Sirius XM gave me some free satellite radio today but only some of the channels so I can’t listen to my favorite, Outlaw Country.  Had to listen to The Highway this morning  cause that is what the teenagers love and managed to figure out  the formula for a hit country song these days.   You gotta write about the country sluts – the hell raising girls that party and dance in their tight jeans and shake it all over the place but they’re basically good girls.  That way, every girl out there knows you are writing about her personally.  Get you a good bass line from a solid classic rock hit (anything from AC/DC or Lynyrd Skynyrd works). add some stuff about drivin’ trucks and wearin’ boots and dirt roads, drinkin’ beer (PBR) or whiskey – so the guys know you are writing about them as well, throw in some God and some stuff about how great the USA is, preferably combining the two (“God Bless the USA”") and there ya go.  And it works.  Even I love those songs  - see Luke Bryan’s “Country Girl”.

And if you don’t believe me, listen to Jason Aldean sing “She’s Country” and tell me which AC/DC song he used.

My year had a few smiles.  Ronnie Fauss put on quite a show at our place.  He’s a treasure both musically and personally.  He has great EPs, too.  Check out Naomi’s review of Mulligan and if you haven’t heard him before, you’re missing out.

My buddy, Jon Durham, sent me a couple of his new and improved CDs (by way of Puddin’haid from Little Rock!).  I can’t decide.  I love the new Good Dogs and Bad Weather, but the 2008 Roots and Wings really still sticks with me in a big, bad way.  Something about those wings unfolding in this new year resonates.

My friend, Shady, who hosts a best-kept-secret radio show in New Zealand, of all places, turned me on to Barry Saunders with “Far As The Eye Can See”.  This guy is amazing.  I had to do a quarter-turn auditory adjustment, my ears being tuned to twang ranging only from Texas to Tennessee, but his beautiful, effortless voice evaporated all my preconceived notions and transported me right into the smack-dab middle of each song.  Listen to some Barry Saunders, maybe Black-eyed Girl and let me know…..Thanks, Shady, for the radio shout-outs and this gorgeous CD, even though I was a little taken aback at first,,,I thought that was Keith Richards on the cover!

I had the extreme pleasure of doing a hootenanny with Kevin Montgomery and Sean Snook in the fall, as they traveled the country promoting the Orange Duffel Bag project.  They played 50 states in 50 days, raising some awareness of a problem nobody thinks much about, so congratulations to them on a difficult job well done.  I hope foster kids everywhere get a little more help than just an orange duffel bag when they’re turned loose in this cold, harsh world.  Most all of them have had rough times.  Go be nice to a kid with no home and listen to some Kevin and Sean.

I can’t start 2011 without my warmest thanks to Naomi, for all she does and for putting up with my shit for another damn year.

And, Jitter, man, what can I say?  Y’all are simply the best.

Love on ya!

His new CD, “Mulligan”, comes out around then so hopefully, we’ll be hearing some stuff from that.  In the meantime, you can hear it here.

Very exciting news!  Brent Best, frontman and songwriter for The Drams and Slobberbone, is working on a solo CD.  And for those of us who like to give our money directly to the artist, here’s our chance.  Mr. Best is going to be his own record company – just needs a little (very little) cash up front to get the operation up and running.  You can read about it here.

But let me summarize.  The suggestion is that people who are interested send him $10 now and by the end of the summer, he will send a limited edition, personalized record with his solo material on it.

Here’s what he says about the music:  “A few of these songs you might have heard me perform live the last few years, some I’ve never played outside my house and some have never left their hard drive. They’ve marinated long enough, methinks. With that in mind, I’ve decided they should be recorded all proper-like, in a real studio.”

That’s just like two grande cappuccinos from you-know-where but the buzz you get will be so much better and last so much longer.  Pretty sure he’ll deliver too.  He’s never let me down.  And I can’t wait.

This caused us to do some serious soul-searching because, really, we slackers (especially me and Gracey) are borderline obsessed with DBT and play them pretty much ALL THE TIME.  We’ve all been to see them at least once (twice, three times) in the past year – basically anytime they are in the neighborhood.  Much of Gracey’s conversation revolves around things she has read on the DBT fan board. . . . And then there is the whole problem of keeping Gracey from stalking the tour bus.

So yeah, we love the Drive-By Truckers.  Then why, you may ask,  is their tag so small?  Uh, ‘cause we haven’t written that many reviews about them.  Why is that?  Uh,  ‘cause I think we maybe tend to drink too much at their shows.  Well, Gracey and Jitter do, anyway.

So there is that.  We’ll try to do better though.  In the meantime, if you get a chance to see them, make sure you go.  And make sure you stand down in front where it’s really loud and you get the full rock show experience.  But if you see a little person in a Cooley/Hood For President t-shirt jumping around in front of Cooley, keep a safe distance.

Just saying.

Tell us what you think of The Morning I Get To Hell!

The Duke and the King’s album, “Nothing Gold Can Stay,” comes out on August 4 and the band plans to tour starting in August.

(photo credit: Dave Herron)

I can still remember when I first heard the Jayhawks in the early nineties. A friend had given me a tape of Hollywood Town Hall
and my first response was “Neil Young could probably sue those guys.” I think I might have said that once or twice when the subject of the Jayhawks came up but after a few listens… and then a few more… those songs started working their way into my head on a cellular level.  I quit making snarky comments about them and started playing them all the time.

Over the course of three records they managed to forge a sound that was, at the same time, highly derivative and highly original and became one of my very favorite bands.

Yeah, they were more white-guy-folk-rock than the "alt country" label they were tagged with. Their early seventies “Southern Man” style riffs and long guitar jams merged with vaguely abstract lyrics and those ethereal harmonies between songwriters Mark Olson and Gary Louris, created a bunch of stubbornly enduring songs that could stick in your head like superglue.

After Olson left the band at their creative peak in ‘95, despite teaming up with his then-wife Victoria Williams, he kind of faded into obscurity while Louris kept the Jayhawks going, changing their sound pretty dramatically on the next two albums.

I caught an Olson solo show last year. It was a great night of quiet acoustic music with a few Jayhawks songs but there was definitely something missing. Obviously what was missing was Gary Louris.

So when Olson and Louris had put out a new acoustic record and booked a show in town, at the Sons of Herman Hall no less, I’m sure I wasn’t the only person around here who was overly excited at the opportunity.

Friday night they showed this town just what was lost when they went their separate ways long over a decade ago. You can take your Simon and Garfunkel and your Tweedy and Farrar and your Johnny and June and even your She and Him… If ever two people were born to sing together it was Olson and Louris.

They started out a little shaky. Opening with “Rose Society” from their new album, Ready For The Flood, the mix was a little murky and their timing sounded a little off. Even when they followed that with “Two Angels” from their breakthrough second album, Hollywood Town Hall, it sounded a little awkward- like they were still trying to find their stride. They found it about 4 or 5 songs in after Olson asked the sound board for a little more mic then very politely asked if they could maybe turn off the famous but kind of annoying Sons of Herman mirror ball so they could get an actual groove going without all the distraction.

Then they launched into “Red’s Song,” from Tomorrow the Green Grass, the last Jayhawks album that featured them both together. At this point the crowd erupted at the opening chords, or at least as close to actually erupting as they had come so far, and all of a sudden the heavens aligned, their voices fully synced, the timing came together perfectly and damned if they didn’t find that groove. A groove they  worked the rest of the night.

The crowd was as quiet and attentive as I’ve ever seen at the Sons. That’s no small thing considering the set-list was old favorites mixed in with new songs that an audience full of aging Jayhawks fans had most likely never heard. Still they had pretty much everyone hanging on nearly every word and note.

While the majority of the show was just Olson and Louris singing that sound that only the two of them can create and playing acoustic guitars there was still some interesting variety to be had as well. Percussionist Ingunn Ringvold, or Sailorine as she’s known in her native Norway, sat behind them trancelike, shaking a variety of little noisemakers and slapping on an ornately carved African hand drum called a djembe. She not only gave the whole thing an element of cool mystique but also provided a subtle yet solid beat. And at one point Olson brought out an Appalachian style dulcimer he played in his lap. The man wailed on that thing and brought some noise to the room and made it look pretty easy.

I don’t know if it was intentional or not but like the set-list itself, a lot of the between song banter focused on things that used to be… they asked if anyone remembered the first band they ever played Dallas with- Flathead. No one did. They also mentioned playing here with Slobberbone, who everyone seemed to remember. They reminisced about playing at Club Clearview and how cool the Bronco Bowl was.

Good times.

It was hard to say what was better- the new songs or the old ones. The old ones have had time to marinate, but since they played them all stripped down to the bare essentials- guitars, voices and djembe, etc. it was amazing how much like the new ones they sounded.

As a team they’ve still got it. Brand new songs like “Bicycle” and “Saturday Morning On Sunday Street” stood out so memorably that I was humming them to myself that night after I got home. The litany of old Jayhawks songs they played sounded like what you might have heard if they had made one of those MTV Unplugged albums that were so popular back when these guys were kicking it with their old band.

It was also a pretty a sweet move billing The O’s as an opener since both acts feature strong songwriting, vocal harmonies, acoustic strings and minimal percussion. It was also a great opportunity for The O’s to play for a roomful of what would have to be a key demographic. They rose to the challenge admirably doing a short set of the best stuff from their debut CD, We Are The O’s.

When Olson and Louris came out for a 3 song encore they had John Pedigo of the O’s sit in on banjo on one of their more striking new songs “The Traps Been Set.” He looked pretty happy to be up there adding some atmosphere behind Olson’s nicely delivered spoken word poetry. They closed with what is arguably their best song- "Blue." Olson had played that one at his show last year but it was striking how much more fully realized it was with Louris accompanying him.

I’ve read that there’s some talk of the original Jayhawks getting back together here and there as an occasional thing. They’ve already played a couple shows in Spain< and in their hometown of Minneapolis. I sure hope it happens more often and they make it here- or at least somewhere nearby. In the meantime the stripped down, acoustic singer-songwriter team of Louris and Olson is as close as you’re gonna get. And it’s like nothing else out there.

Bonus YouTube clip- Here’s Louris and Olson doing one of the songs from Flood that they actually wrote back in the early Jayhawks days:

Message from Jess Barr, guitarist for Slobberbone / The Drams:

Early this morning my car was broken into and all of my equipment was stolen. This includes my red matchless clubman 35 head and cabinet, my black gig bag with cables and pedals, and, most importantly, my Gibson Les Paul Gold Top.

If you know anything about this or happen to run across any of these items at a pawn shop, etc. please let me know. No questions will be asked.

Obviously, these are all just material possessions that can be replaced, but on a sentimental level it’s pretty devastating. So if you could spread the word and keep your eyes open for me, it would be greatly appreciated.

thanks,
jess

p.s. If you see me playing air guitar at the next gig, please just pretend that I’m shredding on some sweet solos.

I think Gracey pretty much said it all when she forwarded this with the well chosen subject line: "lowlifescumsuckingthieves."

After the parade is the big concert in a big fenced in parking lot and this year it featured  some of the best of Dallas’ alt-country-roots rock scene. The O’s, The Drams, Eleven Hundred Springs and The Old 97s.

The crowd was kind of thin but you could no doubt chalk that up to the weather- it was  cold, windy and the cloud cover was threatening drenching rain at any moment. Still, for the faithful that did show up, it was as fine a day of music as a drunken partier decked out in a spray painted fake beard, 2 lbs of beads and a big green hat could hope for. And I saw more than a few of those.

We arrived shortly after The O’s started their set. The O’s are Taylor Young on guitar and John Pedigo on guitar and banjo. They’re probably the best new band in these parts despite their just being two guys. They write great songs and play them very nicely- you can check out a few of them on their MySpace page. They also managed to play the very best song of the day-a cover of The Pogues’ "Body Of An American." It was the perfect song for the occasion and they nailed it.

The crowd had grown some by the time Slacker Country favorites The Drams kicked things off with a fine cover of Neil Young’s "Come On baby Let’s Go Downtown."

They played their best stuff from Jubilee Dive and a few new songs like "Man Of Note" and "Doesn’t Bother Me." They also did The Jayhawks’ "Real Light" and Chad Stockslager’s "Homemade Biscuits" and got a pretty good call and response from the crowd on that one.

Eleven Hundred Springs sounded as good or better than ever. They’re always in their element at these things as much as in a loud bar. I missed a good deal of their set but what I saw killed.

Matt Hillyer’s got to have the coolest guitars around.

By the time the Old 97s came on there was a pretty respectable sized and largely inebriated crowd.  They opened with "Won’t Go Home No More" and pretty much covered their entire span- from "Doreen" to "Dance With Me." They came out for an encore of Jimmy Dale Gilmore’s "Dallas" and closed with a stomping "Timebomb."

After that of course it was time to hit the bars. Weren’t The King Bucks playing at The Dubliner or something?

Thanks to Michelle for the pics!