Country Music

[tessalasset]

Dawes was really, really good last night. Sold out crowd, coming back to town for a 12/31 show (diff venue) and just added a 12/30 show yesterday.

Not quite country, but I just remembered to add in here that a couple weeks ago I got to go into the studio and watch John Fogerty and Dawes record a song together. The boys were pretty nice. Young, but sort of in awe of John. And rightfully so.

[Hannahrain]

Pickathon 2012 initial lineup is out.

Neko Case, Dr. Dog, Blitzen Trapper, Heartless Bastards, The Wood Brothers, Kitty, Daisy & Lewis, Phosphorescent, Hot 8 Brass Band, The Cave Singers, Vieux Farka Touré, Langhorne Slim, Abigail Washburn, Lost Bayou Ramblers feat. Gordon Gano, Cass McCombs, Danny Paisley & Southern Grass, Alela Diane, Los Cojolites, Handsome Furs, Bowerbirds, CW Stoneking, Laura Gibson, Robert Ellis, White Denim, AA Bondy, Cajun Country Revival, Sonny & The Sunsets, The Mynabirds, Petunia & The Vipers, Typhoon, Whitey Morgan & The 78's, Genticorum, Lake Street Dive, Southeast Engine, Reverend KM Williams, The Barr Brothers, Foghorn Stringband, Doug Paisley, Two Man Gentlemen Band, Y La Bamba, Shovels & Ropes, Ted Jones and the Tarheel Boys, Lonnie Walker, Midtown Dickens.

+TBA. Looks pretty good. Too bad I'll be out of town.

[greghead]

Wow, that looks great. When is it?

[tessalasset]

NOOOOOOOOOOO. Earl Scruggs just died today. I'm like about to cry. I can't believe I couldn't go to his show in November. This is going to be one of my biggest musical regrets of my life. FUCK.

[TomAz]

awwwww man that guy was a real pioneer and a legend.

[greghead]

NOOOOOOOOOOO. Earl Scruggs just died today. I'm like about to cry. I can't believe I couldn't go to his show in November. This is going to be one of my biggest musical regrets of my life. FUCK.

WHAT? Oh fuck man. So glad I saw him at Hardly Strictly last year.

Rest easy, old timer, thanks for the music.

[TomAz]

So, emboldened by the positive reception of this thread, I made this mix which is sort of like a personal chronology.

Not definitive, not authoritative, just personal. Not strictly genre-pure. And really, really long. (and I feel like I left out a lot).

If you want, enjoy. It's compiled but not mixed.


Part 1: 60s, 70s, 80s

1. Johnny Cash, Jackson
2. The Byrds, You Ain't Goin Nowhere
3. The Flying Burrito Brothers, Hot Burrito #1
4. Gram Parsons, $1000 Wedding
5. Townes van Zandt, To Live Is To Fly
6. Jerry Jeff Walker and Gary P. Nunn, London Homesick Blues
7. The Flatlanders, Tonight I Think I'm Gonna Go Downtown
8. Emmylou Harris, Wayfaring Stranger
9. Willie Nelson, Whiskey River
10. Joe Ely, Boxcars
11. Jason & the Scorcers, Last Time Around
12. Lone Justice, Ways to be Wicked
13. Killbilly, Jesse James
14. Rank & File, Amanda Ruth
15. The Beat Farmers, Revenooer Man
16. The Mekons, Lost Highway
17. Dwight Yoakum, Bury Me
18. Steve Earle, My Old Friend the Blues
19. Lucinda Williams, Big Red Sun Blues
20. Cowboy Junkies, Sweet Jane

Pt 2: 90s and 00s

1. Uncle Tupelo, No Depression
2. The Jayhawks, Waiting For the Sun
3. Alejandro Escovedo, Pissed Off 2AM
4. Robert Earl Keen, Gringo Honeymoon
5. Son Volt, Windfall
6. Wilco, I Thought I Held You
7. Whiskeytown, Excuse Me While I Break My Own Heart Tonight
8. Steve Earle with Lucinda Williams, You're Still Standing There
9. Gillian Welch, Orphan Girl
10. Buddy Miller, That's How I Got to Memphis
11. Junior Brown, Gotta Get Up Every Morning
12. Old 97s, Barrier Reef
13. Iris DeMent, The Way I Should
14. Robbie Fulks, God Isn't Real
15. Iron & Wine, Upward Over the Mountain
16. Neko Case, Guided by Wire
17. Ryan Adams, My Winding Wheel
18. Drive-By Truckers, Marry Me
19. My Morning Jacket, Behind That Locked Door
20. The Rolling Creekdippers, In My Hour of Darkness

I just saw on mediafire that Part 1 has had 174 downloads and Part 2 has had 122. I am certain these are by far the most popular mixes I have ever made. This makes me smile.

[york707]

It's official: The hipsters that read our local alt weekly and vote in the music awards have no idea what country music sounds like; The Dive Poets won "Best Country Artist"!

[TomAz]

That puts you three slots better than Uncle Tupelo!

Congrats Jeff!

[greghead]

I just saw on mediafire that Part 1 has had 174 downloads and Part 2 has had 122. I am certain these are by far the most popular mixes I have ever made. This makes me smile.

They're really good. I downloaded each of them.

[lehorne]

RIP to the great Miss Wells

[bmack86]

I'm going to the Grand Ole Opry on Saturday. The lineup:

7:00 – 7:30
Jimmy Dickens
Rhonda Vincent

7:30 – 8:00
Ricky Skaggs
Troy Cassar-Daley
Connie Smith

8:15 – 8:45
Jimmy C. Newman
Jan Howard
Elizabeth Cook
Opry Square Dancers

8:45 - 9:15
The Whites
Jean Shepard

Also convinced my folks that we need to go to the Railroad Revival Tour, so we'll be seeing Willie Nelson, Jamey Johnson and Band of Horses (weird, right?) down in San Pedro.

[bmack86]

I saw photos of Elizabeth Cook and figured she'd be a Faith Hill type, but her latest EP has a cover of the Velvet Underground on it. And she does a damn good, stripped down, twangy take on Jesus, I'd say.

[bmack86]

Go to Nashville. Go to the Opry. It is incredible. I was just overwhelmed by the level of talent and history we saw tonight.

[TomAz]

I'm jealous.

[Drinkey McDrinkerstein]

nashville is very high on my list. Awesome you had such a great time Bryan!

[TomAz]

Bryan how were the Whites? that would be such a thrill.

[bmack86]

They were really good. They closed with keep on the sunny side. So cool.

[york707]

I loved the one time I went to Nashville. Even the tourist trap honky-tonks have killer players making ends meet so they can finance their original music. I went to Robert's and saw this (really good) old school country cover band they featured this kick ass fiddle player named Josh Hedley (he has toured with Justin Townes Earle and does great solo stuff) and a bad-ass young guitar player named JD Simo. And that was on a Monday night. And here is some video:

[york707]

"cool story york. 4 months late"

[bmack86]

I really want to go back to Nashville.

[Miroir Noir]

The new Dwight Yoakam album that came out earlier this year is pretty excellent.

[york707]

Not sure where else to post this, but here is a Christmas song we wrote and recorded live in the local radio station:
https://soundcloud.com/kdhx/the-dive...mas-aint-never

[tessalasset]

I missed a great show at the Satellite on Thursday:

TONIGHT: If you prefer your yuletide with a little twang, "A Country Christmas Concert" features LA's finest - Angela Correa, Adeline Danti, Maria DeLuca, Candice Kirk, Claire McKeown, Meegan Michel, Margot Paige, Jillinda Palmer, Sara Radle, Mary Verplank, and Brittney Westover performing covers by Kitty Wells, Wanda Jackson, Loretta Lynn, Nancy Sinatra, Anita Carter, Emmylou Harris, Linda Ronstadt, Patsy Cline, Dolly Parton, June Carter and Tammy Wynette.

[buddy]

Damn if this isn't a classic.

[TomAz]

Yes it sure is.

[TomAz]

Speaking of classics.

[greghead]

Damn if this isn't a classic.

Yes. Was just listening to this the other day.


Any Flatlanders fans? The Odessa Tapes are pretty good listening.

[canexplain]

This is pretty funny and country or rock ? cr****

[TomAz]

Any Flatlanders fans? The Odessa Tapes are pretty good listening.

Somewhere on this board I have spoken about my love for Joe Ely. I like Jimmie Dale Gilmore a lot too. Butch Hancock was a great songwriter though the one album I have of his is sort of dull.

I once attended a Jimmy Dale Gilmore concert (very very early in his solo career) which had 6 people in attendance. Literally 6 people. This would have been some time in the mid 80s I think. It was really uncomfortable, but he gave it a professional effort. Years later I was posting about it on some alt-country message board and JDG's manager was also on the board (unbeknownst to me) and called that show I attended the lowest of the low in the early days.

I don't know The Odessa Tapes at all. I have More a Legend Than a Band which is really great:

In any other circumstance, that title would be hyperbole, but in the case of the Flatlanders, it's the simple truth. Although their only commercial release during their nearly four-year existence was an eight track on the tacky Plantation label, bandleaders Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Joe Ely, and Butch Hancock went on to become pioneers in alternative country, directly influencing bands ranging from Uncle Tupelo to Ely disciples the Clash. This 1990 reissue gives that eight track a proper digital release for the first time ever (minus two weaker tracks, covers of the country standards "Hello Stranger" and "Waiting for a Train"), plus four previously unreleased tracks recorded during the same March 1972 sessions. the Flatlanders didn't fit in at all in early-'70s Nashville, both because their music is too weird (Gilmore, a devout Hindu, contributes a song of devotion called "Bhagavan Decreed," and non-musician Steve Wesson contributes musical saw to the proceedings) and, frankly, too country. Tunes like the heartbreaking "Tonight I'm Gonna Go Downtown" have much more in common with Lefty Frizzell and Jimmie Rodgers than the countrypolitan glop of the era. The percussionless, all-acoustic instrumentation is akin to traditional bluegrass, but the gentle, easygoing vibe (tempos barely even break into a trot on the entire album) are much more akin to mellow hippie folk-rock à la Pearls Before Swine. Every song is a small gem, with "Downtown" and Gilmore's career highlight, "Dallas," being the very best of a uniformly fabulous lot. The entire '90s alt-country movement can trace its genesis to these powerful and underappreciated songs.