Legendary country vocalist returns from retirement
Luckily for his many fans, Don Williams’ 2006 retirement didn’t stick. His return to the stage is now followed by a return to the recording studio, and this first album in eight years. Even better than having a new Don Williams album, is having a new album on which his vocals still sound great. Not “great for a 73-year-old,†but great for a vocalist of Williams’ uncommon talent and vocal quality. Few are blessed with this sort of expressive tone, and while some may sustain their style, very few sustain the effortless control of their younger years. Williams does just that, easing into these ten songs with a confidence that draws you to the lyrics, characters and stories.
It’s been twenty years since Williams cracked the top of the charts, but he and long-time producer Garth Fundis still have ears for good songs. Longtime band members Billy Sanford and Kenny Malone recreate the magic of Williams’ earlier work, sidestepping the bombast of modernNashvilleproduction. The arrangements deliver just enough drums and bass to give the guitars and fiddles a kick, but not so much as to distract from the singer. Williams picked songs with which he found personal resonance, rather than those he believed would be hits, and his trust inNashville’s writers is rewarded. The songs don’t leap from the record with clever titles, intricate lyrics or operatic climaxes, but each provides an opportunity to spend a few moments with Don Williams as he optimistically considers truth and spirituality, internal strength and rekindled emotions.
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.
Jerry Reed’s country and Nashville Sound beginnings
Singer, songwriter and certified guitar player Jerry Reed found his musical calling as a child, and by the time he turned 18 in 1955, he was already making records. Sides cut for Capitol (catch the rockabilly “When I Found You†here), NRC and Columbia failed to ignite a performing career, but his songwriting and session guitar work garnered traction in Nashville. By 1965 he’d come to the attention of Chet Atkins, and two years later he released his debut LP, The Unbelievable Guitar & Voice of Jerry Reed, on RCA. The album was stylistically schizophrenic, ranging from folk-country tunes similar to Waylon Jennings early RCA sides to faux British Invasion pop to rootsy blues-country. It’s the latter, including the album’s first single, “Guitar Man,†that came to define Reed’s sound.
In 1967, though, Atkins was still trying to find a place for Reed within the Nashville Sound. Atkins added badly-aging harpsichord to many of the debut’s tracks, and though Reed, Wayne Moss and Fred Carter Jr. cut loose with gut-string picking on several tracks, including the instrumental “The Claw,†there were still the doubled pop vocals of “If I Promise†sharing track space with the sly talking ablues “Woman Shy†and the Everlys-styled “Long Gone.†It’s interesting, albeit a bit disconcerting, to hear Reed singing so far outside his earthier country sound, and the folk- and pop-flavored cuts haven’t the swagger of his blues. Elvis Presley covered “Guitar Man,†with Reed reproducing the guitar break from this recording, and “U.S. Male,†with the lyrical intro shifted from Georgia to Mississippi.
Reed returned Elvis’ favor with his next single “Tupelo Mississippi Flash,†on his second album, Nashville Underground. Released in 1968, this second album’s title proves itself ironic with music that’s even heavier on the crossover balladry. Try as he might though, Atkins couldn’t shave the Southern edges off Reed’s playing and singing, highlighted by the hard-picked guitar of “Fine on My Mind.†In addition to eight originals, Reed covers a pair of traditional titles (“Wabash Cannonball†and “John Henryâ€), and takes a playful, jazzy turn on Ray Charles “Hallelujah I Love Her So.†As on the debut, Reed’s versatility is impressive, but it’s the talking blues and arrangements stripped of Atkins’ crossover production that still leap most energetically from the speakers.
Filmmaker Beth Harrington is in the production homestretch of her Carter Family documentary, The Winding Stream. He Kickstarter campaign is gathering the funds needed to finish post-production. Take a look at the film trailer below, and then click through to read more (or donate) on the Kickstarter page.
A gourmet’s selection of blues, country, soul and rock covers
Paul Thorn is a Mississippi bluesman whose earlier career as a boxer still echoes in his gruff growl. Though well-known for his original, biographical songs, Thorn’s sixth album is an all-covers affair. Singing the songs of other writers is a complex task, one that reflects on Thorn’s understanding of songwriting craft as well as his visceral experience as a listener. He poses this set as an opportunity to “take a break from myself,†but his selections from others’ pens say a great deal about his musical roots, influences and tastes. Most of his picks are sufficiently obscure to avoid even registering as covers for many listeners; but these are interpretations rather than explanations, and Thorn’s fans will marvel at how easily he draws these songs into his personal orbit. This is a mix tape, but one in which the mixer sings the songs rather than having lined up other people’s performances on a C90.
Thorn’s voice has a clenched, raspy edge that variously brings to mind Dr. John, Jon Dee Graham, Willy DeVille, John Hyatt, Lyle Lovett, Randy Newman, Joe Cocker, Tom Waits and even a bit of Louis Armstrong. He doesn’t sound like any one of them, but your ears will catch passing associations as he work through a wide-ranging catalog drawn from Ray Wylie Hubbard, Buddy Miller, Elvin Bishop, Allen Toussaint and others. Each recitation balances flavors from the original recordings with Thorn’s own sound, retaining the signature rolling rhythm of Lindsey Buckingham’s early “Don’t let Me Down Again†while lowering its youthful freneticism, magnifying the blue side of Free’s “Walk in My Shadow,†and giving Muscle Shoals’ legend Donnie Fritts’ “She’s Got a Crush on Me†the soul vocal it really deserves.
New songs, western swing classics and contemporary pop covers
Willie Nelson spent nearly two decades with Columbia, starting with his 1975 breakthrough (and first chart topper), Red Headed Stranger. He bounced around a number of majors and indies through the ‘90s and ‘00s, and now returns to the Sony fold via the company’s Legacy division, an imprint known more for its vast array of catalog reissues than for new music. But as a heritage artist, it’s a good fit, as Nelson revisits material from his catalog, chestnuts from the ‘30s and ‘40s, covers of recent pop songs, and new titles from his pen and that of his son, Lukas. The results are vital, and surprisingly coherent, if perhaps not always tightly focused. Covers of Pearl Jam (“Just Breatheâ€) and Coldplay (“The Scientistâ€) intermingle with Western Swing (“My Home in San Antone†and a terrifically jazzy “My Window Faces Southâ€), ‘40s weepers (“Cold War with Youâ€), and newly written originals.
Twenty-five years on, Marley’s Ghost is still digging up roots
