Donna Dean
I wanna hang out with this band. Check it out. They look like they are having fun. I love music when it’s fun.
No Depression rocks. Still. They interviewed our boy Ronnie Fauss, then Shady from the New Zealand radio station, Radioactive-FM, interviewed him. Now they have introduced Donna Dean to the masses and about time, I’d say, because it’s clear that they have been practicing for a while….uh, duh…..where has she been? where have I been? Thanks for the alert on this, Shady, because I am richer for having heard it this morning.
2011, 2011, 2011!!!
It’s a brand new year. Congratulations to everyone who managed to stay a toe’s length from the edge of that bridge for another damn year. It wasn’t a great year and I don’t want to go on and on about it, but that ‘focusing on the positive’ wasn’t working for me, either, so I turned on Sirius and listened to the Drive By Truckers ringing in the new in New York City. They were dirty, nasty, dark and put a grin on my face from the git-go, with Patterson sending you all a big, fat “Happy New Year, Motherfuckers!”. They opened with the Gregory Dean Smalley story, reminding us all right away that we can’t die now ‘cause we’ve got another show to do. The Big To-Do was represented, but, mostly, it reminded me of shows of old, with Decoration Day, Gravity’s Gone, Ronnie and Neil, Dead, Drunk and Naked, bunch old stuff, and Ghost to Most! They ended with Shut Your Mouth and Get Your Ass on the Plane and Angels and Fuselage. Oh, yeah, Shonna Tucker broke out her new one. (will be on Go-Go Boots, which they’ll kick out in February)
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.
Ronnie Fauss’s “Mulligan”
Why the heck would Ronnie Fauss call his new album “Mulligan”? In golf, a mulligan means a do-over. It means you screwed up so bad people feel sorry for you. I don’t feel sorry for him and this ain’t no do-over.
Fauss’s first EP, New Songs for The Old Frontier, was damn good (see my review). But his new stuff is nothing like his old stuff was. It’s better. Rocks more. Rougher voice. I like that. Got a fiddle on some of it. I like that too.
I can’t get the first song, To Ease My Mind, out of my head. Very catchy tune. And It’s a Long Long Way is a funny talking blues song (think Todd Snider’s Talking Seattle Grunge Rock Blues) explaining the direction, or lack thereof, of a guy growing up in the post-Nixon era. I’m pretty sure that anyone who rhymes “riches” with “bitches” is headed in the right direction.
Wish had me fooled. I thought it was a sweet little love song but then I really listened to the lyrics. It’s more like a hate song. There’s a lot of bitterness packed in that one, with amusing lyrics to boot. And the mandolin and harmonica just make it that much better.
Ronnie Fauss: New EP and a Denver Show!
Ronnie Fauss is coming to Denver in August! He is slated to play Quixote’s True Blue on August 4.
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.
Ronnie Fauss – New Songs For The Old Frontier (Volume 1)
“How do you like my new favorite song?:” I ask him.
“It’s good!” he says. ‘Is that Jeff Tweedy?”
“Nope,” I reply, smugly. “It’s someone you’ve never heard of.”
“Yeah?” he says. “Sure about that? ‘Cause it sounds like Pre-
Wanker Wilco.” Or Tweedy with Uncle Tupelo.
This is high praise from Bucky. Just saying.
So yeah, neither Bucky nor I had heard of Ronnie Fauss but, one quick listen later, we’re both fans. Listen here and you’ll see why.