Old Dollar Bill. Live & Cookin’

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East coast Blabber’n’Smoke favourites Old Dollar Bill haunt the taverns of Edinburgh on a very regular basis playing just about anywhere and with almost anyone who can play a tune. By all accounts they can turn just about anywhere into a riotous occasion with their rousing two man take on jug band, country, blues and folk songs. Live & Cookin’ is a fly on the wall snapshot of a recent appearance in Leith Folk Club where they were joined by double bassist Michael Weidenhof and while the recording lacks some oomph it does a fine job in capturing their live act with five songs that brim with energy and enthusiasm. Percussionist Ed Henry scuttles around for all he’s worth on his kit as guitarist Stephen Clark scrubs and picks with vigour while Weidenhof lays down a firm bass line.
They offer three covers, Robert Johnson’s Hot Tamales (They’re Red Hot), Lefty Frizzell’s Sick, Sober and Sorry and Flatt & Scruggs’ Sleep With One Eye Open that are all taken at a brisk pace while two originals, I Swear I Killed My Liver (Over You) and Move On show that they can conjure up songs that stand up well against their venerable forebears. Above all they convey a great sense of fun, fun for the audience and also themselves as Clark and Henry trade vocals and mesh as only a pair who play together several times a week can do. Live & Cookin’ wasn’t a planned release but the pair decided that the recording was good enough to share with their audience after listening to it although by the last song Clark’s voice is somewhat strained. Available from their website or at live shows I reckon that it will be snapped up by anyone looking for a souvenir of their night but if you’ve enjoyed any of their studio releases it’s well worth investing in for only a fiver.
Here’s a video of the pair at Leith Folk Club a year previously performing the opening song here, Hot Tamales (They’re Red Hot) to give you a sense of what to expect although the CD sound is much superior to that of the video.

Echo Bloom. Blue

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Echo Bloom is a vehicle for Brooklyn based songwriter Kyle Evans whose previous releases have featured an album inspired by German photographer August Sanders. Blue is the first of an intended trilogy described by Evans as “chamber pop (Blue), another country/shoegaze (Red), and classic pop (Green).” The songs on Blue are basically acoustic songs performed on guitar and variously feature bass, piano, organ, banjo, mandolin, glockenspiel, autoharp and percussion. The chamber element consists of arrangements featuring cello, violin, viola and French horn which adorn several songs. Most striking however are the vocals as Evans possesses a potentially great voice, cracked and rough hewn, stuffed full of emotion it can be tender or tough. He surrounds this rough diamond of a voice with a brace of singers who offer a choral accompaniment or duet with him and the end result is sometimes spectacular.
Added to this Evans turns out to be a very fine songwriter and some of the moments approach the summit of the likes of Van Morrison at his best. The lyrics of Firecracker are brief but encapsulate a moment so well as he sings
“On the streets of the Capitol the fireworks echo and bloom flowering down into red and then green and then blue and for a second I could see your face near In that moment of light I saw a tear on the side of your cheek you leaned you head onto my shoulder and whispered to me “How’s life so beautiful, and yet so brief?””
Evans surrounds these words with a great arrangement that swirls and eddies under the vocals, a piano plays a stately solo and he ends up scatting just as Morrison might do if this were on Veedon Fleece. It’s not an isolated moment as all of the nine songs here all have flashes of brilliance to them. The opener Annunciation is done acapella and introduces us to Evans’ voice and those of his fine collaborators ( Aviva Jaye, Zachary Stains, Brian Mummert, Steve Sasso, Monica Jo Montany and Kate Vargas). Cedar Beach is a fantasy encounter with a ghost from the sea with bucolic strings and wind and on listening to this I was reminded of the recent album by Birds of Chicago as vocally they inhabit similar territory. Water and the elements feature heavily in many of the songs and The Flood adds an almost biblical dimension while The Returning Of The Doves has allusions to the Noah myth. A remarkable song Doves starts with an acoustic guitar before the band kick in and build to a climax with apocalyptic electric guitar thrashing standing in for a furious mother nature.
Having heard this I really can’t wait to hear the rest of this proposed trilogy and I’d suggest that you grab the opportunity to listen to and download some of the songs the band offer for free on their website before you are compelled to buy the album. On a local note we were impressed that the video for Fireworks was shot on Bute. Hopefully they’ll visit Scotland again sometime soon.

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Echo Bloom – Fireworks from Echo Bloom on Vimeo.

Josienne Clark & Ben Walker-Fire & Fortune/Lucy Ward-Single Flame. Navigator Records

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Time for a little chill out with a pair of albums that can be filed for the most part under the folk tag and which feature young proponents of traditional music who are following in the recent footsteps of the likes of Eliza Carthy and Seth Lakeman as they in turn drew from the seventies folk resurgence.
Fire & Fortune from Josienne Clark and Ben Walker is a beautiful album. Clark has a wonderful voice which at times is reminiscent of Jacqui McShee of Pentangle fame while Walker plays an inspired guitar. His arrangements are spare with just the right amount of decoration each song deserves and they are well served by some fine players including Jim Moray, piano, John Parker, double bass, Jo Silverston, cello, Basia Bartz, violin, Ivan Mendolia, drums and Ruairi Glasheen on Bodhran.
Of the twelve songs five are covers with the remainder penned by the duo and it’s testament to their writing skills that their own songs stand up as well as the more familiar traditional ones. These include a tender reading of My Love Is Like A Red Red Rose and a spare rendition of When a Knight Won His Spurs. The opening song After Me immediately strikes the listener as something special as the strings strike a wintery feeling and Clark’s glacial voice rings out. The chill remains on the haunting The Month of January where Clark’s voice appears from a fog of loneliness provided by wind instruments and tenebrous cello. Another Perfect Love has a lazy, almost jazz lounge swing to it and recalls Sandy Denny’s solo work. Almost all of the songs are done to perfection and the album is well recommended.
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Lucy Ward , another rising star in the folk world is another fine singer and interpreter of old songs while well able to write new additions to the canon. Her voice is earthier, more sultry than Clark’s and she tends more towards the New World in her traditional choices. She has a more dramatic approach with several of the songs and in the opening song she lays bare where her roots lie as she name checks Dylan and Melanie and pays tribute to the sixties generation. Indeed there are moments here when one can glimpse the likes of Joni Mitchell, Dory Previn and Ms. Safka but it might be a fair bet to say that she also has a soft spot for Tim Buckley’s ethereal wanderings especially when listening to her song Icarus. Her songs are described as symphonic however over the course of a listen we might venture to say cluttered with over fussy arrangements. The relatively pared back banjo plucking of the traditional Lord I Don’t Want To Die In The Storm benefits from its sparseness. She does have a stand out song in Honey where the simple guitar accompaniment and her voice merge together to create a comfortable shimmering haze.

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Leeroy Stagger. Truth Be Sold. Clubhouse Records

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Canadian Stagger has built up a reputation over eight albums as a solid working man’s hero, a Canadian Steve Earle of sorts with a punk rock background before he hit a roots rock highway. His ninth album Truth Be Sold is released this week as he returns to the UK for a series of dates that include Maverick Festival and the Summertyne Festival in Gateshead. Produced by Los Lobos’ Steve Berlin (who adds sax on some cuts) Truth Be Sold is a vibrant ride which clatters along with several songs featuring garage riffs, fuzzed guitar and ramshackle percussion.
Martial drumming and snarling guitars introduce the opener, Memo, a ferocious finger pointing song that brims with anger. Goodnight Berlin has a Stones type swagger from the opening Keef like chords as drummer Nick Stecz drives the song, battering away for all he’s worth. The song rushes by leaving the listener breathless and demands repeated listening for the rush gained. Stagger tones it down for the laid back Celebrity, a bitter sweet essay on the emptiness of stardom that recalls a less deranged Green On Red but it’s all hands on deck for the turbo charged rant that is Cities On Fire. Written several years ago Stagger updated this powerful piece to pay tribute to the Occupy Wall Street movement. Hi octane rock’n’roll in its delivery Stagger’s vocals mesh with the propulsive rhythm as guitars soar and there’s even some BOC cowbell on display. Despite that there’s no sense of bloated stadium rock here, just a justified anger. Have A Heart is another pile driver of a song that betrays Berlin’s hand as a producer with the gutbucket guitar solo and hammering percussion recalling Los Lobos.

Interspersed with these fiery moments Stagger has his gentler moments. Break My Heart is a pedal steel sweetened lament with just the right amount of pathos. Sold Down The River is a similar wallow in pedal steel heaven while Mister dives into Steve Earle drawldom. Finally we must mention ESP which is a glorious celebration of life and music and which rivals the likes of Wilco as Stagger and band soar on a great melody, guitars chime and the harmonies are heavenly. A great song indeed.

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Mark Collie & his Reckless Companions. Alive At Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary.

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We presume that everyone in the world with an ounce of sense has copies of or knows about Johnny Cash’s prison albums recorded in Folsom and San Quentin. They added an outlaw sense to Cash’s reputation, he seemed to be at one with the inmates. a jailbird made good ( although he never did time, just nights in the cells for drug busts and weirdly enough picking flowers). We mention this because the Cash albums are the template for this fine document, Alive At Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary, an album recorded 12 ago but shelved after it was the victim of record label politics at MCA.
Country artist Mark Collie knew Cash and in the late nineties he decided to emulate the man in black with his own prison concert firmly believing in the power of song and hoping that he could inspire at least some of the inmates to reconsider their paths. Weaving his way through red tape he eventually pitched up at Tennessee’s toughest jail in October 2011 with a stellar band and guests, the results of which are finally unveiled here. It’s a glorious recording and while the songs don’t have the familiarity that Cash’s songs had when he played his gigs they have a full bodied band feel to them with Collie and crew pitching country, rock, blues and gospel songs with energy to burn. The Reckless Companions include Willie Weeks on bass, David Grissom, guitar, Chad Cromwell, drums, Shawn Camp and Mike Utley, keyboards, all seasoned veterans who have played with the likes of the stones, Clapton, Joe Ely, John Mellencamp, Dylan, Neil Young, Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson so not your average pick up band. In addition Collie brought up the venerable bluesman Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown who delivers the solid Someday My Luck Will Change along with some tasty guitar licks and Kelly Willis (imagine the audience’s reaction) who offers two songs, the sparkling Heaven Bound and the chuck Prophet written Got A Feelin’ For Ya which she delivers with a blowsy abandon, God knows why there wasn’t a riot.
Collie and the band deliver the goods throughout the album as he raps with the inmates and then launches into songs he wrote with the gig in mind. They’re hard luck tales, songs of redemption and ruin bolstered by gutsy playing. On The Day I Die is a death row epic where Collie sings “In the morning they’ll come and I’ll break my last bread and the preacher will read while they’re shaving my head” Dead Man Runs Before He Walks is a prison escape song which draws an energetic response from the inmates while the opening lines of I Could’ve Gone Right, “Twenty third birthday I picked up a gun, this time to get my dope I had to kill someone” is a sucker punch for the captive audience. The band deliver Doug Sahm type Texas tales (Maybe Mexico), country laments (Rose Covered Garden) and hard driving rock (Reckless Companions) with equal aplomb and it’s exciting to listen to these down the line. A cover of Folsom Prison Blues that brims with energy caps it all.
A worthy companion to the Cash discs this is a vibrant and ultimately uplifting listen and if there’s anything criminal about it it’s the fact that Collie had to wait over a decade to see it realised.

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Cold Satellite. Cavalcade

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Cold Satellite is the six piece band led by Wisconsin singer songwriter Jeffrey Foucault that sprang fully formed in 2007 after poet Lisa Olstein allowed him to set some of her words to music resulting in Cold Satellite’s self titled debut album. No less a person than Greil Marcus singled the album out for attention and now, several years down the road the pair produce their second collaboration with Cavalcade, a full blooded rock album that recalls the likes of the Stones and The Faces back in the days. Olsen herself doesn’t appear on the album leaving Foucault and his talented band to deliver the wares. The presumption is that she provided most if not all of the lyrics, if so then the join is not evident as there’s no sign of verse being shoehorned into song here.
With three guitarists on board (Foucault, David Goodrich and Hayward Williams) plus pedal steel from Alex McCollough Cold Satellite conjure up some stirring moments while the rhythm section of Jeremy Curtis and Billy Conway anchor them perfectly. While there are some songs that would not sound out of place in Foucault’s day job as a very fine Americana purveyor there is a sense that he and the rest of the band are having some great fun in letting their hair down and rocking out.
The kick off with the sonic blast of Elegy (In A Distant Room) riffing away on a wall of guitars as Foucault proves he can shout with the best of them. A thrilling corkscrewed guitar solo entwines with the pedal steel before some feedback closes the curtain. A fine start. Necessary Monsters is a pumped up John Lee Hooker boogie shuffle which slides along with élan. The title song is a magnificent slice of acoustic and organ driven southern rock recalling The Allman Brothers in their heyday. They get heavy on the hammering Silver Whips and Tangled Lullaby while Pearlescent thrums with menace as guitars splice the air. It’s all pretty thrilling to listen to, lean with no fat. There are some quieter numbers which nestle easily amongst their noisier neighbours. Bomblet starts off as an acoustic ballad laced with pedal steel until a tortured guitar solo (remember them, it’s allowed here as the song seems to be about stadium rock) takes it into the stratosphere. Glass Hands purrs along like a sleek feline while the closing Every Boy, Every Blood is Foucault in his best Jackson Browne mode as the band gently support him. Overall it’s a great album.

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Tom Russell. Aztec Jazz

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Tom Russell‘s never been one to shy away from a bold move, a sideways step, a novel way to showcase his fine song writing skills. Whether it’s a cowboy themed album, a celebration of Charles Bukowski or a “folk opera” detailing his ancestors’ journey to America. Aztec Jazz may be his boldest yet, a live album recorded in Norway with a 32 piece wind ensemble and guitarist Thad Beckman featuring for the most part songs from his previous two releases, the Calexico backed Blood and Candle Smoke and Mesabi. Living in El Paso Russell was increasingly influenced by Mexican sounds on these albums and it’s tempting to think that the Norwegian Wind Ensemble who back him here were considered to be some equivalent to Calexico. Unfortunately that’s not the case and the album suffers somewhat from the arrangements which can seem at times overblown and occasionally syrupy. It’s a pity that Beckman’s guitar appears to play second fiddle to the strings as on the moments when he appears his strings do have that border feel.
Having said that Russell’s songs are strong enough to survive any amount of basting and his delivery is excellent throughout as he sings with his usual passion. While Guadalupe cries out for a flyblown cantina sound which the Norwegians can’t approximate and Russell’s autobiographical African tale Criminology has just too many horns parping there are some moments to savour. Nina Simone finds the Wind Ensemble in moody cinematic mode and perfectly balanced with Russell and the song. East of Woodstock, West of Vietnam makes full use of their percussion while the wind instruments do conjure up a south western vista that is widescreen and evocative.
Obviously this was a one off occasion and Russell fans will be glad of the opportunity to hear it. As an introduction to his work however it might give the wrong impression and the advice would be to grab Blood and Candle Smoke to hear most of these songs in their original glory.

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John Wilkes Booth And The Black Toothe.

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You have to admire an act who name themselves after a notorious assassin, sing songs about Charlie Manson and stick a crucified walrus on their album cover, a death metal combo perhaps? Well John Wilkes Boothe And The Black Toothe confound expectations as it transpires that they are a trio from Ashville, North Carolina who eschew Satanic riffs and instead offer up an intricate acoustic folk stew that blends the likes of the Violent Femmes, Incredible String Band, Jeffrey Lewis, Lewis Carroll, Comus and Pearls Before Swine into a beguiling dish.
Comprised of Ben Melton, Myles Holt and Paul Blackwood the trio weave their guitars and occasional percussion expertly while they introduce a sense of naivety with their slight voices and the absurdism of some of the lyrics which feature unicorns, walruses, goatchilds, ostriches and octopi. Although on paper this might appear twee as hell they avoid mawkishness instead evoking the spirit of adventure and exploration that characterised the more leftfield exponents of early folk rock.
Opening song The Possum is a fine introduction to the weird world of the Toothe with its hint of incest set to a high lonesome harmonica. They delve deeper into darker tones with the cadaverous The Carrion which is one of the weirdest love songs we’ve ever heard but the highlight here is the sinister and absurd surrealism of One Foot. A love song to a woman who is only one foot tall it has a beguiling delivery that is hypnotic and spellbinding.
Weird indeed but often weird is good.

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Eric Brace & Peter Cooper. The Comeback Album. Red Beet Records

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Brace and Cooper have made three albums together and last year produced a well regarded tribute to Tom T Hall’s kiddie album Songs of Fox Hollow. Seasoned practitioners in the art of delivering well turned out songs that often have a touch of humour they’ve gathered together some Nashville luminaries for The Comeback Album including Fats Kaplin on fiddle and mandolin and Lloyd Green on pedal steel. The end result is a good humoured and exceptionally well played disc that won’t surprise anyone familiar with their work and will delight fans.
They open with a roll call of heroes (and anti heroes in the case of Tricky Dicky?) from the past on Ancient History covering music, sport, politics and such and do so with a swell panache as the song buzzes along buoyed by some fine Wurlitzer organ and the first of many fine guitar solos from Richard Bennett. Ponzi Scheme is a modern riches to rags song adorned with mandolin, fiddle and acute pedal steel from Green which is bound to be a crowd pleaser live while they shuffle up a fine potage in Thompson Street which features Rory Hoffman on clarinet and accordion as they paint a vivid picture of small town politics in the South . Hoffman returns on the jaunty Sailor where his clarinet, gypsy guitar and mandolin spin a fine tale.
Whether they’re relating Brace’s spell in a county jail on Johnson City or bowling down the highway on Nobody Knows the lyrics are witty and repay repeated listening. They throw in three covers for good measure. Karl Straub’s Carolina harks back to sun kissed Californian past times with Green’s pedal steel billowing away on a song that recalls John Stewart . David Halley’s Rain Just Falls closes the album and it’s a fine valediction allowing Brace and Cooper to showcase their harmony vocals on a song that slinks into the sunset with Green’s pedal steel again to the fore. The other cover is the highlight of the album as the pair reconnect with Tom T Hall for a glorious version of his song Mad. They’re joined here by three “special guests,” Duane Eddy who provides some low strung twang, Marty Stuart on vocals and mandolin and Mac Wiseman, 87 year old Bluegrass Hall of Fame member on vocals and it sounds as if they all had a ball doing this as will the listener.

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The Snakes. The Last Days of Rock & Roll. Bucketfull of Brains Records.

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Hailed by some as the “new heroes of British Country Rock” following the release of their debut album and subsequent E.P The Snakes have been a fixture on the London “alt country” scene since around 2002. The Last Days of Rock & Roll however isn’t a country rock album by any means with the clue lying in the title’s resemblance to Mott The Hoople’s The Golden Age of Rock and Roll to the beast it really is. Rewind to the seventies and the wooden horse tactics employed by the likes of Mott and the Faces who donned glitter to get some authentic rock’n’roll in the charts while bands like The Who and the Stones had their last brace of worthwhile singles. While this was happening a pub rock scene was brewing that eventually spewed up Brinsley Schwarz, Chilli Willi and the Red Hot Peppers, Roogalator and The Kursall Flyers, bands who all shared an affinity with the American country rock of the time. Stir all of this up and you have an approximation of what The Last Days of Rock & Roll sounds like.

It’s a tough task and there are occasions when The Snakes falter as on the The Last Train which runs out of puff too soon and almost falls into power ballad territory. Look What We Could Have Been is similarly guilty of over egging the pudding with sky pointing guitar soloing bringing images of a thousand plus lighters held high celebrating stadium gods although it does have some of the spirit of Ian Hunter within it. However we’re glad to report that the remaining nine songs are indeed celebrations of the spirit of rock in its many guises and there are several which positively sparkle.
Too Hard opens the album with a bang. One of the true country rock songs here it rushes like the wind with great harmony vocals from Hannah Elton-Wall (of the Redland Palomino Company, a band The Snakes shared a drummer with until recently). The Band Played On has an epic feel to it with its driving Hammond organ, west coast harmonies and whiplash guitar all of which coalesce on a thrilling ending. The band take a short detour with a splendidly chiming cover of The French Girl, a song written by Ian and Sylvia but more commonly known via Gene Clark’s version. Guardian Angel recalls The Kursall Flyers’ more heartbroken moments while Jerry’s Chair is a deceptively upbeat memory of bassist John O’Sullivan’s late father. The centrepiece and highlight of the album is the astounding title song. The Last Days Of Rock & Roll does recall numerous tributes and elegies to the power of the rock along with memories of Top of The Pops dancers swaying and holding banners aloft as Simon Moor hits all sorts of emotional buttons, Ziggy, Mott, Argent and even Mud in the apocalyptic and anthemic first half of the song. Halfway through with the chorus ringing out it shifts gears however into a gutsy gospel blues as imagined by the likes of Primal Scream ending with a musical melange that includes sitar. A magnificent edifice indeed and probably a real crowd pleaser live.

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