Oholics. Orbits.

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Glasgow Americana and Swedish psychedelia might make for strange bedfellows but Blabber’n’Smoke is a broad church and has been a fan of the Oholics since hearing their first album a few years ago. While it had a whiff of the early Floyd and the Thirteenth Floor Elevators in its grooves this new episode cranks up the guitars to give it a harder sound that is reminiscent of Primal Scream at times particularly on the opening Transfer Orbit. While the space rock side is amply covered in Suzy Banyon Blues and Astara City the band visit Rain Parade territory with the thumping and spectral swoon that is Out of Track, a superb song with ringing guitar chiming throughout. Hambone W. N. is a rabble rousing garage surf punk rifferama while closing freak out Out of Nothing could sit proudly on the soundtrack of the movie Repo Man with its soaring guitar lines and otherworldly voices. An unlisted song at the very end, Great Hero Boys is another garage rocker with scrambled guitar and a punk sneer in Chtistoffer Rydestahl’s vocals.
Despite these laudable and successful stabs at incorporating a more traditional rock feel to their sound the band are at their best when they lock into a hypnotic groove and this is best heard on the stand out song here. Moonraker, released as a single, has a pummelling beat and sonic guitar wizardry which recalls Hawkwind in their heyday. With an exotic Eastern underlay it jangles the neurons in the listener’s brain. Add to this the ferocious rush that is Snowflakes and the jangled trippiness of The Truth and you have one excellent album.

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Transfer Orbit

Heritage Blues Orchestra. And Still I Rise

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While the Alabama Shakes currently fly the flag for an amped up and sassy take on Southern blues and rock The Heritage Blues Orchestra show that its not only the younger generation who can shake that particular tail feather. Drawing from the same well as the Shakes as befits their maturity they have a more traditional and a statelier feel but that’s not to say that these 12 songs lack the energy and immediacy of Brittany Howard and her colleagues. Despite the grey beards and suited demeanour this album rocks in a righteous way with lashings of wicked blues guitar swamped with some awesome horn playing and a mighty percussive engine room.
The opening stomp of Clarksdale Moan thunders like Led Zeppelin’s When The Levee breaks due to the drumming of Kenny “Beady Eyes” Smith while the horns add a new Orleans feel. A great opening number it sets the tone for the remainder of the album. The voices of Chaney Sims, Bill Sims Jr. and Junior Mack are all well versed in old time holler, Gospel wails and bluesy insinuation allowing the band to deliver an all too sinful sounding C-Line Woman which slinks along like a sinner in a church while Big Legged Woman forsakes the church for an earthy rumbunctiousness. The band see-saw between the secular and the sacred throughout the album with the traditional Get Right Church capturing the rapture of Gospel while a downright dirty guitar corkscrews throughout. They recall slavery spirituals and field hollers on several songs while the spirit of John Lee Hooker hovers over their cover of Eric Bibb’s Don’t Ever Let Nobody Drag Your Spirit Down. The breathless sprint through In The Morning is perhaps the most condensed example of their style. Soaked in Gospel with parping horns and great church tent revivalist vocals it could possibly raise the dead. While the majority of the songs are either traditional or covers the one original Chilly Jordan, written by Junior Mack more than holds its own. A fine rippling guitar rolls along on the jauntiest song here.
A powerful album, the slightly jazzy horns, the muscular blues guitar and the spirited singing all combine to create a disc that will appeal to anyone interested in the Staple Singers, Ry Cooder, Dr. John or hopefully the Alabama Shakes.

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Clarksdale Moan

Farmer Jason, Suzy Bogguss.

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Farmer Jason and Buddies. Nature Jams

Farmer Jason is of course Jason Ringenberg of Scorchers fame. Over the past few years he’s carved out this sideline as a children’s entertainer playing live gigs for the little ones and releasing several albums in this guise although this is the first one to have come to our attention. For anyone who’s seen the Scorchers the energy and sheer enjoyment Ringenberg brings will be familiar and its to his credit that the songs musically don’t make any concessions to what one might expect of kiddie music. Turbo charged country rockers are the order of the day with regular foil Warner E. Hodges adding his whirlwind guitar to several of the songs. With a stellar cast of characters including Mike Mills (REM), Tom Petersson (Cheap Trick), Steve Gorman (Black Crowes), Iris Dement, Suzy Bogguss, Tommy Ramone and The Saw Doctors Farmer Jason sings about the great outdoors and the many sights, activities and fauna one can engage with.
As an adult the hokum introductions and the frequent admonitions to ensure the parent or care giver is involved does interfere with the enjoyment although the rousing Prairie Riddles with Iris Dement could easily fit on a Scorchers album. Guest Tod Snider however joins in with particular relish relating the tale of his lost Moose. But after all this is an album for kids and the rollicking tale of Dison The Bison , the galumphing country thump of Manatee with Hank Williams 111 or the banjo driven Can You Canoe should delight the discerning tot. The disc comes with a DVD of four of the songs where Farmer Jason goofs around with a bunch of kids canoeing, spelunking, hiking and being chased by Dison. Buy this and you need never watch Barney The Dinosaur again.
For copyright reasons we can’t post a song here but you can listen here

http://www.farmerjason.com/

Suzy Bogguss American Folk Songbook.

Bogguss, who appears on the Farmer Jason album is another artist with kids on her mind. The genesis of this album was when she toured with Garrison Keillor and was impressed by the audience participation on songs like Red River Valley that everyone there seemed to know. Recalling her own experience of learning such songs in school she decided to produce an album and associated songbook in the hope that listeners and in particular younger generations would continue to learn how to play and sing cherished songs that have graced campfires, choirs and family gatherings for years.
The album in itself is a delight with superb renditions of songs familiar to all such as Froggy Went A-Courting, Swing Low Sweet Chariot and Shenandoah. Perhaps less familiar to the general public but well known in folk circles songs such as Wayfaring Stranger, Shady Grove, Careless Love and Wildwood Flower all turn up.
Bogguss as always sings beautifully and the arrangements and playing are tasteful and uncluttered. The acoustic ensemble led by Pat Bergeson (guitar, harmonica, Jews harp) play fiddle, mandolin, accordion, concertina, banjo and hammer dulcimer can be as delicate or as invigorating as required. As a result all 17 songs are impressive whether it be the rollicking Ol’ Dan Tucker, the yodelling cowboy song Get Along Little Dogie or the powerful Erie Canal. Special mention must be made of Bogguss’s very impressive vocal acrobatics on the sprightly Froggy Went A-Courtin’ while Wildwood Flower with its hammer dulcimer is a wonderful rendition of this old Carter family song.
An impressive album overall, the companion book is well worth investigating. With charts for piano and guitar plus lyrics Bogguss write a short introduction to each song which demonstrate her obvious love and respect for the songs and the tradition. As a package this would be a fine introduction for any youngster hankering to learn how to begin to delve into Americana music.

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June Round Up: Kenny Young Band, Joe Fletcher & The Wrong Reasons, Jonah Tolchin.

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Kenny Young Band. Simple Things.
This album from New Jersey based Kenny Young popped through the door as recently as April and after a couple of listens we put pen to paper. It was only then we discovered the album was actually recorded in 2010. That said Kenny had added a nice hand-written letter to the package and he covers one of Blabber’n’Smoke’s favourite songs so here goes.
A jobbing musician for most of his life this is Young’s debut album so he’s had plenty of time to hone his songwriting and it shows. While he’s not a wordsmith per se he manages to come up with strong verses and choruses that fit well with the muscular delivery of the band be it the jaunty pop of We’ll Find Love Again, the radio friendly ballad Going Home or the pell mell Southern rock’n’roll that is Krazy. While young’s voice can be grits or honey depending on the song the highlight on most of these cuts is the guitar playing of Andy Schlee whose slide playing on Nothing To Hear is indeed a joy to hear. He really lets rip on Strong Man where his solo is reminiscent of vintage Thin Lizzy. While there are some ballads including Waiting which again features some fine playing from Schlee the overall feel is of a band that has its roots firmly in the mid seventies and especially that of the southern Rock bands of that time which takes us to that cover version, Duane Allman’s Midnight Rider. While this doesn’t have the stoner groove of the original it packs a punch and I daresay goes down a treat live.

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Strong Man

Joe Fletcher & The Wrong Reasons. White Lighter.

Another album that was recorded in 2010 but only recently swam to these shores this is a great listen. Fletcher writes some fine songs and his voice has an attractive easy way with the words as he sings about losers and folk tossed aside by life’s trials. Ably supported by The Wrong Reasons, a local conglomerate of musician friends there are loose limbed country ballads, rootsy blues workouts and rockabilly riots scattered throughout. Opening with the attractive fiddle laced folkiness of Say What You Will the album ramps up the pace on the following two songs, Ambulances and Flat Tire, the former a full tilt road song with driving harmonica and a great guitar solo from Damian Puerin, the latter a pile driving world weary lament that has a huge sound with clanging guitar and a gung ho chorus. The world weariness continues on the album highlight, Every Heartbroken Man. A fantastictically jangled guitar runs through this tale of a down on his luck guy for whom everything that can go wrong goes wrong who accepts that fate cannot comfort every heartbroken man. Fletcher’s lyrics have a boho fatalism that he delivers with just the right mix of emotion and detachment. St. Vincent continues with this life is shit motif as the protagonist states that when he eventually get to sit on God’s knee he’ll complain that he’s been treated as a criminal all of his life. Here the band sound like the best or worst ever bunch of punch drunk honky tonk players as the song drunkenly weaves its way with Puerin delivering a stinging yet gloriously woozy solo. There’s a bunch of other songs that all stand up to scrutiny including the delightful broken country waltz of Front Porch and the George Jones inspired honky tonk hymn to booze which is Drunk and Single. You can capture the album free here for a limited time. Have a listen and then buy it, it’s a great album.
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Every Heartbroken Man

Jonah Tolchin. Criminal Man.
Finally we go back to New Jersey to find Jonah Tolchin, a youngster of 19 who sounds a lot older and delivers some spinechilling spare songs along with a few more muscular diatribes including a cover of a Blaze Foley song. The opening track here is a wonderfully glacial song with Tolchin on guitar and voice accompanied only by a cello and immediately the listener is captured by the beauty and simplicity here. Godforsaken World expands the sound adding fiddle and bass but is similar in delivery. This melancholic feel resurfaces on Fracking Nightmare where Tolchin addresses the environmental issues of this new and potentially destructive method of robbing the planet. A musical saw adds to the sense of foreboding on what is a fine protest song. Wrong Side of the Wire which follows is another environmental lament with a simple delivery. Tolchin’s fine voice and guitar is supported by pedal steel from Ed Iarusso on a song that could stand proudly beside the best that Woody Guthrie could conjure up. Strangely enough one of the backing vocalists here is the selfsame Joe Fletcher mentioned above, small world indeed. Fletcher sings again on the Foley cover, Oval Room which gets a jauntier delivery and reminds one of the Reagan years. Tolchin leaves the politics behind to an extent on the final song, Rocks and Nails, a wonderful ballad that seems to describe a suicide on a railroad line, evocative and chilling it serves to deliver notice that Tolchin is one to watch.

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Fracking Nightmare

Victor Camozzi. Roadside Paradise.

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Victor Camozzi is yet another one of those wonderful Texan troubadours who for years have been one of the mainstays of Americana. Think of Steve Earle or Robert Earl Keen or even Kris Kristofferson and you’re halfway there to hearing him already. With a distinctive drawl in his voice Camozzi’s vocals effortlessly conjure up visions of drugstore cowboys and truck driving men, laconic, hard living, world wise. The fact that for most of us we experience this vicariously via movies and music leads us to imagine Camozzi as a cross between Sam Shephard and Sam Elliott as The stranger in The Big Lebowski.
So, scene set, what does the album sound like? Camozzi writes all the songs but all of the music is played by producer Matt Downs with the songs ranging from dust stained ballads to muscular roots rock workouts. The subjects are all well trodden paths, love songs, scenes from small town life, regrets and reminiscence all feature. Reading the lyrics one is struck by the thought that each one could easily be a short story or could morph into a screenplay. John 4:20 is a pot smokers’ response to a Christian call to heed the Word preferring to see the plant as a gift and offering an alternative to what to do with a burning bush. Sweetened with a superb pedal steel it’s a fine example of the sly humour here. The Mercy is a snapshot of a brief motel encounter that offers joy and guilt while The Homecoming Waltz is a stark portrayal of the emotional impact on a young wife coming to terms with her husband’s injuries on his return from the war with Camozzi wringing out every ounce of sadness from what one presumes to be a real life dilemma for numerous young Americans. While the uptempo A Lifetime In One Lifetime could be considered lightweight in term of its neighbours it’s a great celebration of living for the moment and is delivered with a rousing Tom Petty type pop drive. Mention should be made of two songs that stand out. Roadside Paradise is a brief note of a diner and a waitress therein that is atmospheric and evocative with a delivery that could have come from an early Little Feat album. Marlboro Morning evokes a similar feel to Kristofferson’s Sunday Morning Coming Down with its description of a fairly aimless response to the dawn of a new day. The slide guitar, harmonica and lazy delivery all add up to a what could become a radio staple if enough folk pick up on it.

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Marlboro Morning

Fire Mountain. Of The Dust.

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There’s certainly a thing right now for backwoods type folky music topped off with earnest vocals and harmony singing very much in evidence. Think of Fleet Foxes, Midlake or even Bon Iver and add Fire Mountain to the list. Hailing from Troy, Alabama they’ve enlisted the talents of Arthur Alligood (himself a fine purveyor of introspective Americana folk songs) as a producer and recorded this, their second E. P. in Nashville. With a fairly basic line up of acoustic and electric guitars, piano, bass and drums they manage to conjure up a wonderful sound that is crystal clear and at times sounds as if it was carved from nature. There’s a rarefied air to the songs as if they were being played in a forest clearing with the rippling piano recalling mountain streams. Perry Brown’s plaintive voice sings of fear and regret, of a child’s fear of darkness and the finality of death. Overall there’s an existential angst, a loneliness best expressed in No One’s Help.
While Brown is the frontman for the band mention must be made of the excellent piano playing of Bryan Segraves throughout while Aaron Newberry adds some fine electric guitar especially on the dynamic opening song Black Heart and Torch. While Black Heart with its grim splendour might be the song that gathers most mentions Torch is the standout song. A simple tale of alienation which relates how the child fathers the man the band play delicately with piano and guitar creating a chilly frisson. Excellent stuff.

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Torch

Michael Rank and Stag. Kin

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North Carolina musician Michael Rank has been knocking about for the past 20 years with his band Snatches of Pink, a band much in thrall to the likes of Nikki Sudden, Johnny thunders and Keith Richards. This solo effort sees him backed by members of the band along with several other North Carolina luminaries from bands such as Trailer Bride, Patty Hurst Shifter and Chatham County Line. It’s been five years since he’s recorded and in that time he fathered a son only to have his partner leave him and some of this is reflected here, which might bode well for those who see “break up” albums as a surefire way to call up the muse.
Describing his new outfit as “the illegitimate son of rock and roll casualties Snatches of Pink” Rank also calls them the “acoustic arm of the scarecrow,” presumably to differentiate this line up from the gutter glitter image and sound of the earlier band and while its true that fiddles fly and acoustic guitar predominates there’s plenty of electric bursts and buzzes that spark and burn on what is a set of wonderfully ramshackle country leaning rock songs.
The opening country thrash of Tenderhook doesn’t really prepare the listener for the majesty of On The Bleed, a ballad straight from the Stones’ country songbook with keening pedal steel and curling guitars winding in and around Rank’s strained and wearied vocals, tremendous stuff. The Goat is another Stones like cut with some stately piano playing adding a degree of faded grandeur to it. The country honk of Straw Man starts off as a fine fiddle and mandolin laced stomp, a hillbilly Son Volt almost but towards the end Rank launches into an audacious ragged glory of a guitar solo that tears the song to shreds and leaves the listener beaten into submission. Underneath the angst and chaos Rank does write some beautiful songs here with Tongue, another song in the late sixties Stones decadent style standing out while Arrowheads is a heartfelt plea regarding his failed relationship. His guitar work at times ranks with Neil Young for angry and massive slices of noise such as when he lets rip towards the end of Manservant.
This is not an album for anyone who wants to hear polished and tidy country rock. Several of the songs are almost like a visceral assault on the ears, Gun Breaths has Stag’s pained voice howling over swathes of guitar and piano while the closer Here Comes The Light ramps this up to the nth degree. Some of the lyrics are close to the bone as Rank examines what went wrong but overall it’s a brave and naked attempt to wrest some sense from his life. To his and the musicians’ credit they deliver in spades with what is one of the most invigorating albums we’ve heard this year.

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On The Bleed

Hillfolk Noir Radio Hour.

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We’ve mentioned Hillfolk Noir before with their fine fly on the wall recording Skinny Mammy’s Revenge. A companion album recorded live at the Old Idaho Penitentiary was even better with the Boise, Idaho combo letting loose on a bunch of exhilarating stringband/jugband/old time songs. Now, according to their website, we have a name for their particular way with a tune, Junkerdash. Junkerwhat? Well they say that Junkerdash has “multiple definitions up to and including “psychedelic swamp-shack rags.”” So that’s that settled, who are we to argue?
Spreading Junkerdash across the airwaves then this latest release comes in the guise of an old time radio show from the forties the likes of which were beamed across the South and Midwest allowing folk to listen to their musical heroes. A nice concept and the album opens with some waveband search sound effects before settling on the Hillfolk Noir station. The band add a commercial for Hillfolk Wild Root Cream Oil which surely would have Ulysses Everett McGill forsake his “Dapper Dan” pomade.
Aside from the old time radio show idea the meat and potatoes on here are the songs, all written by mainman Travis Ward and all of them excellent with not one clunker in sight. Ward writes on topics and themes that are so well worn and familiar as to be past bothering about and it’s a measure of his skills that he can breathe new life into them. The instrumentals are infectious and lively with a large dose of humour thrown in such as on the brief Pig Town Jug Blues where it sounds as if the kazoo player has forgotten the kazoo while Rattler In The Outhouse would have the dead tap their feet. He can be deliciously goofy and romantic as on Hand In Hand or channel Dylan’s Subterranean Homesick Blues as if it were being performed by a coked up Hank Williams on Trash Can. Working here as a five piece the band employ the the expected guitar, banjo, washboard and percussion along with“Tooth Knuckle,” “Coot Hooter” and “Clanker.” The playing is excellent with Ballad of a Lonely Rounder standing out with its singing saw and syncopated rhythym.
It’s safe to say that this album sets a gold standard for Junkerdash music. For those who live outwith the Hillfolk Noir universe it’s probably the best old time string band album of the year so far and for anyone who thinks it’s somewhat anachronistic to celebrate old time radio by listening to a CD the band have a limited edition 10” vinyl version for sale. You can see and hear them for yourself when the band plays their first UK tour in June with several Scottish dates. You can check them here

Ballad Of A Lonely Rounder

Stacey Earle and Mark Stuart. Dedication.

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Currently in the midst of a European/UK tour that sees them playing around 50 gigs in about 60 days Stacey Earle and Mark Stuart have built up a reputation as hard working, hard travelling troubadours who will play almost anywhere anytime. Most recently they pitched up at the Rio Café in Partick and will be returning to the west coast later this month.
A timely release then for Dedication. It’s a laid back affair for the most part perfectly suited for the pair to perform live although here the songs are embellished by some fine playing from the duo with Stuart playing various guitars and bass, Earle on guitar, piano and ukulele and Craig Wright on drums.
Although they say that many of the songs were inspired and written on a 1928 piano gifted to them the piano is not the dominant instrument here, instead the musical highlight is the guitar playing of Stuart be it the subtle Duane Eddy undertones of the title song, the sly slide work on Workin’ On It or the fifties styled almost pizzicato picking that underpins I’ve Been Wrong, I’ve Been Right which also features a fine Sleepwalking type solo. The aforementioned piano is at the heart of the tremendous ballad For A Long Time which was co-written with the late Harley Allen. Bereavement, although not mentioned specifically appears to feature throughout the album with mention of a period of loss and reflection in the promotional notes and the album ends with a short instrumental A Great Day To Fly performed by Earle playing her late father’s ukulele. Bereavement is at the heart of the centrepiece of the album. The Flag is a spoken word (or song poem) from Earle with simple guitar picking and some atmospheric colour by accordionist Michael Webb which recounts a mother’s tale of her son from birth to school to enlisting to his death. Very simple and very effective it’s chilling and evocative. The gritty duet with some gutsy guitar that is the title song is another gloomy slice of life while the McCartney like Broken Heart For You (which is the other piano driven song here) almost breaks into a sunnier clime on its refrain. The following Working On It allows the players to relax and enjoy a slippery slide driven Southern comfort of a song that recalls early Little Feat while the fifties dappled I’ve Been Wrong, I’ve Been Right harks back to earlier, simpler times.
A fine album and certainly a good recommendation to catch any of their upcoming shows.

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For A Long Time

Rachel Harrington & The Knock Outs

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Call me short sighted but my idea of Rachel Harrington was of an earnest solo artist who plays folk and bluegrassy songs conjuring up America’s past music traditions. Her album covers portrayed an artist who sounded rural and old timey. The cover of this however is a close up of Harrington with a twinkle in her eye and (forgive me, I’m trying not to be sexist), a “sassy” kind of “come on in and listen to this” attitude. Backed by The Knock Outs, an all female combo, Harrington has made a raunchy country album that one could imagine the likes of Loretta Lynn might produce if she were 50 years younger. Raucous at times with the opening song Makin’ Our House a Honky Tonk diving straight in at the deep end Harrington sounds tough as nails while the band are gutsy and solid. He’s My Man thumps along with a sixties rockabilly pop punch. There’s even a Stones type riff and cowbell drum clatter on Nothin’ To Do But You.
Having proved they can rock The Knock Outs and Harrington prove themselves just as capable of capturing the more country side of the fifties and sixties with Love Him Or Leave Him a pedal steel and fiddle driven Nashville coated confection while Wedding Ring Vacation captures the early feminist defiance that was the hallmark of Loretta Lynn. The guys get a look in with Mark Erelli singing a duet with Harrington on the slow country waltz of I’ll show You Mine while the closing song I’d Like To Take This Chance just about sums up the album with its pitch perfect recreation of late sixties/early seventies country pop.
A change in direction then for Harrington although as she says “I’m still channelling old writers and singers. It’s just that I moved forward about 40 years.” It’s safe to say that she’s done so with style and with a twinkle in her eye.

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He’s My Man