Zoe Muth--- A Little Piece of History

The new album is titled World of Strangers but I thought I would give you a little piece of history--- mine--- because there was a time Zoe's and my histories intersected.  It hasn't happened often, these brushes with musicians I believe will, in time, work their ways to the top.  With Zoe, it started with a road trip to the coast of Oregon (a 60-mile drive from the Willamette Valley where I live), a stack of CDs and a desire to get caught up on some listening.    The road trip was both a miserable failure and a tremendous success--- I only listened to one album but it was Zoe Muth & The Lost High Rollers, the first by Zoe and band, and it looped until I was once again back in the Valley, anxious to get to the computer to write something--- anything--- about this outstanding new artist and band.  I titled the "review" I Have Heard the Future of Country Music and It Is the Past and in it I raved about the band and the album.  (Read it here)  It would not be my only time.

Indeed, I have written about Muth many times since, from a review of their first appearance at Cottage Grove's Axe & Fiddle (read that here) to a return appearance the next summer (read that here) to various reviews of the first two albums (Zoe Muth & The Lost High Rollers) and (Starlight Hotel) and the following EP (Old Gold).  It seems every time she steps onto a stage or into a studio, I tug at the reins, wanting to write more.  Sometimes I think she reads my mind because she just handed me another album for just that purpose.

There is something about Zoe's voice which is salve to my soul.  I had pretty much given up on Country music by the time she came along.  Nashville had turned glitz and glamor and the music so formula you could make baby food with it.  The "stars" acted the same, looked the same, wore the same clothes and, shudder, played the game of Hollywood to the point of nausea. They still do.

Not Zoe, though.  She came out of Seattle performing her songs in her way and never thought about formulae.  Sure, she fits well in the Country category, but this is a Country with which I am comfortable.  I knew it from the first notes of You Only Believe Me When I'm Lying, track one, record one.  Zoe is, to me, someone very special and very unique.  It is in her songwriting and in her soul, but more than anything it is in her voice.

That voice is centerpiece of World of Strangers.  Surrounded by more production than her previous albums, her voice cuts through the slick so well that you don't even notice.  Nine originals and one song written by Ronnie Lane (April Fool) make this a smooth ride through real country and not that of Nashville.  No trenchcoats and pleather cowboy hats for her.  Simple songs written for and from the heart.

She doesn't do it alone, either.  She has a band, and producer George Reiff filled the studio nicely on various tracks with superb vocalists and musicians including Jenn Miori and Beth Chrisman (The Carper Family), Bruce Robison, and Brandy Zdan. 

Is this her best album yet?  I can't say because everything she has released is top shelf.  Chances are that people who buy the new album are going to want to backtrack and the people who have earlier albums will want this one too.  They are that good, as is she.

Note:  The music in the videos posted in this review besides Mama Needs a Margarita are not from World of Strangers, but they will give you an idea of what that album holds.  They are true Zoe Muth without embellishment.

Frank O. Gutch Jr.

(Frank Gutch Jr. writes and has written for numerous magazines and websites, presently including this blog, his own website and the prestigious Don't Believe A Word I Say site put together by musician and music pundit Bob Segarini, out of Toronto. He specializes in the Indies, having fought hand-to-hand combat with major record labels for decades (talk about zombies). He believes music should be the core of the music business, though business it mostly be, and denies the accepted reality in the stead of the artistic one. Seldom does he receive pay for articles and/or reviews and believes that there is no place for negatives in a world in which one cannot keep up with the positives. He is, in a sense, a lost soul in a sea of music, drowning, but drowning gratefully.)

You've Come a Long Way, Baby--- Women in Music

That's right, sports fans, it's once again time for my cyclical "Music You're Missing" rant and you know how much fun we have with that.  Let's see, awhile ago we had our dog-themed videos (mainly to offset the incredibly huge number of cat videos--- sorry, folks, but they will always be nothing but dog food on the hoof as far as I'm concerned) and before that, videos with a bacterial flair.  The high school reunion one was fun (when you look in the mirror every day, you really don't know how much you're changing, do you?) and how can we forget the Tribute to War post proving that war, too, can be fun.  This time around, we give the nod to Women in Music, which would be Women in Rock, but what the hell is that anymore?  The genres have been gut shot and the music all over the walls and who better to prove it than the artists we'll look at here.  See, I'm old enough to remember when women were a minor segment of the music biz (now, don't go getting your knickers in a knot--- I'm trying to make a point here), a very small percentage of the gate, to use the biz's own terminology.  Thank the gods that those days are gone.  Today, I cannot even imagine a world in which artists of any gender, shape, size, color, nationality, smell, or mental persuasion are not given their just due.  The question is, how much are they due?  Here's your chance to find out.  Here are ten over-the-top exceptional female artists who are struggling somewhat to be heard.  You tell me what you think they're worth.  I think they're priceless.

HANNAH MILLER--- O Black River

Hannah Miller is new to me.  I have no idea why.  This is her fifth release and she obviously has fans somewhere, but I had somehow missed her completely until I stumbled across her sampler on Noise Trade.  Every time I come across a musician this talented with a lengthy musical past, I wonder how I missed them and what more I could be doing to spread the word.  I should not be finding Miller on the fifth try.  I should have found her at the beginning.  Regardless, she has a new mini-LP (six tracks) from which the song in this video was taken and what can I say?  It's a monster.  We should be hearing plenty more from her.

SYDNEY WAYSER--- Wolf Eyes

Ah, Sydney.  The girl with the unique voice and the ability to write to it.  I don't believe I've heard an album more creative than her last, The Colorful.  She pulled out all the stops, utilizing toys and work tools and God knows what else to put together an album which after hundreds of listens still amazes me.  I have been awaiting her new album for what seems like years and it is finally just around the corner (hopefully, a winter release).  Titled Bell Choir Coast, it may not be the hurricane of creativity that was The Colorful, but if this song is any indication, it won't have to be.  Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Sydney Wayser.....

STAR ANNA--- Alone In This Together

Star Anna hails from Ellensburg, Washington, former home of The Screaming Trees and King Krab and now home to The Putters and The 667s.  Her voice is a rubber band slightly stretched, her songs a potpourri of the personal.  Alone In This Together is both title of this song and her new album, released by the prestigious Local 638 record label.  The song is a look inward.  The album is a step forward.  We'll be hearing much more from her, I am sure.

SKYE PAIGE--- Paint the Town Red

I have this friend who lives in Charleston, South Carolina and he's always digging up local and regional music treasures for me to hear.    Through him, I have been turned on to the likes of Th' Legendary Shack Shakers and Southern Culture On the Skids and The Shaniqua Brown--- all excellent, all hot, all on the edge.  Well, he's done it again.  You may not have to have a sense of humor to enjoy Skye Paige, but it sure helps.  I've seen the live videos and all it does is make me want to see her live, period.  She's a trip.  But you be the judge.

SARAH WHITE--- I. L. Y.

I have been following Sarah White for a number of years now and have yet to be disappointed.  She began her musical life solo and with bands, put together Sarah White and the Pearls, went solo again and has just recently reformed the Pearls.  She is a Charlottesville staple for a reason.  Here is the latest video.  Watch and learn.

DEVON SPROULE--- Warning Bell Cycle

Don't ask me what this video is.  I asked Devon once and she started to explain, but she is a busy, busy person and has more important things to do than answer my inane questions.  Like make music.  You know how people sank their money into AT&T and General Electric and IBM and made a fortune?  I'm putting mine on Devon Sproule.  You can ignore her all you want right now, but in ten or twenty years you will be able to deny her no longer.  She is a musical force all her own.  If you don't think so, listen to Don't Hurry For Heaven or, better yet, her latest, I Love You, Go Easy.  Here is a semi-preview of the new album.  This was evidently meant to be part one of four.  I have no idea where the other three are, but we can hope.  Here is Part One of "The Warning Bell Cycle".  Enjoy.

I know that this is not a Devon Sproule video but I have to show you what a great person is Devon.  While on a long flight, she pulled out her laptop and put together this video of a song by Shaun Cromwell on whose album she sang but whom she had never met.  It is a great song, a great duet.  It is a tribute that Devon did it.  You should watch it.

SIMONE STEVENS--- Let Me In

I found Simone Stevens via Fiery Blue's Paul Marsteller.  Marsteller was just beginning to work with Stevens and Gabe Rhodes on what would be Fiery Blue's first album.  He contacted me, asking if I would give the tracks a listen and critique them, as it were.  No critique necessary.  I immediately got the pop sensitivity of the songs, the behind-the-genre feel.  More than that, I got an introduction to Stevens who, it turns out, has a musical life all her own.  This, from her Right On Time album, should be explanatuon enough.

ZOE MUTH & THE LOST HIGH ROLLERS--- Before the Night Is Gone


I am not a huge fan of country music though I don't mind a pick and a grin now and then.  It has to be clean, fresh and exciting to get my attention.  Sometimes, fun will do.  More than anything, it has to be good and the formula pap Nashville is cranking out these days just isn't.  Not to me.  I will say this again just as I have a million times--- a trenchcoat and a naugahyde cowboy hat do not good country music make.  Zoe Muth, my fine feathered friends, wears neither a trenchcoat nor a naugahyde anything, but she and her cohorts The Lost High Rollers play as clean and refreshing a country as I've heard since the fifties and sixties.  I love this girl's voice and the way she writes and presents her songs.  Nothing fancy here, just honest, great (yes, I said great!) music.  Those who have seen this video before are excused until the next video, though I have no idea why they would want to be.  This is as good as country music gets.

GILEAH TAYLOR---  The Light Princess

Gileah Taylor and I have been musical acquaintances for years.   She is one of a number of Contemporary Christian artists (erm, religious rockers, for those who don't understand the term) who pretty much live in their own little world but for the few who have broken into the secular, such as The Newsboys and Switchfoot.  I have friends who wouldn't listen to religious rock on a bet.  Without even betting, they lose.  Some of the best rock I've heard over the years has come from the religious side and Gileah plays some of the best of that.  I tried to find a video of a song from her latest release, a double EP titled A Crooked Line/What Kind of Fool, which I believe are available individually.  It's a  killer.  I have settled for a song from her previous album, one she did with The Ghost Train.  But there is no drop in quality, trust me.  Gileah delivers the goods here, just as she always has.

LAURIE BIAGINI---  Head In the Sand

I won't say I saved the best for last but I do know that I saved the fun for last.  Laurie Biagini, hailing from Vancouver B.C., proves that you don't need 1960 and a stretch of California beach to make good music.  A handful of years ago, she was a ninety pound weakling getting sand kicked in her face by supermodels in bikinis.  Today, she eats sand for breakfast.  Here's a little surf-oriented rock  from her impending A Go-Go Girl In a Modern World album.  Cue Frankie and Annette.

Truth be told, I could pluck gems like this from the Net all week long and not even scratch the surface.  Today is a far cry from the days of The Singing Nun and Dorothy Collins (you know--- The Hit Parade?  God, I must be older than I thought).  Women are taking their rightful place on the stage, some of them kicking guys' asses all over it, in fact.  They have come into their own, if there is a their there.  No if's when it comes to the music, though.  They have, indeed, come a long way.  A long, long, long way.

Good God! I'm Feeling So Alive!!!

Life is good!  Life is so damn good I'm practically dancing and if any of you know any of my old girlfriends, you know that doesn't happen very often.  Oh, I do the occasional jig if I am drinking (it happens all too seldom these days--- the hazards of getting old and having too much to do) and I have been known to traipse around the dance floor when I find a lady too drunk to say no, but the exhilaration dance?  Doesn't happen much anymore.

I'm dancing now, though!  See the middle finger?  I'm flipping off every person who says that music is dying.  Yeah, that's you, Horkey, and you, Ferd!  I've had it up to my ears with your negativity about music today, how there hasn't been any good music for years and how you could live with nothing but The Beatles the rest of your lives.  I feel sorry for your sorry asses because the music flowing across my desk this year is among the best I've heard and you're missing it.  Hell, I'm thinking of putting 2011 up for a Grammy, that's how good it is.  But let us not get bogged down in my rants and raves.  There is music to hear and talk about, so let's get this discussion started.  In fact, let us start with with a very recent discovery and one which has fired more than one jig since that discovery, just a few days ago.

RIVER ROUGE.....

Publicity maven Kimberely Grant popped River Rouge's Not All There Anymore in the mail last week and I received it on Friday, just in time for a much needed drive to the Oregon Coast (I live about 60 miles inland, but that's too far to smell the ocean breeze, so I hop in the car now and then for what I call the Scenic Drive).  I tossed about four or five CDs on the passenger seat and headed out, reached over when I hit the main road and blindly grabbed the River Rouge CD.  It was the luckiest grab of the day.  Somewhat akin to winning a minor jackpot at a casino, but I didn't know it at the time.  Didn't take me long, though.  Half a minute in, I cut the air conditioner, rolled down the windows and cranked up the sound.  You know how you hear a song and you're not quite sure what you're hearing yet?  It is kind of like waking up and initially being unsure of your whereabouts.  All I knew was there was something going on, something digging into my skin.  When the track finished, I replayed it.  And replayed it again.  And again.  The more I heard it the more I got it.  I pulled off the road and grabbed the CD jacket.  Black Licorice, the track was titled, and there was something in it that made me happy.  I mean really happy!  There was something in the rhythm and the up attitude and the sound that struck a note.  At first, I thought Sir Douglas Quintet.  Then I thought Thee Midniters.  Then I stopped thinking.  When I pulled back onto the road, I let the album play past the first track and realized that the song was an anomaly, that the rest of the album didn't fall in line with Track One.  Thing is, it didn't bother me.  I don't think I want an album of Black Licorice's.  I don't think I could take an album of Black Licorice's.  I would rather listen to the song over and over again than have slightly lesser knockoffs for comparison.  What there is is plenty good anyway--- an Americana-ish blend of pop, rock and country.  Plenty good.  After numerous listens, while I like all the songs, I have adopted Murder of the Crows and Arc Welded Love and Not All There Anymore and Yes as favorites after the thousands of hearings of Black Licorice grow thin.  This is good stuff.  And almost as if the musical gods willed it, those bonny L.A. boys just this  morning put up the official music video of the song that kicked my ass.  My song of the summer.  Here it is:

BYRON ISAACS.....

It is not often I can find an album which will soothe the critical edge of all but the hard core rockers, but Brian Cullman sent me a pre-release of Disappearing Man, an album I surely would have missed if not for Cullman's graciousness. Byron Isaacs, bass player for the outstanding Ollabelle, sidestepped that band to produce songs outside the realm, songs which did not quite fit with the other projects he was working on.  He headed into the studio with Cullman and came out with something I don't think either expected.  The music varies in style but has Isaacs all over it, from the orchestral dreaminess of Seeing Is Believing to the Minnows-like easy rocking Disappearing Man to the New York-ish underground sleaziness of Crazy Love  to the floating fifties-infused ballad Gypsy Wind.  Like Cullman's 2007 album All Fires the Fire, Disappearing Man belongs in the classroom as an example of the importance of arrangement and production.  Watch for this one.  It's a beaut.

HANNAH GILLESPIE.....

Sure, I've mentioned Hannah Gillespie a few thousand times before, and I will mention her a few thousand more.  Until people attach themselves to her like they do Adele and Grace Potter and others of their stature, I will continue to promote her as a prime example of music-beyond-genre.  See, there is a bit of Marianne Faithfull in Gillespie's voice which catches the ear and gives wings to her songs.  I know she's worthy of attention because every one I've turned on to her music--- every single one--- has given an enthusiastic thumbs up.  They aren't clowns off the street.  These are people I trust most (at least, when it comes to music).  Don't believe me?  Listen to her music here and if you still don't get it, meet me at The Buckaroo Tavern.  Bring your gloves.

JOHN-ALEX MASON.....

When I was young, I got into the blues through the back door.  It took Cream and Fleetwood Mac and Canned Heat to get me to listen to the likes of Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker and Skip James.  John-Alex Mason could well fill that space for the young today.  While his base is the blues, he tosses in a potpourri of influences such as funk, rock and trip hop, among others.  Just electric enough to catch the rocker's ear and just acoustic enough to fit in with roots music, Mason could be today's Cream or Fleetwood Mac.  Youth's gateway to the blues.  This video shows Mason raw and live with a band.  He is more known for his one man show lineup--- himself and a handful of instruments. 

GREEN PAJAMAS.....

The Green Pajamas are a band I'd turned my back on for years thanks to personal circumstances, but when I rediscovered them through Poison In the Russian Room it felt like meeting an old friend after a long hiatus.  I have whiplash because I am forever shaking my head wondering why people haven't made them superstars, but when I look at the quality of superstars these days I don't think I want them in that company anyway.  They have recently reacquainted themselves with their original record label, Green Monkey, and released The Complete Book of Hours, an outstanding look at the early Green Monkey period, before going Country.  An album of country music by the Green Pajamas?  I never would have thunk it, but it sounds great!  Here's a taste.

ARBOREA.....

 I keep wondering if Arborea might be hurting their chances for exposure by living in Maine.  It is a ways off the beaten path and something is keeping them from their share of success.  I can't quite put my finger on it.  They are ethereal, melodic, practically medieval in places and science fiction in others.  Their music smells of honesty and truth.  I once talked with Shanti for awhile outside a tavern in Portland, Oregon, and I don't think I've ever talked with a lady more genuine.  Buck and I share emails on a fairly regular basis.  He loves Robbie Basho and John Renbourn and John Fahey as much as anyone I know and uses every opportunity to spread their music.  A class act and a hell of a musician.  The way I see it, all of my years with Steeleye Span and Fotheringay and Clannad were preparing me for Arborea and their ilk.  While this video does not use a song from their new album, Red Planet, it is so haunting I had to post it instead of a song from that fine, fine album.  Watch and listen.  It is outstanding.

ZOE MUTH & THE LOST HIGH ROLLERS.....

Yeah, I know.  Caught again.  As I am with Hannah Gillespie, I cannot let any instance pass when it comes to Zoe Muth & The Lost High Rollers.  I've seen them twice, posted videos a handful of times and talk about them like they are hometown heroes.  I can't help it.  Just like I can't help using the full band name.  Muth is the center, but for me they are a band.  They aren't country, either.  They are Zoe Muth & The Lost High Rollers.  God love 'em.  'Nuff said (until I deem otherwise).

OLD CALIFORNIO.....

These guys have come a long way from the old days of country rock and smoky bars.  They have now graduated to bigger smoky bars.  I am kidding, of course. Old Californio has worked their collective asses off to get to this point and it shows.  Their latest album, Sundrunk Angels, is set for official release this next week and I can think of no better way to celebrate it than to post this live video shot last month at The Mint in L.A.  The title track of the new album in all its glory.  I've seen Zoe Muth & The Lost High Rollers, I've seen Mist & Mast.  Next on my list are Research Turtles and Old Californio.  I'm sure I won't be disappointed.  Not even if Old Californio are half as good as they are in this video.

NOTES (& more notes).....

David Jacques of The Dementians just graced my inbox with a new album.  For those who don't know of him, he knocked me out with his humorous take on pop music.  Not only did it make me chuckle, the music was downright good!  Maybe even better than that.  I haven't cracked the file yet, but when I do I'll run it down for you.  If you aren't interested, you obviously don't get good pop music.  My condolences.

Did I mention that Kirsti Gholson contacted me with the news that her album is nearing completion?  I will take back every bad thing I've said to her once I get it in my hands.  Over ten years between albums seems a but absurd to me, but someone once told me that to forgive is to be divine.  Or Andy Devine.  Either one works.  More when the album finds its way here.

I reviewed an album by Fiery Blue not long ago (and I will review the second when time permits) and was surprised that vocalist for that band, Simone Elyse Stevens, has just released a solo album.  I'm surprised because She is well aware of my fan status with Fiery Blue.  She should have known that giving me a heads up would, if it is any good (kidding, Simone), produce a review.  She contacted me this morning.  The CD is in transit.  It had better be, or I'm deleting all my positive raves about Fiery Blue.  Stay tuned.

Bright Giant say they're getting closer.  I heard some rough tracks and am getting a bit anxious.  I don't know if it will be as good as their freakishly good self-titled EP, but I have heard enough to know it will be good.  More on them when they get the harvest in.

I have mentioned Nick Holmes and Brian Cullman in various posts and if you were paying attention you know how much reverence I hold for both as musicians and producers.  I will be writing an in-depth review of Cullman's All Fires the Fire, released in 2007.  The more I hear it, the more I like it.  In fact, I think it has gone beyond like.  Like I mentioned earlier, this album belongs in the classroom.  It is so good on so many levels, it's scary.  If you don't check it out yourself, I will be posting links to the review when it is posted.  I am also in the process of delving deep into Nick Holmes' music and happenings.  They deserve the attention and have gotten way less than is fair.  In the near future.

Did I happen to mention that Charlottesville's Sarah White has made a couple of her releases available for download?  For free!  Crapola!  That's Christmas in July, folks!  You can check them out at this link:  http://sarahwhite1.bandcamp.com/.  Both are solid good.  White Light is Sarah and her early lineup with The Pearls.  Sweetheart is an EP and my introduction to another excellent Charlottesvillain, Ted Pitney, who released an EP a few months ago which knocked my socks off.  It's called The Genesee EP and it is a killer!

Mothership is a hard rockin' band out of Buenos Aires which I stumbled upon a good year or so ago.  They have just completed an album and sent me a link to listen.  I will write a review soon, but let me say that if you like the old hard rockers, they might be right up your alley.  Solid vocals and amped up crunchy guitars.  Sometimes you just have to let loose.

Once again, I know I'm forgetting someone.  I take notes, but I lose my notes.  I'll find them, though.  Give me time.  Until then, keep the faith, my friends.  As long as there is good music, life is not half as bad as it could be.