So this is a pretty cool video - Patterson Hood helping Cracker out on their new CD (see below). Brightened up my day today. Hope it does yours as well.
Sunrise in the Land of Milk and Honey: CrackerDon’t have the CD yet but love the single. . .
(video courtesy of No Depression)
Drive-By Truckers – The Fine Print
A Collection of Oddities and Rarities 2003 – 2008
So the Drive-By Truckers have another release and another triumph. The Fine Print (A Collection Of Oddities And Rarities 2003-2008)
Drive-By Truckers
We here at SlackerCountry.com just updated our blog technology and noticed something interesting. See that tag cloud over on the right? The tag size is in proportion to how often we write about each artist and the Drive-By Trucker tag is suspiciously small.
This caused us to do some serious soul-searching because, really, we slackers (especially me and Gracey) are borderline obsessed with DBT and play them pretty much ALL THE TIME. We’ve all been to see them at least once (twice, three times) in the past year – basically anytime they are in the neighborhood. Much of Gracey’s conversation revolves around things she has read on the DBT fan board. . . . And then there is the whole problem of keeping Gracey from stalking the tour bus.
The Duke and the King (Simone Felice)
SlackerCountry.com really loves The Felice Brothers and Gracey, in particular, has a big ole crush on Simone Felice so, when his publicity folks sent us a single from his new side project, The Duke & the King, we said, “Hell, yes, we’d like to post an mp3.”
Tell us what you think of The Morning I Get To Hell!
The Duke and the King’s album, “Nothing Gold Can Stay,” comes out on August 4 and the band plans to tour starting in August.
(photo credit: Dave Herron)
Big Night In Cowtown
The Gourds, Longhorn Saloon, Ft Worth, June 27, 2009
It was about 3:00 or so Saturday afternoon when I called our friends in Ft Worth to cancel out on the evenings festivities. It really did look pretty hopeless at that point; stranded in a 7-11 parking lot off I-30 in Arlington, sweltering in the 100 degree heat, waiting for a tow truck to come and take our badly overheated car back home.
Then I suppose it was due to the angels intervening on our behalf but things all started coming together in our favor. The tow truck showed up hours before we were expecting it and got us home just in time for a neighbor to offer to loan us his car and just like that, it was on again!
So after all the high drama we still made it out to the Fort Worth Stockyards and got to the newly re-opened Longhorn Saloon plenty early enough to score a choice table.
It’s a very nice room, that Longhorn Saloon, with a couple of levels, three bars, reasonably good sound and it’s got a whole lot of history too. After Saturday night’s Gourds show, they can probably add another chapter
Wildflower!
The Wildflower Festival in Richardson is one of the biggest music festivals in North Texas. It’s a big, sprawling three day event that usually features a fairly diverse lineup that’s maybe a little heavy on the classic rock.
Righteous Togetherness
I can still remember when I first heard the Jayhawks in the early nineties. A friend had given me a tape of Hollywood Town Hall
and my first response was “Neil Young could probably sue those guys.” I think I might have said that once or twice when the subject of the Jayhawks came up but after a few listens… and then a few more… those songs started working their way into my head on a cellular level. I quit making snarky comments about them and started playing them all the time.
Over the course of three records they managed to forge a sound that was, at the same time, highly derivative and highly original and became one of my very favorite bands.
Yeah, they were more white-guy-folk-rock than the "alt country" label they were tagged with. Their early seventies “Southern Man” style riffs and long guitar jams merged with vaguely abstract lyrics and those ethereal harmonies between songwriters Mark Olson and Gary Louris, created a bunch of stubbornly enduring songs that could stick in your head like superglue.
After Olson left the band at their creative peak in ‘95, despite teaming up with his then-wife Victoria Williams, he kind of faded into obscurity while Louris kept the Jayhawks going, changing their sound pretty dramatically on the next two albums.
I caught an Olson solo show last year. It was a great night of quiet acoustic music with a few Jayhawks songs but there was definitely something missing. Obviously what was missing was Gary Louris.
So when Olson and Louris had put out a new acoustic record and booked a show in town, at the Sons of Herman Hall no less, I’m sure I wasn’t the only person around here who was overly excited at the opportunity.
Friday night they showed this town just what was lost when they went their separate ways long over a decade ago. You can take your Simon and Garfunkel and your Tweedy and Farrar and your Johnny and June and even your She and Him… If ever two people were born to sing together it was Olson and Louris.
Swallow Hill Roots Fest
We did it. We finally went to a Swallow Hill Music Association event. I know, I know, it’s about time.
The place has been around 30 years and we just now get around to visiting. I can’t really explain how that happened except to say that sometimes it’s hard to get down to Denver from here. We won’t wait so long next time.
So anyway, the Swallow Hill Music Association held its 3rd Annual Roots Fest on March 28th at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House, part of the very impressive Denver Center for the Performing Arts (DCPA). Read the full article »
The Gold Guitar
I got this in my inbox this morning…
Message from Jess Barr, guitarist for Slobberbone / The Drams:
Early this morning my car was broken into and all of my equipment was stolen. This includes my red matchless clubman 35 head and cabinet, my black gig bag with cables and pedals, and, most importantly, my Gibson Les Paul Gold Top.
Ode to the Gourds – Part Two
So the Gourds played the Gothic Theater down south of Denver last Saturday night (March 14).
I shamed Gracey into coming with me. I’ve been trying to force her to listen to the Gourds for about a year. Truth is, it’s really hard to get her to listen to much besides the Drive-By Truckers and her local Wyoming bands (see Hogback). But there were other, more worldly, folks coming down from Wyoming (peer pressure still works) and I promised her some corn chips. That did the trick.