Tag Archives: Country

Toby Keith: American Ride

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TobyKeith_AmericanRideToby Keith faces the dilemma of stardom

Toby Keith had provoked his share of controversy, appearing to those outside the modern country mainstream as a jingoistic redneck. But aside from a few specific declarations of what he’d no doubt term patriotism, Keith’s turned out some terrific country music. As he emerged from the pack of neo-traditional artists that flowered in the ‘90s, he found a heavier, rowdier sound that kept a hand on his country roots even as its rocked-up production leapt from the radio. His latest album continues to be provocative, but not always in the same ways as his earlier work. This time out he’s provoking his core audience with a cynical title tune and a production sound that adds new sounds to his country core.

The opening track is far from the fist-pumping America-loving anthem suggested by its title. Its cynical celebration of American life is a sharply critical look at a media soaked society in which parents haven’t the time to connect with their children, form trumps substance, and religious values are waning. Wrapped in line-dance-ready power chords and a catchy melody, one has to wonder if listeners will get the message or notice the Celtic influence in the song’s instrumental riff. Given this leadoff, the only song not written by Keith, the rest of the album is surprisingly sensitive and non-cynical as Keith sings of broken hearts and the tough-but-worth-it life of a touring musician. The album’s emotional center point, “Cryin’ For Me (Wayman’s Song)” is a eulogy for Keith’s departed friend, Wayman Tisdale.

The Tisdale farewell is one of the album’s more subversive productions, with strings and the sax of Dave Koz producing a soft jazz flavor. Keith stretches out in other directions, including the catchy pop melody of “Every Dog Has Its Day,” the ‘70s wah-wah guitar of “Woke Up On My Own” and the gospel-soul backing vocals of “If You’re Tryin’ You Ain’t.” He croons the emotionally revealing power ballad “Tender as I Wanna Be,” but also sings some good time country music, dreaming of big life changes, fantasizing the details of a romantic rendezvous, and blowing off steam on a Saturday night. The album closes with a story of military life that’s sure to ring true with those who trudge through the daily travails of modern warfare.

With all the variety, however, this album is neither fish nor fowl; neither a brilliant amplification of all that’s gone before nor a daring reinvention. Keith reaches tentatively in new directions but remains anchored to the core artistic principles that brought him to the dance. Fans who want more of the same will enjoy the fun-loving country-rock songs but may skip the ballads, soft jazz and soul. Those looking for Keith to find another gear will hear the party tunes as water treading and feel he’s not fully committed to advancing himself as an artist. Keith’s dilemma – whether to stick to the tried and true, to try something novel, or to vacillate  in between – is one that many music stars have faced. So far, Keith is sticking with option three. [©2009 hyperbolium dot com]

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Chuck Mead: Journeyman’s Wager

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ChuckMead_JourneymansWagerBR549 lead’s first solo album

Chuck Mead’s first solo album doesn’t stray far from the country, rock and blues he’d mixed and matches successfully as guitarist, vocalist and songwriter with BR549. With the band having run through a number of record labels and transitioned through key personnel changes, they now seem to be on hiatus, leaving Mead time to record and tour his first solo album. His originals sound as if they could have been worked up by BR549, though a looser rhythm section and the addition of horns adds new flavor. Ten originals and a cover of George Harrison’s Beatles-era “Old Brown Shoe” should tide BR549 fans over, but may also signal the launch of a full-time solo career. Either way, Mead’s roadhouse rockers, back-porch blues, and country-rock offer a fine balance of humor and sincerity as he crafts dance floor burners, thoughtful ballads, and novelty titles. [©2009 hyperbolium dot com]

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The Avett Brothers: I And Love And You

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AvettBrothers_IAndLoveAndYouRick Rubin captures country-rock brothers in their zone

The North Carolina-bred Avett Brothers, Scott and Seth, initially developed their rustic country-folk as a sideline to the rock band, Nemo. With the addition of bassist Bob Crawford, they embarked on a career as a trio with 2001’s Country Was. Subsequent albums and EPs have alternated between studio and live releases, with the albums gaining complexity and the EPs (particularly The Gleam II) providing a place for more sparsely arranged works. By 2007, with the release of Emotionalism, the trio had expanded greatly on their acoustic-folk roots, adding guests who laid drums, cello and electric guitars into the mix, and stretching themselves out to pop, rock, and blues.

What’s remained constant across all of the Avett’s records is the starkness and lack of artifice in their vocal performances. Working solo and in tandem they sing with the full-throated conviction of students pouring their hearts into a variety school performance. They strain to hit high notes and recede to delicate moments of lilt with absolutely no hint of self-consciousness. They emote in a speak-singing style that’s almost conversational. The vocal conviction fits particular well with the Avett’s new recordings as they transition from indie darlings to Rick Rubin-produced major label act.

The endorsement of Rubin and his American Recordings label hasn’t gone to the Avetts’ heads. Instead they’ve taken opportunity to question themselves, to parlay the slap on the back into an album full of songs about transition itself. They draw upon themes of physical relocation, emotional realignment, coupling and uncoupling, growing up and growing old. As Seth Avett writes in the tiny-typed liner notes, this is an album of dualities, “both a milestone and an arrival.” It’s an album filled with questions, and in its certitude of uncertainty, a big helping of self awareness. Its moods range through exhilaration, doubt, melancholy and depression; it’s both contemplative and expressive, underwritten by a dynamic musical palate of folk, pop, twang and even Violent Femmes-styled folk-punk.

Fans that worried the big city producer would recast the small-town singers as something they aren’t can rest easy. Rick Rubin has always staked his job as a producer as one of anticipating recording rather than hands-on knob twirling in the control room. His pre-production regimen focuses artists on preparing their material and themselves, leaving them free from decision making in the studio. The resulting performances are true to the music and its emotion rather than the studio and its artificial environment. Rubin captures musical acts in the zone, as he’s done here. The changes from their earlier albums are audible but unimposing – less banjo, more subtle use of strings and organ, and inventive touches of harmonium and tuba. It’s not the rustic acoustic sounds of their beginnings, but neither was Emotionalism.

Rather than pushing the Avett’s ten steps forward, Rubin has edged them into refining and consolidating their greatness to date. Their vocals are a shade more crisp and up-front, their songs a notch freer to explore wordiness, odd lyrical meters and chorus-less structures, and their musicality is opened to lush acoustic strumming, impassioned vocal wails, raggedy pop-punk and string-lined productions. As is Rubin’s way, however, none of this obscures the basic premise of the band’s music, as the brothers’ voices remain undressed, lyrically and sonically revealed to the world. [©2009 hyperbolium dot com]

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Elliott Brood: Mountain Meadows

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ElliottBrood_MountainMeadowsUpbeat folk- and country-tinged rock tells a very dark tale

The pastoral title of Elliott Brood’s second album (originally release in Canada in 2008) is a head-fake, as is the upbeat tone of the folk- and country-tinged rock. The songwriting themes were inspired from the dark story of an 1857 massacre in which 120 men, women and children were slaughtered as they emigrated across Utah towards California. Songwriters Mark Sasso and Casey Laforet ponder not the deaths, but the lives of those who witnessed and survived the massacre, and rather gruesomely, the children who were adopted by the very Mormons who’d led the assault. Like their countrymen, The Sadies, Elliott Brood’s music is impossible to pin down to a single genre. In volume they’re a rock band, but in tone they augment their wall-of-sound guitars with nineteenth century elements of banjo and ukulele, and martial rhythms.

The trio creates music that’s often sparse, but still attacks with its dynamics. Hard-strummed acoustics, crashing cymbals and drum accents punctuate Mark Sasso’s impassioned, accusing vocals. Even when the music breaks down to ukulele and scavenged percussion, the background vocal exclamations continue to taunt. Sasso’s high, raspy voice will remind you of both Perry Farrell and Shannon Hoon, as he gives voice to travelers unsure they’ll survive the travails of the journey, angsty emigrants led uneasily away from their wagons, murderers haunted by misdeeds, and faint memories of the children left behind. Rather than a literal retelling of the massacre, the album is written as impressionistic fiction grown from the historical premise. This is a musically satisfying album, though you may wish the lyrics more transparently imagined the story from which their inspiration was drawn. [©2009 hyperbolium dot com]

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Manassas: Pieces

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Manassas_PiecesGreat vault finds from Stephen Stills’ post-CSN/Y band

As CSN/Y’s initial rush of productivity and fame led to a split in the early ‘70s, Stephen Stills followed up his two self-titled solo albums with a pair of albums backed by Manassas. The group, formed with Chris Hillman and others in the Stills orbit, recorded a large number of tracks across a range of rock, country, blues, bluegrass, folk and salsa styles. Their self-titled 1972 debut was a 21-track double-LP nominally divided into four sections, but cross-pollinating the styles throughout. Their followup, 1973’s Down the Road, despite its single-LP concision, had neither the spark nor focus of the freshman effort.

Rhino’s new collection offers fifteen vault selections, drawn from the original sessions, that include alternate takes, reworked solo tunes, cover songs, and live tracks. As on the group’s debut, the styles vary from straight bluegrass to tightly harmonized country, electric folk and rock, and a taste of salsa. The soulful rock of “Like a Fox” (with backing vocal by Bonnie Raitt) is interlaced with pedal steel, Chris Hillman’s “Lies” is layered with organ and slide guitar, the electric folk of “My Love is a Gentle Thing” is filled out with CSN-styled harmonies, and Stills’ “Word Game” is sped along by fast shuffling drums.

The salsa instrumental “Tan Sola y Triste” and the blue soul original “Fit to Be Tied” close the first half of the album, and give way to earthier country sounds that open with Chris Hillman’s twangy country-rock “Love and Satisfy.” A pair of acoustic bluegrass covers includes Leon McAuliffe’s “Panhandle Rag” and Bill Monroe’s “Uncle Pen,” and while Stills’ “Do You Remember the Americans” is sung high and tight, Joe Maphis’ “Dim Lights, Thick Smoke (And Loud Loud Music” is harmonized mournfully.

Perhaps the group recorded too much material for the pipeline, but it’s surprising that any of these tracks failed to see release at the time. Not only are the performances and recordings generally up to par with the group’s released works, Stills’ originals are as good as anything else he wrote at the time. Reworked versions of “Sugar Babe” and “Word Game,” originally waxed for Stephen Stills 2, and a smoking live version of “High and Dry,” give a further taste of what this band had to offer. This is a superb complement to the band’s debut, and perhaps a more rightful heir to their legacy than Down the Road. [©2009 hyperbolium dot com]

Country Music Fun Time Activity Book

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CountryMusicFunTimeActivityBookHilarious collection of Country music-themed activities for all ages

No matter how hard you try, your children will spend their teens hating the music of your youth. But if you plant some seeds early on, they may just come around, ironically at first, and with their ears and heart by the time they reach their twenties. The Country Music Fun Time Activity Book is a great place to start, giving children a chance to become acquainted with country music legends new and old; this is the sort of activity book they’ll treasure as adults, wishing they had a clean copy for their own kids. Activities include connect-the-dots (Lyle Lovett’s hair, George Strait’s hat and David Allan Coe’s beard), picture coloring (Kenny Rogers, Clint Black, Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris, Charley Pride, and more) navigating mazes (help Brooks find Dunn, return Buck Owens to Bakersfield, help Willie Nelson evade the taxman). There’s an alt.country crossword puzzle, Madlib-styled fill-in-the-blanks (Hank Williams’ “Move it On Over” and Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5”), word searches, drawing grids (Merle Haggard, Loretta Lynn, Waylon Jennings and Hank Williams), a Hocus Pocus-styled spot-the-differences puzzle, codes, anagrams, and a chance to decorate the back of Gram Parsons’ jumpsuit. This book is clever, informative and fun, and whether you set it on a coffee table, stuff it in the map pocket of your eighteen-wheeler, or let your 4-year-old have at it with crayons, it will spark many smiles. [©2009 hyperbolium dot com]

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Adam Steffey: One More For the Road

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AdamSteffey_OneMoreForTheRoadAll-star solo album from bluegrass mandolinist

Grammy® winning mandolinist Adam Steffey is best known for his tenures with Union Station and Mountain Heart, and his current gig in the Dan Tyminski band. On this second solo album he’s surrounded himself with bandmates past and present, showcasing not only their instrumental prowess, but their harmony as vocalists. Surprisingly, given his years as a sideman, Steffey is both an interesting baritone lead vocalist and a canny band leader. Rather than crafting a showcase for his sizeable instrumental talent, he’s pulled together friends for sessions that trade off between fiery hot-picked solos and ensemble playing, solo lead vocals and close harmonizing, and original and cover tunes. The result is less a stage-center spotlight for Steffey himself than a group effort reflecting his lengthy experience as a musician.

Alison Krauss sings the bluegrass classic “Warm Kentucky Sunshine,” but despite the beautiful, instantly identifiable singularity of her voice (and a harmony from Dan Tyminski), the result isn’t an Alison Krauss track. Similarly for Tyminski’s lead on “Let Me Fall,” on which Steffey, Ron Stewart and Stuart Duncan trade solos on mandolin, banjo and fiddle. Steffey sings three-part harmony with Barry Bales and Ronnie Bowman on “A Broken Heart Keeps Beatin’,” and a cover of Kris Kristofferson’s “Please Don’t Tell Me How the Story Ends” is sung slowly and beautifully. Steffey’s musicality informs this album, making it a subtle, but quite gratifying “solo” release. [©2009 hyperbolium dot com]

MP3 | One More for the Road
Adam Steffey’s MySpace Page

Mark Stuart and the Bastard Sons: Bend in the Road

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MarkStuartBastardSons_BendInTheRoadArdent, road-hardened country and Americana

The Bastard Sons of Johnny Cash return with their first studio album since 2005’s Mile Markers, and though several players, including bassist Taras Prodaniuk, drummer Dave Raven and guitarist Mike Turner also return, there are some significant changes. First, the band has dropped “of Johnny Cash” from the back end and added singer-songwriter “Mark Stuart” to the front. In many ways the group has been Stuart’s vision from the start, as it was his interest in country music that provided the original direction; the step out front mostly acknowledges what’s already been true.

The latest edition of the Bastards, and Stuart’s latest batch of original tunes (augmented by the opening cover of Billy Joe Shaver’s “I’m Just an Old Chunk of Coal”), are his best yet. The band plays with more verve and Stuart sings with more freewheeling energy than ever. You can hear the influences of Billy Joe, Waylon and Hank Jr. in his tone, phrasing and attitude; his music has become bluesier and more convincing. Perhaps it’s the refreshment of moving from California to Austin, but more likely it just the authority of road-hardened talent that allows Stuart to romance the melodies and rhythms of his country shuffles and roadhouse blues.

Stuart’s blossoming confidence shows in his songs, which flow from the grooves like old friends. The album’s originals open with the banjo, fiddle and guitar of “Restless, Ramblin’ Man.” Stuart sings against bluegrass harmonies about the uncontrollable wanderlust that’s kept him on the road for two-hundred dates a year. He writes of being blindsided, renewed and supported by love, but also of its ephemeral nature and the blue sorrow of its fade. He finds a comforting conclusion to serial monogamy on “Best Thing” and struts through a romantically sunny day on “Everything’s Going My Way.” Even when he’s kicking up his heels to escape the drudgery of the world’s ills, such as on the Mellancamp-esque “Fireflies & Corn Liquor,” Stuart keeps to the bright side.

The Bastard Sons cook up a country rock sound filled with driving beats, second-line rhythms, twangy electric guitar solos and well-placed blue notes. They only slow down twice, for the ballad “Lonestar, Lovestruck, Blues” and the beseeching lament, “Carolina.” The latter is surprisingly unresolved and morose, given the album’s definitive and upbeat tone. Stuart is on to a next-phase in his music, relaxing into the Austin scene and stepping out from the self-imposed shadow of Johnny Cash. [©2009 hyperbolium dot com]

MP3 | When Love Comes A Callin’
Mark Stuart and the Bastard Sons’ MySpace Page

Guy Clark: Somedays the Song Writes You

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GuyClark_SomedaysTheSongWritesYouFinely crafted acoustic country-folk songs from a Texas legend

The songwriter’s craft of juxtaposing words to describe a person, scene or situation or to communicate a feeling is only the surface of a process that starts deep within. The ability to step outside one’s own moment to describe what’s happening or happened, to recognize, observe and frame an experience in which one may be an active participant, is the more ephemeral side of songwriting. It’s something that few do as well as Guy Clark, and married to finely selected words, his songs provide uncommonly detailed and communicative windows into moments and people who might otherwise pass unobserved.

In the title song, Clark addresses the alchemical process of songwriting. He notes that songs often appear to songwriters from thin air to exert themselves into being. But with a writer of Clark’s caliber, years of practice has left him open to divine these works, to snatch a moment of consciousness out of the rushing river of living. On “Hemingway’s Whiskey” he communes writer to writer about the debilitating muse, offering a personal glimpse into the pain of writing, and a picture of drinking as a chronic enabler rather than the classic reactive salve to lost love. Clark is equally effective sketching the seedy side of town, conjuring the scene of a seafarer’s final voyage, and animating a pawn shop guitar. The latter’s twist ending is laid in a lovely flurry of acoustic finger picking.

The album is filled with lush acoustic playing from Clark and Verlon Thompson, and the rhythms of Kenny Malone (drums) and Bryn Davies (bass) provide a stable but subtle bottom end. Clark’s voice has weathered over the years, and though it’s never been the prettiest or most melodic instrument, it’s filled with emotion, particularly when covering his late friend Townes Van Zandt’s “If I Needed You.” His co-writes with Rodney Crowell, Shawn Camp, Gary Nicholson, as well as several up-and-coming writers, bring together two generations of his disciples. Clark’s long been a “songwriter’s songwriter,” but he’s never stopped working on his craft, and the results are plain to hear on this latest release. [©2009 hyperbolium dot com]

MP3 | The Guitar
Guy Clark’s Home Page

The Band of Heathens: One Foot in the Ether

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BandOfHeathens_OneFootInTheEtherAustin-style country, rock, folk, gospel, blues and soul

The Band of Heathens’ second studio album (their fourth overall, having started their recording career with two live releases) is a big step forward. The artistic palette of last year’s eponymous release is carried forward here, but the result sounds less like a collage of influences and more like a band that’s discovered its own groove. The twin inspirations of Little Feat and the Band remain particularly strong, but as channeled spirits rather than imitated sounds. With three singer-songwriters contributing a dozen originals to this self-produced release, the group clearly knows they have the goods. Their experience as a live unit pays dividends in the studio, as they sound like a band running through their set rather than musical architects constructing a recording.

The group’s comfort is immediately apparent on the chorus harmonies of “Say.” Their multipart singing is tight as a drum but also as loose as a casual back porch harmony session. The same is true for the gospel backing of “Shine a Light” and the lead passing on both the Little Feat groove “You’re Gonna Miss Me” and sad-sack blues “Right Here With Me.” This is a group that’s clearly spent time getting comfortable with one another. Their musical sympathy is heard in jamming solos and instrumental codas, and the seemingly ad libbed exhortation to “keep it going” as “You’re Gonna Miss Me” threatens to wind down.

The band’s name proves ironic as their songs are laced with biblical images. They sing of non-conformists, petulant ex-lovers, and independent ramblers, but these tales are filled with doubt and remorse. Gospel influences, both musical and liturgical, praise the hard work of salvation, cast an accusing eye towards the contradictions and hypocrisy of modern society, and call for reconciliation with one another and, seemingly, a higher power. The clanking blues “Golden Calf” warns of a false idol’s allure, and even songs of busted relationships have an eternal ring as they sing “you can give up, you can give in / but you can never quit.”

Last year’s studio debut climbed to the top of the Americana chart and promoted the band from scattered local club dates to a full touring schedule. Their continuing musical growth is evident in both the absorption of their top-line influences and the addition of new touches, such as the dripping Dark Side of the Moon styled guitar of “Look at Miss Ohio.” The results are organic and unforced, and by producing themselves and releasing on their own label, the group remains free to chase their singular, yet multi-headed musical muse. The adage “you have a lifetime to record your first album and a year to record your second” doesn’t seem to have vexed the Band of Heathens at all. [©2009 hyperbolium dot com]

MP3 | L.A. County Blues
Band of Heathens’ Home Page
Band of Heathens’ MySpace Page