January 2011 Recap

Lots of noteworthy things happened while I was on hiatus in January. Here's a quick rundown of what I missed while I was moving and getting settled.

#1. Justin Townes Earle started out 2011 by rocking it on Letterman on January 5, playing the title track from his 2010 release Harlem River Blues. Make sure to note Jason Isbell killing it on lead guitar .

Gary Louris of the Jayhawks.
Photo by Frank at Chromewaves.

#2. I cursed and cursed and cursed when I learned that The Jayhawks were opening their reunion tour in Toronto at the Phoenix, on January 18, only two weeks after I moved. This show coincided with the reissues of their classic albums Tomorrow the Green Grass and Hollywood Town Hall. From everything that I read, the show was pretty great:

Most obviously it was there in their vocals and the way their harmonies interlocked – as good as they sounded individually it was like their voices were meant to be together for always – but also in the way their guitars played off one another, Olson’s acoustic rhythm and Louris’ searing electric leads reminding that they played both sides of the country-rock tag equally and just that undefinable but undeniable chemistry between them.
- Chromewaves.net

The Jayhawks' style has certainly aged well, and the clichéd yet accurate observation that "they sound better than ever" was heard exchanged between more than a few contented concertgoers. - Exclaim!

The Jayhawks really were fantastic. A bit of a slow build but then they got rocking. Harmonies were blissful. The new songs had a very defintie new energy and excitement. They are coming back around in the summer with that tour. - Rad Jen

It was awesome, original line-up. It was fucking epic. I feel rough today. - Kellow

After some address changing issues were cleared up with Amazon and my credit card company, I finally received TTGG and HTH in the mail last week. And let me tell you, they sound so good.

Leave No Gold.mp3
Buy: Hollywood Town Hall (2011 Expanded Edition)

Tomorrow the Green Grass.mp3
Buy: Tomorrow The Green Grass (2011, 2 CD Legacy Edition)


#3. My main man Hayes Carll played on the Tonight Show on January 21, and my cable was installed on January 22. Grumble, grumble. Despite the fact the Jay didn't know what the fuck he was talking about, Carll and his band destroyed it on Leno. Is "KMAG YO YO" not "Subterranean Homesick Blues" on meth? The album KMAG YOYO will be officially released on February 15.




#4. Todd Snider wrote an amazing essay for the Village Voice blog on what he would do if he met Bob Dyaln.

it's hard to think of new ways to consider bob dylan and his work
he's probably the most debated and discussed singer to ever live.
but here's a question. especially for songwriters.
what are you going to do if you meet bob dylan?
.....continue reading here.

Snider released his latest album, the two-disc Todd Snider Live: The Storyteller on February 1. He played an acoustic gig in Boston last night. A review will be forthcoming.

Keep Off the Grass.mp3
From: Tales from Moondawg's Tavern (2000 bootleg)


#5. In Hunstville, Alabama, on January 27th, Jason Isbell joined the Drive-By Truckers on stage for the first time in four years. My blogger colleague AutopsyIV at Nine Bullets has the full run-down. WOW! Even without Isbell, the Truckers remain one of my top five live acts. I'm very jealous of all of you fuckers who were at that Huntsville show!

See ya White Stripes

Yesterday afternoon twitter exploded with the unsurprising news that The White Stripes were officially calling it quits. Considering that they hadn't put out an album since 2007, and that Jack White has had about 25,000 "side" projects with various bands and producing gigs over the last few years, one can hardly be shocked by this announcement. I did, however, feel a twinge of sadness upon reading this news.

I will always remember exactly where I was when I first heard The White Stripes. It was spring of 2002 and I had just moved to Toronto. I was driving around the west end, completely lost, when I heard "Fell in Love With a Girl" on the radio. Holy crap! What is this? Love at first listen.

I then read in Rolling Stone and Spin about how all of the "The" bands (The White Stripes, The Strokes, The Vines and The Hives, I wrote about this in March 2009) were supposed to "save" rock and roll, like rock needed saving. The White Stripes were really the only ones of this bunch to achieve significant commercial success. And despite Jack White being a totally weird dude, I was completely enamored with his brand of stripped-down, blues-based rock, especially on the first three albums.

Although a lot of critics cite Elephant as their best work (it won a fucking Grammy for Best Alternative Album), White Blood Cells will always remain my main White Stripes love. My friends and I would sing along to the entire album - from the folk-pop "Hotel Yorba" to the "Union Forever," who's lyrics are taken entirely from Citizen Kane lines, to the sweet "We're Going to Be Friends," to the awesome garage-punk of "Fell in Love With a Girl." My buddy Vic would play guitar and I would try to sing along to "Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground." The White Stripes did "Dead Leaves" and "We're Going to be Friends" that fall on Saturday Night Live. John fucking McCain was the host.

As the they posted on their web site: "The White Stripes do not belong to Meg and Jack anymore. The White Stripes belong to you now and you can do with it whatever you want. The beauty of art and music is that it can last forever if people want it to. Thank you for sharing this experience. Your involvement will never be lost on us and we are truly grateful."

Thanks for the music Jack and Meg. Can't wait to see what you do next.

The Big Three Killed My Baby.mp3
Buy: The White Stripes (1999)

Why Can't You Be Nicer to Me?.mp3
Buy: De Stijl (2000)

Fell in Love With a Girl.mp3
Buy: White Blood Cells (2001)

February Feel Bad For You Comp

While I was on hiatus I enlisted my colleague TruerSound to curate the monthly Feel Bad For You comp for our friends on AltCountryTab.ca. TruerSound in turn enlisted the help of RomeoSidVicious and his mad programming skillz to turn the comp completely digital, with it's own URL and other fancy crap. TruerSound also enlisted the musical opinions of other friends/bloggers/jokers/sociopaths to contribute to this fine project, to make it more diverse and shit. Friends, I present to you, the February Feel Bad For You comp, complete with it's own website, FBFY Monthly Mixtape, and cool cassette streaming thingy. You can click on the aforementioned link to download the comp and to see which contributor you would like to blame for their terrible choice in songs. Enjoy!

1. Andrew Combs - Tennessee Time.mp3
Buy (Bandcamp): Tennessee Time (2010)
Submitted By: Autopsy IV
Comments: Jordan, the manager of The Only Sons, gave me a heads up about this guy. He was in Tampa working the merch table for the Caitlin Rose / Justin Townes Earle tour. We had a short conversation and I recorded him playing a song for me. A couple of days later he emailed me this album and it’s fucking great.

2. The Backsliders - "Broken Wings"
From: Throwing Rocks At The Moon (1997)
Submitted By: Truersound
Comments: “the distance from the bottle to the floor/gets closer evertime I drink one more” A classic song off a classic album

3. Against Me! - "Holy Shit"
From: Searching For A Former Clarity (2005)
Submitted By: PearlSnapMan
Comments: I’ve been completely obsessed with this song and this band recently.

4. Amazing Rhythm Aces - "King Of The Cowboys"
From: Stacked Deck (1975)
Submitted By: erschen
Comments: Nice 70′s country rock. They are most known for their lone hit, Third Rate Romance. I came across this song a few years back. Beautiful piano by James Hooker, who’s been a part of Nanci Griffith’s band for many years. Also, some nice harmonies. Kind of an ode to westerns.

5. Charlie Parr and the Black Twig Pickers - "The Whupped Him Up The Hill"
From: Glory in the Meeting House (2010)
Submitted By: RomeoSidVicious
Comments: I have been on sort of a Gospel kick in my personal playlists lately and now I am going to share that kick with all of ya’ll. This is just an amazing track with great vocals and an awesome backing band. “Church music” by and large sucks and is rarely anything I would listen to but old timey Gospel is a different story and this one comes from a more visceral time when they weren’t afraid to paint a mental image with hymns. Nowadays, if you ever darken a church house door, you won’t hear anything like this because the current crop of religious people are mostly in it just to feel good. It doesn’t matter if you religious or not this is still a great track from a different time.

6. Good Old War - "That’s Some Dream"
From: Good Old War (2010)
Submitted By: Blair Hook

7. The Bohannons - Axe To Grind.mp3
Buy (Bandcamp): Days of Echo (2010)
Submitted by: Corey Flegel
Comments: I’ve been extremely lucky to go on the road with the rock band Glossary the past couple of years or so…I don’t know where we were, but I remember reading some very loose talk on a random bar room bathroom stall about some band called the Bohannons. I didn’t think a whole lot about it until I was later pillaging the Grand Palace poster stash and saw a poster for a Lucero/Bohannons show that was pretty pretty badass. I hollered at Bingham Barnes(Glossary bassist and Grand Palace silkscreen extraordinaire) and said- Hey I know these Bohannons! I read about them that time…Anyways, Bingham says- oh yeah, The Bohannons are the super rock your body/melt your face awesome dudes from Chattanooga. And Lord knows they are…I love this band. I think they ate my brain…

8. Tommy Womack - You Don’t Get Over Love.mp3
From: Unreleased
Submitted By: toomuchcountry
Comments: This song belongs in this month’s FBFY compilation for a couple of reasons. One, February – Valentine’s – Love – Broken Hearts – Whatever. Also, Tommy Womack recently released a Government Cheese anthology and has scheduled two February reunion shows in Bowling Green, KY and and Nashville. (Buy, read, devour & laugh at Cheese Chronicles: The True Story Of A Rock-n-Roll Band You’ve Never Heard Of if you want to learn more.) This song has never been released on any of Womack’s solo material. Its from a performance on March 10, 2001 at the now-gone 12th & Porter bar/restaurant in Nashville as Tommy opened for Scott Miller. Womack was about six years removed from the breakup of the Cheese, and Miller had just formed Scott Miller & The Commonwealth two years after the dissolution of The V-Roys. You Don’t Get Over Love, and you don’t get over great music.

9. Miss Quincy - Wild Mountain Flower.mp3
Buy (CD Baby): Your Mama Won’t Like Me (2011)
Submitted by: Simon2307
Comments: Seem to have a thing for female vocals and banjo’s at the moment – this is a new one on my playlist.

10. The Church Keys - "Brother Was You Prayin’"
From: Work With It! (1999)
Submitted By: Bowood
Comments: Was going to send in these guys’ “Pigtails Plaid Skirt” , but as just listening to that song may be a felony, rip it up with this stomper instead.

11. The Great Recession Orchestra - "Chinese Honeymoon"
From: Have You Ever Even Heard of Milton Brown? (2010)
Submitted By: Mike Orren
Comments: While Bob Wills is the undisputed King of Texas Swing, it was invented by the long-forgotten Milton Brown. A crew of some of Fort Worth’s top musicians rediscovered Brown’s work last year and produced a tribute album showcasing Brown’s more gypsy jazz-heavy fusion with hillbilly music. “Chinese Honeymoon” is a nice uptempo intro to the album.

12. Kitty Wells - "My Big Truck Drivin’ Man"
From: Kitty Wells Showcase (1968)
Submitted By: DCNoise
Comments: Kitty Wells: older than your grandma, cooler than you.

13. Reckless Kelly - "She Sang the Red River Valley"
From: Acoustic: Live At Stubb’s (2000)
Submitted By: Rockstar Aimz
Comments: This song makes me want to learn how to play guitar.

14. The Snake The Cross The Crown - "Gypsy Melodies"
From: Cotton Teeth (2007)
Submitted By: Beldo
Comments: I’ve been listening to this album a lot lately. One of my favorites of 2007. Getting worried that I haven’t heard a peep from these guys in four years.

15. The Civil Wars - "Barton Hollow"
From: Barton Hollow (2011)
Submitted By: Phil Norman
Comments: Sure, they got popular due to a Grey’s Anatomy placement. So what — that tune, “Poison and Wine,” leaves me quivering in my seat. Sure, they do the same sappy folky thing time and time again. So what — they do it right.

16. Pete Stein - Tiny Creatures.mp3
From: Dark Horse demos (2010)
Submitted By: TheOtherBrit
Comments: I think I’ve seen Pete from Truckstop Coffee play more than any other artist in the last year or two. This is a song of a demo album he’s been touring with the last few months. From what I’ve heard live his next full album should be pretty great.

17. Ponderosa - "Devil On My Shoulder"
From: Moonlight Revival (2011)
Submitted By: Trailer

18. R.B. Morris - "Roy"
From: Take That Ride (1997)
Submitted By: Brad
Comments: Here’s RB Morris. Great songwriter, He’s a poet from Knoxville, picked up a guitar and now does this. This one is a classic album. Scott Miller thinks this guy’s the shit. You’ll recognize the very famous singer on this song instantly. This is a great song. No Cheeseburger [Editor's Note: Jimmy Buffet reference], but great nonetheless. Listen a couple of times, and you’ll be singing it over your oatmeal in the morning.

19. Neko Case - "Deep Red Bells"
From: Blacklisted (2002)
Submitted By: Cowbelle
Comments: My favorite Neko track, nine years later.

20. Jimmy Sturr - "Edelweiss"
From: Polka! All Night Long (1996)
Submitted By: Gorrck

Snow Rage Freak Out!

I told you that I would freak out if we got any more snow! Up to a total of 21 more inches by tomorrow afternoon. Fuck this! I'm on the next plane to Cancun. If planes could get out, that is.

Alice Cooper - Freak Out Song.mp3
From: Live in Toronto (1969 bootleg)