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June 30, 2008

HEYBALE
The Last Country Album
(self)

(NO DEPRESSION.NET) -- Regulars at Austin's Continental Club, Heybale would stand out if for no other reason than the pedigrees of its members. Merle Haggard sideman Redd Volkaert is one of the Telecaster visionaries of his generation. Earl Ball played keys on the Byrds' Sweetheart Of The Rodeo, produced Haggard's 1970 Bob Wills tribute album, and later toured with Johnny Cash. Gary Claxton is an experienced vocalist, bassist Kevin Smith worked with Brian Setzer, and Tom Lewis drummed with the Wagoneers and Raul Malo. They deliver an effective blend of standards, including Willie Nelson's "Mr. Record Man" and Faron Young's 1971 hit "Step Aside". Augmented by guest pickers, the quintet shines on the country-jazz instrumental "Haybalin'" and Bob Wills' "Hang Your Head In Shame". Claxton's moody, first-rate original "House Of Secrets" feels like an undiscovered Patsy Cline recording; his "California Wine" and Ball's "Livin' In A Cheap Motel" each reflect a similar, timeless edge. Ball's sing-alongs, "Honky Tonk Mood" and "Everything -- About Drinking", fit the band's barroom sensibilities. Nothing here pushes any musical boundaries. It's all about unadorned Texas honky-tonk and dance music, something Heybale delivers flawlessly.

-- RICH KIENZLE
Copyright c. 2008 No Depression Inc. and/or Rich Kienzle.

Posted by Peter at 8:30 PM | Permalink

June 29, 2008

MARK PICKEREL & HIS PRAYING HANDS
Cody's Dream
(Bloodshot)

(NO DEPRESSION.NET) -- Here's to Mark Pickerel's car radio not getting fixed. Not that I have anything against the talented and prolific Seattleite, it's just that the swell Cody's Dream was supposedly inspired by a solo, radio-less road trip through Dixie. Perhaps to be expected from those circumstances, and especially if you're familiar with his well-received 2006 effort Snake In The Radio, spooky country soundscapes do follow you throughout Cody's Dream. Terrifically haunting songs such as "The Last Leaves" and especially the seven-minute-plus "Deep Inside Your Shade" just might, in fact, put voices in your head on the next long drive. But certainly that's not all this album, which mixes in touches of pop and soul, has to offer. The dark-voiced Pickerel is an interesting, thoughtful lyricist; he's surrounded by top-notch players, including his fellow Tripwires, Johnny and Jim Sangster, and pedal steel player Magrethe Bjorklund; and his songs are usually fully realized, with unexpected curves and turns.

-- ANDY TURNER
Copyright c. 2008 No Depression Inc. and/or Andy Turner.

Posted by Peter at 9:42 PM | Permalink

June 28, 2008

CHRIS MILLS
Living In The Aftermath
(Ernest Jenning)

(NO DEPRESSION.NET) -- Pow! Biff! With a pounding rush of fear-fueled adrenaline, we "run with out sabers and our guns" in a futile attempt to escape the apocalypse. We feed the war machine to save our wives and babies from the vampires and the aliens, until we break ranks and escape to an even worse fate.

Chris Mills isn't the first to offer a musical assessment of America's current malaise in striking metaphors, but Living In The Aftermath makes the rest of the field seem ho hum. No brooding, here, or even explicit rage. Instead, Mills makes his point in thrills and chills. He employs the fulsome rock arrangements he favors like the soundtrack to a fast-paced, white-knuckle action flick with monsters lurking around every corner.

The energy in his singing is explosive, too. Mills has always had a gift for emotional immediacy, and Living In The Aftermath gives it full range. His urgent but tender concern, even despair, dramatizes the "Twilight Zone"-inspired plight of an airline passenger in "Nightmare At 20,000 Feet". "Atom Smasher" kisses most of history goodbye in an eclectic itemized list, but defiantly promises "my heart's coming with me."

"All's Well That Ends", with its "two-headed calves and blood-filled rivers," is an indictment of science and religion. "Blackbirds" invokes the mood of a Hitchcock thriller to reflect on the empty life of a coquette past her prime. But the purity of true love in "Such A Beautiful Thing" and "Can't Believe" is as dear as that $3 box of Good & Plenty at the refreshment stand.

-- LINDA RAY
Copyright c. 2008 No Depression Inc. and/or Linda Ray.

Posted by Peter at 12:57 PM | Permalink

June 27, 2008

ELI "PAPERBOY" REED & THE TRUE LOVES
Roll With You
(Q Division)

(NO DEPRESSION.NET) -- Here's the main thing separating Eli Reed from all those other blue-eyed soul (and blues) poseurs: Even though he's so obviously working a black musical form, he does it with such a combination of knowing restraint and unabashed enthusiasm that there's not a whiff of minstrelsy or blackface affectation in him. He just sounds like a guy having the time of his life singing in a black-derived style.

In this, Reed reminds me of the earliest Joe Cocker, before he got used up and spit out. Reed has a similar, yet different, raspy voice with obvious derivations and influences; but, like Cocker, when he sings, it comes out sounding like nobody but himself. The 24-year-old Bostonian is strong and confident on songs such as "Take My Love With You" and "She Walks", and on "The Satisfier" he delivers a classic soul boast without sounding churlish or macho, which is how most wannabes come off. Even when he audibly strains, as he does on the intro to "It's Easier", he comes across as charming more than overmatched -- especially when he then settles down until, by the end of the song, he's hitting his falsettos right on the nose.

The True Loves play with economy and precision, and the arrangements are impressive throughout; the horns keep themselves right in the Stax pocket without sounding like Xeroxes. Reed doesn't take himself too seriously, so his album's a lot of fun as well as surprisingly mature. On the closing dancetoon "(Doin' the) Boom Boom", the soul screams just keep on comin', but they never go over the top. At times like that, it's easy to stop thinking about race and genre and just get in the groove with the young singer with a great voice and ants in his pants.

-- JOHN MORTHLAND
Copyright c. 2008 No Depression Inc. and/or John Morthland.

Posted by Peter at 3:30 PM | Permalink

June 25, 2008

SOLOMON BURKE
Like A Fire
(Shout! Factory)

(NO DEPRESSION.NET) -- Solomon Burke's trio of recent albums marked one of this new century's most welcome "comebacks." His 2006 disc Nashville was the strongest yet, a perfect combination of singer and concept: Producer Buddy Miller helped Burke choose some great old songs, then placed the mighty singer in stripped-down country-soul settings that played to his well-known strengths as a gospel shouter and ballad interpreter, while never once attempting to rehash past glories.

Sorry to say, but Like A Fire is that album's depressing antithesis, a gospel-deprived, flaccid, cliche-heavy collection of AAA ballads -- what else to expect when those contributing new songs include Ben Harper and Keb' Mo'? -- all performed in the style of a VH1 special, with special guests Norah Jones (her former guitarist Jesse Harris contributes two songs) and the too-long somnolent Eric Clapton (who does the same).

The result isn't a bad record. Drummer Danny Kortchmar and the other studio ringers involved are far too competent for that, and, of course, Burke gamely does what he can with what he has, which now and again is considerable -- he ain't called the King of Rock and Soul for nothing. But Like A Fire is ill-conceived, and disappointing.

So forgive if this comes off as cruel or morbid: Burke has a lot of inspired music left in him, but he is in his 70s now and overweight. He doesn't have time to be piddling around in the middle of the road.

-- DAVID CANTWELL
Copyright c. 2008 No Depression Inc. and/or David Cantwell.

Posted by Peter at 12:39 PM | Permalink

June 24, 2008

CROOKED STILL
Still Crooked
(Signature Sounds)

(NO DEPRESSION.NET) -- Crooked Still weren't anybody to know about when their 1995 2005 debut Hop High finally worked into the stereo. Aoife O'Donovan had a pretty voice, but that wasn't enough, not quite enough, and so, after a quick look at the songlist, I skipped forward to their cover of Gillian Welch's "Orphan Girl", made it halfway through, and gave up.

Wrong song. Well-meant, but they hadn't made it theirs.

A year later, in comes Shaken By A Low Sound, and it didn't hurry into the CD player either, but once it got there, it didn't leave for days. It was and is a stunning, gorgeous, complicated album, and it remains unfiled, piled atop the turntable. Beautiful and full of joy. They had found their voice, their way forward.

The low sound (or one meaning of it, anyway) was Rushad Eggleston's cello, a strange thing to find in a string band or a Celtic band or a neo-bluegrass band, all of which Crooked Still might be or have been. And it swings. The whole album swings -- jerks sometimes, but swings -- recasting a set of mostly public domain songs as fresh clay once again.

And then Eggleston left, leaving clear the title of their third album, Still Crooked, for the band, expanded from quartet to quintet, is now inescapably centered on O'Donovan's voice.

This time her voice is enough, but it's perhaps a nearer thing than it should be. (And perhaps I simply do not handle change well.)

To begin with, they have unexpectedly acquired manners, something of a surprise because O'Donovan's participation in the rippling, occasionally risque Sometymes Why side-project hinted at other, wilder impulses. Instead, Crooked Still have found their way into a kind of chamber music through these old sounds (the opening "Undone In Sorrow", "Pharoah", especially "Tell Her To Come Back Home"), suggesting that, perhaps, this generation of young and enormously talented string players will migrate not toward pop music, but into realms occupied by Evan Lurie, Penguin Cafe Orchestra, and even Kronos Quartet. Chris Thile and Abigail Washburn have already drifted that way, of course.

The new lineup -- with Tristan Clarridge (cello) and Brittany Haas (violin) augmenting O'Donovan, Corey DiMario (bass) and Gregory Lizst (banjo) -- still plays urgently, but has embraced a rounder tone that supports O'Donovan's vocals rather than tartly offsetting them.

They lay gently behind her gorgeous reading of "Captain, Captain", framing its lament around her carefully restrained phrasing. Clarridge's cello solo is spot-on for the song, and elegant. (And less muscular than what might have come before.) The instruments settle quietly behind O'Donovan on "Low Down And Dirty", too.

When they do rise up ("Oh, Agamemmnon", "Poor Ellen Smith"), they do it with concerted focus and purpose. There's no wasted energy here, no random notes played, and the only surprise is how beautifully it comes off. It's careful music, and it does not seek to swing.

O'Donovan will inevitably be compared to Alison Krauss, though I am also reminded of early Margo Timmins. Which means she sings high, sometimes softly, sometimes with a lot of breath, leaving out her expressive lower register. In fairness, her tone just now has more variety than either of those better-known names did early on (I'll put her new "Wading Deep Waters" against about anything, for example). No matter. O'Donovan can be a star, if she wishes. If it matters.

Albums are snapshots in time, and sometimes what appears in the moment to be a clear statement of purpose, a new direction, is later revealed to be a disgression, a cul de sac. Crooked Still are...still...a new band, and personnel changes are both transformative and traumatic. That O'Donovan and her collaborators grow each time out -- that's the part that matters.

-- GRANT ALDEN
Copyright c. 2008 No Depression Inc. and/or Grant Alden.

Posted by Peter at 12:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

June 21, 2008

SCOTT KEMPNER
Saving Grace
(00:02:59)

(NO DEPRESSION.NET) -- The guitar tone hits you right away, a beautiful, rich, clear, thick sound, perfectly suited for the arpeggios being plucked. With allusions to "The Star-Spangled Banner" in the lyrics, Scott Kempner is lost in the political wilderness, wondering what has happened to the American Dream. "Beyond The Pale" is a search for answers that never come, except in the hint given from his use of the pronoun "we," implying that what has happened did not simply come from above. Those who have suffered allowed it to happen, in some way.

The rest of the album transfers the political to the personal, as Kempner explores sin and salvation, at least as embodied in lust and love. In the 1970s, Kempner was the rhythm guitarist in uber-ironic rock parodists the Dictators; in the '80s, he led proto-Americana band the Del-Lords (who updated Blind Alfred Reed's "How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times And Live" two decades prior to Bruce Springsteen). While he wore a smirk on his face in the former band, and his heart on his sleeve in the latter, for this first solo release since 1992's Tenement Angels, Kempner seeks comfort while acknowledging the pain he's caused.

Three songs stand out: "Saving Grace", in which he sings to the woman he needs to forgive his transgressions, while letting his guitar solo embody redemption; "Stolen Kisses", a rocker that makes sex sound both seedy and exhilarating; and the magnificent album-ender "Shadows Of Love", which ties Kempner's pain at the end of his relationship to the Four Tops (and briefly the Supremes), who taught him this was what he had to expect -- both the suffering and the joy before it.

-- STEVE PICK
Copyright c. 2008 No Depression Inc. and/or Steve Pick.

Posted by Peter at 5:49 PM | Permalink

June 20, 2008

BONNIE BRAMLETT
Beautiful
(Rockin' Camel)

(NO DEPRESSION.NET) -- Beautiful is the work of a singer who's seen (and sung) it all. Consider that by the time Bonnie Bramlett gained prominence in the late 1960s as half of the rootsy duo Delaney & Bonnie, she'd already sung behind Albert King and Little Milton, not to mention a stint as an Ikette with Ike & Tina Turner. That's why this disc fits comfortably alongside a recent release by soulful contemporary Etta James.

Beautiful reunites Bramlett with Johnny Sandlin, a prominent producer of southern-rock bands who recorded two Bramlett albums in the 1970s. The repertoire includes everything from a country shuffle ("Sure Got Away With My Heart") to a jazzy blues ballad ("It's Going To Rain All Night") and a moody take on Stephen Stills' "For What It's Worth". The band is composed of seasoned southern musicians, with some tracks featuring horns. The most valuable players are Bramlett's daughter Bekka on background and harmony vocals (she and Gary Nicholson also wrote the rockiest tune, "Strongest Weakness"), and multi-instrumentalist Randall Bramblett, who contributes two songs and duets on the soulful "Witness For Love".

Bramlett is a born-again Christian, and it's reflected in her choice of material by Waylon Jennings ("I Do Believe"), Dan Penn ("He'll Take Care Of You") and Nicholson ("Bless 'Em All"). She also performs a tune about prejudice called "Some Of My Best Friends". But the mood is not unduly pious, as Bramlett's vocals boast both warmth and a salty spontaneity. Beautiful doesn't reinvent the wheel, but interpretive singers rarely do. They sing, and in the case of Bonnie Bramlett, sing beautifully.

-- JOHN MILWARD
Copyright c. 2008 No Depression Inc. and/or John Milward.

Posted by Peter at 2:55 PM | Permalink

June 19, 2008

NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS
Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!
(Anti-)

(NO DEPRESSION.NET) -- A fantastic double album is as heavy a trophy for a band as a prize-winning book is for a novelist: What kind of encore won't disappoint? Nick Cave, who with the Bad Seeds nailed down both length and depth with 2004's Abattoir Blues/The Lyre Of Orpheus, sidestepped the question, writing a western movie (The Proposition) and then forming Grinderman, a group practically engineered to let him blow off pressure.

The three exclamation points at the end of Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!, the title of Cave & the Bad Seeds' fourteenth studio album, are evidence that ripping through "Depth Charge Ethel" and "No Pussy Blues" significantly toned and tautened Cave's senses of humor and proportion.

Because this is Nick Cave, the humor is as black as Johnny Cash's wardrobe, and proportion isn't measured by an earthly scale. His rock 'n' roll is never "only" rock 'n' roll; it's heaven and hell and the world between, not to mention the supposed creator of all that, whom he attempts to summon with due respect and rage in "We Call Upon The Author".

Cave & the Bad Seeds also summon the early, primitive-lust Stooges with "Today's Lesson", evoke Hammer Studios horror movies with "Night Of The Lotus Eaters", and heavily modernize an infamous second-string resurrection with the title track. Skillfully unleashing cacophony and sweeping elegantly through balladic grandeur, and possessing a mien that still lurches along like a graveyard shadow of Elvis Presley and Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Cave likes it heavy, all right, but he isn't weighed down by any trophies.

-- JON M. GILBERTSON
Copyright c. 2008 No Depression Inc. and/or Jon M. Gilbertson.

Posted by Peter at 4:10 PM | Permalink

June 18, 2008

GIBSON BROTHERS
Iron & Diamonds
(Sugar Hill)

(NO DEPRESSION.NET) -- Who would've thought that Tom Petty's halfway-sinister-sounding rock 'n' roll seduction "Cabin Down Below" would make a good bluegrass song? In the Gibson Brothers' hands, it does. They moved it to a higher key, nudged the tempo a bit, and made it swing; the result is a strong opener for Iron & Diamonds with more innocent-sounding intentions than Petty's.

The Gibson Brothers can to do good things with unlikely song subjects. Leigh Gibson (vocals, guitar) and Eric Gibson (vocals, banjo), longtime bassist Mike Barber, and more recent additions Clayton Campbell (fiddle) and Rick Hayes (mandolin) are fairly open-minded for a traditional-leaning bluegrass band. On 2006's Red Letter Day, they did a pretty darn decent rendering of Ray Charles' "I Got A Woman", and here they take on Steve Earle, Julie Miller and Faron Young.

Leigh and Eric's harmonies are close and sympathetic, as befits brothers and longtime singing partners. The spare country duet "Lonely Me, Lonely You", one of several quality originals, shows just how well they're matched. Theirs isn't the type of vocal blend with completely smoothed edges: Eric's voice is reedy and raw-boned, Leigh's a touch deeper and rounder, which gives a song such as "Bloom Off The Rose" a satisfying bite.

The Gibson Brothers certainly have no aversion to making records. Iron & Diamonds is their fourth Sugar Hill album since 2003, and it catches them in something of a nostalgic, reflective mood, the only real drawback being that there's not much in the way of hard-driving energy. But it does justice to their distinctive brotherly sound.

-- JEWLY HIGHT
Copyright c. 2008 No Depression Inc. and/or Jewly Hight.

Posted by Peter at 8:22 PM | Permalink

June 17, 2008

SIERRA HULL
Secrets
(Rounder)

(NO DEPRESSION.NET) -- Sometimes it's a blessing and sometimes it's a curse, but the word prodigy is often used to describe young artists such as Sierra Hull. With Hull, however, the label may just stick. Her mandolin playing is nimble and sure, and her wispy vocals evoke Alison Krauss. This 16-year-old is good -- and she's getting better.

Krauss, by the way, is a major fan. So is Sam Bush. And Adam Steffey. In fact, Hull has been sharing the stage with big-league bluegrass players since she was in grade school. Now she's heading her own band, and the stars have come out to support her on her debut disc.

Produced by Ron Block, guitarist and banjo player with Alison Krauss & Union Station, Secrets is a fitting showcase for Hull's diverse talents. Stuart Duncan and Tony Rice are on hand, along with Rob Ickes and Dan Tyminski. So is 17-year-old banjo whiz Cory Walker, who plays in Sierra's band, Highway 111. But Hull seems entirely comfortable in the driver's seat.

The album pulls from a variety of sources. Jim Van Cleve's uptempo instrumental "Smashville", Marshall Wilborn's straight bluegrass "That's All I Can Say", John Pennell's plaintive "Only My Heart" -- Hull nails them all. Girl can write, too. There are three originals here, and "Two Winding Rails" and "Hullarious" (despite the corny name) are as solid as anything else on the record. For this bona fide prodigy, the future is wide open.

-- DAVID BAXTER
Copyright c. 2008 No Depression Inc. and/or David Baxter.

Posted by Peter at 1:46 PM | Permalink

June 16, 2008

POI DOG PONDERING
7
(Platetectonic)

(NO DEPRESSION.NET) -- Poi Dog Pondering has put down headquarters in three geographical locations -- Hawaii, Austin and Chicago -- and has gone through a rather larger number of members. 7, which is in fact the collective's seventh album, amalgamates the moves and switches: It not only features members from the band's various eras, but also covers almost every musical style and vibe Poi Dog has explored.

This inclusiveness comes about more by happenstance than by design. Frank Orrall, the collective's primary songwriter and singer, is just enough of a bandleader to keep an eleven-member unit moving in the same direction, but his attitude is so easygoing that even his thin voice sounds constantly rounded by a smile.

While that mellowness keeps most of 7 at a simmer instead of a boil, it also allows Poi Dog to visit new permutations on old approaches: tropical-breeze folk ("Perfect Music"), loose-limbed ensemble rock ("Lemon Drop Man"), natural-high acoustic psychedelia ("Space Dust"), and absolutely earnest disco ("Baby Together").

As a larger Poi Dog quality, earnestness creates moments of embarrassment -- in "From This Moment On" and "Super Tarana", Orrall gets sexual without quite getting sexy. Yet it also leads to passages of ardent beauty, such as the extended, reeling coda of the haplessly romantic "Butterflies", or any extended spotlight given to violinist Susan Voelz.

For all the changes of two decades, Poi Dog Pondering holds onto a constant, wide-eyed sense of artistic curiosity and discovery. On 7, looking back and moving forward, the band remains open-hearted and open-minded.

-- JON M. GILBERTSON
Copyright c. 2008 No Depression Inc. and/or Jon M. Gilbertson.

Posted by Peter at 5:43 PM | Permalink

June 15, 2008

WILLIE NELSON
Moment Of Forever
(Lost Highway)

(NO DEPRESSION.NET) -- Willie Nelson's willingness to record anything with anyone at any time can yield stunning results, most notably his recent Last Of The Breed collaboration with Merle Haggard and Ray Price, and similar team efforts with peers. Results on other occasions have been less impressive, among them the awful, Rob Thomas-produced duet album The Great Divide and the execrable duet with truck shill Toby Keith on "Beer For My Horses".

Despite a few good moments, Moment Of Forever falls into the latter category. It teams Nelson with two co-producers: Nashville megastar Kenny Chesney and Chesney's producer Buddy Cannon. There's no denying the catchy commerciality of Chesney's music, but Cannon, a Music Row veteran, is renowned less for studio artistry and more for his skills in grinding out mediocre fluff for mainstream country radio.

Problems begin on the first track, as Chesney/Cannon overload "Gotta Get Over You" with pointless, bombastic overproduction. Dave Matthews' "Gravedigger", while replete with wonderfully dark lyrics, is so ill-suited to Nelson's distinct vocal style that its impact fizzles. To me, the entire Big & Rich/Muzikmafia gimmick turned stale some time ago, so it's difficult to see any logic in Nelson wasting time on Big Kenny's insufferably stupid "Bob Song". Chesney draws on his love of rehashed Jimmy Buffettisms on "I'm Alive", leaving the arrangement replete with silly, faux-tropical affectations. Nor can Nelson bring anything new to Randy Newman's "Louisiana", Paul Craft's overdone "Keep Me From Blowing Away", or Dylan's "Gotta Serve Somebody".

Only three selections feel natural and unforced: the smart rendition of Kris Kristofferson's title track, Nelson's own "You Don't Think I'm Funny Anymore", and his amiably loose duet with Chesney on Guy Clark's honky-tonker "Worry B. Gone". Certainly, Willie's reputation can survive such a dud. Let's just hope next time, he avoids teaming with Rascal Flatts.

-- RICH KIENZLE
Copyright c. 2008 No Depression Inc. and/or Rich Kienzle.

Posted by Peter at 6:01 PM | Permalink

June 14, 2008

CATHERINE RUSSELL
Sentimental Streak
(World Village)

(NO DEPRESSION.NET) -- At the time of her debut Cat, released a couple years ago when she turned 50, Catherine Russell was already an accomplished singer with an extensive array of credits. Having grown up with musician parents (her pianist father, Luis Russell, served as Louis Armstrong's music director, and her mother, Carline Ray, a vocalist and bassist, worked with Mary Lou Williams), she is well versed in a wide swath of 20th-century music. Her repertoire draws from a rich American tapestry of small combo jazz, Tin Pan Alley tunesmithing, New Orleans swagger, and more. Russell's supple voice has the confident wallop and sashay of Albert Hunter as she moves easily from songs by Willie Dixon to Yip Harburg. Her band sports a number of players who celebrate traditional repertoires saddled alongside modern inclinations, including trumpeter player Steven Bernstein, saxophonist Erik Lawrence, and guitarists Matt Munisteri and Larry Campbell.

-- DAVID GREENBERGER
Copyright c. 2008 No Depression Inc. and/or David Greenberger.

Posted by Peter at 11:33 AM | Permalink

June 13, 2008

MICHAEL DOUCET
From Now On
(Smithsonian Folkways)

(NO DEPRESSION.NET) -- Even by the standards of Michael Doucet, who has extended the traditional Cajun and Creole fiddle styles of his personal heroes such as Dennis McGee and Canray Fontenot into the future, this one's a wild card. Playing octave violin, guitar and accordion in addition to fiddle, working solo or with fiddler Mitchell Reed or guitarist Todd Duke, the Beausoleil bandleader offers up nineteen tracks -- every one of them a first take -- of traditional and original songs.

Needless to add for anyone already familiar with Doucet's work, the musicianship is as precise as it is loose and spirited. That's as true for a novel version of the Allen Toussaint/Lee Dorsey New Orleans R&B chestnut "Everything I Do Gonna Be Funky" as for something that stays closer to tradition (such as "Bee De La Manche").

Doucet's swinging, heavily-accented style covers a lot of ground on workouts such as "Madame Boudreax" and "Reels De Mamou", and his occasional partners are more than able to go along for the ride (check out Duke on "Fonky Bayou"). He takes excursions into gospel on "A Closer Walk With Thee" and "You Gotta Move", and into hot jazz with "New Orleans" and "St. Louis Blues", and it all remains of a piece.

-- JOHN MORTHLAND
Copyright c. 2008 No Depression Inc. and/or John Morthland.

Posted by Peter at 11:18 AM | Permalink

June 12, 2008

FREEDY JOHNSTON
My Favorite Waste Of Time
(Singing Magnet)

(NO DEPRESSION.NET) -- The Howard Hughes of literate singer-songwriters has to be Freedy Johnston, the poet laureate of depressive folk-pop of the 1990s, responsible for near-perfect song collections. This decade he's been hard to catch, considering his last album came out a month before September 11 and his touring schedule since has been almost nonexistent.

Freedy fans, this is your year. A new album of originals is promised later, and the placeholder is this new studio album of all covers, most from a classic rock era when songcraft meant melody and heart, not constant beat and braggadocio.

Unlike his darker, more psychologically complex original material, Johnston's cover selections tend to reflect his sunnier pop side -- including compact rockers from Marshall Crenshaw ("You're My Favorite Waste Of Time"), Tom Petty ("Shadow Of A Doubt") and the Hollies ("Bus Stop"). Matthew Sweet's signature hit "I've Been Waiting" is improved with horns from start to finish, while Burt Bacharach's "Do You Know The Way to San Jose?" is jolted high with whimsy, blurred into dreamland by a pedal guitar whine.

Like Paul McCartney, Johnston possesses a voice of eternal youth, delivering vulnerable tremors on Cole Porter's "Night And Day". No surprise, then, that a Wings-era McCartney is represented twice: "Listen To What The Man Said" and "Let 'Em In" are both breezy and bright, massaged by horn/woodwind interludes. Reverence keeps them from straying, but as far as loving tributes go, these hit the sweet spot.

-- MARK GUARINO
Copyright c. 2008 No Depression Inc. and/or Mark Guarino.

Posted by Peter at 2:48 PM | Permalink

June 11, 2008

DEVOTCHKA
A Mad And Faithful Telling
(Anti-)

(NO DEPRESSION.NET) -- For the better part of a decade, DeVotchKa existed under the radar. Did they complain? No. With their lively, Old World-infused sound, drawing on Yiddish, Romany, and mariachi traditions, toil and travel seemed to suit the Denver quartet. Then, as it is wont to do, Hollywood spoiled everything. In 2005, the band scored the Sundance smash Little Miss Sunshine. A well-timed EP of covers, Curse Your Little Heart, arrived soon after. Now DeVotchKa are free to be pigeonholed with the best. Lucky them.

A Mad And Faithful Telling, their fourth full-length, does not squander the opportunity. The disc opens with "Basso Profundo", a ramshackle blast of low-end brass, clattering percussion, and start-stop tempos. Think "gypsy punk," minus the air of violence. Throughout this ten-song set, the band returns periodically to that template; the antic, wordless "Comrade Z" seems tailored to accompany sepia-tone footage of immigrant life on the Lower East Side.

But the cuts which defy expectations propel the album forward...and in zany circles. "Along The Way" finds frontman Nick Urata in full swoon, a spectral Roy Orbison suspended over rising and falling strings. If fuzz guitar replaced accordion, "Head Honcho" would pass as a first-rate surf-rocker. And kudos to Jeanie Schroder for anchoring the waltz-time "Blessing In Disguise" with gracefully sustained sousaphone tones.

Reuniting DeVotchKa with producer Craig Schumacher (who has shown a similar proclivity for diversity in his work with Calexico and Neko Case), A Mad And Faithful Feeling meets its title's promise by dishing out equal doses of new music that is both.

-- KURT B. REIGHLEY
Copyright c. 2008 No Depression Inc. and/or Kurt B. Reighley.

Posted by Peter at 1:01 PM | Permalink

June 10, 2008

MY MORNING JACKET
Evil Urges
(ATO)

(NO DEPRESSION.NET) -- This disc should come with one of those "you must be this tall to ride" amusement park signs: The fifth studio album from My Morning Jacket roars through myriad peaks, dips, and loop-de-loops in 55 minutes. Sussing out who might, or might not, be ready for its highly variegated program is a tough call. A cartoon character with an outstretched paw is as good a yardstick as any.

Fans firmly attached to the dreamy, stoner-rock side of MMJ may react violently to "Highly Suspicious". The most radical departure on a record rife with them, this metallic funk workout recalls Prince (right down to a mischievous giggle) circa Sign 'O' The Times, or Beck's Midnight Vultures. Listeners still reeling from frontman Jim James' keening falsetto on the soulful, titular opening cut could start scrambling for the exits.

They shouldn't. Odds are there's something they'll enjoy more ahead. With its steel guitar and discrete strings, "Sec Walking" ranks among the closest My Morning Jacket has gotten to straight-up country territory. Pounding piano and big drum sounds render "Aluminum Park" a lighter-waving anthem a la "Born To Run" or "All The Young Dudes". The succinct "Two Halves", a jaunty pop-rocker with humorous lyrics about reconciling youth and maturity, could be swapped out with almost any cut on the Minus 5's Down With Wilco without anyone immediately noticing...even Scott McCaughey.

Co-produced by Jim James and Joe Chicccarelli (the Shins, White Stripes), Evil Urges was recorded in New York City and seems to suffer from some of the ADD and schizophrenia that sudden immersion in Manhattan can induce. Recurring lyrical themes of moral conflict ("I'm Amazed", the sexy bookworm send-up "Librarian") impart much-needed coherence, as does more traditional MMJ fare such as the swirling "Touch Me I'm Going To Scream, Part 1".

Ultimately, this disc is a fun diversion, but one with so many bumps and sudden sharp turns, even enthusiasts may not clamor back on again as quickly as they anticipated.

-- KURT B. REIGHLEY
Copyright c. 2008 No Depression Inc. and/or Kurt B. Reighley.

Posted by Peter at 11:16 AM | Permalink

June 9, 2008

CHATHAM COUNTY LINE
IV
(Yep Roc)

(NO DEPRESSION.NET) -- Chatham County Line were never going to be the world's best bluegrass band. Raised on classic rock 'n' roll and well-schooled in traditional country, they turned to bluegrass partly to grow as musicians, a goal they more than met with their first three albums. But IBMA supersessions were not their destiny; rather, their soul has always been in songwriting, and in the broader landscape of American roots music.

Those strengths are at the fore with IV, easily the foursome's finest album to date. Producer Chris Stamey provides pristine clarity for the material, which includes several of the best songs lead singer and guitarist Dave Wilson has ever written.

None are better than the leadoff track, "Chip Of A Star", which launches with Chandler Holt's indelible banjo riff and coasts home on the wings of Greg Readling's swooning steel guitar. Allowing Readling, the band's upright bassist, more room to roam on steel was a key transformation on IV; that much is clear from his exquisitely emotional runs on Wilson's five-minute country-soul ballad "Sweet Eviction", the disc's most enduring track.

Bluegrass is still part of the picture as well. Holt's "Clear Blue Sky" and mandolinist/fiddler John Teer's "Paige" are two-minute instrumental interludes; the bluegrass blueprint of tight vocal harmonies and strong string-picking remains the backbone for most of the album's arrangements. But the reins have been loosened, and the result is that Chatham County Line has finally delivered the first-rate record that was lurking within their grasp all along.

-- PETER BLACKSTOCK
Copyright c. 2008 No Depression Inc. and/or Peter Blackstock.

Posted by Peter at 1:15 PM | Permalink

June 8, 2008

STEPHEN MALKMUS & THE JICKS
Real Emotional Trash
(Matador)

(NO DEPRESSION.NET) -- Stephen Malkmus is essentially a litterateur who fell into rock music, but he's made the best of regularly putting down a book and picking up a guitar. The knowledge of a smart reader has found its way into his music, from the earliest shambles of Pavement to his fourth album under his own name, Real Emotional Trash.

Like his second post-Pavement disc, 2003's Pig Lib, this one is more of a band effort with the Jicks, which, as on the previous effort, results in a narrowing of focus. At the same time, it also refracts the looseness and freedom that marked 2005's Face The Truth. His band -- bassist Joanna Bolme, guitarist/keyboardist Mike Clark, and former Sleater-Kinney drummer Janet Weiss (an invaluable addition) -- seems to have loosened up as well, and has no problem keeping pace. Thus encouraged, Malkmus expands the title-track opener into a ten-minute epic, complete with a languid, then speedily intense, middle section featuring solos that wouldn't shame either Ron Asheton or Gregg Allmann.

The album is full of such incongruously listenable combinations: "Wicked Wanda" locates common ground between Abbey Road and magical medieval lanes; "Hopscotch Willie" transplants a dimestore-novel mystery plot into a frenzied indie-rock jam; "We Can't Help You" swaddles its stark lyrics in roots-rock keyboards and a loping, foursquare beat. As ever, Malkmus sings with a modicum of self-aware detachment, yet even he can't help but be carried along by his own music and words -- by the different kind of literature he's writing.

-- JON M. GILBERTSON
Copyright c. 2008 No Depression Inc. and/or Jon M. Gilbertson.

Posted by Peter at 3:47 PM | Permalink

June 6, 2008

WAS (NOT WAS)
Boo!
(Rykodisc)

(NO DEPRESSION.NET) -- An election year both as bizarre and as crucial as this brings out the best in Was (Not Was). Regrouping after a recording hiatus of almost two decades -- as bassist Don (Fagenson) Was achieved a higher profile producing Bonnie Raitt, the Rolling Stones, Iggy Pop and so many others -- the Los Angeles via Detroit collective retains most of its signature elements: the resplendently soulful vocal trio of Sweet Pea Atkinson, Sir Harry Bowens and Donald Ray Richardson; the recruitment of accomplices including guitarist Wayne (MC5) Kramer and keyboardist Booker T. (of the MG's) Jones; the lyrical surrealism of former jazz critic David (Weiss) Was; the surprise vocalist on the final cut (with Kris Kristofferson, another Don Was production client, taking the slot once occupied by Mel Torme).

What also remains are the signature funk grooves reminiscent of Parliament/Funkadelic, though the novelty dadaism that gave the group an unlikely hit with 1988's "Walk The Dinosaur" has given way to the grittier urban narratives more akin to The Wire (to which the jazzy "Big Black Hole" sounds like an aural homage). From the red, white and blue orgy that opens "Semi-Interesting Week" through the heavenly chorus harmonies and hellish verses of "It's A Miracle" to the bloody literalism of "From The Head To The Heart", the Was Bros. have presented their darkest, deepest and most powerful recording to date as a State of the Union address. And the state of the union isn't pretty.

There's even a compositional collaboration with Bob Dylan (who enlisted Don and David Was as co-producers for his 1990 album Under The Red Sky), with "Mr. Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore" providing a companion of sorts to the mid-'60s Mr. Jones. There's still something happening here, and if you don't know what it is, Was (Not Was) has returned to set a desperate nation straight.

-- DON MCLEESE
Copyright c. 2008 No Depression Inc. and/or Don McLeese.

Posted by Peter at 8:59 PM | Permalink

June 5, 2008

MATTHEW RYAN
Vs. The Silver State
(00:02:59)

(NO DEPRESSION.NET) -- It's not that your mind wanders when listening to the sprawling yet ultimately pointed music of Matthew Ryan. It's more that your mind makes connections. For example, when you get to the mostly rhetorical "How'd you get so drunk and disappointed?" chorus of "Drunk & Disappointed", you might find yourself thinking of the Replacements' "Unsatisfied". As you're chewing on that, Ryan hits you with, in full snarl, "Johnny wanted a lot of things, but Johnny didn't want to die" -- another Replacements-ish flashback. That sets you up for "It Could've Been Worse" and that song's couplet, "Her blonde hair was the setting sun/Her mascara was born to run." The rare Replacements/Springsteen combo.

The names Springsteen and Westerberg have surfaced in Ryan write-ups. The former gets mentioned in relation to the epic sweep of Ryan's songs, the latter thanks to such lines as "She's the first girl you kissed/She's the first girl you miss/When you're feeling like this" as well as throwaway brilliance such as rhyming "stupider" with "Jupiter."

But those namedrops are just tiny flashpoints. Ryan remains his own man with his own brand of atmospheric roots-rock, a sound that is taken to new heights in collaboration with the band Vs. The Silver State (and there's your explanation of the record's title). His conspiratorial vocals continue to compel; it's like he's waving you over to sing directly in your ear. And when your mind finally focuses, you realize that this new one isn't any kind of homage to musical heroes. It's stories from his old neighborhood in Philly, of Jane and Johnny and the kid who listened to the Clash. And it's Ryan's best record yet.

-- RICK CORNELL
Copyright c. 2008 No Depression Inc. and/or Rick Cornell.

Posted by Peter at 1:18 PM | Permalink

June 4, 2008

RICKY SKAGGS & KENTUCKY THUNDER
Honoring The Fathers Of Bluegrass
(Skaggs Family)

(NO DEPRESSION.NET) -- Since his justifiably heralded return to full-time bluegrass a little over ten years ago, Ricky Skaggs has been slowly easing away from the revivalism that marked Bluegrass Rules! -- until now. Honoring The Fathers Of Bluegrass zeroes in on a dozen tunes recorded by the 1946-1947 edition of Bill Monroe & His Blue Grass Boys. While the album might seem at first blush slightly baffling to the uninitiated -- without extensive reinterpretation, what's the point? -- it gives insight into what "tradition" means to one important group of musicians steeped therein, and yields plenty of fine listening.

Skaggs is more playful than those impatient with his "preaching," whether musical or religious, often realize. To take just one example on the new album, each song's kickoff exactly matches the original Blue Grass Boys recording -- except one, "Why Did You Wander", where instead of following the long-unreleased original, Skaggs slyly opts for duplicating the fiddled opening of the first commercial release years later by Blue Grass Boy alumnae Flatt & Scruggs. It rips nicely whether you know that or not, but the extra layer gives extra pleasure, and similar twists are scattered throughout.

More importantly, despite the emphasis on re-creation rather than reinvention, Honoring maintains the approach first applied on Bluegrass Rules!, and it works as well as ever. Banjo man Jim Mills and Skaggs as mandolinist play it straight, offering spirited but incremental variations on Earl Scruggs' and Monroe's trailblazing work, while the wickedly skilled and equally tasteful Cody Kilby delivers something more modern in his many guitar leads, and fiddler Andy Leftwich splits the difference. The result is classic bluegrass that's nonetheless refracted through a contemporary lens.

-- JON WEISBERGER
Copyright c. 2008 No Depression Inc. and/or Jon Weisberger.

Posted by Peter at 11:54 AM | Permalink

June 3, 2008

BLACK KEYS
Attack And Release
(Nonesuch)

(NO DEPRESSION.NET) -- When you think about it, the potentially unholy union of Danger Mouse (the producer/auteur/masher-upper behind the Beatles/Jay-Z two-car pileup The Grey Album, and one half of Gnarls Barkley) and Akron's finest swamp-blues twosome the Black Keys isn't such a bad idea.

The Keys and Danger Mouse are both avid conceptualizers. The duo loves the idea of blues-rock as much as the thing of it, Danger Mouse seems to prize incongruity above all, and there's hardly an ounce of sincerity between them, though this isn't necessarily a handicap. Attack And Release is a canny approximation of a blues album, the sort of thing made by white guys from the midwest who aren't the White Stripes even though they often sound like they might as well be. It's a hoot.

The Black Keys' fifth album and first made in a proper studio, Attack And Release is another triumph of fuzz, fat-bottomed bass, portentous and often indecipherable lyrics about something or other, and riotous, up-from-the-ooze sludge-rock. Danger Mouse hasn't done much to alter the Keys' standard formula, though he has made it vaguer and creepier, adding layers of vaporous effects that update the Keys' sound from 1972 to somewhere in the early '00s.

They dabble in country (there's the slow-burning duet with bluegrass singer Jessica Lea Mayfield on "Things Ain't Like They Used To Be", and the woozy, weird, banjo-fied "Psychotic Girl") and slow-creep psychedelia. But in the end, anything that detracts from the Keys' trademarked full-frontal sonic assaults (like the ode-to-mindless-riffage "Strange Times") only seems to get in the way.

-- ALLISON STEWART
Copyright c. 2008 No Depression Inc. and/or Allison Stewart.

Posted by Peter at 11:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

June 2, 2008

DRUNK STUNTMEN
State Fair
(self)

(NO DEPRESSION.NET) -- This quintet's name always takes me back to 1979 and a friend's house out by the airport. His single-parent dad was often on the road, meaning plenty of parties. Those nights would inevitably end with a bunch of guys deeply under the influence of $1.29 six-packs of Genny White Death pretending to be Burt Reynolds in Hooper. The main prop was a sofa that came to be known as the stunt couch, and the combination of beer and dramatic tumbles left us dazed and confused.

Guess it's fitting that the latest disc from the Drunk Stuntmen can leave you a little disoriented. For starters, three of the first four cuts abruptly change tempo mid-song, and throughout there are more Brian May-like guitar solos and prog-rock-keyboard echoes than one would expect from a band with a rockabilly/country-rock reputation and moniker. Roots rock, in fact, doesn't show up until song five, the Go To Blazes-ish "Silver City".

Other dizzying curves come in the form of "Still My Baby" and "Find You", a winning pair that can only be described as power ballads Stuntmen-style, and the title track, a winding yet winsome instrumental. Then there's the comical incongruity between the affection and wistfulness found in some of the words (most notably on "Halcyon Days", a co-highlight along with the expert pop-rocker "Underground") and this sentiment from the twangy romp "Buy Your Love": "I give you all my money, all my drugs/And 100 dollar bills instead of kisses and hugs."

All told, it's an entertaining 45-minute walk down the mind's midway, equal parts intriguing and perplexing. You also get the feeling the songs would be even more entertaining when presented live and rowdier -- ideally with a couple beers under your belt and the threat of a concussion.

-- RICK CORNELL
Copyright c. 2008 No Depression Inc. and/or Rick Cornell.

Posted by Peter at 11:47 AM | Permalink

June 1, 2008

BABY DEE
Safe Inside The Day
(Drag City)

(NO DEPRESSION.NET) -- Ohio has spawned some great musical eccentrics. But with her lopsided yet robust singing style, Cleveland native Baby Dee might just as well seem to hail from Mars or Narnia to the uninitiated. Where else do transgender, fifty-something singing harpists call home? (New York City, actually -- and Dee spent many years there, too, working as a musical director at a Catholic church and as a Coney Island sideshow attraction.) Inspired by childhood, her third full-length album looks back but also offers a way forward: With Safe Inside The Day, this unusual talent arrives at a sound that could introduce her gifts to wider audiences.

Sympathetically produced by Bonnie "Prince" Billy (alias Will Oldham) and Matt Sweeney, the dis features fuller arrangements than those found on her earlier albums. A string trio underscores her piano on the opening title tune, while clarinet lines swim through the bluesy, spectral "Fresh Out Of Candles". A few instrumentals further explore the possibilities of this expanded palette: Tooting recorders impart a distinctly medieval air to "A Christmas Jig For A Three-Legged Cat", while intertwined accordion and saxophone on "Bad Kidneys" evoke pre-Broadway Kurt Weill.

When Dee fully unleashes her theatrical voice, ripe with plumy enunciation and bizarre shifts of tone, the lurching "The Earlie King" and "The Dance Of Diminishing Possibilities" (skewed glimpses of her father and childhood chums, respectively) vibrate with idiosyncratic glee. And with its knee-slapping lyrics about tormenting albinos, the boozy "Big Titty Bee Girl" makes Randy Newman's "Short People" seem PC in comparison. Folks who go ga-ga for contemporary innovators such as Joanna Newsom, Antony, and CocoRosie will find much to savor in these eleven originals.

-- KURT B. REIGHLEY
Copyright c. 2008 No Depression Inc. and/or Kurt B. Reighley.

Posted by Peter at 1:23 PM | Permalink