a flexible instrument that sings dreamily on the opening title track, but adds a subtle husk for the shuffle “Feels Like Home.” The latter features stomping bass and a terrific electric piano solo before the accompaniment breaks down and reconstitutes itself.

There’s a taste of power pop in “My Hands Don’t Lie” and hints of Badfinger and Elliot Smith in the summery “Fireflies,” but the modern productions keep from turning these songs into nostalgia. He glances backward for a reference point, but keeps his view straight ahead as he sings “you can never look back, and the future is your friend” on “Golden Coast.” When Shaddox howls, it’s optimistic and upbeat, with rising melodies and lyrics that question limitations. He’s as comfortable with raucous electric guitar as he is with fingerpicked acoustic, and his arrangements are incredibly dynamic. This is a real sleeper! [©2015 Hyperbolium]

Billy Shaddox’s Home Page

Banditos: Banditos

Banditos_BanditosNashville-resident Alabamians surge with boogie, country and soul

No doubt Mary Beth Richardson’s heard enough Janis Joplin comparisons to last a lifetime. But her Joplin-like fervor is arresting, and only one of the ingredients that makes up this Alabama band’s insurgent stew. The flavors are Southern – boogie, country, rockabilly, blues, R&B and soul – but they’re blended loosely rather than mashed together, and each gets a turn in the spotlight with one of the group’s three lead vocalists. The band shows off their instrumental talents and stylistic diversity, but never wanders too far from the gritty, stage-ready drama that is their calling card. The vocals beseech, the guitars buzz, and the band barrels down the track with a load tightened up in a hundred second sets. This is a powerful debut that surely plays well on the road. Make sure to buy the singer a drink and request “Still Sober (After All These Beers).” [©2015 Hyperbolium]

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Conway Twitty: The Complete Warner Bros. and Elektra Chart Singles

ConwayTwitty_CompeteWarnerBrosTwitty’s early ‘80s hits for Elektra and Warner

After successful tenures at MGM, Decca and MCA, Conway Twitty moved to Elektra in 1981, and subsequently the label’s parent, Warner Brothers. Though he returned to MCA in 1987, the Warner years saw continued success on the country singles and album charts. Varese’s collection pulls together all sixteen of Twitty’s A-sides for Elektra and Warner Brothers, half of which topped the country chart, and all but two (“The Legend and the Man” and “You’ll Never Know How Much I Needed You Today,” which reached #19 and #26, respctively) made the top ten.

The 1980s found Twitty singing ballads (“The Clown” “We Did But Now You Don’t”), waltzes (“Lost in the Feeling”) and lots of covers (“Slow Hand” “The Rose” “Heartache Tonight” “Three Times a Lady” “Ain’t She Somethin’ Else”). The productions have the gloss of 1980s Nashville, but Twitty’s voice retains its soulful edge. “Don’t Call Him a Cowboy” strikes up some Waylon-styled orneriness, and “Between Blue Eyes and Jeans” rustles up some two-stepping fiddle and twang. These aren’t the iconic hits Twitty recorded for MGM and MCA, but they’re an interesting later chapter in his career. [©2015 Hyperbolium]

Kinky Friedman: The Loneliest Man I Ever Met

KinkyFriedman_TheLonliestManKinky Friedman returns to the studio, but not to songwriting

For rock music fans of the 1970s, Kinky Friedman was the oddest of guilty pleasures. Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen had drawn many to roots music with “Hot Rod Lincoln,” and then burrowed into the stonersphere with “Seeds and Stems (Again).” This led many listeners to country and folk, and with Friedman’s 1973 debut, Sold American, humor, satire and pathos, often at the same time. Even the names – “Kinky” and “Texas Jewboys” – implied a level of irreverence that didn’t prepare listeners for Friedman’s perceptiveness. His broad, comic approach often obscured the deeper layers on first pass, but his resolutions always turned out to be parable rather than punch line.

Following a trio of 1970s albums, Friedman released a 1983 solo effort, Under the Double Ego, and then turned to novel writing (with sides of politics and distilling) as his main occupation. He still performed, released a few live sets, and dropped in on his own tribute album, but it’s been 32 years since his last full studio collection. Other than the previously unrecorded title track (co-written with Tim Hoover, and dedicated to Tompall Glaser), the song list is all covers, selecting songs with special resonance from the catalogs of Willie Nelson, Tom Waits, Warren Zevon, Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan and Lerner & Loewe. The latter, “Wand’rin Star,” was originally written for the stage musical Paint Your Wagon, and turned into a surprise UK hit single by film actor Lee Marvin!

At 70, Friedman’s voice sounds more aged than the decade-older Nelson’s as they duet on the opening “Bloody Mary Morning.” But that same weathering conveys a lifetime of wisdom gathered between Friedman’s 1970s originals of “Lady Yesterday” and “Wild Man From Borneo” and today’s covers. Friedman cannily interprets “A Christmas Card From a Hooker in Minneapolis” more as a hushed confession than Tom Waits’ Satchmo-inflected original, and he returns Zevon’s “My Shit’s Fucked Up” from its mortal ending to the lyrics’ original lamentation of aging. Mickey Raphael’s harmonica adds a mournful sound to several tracks, including a properly haggard rendition of “Mama’s Hungry Eyes.”

These quieter, low-key performances offer an uninterrupted helping of Friedman’s introspective and empathetic sides, and the song selections – particularly the closing pairing of a show tune and a popular standard – reveal a streak of nostalgic sentimentalism. An album of covers provides insight into a songwriter’s tastes and influences, but it’s not a substitute for fresh reflections on today – and today’s society could really use a helping of Friedman’s audacious wit. Hopefully, this studio project will have been sufficiently enjoyable to spark a new round of songwriting. [©2015 Hyperbolium]

Kinky Friedman’s Home Page

Margo Smith: The Very Best Of

MargoSmith_TheVeryBestOfCountry singer’s ‘70s and ‘80s Warner Brothers hits

Margo Smith was a country singer whose career began with a self-titled 1975 album on 20th Century Fox, and the top ten single “There I Said It.” Varese picks up her story the following year, when the closing of 20th Century Fox’s Nashville division precipitated a move to Warner Brothers. She debuted on Warner with a cover of the Brotherhood of Man’s chirpy Eurovision Song Contest winner, “Save Your Kisses For Me.” Her singles see-sawed between country and pop, with “Take My Breath Away” employing steel, fiddle and a forlorn vocal that showed off Smith’s talent for blue notes and hair-raising yodels. The follow-on, “Love’s Explosion,” had double-tracked vocals and soaring strings that were closer to bubblegum than country.

The doubled vocals on Smith’s first #1, “Don’t Break the Heart That Loves You,” echo Connie Francis’ 1962 original, and her follow-up chart-topper, “It Only Hurts For a Little While,” was also a cover, this time of the Ames Brothers’ 1956 hit. After a third hit cover (Kitty Kallen and Joni James’ “Little Things Mean a Lot”), Smith took a bold turn in 1979 with her original co-write, “Still a Woman,” and its thirty-something’s declaration of sexual desire. She recorded a pair of duets with Rex Allen Jr. and the homesick “The Shuffle Song,” and concluded her tenure on Warner with a cover of Mary Wells’ “My Guy.” The set’s eight-page booklet includes photos and discographical data, wrapping up a nice package for Smith’s many fans. [©2015 Hyperbolium]

Margo Smith’s Home Page

Whitney Rose: Hearbreaker of the Year

WhitneyRose_HeartbreakerOfTheYearSinger-songwriter dreams 50s twang and 60s pop with Raul Malo

Canadian singer-songwriter Whitney Rose found a kindred spirit in the Mavericks’ Raul Malo. Malo produced, added vocals, and brought along several of his bandmates to give Rose’s sophomore effort an eclectic pop-country feel. Rose shades more to the female vocalists of the 1960s than Malo’s operatic balladeering, but the slow-motion twang of the guitars works just as well on Rose’s originals as it does with the Mavericks. Her self-titled debut hinted at retro proclivities, but Malo and guitarist Nichol Robertson really lay on the atmosphere, and Rose blossoms amid tempos and backing vocals that amplify the romance of her material.

Even the upbeat numbers provide room for Rose to warble, and she tips a primary influence with a cover of the Ronettes “Be My Baby.” Interpreting one of the greatest pop singles of all time is a tricky proposition, but Rose and Malo make the song their own with a slower tempo that emphasizes the song’s ache over its iconic beat, and a duet arrangement that has Malo moving between lead, harmony, backing and counterpoint. Similarly, Rose’s cover of Hank Williams’ “There’s a Tear in My Beer” is turned from forlorn barroom misery to a wistful memory that won’t go away. Burke Carroll’s steel guitar provides a wonderful, somnolent coda to the latter, echoing Rose’s spellbound vocal.

The opening “Little Piece of You” is both a love song and a statement of musical purpose as Rose sings of crossing lines and open minds, and the arrangement uses rhythm and vocal nuances that echo country’s Nashville Sound. She writes cleverly, leaving the listener to decide if “My First Rodeo” is about a relationship, sex or a breakup. The same is true for “The Last Party,” whose forlorn emotion could be the result of a breakup or a more permanent end. The vocal waver and rising melody of “Only Just a Dream” reveals uncertainty, but Rose finally gives in with “Lasso,” turning her doubts into commitment.

Recorded in only four days, there was clearly a mind meld between Rose, Malo and the players, as the arrangements are deeply tied to the songs’ moods. There’s a bit of funk on “The Devil Borrowed My Boots Last Night” that recalls Jennie C. Riley’s “Back Side of Dallas” and Dolly Parton’s “Getting Happy.” The title track’s bass line and finger-snapping assurance suggest Peggy Lee’s “Fever,” but the song is actually a kiss-off, rather than an amatory celebration, and Drew Jurecka’s lush strings cradle Rose and Malo’s duet “Ain’t It Wise.” Released in Canada last April, this is getting a well-deserved worldwide push and some welcome stateside tour dates. [©2015 Hyperbolium]

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