Heat Lightning Rumbles in the Distance Thread

[linkous]

http://anydecentmusic.com/review/4878/P ... tance.aspx

[UncleFrank23]

Regarding (untold pretties), in introducing the song Thursday night in Hudson, Patterson said the initial plan for the song was for it strictly to be an instrumental on the record, though with the lyrics included in the liner notes. He said in the late stages of recording the album he read the words over the instrumental track and liked the way it synced up, so it became what it became.

At the Chicago show on Saturday, he said his dream was to play it live with William Shatner reading the lyrics "pontificating as only as William Shatner can do".

[Jeremy]

Just heard untold pretties on the radio at lunch. Album has been getting some pretty good airtime. Have heard at least 3-4 songs on the radio at different times. Also heard Blessing and a Curse on the same station a few weeks back.

[Kudzu Guillotine]

Just heard untold pretties on the radio at lunch. Album has been getting some pretty good airtime. Have heard at least 3-4 songs on the radio at different times. Also heard Blessing and a Curse on the same station a few weeks back.

Does this album have a single? If it's "(Untold Pretties)" I'd say that's a pretty unusual choice but also a brave one. The concept of singles in this day and age seems to be a lost cause but I guess that sort of marketing, especially for artists as relatively unknown as the Truckers, still happens on some level. It seems that the intentional (or perhaps unintentional) leaking of your record is the new single these days.

[Kudzu Guillotine]

This is a link to a new interview with Patterson from No Depression where he fielded questions from readers.

[Clams]

Patterson is on Mojo Nixon's show on Outlaw Country right now.

[chickenwingpuke]

Heat lightning is rumbling in the distance where I live right now.

[Tequila Cowboy]

If Betty Ford hasn't grabbed you yet, listen some more. Brilliant song.

[ramonz]

If Betty Ford hasn't grabbed you yet, listen some more. Brilliant song.

Yes, most definitely.

[cre618]

Heat lightning is rumbling in the distance where I live right now.

I misread that as "Heat Lightning Rumbles in the Distance is where I live right now." And I was going to agree. Can't stop listening to this record. And, so jazzed for next Saturday night in a cemetery lodge in Hollywood.

[one belt loop]

Heat lightning is rumbling in the distance where I live right now.

I misread that as "Heat Lightning Rumbles in the Distance is where I live right now." And I was going to agree. Can't stop listening to this record. And, so jazzed for next Saturday night in a cemetery lodge in Hollywood.

Jack! darling. I miss you.

[Penny Lane]

My roommate is not into DBT or any 'literal' kind of music but she LOVES Come back little star..

[Zip City]

[lynne]

My roommate is not into DBT or any 'literal' kind of music but she LOVES Come back little star..

I want Come Back Little Star played at my funeral....

[UncleFrank23]

I want Come Back Little Star played at my funeral....

Already been discussed in my household.

[cre618]

Jack! darling. I miss you.

And I, you!!!! Hope to see you soon, OBL.

[Iowan]

If Betty Ford hasn't grabbed you yet, listen some more. Brilliant song.

"creepy" Patterson at his best. Urgent and haunting.

[RevMatt]

"Betty Ford" is even better live. The tension really builds.

[lajakesdad]

And, so jazzed for next Saturday night in a cemetery lodge in Hollywood.

I got my ticket and I am totally ready for this one. Looks like a great place to hear these songs live.



Anyone else going to Hollywood?

[beantownbubba]

You know how to get to Hollywood, dontcha?

[cre618]

Great, great show last night in Hollywood. Sound was impeccable, band sounded wonderful. The new songs were really the highlight of the show for me, which is a great sign of this record's lasting presence. I really can't stop listening. Patterson continually talked about how great the venue was for these songs, and he remarked at the end that it was one of his favorite shows of the tour so far. Great to see a loud, appreciative crowd, which is unusual for jaded LA. I'm 90% sure this was the setlist:

12:01
Leaving Time
Little Bonnie
Pride of the Yankees
Two Daughters
Daddy Needs a Drink
Better Than the Truth
Disappear
Bulldozers and Dirt
Uncle Disney
After the Damage
Depression Era
Betty Ford
Better Off Without
Pollyanna
Heat Lightning
Come Back Little Star
Fifteen Days

Righteous Path 2012
After It's Gone
Back of a Bible (dedicated to Pat's wife, in the audience)

While I was hoping for a "World of Hurt" ending like some other shows I've seen online, "Back of a Bible" is a great, great closer. Jay really rocked the piano on that one.

Thanks for the great show Patterson. With Black Keys and Peter Gabriel in town, I think I picked the best show of the night.

Jack

[Jonicont]

Nice write up in Oxford American

http://www.oxfordamerican.org/articles/ ... rson-hood/

[Kudzu Guillotine]

Don't think this has been posted here, it's a Spotify playlist from Patterson's website.

Songs For the Open Road: Summer 2012

[lajakesdad]

Nice write up in Oxford American

http://www.oxfordamerican.org/articles/ ... rson-hood/

“Hush little baby, have no fear. I’m six more tours until the end of the year.” —Patterson Hood, “Leaving Time,” 2012

This is the second article I've see reference this line. But the lyric is wrong. The line is onlysix more tours til the end of the year It even says so in the booklet that came with the album. That makes much more sense. I'm six more tours doesn't make sense.

[Tequila Cowboy]

I haven't had a lot to say about this record, mostly because I didn't want it to sound like hyperbole. I understand I have a bit of a reputation for that. Still though I've had thoughts about this rattling around in my head for a while and it was time to let them out. Here's a review I posted on Amazon:

Patterson Hood has always been a reflective songwriter whether he's writing about the pits of desperation or simple joy and here on his third solo album. Heat Lightning Rumbles In The Distance, he gives us both in a semi autobiographical song cycle that contains some of the finest songwriting of his career. Several years ago the Drive-By Truckers song "A World of Hurt" illustrated this same dichotomy; first by cautioning that "it's going to be a world of hurt" and then by reminding us that while that's always going to be true the other universal truth is that "it's great to be alive". In many ways this album is that song played out in a suite of loosely connected vignettes set to beautiful acoustic guitars, keys both majestic and droll, haunting strings and lead and harmony vocals that grab you heart and soul.

The album opens with the stark "12:01" about a time in the narrator's past where the confinement of small town life had closed in and the only relief lay across the river where there was a two hour window to buy alcohol and wash the sorrows away. This is rock bottom and the only place to go is up. Here we also meet Billy Ringo who we later learn is both a beacon of light in dark times and an anchor that holds him down. We only wait until the second track "Leaving Time" to find our hero years later, in a better place, with a family and a level of success but not without it's own kind of sadness, even if it's fleeting. He has everything he wants but in order to keep it he still has to leave to pay the bills. "Sing your songs and bring it back home..." This record started it's life as a novel Hood intended to write and it shows. The spoken word piece "untold pretties" is actually a piece of the novel recited over a lilting musical background highlighting Hood's fellow Trucker John Neff's always welcome pedal steel. The scenes are vivid and real from the emotional confessions of Disappear to the flashback of "Better Than The Truth" where we once again run into Billy Ringo so numb to life that he falls out of a window with a smoking bong in his hand. "I'm only looking for an acceptable level of bullshit I can live with...". The song rocks along in a snappy shuffle belying the tragedy of Billy who we know is doomed long before the last verse.

Even with all the back and forth between the two time periods this really is a record about love and loss and it's also a record with two hearts, the lovely title track about beauty, family, roots and the place "somewhere between anguish and acceptance" and arguably the album's finest track "Come Back Little Star" a duet sung with and co written by the amazingly talented Kelly Hogan. The former features Patterson's father the legendary David Hood on bass even further accenting the song's family theme, while the latter is a near eulogy to their lost friend the late Vic Chesnutt, a talented songwriter in his own right. Both of these songs can put tears in your eyes before you know what's happening.

All this beauty and sadness played out in the words and themes of the record are accented beautifully by the talented group of musicians assembled here. Aside from the aforementioned Hood, Hogan and Neff there are Patterson's DBT bandmates Brad Morgan holding down the beat, Jay Gonzales playing his heart out and even Mike Cooley playing some banjo parts. Longtime DBT producer David Barbe plays bass here and there are strings by Jacob Morris and Centro-Matic's Scott Danbom. This is a quiet affair and these players pull it off with grace and exquisite performances and that enhance the songwriting in ways both subtle and direct.

This is an album that will get under your skin and stay there. It will burrow it's way in and dance around a little every time you listen to it and you'll find a different favorite song every few times you play it. That is, of course, until you realize that they are all favorites. In a year where it seems a great record from artists both familiar and new arrives every few weeks, this record stands alone as the best of 2012.

[RockStar]

Love love love Wes Freed's work - but I'm really glad this cover is different. It distinguishes this as a Patterson record, not a 'DBT affiliated' record. It's also very 70s, which I think will suit the album. It looks really classic and really good.

I like that it's different to...think it should be. I swear I read or heard in an interview that Patterson's sister took the photo, really love it and got my signed recently!!

[beantownbubba]

Patterson Hood has always been a reflective songwriter whether he's writing about the pits of desperation or simple joy and here on his third solo album. Heat Lightning Rumbles In The Distance, he gives us both in a semi autobiographical song cycle that contains some of the finest songwriting of his career. Several years ago the Drive-By Truckers song "A World of Hurt" illustrated this same dichotomy; first by cautioning that "it's going to be a world of hurt" and then by reminding us that while that's always going to be true the other universal truth is that "it's great to be alive". In many ways this album is that song played out in a suite of loosely connected vignettes set to beautiful acoustic guitars, keys both majestic and droll, haunting strings and lead and harmony vocals that grab you heart and soul.

The album opens with the stark "12:01" about a time in the narrator's past where the confinement of small town life had closed in and the only relief lay across the river where there was a two hour window to buy alcohol and wash the sorrows away. This is rock bottom and the only place to go is up. Here we also meet Billy Ringo who we later learn is both a beacon of light in dark times and an anchor that holds him down. We only wait until the second track "Leaving Time" to find our hero years later, in a better place, with a family and a level of success but not without it's own kind of sadness, even if it's fleeting. He has everything he wants but in order to keep it he still has to leave to pay the bills. "Sing your songs and bring it back home..." This record started it's life as a novel Hood intended to write and it shows. The spoken word piece "untold pretties" is actually a piece of the novel recited over a lilting musical background highlighting Hood's fellow Trucker John Neff's always welcome pedal steel. The scenes are vivid and real from the emotional confessions of Disappear to the flashback of "Better Than The Truth" where we once again run into Billy Ringo so numb to life that he falls out of a window with a smoking bong in his hand. "I'm only looking for an acceptable level of bullshit I can live with...". The song rocks along in a snappy shuffle belying the tragedy of Billy who we know is doomed long before the last verse.

Even with all the back and forth between the two time periods this really is a record about love and loss and it's also a record with two hearts, the lovely title track about beauty, family, roots and the place "somewhere between anguish and acceptance" and arguably the album's finest track "Come Back Little Star" a duet sung with and co written by the amazingly talented Kelly Hogan. The former features Patterson's father the legendary David Hood on bass even further accenting the song's family theme, while the latter is a near eulogy to their lost friend the late Vic Chesnutt, a talented songwriter in his own right. Both of these songs can put tears in your eyes before you know what's happening.

All this beauty and sadness played out in the words and themes of the record are accented beautifully by the talented group of musicians assembled here. Aside from the aforementioned Hood, Hogan and Neff there are Patterson's DBT bandmates Brad Morgan holding down the beat, Jay Gonzales playing his heart out and even Mike Cooley playing some banjo parts. Longtime DBT producer David Barbe plays bass here and there are strings by Jacob Morris and Centro-Matic's Scott Danbom. This is a quiet affair and these players pull it off with grace and exquisite performances and that enhance the songwriting in ways both subtle and direct.

This is an album that will get under your skin and stay there. It will burrow it's way in and dance around a little every time you listen to it and you'll find a different favorite song every few times you play it. That is, of course, until you realize that they are all favorites. In a year where it seems a great record from artists both familiar and new arrives every few weeks, this record stands alone as the best of 2012.

Very nice, TC.

[RolanK]

^^^ Indeed!

[Gang Green]

I third that motion

[Penny Lane]

i don't know if you guys know this,...but Betty Ford is a bad ass song!