The Rest of the Best of 2008: Top 6

Review albums #13-7 here.

#6. Hank III - Damn Right Rebel Proud - Curb Records

If you haven't heard Hank III yet, you are missing out...maybe. You will either love him or hate him. You can guess where I stand. Hank's blend of honky-tonk, country ballads, rock, punk and metal make for a very interesting, entertaining and unique brand of music. He looks and sounds like Grandpa and enjoys the night life and social activities like both his Pops' and Gramps' younger days, but plays music that both would say "Turn that down!". I say turn it up!

With songs like "Six Pack of Beer", "The Grand Ole Opry (Ain't So Grand Anymore)", "P.F.F.", Hank takes the listener on a wild midnight ride (with the headlights off) of drugs, sex, booze, fighting, and more drugs, all while still championing his grand-daddy's longstanding blacklisting at the Opry. You have to hear it to believe, and probably see it in person to understand it.

+++++

#5. Jamey Johnson - That Lonesome Song - Mercury Nashville

Jamey Johnson is not new to country music. He's been around for a while, but has never been a household name or really be on country radio (for a multitude of reasons...). He's written some of the biggest songs in country music of the last few years- I will not list them out because it hurts my argument here, but hey, you gotta get paid I say...especially these days. But this album is a welcomed return to actual country music that sounds like actual country music. Johnson's got loving, cheating and leaving, drugs and drinking, and a sense of humor...all sang with a smug smirk and a chip on his shoulder, as if he is daring Nashville to cross the line drawn on the ground by accepting him into Nashville's High Society and mixing him in with the slick sounds of today's country (or Pop, with a cowboy hat).

Johnson sounds like Waylon if Waylon was to come out today. He sings about substance abuse like Cash might do today. He tells tales of rowdiness like Paycheck use to and would still be doing today if he was still around. And he sings stories of love and loves lost like Possum is still singing to this day...all with a sound of his own...

See previous Jamey Johnson posts here.

+++++

#4. The Whigs - Mission Control - ATO Records

Athens, Georgia's The Whigs burst onto the scene in 2007 with their killer debut Give'em All a Big Fat Lip, and follow it up in 2008 with this knockout of a sophomore effort. This is a solid album all the way through from this trio. The Whigs have one of the biggest sounds coming from just three guys playing simple, but confusingly complicated riffs and rhythms from frontman Parker Gispert, with one of the best and heaviest rhythm sections going today with Tim Deaux on bass and Julian Durio on the skins. And you should hear their lyrics, too.

See previous Whigs posts here.

+++++

#3. Justin Townes Earle - The Good Life - Bloodshot Records

Simply the coolest sounding old-timey styled music going today. JTE stands front and center like a balladeer of the 30s, 40s and 50s, with original songs that sounds like they were indeed from the 30s, 40s and 50s. He's further away from his last name than he is from his middle name, and that is not a bad thing in the least. It actually works better for him, and he knows it. We don't need (or want) another Steve, but maybe a new age, or a modern student of Townes is what we all need just a bit more of in our music listening circles and patterns. Justin tells stories, an art that seems to be forgotten in modern music today. And he tells them with such confidence, experience and charm that we believe every word he sings and hang on each one as we wait for the next.

Seriously, pick up this album ASAP if you haven't heard it or do not already have it.

See previous Justin Townes Earle posts here.

+++++

#2. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago - Jagjaguwar Records

So I missed out on this record the first time through: Justin Vernon and company originally released this own their own in 2007. It was so good that Jagjaguwar picked it up and re-released it with bigger distribution and promotion behind it in 2008. And we are all glad that they did, for we might not have heard this somberly gorgeous and haunting piece of work. This album is on most everyone's top of/best of lists of '08, and for good reason.

I don't think that I have ever heard an album that is so mournful, or and makes me feel anxious and alone as this album does. Someone somewhere said that this album track by track isn't very good, excluding "Skinny Love", but as a whole, this album ebbs and flows up and down and weaves through Vernon's sorrow-tinged falsetto, sang so softly that he is barely audible at times, and then crashing back in as his heart (and mine) breaks with every word.

See previous Bon Iver posts here.

+++++

#1. Drive-By Truckers - Brighter Than Creation's Dark - New West Records

The Truckers' latest release did not impress me upon first listen. Or fifth listen. Or even tenth listen. I don't know what it was that finally grabbed ahold of me. I was honestly disappointed with the album when it came out. It was too laid back. Too pretty. Too much of a continuous piece of art that moved in and out of emotions and stories and humor and peril and paranoia. I guess it was too perfect for me.


BTCD is not the big rock album of the Truckers' past. It's not even a half rock/half soft album that has become one of their trademarks. This album is a stark contrast from 2006's A Blessing and a Curse, and rivals 2003's Decoration Day as the DBT's most beautiful album, and is absolutely a work of perfected art, with many mini-masterpieces within. Songs like "The Opening Act", "The Home Front" and "Monument Valley" showcase Patterson Hood's softer side and introspective lyrics, while "That Man I Shot" and "You and Your Crystal Meth" are the only really loud and raucous tunes on the album.


BTCD also debuts bassist Shonna Tucker's first lead vocal outings with three of her own tunes, which hold their own on the album which has historically been a "boy's club" as far as singing and songwriting goes. Check out "The Purgatory Line" to experience Ms. Tucker at her best.


Of course there are the Cooley songs, which never let the listener down. Cooley has really stepped up and written his songs from the inside out while looking back in on the soul of the songs' subjects. "Checkout Time in Vegas" is just a beautiful song. Patterson claims that "A Ghost to Most" is Cooley's best song that he's written. Patterson would know as they have been playing and writing together since the Eighties.


All in all, this record is a definite creeper. But it's a different kind of creeper than one that just has to grow on you as a listener. This one is a creeper because it is so deep, and so beautiful, that it just cannot be consumed without multiple listens. Five, ten, twenty times? Keep going. I am still listening to it, and hearing parts I have never heard before, and picking up things that one will not hear upon the initial listenings. If you tried this album, and gave up on it, try it again. Maybe a few more times. I'm glad I did. BTCD really deserves it, as this may be the best put together album of the Drive-By Truckers ten year career. It certainly is the most beautiful record that they have done.


I can't wait for what's next, because the Truckers just keep getting better and better, and continue to break new ground and push the boundaries to the next limit and more. Here's to 2009!


See previous DBT posts here.

See what you missed with albums #13-7 here.

Levon Helm & the Ramble on the Road @ the Ryman Auditorium 9/17/08

Levon pulls Steve Earle and wife Allison Moorer out of crowd to join them...



... for the encore performance of the Dylan classic "Forever Young" below:






More to come on this. In the meantime, dig on the list of guests at last night's show:

Robert Plant
Alison Krauss
Steve Earle
Allison Moorer
John Hiatt
Sam Bush
Buddy Miller
Sheryl Crow
Delbert McClinton
Billy Bob Thornton


The video isn't the best, as I was attempting to be somewhat discreet abot videoing in the Mother Church, and since they made a special request not to because they were taping the show for a dvd release.

But I had to do a little bit, at least. More to come...

The Good Life

An SDB favorite, Justin Townes Earle continues to make a name for himself, despite sharing his names with two other (in)famous musicians: Townes Van Zandt and Steve Earle.

Justin has just released the title track off of his The Good Life album as his next single. You can find it here. While you're there, go ahead and get the album if you don't have it already.

More on:

Justin,

Townes &

Steve


See SDB's previous posts on both Justin Townes Earle here and Steve Earle here.

Justin Townes Earle - Live on WDVX's Blue Plate Special - Friday, June 20

Justin Townes Earle graced Knoxville with his presence again for the third or fourth time that I can think of in the last six to eight months. This time, he did double duty that day at WDVX's long-running daily live program "The Blue Plate Special" that airs at noon Monday through Friday. You can check them out and listen here if you are interested in hearing everything from bluegrass to country, traditional and standards, folk and hillbilly, and a little bit of everything else that is just left (and sometimes right) of center. More importantly, you probably won't hear most of this music anywhere in town...especially live, and for FREE.


Here's his six song set that I taped in three segments:

Hard Livin' and Ain't Glad I'm Leaving



The Ghost of Virginia and Biscuits



Lone Pine Hill and South Georgia Sugar Babe


Justin and company went on to play a great show later that night at the World Grotto, too, but I felt that this performance felt more like home and more indicative of JTE and what his music feels like, sounds like and strangely enough, looks like.

What makes JTE so unique is that he is ironically, unique. He is not trying to be his Daddy. In all actuality, he is completely different from his Daddy, musically (their personal lives and bad habits are somewhat synonymous with each other, as both have led lives on the road and battled drug addictions for many years). As Steve's music has changed over the years from county and rock, to folk and faux new-age, the younger Earle's music harkens back to days of old, where your family and you, after Saturday night dinner, would crowd around a small radio that the father saved up for for months and bought with savings from his hard work in the fields or at the factory. After dinner, you would rush over to the radio to tune in to the one station that that small wooden box with the bright light in the center could pick up. But what a big, bright sound that small radio would make, and that big, bright sound would sound something like JTE sounds today: Tales of love and leaving, death and destruction, addiction and salvation; complete with his southern drawl and fast-talking lines that creep out of the side of his mouth as if they have been sneaking out for years.

And it helps that Justin doesn't resemble his famous Daddy at all. He is slender, and tall. And by tall, I mean tall. At least 6'5". When he puts on his going-out-on-the-town suit for his evening shows, his sly smile, long, slender body and silver tongued honky-tonk and occasional desolate and despair-ridden lyrics from times gone past might just maybe remind you of someone from yesteryear.

And his name was Williams.

Check JTE out at:
MySpace

BloodShot Records

Pope Dylan and the Excommunication of Vegas

As I thought a little bit about this site and the contributions I have made thus far, it comes to my attention that even though I'm not a big fan of the "singer songwriter" title and genre, I have written my first two posts about quite possibly my two favorite songwriters, Bruce Springsteen and Steve Earle. In both cases I mentioned that each artist had the "Next Dylan" label placed on him at some point in time. I also mentioned that while I appreciate Dylan and the contributions he made to pop music, I do not go crazy about him like a lot of people do. He's not my favorite songwriter in the world nor is he probably in my personal top ten. That's not to say that I don't think he's one of the greatest, he's just not anywhere near one of my favorites. (For the record, my top 5 favorite songwriters probably look something like this in no particular order: Bruce Springsteen, Steve Earle, Neil Young, Johnny Cash, John Prine, Stevie Wonder, Jay Farrar. Yes I know that was a list of 7 people for my top 5 songwriters. This is hard to do. Deal with it.)

It's not that I don't like Dylan. I really do. In fact I went through a small Dylan stage several years back where I got into him and really started digging a lot of his stuff. Blonde on Blonde is great. So is Highway 61 revisited and Blood on the Tracks. But the truth of the matter is that Dylan just really doesn't do much for me. In fact, 9 times out of 10 I'd rather here someone else sing and play his songs because at least then the songs begin to come alive and breathe a little. I feel like in another life Dylan could have been William Shakespeare or even Tennessee Williams. Both were brilliant writers, but when you start thinking about their plays they don't really come alive until the right players take on the right roles and make them their own. Hendrix did this with All Along the Watchtower much like Marlon Brando did with Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire. The words and characters that each artist wrote were brilliant in their own right, but it took someone else to truly give the words life. (For the record I have a Marlon Brando post in me somewhere just dying to get out. We'll tackle that at a later date.) Dylan had the incredible ability to put words together that created unbelievable art. The only problem with him, in my assessment, is that he lacked fire, soul, hurt, emotion, feeling and balls.

For my money I would always rather hear Hendrix play Watchtower, or Mike Ness' testicular tour de force rendition of Don't Think Twice It's Alright. They Band's version of When I Paint My Masterpiece has been a favorite as of late, and hell even Rage Against the Machine's (another band to whom I am pretty indifferent) at least give a sense of aggression to Maggie's Farm that is just lost to me in the Dylan version. Again, this doesn't make Dylan less great, but it does make you think a little about this greatest ever title. Can you be the greatest ever if other people performed your songs better than you did, especially with a guy like Neil Young on deck? Neil's voice isn't much either but the way he sings speaks to me. Cortez the Killer, Down By the River, Southern Man? Could anyone perform these songs better than Neil Young? Not in my mind.

Let me, however, be perfectly clear in saying that I do not fault Dylan for the fact that other people covered his songs better than he ever played them. I think this is something to be admired, to have created such sensational music that so many others wanted to be a part of it is one of the highest compliments any artist can be paid. His versions just don't do anything for me, and for that reason I just can't get into him as much as the rest of the known universe seems to think I should.

I will, however, make one exception to this whole post. I truly love to hear Bob Dylan sing It Ain't Me Babe. For some reason either the song, the words or the way he sings it (probably a combination of all three) just seems to work. He seems to embody the spirit of that song like no one else does, including Johnny and June (Hollywood please don't hate me for saying that). The combination of desperation and heartache and a little hint of a middle finger in the air just works with him in that song. That's probably why it's my favorite Dylan song ever.

Even though the movie was juvenile and crude, there is a line in Road Trip where the old Grandpa character tells the nerd pothead that he's "all brains and not enough cock and balls." This is how I feel about Dylan and a lot of other cerebral musicians like Radiohead, Joy Division, The Cure and others. Yeah they have some good songs, but they don't speak to me at all. They don't get into my guts and make me feel anything. They don't make me stop everything that I'm doing and listen to a song again. I could never put a Dylan song or album on repeat and let it almost burrow its way into my head or heart. I just can't seem to soak him in. For that matter, I don't get Dylan songs stuck in my head. He's brilliant, talented, and will be considered by most to be the greatest pop songwriter to ever live, but for me, it's simply too much brains and not enough cock and balls.

It's interesting to think about why Bob Dylan is the savior of pop music songwriting. Was he really that much better than everyone else? Did he come along at the perfect time? Are there others who would have been just as successful had they had the same timing and fortune as Dylan? I don't really know. I do think that Dylan was great, but I don't think he's any better of a songwriter than Neil Young, Springsteen or Johnny Cash. And I do think that timing played a major part in it. But then again I think that's true of any truly great artist. The same can be said of Hendrix, The Rolling Stones, Elvis, Springsteen, The Ramones, Nirvana, and Public Enemy. Sometimes timing has as much to do with greatness as anything else, not only with music. Would JFK have been the icon that he was if he had been President during the 50's? Not likely. Does that diminish his greatness? Not at all. I think the same can be said of Dylan.

I know that I might lost the 3 readers that Hollywood and I have in posting this, but then again this is my time to write what I think and feel, and the bottom line is that with Dylan I think plenty but I rarely feel anything at all. I don't deny his greatness, but just like you can have The Beatles, I'll take The Rolling Stones. You can have Dave Matthews, I'll take Steve Earle. You can have Ryan Adams, I'll take Jay Farrar. You can have Bob Dylan, I'll take Neil Young.

Steve Moves to New York, and Leaves Us Far Behind

I had always heard about Steve Earle and how wonderful his songs were; how he was a part of the group of "chosen ones" from which the next Bob Dylan would emerge. He was the last of a dying breed, a true country outlaw who would not be defined by the Nashville norms of so many other lost souls. While Nashville and its scene painted itself red and cloaked itself in the warm, comfortable and very successful blanket of redneck cliches, half-assed drinking songs, pop-country pseudo crossovers and painful testicle-less love ballads, Steve Earle maintained a country music that both we, our grandfathers, our weird hipster cousin, and our old dirty uncle could all enjoy at the same time. No easy feat in today's inconsistent and impatient world of popular music. Because of his refusal to sell out, and because of several years of intense struggles with drugs, Steve Earle will never be mentioned in the same breath as so many of his popular country music peers from his time, like Garth Brooks, George Strait, Randy Travis or Brooks and Dunn. Steve didn't sell out stadiums and arenas. He didn't have 40 number one hits, nor do most people even know one of his songs outside of maybe Guitar Town and Copperhead Road (perhaps some know that now infamous, yet beautifully written John Walker's Blues, but only because of the stir and uproar it caused).

But friends I will tell you that when I finally decided to check out this Steve Earle guy, about whom I admittedly only new two songs (the ones mentioned earlier of course), I was amazed. He wasn't the next Dylan, he was some combination of Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen all wrapped into one. (As a quick side note I realize that I am beginning a trend in my posts that involve a sort of backhanded jab or poke at our Lord and Savior Robert Zimmerman. I like Dylan as much as the next guy, but find much of his music inaccessible and pretentious. I would write more but I'm already long-winded enough and this deserves its own post). His songs were very simple, yet so very powerful and moving. He drifted in and out of bluegrass, country, rock and roll, and sometimes even Irish folk music and meshed it all together beautifully. He had the grit and texture of Merle, the social conscience of Neil Young, the voice that was just a little left of center like Willie, and the ability to somehow make the whole so much greater than the sum of its parts like The Boss. How had I missed out for so long on something so extraordinary?

I began my journey with 2000's unbelievable Transcendental Blues. His blending of Irish folk themes and instruments with his rugged voice and alt-country lyrics is beyond incredible. This is one of only a few albums by anyone that I can put on any time and listen from start to finish. Some of the high points for me are the eerie Boy Who Never Cried, playful Steve's Last Ramble, agonizing Lonelier Than This, the bluegrass romp Until the Day I Die, and the absolutely devastating Over Yonder (Jonathan's Song) is one of the most powerful yet understated songs I have ever heard. The entire album takes you through the entire spectrum of his style and ability and shows you his uncanny ability to blend so many different themes and ideas together. Other albums from this time that I would absolutely lend my seal of approval to are 1996's I Feel Alright, 1997's El Corazon (probably my second favorite behind TB), and 2002's Jerusalem. There are others like 1995's Train A Comin' and 1999's The Mountain that are also good, but I have not given them the time they deserve for a true endorsement.

Then came 2004's The Revolution Starts Now. It's not a bad record. In fact I think that some of the songs are pretty good, and I appreciate Steve's insistence on creating a record that carried some political and social weight. But something never quite fit. There was something missing, or rather something added that caused some of that Steve Earle simplistic magic and heart to vanish. It seemed like it was done by a man who knew he had something important to say and made sure that he added enough firepower to ensure that it could not fly under the radar. The only problem was that this was against everything that we knew and loved about Steve Earle. He was ours. We knew him. So what if he wasn't on the cover of magazines. So what if he didn't get mentioned at the CMA's or the Grammy's. He was above all that. Just big enough that those who knew him could have others to gush to about his brilliance, but just far enough under the radar that it seemed like we had something special.

Of course there is a flip side to every coin. Artists must be allowed to grow or they begin to sound the same, or at least the ones who are mediocre songwriters at best do. This was always my argument against Dave Matthews. Yeah his first two albums were good, but what then? Everything sounded the same. He was finally exposed for the C-minus songwriter that he is. The band couldn't carry him anymore. This didn't seem to apply to Steve Earle. He had already had his metamorphosis after prison and rehab, and we were all just lucky enough that he still had something to say. Why abandon what was so extraordinary to create something so overdone and self-indulgent? Doesn't he know that he is supposed to make music for me and not for anyone else?

This leads us to his latest record, Washington Square Serenade. It essentially picks up where Revolution (and some might even say Jerusalem, but I am not one of them) ends. It has some very well written songs, many of them socially or politically charged, but the delivery just seems out of place to me. I cannot imagine listening to The Galway Girl from Transcendental Blues or Tanneytown from El Corazon with those awful synthetic drum beats that happen throughout Washington Square Serenade. It just doesn't seem right. There is beauty in simplicity and that beauty is just lost in this album. It's uneven, it's borderline pretentious, and it completely alienates those of us who have supported and loved all of the amazing work that Steve Earle has done during the course of his career.

I have heard some people say that the reason this album is so distracting and uneven is because Steve has finally found his true home in New York City and wanted this album to represent the fast-paced, never sleeping rattle and hum of his new home. That may very well be the case, and he may very well love New York. But I've been to New York too and I loved it as much as the next guy. My question is where were all of these New York music snobs when Steve was putting out any of the album gems that I mentioned earlier? They were at their personal pretentious New York coffee shop waxing poetic about the brilliance of Radiohead or Coldplay or even Dave Matthews. How many of them even know who Townes Van Zandt was (for those of you wondering he was the personal hero/friend/mentor/bandmate of our friend Mr. Earle, and the namesake of his son, Justin Townes Earle)? But I guarantee you now that he is "one of them" there will be a Steve Earle renaissance in our near future. That's just how it works in New York.

As for Steve Earle, no I don't like this album. Yes I am disappointed. No I don't like him any less. He is a great artist. He's one of the greatest country songwriters of all time and granddaddy of alt-country music. Folks like Whiskeytown, Son Volt, Old Crow Medicine Show and others need to look upon him in reverence, for he was the one that paved the way for their success. While he will never be mentioned in the same breath as Garth, George Strait and others, he just might come up in discussions about Merle Haggard, Kris Kristofferson, Billy Joe Shaver, Don Williams and Townes Van Zandt for the under appreciated and underrated country artists and songwriters of all time. Yeah, I think I can live with that. I hope Steve can as well.