Findlay Napier & Megan Henwood. The Story Song Scientists. Dharma Records

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5aab257b-ed75-45c6-b919-01d15a8e6a71Having penned the cabinet of curiosities which was VIP and then eulogised his adopted city of Glasgow, Findlay Napier seems to have now gotten into the habit of releasing EPs with a selected partner. The first of these was his collaboration with Rebecca Loebe on Filthy Jokes and now here’s a six-song disc written with Megan Henwood, a BBC 2 Young Folk award winner. Napier is a huge champion of the art of song writing and subsequently either runs or attends writing workshops much of the time and it was at one such event he met Henwood and casually asked her if she fancied, “Writing a song about maths?”

It’s one of the many attractions of Napier that he can pluck a subject almost randomly and turn it into a song which is not esoteric but rather intriguing. We’re not familiar with Ms. Henwood’s oeuvre but the songs here are all co-written and her warm voice works well with Napier’s while she opens some other dimensions for Napier aside from his typical investigations. The opening song is Unnamable Radio, based on a 1971 event when a phone in radio jock kept a suicidal man on the line as emergency services eventually located him. It fits well into the vignettes and biographies which have peppered Napier’s albums, as do a couple of the other songs here, but elsewhere the duo bustle about other matters.

Shepherd has Henwood to the fore vocally and it’s a wonderfully realised modern folk song which glistens with some superb guitar work while arching back to the likes of John Martyn, Bert Jansch and Sandy Denny. The harmony singing here is sublime and the song cleaves to the hinterland of folk music, pastoral, mystical and downright spooky. There’s more mystery and weird folkiness on North Pond Phantom which is about a Thoreau like hermit who subsisted on food stolen from homes around his hermitage for 27 years. It’s another true story and Napier and Henwood breathe life into it gracefully and with an empathetic tenderness. But these guys are supposed to be scientists so it’s only fitting that they write a song about a German mathematician who wrestled with the concept of infinity, much to the consternation of his peers. End Of Numbers is another song which could have fitted onto VIP as is the powerful and driving pulse of Wild Wild Country which one presumes is about the ill-fated Rajneeshpuram cult in Oregon. They close the album with The Last Straw, an ecological plea which is the most intricate number on the disc with percussion and some great retro effects. Whether it’s a stylophone or not which produces the cheesy sounds it’s a neat effect cleverly juxtaposing a sixties sci-fi plastic future and the current concerns over plastic waste in the oceans. Whatever, it’s a cracking finale to what is a very good EP.

And finally, you just have to love this video…

From charity shop chords to AMAUK awards. A chat with Steve Grozier.

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a1336805552_16Glasgow based singer/songwriter Steve Grozier  released his latest songs on a double A side digital single last Friday. This Saturday he has a launch party to celebrate the release at The Old Hairdressers , a funky and wonderfully distressed venue in the city centre which is high on the list of the hippest places to play in these days. The release follows on from two well received EPs, Take My Leave, released in 2016, and A Place We Call Home which came out a year later. The discs were instrumental in getting Grozier prized slots at festivals in the UK and some regular rotation on roots based radio shows. The new release maintains Grozier’s reputation as a winsome and somewhat melancholic artist, his mellow voice supported by some very sympathetic players including his buddy, Roscoe Wilson, a Glasgow guitarist who has mastered the art of country rock licks and doleful lap steel.

Goodbye Rose is a lachrymose affair with some fine chunky and curling guitar licks over a sluggish rhythm, a thick as molasses southern affair. Jason Molina’s Blues is leaner with keening lap steel adding a valedictory sense as Grozier salutes one of his musical heroes. We’ve heard Grozier perform this live on a few occasions and it’s always been quite chilling to hear. Suffice to say that here he has captured that chill perfectly in the studio on what is a remarkable song. Both songs indicate that Grozier continues to grow in confidence as he plows on despite the difficulties encountered by a truly independent artist these days. In the run up to this weekend’s show Steve was kind enough to have a quick chat with Blabber’n’Smoke.

First off, congratulations on the new release. What can you tell us about the songs and why a double A side release?

Well, the first one is Goodbye Rose, which details the disintegration of a marriage following the loss of a child. The second, Jason Molina’s Blues, is inspired by and dedicated to the memory of the American singer-songwriter Jason Molina. I wrote the latter after reading Erin Osmon’s book Jason Molina: Riding with the Ghost. I don’t know if the term ‘double A side’ still has meaning with a digital only release, but I liked the way The Hold Steady recently released a series of singles (two tracks) over the course of about a year. I thought it was an interesting way to release music. The costs involved in delivering hard copies such as CDs are so prohibitive these days, particularly for independent artists, and I lost money on both of the EPs I released. I do want to continue to release music, but I need to work out how to do that in a sustainable way.  I did look into a small run of 7” vinyl for these two tracks. Unfortunately, without a tour to support the release I definitely wouldn’t make my money back. I would love to have something on vinyl in the future, finances and audience permitting.

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One of the reviews of your first release, Take My Leave,  stated, “Part Townes Van Zandt, part Jason Isbell, Grozier’s vocal style is a classic blend of old and new Americana,” which is fine praise. Which artists have influenced you and who do you rate today?

Fine praise indeed. I admire both of those artists. Personally, I’m not sure I sound like either of them, but no complaints here. I’ve always been drawn to songwriters that have something interesting to say about heartbreak and the darker aspects of life and death. Equally, I like something with twangy guitars. The alt-country scene was emerging at the time I really started exploring music, buying my own records and going to shows. I was interested in the way that bands like The Jayhawks, Wilco, Son Volt, Old 97’s, Drive by Truckers and Richmond Fontaine took that punk/DIY ethos and applied it to country songs. A few of the contemporary artists I admire include Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus, Jenny Lewis and Big Thief and loads other that I can’t think of right now.

So was that when you started to write your own songs?

Like a lot of songwriters and musicians, I grew up in a house filled with music. I have my dad to thank for that. I don’t know if he ever played an instrument, but he was a singer in a band, briefly, and he loves music. I remember when I was growing up and he had this Pioneer record deck and he’d always have on a blues or rock ‘n’ roll record. I grew up listening to Springsteen and Dylan or The Stones and Rory Gallagher. I didn’t get into country music until later, when I heard The Flying Burrito Brothers. I started writing when I was in high school, probably when I was 15 or 16. It was just poetry at first. Then, I found my dad’s acoustic guitar. I’d never heard him play it. I started setting this awful poetry to the few chords I’d learned from a charity shop chord book. The first song I ever learned to play was Blowing in the Wind by Bob Dylan.

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Going back to the EPs, they got some fine press and on the back of that you were selected to appear in the showcase events for last years’ AMAUK awards festival down in London. You’ve also played a couple of festival shows over the past two years so what have been the highlights?

It was great to have the opportunity to play the AMAUK showcase. Roscoe (Wilson) and I went down to London and we played completely unplugged in this little room above a pub and you could have heard a pin drop. It was a rad couple of days and it was also cool to have had our pals from James Edywn and The Borrowed Band there too. Other highlights from last year have to include Maverick Festival. I got to play in a barn and then record a couple of songs for Richard Leader’s radio show. Closer to home I did a rare full band show at King Tut’s with Blitzen Trapper back in April ’18 and it was fun too. The guys in that band are sweet people. 

OK, it’s on to the launch show for the new release this weekend at The Old Hairdressers. What can we expect?

This show is going to be special. It’s an intimate (50 covers) all seated affair with cabaret tables, candles and fairy lights all those things. It’s with my band, the Wildcats – Roscoe Wilson on electric guitar and vocals, John Dunlop on bass and it will be our first show with Graham McDonald on drums. No spinal tap jokes please, but he’ll be our fourth drummer in just over two years! I’m also delighted to have Scottish Alternative Music Award winner Megan Airlie joining us on the bill.

Tickets for Steve’s launch show are going fast but you might be able to snag one here, a steal at only £6.

Goodbye Rose/Jason Molina’s Blues is available here.


Thanks to Ryan Buchanan  and Graham McCusker for the pictures.

Daniel Meade and The Flying Mules. Live Mules

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52664478_1467149073420858_131174455907975168_nYou have to admit that Glasgow’s Daniel Meade has several strings to his bow. Run through his back catalogue and you’ll find country, country blues, rockabilly, hillbilly, boogie woogie, honky tonk and good old fashioned rock’nroll all rubbing shoulders. A compulsive (and very talented) songwriter, Meade also has an eclectic approach to recording with some of his albums being entirely home made one man band productions while others have entailed trips to Nashville and collaborations with the likes of Old Crow Medicine Show, Diane Jones and Joshua Hedley. What we can say with some certainty is that all of the albums are well worth grabbing a hold of, while we can also say (again with some certainty) that if Meade has a natural element to be in then it’s when he’s onstage with his regular band The Flying Mules. Of his seven albums there’s only one credited to Meade and The Mules but anyone who has seen this band live will know that their high-energy rockabilly/skiffle approach allows Meade’s songs to leap out. In addition, in guitarist Lloyd Reid, Meade has the perfect foil as Reid’s mastery of his Hofner guitar adds an excellent touch to the songs channelling the likes of Barney Kessel and Les Paul.

There’s a degree of serendipity in this live album from Meade and The Flying Mules. They were playing in Shetland back in 2016 and the sound engineer was trying out a new rig so he recorded the show. Fast forward to last year and Meade was rummaging through some stuff and came across the recordings and reckoned they were good enough for a “warts and all” guerrilla release, a quick smash’n’grab affair perhaps but anyone buying this is not going to complain. It’s a short show (just over 30 minutes, they were the support band that night) but it’s well recorded and a grand document of the band in their live glory. There’s a swagger about them as they run through ten songs  with a delightful sense of energy and glee, the audience cheering them along throughout with Meade’s laconic Glasgow wit on show in the introductions. They swing mightily, the rhythm section of Mark Ferrie on double bass and Thomas Sutherland on drums, loose and tight (as Meade says), driving the songs while Reid rips out several scintillating solos.

Take a listen to the opening bars of Back To Hell and try to tell us that this is not the sound of Sun Studios back in the Memphis glory days as the band pick up a head of steam while Long Gone Wrong is surely summoning up the ghost of Lonnie Donegan. Meade has a knack for excellent song titles with There’s A Headstone Where My Heart Used To Be one of the best and they do it full justice here. Let Me Off At The Bottom takes the foot off the throttle slightly allowing Meade to come across in a jaunty Hank Williams style while Please Louise rumbles mightily with slightly risqué lyrics recalling the pre bowdlerised days of rent parties and juke joints. While the sources of much of Meade’s music is American he successfully transports the idiom to Glasgow’s Sauchiehall Street on the energetic bash that is What You Waiting For which paints such a vivid portrait you can almost smell the vinegar wafting from The Blue Lagoon. However his roots are to the fore on  Rising River Blues, a tremendous hucklebuck which harks back to the numerous songs commemorating river floods in the American south while the band close with a cover of a Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee song, Hooray, Hooray. The fact that it fits in perfectly with the rest of the set shows that Meade is indeed rooting around in the same fertile ground as these blues pioneers and keeping alive a precious tradition.

As live albums go this is top deck, immensely entertaining and vibrant. It allows Meade to showcase The Flying Mules on several songs he recorded without them and they certainly rise to the occasion. If you have seen the band live then this is a tremendous souvenir. If you haven’t, then this is a tremendous introduction.

This isn’t from the album but was recorded by the BBC around the same time.

Various Artists. The Social Power Of Music. Smithsonian Folkways

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sfw40231For all its shortcomings, the USA administration has one definite shining point, the mighty archives of The Smithsonian Institution. Irrespective of governments of whatever hue the Smithsonian has endured and within its Center For Folklife And Cultural Heritage it curates a massive collection of roots music from across the world. Smithsonian Folkways, set up following the donation of Moe Asch’s Folkways recordings to the Smithsonian, have an enviable reputation, releasing current recordings (such as the Rhiannon Giddings’ project, Songs Of Our Native Daughters), and important collections such as this one, The Social Power Of Music. It’s a four-disc set with extensive liner notes documenting what they choose to describe as, “the vivid, impassioned, and myriad ways in which music binds, incites, memorializes, and moves groups of people” or, more succinctly, “The song can be mightier than the sword.” Has any song ever changed the world you might ask? Probably not but again one of the essays states, “Has a song ever changed something for the better? Probably not, but groups of people do. A good song can change people’s understandings of something and motivate them to take political action.” Taking the long view, there’s no doubt that many of the issues addressed in songs here either have been overcome or are now socially unacceptable so perhaps if we all continue to sing together we can eventually affect change. If nothing else, the set is a reminder of the indefatigable spirit of humankind, even when mortally threatened there’s a song to be sung.

The publicity blurb describes the thematic set up of the collection perfectly well so rather than rehash it, here’s what it says…

Disc 1: Songs of Struggle channels the visceral power of the fight for civil rights, featuring household names from Folkways’ archives including Woody Guthrie, The Freedom Singers, and Pete Seeger, and songs that defined a generation. Disc 2: Sacred Sounds presents music from many religions and spiritual practices, in some cases drawing from rarely heard or known ceremonies. Disc 3: Social Songs and Gatherings shows how we use music to come together, often in celebration. Disc 4: Global Movements looks to the use of roots music in key political movements around the world, tapping into anti-fascist verses, odes to the working class, and polemics against governmental corruption and violence.

Disc one will be the most familiar to those with a passing interest in folk and protest music with some very familiar songs included such as We Shall Overcome, This Land Is Your Land and Deportee. It’s not just a collection of well kent folk songs however as it roams much wider. De Colores is the theme song of The United Farm Workers, led for many years by the charismatic Cesar Chavez while Peggy Seeger’s Reclaim The Night is a powerful feminist anthem. Kristin Lem’s Ballad Of The ERA is a tremendous song in support of the Equal Rights Amendment to the US constitution with Lem coming across as a feisty performer. The rights of Asian Americans, Chicanos and union workers are addressed within the 22 songs here and even the UK gets a look in with Ewan MaColl and Peggy Seeger’s Legal/Illegal unfortunately still relevant.

Sacred Sounds on the second disc is the most “anthropological” set here consisting as it does primarily of field recordings of chants, hymns and ceremonies. It kicks off with a spine tingling Amazing Grace, recorded in an east Kentucky Baptist Church, and this, along with several others in a similar vein (including the following Come By Here by Barbara Dane and The Chamber Bothers) resonate today in light of the memory of Barack Obama singing this in the wake of the Charleston shootings. Will The Circle Be Unbroken is broken out as is Peace In The Valley but we also get chants and rain dances from Native Americans, Sufi calls to prayer and contributions from Buddhism and Jewish tradition. While this might be the disc which sits in the box for much of the time it is a fascinating listen particularly when combined with perusal of the essay and song notes.

Meanwhile, Social Songs And Gatherings could be the one disc here you could take along to a party and expect folk to dance to it as from the start it jumps and jives as Clifton Chenier gets down into a mighty fine groove. OK, it’s not all jump jive but again the sweep of the songs collected here is impressive with the likes of Tony DeMarco’s Irish jigs and Janie Hunter’s kiddie rhymes on Johnny Cuckoo sitting alongside some blistering stuff. The Golden Gate Gypsy Orchestra, basically a wedding band serving the California Jewish community, sound as if they would be joy to see and hear while a fine selection of New Orleans based numbers including a Mardi Gras medley from the Rebirth Jazz Band which hooks in Professor Longhair tunes is infectious. Throw in some western swing, polka, zydeco and good old-fashioned Chicago blues, and the set list for your party is all there.

The first three discs are indeed eclectic but the net is cast further awide for the fourth in the set which might be considered as a worldwide companion to the first disc, the difference being that many of the songs here were written and sung in times of mortal danger and actual combat. Pete Seeger kicks off the set with his arrangement of a Spanish republican song and it’s followed by an anti fascist Italian song originally popular amongst the resistance in the second world war. Crossing continents, the disc visits Africa, Latin America, Turkey, Greece, Indonesia and the Middle East. Some of the songs revisit the past as in Cantor Abraham Brun’s delivery of a ghetto song retrieved from Nazi occupation times while others remind us of ongoing struggles as in Marcel Khalifé’s astounding epic The Passport, a song about the tribulations of the Palestinian people.

On first sight, a collection such as this might be considered as a dry and dusty excavation of the past but it’s not. Indeed, it’s a vibrant collection of powerful messages gathered across time and continents which deserves investigation and for those who investigate it is truly rewarding.

There’s more info on the set here.

 

 

 

Simon Stanley Ward & The Shadows Of Doubt. Songs From Various Places

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s-s-ward-tsod-songs-from-various-places-300x300Long a mainstay of the London pub gigging scene Simon Stanley Ward released a fine debut album a few years back but since then he’s developed a career as a stand up comedian so it was with some trepidation that we bunged this on the player. The first song, Jurassic Park, is about, well, you guessed it, the movie Jurassic Park. Over a pumped up new wave backdrop Ward sings about how he wished he was Jeff Goldblum in the said movie. It ‘s the type of song a band like The Vapours could have slain Top Of The Pops with back in the eighties which is fine but it doesn’t bode well for the remainder of the album.

Thank heavens then that the remainder of the songs are built on stronger foundations although there’s little of the Alt Country feel of Ward’s debut. They are light hearted in the lyrical sense as he sings about Beluga whales and the import of water and stylistically they wander from fifties rock to grungy Spanish Stroll like riffs with only one song venturing into country territory. It helps immensely that Ward has assembled an ace band composed of some familiar names including Paul Lush (who also produced), Henry Senior, Tom Collinson, Geoff Easeman and Neil Marsh – have a look through your collection and you’ll find those names in there.

The ramshackle honky tonk, I Heard It All, on the perils of voicemail and ensuing paranoia, recalls some of the work of Phil Lee and it’s our favourite number here purely because it reminds us of the first album. However, the next song, Wow, is an absolute cracker as it zooms off like a Thin Lizzy and Hawkwind merger. Here Ward recounts a true event when an astronomer working on the SETI project believed he had received an alien message (look it up). The band zoom into outer space as Lush lets rip with some stratospheric guitar solos before it all boils down with some interstellar warbles. Grand stuff. Beluga Whale is more restrained, the band laying down a fine beat as Ward imagines himself one of these clown like leviathans while laying down a nice plea regarding the fate of these beasts. Meanwhile Water (You’ve Got To Have It) comes across as an environmental lecture being delivered by a somewhat dishevelled Bob Dylan (with his heart in the Highlands) as Ward does his best impression while the band wheeze and heave mightily with some excellent accordion from Gill Frost.

Settling into the album there’s the sublime Mexican tinged Goodbye, the glowering funk of Set In Stone and the sunny delight of A Friend (Who Isn’t Me) with pedal steel and chunky twang guitar giving it a fine swagger. All fine songs and quite smart lyrically but we’ll reserve the last words for the closing Wine. It returns to a new wave type of style but here it’s more Joe Jackson than The Vapours as Ward meditates on the results of spilling his last glass of Rioja into his bath as he soaks. Again, the band are a salve as they revolve around Ward’s words with a great degree of empathy. If Elvis Costello is looking for a new backing band he should start here.

Overall Songs From Various Places is an odd album but there’s no doubting the craft that’s gone into the making of it. After listening to it over the past few days we’d actually love to see Ward do a 1980’s TOTP video for the opening song, skinny ties and all and he could maybe persuade Jeff Goldblum to do a cameo.

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Reverend Screaming Fingers. Music for Driving and Film, Vol. III.

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a0393409566_16Someone just knew that we here at Blabber’n’Smoke have a soft spot for music that is dry and dusty and reeks of gulches and sand storms. Sure enough, we’ve reviewed plenty of albums which can fit into that bill, ranging from the “erosion rock” of Giant Sand to the monumental shifting sandscapes of 3hattrio, and so when we were sent this superb slice of cinematic instrumentals, hewn from the mystical Joshua Tree National Park where the Rev. currently resides, it fit right in.

As the title indicates this is the third in a series of albums intended as (and in some cases used for) soundtracks with the tunes often inspired by long drives through inspiring landscapes. The Reverend, real name Lucio Menegon, is an intriguing character, according to Google, fitting into both avant-garde and Americana circles with perhaps the closest comparison being Marc Ribot. Whatever, this album is on a par with any  soundtracks released by Ry Cooder with Menegon’s guitar slipping wonderfully from low-bellied twang, atmospheric slide and liquefied mercury runs. Behind his versatile guitar there’s an incredibly simpatico band laying down the bedrock with inventive percussion to the fore with the overall sound not dissimilar to that achieved by the Italian band Sacri Cuori or the fairly obscure UK band, A Small Good Thing.

Aside from the excellence of the playing it’s the atmosphere conjured up by the tunes which really makes an impact. From the start on No Destination we’re in desert territory with Menegon’s guitar rippling over fuzzy rhythm and battering drums, the Monument Valley tune here. Chaparral Kiss in contrast opens with a strummed acoustic guitar before a skewed mandolin is inserted over some tentative keyboards, the effect almost oriental. This effect is fully blown on the following Dream Of The Desperado, a lengthy meditation suffused with slide and pizzicato guitar over an insect buzz of percussion reminding the listener of that weird hybrid of Zen Buddhism and Westerns that was David Carradine in Kung Fu. Whether it’s intentional or not, the basic riff on Lost Alien Highway recalls the melody of John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme while the sound effects on Funereal, a rainstorm pouring from the speakers, summons up visions of muddy farewells in fields of broken homemade crosses. But perhaps the best evocation here is in the fly blown and sun scorched Yuma Interlude where the guitar is almost tearful. Listen to this and surely your head will be infused with images from movies going back to High Noon through Morricone up to Tarantino. It’s quite spine chilling.

https://music.kingtone.com/

 

Everybody’s Talkin’- A Tribute To Fred Neil.

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xgalb01383532Fred Neil is probably most familiar as the writer of Everybody’s Talkin’, the song from Midnight Cowboy which was a smash hit for Harry Nilsson. Some folk might recall other songs from his heyday as perhaps the premier singer/songwriter of Greenwich village in the wake of Dylan while some might know that Neil just about retired from music in the seventies to spend his time on dolphin conservation in Florida, playing live occasionally in Coconut Grove. Neil died in 2001 but his reputation grows and this tribute album, featuring many who knew him, is a fine salute to the man.

The album was initially conceived by Jim Wurster who first saw Neil playing in Coconut Grove with Eric Anderson and Rick Danko and was smitten by Neil’s songs and presence. He’s gathered a fine assembly of artists from Florida and also managed to get the likes of Rodney Crowell, Eric Anderson, John Sebastian and Arlan Feiles to pitch in and the result is a finely varied collection of Neil songs, all worth hearing and hopefully an invite to listen to the man himself.

The artists delve into all the corners of Neil’s music. Blues on Crowell’s sly delivery of Candyman, the hard stomping Everything Happens from Diane Ward and Jack Shawde and the stripped back acoustic ramble of Vince Martin’s Handful Of Gimme. There’s the Village folk troubadour on Valerie C Firecracker’s excellent rendition of Bleeker & MacDougal and Bobby Ingram gives us a grand rendition of A Little Bit Of Rain while Arlan Feiles’ Be-De-Da shares an umbilical connection with Neil’s original giving one a true intimation of Neil’s delivery. Charlie Pickett rocks out on The Other Side Of This Life recalling the Jefferson Airplane version and Neil’s influence on Tim Buckley is plain to hear on I’ve Got A Secret, performed here by The 18 Wheelers.

Keith Sykes gets the flagship title song and he goes more for the Nilsson version and very nice it is too. Meanwhile, Neil’s other major song, Dolphins, is offered two slots opening and closing the disc. The first is from Eric Anderson (with John Sebastian on guitars and harmonica) and it’s a suitably respectful performance imbued with a sixties sounding delivery while Anderson’s baritone voice recalls that of Neil’s. The closing version, from Matthew Sabatella and Diane Ward, sounds more contemporary, the pair swapping verses and harmonising as the band come across somewhat like Mazzy Star.

As tribute albums go this is a fine affair which gives you a whiff of the main man’s work. On a nice note, net proceeds from sales are going to Ric O’Barry’s Dolphin Project, a project founded back in 1970 by O’Barry, Stephen Stills and Fred Neil. On a more intriguing note, Neil first befriended O’Barry when the latter was a trainer for the dolphins used in the television show Flipper. It’s weird to think that a show we watched as kids might have led to a song as awesome as Dolphins but then it’s a funny old world.

No Depression have a fine article about the album you can read here.

Hayes Carll. What It Is. Dualtone Music

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450x450bbAfter the introspective ruminations of Lovers And Leavers, his 2016 album, Hayes Carll seems to have recovered his sometimes impish sense of mischief for his latest album, What It Is. Lovers And Leavers was of course a “break up” album and they’re not generally noted for being upbeat but here Carll is certainly on a bounce with several of the songs good old-fashioned Texan red dirt rockers while the quieter numbers are a fine indication of where his head is at right now. Co-producer (and fiancé) Allison Moorer has certainly settled his heart but he’s not so settled when it comes to the likes of racism and the fate of veterans, both the subject of songs here.

He opens with the nonchalant humour of None’ya, a sly nod to his current relationship which uses his Texas drawl to great effect before banging into the rambunctious rocker Times Like These which takes an oblique swipe at the White House as Carll delivers his own state of the nation address. There’s some more rock on the squirreling bar room blues of Beautiful Thing while If I May Be So Bold clatters along like a cross between Steve Earle and Johnny Cash. American Dream meanwhile finds Carll and his top class bunch of Nashville pickers on top form as they funnel some bluegrass licks into a jaunty rocker.

Jesus & Elvis is probably known to most folk who will buy this album as Carll has been playing it live for several years while it was recorded some time back by Kenny Chesney. It’s been worth waiting for Carll’s version as the songs takes on an almost classic status up there with some of John Prine’s work. Fragile Men also tackles a weighty subject, influenced as it is by events in Charlottesville but its somewhat portentous arrangement dims it in relationship to the songs surrounding it. However the quirky Wild Pointy Finger makes up for this as Carll sidles up to the mic over some inventive percussion and slinky finger picking on a song which seems to be pointing the finger at the eruption of ill advised and plain wrong social media commentary.

Throw in songs such as Things You Don’t Wanna Know, a fine southern soul influenced number and I Will Stay, an excellent love ballad and What It Is is on a par with the best of Carll’s albums. It would be unfair to say it’s a return to form after Lovers & Leavers as that was an exceptional album but it’s certainly a return to the Hayes Carll many people expect.

Hayes Carll is touring the UK in May including a Glasgow show. All dates here.

 

 

The Delines. The Imperial. Decor Records

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a2944259605_16The story of The Delines (so far) could almost be the plot line of one of their songs. A band gets together, records an album of slow burning hangdog songs and then, just as they’re about to record a second, the singer is terribly injured when struck by a car. End of story? Except that the story doesn’t end there. Singer Amy Boone received severe injuries in the incident and is still recovering her full mobility but, three years on, she has recovered enough to record with and tour with the band who have just ended a triumphant UK tour.

The Delines are, of course, a vehicle (sorry for that but there’s no other word really) for Willy Vlautin’s songs, replacing the much lamented Richmond Fontaine. Boone had come on board the Fontaine’s to sing her sister’s parts from their album The High Country on tour and her voice got Vlautin to thinking that she could be an excellent conduit for some songs he felt he couldn’t really carry off. It’s a thought that is now fully fledged as The Imperial is as grand a listen as one could hope for with Boone’s magnificent voice breathing life into Vlautin’s wounded souls.

Vlautin has often gravitated to the faded grandeur of motel life and The Imperial can be considered a successor to The Fitzgerald, both run down establishments where life is somewhat murky and on the edge. Whereas Richmond Fontaine’s tales were dry and dusty, the stories here are delivered in a lush style which recalls both Memphis blue eyed soul and Kurt Wagner’s languorous outings. It’s an album to be wallowed in, the songs washing over you, a torch lit procession of glossy keyboards, supple bass playing, tentative guitar licks, sweet pedal steel and warm horn arrangements. With Boone’s achingly evocative voice on top The Delines are just superb here.

And of course, there are the songs, or stories, all perfectly written miniatures capturing the lives of Vlautin’s characters. He also breathes life into them, describing sometimes mundane situations, sometimes more dire straits, life’s trials and tribulations, while offering them a degree of dignity even as their self respect or self esteem is zero. Listening to the album, you can almost believe that you know Charley or Eddie and Polly or Holly, the latter in particular the subject of a devastating portrait on Holly The Hustle which is a screenplay in itself. Two quotes from the songs might sum up the album as Boone almost whispers, “Cheer Up Charley” at the beginning, most of the subjects having little reason for cheer. And then the repeated refrain of, “The party never stops/So the pressure starts” in Eddie And Polly indicates that our heroes and heroines are doomed to repeat their mistakes, trapped in the world of The Imperial, a hotel where it does seem that you can never leave.

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Rob Heron & The Tea Pad Orchestra. Soul Of My City

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final5We’ve always been partial to Rob Heron & The Tea Pad Orchestra’s jived-up take on old timey music, a grand blend of western swing, country blues and ragtime. They’ve reminded us at times of Pokey LaFarge (with whom they have toured) and it has to be said they do put on a grand live show. On Soul Of My City they continue to evolve with some elements of rockabilly and early sixties beat pop creeping in, but at heart they are still supreme evangelists for pre sixties music albeit that Heron has at times allied this innocent sounding music with current commentary on state of our nation and his home town of Newcastle.

Such is the case here with the title song ramming in with a stirring martial beat before Heron and the band slouch into a louche late night vamp as he rails against the so called “gentrification” of a bohemian Newcastle quarter, an excuse really for a moneyed land grab. There’s more social commentary on the lighter Lonely Boy In The Dole Queue which finds Heron solo and yodelling away in his best Jimmie Rodgers style. Meanwhile the syncopated swing and twang of There’s A Hole (Where My Pocket Used To Be) is a grand nod to hard luck songs of the past with its excellent and flamboyant delivery similar to that of local neon lit sonic gangsters, The Strange Blue Dreams.

The band roam across various styles in a grand fashion. Life Is A Drag is a cross dressing song given a stirring western swing outing, Une Bouteille De Beaujolais has a not unexpected Gallic touch while Holy Moly (I’m In Love Again) comes across like as if Hank Williams was being accompanied by an extremely dexterous bunch of Acadian musicians. They do vamp wonderfully on Fool Talking Man and One Letter Away From Lonely is a total swoon of a bobbysoxer song. There’s a bit more muscle in the rockin’ rumble of Let’s Go Back In Time, a big boned salute to old time music as Heron lists his favourites while singing, “That 21st century music man, it’s so watered down.” Like A Cuckoo teeters dangerously close to his cut off point as the band give us a finely attuned horn fuelled bop which could have featured on the soundtrack of the original John Waters’ Hairspray. Signing off with what is probably the first postmodern take on old time music’s occasional interest in sex, stymied at the time by obscenity laws and therefore couched in various terms, there’s Double Meaning, Double Entendre. It’s cool, it’s funny, and best of all, it rocks.

Rob Heron & The Teapad Orchestra are touring the UK in February and March including shows in Glasgow and Edinburgh. All dates here.

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