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.
There’s a weekly barn dance in Nashville, and it’s not on Music Row
If you don’t already love Jim Lauderdale for his songs, picking and singing, you’ve got to love him for hosting the weekly Music City Roots live show and radio/webcast. Reaching back to the golden age of the Opry, Hayride and Barn Dance, Music City Roots operates out of the Loveless Barn, just behind the legendary Loveless Café. The show is played before an audience of four-hundred, broadcast live on WRLT-FM (100.1 MHz, for those of you in the area) and streamed on the Internet. Lauderdale hosts legends and newcomers, with help from WSM’s Keith Bilbrey and NPR’s Craig Havighurst.
Over the show’s two years, they’ve featured Charlie Louvin, Darrell Scott, Matraca Berg, Buddy Miller, Tom T. Hall, Duane Eddy, Marty Stuart, Rodney Crowell, Doyle Lawson, Sarah Jarosz, Rodney Dillard, Dale Watson, Rhonda Vincent, Chris Hillman, Gurf Morlix, Suzy Bogguss and Nanci Griffith. The latter’s “Listen to the Radio,†included here, could well be the show’s theme song with its romantic interlacing of radio, the road and roots music, not to mention its pointed dismissal of Clear Channel. Perhaps even more interesting are the dozens of new acts, across a broad range of styles, whose profiles have been raised through the show and broadcast.
This initial volume highlights both stars and newcomers, ranging through country, blues, folk, gospel and early rock sounds with plenty of talent, heart, soul and full-throated singing. The set closes with the show’s customary jam, this time featuring Jim Lauderdale, Sam Bush, Mike Farris and Scott Vestal getting a workout on “Up on Cripple Creek.†These performances are a lively and satisfying musical experience, though no substitute for tuning in to the congeniality and artistic harmony of the live show. If you’re not convenient to Nashville, check out the live video feed Wednesday nights at 7pm Central. [©2012 hyperbolium dot com] 
Hard country twang from a well-traveled New Jerseyan
You can pretty much guess you’re in for a good time when an artist shares the album cover with his Telecaster. Don’t let the modern décor and long tie fool you – this twangy country music would be just as comfortable wearing a bolo as it spins around a honky-tonk floor. Davis is a New Jersey boy, but with time spent in Austin and this Kenny Vaughan-produced third album recorded in Nashville, he’s a lot more Hank than Bruce. Better yet, Vaughan and his Fabulous Superlative cohorts (Paul Martin and Harry Stinson) chip in expert backing alongside Chris Scruggs’ steel and Hank Singer’s fiddle, rocking like the Domino Kings and other great roots bands that came out of Springfield, MO.
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€
Davis writes of derailed careers, trouble on the road, love, disillusion and broken hearts. The latter takes original turns with the bullfighting imagery of  “Fade to Gold,†and the boxing allusions of “Queensbury Rules.†His two murder ballads, “Black & White Picture†and “Memory Lane,†are mysterious and dark. The former hinges on the fatalistic pairing of wedding bands and .44s in a pawnshop display; the latter explores the aftermath’s everlasting prison of memories. Vaughan backs Davis with everything from classic honky-tonk shuffles to spare slide guitar, making this a great showcase for a New Jerseyan who’s songs are more Cumberland than Hudson. [©2012 hyperbolium dot com]
Dark folk duo that echoes Richard, Mimi and Holly
The Parlor Soldiers are a guitar, percussion and vocal duo hailing from Fredericksburg, Virginia. The tight, forceful folk vocals of their debut immediately brings to mind the duets of Richard & Mimi Farina, the modern riff on the male-female dynamic rendered by Holly Golightly and the Brokeoffs, as well as the intertwined emotional give-and-take of the Civil Wars. Dan Dutton’s double bass fills a lot of space with its low tones, but it’s the downbeats and rhythm guitar that push the vocals along to the lyrics’ inevitable retribution. They trade lines Johnny-and-June style on “Crazy,†including the playful epithet “you’re no Johnny Cash†among a series of verbal wrestling holds. Karen Jonas has an old-timey trill in her voice (though for a moment on the title track the warble sounds a bit like Stevie Nicks), and the pair convincingly swap verses on the rocking lo-fi blues “Long Gone.†They sing of dissipated and philandering drunks, small-time lawlessness, lost dreams, and relentless wanderers in a world populated with bitter realities and smoking embers. There are a few rays of optimism in the winter desolation of “The Old Plow,†a hopeful ending to the stream-of-consciousness “Mess,†and a surprisingly inspirational closer, “Don’t Let Your Dreams Get You Down.†All of this is further heightened by recordings that powerfully fuse the writers’ scripted angst with the performer’s live truth. Highly recommended for fans of Richard & Mimi, Ian & Sylvia, Holly & Dave and Joy & John. [©2011 hyperbolium dot com]
World-traveling Texan cooks up soulful, polycultural Americana
Chris Jamison is a native Texan whose travels eventually brought him back to Austin with a musical worldliness informed by time spent in Europe, South and Central America and Africa. He sings in an alto that momentarily suggests Lindsey Buckingham, but in longer form finds the polycultural soulfulness of Paul Simon. His third album moves between Latin-tinged organ-soul and gut-string Americana, with touches of tuba, trumpet and the rhythmic magic of New Orleans. The recordings were split between studios in Austin and Marfa, the latter of which Jamison says “seemed like a proper setting for the sound and feel I was going for; just the right distance from home and all the baggage it carries to let us get absorbed in the music and spirit of the songs as well as the open and charged energy of West Texas.â€
The album opens in a soulful groove with “Bienvenidos,†but quickly strikes a melancholy tone with the wonder-wander “Going Down the Road,†salvational “Corpus Christi†and nostalgic “Lovelorn.†Jamison’s doesn’t sound fully settled until the closing “Out with a Bang†contemplates an end among the pleasures of his native Texas. His melodies are both sing-a-long immediate and earworm lasting, and the assembled players, including drummer Tommy Jackson, bassist Ronnie Johnson, accordionist Michael Ramon, fiddler Warren Hood, and guitarist Sebastian Cure add impressive instrumental color. This is a wonderfully rendered album whose charms are accessible but not simple. [©2012 hyperbolium dot com]
Gene Watson recreates his hits with impressive accuracy
When an artist re-records their hits, it’s often at the instigation of a label looking to capitalize on the artist’s name; the lure is often nothing more than a quick payday. In this case, country vocalist Gene Watson has taken it upon himself to re-record twenty-five tracks from his fifty-year career, and the motivation is more complex. On the surface, he’s celebrating a half-century in the business, revisiting songs that took him up the charts in the ‘70s and ‘80s and have become old friends in live performance. Underneath, however, there is an artist looking for some measure of control over a catalog that’s split across four labels, and for whose reissues he isn’t likely compensated very generously.
With that in mind, he set out to re-record these songs as closely as possible to the originals. He sings each in the original key, in a voice that’s as good – or possibly even better – than that on the originals. He and producer Dirk Johnson are also quite successful at recapturing the textures of ‘70s and ‘80s recordings. It’s an interesting, if somewhat eerie feat, but with most of the original recordings still available, it adds little to Watson’s legacy (as did 2009’s A Taste of the Truth, for example). More interesting would have been to hear his current perspective on these songs, rather than his ability to recreate earlier work. It’s hard to fault an artist for wanting to be paid, and given the sustained quality of Watson’s sixty-eight-year-old voice, this is still a generous and musically satisfying collection. [©2012 hyperbolium dot com]
Glen Campbell lights up the Tokyo stage in 1975
Originally released only in Japan, this 54-minute set found Campbell entertaining with a tightly-paced set at Tokyo’s Kosei Nenkin Hall in May 1975. The chart-topping run Campbell had started with 1967’s “Gentle on My Mind†was slipping ever so slightly lower by the early ‘70s, as his television program ended in 1972. Campbell’s albums started to edge out of the Top 10 and his singles out of the Top 20, but three days before this show, he released “Rhinestone Cowboy,†and rode it  to the top of the country, pop and adult contemporary charts. Oddly, the single had yet to ingratiate itself into a starring spot in Campbell’s live set, and is not included here.
Given the depth of Campbell’s catalog of hits, his live set only highlighted a few in full, and added five more in medley form. The set opens with a horn-and-tympani intro to a slick, stirring cover of Mac Davis’ “I Believe in Music.†Campbell is in terrific voice, opening “Galveston†with a few riveting a cappella notes and investing himself fully in the drama of Conway Twitty’s “It’s Only Make Believe.†The set holds several surprises, including the southern soul of bassist Bill C. Graham’s album track, “Lovelight,†touching covers of Olivia Newton-John’s “I Honestly Love You†and John Denver’s “Annie’s Song,†and the Japanese single “Coming Home (to Meet My Brother),†which had originally been popularized as a Coca-Cola jingle.
The arrangements stick mostly to orchestrated, MOR ballads (including “My Way†and a medley of “Try to Remember†and “The Way We Wereâ€), but the pickers heat things up on Carl Jackson’s banjo-led “Song for Y’All†and Campbell sings heartfelt gospel on the closing “Amazing Grace.†The between-song banter is short and good-humored (even when Campbell’s jokes are lost in translation), and the hits, even when reduced to medley form, are sung with deep feeling. Real Gone delivers the disc and eight-page booklet (featuring new liner notes by Mike Ragogna and a reproduction of the original Japanese insert) in a folding cardboard sleeve that includes the front and rear album covers. [©2012 hyperbolium dot com]
Country-charting 1970s Nashville pop
Jody Miller’s recording catalog is often abbreviated to her first hit, the Grammy-winning “Queen of the House,†and though its novelty answer to Roger Miller’s “King of the Road†may get the most spins on nostalgia radio, it’s hardly representative of her lengthy hit-making career. Her personal appearances on teen shows Hollywood-A-Go-Go and Shindig positioned her for pop success, but her follow-up singles found only middling results and failed to cross back over to the country chart. She had only one other hit for Capitol (the terrific protest song “Home of the Braveâ€) before moving to Epic, where Billy Sherrill was ready to leverage her pop abilities in countrypolitan arrangements.
With a zippy horn chart, fast-shuffling drums and tightly arranged choral backing, Miller’s Epic debut “Look at Mine†just missed the country Top 20. Ironically, the chorus sounds just like the country-rock Linda Ronstadt was beginning to record at Miller’s previous label, Capitol. Her next single, “If You Think I Love You†is a torchy ballad in the Patsy Cline vein, with crying steel and cooing background singers giving it a decided Nashville edge. Her catalog features a generous helping of girl group songs, including “He’s So Fine,†“Be My Baby†and “Will You Love Me Tomorrow.†She also covered Barbara Lewis’ “Baby I’m Yours,†Phil Spector’s “To Know Him is to Love Him,†the Animals’ “House of the Rising Sun,†and Aretha Franklin’s “Natural Woman,†all with polite, mainstream arrangements that kept country touches on their edges.
Sherrill was a canny producer who crafted the arrangements to highlight his singers. He adds a church-style chorus behind the Johnny Paycheck duet “Let’s All Go Down to the River,†drops the instruments for the sotto voce passages of “There’s a Party Going On†and crafts a soulful backing for the emotional monologues in “Don’t Take it Away.†Real Gone’s collection pulls together all twenty-five of Miller’s Epic A-sides (all stereo except “Soft Lights and Slow Sexy Music,†“(I Wanna) Love My Life Way†and “Kiss Away,†which were accidentally in mono on the first run of the CDs), concluding with the singer’s farewell to the charts with an excellent 1979 cover of Robin McNamara’s “Lay a Little Lovin’ on Me.†At that point Miller retired to raise a family, leaving behind this decade-long legacy of hit-making. The CD and eight-page booklet (with liner notes by Bill Dahl) are delivered in a two-panel cardboard folder. [©2012 hyperbolium dot com]
Excellent shows from August 1971, long-lost at sea
The Grateful Dead were far ahead of their time in many respects, but none perhaps more so than the breadth, depth and quality of the tapes they archived (and as will be described below, occasionally lost) from their legendary live shows. The Dick’s Picks series was named for and originally curated by the band’s tape archivist, Dick Latvala. Following Latvala’s passing in 1999, the series was continued by the band’s current archivist David Lemieux. In contrast to the multi-track remixes released under the From the Vault banner, Dick’s Picks were mastered from stereo tapes, at times emphasizing performance over audio quality (which, to be fair, was almost always very good as well). This penultimate volume in the series features performances from three August stops on the Dead’s 1971 summer tour, Hollywood, San Diego and Chicago, spread across four CDs.
Originally released in 2005 (and reissued now for standard retail by Real Gone), the tapes behind Volume 35 have a story that’s as interesting as the music they contain. Shortly before Keith Godchaux auditioned for (and subsequently joined) the band, Jerry Garcia handed him a box of tapes from the 1971 tour – ostensibly to help Godchaux bone-up on the band’s repertoire. Whether or not he actually listened to them is disputed, but what’s known is that he parked them on his parents’ houseboat, where they sat until 2005, when his brother rediscovered them. Amazingly, 35 years at sea (well, canal, since the boat was moored in Alameda) had surprisingly little affect on the tapes, which are still quite full, crisp and balanced. Included is the entire San Diego show, the salvageable portion of the Chicago stop and an hour of the Hollywood performance.
With Mickey Hart having quit the band earlier in the year, Pigpen’s health issues minimizing his keyboard contributions (though not his vocals) and Godchaux yet to join, the band toured as a five-piece that played more as a guitar-guitar-bass-and-drums quartet. This gave them a rawer, less psychedelic sound, and seems to have simplified the board mix to stereo. All of the instruments and most of the vocals can be easily heard, and Phil Lesh’s bass sounds particularly rich throughout. The San Diego set (which fills disc one and a majority of disc two) mixes some of the Dead’s best-known originals (“Sugaree,†“Casey Jones,†“Truckin’,†and “Sugar Magnoliaâ€) with country, blues and rock covers (“El Paso,†“Mama Tried,†“Big Boss Man,†“Promised Land,†“Sing Me Back Home,†“Not Fade Away†and “Johnny B. Goodeâ€) that show off the band’s taste and range.
Concise numbers, like Otis Redding’s “Hard to Handle,†are stretched into showcases for instrumental improvisation. At the same time, they don’t loiter in one groove long enough to become repetitive; the segues are as interesting as the song choices, and even casual fans will appreciate how easily the band knit together disparate influences, often charting the flow of their sets on-the-fly. The Chicago set ends disc two and fills disc three, repeating a few songs from San Diego and introducing new titles and a few rarities. Chief among the latter is Pigpen’s “Empty Pages,†which is reported to have only been played twice, with its debut for this performance. Also included is an early version of “Brown-Eyed Woman.†Selections from the Hollywood Palladium show finish off disc four, culminating in a twenty-five minute rendition of “Turn on Your Lovelight.â€
Other tapes from 1971 have been released through standard retail over the years, including February dates in Port Chester (the first without Mickey Hart) on Three from the Vault, the multi-venue Grateful Dead, and a legendary April stand at the Fillmore East on Ladies and Gentlemen. The Fillmore East dates are perhaps the most highly regarded by fans, but the band was in such fine form throughout 1971 that just about any of these sets provide great listening to fans and a good introduction to newbies. Those who shied away from (or were repelled by) the scene that surrounded Dead concerts may be surprised at how satisfying the music is on its own merits. Though the tribal vibe of their live shows may not have survived the transformation to tape, the band’s musicality certainly did. [©2011 hyperbolium dot com]
Elvis caps his remarkable comeback
Recorded in 1970 and released in 1971, Elvis Country was the culmination of a remarkable career resurrection. Starting with his 1968 Comeback Special, Elvis went on to reel off the brilliant From Elvis in Memphis (and the second-helping, Back in Memphis), the smartly constructed Vegas show of On Stage, and the studio/live That’s the Way It Is. He capped the run with this 1971 return to his roots, branding these country, gospel, blues, rockabilly and western swing covers with authority. Elvis showed his genius was rooted in his passion for music, which encompassed everything from the early rockabilly of Sanford Clark’s “The Fool†(written, surprisingly, by Lee Hazlewood) to the then-contemporary hit “Snowbird,†as well as classics from Ernest Tubb, Lester Flatt & Bill Monroe, Willie Nelson and Hank Cochran.
Recorded in RCA’s famed Studio B with Presley regulars James Burton, Charlie McCoy and Chip Young; the newly assembled studio hands included several players from the Muscle Shoals powerhouse, and the sessions were produced by Felton Jarvis. The arrangements ranged from loose, down home country jams to Vegas-styled orchestrations, and hearing the variety back-to-back, one quickly realizes how easily Elvis transcended the musical boundaries between his ‘50s roots and his glitzy ‘70s stage shows. Much like the 1969 American Studio sessions in Memphis, Elvis’ enthusiasm and musicality directs the assembled players and provokes top-notch performances; he leads the crew through a rocking workout of Jerry Lee Lewis’ “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On†and brings “Tomorrow Never Comes†to a volcanic climax.
The original album tracks are knit together with snippets of “I Was Born About Ten Thousand Years Ago,†a gimmick that some listeners find irritating, and which wreaks havoc on shuffle play; the complete take is included in the bonuses. An earlier CD reissue expanded the track count from twelve to eighteen, and this double-CD pushes the total to twenty-nine, including all six earlier bonuses. Disc two opens with the third-helping of the Nashville sessions, previously released as Love Letters from Elvis, and adds three more session bonuses: the singles “The Sound of Your Cry†and “Rags to Riches,†and the album track “Sylvia.†The broad range of material on Love Letters doesn’t always connect with Elvis’ legacy as tightly as that on Elvis Country, but Elvis is in fine voice on each track, and the assembled players are sharp.
Everything here’s been issued before, but pulling together session material previously spread across singles, albums, box sets and latter-day compilations has created a superb recounting of the last chapter of Elvis’ incredible comeback. Not included are the eight Nashville tracks released as part of That’s the Way It Is. A third-disc with banded versions of Elvis Country (minus the musical segues, that is) would have been a great addition, but even without it, this is an excellent expansion upon previous standalone reissues, and a terrific complement to the Legacy editions of From Elvis in Memphis and On Stage. The remastered discs (by Vic Anesini) are housed in a tri-fold digipack with a booklet that includes liner notes by Stuart Colman and terrific photos. [©2012 hyperbolium dot com]