Misc Shit

[Zip City]

as well as:

Avett Brothers
Band of Horses
Black Keys
Steve Earle
Ray LaMontagne

[Smitty]

as well as:

Avett Brothers
Band of Horses
Black Keys
Steve Earle
Ray LaMontagne

Agreed - but I thought the Black Keys/Earle already had been AOTW (but I have a shitty memory and am prone to hallucinations)
especially would love to read some of yalls thoughts on Band of Horses & Ray

[Smitty]

NPR’s Adverse Effect on Country & Roots Music
August 11, 2010 - By The Triggerman // Random Notes // 6 Comments
Last week an article was posted on No Depression lamenting the glossification of bluegrass. Of course my first thought was to point out bands like Trampled By Turtles, The .357 String Band, Split Lip Rayfield, The Hackensaw Boys, Larry & His Flask, and many others. But aside from that, I think you can make a case that all mass produced music IS going through glossification. Certainly mainstream and pop country is, as nobody is willing to take big risks or have the music sound too dirty. The formula works, so they stick with it.

But specifically why are mainstream bluegrass bands and other alt-country/Americana/roots-based bands and legacy country acts whose music would never be played on mainstream corporate-owned radio anyway sounding so clean? I think National Public Radio is to blame, at least partly, and here’s why:

First you must appreciate just how big NPR’s audience is, and how much it is growing while most radio is experiencing dramatic contraction from digital technology and the economy. In 2000 NPR had 14.1 million listeners. In 2008 that number jumped to 20.9 million during a period when most of radio’s listernship was shrinking. NPR’s numbers increased 9% from 2007 to 2008. And with NPR’s national syndication, public funding, and saturation of markets with sometimes multiple affiliates, NPR has a dramatic strategic advantage over local-based radio. (Read more about NPR’s rapid growth HERE.)

NPR also has a huge web presence, with NPR Music receiving a whopping 1.7 million unique visitors each month, and growing. NPR also has one of the largest and most listened to podcast networks and podcast subscription bases ever assembled. And NPR is increasingly focusing more on music comparatively to other interests throughout its platform.

One of the reasons NPR’s music coverage is growing is because the music covered on mainstream radio is shrinking. In this regard, NPR’s music coverage is a good thing. However when you command such a large audience–an audience much bigger than any one local radio station–homogenization can set in. And then you can have artists and labels creating music not oriented in trying to mine the heart of a song, but to what they think a specific target audience wants to hear; no different than the same criticisms that haunt mainstream country radio and radio in general.

My first beef with NPR music had to do with The Dixie Chicks. In the early 2000′s, The Dixie Chicks enjoyed unlimited support from country radio…until Natalie Maines said she was ashamed that George Bush was a Texan. And as their corporate-owned radio support dwindled to virtually nothing, NPR affiliates began to pick up the slack, playing The Dixie Chicks not only in locally-produced radio shows, but as the “bumper” or “return” music to their huge nationally-syndicated news shows like “Fresh Air” and “Morning Edition”–return music being the songs they play in and out of commercial/sponsor/news breaks.

This was good for the Dixie Chicks, but I wondered why had NPR ignored this band for years as hayseed Texans, and then all of a sudden they were part of the Dixie Chick fan club. One word: politics.

NPR has one of the least diverse, most narrowly-oriented demographic makeups ever assembled in media, especially when considering the dramatic size of their audience. For example NPR’s listenership is 86% white. They are described as “extraordinarily well educated,” with 65% owning bachelor’s degrees, while only 25% of the US population can say the same. The NPR listener is older, with their median age at 50, and they are more affluent, with an average annual income of $86,000/yr compared to the national average of $55,000. They live in cities, especially on the West Coast. And the NPR listener is decisively liberal. (See all the demographics HERE.)

Songs and artists with a left-leaning agenda tend to get preferential treatment on NPR. But this isn’t about politics, this is about music. With such a focused, attentive, affluent, and large audience all in one place, it is only natural that artists and record labels would start manufacturing music to attempt to court NPR and the massive audience that they command. What makes the courtship sinister is that NPR prides itself in promoting music regardless of commercial value. And as a news organization first, their opinions hold more credence with listeners as publicist Lois Najarian O’Neill explained in the New York Times:

“it feels like a pure, unadulterated and credible endorsement from a press outlet.”

In fairness to NPR, there are many locally-produced radio shows on affiliates that choose their own music, some of which pride themselves in giving local bands and smaller artists the same exposure as national acts. But these slots are not nearly as sought after as the ones on the nationally syndicated shows or on the NPR music website.

Could NPR’s demographics be one of the primary reasons for the “glossification” of country and roots music not slated for mainstream traditional radio airplay? Affluent, white, educated, urban-based older people want to hear clean, refined, mature music. They want a resemblance of the roots, but they don’t want harsh tones or messy recordings. They don’t want to touch the roots, just get close to them, like hovering over a public toilet seat.

And so artists and labels looking for an outlet for their music, being turned down by “mainstream” radio (but with their huge listenership, NPR could easily be considered in the mainstream), they happily cater, or pander, to the wishes of NPR’s extremely strict demographics.

What are some examples? Take Old Crow Medicine Show’s last album Tennessee Pusher. I’m a fan of the producer Don Was, but why did we need Don Was to produce an album that is supposed to be old timey string music? Some fans complained the album was missing something, that edginess, that dirtyness. It was glossy.

Another is Justin Townes Earle’s upcoming Harlem River Blues. I predict this album will be huge, even though there’s a good chance it will get a neutral, or even a negative review from me. There’s just no direct connection with the roots in his music any more. It has been cleansed for top NPR compatibility. As his press release reads, it’s “more mature” than his previous albums. Well I guess that makes me immature.

There are many other examples that can be found throughout the alt-country catalog, and as No Depression pointed out, through the bluegrass catalog. And I’m sure this effect is not limited just to music under the country music umbrella. And I don’t mean to criticize people just because they listen to NPR. I happen to be a fan of many NPR programs. But I’m also a fan of keeping music as pure as possible to the vision of what artists have for songs and albums. NPR holds its nose high for not just pandering to what’s popular, but to what is good. But as NPR grows, the roots, the dirt, the devil that ignites something in fans is being bled out of the music, and this is a bad trend that is no different than the trends that have infected corporate-owned, mainstream radio.

http://www.savingcountrymusic.com/nprs- ... oots-music

Thoughts?

[Smitty]

here's the article on bluegrass the preceding article mentioned

http://www.nodepression.com/profiles/bl ... ass-ramble

It is not so much that I wish to contemplate the future of bluegrass, though it seems rather less assured that it did in the heady days following O Brother. (But, then, everything seems less assured than it did ten years ago.)

But even in bluegrass, which venerates its elders as if Shinto were somehow an Appalachian religion -- the temptation lurks -- the impulse remains to find the next big thing. Or, at least, the next voice to carry the tradition, bluegrass being at best a medium-sized thing. (It's not a question of who's gonna wear their shoes; it's who's gonna wear their suits. Anyway...)

The tradition.

For a few long months toward the end of the 1940s, Bill Monroe and a gifted band of sidemen solidified the sound he’d spent the decade hunting for. Perhaps it is arguable, but it is an argument without point, for Bill Monroe (and, yes, of course, Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs and Cedric Rainwater and the rest) invented bluegrass. You know all this, of course.

We are come to the point where even the men who played with Monroe are contemplating their curtain calls. Del McCoury is, after all, 71 years old, and he was one of the young guns. Ralph Stanley is 83. Jesse McReynolds just turned 81. Sonny Osborne is about to turn 73. And Earl Scruggs is 86.

All those men could sing with a feral intensity that is hard to match, as if the devil were stomping on their tail as god sought to lift them hard into heaven, their guts laid open for the singing. This is why I have liked the music since I was a small boy, since before punk rock.

They sang from hunger. They made art because it made a better living, no matter how difficult, than they might otherwise made. They did it because they could, and because they had to.

It’s not that I have a need to anoint. Nor that I could. But John Duffy is long gone; Ricky Skaggs and Rhonda Vincent mean well enough, I think -- I hope -- but learned too much during their years on Music Row.

There is a gloss on bluegrass. I am tempted to blame it on IIIrd Tyme Out, partly because their name always bugged me, but mostly because it is their name I associate with the gloss. It’s a band some people revere, and I mean no ill by tarring with this feather, but they are not what I come to the music for.

There is a gloss over bluegrass, and it is the same gloss which plagues jazz, which may already have killed the blues. Both blues and jazz have so divorced themselves from their original cultural milieu that they have no place to survive but the academy, I suppose. Bluegrass has not done that, and has (to be fair) adapted to the changing culture which supports the music.

Still, my newly indolent listening habits remain dissatisfied, in the main, with the bluegrass I hear and do not already know. This is not simply a function of my age and withdrawal from the world. At least I think not.

It is now possible to learn to be a phenomenally adept bluegrass picker, though it remains (if the audio evidence available is accurate) surpassingly difficult to pull those pickers all together into something which sounds like a band. The best pickers, like Chris Thile and Mark O’Connor and the cello player who left Crooked Still, are tempted by broader horizons.

Tradition is not a concrete thing. It is a foundation, yes, but (even: like the Constitution) it is also a steadily evolving thing. So it is not my wish for bluegrass to stay put.

It IS my wish that it not lose its edge, that it not succumb to the stultifying mediocrity of the middle class, of the suburbs. That it not plow under its cornfields and cornpone in favor of building another Wal-Mart-friendly genre of music. No matter the rewards, nor the siren lure of Cracker Barrel.

Which somehow brings me to the new album offered up by Junior Sisk and Ramblers Choice, titled Heartaches and Dreams. Let me be clear (and fair, all around): I do not mention Mr. Sisk because I believe he is the future of bluegrass. I mention him simply because I have found this record to be rewarding listening, his songs and ensemble having led me to think all the thoughts I wrote above, and then some.

The truth is that all those years listening as assiduously as I might, I don’t know Mr. Sisk’s previous work. If I have been recipient of his previous recordings, I did not keep them, and for years I kept almost everything that might even possibly be of interest down the road. (One reaps the whirlwind when moving, eh?)

Nor do I recognize his sidemen on this record, which is also somewhat unusual, as pickers tend to shift in and out of bands often enough that the good ones become familiar names. (They are rather like cats, always looking for a second home and the possibility of salmon.) They are, then, Billy Hawks (fiddle), Darrell Wilkerson (banjo), Jason Tomlin (mandolin, vocals), Junior Sisk (guitar, vocals), and Tim Massey (bass, vocals).

Hah! My ISP finally decided to work (temporarily; for some reason I can't italicize tonight, but I can change the bold codes...I think...), and so I’m able to conjure up Sisk’s website (can't link, and I actually tried), only to learn on the homepage that Hawks and Wilkerson have left the band. Sisk’s bio says he came up writing songs for the Lonesome River Band, sang with Wyatt Rice and Santa Cruz (not on my radar), struck out on his own with Ramblers Choice and took a side road or two with the Lost and Found and BlueRidge. He’s from the Blue Ridge mountains of Virginia. Fair enough.

I would commend this record for two particular virtues.

First, the songwriting throughout is exemplary (and Sisk co-wrote only one track of the twelve). These are country songs, the kinds of things Ricky Skaggs and his fellow New Traditionalists took to the charts in the 1980s, and which Nashville has largely eschewed since, unless someone like Brad Paisley wants to prove his cred. (Which is fine, by the way.)

The songs range across the bluegrass traditions, from Dottie Swan’s gospel “Let the Light Shine Down” and Pearlie Mullins’ “The Lowest Valley” to the gamblers’ honky-tonk morality tale of “Bullets Always Win (a Matt Jones composition), to the broken hearts of “Guns, Coins and Jewelry” (Tim Massey and Rick Pardue), “The Laugh’s On Me” (Clyde Pitts), or Working Hard Ain’t Hardly Working Anymore.” Not to mention a sparkling, beautifully written drinking song, “A Black Hearse Following Me,” from Bill Castle’s pen. It’s all good, none of it exactly the same.

Second, the musicianship is first-rate, but never not once showy. Somebody (maybe even Chris Thile) said to me long ago that his music was not about creating contexts for solos, but too much bluegrass is now, and too many solos are twelve bars when four would do. Ramblers Choice offer the virtuosity of ensemble playing (and it’s truly a pity to read that the ensemble is no longer playing together).

It’s not the best record I’ve ever heard. It may be the best bluegrass album I’ve heard this year, but it may also be the only new bluegrass I’ve played all the way through. But it’s really good, and that’s really enough. It’s a reminder of what glorious music bluegrass can be.

Junior Sisk isn’t the future. His voice is warm (and sometimes even reminds me of Skaggs in the ‘80s), but not spectacular, and never feral. But he’s the present, and it’s well wrapped.

The future? I dunno. Maybe y’all will have a go at that in the comments. Maybe not.

[dee dee]

Very interesting read. I'm multi-tabling right now so hard for me to organize my thoughts. I liked Tennessee Pusher better than any older OCMS and I like the new JTE better or equal to any of his previous stuff so I guess "a true roots sound" isn't that important to me. I've gotten into Fred Eaglesmith's last two albums precisely because it has kept the roots but has also gotten more eclectic and risky. I'm guessing this guy and myself have somewhat different tastes.


I never listen to NPR so I can't comment on that. I'm probably among the most politically liberal people on this board but I didn't like the Dixie Chicks before their Bush comments and although I gave them a chance after them, but they just don't do it for me.

Thanks for the article Smitty!

[dee dee]

I will agree in that I dislike newgrass. (Unless you call avett bro or chatham cty. line newgrass).

[Clams]

bands that need an "artist of the week" feature (but havent got one yetthat i can remember)

Vic Chesnutt
Glossary
Bloodkin
Dashboard Saviors
Cracker
Scott H. Biram (littlemamma!)
Will Kimbrough (dee dee!)
Malcolm Holcombe
Jerry Joseph & Jackmormons
Kathleen Edwards
Will Oldham

as well as:

Avett Brothers
Band of Horses
Black Keys
Steve Earle
Ray LaMontagne

We are booked through the end of this month but will need more volunteers going forward. (hint hint)

Agreed - but I thought the Black Keys/Earle already had been AOTW (but I have a shitty memory and am prone to hallucinations)

Nope, they may have been written about in other threads but neither has been covered in an AOTW.

[Smitty]

http://www.bear-family.de/

have any of yall ever checked out the Bear Family boxsets? They're amazing - they bundle every single recording (released or not) of an artist and put it together in a nice set - love the Merle Haggard Untamed Hawk set

[olwiggum]

Ray McKinnon plays Hank in a movie about his final day leading up to his death (!)

I just went to IMDB and it says that Henry Thomas plays Hank in that movie. Either way, I'm excited to see the movie.

[Smitty]

Local Hank Williams film The Last Ride-Photos, Cast
Well the so-called cat is out of the bag. Production on the film The Last Ride has been shooting since February 16 and will continue until Friday of next week on the Hank Williams story. We have gotten a few details from Tim Jackson one of the film’s producers who tried to call in to our show last night but was thwarted because I don’t know how to work the phones without headphones.

Here is what we know:



Ray McKinnon (left) Jesse James (center) Henry Thomas (right) on the set of THE LAST RIDE.

Through photos on the facebook page for the film it stars Henry Thomas (E.T., Gangs of New York) Ray McKinnon (Chrystal, That Evening Sun) and Jesse James (Butterfly Effect, Bones).



Jesse James as SILAS in THE LAST RIDE

I can only assume James plays Williams seventeen-year-old driver. The caption says James plays Silas but from my recollection of the actual events of Williams life (aka me looking it up on wikipedia) the chauffeur who found the singer dead’s name was Charlie. Maybe the name was changed due to rights or we’ve got his role figured wrong.

It is uncertain who McKinnon will be playing but from the looks of the above photo and McKinnon’s relationship with producer Jackson hopefully it won’t be a small role. There has also been reports of casting Kaley Cuoco as Wanda in the film. Cuoco is well known as the hottie from the television show The Big Bang Theory.

Perhaps the greatest casting news I’ve read is that Stephen Tobolowsky has a role in the film which I hope to meet sometime. Tobolowsky is probably the most recognizable character actor starring in nearly two hundred films and television shows. He has memorable turns in Memento, Groundhog Day, and Love Liza.

Harry Thomason known for his work in TV (Designing Women, Evening Shade) directs the film and Benjy Gaither (The Gaither Family) produces. Howard Klausner and Dub Cornett who is also a producer wrote the screenplay. Doug Jackson also produces.

For more information you can view their facebook page here and follow the film on twitter.

If you have any information on the film feel free to contact us at info@camerasontheradio.com.

http://blog.camerasontheradio.com/post/ ... hotos-cast

EXTREMELY excited about this movie - I believe Ray would make a better Hank than the ET kid though

[Smitty]

SRO
Barrel Chested
Pronounced Leh-Nerd Skin- Nerd
side one of Exile
Ragged Glory

[Clams]

SRO
Barrel Chested
Pronounced Leh-Nerd Skin- Nerd
side one of Exile
Ragged Glory

wrong thread dude. Ha ha.

[Smitty]

SRO
Barrel Chested
Pronounced Leh-Nerd Skin- Nerd
side one of Exile
Ragged Glory

wrong thread dude. Ha ha.

lol whoops

[Smitty]

http://chronicle.augusta.com/things-do/ ... ts-success

Pop Rocks
Steven Uhles is a guest columnist
Athens myth hides elements of successBy Steven Uhles
When you talk about music in Georgia, there's always going to be an elephant in the room, or state as the case may be.


Advertisement
I'm talking about Athens.

Widely regarded, both regionally and farther afield, as the epicenter of Georgia music, Athens has garnered a reputation for being a fairly fertile incubator for new, innovative and successful sounds. While it's true that a number of well-known acts -- Widespread Panic, B-52s, Drive-By Truckers, Bubba Sparxxx (yeah, I know) and most famously R.E.M. -- have called the relatively quiet college town home, the truth is the success of Athens acts is, and for the most part always has been, a numbers game.

You see, for every act out of Athens that garners some attention, that appears on a magazine cover or high-profile tour, there at least 200 more that are never heard. If we're being completely honest, there's good reason many go unnoticed. They aren't very good. They are either derivative or misguided or just plain untalented.

That's not a knock on Athens-- it's the same everywhere. Bad acts go with the territory. Atlanta has them. New York, Seattle, Chicago and L.A. have them. So does Augusta.

What Athens thrives on is the extraordinary number of acts that have gravitated toward the town. It's sort of a self-fulfilling mythology. Musicians (or would-be musicians) see the success stories and, hoping for a similar result, rent a cheap house, crank up an amp or two and wait for a career to magically materialize.

A lot of tears are shed.

I'm not trying to be dismissive of music in Athens. There are a lot of acts who have had varying degrees of success that I enjoy and admire.

I was a big fan of producer David Barbe's band Mercyland and the late, great Vic Chesnutt. I love the fact that the perpetually underdog act Five-Eight is still hanging on (check 'em out later this month at Sky City) and love the hard hooks of Elf Power and the subtle symphonic pop of Venice Is Sinking.

But I also harbor no illusions.

I know that Five-Eight has probably had its shot and that the lucrative arena rock career it deserved is now beyond its grasp. I know that in death, the wildly talented Chesnutt might (and only might) sell the records and be afforded the respect he so richly deserved in life.

It's the hard, harrowing truth of the music business and it has nothing to do with geography. Great acts can come out of any community. They might emerge from the hundreds -- perhaps thousands -- of acts that have called Athens home or they may emerge from Augusta's far more modest numbers. And when they do, it will be for any number of reasons -- talent (perhaps), hard work (always) or luck (certainly) -- and not because Athens or Augusta or any other place on the planet has the magical ability to build bands destined for success.

[Kudzu Guillotine]

I have a friend that moved to Raleigh from Albany, NY just because of our music scene here. He's currently playing in at least half a dozen bands or more. Will any of them enjoy any level of success beyond this region? Who knows. I think the thing about Athens (or Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill) is that if they feel like they can make it here then they can take their act to a major market such as New York and have a better chance of being heard by a larger audience. Not sure if that's what the author was driving at in that article but our music scene is still thriving here. Although not a musician, that's why I moved here too. I love coastal NC (which is where I lived previously) but it's a cultural wasteland. No wonder Ryan Adams moved here from Jacksonhell....

[beantownbubba]

Musings from random airplane listening:

Sticky Fingers just gets better and better. More compelling, more interesting, more enjoyable over time. I don't think there's another single album i can say that about, including the albums that are my usual suspects for "greatest ever" like Born to Run, Let it Bleed, etc. Does that make Sticky Fingers the greatest album ever? Hmmm....

If "Honky Tonk Women" replaced "Country Honk" on Let It Bleed, the above question might be irrelevant. Half a song short of perfection.

I know i'm in the minority on this one, but for my money, Tom Petty never exceeded "Listen to Her Heart." That's not a criticism, btw.

"Reasons" may be the most underrated, most sadly neglected ballad in pop music history. It was popular and often played back when EW&F were in the heyday, but for some reason has fallen off the map. Bad mistake.

It took me a couple of decades, but ok, i now have to admit it, The Talking Heads' version of "Take me to the River" is better than Rev Al's. Ouch that hurt to write.

[Tequila Cowboy]

If "Honky Tonk Women" replaced "Country Honk" on Let It Bleed, the above question might be irrelevant. Half a song short of perfection.

Country Honk is WAY better than Honky Tonk Women. Sorry.

[beantownbubba]

If "Honky Tonk Women" replaced "Country Honk" on Let It Bleed, the above question might be irrelevant. Half a song short of perfection.

Country Honk is WAY better than Honky Tonk Women. Sorry.

Careful, TC. We're turning into the freakin' Odd Couple. Or maybe it's Archie and Edith. BTW, you are so wrong, it's not even worth getting into I actually thought it was the TP comment that would arouse the wrath of Felix. Or Oscar.

[Tequila Cowboy]

Well you're not alone in your opinion, Beantown. I spent a little time in a cover band right after getting back into music and my insisting on playing Country Honk over Honkey Tonk Women pretty caused them to part ways with me.

[beantownbubba]

Well you're not alone in your opinion, Beantown. I spent a little time in a cover band right after getting back into music and my insisting on playing Country Honk over Honkey Tonk Women pretty caused them to part ways with me.

And those were even the days when u were drinking coffee!

[Tequila Cowboy]

Well you're not alone in your opinion, Beantown. I spent a little time in a cover band right after getting back into music and my insisting on playing Country Honk over Honkey Tonk Women pretty caused them to part ways with me.

And those were even the days when u were drinking coffee!

They weren't amused by my wanting to play Aztec Camera's acoustic arrangement of Ven Halen's Jump either. I'm a bit of a contrarian sometimes.

[Smitty]

If "Honky Tonk Women" replaced "Country Honk" on Let It Bleed, the above question might be irrelevant. Half a song short of perfection.

Country Honk is WAY better than Honky Tonk Women. Sorry.

love Byron Berline's fiddle, but no way. HTW is the quintessential rock n roll song, to me.
I agree 100% w/btb about sticky fingers.

[scotto]

It took me a couple of decades, but ok, i now have to admit it, The Talking Heads' version of "Take me to the River" is better than Rev Al's. Ouch that hurt to write.

Not half as much as it hurt to read.
Don't get me wrong, I love Talking Heads' version, but better than Al Green's? It's not even better than Syl Johnson's.

[beantownbubba]

How is it that the blues brothers can still get radio airplay but sam & dave can't? The Brothers were fun in their time, but novelties are supposed to fade away, dammit.

[Smitty]

cool piece

Lonely Street: The Sad Story Behind "Heartbreak Hotel"
Posted by JeffK on November 30, 2010 at 7:53am

Fifty-five years ago on Dec. 9, Elvis Presley performed "Heartbreak Hotel" for the first time, although he would not record the song until a month later in January 1956. According to Ernst Jorgensen's Elvis Presley: A Life in Music, the performance on Dec. 9 was at a club near Swifton, Arkansas before a full house of 250 people. The 20-year-old Elvis was already a regional star but he had yet to appear on national television. Having just moved from Sun Records to RCA, he sensed he was on the brink of something big. That night in the Arkansas club, after playing the songs he'd recorded for Sun and a few covers, he introduced the new song, "I"ve got this brand new song and it's gonna be my first hit."

He was right. "Heartbreak Hotel" became Elvis Presley's first Gold Record, selling more than a million copies. Rolling Stone Magazine has it listed as one of the greatest fifty songs of all-time, and when then presidential candidate Bill Clinton made his famous appearance on The Arsenio Hall Show in 1992, he chose "Heartbreak Hotel" to play on his sax. There's something joyous about the way the song sounds, despite its sad lyrics, but there's an even darker story underneath the inspiration for the song.

The lyrics were written by Mae Boren Axton, a schoolteacher and songwriter who would later be the mother of country singer and actor Hoyt Axton. The son would grow up to star in Gremlins and write "Joy the the World" ("Jeremiah was a bullfrog...") as well as another song that Elvis would later sing, "Never Been to Spain."

One day in 1955, Mae Axton and friend Tommy Durden read a story in the Miami Herald about a man who had committed suicide. The man had no identification, and he only left a note with a few words on it: "I walk a lonely street." Axton, inspired by the note, sat down and wrote the lyrics to "Heartbreak Hotel," locating the hotel of heartbreak on the street where the man walked. Tommy Durden wrote the music, and the song was complete in only one hour.

Nobody remembers the name or the life of the unfortunate man who wrote the suicide note. And of course, he never got to see that his final act of great agony led to poetry -- and to millions of people screaming joyously and dancing to his final words of despair.

I bet he would have liked to have seen it.

http://www.nodepression.com/profiles/bl ... -sad-story

[Smitty]

Jay Farrar On Alt-Country, Keith Richards and Jack Kerouac
By Greg Gaston on November 29th, 2010


Currently on hiatus from his solo acoustic tour, Jay Farrar spoke with American Songwriter from his home in the greater St. Louis area. The longtime Son Volt bandleader released two different projects last year, Son Volt’s return to vintage form, American Central Dust, as well as a documentary soundtrack with Ben Gibbard, One Fast Move or I’m Gone: Kerouac’s Big Sur. From his songwriting in Uncle Tupelo, Son Volt, and extending to his solo catalog, Farrar’s moody laments have helped define and expand the Americana brand for two decades now.

Do you approach your solo tours in a totally different way than what you might do with Son Volt?

Well, every tour is a stopgap tour. I’ve been doing some writing during it, just seeing which direction the writing will go. It’s something to do in the meantime. The solo gigs give me freedom, and allow a reinterpretation of some of the songs. Gary Hunt accompanies me on a few instruments. I haven’t used some of the instrumentation, like mandolin and fiddle, for a while on stage. So it energizes me in a way, bringing in different elements. The set-list is primarily comprised of my last two records, but I’ll dip into some songs going way back.

You’ve been involved in several different bands in your career, from Uncle Tupelo to Son Volt and to solo configurations—what determines the direction of your next project?

I’ve noticed a pattern over the years—you’ve probably noticed in communist countries they always follow a five year work plan. I use that. I don’t know—after five years of putting out solo records, the pendulum kind of swings the other way. I guess the direction might be more solo stuff now, acoustic based. I wanted to get back to that.

I picked up The Slaughter Rule, your 2002 movie soundtrack, recently and was struck by how evocative your music is, especially with the tonal open tunings, and how it helped shape the movie’s feel. What was that process like?

The movie had a brief life. I think you can find it in rotation on the Independent Film Channel. But I thoroughly enjoyed that whole process, getting to work in that context in a way I normally don’t.

Was working on the Kerouac documentary soundtrack, One Fast Move or I’m Gone similar to that experience?

Yeah, it was. Getting to work with Ben Gibbard was nice—ultimately we have a shared sensibility, but going into it all we had was a common interest in the work of Jack Kerouac. We met the night before we went into record that record.

Who came up with the lyrics for this?

In the rear of the novel Big Sur there’s what Jack called “Sea Poems” where he was just kind of free-forming poetry. We started there, and put melody to some of these words, and then moved into the text of the book itself for ideas. Ben and I wrapped up the tour of the record by playing in Big Sur at the Henry Miller library. It was good to be able to present the songs in that setting.

Did you consciously go in the studio last year with the idea of doing a more acoustic Son Volt record?

Well, last year I did two projects almost concurrently, though Central Dust came four or five months before the Kerouac record. With Central Dust, I wanted to get away from the schizophrenia of jumping back and forth between acoustic and electric. Going way back, acoustic music was some of the fuel that inspired stuff along the way that I’ve done. I felt like getting away from that formula for Central Dust.

Your songwriting has always been impressionistic in form, did you try to write in a more topical, lyrical approach with Central Dust?

We touched on Jack Kerouac before. His method of writing left an impression on me somewhere along the way. Meaning, the idea of just getting your first thoughts out there, and not being too analytical about it. Not a lot of structure. That played a role here. I believe in the idea that impressions count, you know? As far as more recently, I was trying to mix things up a bit, looking for more topical subjects in songs like “Sultana” or “Cocaine and Ashes”.

How did Keith Richards inspire you to write something like “Cocaine and Ashes”?

That was about Keith snorting his dad’s ashes. His story just felt honest, and I responded to that. Uncle Tupelo did some recording at this farm in Massachusetts, and that’s where the Stones had camped when they rehearsed for one of their tours in the ‘80s. The local engineers played me tapes of Keith. Somewhere along the way he had recorded just him on piano, drinking gin, and it was quite good. I did find it inspirational enough to give playing the piano a shot.

When you look at the Alt-Country scene now, do you still feel much of a connection to it? Or has it become something that you didn’t envision? Was this part of the five year plan?

Well, I didn’t envision it, that’s for sure. This wasn’t part of the five year plan. Once a name gets put on something, there’s no way to control the quality or what gets inputted into it. I guess I haven’t been following things all that much. These guys probably wouldn’t want to be put into that category, but a couple guys have surprised me with the work that they’ve done over the last few years. AA Bondy and Mark Kozelek from Sun Kil Moon have interested me.

http://www.americansongwriter.com/2010/ ... k-kerouac/

[cortez the killer]

The Farrar interview is a good read. That's the second time in the past few weeks I've read something where he talks about a "five-year plan." The other was this blurb for some random article.

“I’ve been releasing albums with Son Volt for the last almost five years,” Farrar said. “I seem to fall into something that parallels what used to happen in communist countries where they would go on five-year work plans. So, I feel like I’m ready to do more solo stuff right now.”

I think Jay fancies himself as a modern-day Mao.

[Smitty]

Darkness in Outlaw Country

Steve Earle, Shooter Jennings, Mojo Nixon and more talk about "Darkness on the Edge of Town"

[Smitty]

Interesting article from the Wall St Journal:



http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... 53352.html

When to Leave the Stage
A generation of music icons is hitting retirement age, along with their baby-boomer fans. Is it time for Bob Dylan to hang up his hat and harmonica?.

Last Friday night, Bob Dylan chugged through "Highway 61 Revisited" at the Borgata, an Atlantic City, N.J., casino. His always-raspy voice, now deteriorated to a laryngitic croak, echoed through the no-frills ballroom. Security guards wandered the seated audience, enforcing his no-cameras policy. Behind some empty rows in the rear, a handful of dancers shimmied mildly. A trickle of people peeled off for the exit, descending an escalator into the ringing rows of slot machines. One of the walkouts, 50-year-old Warner Christy, said he wouldn't be paying to see the singer again: "I've been scared straight."


For people of influence in any walk of life, from corporate leaders to sports stars, the question of when to leave the stage is a crucial one. Do you go out at the top of your game, giving up any shot at further glory? Or do you dig in until the end, at the risk of tarnishing a distinguished career?

For the many and passionate fans of Bob Dylan these are questions that loom large. After 50 years in music, his place in the pantheon is unassailable. He is the age's iconic singer-songwriter and rock's poet laureate—a title even he lays claim to in the introduction read aloud before his concerts. And unlike other artists of the '60s who've been trading on nostalgia since the '70s, he has continued to release new material and wrestle with his art form.

John Jurgensen says Bob Dylan plays about 100 nights a year, but it might be time for him to exit the stage.
.Such are the consolations for fans who have seen one of music's best talents at his worst. The issue of whether Mr. Dylan should pack it in has been an enduring parlor game in music circles, whether part of the punk generation's attack on hippie dinosaurs, or the dismay of those hippie dinosaurs over their hero's notoriously dismal output in the '80s. Now, however, Mr. Dylan's detractors question whether he—at age 69 and having just wrapped yet another tour—is capable of another turnaround.

Most alarming to listeners devoted to his seminal recordings: the state of Mr. Dylan's voice, decades on from its first signs of deterioration. Dr. Lee Akst, director of the Johns Hopkins Voice Center, says it's impossible to diagnose Mr. Dylan without an examination, but that rock singers are especially prone to scarring or other damage to the vocal cords. Such trauma can be cumulative, he says, compounding the risks for the perennially touring singer. What's obvious: Though he never had a conventionally pretty voice—that was part of its power—lately he's been sounding like a scatting Cookie Monster. On stage, he strums an electric guitar and blows on a harmonica but spends more time at an upright organ, vamping.


This classic was released in 1963.
.Representatives for Mr. Dylan said he was unavailable for comment.

Retirement is an alien concept among music stars who know only a life of performing and touring. Those who have decided to give it up early have often changed their minds. Saying it was time to "move aside," Little Richard announced his retirement at age 70—eight years ago. Since then, he has played about 100 gigs. At age 33, rapper Jay-Z said he was hanging up his microphone to concentrate on being a music executive. Three albums later, he vows to never make such a pronouncement again, recently saying, "I lost the privilege to even discuss the topic, I did it so bad." At the zenith of his Ziggy Stardust fame, David Bowie announced his last concert from the stage, only to reinvent himself with impressive results. Yet he has not publicly performed since 2007, and perhaps won't ever again—he hasn't said.


This issue is coming to the fore now that a generation of performers is hitting old age, along with their baby-boomer fans. Not unlike their R&B predecessors, such as the still-touring Four Tops, most classic rock acts are delivering note-for-note nostalgia, but on a bigger scale. Pink Floyd's Roger Waters scored one of the most successful tours of the year by rolling out "The Wall," updating only the 1980 stage technology. But for the handful of acts releasing new material and trying to stay relevant as artists, there's no late-career blueprint.

Mr. Dylan isn't working toward a golden parachute; he's pursuing a craft. "Anybody with a trade can work as long as they want. A welder, a carpenter, an electrician. They don't necessarily need to retire," he said in an interview published in Rolling Stone last year. "My music wasn't made to take me one place to another so I can retire early." After all, he cut himself from the same cloth as artists such as Woody Guthrie and Leadbelly, for whom performing was a matter of existential, if not economic, necessity.

..He has sold almost 21 million albums since 1991, when Nielsen SoundScan began tracking such figures. In the past decade, he has moved more than 3.7 million concert tickets and grossed more than $192 million on tour, according to Pollstar. If he walks away from touring, he has fallbacks, including painting (the National Gallery of Denmark is exhibiting 40 of his works) and writing (the first volume of his "Chronicles" memoirs was a hit; two more installments are expected.)

Why single out Mr. Dylan when Judy Collins and other graying veterans are out there touring unmolested? Firing the debate is his status as the ultimate music icon, the caretaker of a body of work that, many would agree, stands in contrast to his current sound. He's also got a touring schedule that would put some hungry young acts to shame. He's been doing roughly 100 gigs, year in, year out, since 1988. While some oldies acts play obscure venues because no one else will have them, Mr. Dylan seems bent on playing every last stage in America, including minor-league baseball parks, college campuses and antiquated theaters such as the Shrine Mosque in Springfield, Mo.

Casual fans, especially, are vexed by Mr. Dylan's ongoing habit of mutating his most familiar songs. In Atlantic City he shadowboxed with the beat on "Just Like a Woman," going silent when the crowd gamely sang the chorus, then rushing out the words himself. To his many loyal admirers, such idiosyncrasies just emphasize his artistry. "With every concert, he's saying, 'Think again,' " says historian Sean Wilentz, author of the recent book "Dylan in America."

Jim Waniak is having none of that. Though he's seen eight previous Dylan concerts, he, too, walked out on him at the Borgata, saying, "I know every word to 'Desolation Row' but I couldn't sing along. What you're used to feeling from his music just isn't there."

Mr. Dylan's critics say they're simply evaluating him as he is now, without spotting him any points for past achievements. Last July, music critic Ian Gittins watched Mr. Dylan headline a music festival in Kent, England, where he followed strong performances, including one by folk newcomers Mumford & Sons. At first, Mr. Gittins jostled for a view at the rear of the predominately young crowd. But before the singer even got to his frequent closer, "Like a Rolling Stone," the critic had elbow room to spare. "The crowd had melted away," retreating from "the perplexing noise of this man whining," Mr. Gittins, 48 years old, said in an interview.

Of course, the singer has been derailing expectations, riling the faithful and inspiring calls for his head since he strapped on an electric guitar at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965. He made many of his critics reconsider in 1997, when he released "Time Out of Mind," a mordant, Grammy-winning album that established a new artistic benchmark for him. But if he plows on indefinitely, could the accumulating career lows undermine the highs?

"Listen, this legacy stuff is a bunch of crap," says University of Chicago economics professor David Galenson. "That goes for Michael Jordan and Bob Dylan and economic professors: You're known for your best work, not the bad work at the end of your career."

Mr. Galenson examined the two potential "life cycles" of creativity among great artists in his book "Old Masters and Young Geniuses." Epitomizing the latter, Mr. Dylan worked conceptually and with deliberation, turning out his most influential work before he hit 30.

So what becomes of young geniuses in their dotage? Mr. Galenson judges their "graciousness" by whether they accept that their greatest work is behind them. He points to interviews in which Mr. Dylan discusses searing songs such as "Blowin' in the Wind" with a sort of detached awe. "I give him credit for saying, 'I love those old songs but I couldn't write them anymore if I tried.' My suspicion is that very few artists of any kind would admit that," he says.

Mr. Dylan has defied the young-genius playbook simply by continuing to roam the earth, unlike Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin. The result: the somewhat disconcerting spectacle of a rock star acting his age. Mortality has been an undercurrent in his recent music. The song "Forgetful Heart" on last year's "Together Through Life" album features the closing line "The door has closed forevermore, if indeed there ever was a door."

Mr. Wilentz says we're witnessing an unvarnished evolution, pointing out that Mr. Dylan hasn't made obvious fixes with cosmetic surgery, and favors "old man's clothes." With flat wide-brimmed hats and dark suits with piping on his pant legs, "he looks like a cross between a parson and a Mississippi riverboat gambler. It's stagey, but it's certainly sedate."

Pop critic Jim DeRogatis says Mr. Dylan's methods—changing the set list nightly, reshaping songs on the fly—are nobler even in defeat than the crowd-pleasing approach by the Rolling Stones. The Stones have poured money into production on stadium outings, such as the "Bigger Bang" tour in 2006 (featuring tiered balconies on stage for high-end ticket buyers) and delivered faithful renditions from their catalog, from "Start Me Up" to "Brown Sugar." "They're like a global corporation and they cannot let down their stockholders and employees," Mr. DeRogatis says.

Still, Mr. Dylan's live shows are a no-go for the critic ("I've been burned too many times") now that they're not compulsory—Mr. DeRogatis left the Chicago Sun-Times last year.

Stalwarts revel in the promise of resurgence. Two weeks ago, Kenny Goldsmith took his 12-year-old son to his first Bob Dylan concert, at the Mid-Hudson Civic Center, a hockey-rink facility in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. They both left disappointed. Reading the show's set list online the next day, he was surprised to see "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues"—he hadn't even recognized the lyrics coming out of Mr. Dylan's mouth.

Last week Mr. Goldsmith was in the audience again, this time at Terminal 5, a club frequented by indie rock bands on their way up. The venue was crowded and hot, the sound was clear, and Mr. Dylan seemed fired up for a three-night stand in Manhattan. Occasionally he bared his teeth in either a grimace or a grin.

As Mr. Dylan plowed through the climax of "Tom Thumb's Blues," singing, "I do believe I've had enough," a smiling Mr. Goldsmith turned to a friend and shouted, "Compared to last time? 180 degrees!"

[Smitty]

http://forfeiturereform.com/2010/12/03/ ... e-country/

Will the DEA shut down every major music festival in the country?By Eapen, on December 3rd, 2010
The seizure of the 352-acre Camp Zoe property in Southeast Missouri has so far garnered substantial attention both in America and internationally. That’s because this is no ordinary seizure; without (so far) being charged with a crime, the property owner, musician Jimmy Tebeau, is having his land taken from him in a process that strips him of his rights under both the US and Missouri constitutions.

The DEA has filed a claim for seizure and forfeiture of the property on the grounds that for years, concert-goers have engaged in consumption and transaction of illegal drugs. Under this theory, every major music festival in the country could be shut down by law enforcement whose motive is not to make Americans safer through the protection of their rights, but the profit that police can make by taking property from citizens.

From today’s St. Louis Riverfront Times:

Only later did Goebel learn that the raid was the culmination of a four-year-long investigation by the DEA and the Missouri State Highway Patrol into alleged drug use and sales by Camp Zoe concertgoers. No one — including Camp Zoe owner Jimmy Tebeau — has been charged with a crime, but the eastern Missouri U.S. Attorney’s Office is attempting to confiscate the 352-acre property using a controversial process called asset forfeiture.

It’s not just alarming to festival attendees like Goebel. The situation has other music festival organizers worried that they, too, might be held accountable for any illegal activity that happens to take place at their event.

“It has gotten our attention,” says Brian Cohen, the organizer of St. Louis’ LouFest. “All festivals take on some degree of liability. That’s why we hire security, medical personnel, etc. But the potential penalties in this case seem to put it in a different category. LouFest and Schwagstock are two very different animals, so it’s hard to know what impact this could have on us. But we’re definitely watching it.”

Dave Roland, an attorney with the for the non-profit advocacy group Freedom Center of Missouri, calls the Camp Zoe seizure “a shot across the bow” for individuals who host music festivals or popular events on private land.

“My home state is Tennessee,” Roland says. “What about Bonnaroo? The folks who own that property need to be very aware and very concerned. With any large gathering of young people, there’s probably going to be some illegal activity, and if that’s taking place, it appears that property could be subject to forfeiture.”

Yesterday’s RFT story on the Camp Zoe seizure implicates the motive for the seizure: keeping money flowing to law enforcement despite the existence of Missouri law directing forfeitures to education:

Eapen Thampy, a policy analyst for the Kansas City-based non-profit group Americans For Forfeiture Reform, obtained records of each Missouri county’s deposits into the state’s “School Building Revolving Fund” via a Sunshine request. Thampy then compared the records to state audits of the forfeiture activity. After crunching the numbers, he concludes that “90 percent of counties in Missouri are non-compliant” with the state law that requires forfeiture proceeds be used to fund public education.

“We’re talking $60 to $80 million that has been misappropriated,” he says. “‘State law enforcement has been able to dodge all requirements of the system and keep that money directly for their budgets.”

…

That last part is key. Missouri’s reforms only apply to forfeitures in the state system. But local law enforcement agencies know that they may still keep seizure profits for themselves if they use the federal system.

In federal cases, an agency such as the DEA takes a percentage of the money seized — usually 20 percent — and returns the remaining 80 percent to the local police, an exchange called “equitable sharing.” None of the money goes to the schools.

That $60-$80 million estimate is for the years 2008-2009, when the federal government reported disbursements of roughly $50 million to Missouri law enforcement agencies. This $50 million in disbursements from the Dept. of Justice Equitable Sharing fund represent roughly $60 million in seizures, since the seizing DOJ agency (usually DEA or FBI) keeps 20%.

It is unclear how much of this is reported to the state auditor, but we do know that the Missouri state auditor in 2008-2009 reported roughly $12.7 million in seizures, $5.7 million of which received circuit court rubberstamp approval to proceed in federal court.

And in 2008-2009, deposits to the Missouri School Building Revolving Fund (the statutory vessel where seizure funds are supposed to be deposited) totaled $86,000.

What this means is that most, if not all, of Missouri counties are non-compliant with the statutory requirement that forfeiture money be deposited in a school fund. They are also non-compliant with the requirement that all forfeitures that state agencies participate in, even if the forfeiture ends up in federal hands, must be reported. As per the Revised Statutes of Missouri, 513.605:

(8) “Seizing agency”, the agency which is the primary employer of the officer or agent seizing the property, including any agency in which one or more of the employees acting on behalf of the seizing agency is employed by the state of Missouri or any political subdivision of this state;

(9) “Seizure”, the point at which any law enforcement officer or agent discovers and exercises any control over property that an officer or agent has reason to believe was used or intended for use in the course of, derived from, or realized through criminal activity. Seizure includes but is not limited to preventing anyone found in possession of the property from leaving the scene of the investigation while in possession of the property;

And RsMO 513.607:
(2) Seizure may be effected by a law enforcement officer authorized to enforce the criminal laws of this state prior to the filing of the petition and without a writ of seizure if the seizure is incident to a lawful arrest, search, or inspection and the officer has probable cause to believe the property is subject to forfeiture and will be lost or destroyed if not seized. Within four days of the date of seizure, such seizure shall be reported by said officer to the prosecuting attorney of the county in which the seizure is effected or the attorney general; and if in the opinion of the prosecuting attorney or attorney general forfeiture is warranted, the prosecuting attorney or attorney general shall, within ten days after receiving notice of seizure, file a petition for forfeiture. [...]

8. The prosecuting attorney or attorney general to whom the seizure is reported shall report annually by January thirty-first for the previous calendar year all seizures.

10. Intentional or knowing failure to comply with any reporting requirement contained in this section shall be a class A misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of up to one thousand dollars.

And as I wrote in the Columbia Tribune this September, not only is this Missouri law, but these directives are enshrined in the Missouri Constitution and a couple Missouri Supreme Court decisions:
In 1990, the Odessa School District won a landmark victory in the Missouri Supreme Court with a verdict that held the Missouri Constitution directed money seized from criminals to Missouri’s schools. The victory was short-lived. Almost immediately, Jean Paul Bradshaw, the U.S. attorney for western Missouri, contacted Missouri’s law enforcement agencies with news that they could keep the money through a federal forfeiture provision managed by the Department of Justice.

The program, called Equitable Sharing, allows state and local law enforcement agencies to take property seized in the course of an investigation to the Department of Justice for liquidation rather than to state courts. Ultimately, the Department of Justice cuts the local law enforcement agency a check for up to 80 percent of the property’s value, dodging Missouri’s requirement that the money must go to education.

In 2001, Gov. Bob Holden signed a bill aimed at reforming this system. The bill contained a number of protections, including a mandate that all forfeitures to federal agencies receive Missouri circuit court approval and that all forfeitures be attached to a felony conviction.

Nine years after these reforms, a number of problems have re-emerged. First, the transfer of forfeitures to the federal government has continued unabated as circuit court judges often rubber-stamp law enforcement requests. Second, the requirement that circuit court approval be granted is unenforceable; often, property goes to federal law enforcement agents who can execute the forfeiture directly without judicial approval. The amount of money that ends up being misappropriated this way is substantial. In 2008 and 2009, state and federal law enforcement retained well more than $50 million in direct circumvention of Missouri law at the expense of Missouri schools.

What do the feds have to say about this?

“It’s another tool in the toolbox,” says Richard Callahan, the U.S. Attorney for Eastern Missouri. “Forfeiting is a key part of the attempt to achieve justice.”

Mr. Callahan, you are a thief, operating under color of law, working for a government agency that has made theft part of its modus operandi. I urge all Americans to hold our elected officials accountable for the behavior of people like Mr. Callahan; if we do not, we have forfeited our liberty, and we have nothing left.