Does it matter? Not really. Today, as in the past, the important thing is still the music--- to the people who really love it anyway. To those who say they do but are stuck in their own past and are basically biding their time until the music's over, I say turn out the lights. For those filled with the adventure of music, here are some suggestions in the form of videos, hand-picked and handed to you on a silver platter. As that Welk fella used to say on that there TV, A-One-and-a-two.....
Oh, before we get started, here is an example of what you killed. It isn't the best example maybe, because it is even more laid back than the rest of their laid back album, but it is the only example I could find. Oh, to have videos of Feel It In Your Soul or Fading Breath--- songs which could squeeze blood from a turnip, so to speak. Amelia Jay (now Seafare), where are you?
ZOE MUTH & THE LOST HIGH ROLLERS
I can see my friends' eyes rolling up in their heads right now. They have suffered through my endless raves about this band and, in a way, I apologize, but in the most important way I do not. You see, I am not really a country fan, especially since Nashville became the virtual center of the music industry. I find most of the horses backed by that city boring and mediocre and formulaic, to say the least, but even in the worst of times (like now, for instance) there is hope. My hope is the array of talented and country-fied (but not really country) artists who dot the map, most from outside Nashville--- artists like Jubal Lee Young, who just released his best album to-date (Take It Home); Old Californio, ready to launch Sundrunk Angels and as good a mix of rock and country as I've heard since Cowboy and Heartsfield (No, I won't say Eagles because I've heard them way too much for one lifetime); and Pat Anderson, who has country but not Nashville in his soul. And Zoe Muth & The High Lost Rollers..
Zoe Muth & The Lost High Rollers hail from Seattle, my home for thirteen and a half years before life transplanted me elsewhere. When I hear them, I am confirmed in my belief that country music is best served away from Music Row South. They capture the feel without the formula and, what can I say? Muth is one hell of a songwriter and The Lost High Rollers are one hell of a band. Their self-titled release knocked me on my ass when I discovered it last year (it was released late in 2009) and the new release, Starlight Hotel, is keeping me there. In the spirit of the music, let me just say by way of introduction, Help! I've been knocked on my ass and I can't get up! No. Not now. Let's wait until the song is over. Ladies and gentlemen, from their latest album Starlight Hotel, Zoe Muth & The Lost High Rollers.....
RESEARCH TURTLES
There go the eye-rolls again. But I tell you, when you find something you love as much as I love these guys, you feel like a born-again Christian in that spreading the word (or, in this case, the music) becomes an obsession. My buddy Rick Benedict, tongue in cheek, calls Lake Charles no man's land due to its juxtaposition to East Texas, but I can't really agree. Any region that produces a band of this quality is to me a mecca. Research Turtles are young, exuberant and full of everything I love about rock 'n roll--- melody, guitars (crunchy and otherwise), attitude. They put me in mind of so many bands and songs I've heard and loved throughout my travails in the music business. One Research Turtles can almost offset the rest of what the "major labels" (are they down to one yet?) are handing us. They have a new EP, Mankiller Part 1 of 2, five songs strung together like they couldn't be presented otherwise. They aren't just your daddy's power pop band anymore. They've graduated. But just to show you what they can be, here is a video of a live performance of one of the tracks from their previous, self-titled album.....
SYDNEY WAYSER
I spent half a summer painting my house to Sydney Wayser and Goldie Wilson. Goldie (it's a band) had flashes toward the musical past that got under my skin and Sydney had--- well, The Colorful had a creativity and uniqueness that just plain freaked me out. The album was peppered with musical phrases and movements which normally would not have worked but in this case worked beautifully. Sydney has a new album ready for release tentatively titled Bell Choir Coast, but before we go there, let us look at what made The Colorful an album of musical distinction. Listen to the "percussive effects" of drill and toy (?) xylophone and one of the real unique voices in music (her phrasing is amazing).....
OLD CALIFORNIO
I remember the first time I heard Old Californio and how much they impressed me. It was long ago, right after the release of their Westering Again album (from which the song in the video comes) and I was just beginning to immerse myself in the true indies (meaning those who play, record and market their own music, sans label). At first I was intrigued by the band's mixture of influences but later decided that with these guys, genre was irrelevant. They stretch their songs wherever they seem to go, it seems, and the results are sometimes downright exhilarating. I received their new CD, Sundrunk Angels, only two weeks ago and it is already tired of being played, I'm afraid. I want to see these guys live. I want to see these guys live. I really want to see these guys live. Watch the video and see why.....
ISRAEL NASH GRIPKA
Sometimes I ask myself, who is Israel Nash Gripka and why is he haunting me so much? I'm not complaining, understand, but I'm amazed at the number of times I listen to his Barn Doors and Concrete Floors as opposed to the number of times I have the urge to listen to it. Sometimes I get upset at the lack of time in my life and yearn for the days when it seemed I had all the time in the world to listen to music. This album is one I cannot seem to hear enough and while I can't quite put my finger on the reason why, it has something to do with the depth. I hear bits and pieces of the seventies in Gripka, a time when music was an exploration of self as much as a search for the right chord and the perfect lyric. The music on Barn Doors captures the feel of those times while making it sound new. It is new. It is Gripka.....
SHAUN CROMWELL
I first met Shaun Cromwell at a folk festival in Sisters, Oregon playing guitar and banjo outdoors next to The Sisters Coffee Company and singing through a small two-horn speaker system. He impressed me enough to stick around and meet him and tell him just how impressed I was. There was something in the way he sang, in the way he wrote his songs, which made me want to hear more. Since that day, I have followed him closely and was absolutely ecstatic when I found out that he had asked Devon Sproule to sing on I Am Undone, a track from his latest album, Folk-Worn Prose. I was ecstatic, again, when Devon put the song on video and posted it on YouTube. She heard what I heard. Cromwell is more than the norm. He plays music that more people should be hearing. Hear it here, with thanks to Devon and the time she put in to make this worth hearing and watching. The mere fact that she felt compelled to do this is quite a tribute to Cromwell and his music.....
NATALIA ZUKERMAN
I don't know where I've been, but I haven't been listening enough to Natalia Zukerman, for sure. Oh, I'd heard of her, but didn't know her music. When her marketing company sent me a copy of her new CD, Gas Station Roses, the only thing that came to mind was how I got on the mailing list. One listen to this and it changed to how in the hell did I miss her? I had always thought her a folkie and, while not dismissing her, slotted her unfairly without as much as a listen. Well, I'm listening now. Gas Station Roses turned out to be a stunner of an album, wrapping blues and rock and jazz around the folk for which she is somewhat renowned. I should have known. She sells slides on her website. Odd things like that speak volumes.....
KIP BOARDMAN
Kip Boardman is one of those guys you could easily toss by the wayside and never miss except that you would be missing a lot. Not unlike artists the stature of Randy Newman and Harry Nilsson, he lives in the world of the true composer, each song he creates a microcosm of that world. He is a lyricist of the first water, a composer of strength and a performer worth seeing and hearing. If, as with Newman and Nilsson, it takes a soundtrack to get people to listen, give him a soundtrack. He is worth hearing and then some. The song is from his recent album The Long Weight, an album as impressive as any I've heard of this genre (singer/songwriter). Thanks to Kimberely Grant and The Grande Ole Echo, whose support of indie music is a morale-raiser and a half, for making sure this video made it onto the Net.....
ALOUD
Aloud reminds me of bands which have something beyond the norm and struggle to gain a following through no fault of their own or their music. Like The New Pornographers, but for Neko Case (Man, I'm going to take flak for that, but the amount of publicity afforded Case transcends that of the rest of the band, regardless of how good they are collectively and individually). Like The Green Pajamas, who unfairly can't seem to break the barriers of their hardcore following. Like so many bands which have the goods but are forced to scrap to get their music in ears in spite of quality. I was sent a copy of Exile in the mere hope I would listen at all, I am sure. Well I listened and I'm still listening. This is the kind of music people like me feed off of--- creative, fresh, taking chances. The video's pretty good, too. Watch, listen and learn.....
HYMN FOR HER
Hymn For Her is gaining a name for themselves just for their use of cigar box guitar, which seems to rank right up there with ukulele in terms of fad instrument of the month. Thing is, it is one of their main instruments and they utilize it in such a way as to give their music that little extra something. Or, in the case of many of their songs, that big extra something. They came out of a three man (uh, person) group called Maggi, Pierce & EJ which put out a number of albums over a fifteen year period before Hymn For Her declared their birth. Maggi, Pierce & EJ were one of my favorite musical entities, having a creative edge not unlike that of another favorite, Gruppo Sportivo, and are a core of my music collection. Hymn For Her have likewise taken me in. They make me laugh and they soothe my soul, but more than anything they amaze me with their ability to make two people sound like four or five. That's right. Scope out their latest album Lucy & Wayne and The Amairican Stream. They play it all live. If you get a chance to see them, I heartily recommend that you do so. In the meantime, scope this out..... And in case you're interested, they live and record in that trailer. It's an Airstream. Get it?
AMY SPEACE
In the indie world, some musicians get by and some musicians work their asses off trying to get their music to the right ears. Amy Speace is among the latter. It has to be frustrating and exhilarating at the same time, the constant being a form of mild exhaustion. Speace is a trooper, though, and balances the occasional bum gig against the highs of sharing the stage with musicians she holds in high esteem. I know this because she writes a blog about anything and everything that strikes her enough to matter and I read it. It is personal and as revealing as her music, which reveals the Innerspeace, so to speak (also the name of her blog). Here, she performs, absolutely solo, a track from her latest album, Land Like a Bird. More often than not, she records with "a band" (meaning other musicians) and the album reflects that beautifully, but I was so impressed with her performance of Ghost and its very, very folk structure that I decided to share this.....
THE DIXIE BEE-LINERS
I hate it when a band gets pigeon-holed by their past and I do believe that is the case with The Dixie Bee-Liners. They are basically a bluegrass band of sorts, having recorded their best albums with a bluegrass label (Pinecastle) and having the genre a core of their performances, as far as I can gather. Their latest album, 2009's knockout Susanville, steps beyond the structure musically, though, and is just plain hard for me to define. To my ears, they play Dixie Bee-Liners and that is all there is to it. Steeped in harmonies and instrumental riffs and melodies like you can hardly believe, they take you on a musical journey other musicians only dream about. Yeah, there's bluegrass, but there is also rock and country and folk and a string of other influences you will find you can and cannot pinpoint. They are so good, their core audience are musicians. If that doesn't say it, I don't know what else to say. Except watch this.....
HANNAH GILLESPIE
A week ago, I was asking who Hannah Gillespie was, too, but Ken Stringfellow of The Posies had planted her name in my head and I finally followed through. Hannah had asked Stringfellow, you see, to produce her latest album and he did. All The Dirt. While I would like to call it Americana, I don't tnhink that would be fair. Australiana, perhaps? She is from Australia, after all, and they have their own roots, though it is hard for me to separate the two countries, musically and ideologically. Listening to her, she sounds like she could be from Indiana or Kentucky, but she is in fact from Canberra. I am amazed that two continents could be so far apart and share so much, musically. Cases in point: Kasey Chambers, who is slowly overtaking America with her string of country-inflected rock and folk; Bill Jackson, who has found Nashville and surrounding areas as much a home as down under. Gillespie fits right in with them and others who are slowly making their way across the waters to share their music with us Americans. I just started listening to All The Dirt and am already impressed. Her voice is strong and fluid, her songwriting outstanding and Stringfellow's production thumbs up. While this video is a bit raw, you can hear what I am saying.....
UPCOMING AND FINALLY HERE
Liz Pappademas & The Level's release is finally making the rounds. Television City is a concept album based on life on the tube, I guess, and is Pappademas' second LP, to my knowledge. A little more adventurous than her earlier (and very impressive) 2007 release, 11 Songs, it is her own Day In the Life, as it were--- a musical representation of life inside the people who live inside the Tube. I hadn't planned on doing this, but what the hell. This is already rampant with videos. Here is the music video of Your Favorite Game Show. I dig it.....
Laurie Biagini
Vancouver BC's answer to Annette and surf, Laurie Biagini, is working on her next album. Her previous albums, Ridin' the Wave and A Far-Out Place, are peppered with girl group sounds, Annette-like songs and a little surf music for seasoning. On the new album, she says she is leaning a bit more toward the Go-Go theme. It should be intriguing, at the least. In the meantime, you can feast your eyes and ears on this little video, the song culled from A Far-Out Place. Stay tuned.....
Devon Sproule
Devon Sproule is in a musical world all her own. Starting out as a pop singer of the ilk of Fiona Apple and the like, she has progressed far, far beyond that. She grabs ideas and influences like a child capturing fireflies and instead of copying, makes them her own. Few musicians have impressed me as much or as deeply. She has a new album ready for release titled I Love You, Go Easy, for which I am excited even though I have yet to absorb my fill of her previous, Don't Hurry For Heaven. Devon plays future music today, meaning that what you don't get today, you will tomorrow (and don't come yelling at me because you were too dense to hear it). Here is a live video of Devon with The Paul Curreri Band playing one of my favorites from Don't Hurry For Heaven, Sponji Reggae. It's a bit rough, but what a version!
Lisbee Stainton
Lisbee Stainton has spent the past number of months wowing the crowds in Europe, first with Joan Armatrading and more recently with Paul Carrack. Her Girl On An Unmade Bed album caught me totally off guard a couple of years ago (Jeez, has it really been that long?) and made me a superfan. If I was rich, I'd fly to the UK or Europe just to hear her live. Not usually my kind of music, but Lisbee is a cut above. She is just now finishing up a new album. Not too soon, as far as I'm concerned. Here she is performing Harriet, one of my favorites, from her last album.
Fiery Blue
Paul Marsteller is a songwriting machine, my friends, and it doesn't hurt that he has teamed up with Gabe Rhodes and Simone Stevens to put those songs on record. Last year's self-titled album was one of my top picks, Big Moment right up there in the running for Song of the Year as far as I was concerned. Their newest album, Our Secret, follows along the same lines--- melodic, poppy, emotional. Plain good stuff. Here is the video from last year's album--- Turn. Well-performed, beautifully photographed.....
Bill Jackson
Jackson is another of those Aussies. I swear, they breed like Kangaroos! Kidding aside, Bill Jackson is one of those musicians you want to bronze and put in a museum. His music, solidly folk, is a cultural treasure not unlike that of a Townes Van Zant or a Mickey Newbury. He put out a fine album a couple of years ago titled Steel + Bone which garnered high praise in and outside of Australia. His last EP, The Nashville Session, caught him at his folkie best. Here is a live performance of a track from that EP, CSS Shenandoah, which tells the tale of Australians and their involvement in the U.S. Civil War. Sometimes you have to go to Australia to learn about the States, evidently.....
The Dementians
Being's how I've gone this far, allow me to shove something in here I consider a real guilty pleasure. Last year I stumbled upon The Dementians, thanks to a promoter in the UK. The band (ahem, the guy) is Canadian and works out of Toronto. What I heard was some of the best and in places downright laugh out loud music I've heard in some time. I leave you with this video of Cosmic Cheese, as cheesy as it gets and yet downright catchy. (I would have posted Middle Class Revolution, an hilarious song about the reaction to a guy being allowed to cut into traffic and refusing to acknowledge the favor, but there doesn't seem to be a real video of that available). Do yourself a favor if you like stuff like that, though, and check out The Dementians' MySpace page. It's worth it.
The Future
Music is popping out all over, my friends, and next time I hope to have a ton of updates, release dates and music to go over. Maybe, if I can get it together, I might even have a bit of historical wisdom to pass around--- like why the music industry deserves what it's getting and why the paradigm has shifted so drastically toward the indies. Until then, then.
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