Why the heck would Ronnie Fauss call his new album “Mulligan”? In golf, a mulligan means a do-over. It means you screwed up so bad people feel sorry for you. I don’t feel sorry for him and this ain’t no do-over.
Fauss’s first EP, New Songs for The Old Frontier, was damn good (see my review). But his new stuff is nothing like his old stuff was. It’s better. Rocks more. Rougher voice. I like that. Got a fiddle on some of it. I like that too.
I can’t get the first song, To Ease My Mind, out of my head. Very catchy tune. And It’s a Long Long Way is a funny talking blues song (think Todd Snider’s Talking Seattle Grunge Rock Blues) explaining the direction, or lack thereof, of a guy growing up in the post-Nixon era. I’m pretty sure that anyone who rhymes “riches” with “bitches” is headed in the right direction.
Wish had me fooled. I thought it was a sweet little love song but then I really listened to the lyrics. It’s more like a hate song. There’s a lot of bitterness packed in that one, with amusing lyrics to boot. And the mandolin and harmonica just make it that much better.
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We don’t get all that much mail, ‘cause we’re slackers and all, but The Philistines, Jr. band sent me a free listen to their new album “If A Band Plays in the Woods…” Hmm.
Maybe I was just in a mood this morning like I felt like I needed a nudge in a new direction. Maybe I just love innovation supported by well-written, thought-tickling lyrics and a we-are-all-in-the-same-boat-together attitude.
This is NOT my kind of music. At all. Is it? Sounds like some weird combination of electronica and a toy-store xylophone. It’s sure not raging southern guitar rock, folky Americana or banjos and mandolins. So, why did they send this to me? Did it leak that I’m a closet ABBA and Boy George fan? Did someone catch me listening to that danged White Stripes stuff? I don’t know.
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The new Drive By Truckers’ album was released on March 16th and I was pretty excited about this one. It’s a full-blown PRODUCTION kind of album. How big is Big To-Do
? Well, that depends on whether you bought the vinyl
or the CD, see? ("Girls Who Smoke" was only released on the vinyl.) Wait, what? Why?
I’m a big Drive By Truckers fanatic and I can never wait for the next show or the next album. A live Trucker show is like a shot in the arm, and not in that bad way . . . The new CD is like reading a good book. Lots of story-songs on this one. Patterson tells smutty tales of some bad-ass characters and Cooley sings about hookers and being jobless. You know, everyday life stuff.
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(or What I Spent My Grocery Money On)
You all know by now my penchant for owning the physical disc. Even when times are hard. I’d love to tell you it’s because my high morals won’t allow me to copy OPD’s (other people’s discs) but, well, I just really like to peel off the wrappers and pop out the pretty inserts and stuff.
And, I do like to cuss the postal system when it’s late, cuss the state of our society because there are no independent music stores – you know, get myself a little worked up. Then, when I finally get my hands on the actual item, I run my fingers over the lyrics booklet, read the dedication and thank yous and all before I listen from track one to the very end.
From the moment I sussed out the info that Steve Earle was releasing "Townes", I knew I’d have to have that one. It’s a forever keeper. And, Guy Clark’s "Sometimes the Song Writes You" was getting multiple rave reviews before I’d ever heard of it, so I internet-ordered that. Kris Kristofferson’s "Closer to the Bone" kept me camped out by the mailbox for a while. Well worth the frostbite, though.
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There is this Dallas band I’ve been hearing about. They’re called The O’s. And last week they came up here to Denver to play some fancy gig at the Brown Palace.
Turns out that gig was private and they felt bad that their other Denver fans wouldn’t be able to see them so they tacked on another gig after the fancy gig (thanks to Jay Bianchi of Owsley’s Golden Road for scheduling The O’s at the last minute).
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