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

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

This is America.

Listen:
Marty Stuart - Hobo's Prayer

Buy:
From Amazon

Kirk Rundstrom

I didn't know Kirk Rundstrom personally. I wish I had. He had a real presence over the Lawrence music community.



This was my first favorite song of theirs years ago.

Listen:
Split Lip Rayfield - The Day the Train Jumped the Tracks

Support:
The Kirk Rundstrom Cancer Fund

Top 10 of 2006, Part 2

Today we continue the sampling of my top 10 of 2006. Follow the link for more detailed commentary.

7. Old Crow Medicine Show - Big Iron World

Listen:
Old Crow Medicine Show - I Hear Them All

Buy:
From Amazon

6. Solomon Burke - Nashville

Listen:
Solomon Burke - Valley of Tears

Buy:
From Amazon

4. Hank Williams III - Straight to Hell

Listen:
Hank Williams III - D. Ray White

Buy:
From Amazon

Cadillac Sky - Blind Man Walking

Blind Man Walking, Cadillac Sky's first album on Skaggs Family Records, hits stores tomorrow. Cadillac Sky could primarily be classified as a newgrass band, but the influence of country, traditional bluegrass, and Celtic music can be heard. Banjo player Matt Menefee and fiddler Ross Homes have both placed at Walnut Valley and singer and mandolin player Bryan Simpson has had several songs recorded by mainstream country artists.

Singer Bryan Simpson's baritone splits the difference between recent hat act Josh Turner (with whom they're played) and John Cowan of New Grass Revival and highlights an ambivalence running through this CD toward the divisions between traditional, progressive, and popular.

Listen:
Cadillac Sky - Born Lonesome
Cadillac Sky - You Again

Buy:
From Scaggs Family
From Amazon

The Can Kickers - Mountain Dudes

New London, CT-based The Can Kickers combine a punk ethos with traditional mountain music instrumentation: banjo, guitar, fiddle, harmonica, and washboard. What they may not possess in instrumental virtuosity, they make up in frantic energy and excitement. This, their third album, features mostly standards. Check out this collage of traditional sources, incorporating a traditional melody I can't quite place, some words from "Blue Moon of Kentucky," and some original lyrics.

Listen:
The Can Kickers - Shenandoah X

Buy:
From The Can Kickers

The Dewayn Brothers - A Family Farewell

The Dewayn Brothers started out as a side project of Emporia, KS-based jam band Loco Macheen. Playing in a more rock/funk oriented jam style, they decided to branch out into an acoustic, bluegrass style. Their bluegrass doesn't come out all that jam-band-y, though.

The band has a pretty typical bluegrass line-up, but with the addition of an accordion, which gives them a little bit of distinction over all the other side-project bluegrass bands floating around Lawrence.

This is their second CD; I'm not sure if it's available still. Their third and fourth CDs are at CDBaby. Their most recent was produced by Mike West at the old 9th Ward Pickin' Parlor.

Listen:
The Dewayn Brothers - Pigeon Stew/That Train

Buy:
Frontyard Junkyard from CD Baby (3rd CD)
Critter Creole from CD Baby (4th CD)

Bluegrass Doubleshot: Bobby Osborne - Try a Little Kindness & The John Cowan Band - New Tattoo

Today I'm lumping together two solo albums from former members of "progressive" bluegrass bands. Try a Little Kindness by Bobby Osborne of the Osborne Brothers and New Tattoo by John Cowan of New Grass Revival.

I first heard about Bobby Osborne's new album on Living in Stereo, which featured its version of Kris Kristofferson's "Sunday Morning Coming Down" in a comparison of several versions of that song. That song is, I feel, the stand out of the album, but the rest does not disappoint. It features mostly covers and standards from bluegrass and country and beyond, including songs by Bill Monroe and Carter Stanley, Josh Turner and Kristofferson, as well as Paul Simon.

While this isn't a career redefining album, it is a good listen from a musician who could be in Branson.

This album follows pretty closely in the proto-jam band sound of New Grass Revival. While not featuring any extended cuts, the atmosphere is the same and is updated with a touch of that new-agey Celtic sound that was all over in the '90s. Featuring alumni of IIIrd Tyme Out and Leftover Salmon, this album has a bit of a mix of traditional and newgrass sounds. The harmonies, in particular, are of a more traditional nature, in the vein of IIIrd Tyme Out.

Of note on this album is "Drown," a brutal song by John Cowan about his experience of being molested as a child. Certainly a very brave thing to do, to talk in public so frankly about something generally taboo; however, the graphicness of the song sends me too quickly to the skip button. It does raise visibility, though, as does his work as a spokesman for Project Safe Place.

Listen:
Bobby Osborne & The Rocky Top X-Press - The Hard Times
The John Cowan Band - Carla's Got a New Tattoo

Buy:
Try a Little Kindness from Amazon
New Tattoo 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

Black Ale Sinners - Honky tonkin' with the....

I'd been meaning to see the Black Ale Sinners for probably over a year. Every time they had a show, it seems like something else was going on and I figured that, them being a local group, I'd be able to catch them later. Well, Saturday, I happened to walk by a poster advertising their last show ever was going to be that night. I had been planning something else, but I couldn't put it off again, so I went.

They're a nice hard driving honky tonk and old time sextet. Many of the members switched between instruments, but usually at the same time, leading to two noticeably distinct sounds. The lead guitarist switched between archtop guitar and banjo and the steel player never played steel during a banjo song. Also, the drummer played washboard during the banjo songs, but played single snare during the archtop/steel songs. Another guy switched off between mandolin and fiddle, although his switching wasn't in synch with the others. In addition to the plethora of instruments, they also sang quite a bit of harmony. The harmony was good, but a bit gritty.

They played mostly originals, which this album features exclusively, but they also played a few standards, including a couple Buck Owens songs and a Roger Miller.

This album showcases their more honky tonk side (hence the title) and doesn't feature any banjo or washboard as far as I can tell. Many of these original tunes have a ring of familiarity about them, one of the hallmarks of good songwriting, I think. These guys are also obviously having fun, which brings out the best in their tunes. They fall into a nice place between the sometimes over-seriousness of Dale Watson and the snarky "irony" of so many indie rockers turned country.

Listen:
Black Ale Sinners - Highway 10

Buy:
Email them at blackalesinners@blackalesinners.com

Al Trout's Hokum Washboard Band - Hokum Strut

I picked this CD up in the used bin at Love Garden for like 4 bucks. But when I get up to the counter they give me a shrink-wrapped copy from behind the counter. Turns out Love Garden co-owner Kory Willis is in the band as is fellow Midday Rambler Mike Horan. I don't really know much about the band; they're mentioned in the archives of our local paper a couple times in passing. Al Trout is listed on the web page of Rural Grit Records, best known for the Wilders. I can't find a picture of the cover to download and post. The only mentions of the band that Google turns up are to the lyrics of a song about them. I don't even know how or where you could buy this CD. But I like it.

I'm posting their version of "Chinatown" because that song is one of my favorite songs. It's a song I've collected several versions of over the years. Hokum, western swing, hip-hop brass band, I forget what else. You might be subjected to some more of them sometime.

Listen:
Al Trout's Hokum Washboard Band - Chinatown

Buy:???

Split Lip Rayfield - Should Have Seen It Coming

Split Lip Rayfield is probably the most prominant band from around my parts (at least that is germain to this blog). Guitarist Kirk Rundstrom was recently diagnosed with esophageal cancer and the band has been on hiatus since.

This is their most recent album and still includes mandolin player Wayne Gottstine who left the band last summer. The other two members are Eric Mardis on banjo and Jeff Eaton on gas tank bass (yes, a bass made out of a gas tank). Gottstine and Rundstrom wrote about half of the tracks each, with one (which happens to be one of my favorites) by Mardis. The bluegrass pickin' on this record isn't your grandad's (or even your dad's), rather it's pure metal mayhem on bluegrass instruments. The punk drive doesn't over-shadow the instrumental skills, though, particularly Mardis' fine banjo work. The raw four-part harmonies are another sweet spot on this album.

Listen:
Split Lip Rayfield - C'mon Get Your Gun

Buy:
From Bloodshot
From Amazon

The Midday Ramblers - Bluegrass Music is Fun!

The Midday Ramblers are a really good local bluegrass band. They are probably the most well known bluegrass outfit in Lawrence, probably because of their willingness to promote themselves in the college/rock music scene. They're a pretty traditional, one-mic bluegrass foursome, but they regularly play at places like the Replay Lounge, a seedy punk bar that's also alt-country friendly. Three of the four members of the group have also been active in more rock-oriented groups, so I guess it makes some sense.

This is their third album, and features mostly songs written by members of the band, but also a few standards. They show off both technical virtuosity ("John Hardy" and "Banjo Tickle") and quasi-jam band bounce ("Skeeter Bit") as well as vocal harmonies ("The Lost Soul").

The bending sound the banjo makes in this song is actually the banjo player retuning his strings. He's not fretting, he's just turning the tuning pegs to get the right note. It's pretty fun to watch, too.

Listen:
The Midday Ramblers - John Hardy.mp3

Buy:
From The Midday Ramblers

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

Marty Stuart - The Pilgrim

Marty Stuart is one of a handful of country musicians who have managed to find success in both the pop country and alt.country circles. Coming up in the music business as a bluegrass sideman, then forging out on his own as one of the "new traditionalist" pop country stars of the late '80s/early '90s, then, as pop country passed him by, recording one of the best no-adjective country albums of the '90s instead of becoming a "parody of [him]self in a themepark."

He's commented that "Hobo's Prayer" is his favorite song off The Pilgrim. It's mine also.

Listen:
Marty Stuart - Hobo's Prayer.mp3

Buy:
From Amazon

Truckstop Honeymoon

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, my local music scene found itself blessed with the seemingly permanent addition of former Ninth Ward residents Mike West and Katie Euliss, aka Truckstop Honeymoon, to our local scene. I've only been able to catch them once in the almost six months since, but I'm hoping to catch them soon, maybe outside at the Gaslight, like the show I just missed Monday.

Truckstop Honeymoon is a hard and raucous bluegrass/country/blues-holler married duo. They take their name from their wedding night stay at the Tiger Truck Stop in rural Louisiana. Their music is loud and fast and slow and soft and also includes some very humourous and sometimes macabre lyrics. I've included two tracks to show their range.

PS: They're playing this Friday night, 14 April, at the Uptown Theatre in KCMO with Drakkar Sauna, The Wilders, and others to benefit Kirk Rundstrom, singer/guitarist of Splitlip Rayfield, who is battling cancer. You should go.

Listen:
Truckstop Honeymoon - Weary Blues From Waitin.mp3
Truckstop Honeymoon - No Beer On Sunday.mp3

Buy:
From Mike West

Making Singles Drinking Doubles

My local used records store, Love Garden, is very country, bluegrass, roots, etc. friendly (I suppose a mandolin playing owner doesn't hurt) and just about every time I go in I find some treasure waiting in the bins to be bought by me.

Not too long ago, I was fortunate enough to find Making Singles Drinking Doubles, the 2002 Bloodshot Records compilation commemorating their 100th release. The disc includes the usual suspects at Bloodshot, the Waco Brothers, The Meat Purveyors, Rex Hobart, and Moonshine Willy, but also includes two tracks featuring a pre-national fame Jack White backing soul legend Andre Williams.

Listen:
Andre Williams & 2 Star Tabernacle - Lily White Mama & Jet Black Daddy.mp3

Buy:
From Bloodshot
From Amazon