Tag Archives: Country

Jerry Reed: Explores Guitar Country

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Early Jerry Reed album explores country, soul, jazz, blues and folk

Long before Jerry Reed became a music star, breaking through with 1970’s “Amos Moses” and 1971’s “When You’re hot, You’re Hot,” and before he became a television and film actor,  he was an in-demand A-list Nashville guitar player and struggling solo star. No less than Chet Atkins felt that Reed was a major talent as a picker, encouraging him to add instrumentals and solos to his albums, and bestowing upon him the title “Certified Guitar Player.” This 1969 collection shows off the tension between Reed’s incredible talent as a guitarist and his self-image as a singer. Together with Atkins as producer, Reed creates modern-pop arrangements of standards and traditional folk, country and bluegrass tunes, adding original twists (such as jazz-inflected blues-funk on Bill Monroe’s “Blue Moon of Kentucky”) and leaving plenty of room for his finger picking. This is a thoughtful and at times deeply contemplative album, surprisingly experimental and forward-thinking for a Nashville artist who’d yet to fully establish himself with country music fans. Those who know Reed’s later hits will enjoy this earlier work, and those who aren’t fond of Nashville’s ‘70s sounds (and perhaps favor Willie Nelson’s Stardust era interpretations of standards) will be impressed at the soul, jazz, blues, and folk flavors woven into the country base. [©2011 hyperbolium dot com]

Bobbie Gentry: Ode to Billy Joe

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A strong debut album overshadowed by its title hit

The raw, bluesy edge in Gentry’s voice as she spells out “M-I-Double S-I-Double S-I-Double P-I” sounds as if she’s still clearing her throat from the previous night’s bourbons and Marlboros. The album’s title hit doesn’t really prepare you for the hard soul guitar, funky drumming and swampy horns of the opening track. That same vocal edginess also works well on the album’s ballads, combining folk, country, soul and jazz notes with textural orchestrations. The album’s few pop tracks, including “Sunday Best” and “Hurry, Tuesday Child,” don’t play to Gentry’s strengths and are outclassed by the funkier, bluesier, country-folk. Gentry wrote ten of the album’s eleven cuts, but she didn’t have ten fully original arrangements, as the acoustic guitar and bass hooks of “Ode to Billy Joe” are repeated on nearly every track, blunting the punch of “Ode to Billy Joe” by the time you get to the hit at album’s end. Her lyrics sketch the Delta’s poverty, fauna (“Bugs”), commerce, characters, and gothic secrets. This is a strong debut, though it doesn’t fully live up to its original single (“Mississippi Delta”), nor the flip-side (“Ode to Billy Joe”) that shot Gentry to stardom. [©2011 hyperbolium dot com]

Wanda Jackson: In Person

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Wanda Jackson graces the stage in 1969

By 1969 Wanda Jackson had long since transitioned from her early, incendiary rockabilly days to straight-ahead country sides. But, as this live album shows, she still displayed plenty of spark and twang on stage. Performing at Mr. Lucky’s in Phoenix, Jackson and harmony vocalist Mike Post mix her own records (“Let’s Have a Party,” “Right or Wrong” and “Silver Threads and Golden Needles”) with country hits (“Jackson,” “Release Me” and “D-I-V-O-R-C-E”) and recent pop tunes, including a terrific country two-step harmony arrangement of Johnny Nash’s 1968 rocksteady hit “Hold Me Tight.” She sings Joe South’s “Games People Play” with deep conviction, and Post’s duet and harmony vocals are superb. Jackson was a country hit maker into the mid-70s, but her stage act retained all the energy of her earliest rock ‘n’ roll records. She was a gracious stage performer who generously credited her band and worked hard to satisfy her audience, closing out the evening with a cowboy yodel for her Southwest fans. [©2011 hyperbolium dot com]

Various Artists: Rockabilly Rhythms

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Original artists, not original hit recordings, but still interesting

Like hundreds of other MP3 compilations on the market these days, this one is filled with recordings of unknown origin. But unlike compilations that try to fake the hits, this one’s got some interesting live performances and alternate arrangements. These recordings may or may not date to the original sessions, but fans will get a kick out of hearing Bill Haley sing “Rip it Up” live and Gene Vincent strut his way through a slower, bluesier version of “Be-Bop-A-Lula.” A number of the tracks don’t even graze rockabilly, including Gene Autry’s trail-rhythm “Back in the Saddle Again,” guitarist Billy Mure’s instrumental take on Hank Williams’ “Kaw-Liga,” sax-man Ace Cannon’s cover of “Little Bitty Pretty One” and the horn-fed R&B of Jackie Kelso and Willie Egan, but there are some nice finds for rockabilly fans, including Joe Seneca’s “Rick-A-Chick.” Many of these tracks fail to live up to the collection’s title (not to mention that cover boy Chuck Berry doesn’t appear at all, and Little Richard’s “Long Tall Sally” is presented in awful, pinched audio), but there are a few treats to be picked out. [©2010 hyperbolium dot com]

Dolly Parton: Wanted

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Rare and previously unreleased early Dolly Parton tracks

Though the first three tracks of this collection are sung by an unknown vocalist, the remaining sixteen are by all accounts sung by Dolly Parton. More importantly, seven of these tunes (tracks 4-10) are rare, previously unreleased tracks that appear to be from Parton’s years with Monument. The remaining ten tracks are drawn from her out-of-print Monument albums Hello I’m Dolly and As Long as I Love. Though no credits are provided, the seven newly discovered tracks sound as if they were recorded during the pre-RCA years in which Parton tried out country ballads and honky tonk, often with pop, jazz, folk and blues inflections. Several of the songs were recorded by other singers (George Morgan recorded “Not From My World,” Kitty Wells issued a single of “Only Me and My Hairdresser Knows” and Tammy Wynette waxed “Send Me No Roses” for a 1967 album), but this appears to be the first time that Parton’s versions have been widely released. Though the audio quality is variable (better for the unreleased cuts than the previously released album tracks), this is a real treat for Dolly Parton fans, and one that may not be on the market for long. [©2010 hyperbolium dot com]

Jesse Dayton: One for the Dance Halls

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Heartfelt Texas dance hall honky-tonk

The Texas-born Jesse Dayton was weaned on classic country, taking particular interest in the sounds of George Jones and Lefty Frizzell, and the firebrand individualism of Waylon, Willie and the boys. He developed a presence in the alt.country world as his 2001 release Hey Nashvegas seemed to both critique and court Music City. The album’s mainstream touches couldn’t hide lyrics more deeply personal than the typical Nashville songwriting appointment could produce, and his underlying fealty to rockabilly, honky-tonk, Cajun and latin sounds was similarly out of step with country radio hits. Though he released an album of soul-tinged country in 2004 and an album of covers in 2006, he dropped off of many country music fans’ radar. But Dayton didn’t stop making music.

In 2005 Dayton released Banjo & Sullivan: The Ultimate Collection 1972-1978 as a fictional aside to Rob Zombie’s Devil’s Rejects, went on to contribute songs to the Halloween 2 soundtrack, recorded a follow-on as Captain Clegg, and released a superb album of hardcore honky-tonk duets, Holdin’ Our Own, with Brennen Leigh. Dayton doubles-down on the honky-tonk roots on this latest album, cranking out the sort of shuffles, two-steps and waltzes that make Texas dance halls such special places to listen, dance, romance and drink away one’s problems. The opener perfectly captures the magical feeling of a Saturday night, spinning away your aches and pains, taking a smoke break in the dirt parking lot, and tipping the band (with cash or a drink) for that special song.

The rhythm section sets the pace, but Warren Hood’s fiddle and Nat Flemming’s pedal steel supercharge the performances. Dayton revs things up with the freewheeling hoe-down “Camden Town,” and though he might be a quart low on love, he hangs on to his optimism with “Pretty Girls Make the World Go ‘Round.” Things aren’t so sunny for the bloodshot morning-after of Nick Lowe’s “Lately I’ve Let Things Slide” or the chilly relations of Billy Donahue’s “Back to Back.” Damon Bramblet’s “Falling Apart” is given a two-step beat that improves upon the Johnny Cash train rhythm of the original, and Bramblett’s anniversary waltz, “The Years,” is sung with an emotional quaver aside Mickey Raphael’s harmonica.

Thursday night gigs at Austin’s Broken Spoke have honed Dayton into the very thing he most admired as a child: a country singer. His voice has deepened and weathered favorably over the years, getting him closer to Dale Watson territory. Brennan Leigh provides the perfect vocal foil, particularly in duet on “Falling Apart.” The album has the arc of a live set, mixing two-steps, ballads and closing with the Western swing of “Texas Bound.” You can easily imagine the dancers taking one more whirl around the floor before heading out to their pickup trucks, the band packing up, and everyone going home feeling satisfied. [©2010 hyperbolium dot com]

MP3 | One for the Dance Halls
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John Meeks: Old Blood

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Old-timey voice sings original alt.country laments and murder ballads

John Meeks lived the itinerant life of a troubadour before he was even old enough to drive or strum a guitar. Toted along to gigs by his musician father, and driven around the Southwest by his mother, Meeks racked up a lot of miles at a very young age. After a brief stab at college he settled in San Diego and tried out the indie-rock scene, but it wasn’t until he hooked up with the city’s roots musicians (including Pall Jenkins, Jimmy LaValle and Matt Resovich) that the sounds his father made came back to call. Meeks sings with a ghostly lonesomeness that’s partly Roy Acuff, partly Neil Young and partly a bluegrass yodel. It’s a voice from a much earlier era. His studied tempos provide time to hold onto notes in an expressive drone, bending and trilling here and there for George Jones-styled emotional emphasis.

Meeks’ downtrodden lyrics are written from the gut, rather than the mind, and they’re fit to melodies that feel like a natural wander rather than composed map. Taken together, they make songs that feel lived in, musical expressions of emotions that aren’t so much wondrous discoveries as they are worn resignations. It’s the unlikeliest of music to be made in a city renowned for its temperate weather and beautiful beaches. Of course, Tijuana is just a stone’s throw away (neatly echoed in the moody trumpet of “Been Down By Love”), and Los Angeles is only a few hours up the highway, but Meeks’ murder ballads and laments of lost and crossed love remain surprisingly dark. Even at mid-tempo his keening melodies and the drifting backgrounds of guitar, bass, drums and fiddle are often laid out as a wail of defeat.

“I Don’t Even Want to Think of You” is taken slowly, wracking its balladry with more pain and isolation than its ‘50s styling would normally admit. The album’s heartbreak flares into moments of violence, but Meeks sings in the voice of a man whose personality is broken in two, whose misdeeds are hidden from his waking self. Even his threats hang ambiguously between leaving and ensuring no one ever leaves him. Meeks’ anguish is uncompromisingly singular, lending even the sprightly numbers, such as the Everly-esque “Oh My Sweet Darlin’” (listen carefully for “Bye Bye Love” woven cleverly into the melody) a powerful feeling of doom. [©2010 hyperbolium dot com]

MP3 | Bay Moon
MP3 | I Don’t Even Want to Think of You
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Matt Gary: I’m Just Sayin’

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Swimming in the mainstream of Nashville country

Matt Gary is a 27-year-old singer, whose heartland Kansas roots have given way to the modernisms of Nashville. He’s the artistic progeny of Kenny Chesney and Keith Urban, another generation removed from the hillbilly and folk roots that initially defined country music. His six-track EP is immaculately produced with pop-rock guitars (though the mid-tempo “Not Every Man Lives” leads with a moody banjo), filled out with material that tugs at the heartstrings and sung in an appealing tenor. The songs are well-crafted recitations of well-worn tropes: reminiscing through life’s joyous moments, an offer of comfort to a mistreated woman, balancing work and home life, the magical feeling of falling in love, and living one’s life to the fullest. Gary’s an engaging singer with a good ear for catchy material and an obvious enthusiasm for his new career. But this initial outing feels more like a Nashville assembly than a personal artistic statement. The talent that attracted songwriter/producer Frank Myers to the project is readily apparent, but Gary still needs to establish a unique voice, transcend his influences and create something new. [©2010 hyperbolium dot com]

Matt Gary’s Home Page

J.R. Shore: Talkin’ on a Bus

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Canadian singer/songwriter shows that Americana is of the Americas

Canadian singer/songwriter J.R. Shore brought home a whole lot of the South from his two year sojourn to Nashville. Ironically though, his new music is more redolent of New Orleans and the Tex-Mex border than it is of Music City. The banjo that opens the album gives way to a hearty second-line rhythm, dixieland trombone, and a vocal that suggests Dr. John. Shore’s songs combine images of America (he seems particularly fond of baseball) with Texas twang, the funky swagger of the Meters, and the soul of Randy Newman and Van Morrison. He writes in poetic vernacular and literary allusion, and sings with both the sweetness and rough edges of Tom Waits, Bruce Springsteen and Levon Helm. Much like the latter’s Band, Shore simmers his Americana influences into a stew whose flavors tell of the ingredients (country, folk, blues, soul and trad jazz) but whose whole is harmonious. This is a finely made album whose far-Northern origins are barely evident in the warmth of its South-of-the-Mason-Dixon-Line sounds. [©2010 hyperbolium dot com]

MP3 | Two Strike Foul
J.R. Shore’s Home Page

The Derailers: Live! From Texas

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The Derailers tear up the honky-tonks!

When the Austin-based Derailers broke out with 1996’s Jackpot, their Bakersfield twang reawakened the ears of many honky-tonk fans. The band’s main inspiration, Buck Owens, was still holding down a weekend gig at his Crystal Palace, but it was the Derailers who took their Fender guitars on the road and stirred up dance floors coast to coast. The band wrote killer original material, picked some mean guitar and sang with the conviction of Owens, Merle Haggard and Wynn Stewart. As the band evolved they took on other characteristics of Owens and his Buckaroos, tipping their hat to pop music with a twangy take on Prince’s “Raspberry Beret,” a driving cover of the Crystals’ “Then She Kissed Me,” and guitars that recalled both the Beach Boys and the British Invasion.

In 2003, lead singer/songwriter/guitarist Tony Villanueva left shortly after the release of Genuine (their second and last album for Sony’s Lucky Dog imprint), and the band’s co-founder, Brian Hofeldt, stepped forward to sing all of the lead vocals and write the band’s new material. The Derailers returned to the indie world and pressed on with new albums in 2006 and 2008, a Buck Owens covers record in 2007, and most importantly, years of roadwork in the honky-tonks of Texas. As good as the band’s albums have been, their live shows have always been their raison d’être. These fifteen tracks were recorded in 2009 and 2010 at Dan’s Silverleaf in Denton, TX and the legendary Gruene Hall, and provide a good feel for an evening spent in the company of a great country dance band.

The song list sticks mostly to Hofeldt’s originals, adding covers of Marty Robbins’ “Knee Deep in the Blues,” Buck Owens’ “Who’s Gonna Mow Your Grass,” and Wynn Stewart’s “Come On.” Villanueva’s vocals are still missed, but Hofeldt’s grown into a truly compelling (and at times, very Owens-eque) leader and lead singer. The band has the practiced swing of a road-cured honky-tonk band, and Hofeldt doesn’t just channel Roy Orbison on “I See My Baby,” he reincarnates the loneliness that first inspired the composition. The songs easily combine country, pop and soul, and while this set is no substitute for hearing the Derailers in person, it’ll bring back great memories of your two-steps around the dance floor. [©2010 hyperbolium dot com]

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