Tag Archives: Country

Eilen Jewell: Sea of Tears

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eilenjewell_seaoftearsBlue country cool meets hot rock twang

Jewell’s third album retains the 30s jazz phrasings of her vocals, but the folk and country sounds of 2007’s Letters From Sinners & Saints give way to electric guitars that twang like slow-motion rockabilly. No fiddle or harmonica this time, and only a few vocal harmonies supplement the basic guitar, drums, and bass. Dark strums of sustain contrast interestingly with Jewell’s reflective vocals, turning Johnny Kidd & the Pirate’s “Shakin’ All Over” into a contest between cool reserve and hot guitar licks. Imagine the calm and collected Julie London backed by the Blue Caps’ galloping Cliff Gallup. The British Invasion also provides Them’s “I’m Gonna Dress in Black,” rousing Jewell to angry self-pity.

The three covers (which also include Loretta Lynn’s “The Darkest Day”) have been reworked to downbeat- and mid-tempos that dovetail seamlessly with the blue twang of the nine originals. The opening “Rain Rolls In” contrasts chiming 12-string and a languid vocal with a lyric whose resignation extends to the grave. A similar pairing is heard in the mid-tempo title track, a jaunty vocal mouthing words of romantic misery. The aftermath of rejection threads through many of these tunes, alternating between quests of forgiveness and solitary rejections of the outside world; even the blue-jazz pep-talk “Final Hour” is more an escape from lethargy than a trek towards self-empowerment.

The closing “Codeine Arms” bookends the opener’s sense of doom with a consumptive plea that’s closer to the ignominy of McCabe & Mrs. Miller‘s opium den than the desperation of Buffy St. Marie’s “Cod’ine.” Yesteryear jazz and blues vocalists, most obviously Billie Holiday, cast a spell over Jewell’s vocals, but the rootsy support of her band tends more to Christy McWilson territory than Madeline Peyroux. The absence of direct folk and country influences gives this disc a distinct roots-rock sound that’s more singularly focused than her previous releases. Jewell’s a talented songwriter and compelling vocalist, but guitarist Jerry Miller may be the real hidden treasure here. [©2009 hyperbolium dot com]

MP3 | Sea of Tears
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Collin Raye: Never Going Back

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collinraye_nevergoingback’90s hitmaker adds indie heart and soul to the spit and polish

Raye came out blazing in 1991, reeling off four straight million selling albums and a string of hit country singles. He waxed a compelling catalog that mixed standard Nashville topics with more daring message songs, but his commercial success tailed off at decade’s end. Freed from his contract with Epic, Raye’s gone the indie route with a live disc and a series of studio albums that rekindle the melodic productions of his hit years. His latest is more relaxed than 2005’s Twenty Years and Change, staying closer to the balladry of 2006’s Fearless. Raye’s Nashville fans may wonder where the twang got to, but his adopted West Coast country-rock sound fits him well. Eagles fans will do a double-take as the title track borrows a good page from the Don Henley songbook.

The echo of Henley’s voice is actually heard throughout the album, even when the lyrics turn to more straightforward love ballads and the productions gain a smoothness the Eagles typically didn’t seek. Raye clearly learned a thing or two about record production during his tenure with Epic, and with producer Michael Curtis he’s waxed an indie album that sounds as polished as anything on the majors. That may seem easy in this day of vocal tuning, digital processing and automated mixing, but knowing what to record and how to record it aren’t lessons that come with computer software. This is a mainstream album, but Raye’s loosened up his Nashville instincts by recording in Muscle Shoals, allowing local players to add a dash of swinging soul that pushes the music beyond cookie cutter contemporary country.

The Muscle Shoals sound refreshes a cover of Stealers Wheel’s “Stuck in the Middle with You.” You can still hear the song’s signature melodic hook, but the organ and guitar are rowdier and the vocal is more of a bar-band blues shout than the original’s nasal nod to Dylan. Dire Straits-styled guitar chords open the satisfied “Mid-Life Chrysler,” and a serendipitous Las Vegas adventure provides the story for the carefree “Where it Leads.” A few of the love songs sound pedestrian in this company, and a cover of “Without You” is staged as a duet (with Susan Ashton) that’s professional but no match for Nilsson’s signature hit. More engaging is the lost-husband tearjerker “The Cross” and Raye’s thought-provoking take on a Christian’s individual responsibility, “The Only Jesus.” The album closes with the highly personal “She’s With Me,” a tender acoustic ballad written by Raye for his granddaughter.

On its surface, this album sounds like others coming out of Nashville, and could readily catch on with radio. But there’s a lot more heart, soul, craft and emotion here than the typical Music Row construction, and this could also catch on with those who’ve forsaken mainstream country. Raye’s fans will find him in great voice and spirits, and those alt.country fans who find that commercial production favorably crosses their ears once in awhile should check out the upbeat tracks for a taste of country rock and soul. [©2009 hyperbolium dot com]

MP3 | She’s With Me
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Country All Stars: Jazz From the Hills

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countryallstars_jazzfromthehillsAll star country string-jazz session

This CD reproduces the 1954 RCA ten-inch String Dustin’, featuring country legends Chet Atkins, Homer Haynes, Jethro Burns and Jerry Byrd, and adds sides from 1956 that augment the all star lineup with jazz guitarist George Barnes. In retrospect, it’s easy to think of Atkins picking jazz, but at the time it was still unusual for country artists to cross over. Those who know Homer & Jethro from their comedy records may be surprised by their top-notch guitar and mandolin playing. The material is a mix of pop and jazz, and the group (which included a changing line-up of session bassists, drummers and pianists, as well as fiddle player Dale Potter) gives most of these tunes a hillbilly twist. Haynes, Burns and Byrd each sing a few, but the real charm of these sessions is the high-spirited instrumental interplay. [©2009 hyperbolium dot com]

Slaid Cleaves: Everything You Love Will Be Taken Away

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slaidcleaves_everythingyouloveDevastating album of anguished folk, rock and country

Austin singer-songwriter Slaid Cleaves returns with an album of Americana whose quiet beauty belies lyrics of deep resignation. Just as Springsteen’s anthems can obscure his bite, Cleaves presents his songs with an offhandedness that, on the surface, offsets the despondency of his words. The angst of love’s vulnerability, the political, social and economic polarization of a new gilded age, and the human misery of war are just a few topics that lead Cleaves to close with the fatalistic proscription “live well and learn to die, soon in the dust you’ll lie, with everything you know / Cruel death will not spare, the wise the young or fair, let’s drain this cup of woe.” The album is titled Everything You Love Will Be Taken Away, after all.

Cleaves sings with a warmth that infuses an element of hope in the crushing blows he delivers. Is there hard-won pain or only a clever couplet in singing “Every man is a myth, every woman a dream / Watch your little heart get crushed when the truth gets in between”? Is there bitterness or repudiation in “Here comes another blown up kid from over there / Making the whole world safe for the millionaires”? Probably a bit of each. The deftness with which he explicates characters in a perfectly framed, heartbreaking moment is breathtaking; he highlights the comfort and torment memories create in a war widow with the lyric, “I lose a little bit of myself with each tear I wipe away,” and captures the humanity of hookers in their attempt to keep warm on a Christmas Eve stroll.

Even when singing in the first person, Cleaves is more of an observer than a participant, and when he reports, it’s with a keen eye. His story of an old-time hanging, “Twistin’,” is an uncomfortably business-as-usual outing that connects to a devastatingly modern indictment. His quiet vocal lets the horrors speak for themselves, with corporal drum and moaning fiddle standing as characters. His cover of Ray Bonneville’s “Run Jolee Run” cycles from hunted to hunter and back to hunted, and the romantic of “Dreams” wonders “where do all your dreams go to, when it all starts to turn untrue / what is all your wishing for, when you don’t believe in dreams anymore?”

The album winds down with a bitter critique of politicians, global industrialists and sleepwalking media, somehow managing to retain a belief in the goodness of man. The closer, “Temporary,” resigns itself to existential impermanence. The magic of this album is how appealing Cleaves and his producer, Gurf Morlix, make such downbeat material. The arrangements are spare and quiet, the tempos deliberate, and though Cleaves is in his mid-forties, his voice retains a youthful tone that’s slightly scratched at the top end of his range. This is the most absorbing album Cleaves has recorded so far, and a strong contender for album-of-the-year honors. [©2009 hyperbolium dot com]

MP3 | Cry
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George Jones: A Picture of Me (Without You) / Nothing Ever Hurt Me (Half as Bad as Losing You)

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georgejones_picturemenothingeverStellar twofer of Jones’ early work with Billy Sherrill

By the early 1970s, George Jones had through lived enough personal and professional experience for several mere mortals. He’d been discovered by producer Pappy Daily, broke as a hardcore honky-tonker in the mid-50s, graduated into a compelling balladeer by decade’s end, notched solo and duet classics throughout the ’60s, developed a drinking habit that begat his “No Show Jones” nickname, divorce his second wife to marry Tammy Wynette (with whom he launched a successful string of duet releases), and left Daily behind when he signed with Epic in 1971. Epic teamed Jones with legendary countrypolitan producer Billy Sherrill, and after the optimistic, love-soaked George Jones (We Can Make It), the duo dug into this superb pair of albums.

1972’s A Picture of Me (Without You) finds Jones and Sherrill getting more comfortable with one another. Sherrill’s influence dominates the backgrounds with tight arrangements, measured tempos, smoothing touches of piano and strings, and backing vocals by the Jordanaires. There’s a good helping of pedal steel, but it’s Jones’ voice that turns Sherrill’s productions from a sticky trap into winning contrast. Jones sounds remarkably comfortable throughout these sessions, singing with the ease with which others merely speak. He’d recorded (and would again record) more pyrotechnically astonishing performances, but singing songs that reflected his troubled marriage, he connected at a basic human level with his material.

1973’s Nothing Ever Hurt Me stretches in two directions, with Sherrill’s arrangements a shade slicker and Jones’ vocals a notch rawer. Even the ballads, like Don Gibson’s “Made for the Blues,” are sung in a straight country tone, without any sort of croon. Sherrill uses acoustic guitars to add a folksy edge to the layers of strings. Thematically, things seem to have been going better in the Jones-Wynette household, as the album features several love songs, and drinking only figures into the closer, “Wine (You’ve Used Me Long Enough).” Then again, the drinking song was a Jones-Wynette co-write, so who knows? As on the previous album, there are numerous individual highlights, including a solemn cover of Lefty Frizzell’s “Mom and Dad’s” waltz that gives Jones a chance to dig into his lower notes.

Given the huge amount of material Jones recorded for Musicor (before hopping to Epic) throughout the ’60s, it’s a wonder that he had anything left to give. The opportunity to slow down, pick and write songs, and work through arrangements with a strong-willed but sympathetic producer seems to have tapped into yet another reservoir of artistry. Jones has released nearly a hundred albums over the course of fifty years, but most were showcases for hit singles and filler; few were as solid as this pair. Though a greatest hits package is a good place to get a broader look, this two-fer is a terrific introduction to the basic elements of Jones’ artistry. [©2009 hyperbolium dot com]

On Tour: Scott Miller

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In support of his new release For Crying Out Loud, former V-Roy Scott Miller hits the rails for an East Coast tour.

MP3 | Heart in Harm’s Way

May 9 NEW ORLEANS, LA Amtrak Station, 5:30 p.m. (full band)
May 13 GREENVILLE, SC Handlebar (solo)
May 15 CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA Gravity Lounge (solo)
May 16 WASHINGTON, DC/ALEXANDRIA, VA Iota (solo)
May 17 EASTON, MD Night Cat (solo)
May 19 PHILADELPHIA, PA World Café (solo)
May 20 NEW YORK, NY The Living Room

Press Release

Scott Miller: For Crying Out Loud

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scottmiller_forcryingoutloudPop, rock, country and blues from former V-Roy

From the top: this is not Scott Miller of Game Theory (or the Loud Family), nor is it the Scott Miller who’s self-released five blues albums throughout the last decade, nor the Scott Miller who played drums for Agent Orange. It is, in fact, the Scott Miller who sang, played guitar and wrote songs for the late ’90s power-twang band, the V-Roys. Since the group’s demise, Miller’s been recording solo albums and performing with a revolving aggregation called the Commonwealth. After three studio releases and a live set on Sugar Hill, this self-released album features a similar blend of country and rock influences, though with acoustic power chords mostly replacing electric.

The album opens with the ranting anthem, “Cheap Ain’t Cheap (For Crying Out Loud),” expressing a sideways anticipation of the New Depression. The album’s up-tempo numbers include driving acoustics, New Orleans-tinged country-rock, and the Blasters’ styled roots of “Claire Marie.” These are interwoven with singer-songwriter tunes that include the Celtic harmony duet “I’m Right Here, My Love,” sung with Patty Griffin, and the solo closer, “Appalachian Refugee.” The acoustic works turns darker on the expose “Sin in Indiana,” and the low twanging “Double Indemnity” harbors noirish secrets in its blue notes.

Miller can seem like a glass-half-empty romanticist; blowing blue harmonica as he declares his faults on “Let You Down” and shying away from opportunity on “Heart in Harm’s Way.” But the sentiments are coy in their hope that honest declaration and cautious refusal will ward off imagined disasters; think Nick Lowe, Ben Vaughn and Tom T. Hall (whose “I Can’t Dance” is covered here). Miller transitions smoothly between pop, rock, country and blues, and though at time you’ll wish he’d alight on one for more than a song at a time, the next tune always sweeps you away. [©2009 hyperbolium dot com]

MP3 | Heart in Harm’s Way
Scott Miller’s Home Page
Scott Miller’s MySpace Page

Dolly Parton: 9 to 5 and Odd Jobs

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dollyparton_9to5Country and pop from Hollywood Dolly

In celebration of 9 to 5: The Musical‘s Broadway debut, RCA/Legacy has reissued Parton’s 1980 album with a trio of bonus tracks. Building on the 1977 pop breakthrough, “Here You Come Again,” 9 to 5 (as a film, album and single) cemented Parton’s draw beyond her core country audience. She’d released Dolly, Dolly, Dolly earlier in the year, and its orchestrated AOL covers freed her to indulge more country sounds here. The 9 to 5 album topped the country chart and the title single topped the country, pop and AC charts. The album’s second single, a light-pop cover of the First Edition’s “But You Know I Love You” (originally sung by future duet partner Kenny Rogers) also topped the country chart, and a disco cover of “The House of the Rising Sun” made the top twenty.

The hit singles provide a fare representation of the album’s variety. Parton’s originals include the hopeful, country gospel “Hush-A-Bye Hard Times,” the unapologetic portrait “Working Girl,” and the homespun values of “Poor Folks Town.” The covers are more diverse, including a delicate reading of Woody Guthrie’s “Deportee” and a solemn take on Merle Travis’ “Dark as a Dungeon.” Less successful is the pedestrian Nashville backing given to Mel Tillis’ “Detroit City” and Mike Post’s badly aging arrangement of “Sing for the Common Man.” Yet even when backed by hackneyed keyboards, liquid guitars and by-the-numbers strings, Parton’s voice still shines.

The struggles and successes of working people provide the album a theme, but the album never musters the artistic force of Coat of Many Colors, My Tennessee Mountain Home or Jolene. Parton’s in excellent voice throughout, but her bid for broader commercial success leaves several tracks uncomfortably laden with pop clichés. Legacy’s 2009 reissue adds a previously unreleased session cover of Sly and the Family Stone’s “Everyday People,” a beat-heavy 2008 house remix of “9 to 5,” and a lead vocal-free remix of “9 to 5” that puts you in Dolly’s rhinestone-studded high-heeled shoes. Bonuses aside, it’s the album’s originals and selected covers that make this an essential entry in Parton’s catalog. [©2009 hyperbolium dot com]

Willie Nelson: Naked Willie

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willienelson_nakedwillieWillie’s Nashville-era work stripped to the studs

Nelson’s longtime harmonica player Mickey Raphael “unproduced” these seventeen tracks from the original RCA multitrack masters, drawing material from 1967’s The Party’s Over and Other Great Willie Nelson Songs, 1969’s My Own Peculiar Way, 1970’s Laying My Burdens Down, 1971’s Willie Nelson & Family, and a few rarities, including the 1968 single “Bring Me Sunshine,” and the archive tracks “Jimmy’s Road” from 1968 and “If You Could See What’s Going Through My Mind” from 1970. The new mixes are stripped of strings and backing vocals, leaving Nelson’s voice up front of rudimentary arrangements of guitar, bass, piano and drums, and occasional flourishes of vibraphone, steel and organ.

Unfortunately, the notion that these de-sweetened versions get to the roots of the songwriter’s original vision is only half true, as Nelson and Raphael could only work with what was on the tapes, which includes unswinging Nashville-styled performances from studio A-listers. The basic tracks were purposely arranged as scaffolding upon which decoration was to be layered, distracting decoration perhaps, but decoration that was part of the original architecture. What’s left sounds unfinished, rather than the original root of something that was embellished. Even without the orchestration and backing chorus, Nelson’s vocals remain at odds with the backing players, confined by Nashville’s straight time, and unable to launch his idiosyncratic stylings.

This would be less evident had Nelson not bucked Nashville’s constrictions and satisfied his muse across dozens of celebrated albums for Atlantic and Columbia. These de-produced versions are neither the intricately assembled, finished products of Nelson’s producers, nor the fleshed out visions of a singer-songwriter chafing against Nashville’s conventions. The Nashville studio players only hint at the emotional work that would back Nelson’s breakthrough efforts. Fans will enjoy hearing Nelson’s voice out front of these terrific songs, but there isn’t true gold lurking beneath the orchestrations and backing vocalists, only a clearer picture of just how desperately Nelson needed to break free of Nashville’s way of doing things. [©2009 hyperbolium dot com]

Skeeter Davis: The Essential Skeeter Davis

skeeterdavis_essentialSolid single-disc overview of Davis’ country and pop hits

Skeeter Davis was one of Nashville’s early female crossover stars, producing twangy country sides, Brill Building pop productions, and several hits that straddled both worlds. Her recording career opened on the country charts as half of The Davis Sisters with the sad duet “I Forgot More Than You’ll Ever Know.” Though sung in forlorn harmony with a strong pedal steel, the 1953 country chart topper also found its way into the pop Top-20. Sadly, Davis’ partner (though not actually her sister), Betty Jack Davis, was killed in a car crash, leaving Skeeter Davis to partner with Betty Jack’s sister for a couple more years.

When the reformulated Davis Sisters failed to click, Skeeter Davis moved on as a solo, signing with RCA and coming under the care of guitarist/producer Chet Atkins. Atkins’ doubling of her voice on country hits “Set Him Free,” “Am I That Easy to Forget,” “My Last Date (With You)” and “Where I Ought to Be” suggested the harmonies of the Davis Sisters, with Skeeter stepping out solo on selected verses. Davis returned to the pop charts as a solo artist with 1960’s “(I Can’t Help You) I’m Falling Too,” this time employing a countrypolitan sound shorn of steel and fiddle. Her original lyrical version of Floyd Cramer’s “Last Date” (retitled “My Last Date (With You)”) continued the dual country/pop success, and in 1963 she scored her biggest crossover hit with “The End of the World.”

The violin chart and heartbroken lyric of “The End of the World” suggested superb pop productions on the horizon. She reached the pop Top 10 with Goffin & King’s “I Can’t Stay Mad at You,” featuring Neil Sedaka-styled “shoobee doobee” backing vocals, a full Brill Buildling production, and a chipper girl-group lead. She also picked up “Let Me Get Close to You” from the Goffin & King catalog, doubling her vocal with pop harmonies that suggest Carole King’s early sides. Davis sang Brenda Lee styled ballads, pop confections, and continued to mint hits throughout the 1960s, including the lovely pizzicato “What Does It Take (To Keep a Man Like You Satisfied)” in 1967, and a ’50s styled cover of Dolly Parton’s “Fuel to the Flame.” This collection closes with Davis’ last two major hits, 1970’s Loretta Lynn flavored “I’m a Lover (Not a Fighter),” and 1971’s autobiographical “Bus Fare to Kentucky.”

Davis had too many hits to collect on a single disc, but the Essential set does an excellent job of balancing important tracks from both the country and pop sides of her career. Several lower charting country hits, including her Grammy® nominated cover of the Original Caste’s (and later Coven’s) “One Tin Soldier,” are omitted due to space constraints. Still, this is the most comprehensive single-disc collection issued so far, and makes a perfect starting point for enjoying Davis’ twenty year career as a hit maker. Those looking for a deeper helping of her country sides should check out the Country Legends collection, those craving more from the pop side should find the Pop Hits Collection (Vol. 1, Vol. 2). [©2009 hyperbolium dot com]