Episode 74 - Black Mountain and Sonia Leigh

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWvEY9GiN8w&w=560&h=315]



listen to more samples and get Wilderness Heart here



Listen to more samples and get 1978 December here

Jill Scott and Emmylou Harris - Episode 69

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIZUnXvKwbc]

Get Light of the Sun here

Get Hard Bargain here

Get the deluxe edition here

CD Review Patterson Hood "Killers and Stars" - One you might have missed

Artist: Patterson Hood
Album: Killers and Stars
Worth Buying: Yes, if you can take the darkness
You might be interested in this album is you are a fan of: Indie Folk, Americana, and Intensely dark songs that are sparsely recorded.

Tell Me More: Patterson Hood is one dark dude. At least that’s what I would think if my only information about him came from his songs. One of the principle songwriters of the Drive By Truckers (A band who’s music also deals in lot’s of dark themes, but are often tempered with irony and dark humor).

On the CD liner notes he states that he recorded the album by himself in his living room. He had just been divorced, was fighting with his band (the Truckers) and recorded it in two days, describing the album as therapy.

While he sold limited pressings at his solo shows it didn’t become more widely available till a few years ago. I have only just gotten a hold of it till now and I am blown away by the stunning and desolate starkness of the songs. This is not happy listening, but it is powerful listening.

Right out the gate with the opening track, Uncle Disney, you know what kind of a ride you are in for.

When they thaw out - Uncle Disney
Gonna be some changes made
Pointing fingers, asking questions
Forty years of decisions made.

Other songs follow suit telling dark stories of neighbors all gossiping about how a local man hasn’t been the same person since his transplant (Phil’s Transplant) and a lonely man transfixed over a picture of a golden age starlet (Frances Farmer)

An album like Killers and Stars is a rare occurrence. One when an artist needs to put aside production and just let the immediacy of the emotion coming from the first recording take precedence. And this is what
Patterson Hood has done.

What about the packaging? Standard Jewel case with an 8 panel fold out that includes all the lyrics.

Get this album on CD

Get this album on Mp3 for a few dollars less

Music Worth Buying 11/24/08 Michael Ubaldini

Artist: Michael Ubaldini

Albums: Acoustic Rumble & Street Singin' Troubadour

Worth Buying: Yes, Both Albums

You will be interested in these albums if you are a fan of: Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, John Mellencamp, Brian Setzer, Johnny Cash, Roots Rock'n'Roll, Americana

Tell Me More: When Bruce Springsteen first hit the music scene there where those who called him a poor man's Bob Dylan. When John Mellencamp first hit the music scene there where those who called him the poor man's Bruce Springsteen. But when Micheal Ubaldini released Acoustic Rumble in 1999, LA Times critic Mike Bohem wrote "Better then Springsteen at probing the national soul".

As a musician working the local scene, I wasn't aware of any of this. But people would say to me "Have you heard Micheal Ubaldini?". No I would reply, figuring that I better start.

That start began with Acoustic Rumble. The title implied that this would be a stripped down acoustic album. It also implied that it would rock. It didn't dissapoint on either count. Starting with the album first track The Seventh Trumpet with it's mean rock groove and lyrics shouting out at me:

Well it's a death sentance if you have sex in the morning time

You wanna be a celebrity or a hero? commit a heinous crime!

Where we gonna go, yeah where we gonna go, when the 7th trumpet blows

Before this song even  ended I was thinking, "This guy could be the next Bob Dylan".

Acoustic Rumble is sparse with usually just two acoustic guitars playing together, some occasional lead guitar, some subtle bass guitar, and light percussion. But it rocks. It rocks with conviction, It it rocks like a young man who is hungry and anxious to get his message out.

I am not always sure if he always intended it to be an acoustic album. Sometimes I wonder if he just didn't have the resources to record a full band album, or if he was just in a hurry to get his musical statement out and doing it acousticly was the best way to achieve that. Either way it worked. Because when I listen to Acoustic Rumble, it feels like the band is there. Rocking right alongside him.

Now almost 10 Years later (and after releasing several albums with songs ranging from Rock, Blues, Rockabilly, Country, and Roots) He appears (at first glance) to be returning to Acoustic Rumble with his latest CD Street Singing Troubadour. Like Rumble, Troubadour is an acoustic album, but the similarities end there.

Troubadour is quieter. It is the quietest album he has ever done. It is also the darkest album he has ever done, and a whole helluva lot more reflective. This time it's just one guitar, one voice, and occasionally a harmonica. If Rumble is stripped down, then Troubadour is the skeleton. For all I know, he might have recorded each one of these tracks live, and if he did, so much the better, because the performance is startling. And even though this is very much a folk album, it is still able to convey feelings of anger and outrage at society's ills, and tell stories about life, as well as any rocker could. But then Ubaldini is a Rocker, and this is his folk album in the tradditional sense of the word.

Acoustic Rumble is an acoustic album that rocks you. It rocks you physically and intellectually. Street Singin' Troubadour does not rock. But take the time out from your busy schedule to really listen to it, it will move you in quieter more subtle ways that will surprise you.

I will close out this review with first lines of lyric from the first song from Street Singin' Troubadour

Kingdoms are slowly falling The sky's fire evil and despair

River waters overflow with anger

Winds of Fire Burn Terrain everywhere

The voice of anger is rising with the sonnets of the sage

The voice of truth the four winds rage

ringing out with the sound of the age

Listen to (and buy) Acoustic Rumble

Listen to (and buy) Street Singin' Troubador

To order in the CD format click here

On the Highway of Music Rock is the hybrid.

 

Country music is country music. Sure there is a lot of modern pop and rock influence going into it these days, and sure a lot of the “pop stars with cowboy hats" stuff doesn’t even sound like country music any more, but country music is still country.

 

Same goes for Jazz. Jazz has probably weathered attempts to modernize (once again by adding pop influences) a whole lot better than Country, but it’s still Jazz

 

Classical….well, it’s Classical. It doesn’t change. Because some things need to be timeless. .

 

But Rck is the hybrid.

 

Rock started as a hybrid. Blues musicians where trying to amp up the blues, and country musicians where trying to play the blues and rock happened.

 

From that starting point rock became the genre where we mix in blues, pop, country, folk, classical, soul, jazz and more.

 

Rock can be soft, & rock can be hard, it can sound folksy, funky, or just plain weird. Rock can silly and rock can be deadly serious.  In rock you can write a 45 minute concept piece about the afterlife, or you can write a 2min and 30 sec song about how red hot your girl is.

 

Rock is political and rock is about your car. Rock is about love and rock is about hate. Rock can be about values and stability and rock can be about reckless abandon.

 

Rock can be anything we want it to be.

 

And this is why I love it and this is why it is my favorite.

 

 

 

 

Music Worth buying week of 09/01/08 Michael Ubaldini

Artist:Michael Ubaldini

Single: Talkin'  High Gas Price Blues

Worth Buying: Yes

You will be interested in this song if you are a fan of: Blues, Folk, Country , Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Protest music, Satirical music

Tell Me More:You know, I've always said that it's great if you want to write a song with with a "message", or a "protest song", or a song about something "topical" (God knows I've done it). But often I find that artists who write these kinds of songs forget that no matter what your message, you still have to write a good song, and you still have to entertain the audience: Well,  Roots Rocker Micheal Ubaldini didn't forget this and he has hit the proverbial nail on the head with his latest single "Talkin'  High Gas Price Blues". There is no one driving a car in the US right now who won't be able to relate to his latest single release. This song definitely vents, but it's also fun. It's humor and anger are in all the right places. Once you hear this song, you will want to tell your friends about it (that's what I'm doing right now).  Give some love to a hard working indie artist by spending only 99 cents.

listen and purchase in the mp3 format here

Music Worth Buying for the Week of 07/21/08

Drive By Truckers Brighter Than Creations Dark

 Album: Brighter Than Creations Dark

Artist: Drive By Truckers

You will be interested in this music if you are a fan of: Neil Young, Rolling Stones, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Southern Rock in general, & Old School Country Worth Buying?: YES The Entire Album.

Tell me more: The best way I can describe this band is to call them the “Thinking man’s Lynard Skynard”. This band has already received huge critical acclaim for their massive 2 CD concept album Southern Rock Opera.But I think newcomers would be better served by checking out this album first. I feel that this is their best to date and their most accessible. The songs jump between rough rockers, authentic old school country, humorous musing, and dark haunting introspection (and sometimes within the same song). Clocking in at a whopping 19 tracks on 1 CD, the album credits splits it’s songs into 4 album sides (Like the glory days of Vinyl). The CD comes beautifully packaged as a digipak with excellent artwork and a large lyric booklet too which is a good thing because you will want to sit with the lyrics and read them as you listen. 

Click here to listen and buy in mp3 format

click here to buy in CD format

What if I am not ready to buy the whole CD?: Try just downloading Bob A humorous character study performed in an old school country music style or That Man I Shot A dark rocker, about an American soldier in Iraq who ponders about the enemy he had to shoot in self defense