Slacker Country was deeply saddened to hear of Chris Gaffney’s passing on Thursday, April 17 . We didn’t even know he was undergoing chemotherapy for liver cancer.
He fronted The Hacienda Brothers and was lately a regular member of Dave Alvin’s band The Guilty Men, as well as a truly great solo performer. He combined the best elements of country, rock and roll, rhythm and blues, zydeco and tejano music to create his own sound, East LA Soul.
Here’s a clip of him performing “In The Garden” with his old band, The Cold Hard Facts
Somewhere between awesome and cool, Stewboss has always been about road trips, dreams, favorite songs, wanting to meet girls, meeting girls, losing girls, missing girls, and wanting to get back with girls - all while doing a really serious head bob to a wicked ass groove that screams for more cowbell. It’s an approach that works for them - partly because of the passion and sincerity that come with the deeply felt sentiments - and partly because of the wicked ass grooves. As far as I can tell, wicked ass grooves have never hurt anyone, except possibly the odd groin injury. Read the rest of this entry »
So this is from Front Porch House Concerts. I went to this show last year and I’m still thinking about it. Especially this cover he did. Thought I’d share it with you.
If you haven’t heard all the raving about the newest Drive-By Truckers’ release, Brighter Than Creation’s Dark, then you haven’t been paying attention! This one’s getting lots of positive press. Patterson Hood, Mike Cooley and Shonna Tucker have written the 19 songs on this 75 minute long album, which has exceeded even my expectations and I expect a lot.
I’ve been pretty much obsessed with this band since I first heard them on a scratchy cassette tape on a road trip in ’04. Got home and quickly educated myself on Southern Rock Opera (I grew up down there; it wasn’t hard to grasp!). I marinated in The Dirty South and Decoration Day and all those educational little ditties for a year or two until I emerged to A Blessing And A Curse, two nervous breakdowns, only one of which was mine, then a Rock Show, The Dirt Underneath Tour, a couple of t-shirts and I’m okay now. Read the rest of this entry »
Watermelon Slim and The Workers at Pearl, Dallas, Texas
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Watermelon Slim has got to be to be livin’ the life these days.
He’s got quite a bio, hard knocks, hard times, hard work and all the while “making sure the boss gets paid.” Now that his own dues are paid- in spades, he says he finally gets to practice his true vocation. Bluesman.
And if you go see him play, you get to hear all about it.
I got hipped to him by a friend who sent me his second CD, The Wheel Man, for Christmas. It had me with the first spin.
He played Pearl in Downtown Dallas Saturday night with his band, The Workers, to a pretty impressive crowd.
The Old 97s and The Drams
New Year’s Eve at The Longhorn Ballroom, Dallas
There’s something about the Longhorn Ballroom.
Something that hits you the minute you walk through the door. The room just permeates history from every corner and crevice. It’s an awesome place, in the truest sense of the word awesome. For one thing, it’s as big as an aircraft hangar. For another, it’s the real thing.
Any performer who was anybody in country music played there back in the day. Bob Wills owned the place in the 50s and 60s. Later, it was resurrected briefly in the 80s as a live music venue banking on its biggest claim to fame that it hosted The Sex Pistol’s Dallas show just a few short days before that band broke up.
Having seen a number of shows there through the years, I can personally attest that just being on that enormous stage, where so many came before and made history, seems to inspire bands to go above and beyond what anyone would expect of them.
I had all that in mind and more when we went there on New Years Eve to see The Old 97s, The Drams and The Boys Named Sue.
You know when you share someone’s musical taste, you’re gonna like the music they come up with. So if you like Hayes Carll, Jon Dee Graham, Joe Ely, Robert Earl Keen, and those kinds of guys, Leaving, TX, is right down your alley.
In Anywhere On Good Roads, the boys from Leaving, TX have come up with a fine sophomore release filled with songs about drinkin’, smokin’, lyin’, and killin’. And drinkin’. Okay, pretty much all the songs are about drinkin’. But that’s okay. We like that. Read the rest of this entry »
I am still listening to Icky Thump (White Stripes) and enjoying it more each time, so maybe that’s my favorite album of 2007. I really think Jack White brings something unexpected to the table every single time and you gotta respect that. This whole CD is full of innovative creations of the non-typical sort. Check out “CONQUEST”!!! People who think your music collection is a little “country heavy” will appreciate this one. It’s just fun. Read the rest of this entry »
By now, you may have seen Billy Joel’s new song, Christmas In Fallujah, on the internets. There’s been a lot of commenting on blogs both pro and con. Much is being made of the fact that he enlisted a young singer, Cass Dillon, to do the song since Cass is the same age as a typical soldier serving in Iraq.
I only mention this because about a year and a half ago Naomi reviewed a uniquely poignant and sometimes bitterly ironic protest CD by Jefferson Pepper titled, coincidently or not, Christmas In Fallujah.
At the time, Slacker Country didn’t know that the song had been inspired by Jefferson Pepper’s neighbor, Army Medic David Maples.
After Billy Joel released his song/video, David’s mother Lisa put together a video of the original Christmas In Fallujah and posted it on YouTube.
I’m certainly not arguing that Billy Joel stole Jefferson Pepper’s idea here. I don’t know. Maybe he thought up the title and wrote a song about being stuck in Iraq for the holidays from a soldier’s perspective entirely on his own. I’m only posting this so the original song isn’t forgotten in all the fuss and furor…
The cover actually says Robert Plant/Alison Krauss. I’m thinkin’ Alison should have gotten top billing here. It’s really her album. I am still pleased with my purchase, but I’d read some promo-hype and was expecting more. I just feel slightly duped somehow.
Knowing that Raising Sand had “Nothin’” by the late, great Townes, the most perfect lyricist ever, and a cover of Rowland Salley’s “Killing the Blues” (which you’ve heard John Prine sing) was all it took to sell me anyway. Alison and
Robert do a very sweet, slowed-down version and are quite properly ’swinging the world by the tail’ on this one. Read the rest of this entry »
If you haven’t heard all the raving about the newest 
and 
The cover actually says Robert Plant/Alison Krauss. I’m thinkin’ 
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