Reverend Organdrum - Hi-Fi Stereo

The Reverend Horton Heat gig I saw last month was the same fast and frenzied postmodern rockabilly that’s been drawing standing-room only crowds for two decades. Front man Jim Heath’s hair might be starting to show his age, but his guitar playing isn’t exactly what you might expects from a many pushing fifty.

I knew that Reverend Organdrum, Heath’s side project with Hammond organist Time Alexander and drummer Todd Soesbe, would be different from Rev. Horton Heat, but I wasn’t expecting such a laid-back lounge vibe from this CD. Heath and Alexander interweave the sounds of their respective instruments not in the spirit of showmanship usually seen in rockabilly revivalism, but to effect an atmosphere, the rockabilly after-party chill-out.


Listen:
Reverend Organdrum - A Shot in the Dark

Buy:
From Reverend Organdrum
From Amazon

The Jones Street Boys - Overcome

I got a song off this album from another blog (S:I?) a few months ago and couldn’t stop playing it. That song, “Last Time,” showed the Jones Street Boys as a promising string band willing to incorporate accent instruments such as piano, harmonica, and traps drums. When they sent me their disc last month, I was not disappointed. But their record shows a greater stylistic range than I was expecting. They keep their record centered on the New York-style string-band sound, but they foreground harmonica, piano, organ, and other keyboard instruments on a few tracks. This album comfortably inhabits the uneasy middle ground between string-band revivalism, insurgent country, adult alternative acoustic, and hipster folk. The other stand-out track on the disc is a cover of the Band’s “Twilight.”

Listen:
The Jones Street Boys - Last Time
The Jones Street Boys - Twilight

Buy:
From Insound
From Amazon

Corb Lund - Horse Soldier! Horse Soldier!

Corb Lund is obsessed with horses. I’m not sure if every song on this album mentions them, but even “Student Visas,” a haunting song about a US soldier’s experience as a CIA aide to the Nicaraguan Contras, calls upon the soldier’s family heritage in the cavalry, connecting his injury in a shot-down helicopter to the helicopter’s replacement of the horse in some US Army cavalry units. But the horse theme, or perhaps more specifically a cavalry theme, runs throughout the disc.

I don’t know Corb Lund’s personal history with horses—whether he’s a horseman or not—and I’m not trying to question his “authenticity” if he isn’t. His songwriting shows a longing for the the history and freedom symbolized by the horse that I, as someone who cannot ride and wishes he could, find compelling. “Whenever I see horses, it reminds me of what I ain’t. . . .Whenever I see horses, I see a path I did not take.”

Listen:
Corb Lund - Horse Soldier, Horse Soldier

Watch:
Corb Lund - I Wanna Be In The Cavalry

Buy:
From CD Baby

White Ghost Shivers - Killing Tradition

Austin-based "hot jazz" ensemble the White Ghost Shivers are plugging in tonight at the Replay Lounge in Lawrence, KS, and playing a set of punked up versions of their 1920s-style fare. At their acoustic show last night I picked up a copy of a teaser EP featuring four of their songs redone in this style. Here's the original version of "Strictly Ornamental" from their latest full-length album Everyone's Got 'Em along with their new version.

Listen:
The White Ghost Shivers - Strictly Ornamental (acoustic album version)
The White Ghost Shivers - Strictly Ornamental (electric EP version)

Buy:
From Chicken Ranch Records

Jeff Zentner - Hymns to the Darkness

A couple months ago I posted about "distortion folk" group Creech Holler. Lead singer Jeff Zentner also sent me his solo CD, Hymns to the Darkness. Unlike Creech Holler, which takes a distorted electric take on largely traditional tunes, Zentner's disc brings a baker's dozen of acoustic originals. Truly a solo album, Zentner plays guitar, dobro, steel, mandolin, and banjo, and provides his own harmony vocals.

Listen how the steel guitar hovering over the more "old time" sounding acoustic instruments creates an interesting ethereal Southern Gothic sound.

Listen:
Jeff Zentner - Rusty Town

Buy:
From CD Baby

The Statler Brothers - The Essential Statler Brothers, 1964-1969

If you're about my age, you probably only know about the Statler Brothers from their cheesy early-'90s TNN variety show and their appearance on the Pulp Fiction soundtrack (and the scene where Bruce Willis sings along). But before they got old and fully embraced corn pone humor, the Statler Brothers laced their humor with a dark underside and an earnestness that makes one wonder exactly who is supposed to be laughing.

Listen:
The Statler Brothers - Half a Man
The Statler Brothers - Jump for Joy

Buy:
From Amazon

Forty Twenty - Lowdown and Dirty

I first saw Forty Twenty opening for BR549 in the spring of 2003. In the year that followed, they must have made the trip from Lincoln down to Lawrence or Kansas City another six or seven times, almost all of which I saw. Forty Twenty is a great country bar band, playing as long as three hours with no breaks, with no set list, and including a wide range of originals, classic country standards, and unexpected covers.

Forty Twenty regularly started off their shows with a cover of Black Sabbath's "War Pigs" in medley with their original tune "The Wagon." (Ninebullets' recent post on "War Pigs" covers prompted me to post this.) In concert, they often interpolated standards into their own songs, invigorating the standards/bar band formula.

Listen:
Forty Twenty - Drink About Her
Forty Twenty - War Wagon (live medley: War Pigs/The Wagon)

Buy:
From Lone Star Music