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

Dressed in Black: A Tribute to Johnny Cash

The last half decade has seen an explosion of Johnny Cash tribute albums. Leading the pack in 2002 was this indie-country oriented set produced by BR549's Chuck Mead. This compilation, probably due to its house band of Chuck Mead on guitar and Dave Roe on bass, flows together remarkably well considering the breadth of music included: the psychobilly of Rev. Horton Heat and the punk-country of Hank III and J.D. Wilkes of the Shack*Shakers as well as the Dale Watson's honky tonking and Bruce Robison and Kelly Willis's Americana.

This album has a general sense of sincerity and comfortableness that isn't exhibited in tributes (such as the Marty Stuart-produced Kindred Spirits) featuring better-known performers some of whom seem as if they are coming to the material for the first time. This album also gives some much needed attention to several people, such as Earl Poole Ball, Redd Volkaert, and Kenny Vaughan, who are better known as sidemen or backing musicians, allowing them to step up into the spotlight.

Listen:
Bruce Robison and Kelly Willis - Pack Up Your Sorrows
Damon Bramblett - I'm Gonna Sit on the Porch and Pick on My Old Guitar

Buy:
From Dualtone
From Amazon

Top 10 of 2006, Part 3

Today we finish up the sample songs off my favorite albums of the year. My top two are perhaps the least well-known releases on this list, but don't think that I upped their placement just to have an unconventional top pick. I actually feel that these two albums are the best I've heard this year, surpassing the better-known and more-respected musicians who are below them on the list or not present at all.

3. Kris Kristofferson - This Old Road

Listen:
Kris Kristofferson - Pilgrim's Progress

Buy:
From Amazon

2. Bob Wayne and the Outlaw Carnies - Blood to Dust

Listen:
Bob Wayne and the Outlaw Carnies - 27 Years

Buy:
From Bob Wayne

1. Scott H. Biram - Graveyard Shift

Listen:
Scott H. Biram - Been Down Too Long

Buy:
From Bloodshot
From Amazon

Top 10 of 2006, Part 1

Head over to Americana Roots to see my top 10 albums of 2006. All ten albums are highly recommended and I've included a brief paragraph of explanation after each choice. Here are my favorite songs from albums 8, 9, and 10. Stay tuned for the rest of the count-down.

10. White Ghost Shivers - Everyone's Got 'Em

Listen:
White Ghost Shivers - Little Kisses

Buy:
From Chicken Ranch Records

9. Gary Bennett - Human Condition

Listen:
Gary Bennett - Headin' Home

Buy:
From Gary
From Amazon

8. Grayson Capps - Wail and Ride

Listen:
Grayson Capps - Give It To Me

Buy:
From Hyena Records
From Amazon

Sunny Sweeney - Heartbreaker's Hall of Fame

The first thing I noticed about Sunny Sweeny was her East Texas accent. It reminded me a bit of Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks. I’m glad I didn’t let my initial prejudice get in the way of listening to the whole album, though, as Sweeney puts out a compellingly sweet and swinging album of Texas-style honky tonk.

Read the rest of my review on Americana Roots.

Listen:
Sunny Sweeney - If I Could

Buy:
From CD Baby

Three previews from Bloodshot

Veering for once from my normal album-centered reviews, today I'm going to post three songs that Bloodshot Records sent out to audioblog types from upcoming albums of theirs.

Wayne Hancock's new album Tulsa drops October 10. I'm a big fan of his. I reviewed a live album of his here. I'm really looking forward to hearing this whole disc.

Listen:
Wayne Hancock - Shootin' Star From Texas

The Wee Hairy Beasties' album Animal Crackers comes out on October 24. This Bloodshot supergroup of Jon Lanford, Sally Timms, Kelly Hogan, with backing by Devil in a Woodpile sings kids songs.

Listen:
Wee Hairy Beasties - Toenail Moon

Also out October 24 is the Bloodshot tribute to the Old Town School of Folk Music. For the Kids: The Old Town School of Folk Music Songbook features most notably Jon Langford and Robbie Fulks and many others singing songs that fit under the general category of standards.

Listen:
Robbie Fulks - Browns Ferry Blues

Hope to have a real post up soon!

Scott H. Biram - Graveyard Shift

I got this album pretty soon after it first came out last month, but I never had the will to take it out of my stereo, I just wanted to let it keep playing over and over. This is the second Bloodshot album by Austin-based "dirty old one man band" Scott H. Biram and his fifth album overall. Unlike his previous record (which I reviewed here), this record really is just him, singing lead and harmony vocals and playing all the instruments: guitars, harmonica, Hammond B3 organ, and a plethora of percussion and "random noise." He is only joined by another person for one track; Ethan Shaw of Chili Cold Blood and the Moonhangers plays steel guitar on "18 Wheeler Fever."

His previous album The Dirty Old One Man Band has a very live feel (not surprising since a good half of it are concert-recorded tracks) and features backing by the Weary Boys to round out the sound on several tracks. The other tracks only have Scott playing what he could conceivably play simultaneously: guitar, foot-pedal percussion, and harmonica or voice. I don't know if that album was recorded with or without overdubs, but Graveyard Shift doesn't have any pretense of avoiding them. This gives a much richer texture as electric and acoustic guitars intertwine, voice and harmonica overlay, and Hammond B3 provides a foundation for all sorts of stuff that definitely couldn't be played by the same person at the same time.

This record is rather morose, as is indicated by the title and the album art. Scott continues to work through his near-death experience in a head on collision with a semi. His deep ambivalence to death and spirituality is puzzling as it makes him hard to categorize. His frequent use of the gospel call and response form as well as calling out to Jesus both come off as neither sincere nor insincere. His use of religious musical forms certainly cannot be grouped with the so-called irony of current indie rock, but it also doesn't have a place within gospel.

While this album doesn't quite teeter precariously between Saturday night and Sunday morning (it's more Saturday night) the way Bob Wayne's Blood to Dust does, I feel that it further represents a revival of the ambivalent relationship between gospel and the blues that was so important in the formative years of what we have come to call country music and which has been somewhat lacking recently.

Listen:
Scott H. Biram - Been Down Too Long

Buy:
From Bloodshot
From Amazon

Dale Watson - Whiskey or God

Sorry for the delay. Two unexpected things about my new schedule. First, without a twenty minute drive to work, I have no built in time to just listen to CDs, and not listening to CDs means not being able to write about them. The other thing is that not working nights anymore, I can go to weeknight concerts (like I just did) which further eats up my time.

Dale Watson released this album several months ago, but I just picked it up last week. It's a strong outing from one of the reigning kings of the honky tonk. Featuring songs he's been playing live for years but that have never made it onto disc, this album has the polish of the studio with the intimacy and emotion of a live recording.

Dale Watson is often grouped with alt-country, but he isn't alternative in the same genre-bending way as, say, the Bloodshot Records stable of artists. He's not particularly interested in combining seemingly disparate genres and examining off the tensions created. Rather, he's interested in making good old country music. Unfortunately, these days that is an alternative to the mainstream. Not to say that he doesn't have a wide range of influences. This album has songs with influences from Cajun, Tex-Mex, and even disco, along with the more expected honky tonk, Bakersfield, and Nashville Sound.

For some of these songs, I can make an educated guess which album they were originally written for. This is particularly true for "My Heart is Yours" and "I Wish I Was Crazy Again," both of which delve into the same agony of love and loss that is featured on Every Song I Write is For You. (Thankfully, these songs don't feature that albums synth strings.) "I Wish I Was Crazy Again" is to me the strongest song on the album. Listen for the subtle trombone on this track.

Listen:
Dale Watson - I Wish I Was Crazy Again

Buy:
From Dale Watson
From Amazon

The Meat Purveyors - Someday Soon Things Will Be Much Worse!

The Meat Purveyors' newest CD, out Tuesday on Bloodshot, is a bit of a different turn for the band. The album is largely electric and features drums prominently. I had heard that they did an electric set at SXSW (and they are allegedly going to be doing the same again at the North vs. South mini-fest here in Lawrence next month), but I was a bit shocked to hear electric guitar, drums, pedal steel, and honky-tonk piano when I put this album in my stereo.

Not that they've given up on the pretty distinctive punk-bluegrass sound they've been working on for something like ten years; it appears on the album also. The new sound and the old integrate quite well, so well that I can't recall without relistening which songs are electric. Highlights of the album include covers of the Human League's "Don't You Want Me" and Loretta Lynn's "Fist City" as well as original "Liquor Store." (On the other hand I could have done without the Foreigner cover; they're the reason I stopped listening to classic rock radio.)

The overall sound of this album is much more honky tonk than bluegrass, largely due to the electrification as well as the contributions of guest musicians, particularly Amy Boone on piano and "Sweet" Gary Newcomb on steel. The album also features a bit of a political undercurrent, as the title ought to suggest, including two (count them two) songs that question the genuineness of the president's Texas accent.

Listen:
The Meat Purveyors - Fist City

Buy:
From Bloodshot
From Amazon

The Derailers - Soldiers of Love

This sixth album by the Derailers, the first since the departure of former frontman Tony Villanueva, is a dramatic turn toward '60s pop music. Former sideman, now leader, Brian Hofeldt, whose pop leanings colored previous releases, leads the band a bit away from their previous Buck Owens-like sound, with much of this record sounding closer to the Beatles' version of "Act Naturally" than to Owens'.

The records start and ends with undeniably country tracks, but the middle dips its toe into several '50s and '60s pop/rock sub-genres. Several songs bring to mind the "mod"-ified rockabilly covers of the early Beatles, while others venture into soul and go-go influenced sounds.

Listen:
The Derailers - Cattin'

Buy:
From Amazon

Wayne Hancock - Swing Time

I've never seen Wayne "The Train" Hancock in concert, but this live CD makes me wish I had. I imagine the Fourth of July show last year at Knuckleheads was great; I should have gone. There's probably not much I can add to what's been said about him. He's one of the premier Austin-based honky tonkers.

One of the best things on this CD, I think, is the guest trombone work of Bob "Texaco" Staffard. Trombone isn't the first instrument you think of when you think honky tonk or even wester swing, but this trombone works perfect for the record. He plays on two tracks, "We Three" and hidden track "Summertime," and interweaves and trades solos with the steel player Eddie Rivers. It's a real treat to listen to.

Listen:
Wayne Hancock - We Three

Buy:
From Bloodshot
From Amazon

Redd Volkaert - Telewacker

I had been planning on writing about Redd Volkaert today even before I noticed that he's playing Prairie Home Companion this weekend. Redd is probably best known as Merle Haggard's lead guitarist of the '90s or, in Music City crowds, as Brad Paisley's sideman on Paisley's Mud on the Tires.

Recently he's been tearing up the Austin scene; often proclaimed as the best guitarist in town ("even if you've never heard of him"), he plays regularly in several bands as well as solo. Haybale, Lucky Tomlin Band, and the High-Flyers are several of the names you might see him playing under.

The High-Flyers are the group he's appearing on PHC with. They also include PHC regular Cindy Cashdollar on steel and former Hot Club of Cowtown fiddler Elana (née Fremerman) James.

This is his first solo album. Just over half is instrumental; mostly he's interested in showing of his telecaster chops, which he does, ranging from rocking to swinging with a little Chicago blues tossed in as well. This Redd-penned tune is a fine example of his guitar skills, showing not only great technique and good feeling, but also that to be really good you have to play well with the rest of the band, not over-power them.

Listen:
Redd Volkaert - She Loves Everything That Swings.mp3

Buy:
From Redd
From Amazon

Scott H. Biram - The Dirty Old One Man Band

If Scott H. Biram didn't have such a rough, son-of-a-bitch stage persona, his story might be considered inspirational. In early 2003, he was hit head-on by a semi, but only one month later, still in a wheelchair with IV bags attached, he returned to the stage.

He's a one man band of the Hasil Adkins sort (frequent references to chicken on this album draw to mind Adkins' Poultry in Motion), playing guitar and stomping his foot on an amplified box and singing through a distorted mic. On a couple of the songs on this record, he has the backing of Austin-based The Weary Boys, as well as his self-labeled Scott H. Biram's First Church of the Ultimate Fanaticism Gospel Choir. Some of the songs feature some pretty spooky CB radio recordings.

This album's currently on sale at Bloodshot Records as part of their effort to raise some money for their artists who are currently working on new stuff. (Also included are Bobby Bare, Jr., Paul Burch, the Meat Purveyors, and Wayne Hancock.) Scott's new album is due in July.

Listen:
Scott H. Biram - Whiskey
Scott H Biram - I See The Light/What's His Name?.mp3

Buy:
From Bloodshot

White Ghost Shivers - Everyone's Got 'Em

I first saw the White Ghost Shivers last fall when they opened for Split Lip Rayfield here in Lawrence, which I believe was their first trip this far up I-35. I missed a return trip 'cause it was an early show, but I made it to this show and I bought their latest CD, which is something like two weeks old.

I like this album very much. I can't say how it compares to the first studio disc or the live radio album, but it's a transfixing listen. The songs are familiar, more familiar than seeing two shows should make them. Their style is very '20s revivalism, and several of the songs seem like old standards, even though the liner notes seems to indicate they're all originals. (Unlike their name sake song which is an old standard.) The mix of string band and hot jazz instrumentation leads to a compelling mélange of styles: hot jazz, hokum, blues, and hillbilly music, I think the show poster read.

The record plays something like a concert, with the first track introducing the band and the last listed track wrapping it up, followed by the encore of the hidden track. I'm including the first track, a nice introduction to the band. I believe they started their show off with this one.

Listen:
The White Ghost Shivers - Everyone's Got 'Em.mp3

Buy:
From Chicken Ranch Records