Kimmie Rhodes. Miracles On Christmas Day.

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So it’s that time of year again when cashpoints ring and Christmas music comes tumbling out of everywhere. Here at Blabber’n’Smoke we’re a little bit curmudgeonly when it comes to these seasonal offerings. With the exceptions of the granddaddy of all Christmas albums, Phil Spector’s a Christmas Gift To You and John Fahey’s The New Possibility there’s not a Christmas album that we’d really sit down and listen to. In fact with the vast majority of them we’d rather stuff our ears with stuffing and hunker down with the turkey and hope it all goes away.
So here we have Texan singer and songwriter Kimmie Rhodes’ Miracles On Christmas Day. First thought on reading the bio and finding out that it was originally released in November 2010 and that it is re-released next week is either that this is cashing in or an astute awareness that this time last year most of us in the UK were snowbound. No matter, what does it sound like?
Well, for a Christmas album it’s not half bad. Of the 12 songs nine of them are composed by Rhodes and she certainly captures that child like sense of Christmas wonderment so beloved of Hollywood and TV admen. Semi devotional and glistening with sparkling guitars and keyboard songs like the opening Miracles On Christmas Day and The Toymaker’s Hands drip with seasonal sentiment and as such wouldn’t really be listened to outwith the Christmas window. Indeed it does beg the question of what to do with a Christmas album as one is unlikely to grab one from the shelf mid summer and stick it on. However, as Christmas songs go these are immaculately played and Rhodes actually manages to fit in a few that veer away from the template. Wake Up Sleepy Town is a superb Tex-Mex ballad with Joel Guzman of Los Super Seven doing his best Flaco Jiminez impression. Her version of Patty Griffin’s Mary is given a powerful interpretation while her rendition of What Child Is This with wintry sound effects and set to the music of Greensleeves is very evocative. Listening to this reminds us that while many folk might never have known of the late Bert Jansch his version of Christina Rosseti’s In The Bleak Midwinter is now a staple of many family Christmases due to its inclusion on numerous Christmas compilations.
So who would buy this? Kimmie Rhodes fans for sure. For anyone else that’s looking for some music to get into the spirit it does conjure up a Christmas feeling and it’s a million miles better than the usual retreads.
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Wake Up Sleepy Town

Movember Musings

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Movember? Well I didn’t grow a moustache bit I did spend some time listening to these.

Society. A Crooked Mile.

Another UK crew in thrall to the sounds of the States, Society have a jangled harmonious approach to the genre topped off with some nice harmonies. As such this is country pop/rock of the type that Graham Nash excelled in all those years ago given a delivery not too dissimilar from Glasgow country rockers Kassidy. A trio consisting of Matt wise, F. Scott Kenny and Ben Lancaster providing guitars, mandolin, percussion and bass they are ably assisted on the album by a clutch of players who provide pedal steel and various keyboards which does raise the album into another realm giving them more muscle and bite.
While the first half of the album consists of well played and delivered country rock songs the band really kick into gear with their seventh song, Davey. Rooted in the sound of The Band and in particular the songs and singing of Levon Helm it’s as successful as The Felice Brothers’ similar endeavours and from here on in the songs have a tougher and darker edge to them. Matt Wise writes well within the vernacular and the closing half of this album is a delight to listen to. The Closing song Martyr’s Avenue is a bit of a tour de force with surging guitar and swirling organ backing an impassioned song.

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Davey

Jeremy Steding. I Keep on Livin’, but I Don’t Learn.

Moving on from West Sussex to Texas Jeremy Steding is a youthful baby faced singer and songwriter with a band composed of (looking at the promo pics) a bunch of guys who look as if they all have a few years on him. True or not they all do a fine job on this album of solid Texas styled country music. Guitars twang, pedal steel weeps and the rhythm section is solid and true. Be it tear stained ballads or rip them up rockers each and every song is delivered with gusto making for a very enjoyable listen, like having a honky tonk in your own house. Aside from a cover of Cash’s Don’t Take Your Guns To Town (given a fine reading here with sterling backing vocals from Shannon Lee Nelson) Steding wrote or co-wrote all of the songs and its here he proves his mettle. A few of the songs here are excellent examples of story telling. Five Aprils is a chilling Civil War tale while the opening song Annie Ray positively bursts with energy and that twang sound with an audacious and successful segue into the title song. I Keep On Livin’, But I don’t Learn in itself has a real crowd-pleasing quality to it and you can imagine it being a real showstopper live. The stand out song here is Paint the Town Red, When They’re Blue. A wonderful waltz into Butch Hancock territory it’s a tremendous piece.

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Paint the Town Red, When They’e Blue

R.Mutt Leash on Life

Just as listening to Jeremy Steding makes one long for a night in a genuine Texan Honky Tonk, time spent with this Milwaukee quartet’s album of strong armed blue collar guitar workouts makes one think of sweaty and mobbed clubs where the band compete with the bar and other diversions. Hanging together since 1988 three of the Mutts have known each other since high school with guitarist Dan Power only joining in the last year. This lot describe themselves as growing up listening to The Clash, Black Flag, Minor Threat and Public Enemy while their parents were into Little Feat, Johnny Cash, Joe Cocker, Gram Parsons and Willie and Waylon. What this amounts to is an impassioned and energetic set of songs that capture an American splendour delivered with a driving punk attitude. The vocals blast with a full-throated volume while the rhythm section powers away and guitars slash and burn. There are elements here of early Springsteen (and I think that some of these guys also have a sneaking admiration for the Blue Oyster Cult) along with a touch of alt country rockers such as the V-Roys. It’s an energetic ride listening to this. Beautiful Bad Day is anthemic while Big Things is a super smooth chromium plated glide. The Tale of Bobby A is a nice example of a tale of an everyman given a Drive by Truckers makeover while Sisyphus starts off with a dirty Stones’ type riff. This might seem like a bit of a smorgasbord of an album but amped up it’s a great listen for anyone who likes god honest boogie. If they were to play the likes of King Tuts I’d be there in the queue expectantly waiting to experience the R Mutt sound.

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The Tale of Bobby A

Cahalen Morrison & Eli West. The Holy Coming of The Storm

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“There’s a natural language of American music that flows from a place where strength and tenderness meet.” So begins the liner note for this fabulous album. Written by Dirk Powell, a man who is an expert on Appalachian music, these notes describe the album far better than your current reviewer could ever hope to achieve. However, to read the rest you’ll need to get the album. It is indeed a mighty work. Coming from a pair in their twenties who met up in Portland a few years ago its astonishing at times when listening to it to recollect that this is not the result of some grizzled old timers sitting around a pot bellied stove with an enthusiastic young researcher taping their efforts for the Smithsonian Institute.
Morrison and West play banjo, guitar, mandolin, bazouki and lap steel. They sing together in the best fashion of the brothers Louvin and Stanley. They write songs that sound as if they have been disinterred from dusty archives. Of the 14 songs here there are two traditionals but in a blindfold test it would be hard to pick them out. The lyrics and imagery of the originals cleave fast to traditional mores with spare plucking and weathered voices sounding like apocalyptic messengers on On God’s Rocky Shore. It’s not all doom and gloom however as they deliver the jaunty country hop of Since You Took Your Leave, the gospel tinged Over There and the moving Weathervane Waltz. The heart of the album however is the stark and dark moments that chill and thrill at the same time. To go back to Powell’s liner note “where the days are dry and dusty and full of the smell of pine but the nights are cold and crisp and you find you wanting to get next to a fire in a cabin, burning wood that crackles.” There, I couldn’t have said it better myself.
Morrison and West are all over us for the next few weeks. Several Scottish dates, radio slots and a film on BBC Alba following Morrison as he traces his Scottish roots. If you get the chance to see them you’d be nuts not to.

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Over There

New Country Rehab.

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A bunch of hip young gunslingers from Canada New Country Rehab are a four piece acoustic band (fiddle, guitar, double bass and drums) who attack their songs with gusto and a fine sense of adventure utilising studio effects that enhance their fairly unique take on Americana songs. Their version of Springsteen’s State Trooper for example removes the dread and replaces it with a frantic speed changing the song’s character from being furtive into a daredevil chasing down the highway. This hell-bent abandon is captured on several of the tracks. Angel of Death which opens the album showcases the excellent playing of all four band members on a blistering song that could easily sit on a heavy metal album if you electrified the guitar. Hank Williams’ Mind your Own Business gets a dirty southern rock treatment with nasty slide guitar and voodoo drums and even a fiddle sample of the Mission Impossible theme at the end! There are three Williams covers here perhaps explaining the Country Rehab moniker as they do drag these old and hallowed chestnuts into the modern age. Ramblin’ Man initially appears to be a respectful tribute version but half way through the band get trippy and dip into dub electronica reshaping the song in an appealing fashion. The Log Train stays closer to the William’s’ original but is stripped to the bone with some fine singing from John Showman and plaintive guitar and fiddle almost defining that “high lonesome sound.” A superb rendition.
The original songs by Showman and guitarist “Champagne” James Robertson stand up well beside the covers. Cameo is a well told tale of generations escaping from danger and its smooth delivery is similar to that of the Avett Brothers recent success. The Lost Hand tells a torrid gambling story very much in the traditional style with a fantastic arrangement that builds up the tension until the denouement.
Composed of four well-seasoned session players New Country Rehab deliver the goods here. Showman’s fiddle is exemplary and Robertson on guitar, Ben Whitley on bass and Roman Tome on drums kick up a fine fuss. A striking debut indeed and it looks like Glasgow will get a chance to see then as their website lists two Celtic Connection gigs here in January at Oran Mor on the 26th and the Festival Club the following day.

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The Log Train

JT Nero Mountains/Forests

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“JT NERO, wandering mystic, stumbling misfit, moping misanthrope, movable feaster, crooner, poet!” Or so it says on his website. He’s also the alter ego of Jeremy Thomas Lindsay, singer with JT and the Clouds who released one of the better Americana albums of 2010 with “Caledonia.” On this ostensibly solo album he’s accompanied by several of the Clouds with some members of Canadian band Po’ Girl also in attendance. Recorded in only three days in a cabin in Wisconsin the album is a gentle affair with laid back instrumentation and full attention given to Lindsay’s soulful voice and the utterly amazing harmonisings of Allison Russell and Michelle McGrath. The three of them sing wonderfully together elevating this album into the top ten of this years releases. In addition Lindsay’s writing is well up to the task of providing a fine set of songs for them to sing with several of them outstanding. Roll Tide is perhaps the standout, the sound of crickets introduce a strummed guitar and Lindsay’s sweet voice before banjo and the heavenly harmonies enter while a gentle bass and organ support the fragile edifice. A beautiful song. Roll Tide references Tupelo Honey and elsewhere Elton John’s Tiny Dancer gets a name check and its perhaps no coincidence that much of this album reminds one of the singer songwriters of Laurel Canyon back in the seventies and the whole Troubadour scene they created. Singers and writers who drew inspiration from the countryside but who were also infused by the melodic influence of The Beatles the likes of Neil Young, Harry Nilsson, Randy Newman and Lowell George can all be heard in the grooves of this album. Thus the churning North Star, the Lennonesque Grey Ghost, the Nilsson like lyrics to Double Helix (Rainbow) and the New Orleans jive of Gallup, NM could all have sat well on a Warner Brothers album of the period. The blue eyed soul of Morrison of this period is well captured and here Lindsay’s day job with the Clouds stands him in good stead with their modern day take on soul.
So although recorded in a cabin this is not a back to the roots album unless the roots are that great blossoming of talent in LA back in the days. And despite most of the above one does not have to be an aficionado of LA Canyon music to enjoy what is an almost perfectly crafted album.
Lindsay along with Allison Russell and Po’ Girl drummer Mikey “Lighting” August have a short set of dates in England lined up in late November and December. Going by this album these look to be must attend!

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Roll Tide

Rob Lutes and Rob MacDonald and Little Birdie – Live and Unplugged

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There’s some who love live albums and some who hate them. Blabber’n’Smoke are in the former camp believing that a well recorded honest to goodness document of a show can capture elements that don’t always show up in the studio. It’s even better when the recording strips away embellishments, see for instance the fine Unplugged shows from Neil Young and Nirvana. Anyway, the reason we were pondering on this was the arrival of two live albums that deserve a listen.

First off are the Canadian duo of Rob Lutes and Rob MacDonald. Lutes has several albums under his belt and has played with MacDonald over the past decade. While Lutes strums and sings, MacDonald adds some fine finger wizardry on resophonic guitar on a collection that showcases Lutes’ writing with a brace of covers thrown in. Basically a songwriter in the grand tradition Lutes delivers snatches of life lived with a fine degree of imagery and imagination, the lyrics intriguing and evocative. Several of the songs are top notch with I Know a Girl and Throw Me From This Train worthy of entering the canon. The former is a wistful look at unrealised dreams that recalls the deadpan Zen viewpoint of Howe Gelb while the latter is a mournful plea from a dying man. Pulling in influences from the blues, songwriters such as Townes Van Zandt and the late Chris Whitley the 14 songs on show here capture a duo (and occasional back up singers) at the top of their form. The recording is warm and imitate and even if you never get the chance to see them live the disc is well recommended as a worthy snapshot of a fine talent.
http://www.roblutes.com/

Throw me From The train

Our second live album is a completely different kettle of fish. Little Birdie is the name adopted by Canadian singer songwriter Orit Shimoni who with guitarist Andre Kirchhoff has produced two fine albums which at times recall the dulcet tones of Neko case delving into folk blues and gospel. Shimoni’s vocals have always been quite striking while her writing is informed and impressive.
Over the past year or so Shimoni has lived in Berlin, a city that has excited numerous artists due to its ever challenging musical scene and its position as a fulcrum in the tides of history over the past sixty years or so. In particular Shimoni by dint of her Judaism has had to deal with the personal ghosts raised by the events of the past and she addresses this on the song Old Synagogue.
Rather than a live presentation of songs from her albums Shimoni presents a set of songs written during her sojourn in Berlin. Backed by musicians she met while there this is a fairly raw fly on the wall (or as she describes it, “warts and all”) recording with applause, on stage whispers and MC announcement all included. Songs inspired by folk she met (Old Woman and Walls) are the most obvious results of her stay but the centrepiece is the song Old Synagogue where Shimoni tackles the dichotomy between Rabbinical teachings and the reality of history. She delivers this in a reverential tone with sympathetic backing from Nick Redell on violin and it’s the empathy between Shimoni and her pick up musicians that perhaps best reflects what she found in Berlin. Interestingly the opening song No Finer Place is reminiscent of Robyn Archer, a singer who explored pre war German cabaret and the likes of Brecht and Weill.
While Shimoni continues to sing powerfully and her writing is well up to par especially on the closing title song (which approaches Leonard Cohen territory) it will be interesting to see what her next release, also recorded in Berlin will be like. In the interim Sadder Music works well as a document of her progress.

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No Finer Place

Hillfolk Noir Skinny Mammy’s Revenge

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Tradition has always been important in Americana music whether it be listening to primitive recordings from the early 20th Century, still vital all these years later or reclaiming and updating the past. Think of The Band who opened up a wide American vista for the Woodstock generation or The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s seminal “Will The Circle be Unbroken” which introduced a host of country pioneers to a new audience. This drive to celebrate the past and indeed to achieve a degree of authenticity continues to this day with several fine artists we’ve reviewed here digging deep into the backwaters of American traditional music and bringing it bang up to date.
Hillfolk Noir, a four piece band from Boise, Idaho are a particularly fine example of how to go about this. With a string band set up they’ve sat around one microphone in an old street market to record this album. The 20 songs are all written by guitarist and main man Travis ward but the majority of them are updates on classic songs, tunes and themes that anyone familiar with the genre will recognise.
There’s no spit and polish here. The songs tumble out unadorned, raw and at times rowdy although the album takes some to warm up. The opening slide driven blues of Red Eyed Crow sounds somewhat weedy, a bit like a skiffle band warming up while the following Dying Bed Blues stumbles somewhat. Blessed be then the opening chords of Run Mollie Run where they suddenly seem to be much more self assured, from here on in the remainder of the album is a delight. Washboard Blues channels Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee while Do It Again vamps splendidly with musical saw adding another dimension. With ragtime picking and call and response songs the album as a whole is a bit like listening to a Smithsonian Institute archive. The highlight is The Love I Thought I’d Never Know, a ballad of unrequited love that fails to surmount class barriers.
Hillfolk Noir manage to capture the essence of American music in spades. They also have one of the best press quotes We’ve seen in a long time, namely “Much better than the crap on the radio”(Amy Garrett, Boise Weekly)which just about sums up this review. Skinny Mammy’s Revenge is one part of two releases, both “on-location field recordings, ” the other being “Live at the Old Idaho Penitentiary” with the band performing live in an old prison block at the historical Old Idaho Penitentiary and an album I’m off to search out.

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Somefolk

Carrie Rodriguez and Ben Kyle We still Love our Country.

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Carrie Rodriguez has slowly carved out a name for herself over the past few years in the Americana field. Originally teaming up with veteran Chip Taylor her voice and fiddle made their four albums together a delight before launching a solo career. Here she returns to a duet format in tandem with Ben Kyle from the mid west band Romantica on an album that basically does what it says on the tin, proclaiming their love of country. Kyle’s youthful vocals replace Taylor’s sepia toned veteran’s voice and the pair of them sing wonderfully together on a selection of six covers and two originals. With a fine band in the shape of Luke Jacobs on pedal steel, Hans Holzen, guitars, Kyle Kegerreis, bass and Ricky Fataar on drums the playing is sweet and tender and always sympathetic.
Kyle’s Your Lonely Heart opens the album and immediately recalls classic vocal duos such as Tammy and George or Dolly and Porter on a humbucking country jaunt with exuberant fiddle guitar and pedal steel. A fine start. The other original song, Fire Alarm, penned by Rodriguez and Kyle is a rollicking rendition of a bickering couple who find their faults but stick together. The meat of the album however is in the covers which are in the main ballads, delivered with an intensity that raises the album well above that of a covers collection. Townes Van Zandt’s If I Needed You is given a reverential treatment with a shuffling rhythm and delicate fiddle playing. Kyle’s vocals come into focus here. He’s got a fine voice, slightly worn, wispy, vulnerable, perfectly matched to Rodriguez’s voice. They repeat this feat on their version of John Prine’s lachrymose Unwed Fathers but the gem here is Chip Taylor’s Big Kiss where their voices melt into each other with an ebb and flow that is spinetingling.
Squirrelling away throughout the album is the memory of what some might call the supreme male/female team of alt country, Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris. It’s reinforced with the inclusion of You’re Still On My Mind, a song Parsons sang with the Byrds and which Emmylou has covered. Rodriguez and Kyle grab the bull by the horns on the last song, their version of Love Hurts, a song covered by many but within the Americana idiom owned by Emmylou and Gram via their version on Grievous Angel. Kyle acknowledges this saying “ Gram and Emmy were a deep inspiration for this project and so you can say we chose this song as an acknowledgement or a sort of homage to them.” Suffice to say that the shivers sent up the spine on listening to this proves that they can carry this off.
A short album, only 30 minutes long, it’s a miniature gem and well worth grabbing a hold of.
Rodriguez is touring the UK later this month with a date at Edinburgh’s Cabaret Voltaire on Thursday 27th October.
Carrie Rodriguez website
Ben Kyle wbsite

Dropkick Time Cuts the Ties

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Scotland’s other great power pop band, Dropkick released this, their tenth album a few months ago. Hi ho, it’s never too late to summon up a few words of praise for what should really be essential listening for anyone out there with the slightest interest in Scots rock and pop.
Over the years Dropkick have delivered well-crafted collections of sunshine pop seasoned with a whiff of Neil Young type drama. On their last release, “Abelay Hotel” they seemed to have just about honed their craft to perfection but Time Cuts the Ties trumps it and is certainly their best release so far. Interestingly it follows the departure of bassist Scot Tobin and guitarist Roy Taylor who were replaced by original Dropkicker Ian Grier and its as a trio that they recorded this album. Whether they felt they had something to prove or that the original line up reinvigorated them, who’s to know. What we do have are 13 songs that take the blueprint and add some punch to it. The vocals remain wispy but sound more confident, the song structures may recall the Beatles at times and when they get down and dirty on Everything Changes they do mine some Neil Young guitar heroics however one is never in any doubt that this is a Dropkick album. Home compresses much of this into a single song of epic proportions. Solid guitar, stellar vocals, walrus strings all add up to an incredibly strong centrepiece.
With a brace of simpler acoustic songs surrounding the heavy weights there is plenty of variety on show here. Nowhere Land can be singled out for having an element of the band’s homeland embedded within it with its apparent nod to the late Gerry Rafferty’s early style. Despite the plethora of influences mentioned here Dropkick can be proud of an album that draws from the best and distils it into a potent homemade brew.

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Everything Changes

The Sunshine Delay. Keep It Together

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Coming some seven years after their debut, Outrageous Expectations, one can be excused for forgetting about The Sunshine Delay. Edinburgh based they raised a lot of expectations back then, gigged around and supported (and at times backed) numerous touring Americana artists. Apart from their ringing renditions of sturdy and infectious country influenced rock their ace in the hole was the presence of guitarist Iain Barbour, described by Jason Ringenberg as Scotland’s answer to James Burton or Albert Lee.
While The Sunshine Delay appeared to go into hibernation for a while Barbour became the guitar player to hire and has graced several fine albums. In addition he was for some time the twangmaster with the Wynntown Marshals.
Regrouping with Paula and David McKee and with Brendan O’Brien on drums Barbour continues to shine on this release. While his guitar burns and burrs throughout however he never showboats and the album is very much a collective effort. The eleven songs build on and continue the feel of their first release. Catchy pop hooks and muscular playing mark them as a band who could ride the airwaves easily and at times there are whiffs of bands such as REM, The Jayhawks and Lone Justice. The opening song Last Generation To Die sets the bar. Power chords, glorious harmonies and sublime guitar interludes all feature in a jangled power pop song that proclaims “we’re back!” There are several other potential crowd pleasing anthems here with the standout being the country scorcher styled ramble of Leaving Song which has a great middle eight with mandolin played by guest George Stott and some Burton styled burning guitar from Barbour at the end. Tremendous stuff! Elsewhere another guest musician, Ali Petrie of the great Hobotalk adds swirling keyboards to the crunchy and driving song Band of Rain. All in all a worthy successor to their debut all those years ago.
There’s an album release gig (with Stott and Petrie appearing) this Friday at the Voodoo Rooms in Edinburgh. Beyond that the band have several gigs lined up including a Glasgow one in the Bon Accord on Saturday 26th November Based on this the live show should be spectacular.

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