Well here we are in a new year. I’ve got a review of The Tailors ‘ new album coming up and I’ll be looking at some of the Celtic Connections folk playing this month. Don’t forget The Wynntown Marshals album out soon!
An alternative Christmas
Well its that time of year again and the cash registers are ringing and the shops are full of the usual Xmas musical suspects. It seems that Christmas and music have been entwined for years with the race to have the number one chart topper and everyone and his uncle putting sleigh bells on their songs.
If, like most sensible folk, you’re fed up with chestnuts roasting and reindeer prancing then there is some respite. The good old internet has a way of finding odd, alternative, rude and occasionally brilliant Christmas songs with various blogs leading the way. In addition various artists and labels toss off a few seasonal titbits for one’s delectation.
So here’s a few. Why not google” Christmas blog” or somesuch for more and make your own “Now That’s What I Call Christmas” compilation to accompany the turkey.
Some of the downloads require an email address as a sign up to newsletters etc , for example Jason Lytle , ex of Grandaddy has a mini Xmas album for download, but the blogs wrap it up. Big Rock Candy Mountain are posting several mp3s of excellent old country, jazz and rock Xmas songs. For two bespoke compilations head over to A Truer Sound , much better than you can buy in the shops.
In the meantime here’s one of my favourites.
Cash Covers rock
Well I made it to McChuills on Friday but too late to see the last ever show (so they say) from the God Fearing Atheists. This was more than made up for by Jericho Hill who followed. As I said earlier I don’t normally get a kick from covers bands but this lot do it so well with a swagger and confidence that is bolstered by their adoring group of drama students who turn up for every gig.
With very little Cash country and a huge blast of rockabilly they even manage to sneak in some Violent Femmes in their version of Stripes. There is no reverence here but a great deal of affection for the wild and rambunctious side of Mr. Cash. They will be playing regular sets at McChuills in the New Year so do get along and frug.
Glasgow Americana/God Fearing Atheists
Thought you should know about a last chance to see local Americana heroes God Fearing Atheists play live before singer Peter Lacey is transported down under.
The Atheists released their album Rustbelt Sun to some acclaim around two years ago and played some stonkin’ gigs including a memorable support to Danny and Dusty. Sadly they are no more but will reform one last time this Friday at McChuills in the High Street.
They are playing along with Jericho Hill, a Johnny Cash cover band. Normally cover bands don’t do it for me but Jericho Hill play a mean lean version of Cash, the one giving the bird and the attitude.
Round up Reviews
A brace of Americana roots type music albums arrived here over the past few weeks so I thought I’d gather them together in one piece.
First up is Woody Pines’ “Counting Alligators.” Fronted by the eponymous Pines this is a great little album of old time songs that range from the jump jive of “Rich Gal, Poor Gal” with its parping sax and syncopation to a great cover of “Satisfied and Tickled Too” which is one of the best versions of the song I’ve heard. At times foot tapping and up-tempo the best moments however are the slower songs such as “Walking Down the Road” with mournful fiddle and a wonderful air of melancholy.
While Woody Pines have their feet firmly in the urban side of American folk Furnace Mountain, from Virginia have a more rural feel with echoes of the Celtic traditions passed over the ocean on their album “Fields of Fescue.” With blazin’ fiddles and terrific strumming the band fit perfectly behind the vocals of Aimee Curl who has a little bit of Karen Dalton’s lazy rural twang about her. Allied to this is David Van Deventer’s fiddle which swings, cajoles and whoops throughout. This is infectious dancing music and begs to be heard live.
From the jackrabbit jive of Woody Pines and the cool clear rural dancesteps of Furnace Mountain we finally we have Gordie Tentrees with his offering “Mercy or Sin.” Coming from the singer songwriter tradition with his roots in country blues and sounding like a young John Prine, Tentrees and his band play seductively with guitars licking and curling around his lyrics. At times they play dirty as on “Devil Talks” with ferocious guitar and stinging dobro but again the best is in the quieter moments where Tentrees and the band swing with a lazy nonchalance with a hint of menace in the tale.
Wynntown Marshals’ album coming soon.
Scotland’s premier Americana band The Wynntown Marshals are gearing up for the release of their debut album, Westerner. What I’ve heard of it bodes well with some cracking songs and plenty of Iain Barbour’s guitar flavouring them. “Thunder in the Valley” is an epic and there is a chance to hear The Marshals’ take on LA Guns’ song “Ballad of Jayne” which they have transformed from a big hair heavy metal song into a very catchy country lament.
There’s no release date as yet but you should be able to get it at any gigs coming up.
The Lost Brothers/Doghouse Roses
Popped into the Universal Bar last night for a great pair of sets from this great pair of duos. A meagre yet eager bunch of folk turned up and one wonders why there aren’t bigger audiences for these bijoux type gigs that happen all over Glasgow and its environs. Sure, It’s great to see a name band at the O2 or The Barrowlands but to sit in a room with 40 -50 folk and meet the artist after can’t be beat.
Anyway, This was a fine night. Doghouse Roses are much more earthy than their album suggests, lots more of the Bert Jansch/Pentangle influence evident. Paul Tasker’s guitar is a joy, close your eyes and you’re in Les Cousins in the mid sixties.
The Lost Brothers are today’s Simon and Garfunkel. Great harmonies and brilliant songs. I was able to get a vinyl copy of their album at the merch desk and listening to it right now, especially City of the Rose, would recommend it heartily.
Pokey LaFarge
This diminutive chap with a big voice created a bit of a stir when he rambled around Scotland earlier in the year culminating in a sensational gig I caught on the Edinburgh fringe programme. His album, “Beat, Move and Shake” is an excellent mix of old time Americana music, folk and hillbilly tunes (all written by Pokey) and sung with verve and at times a wistfulness that reminded one of the likes of Michael Hurley.
He’s got a new album ready for release (Riverboat Soul) and is returning to these shores in the New Year taking in Celtic Connections. There’s a preview of three songs from the album at his website but here’s one to whet your whistle
Michael Hurley. Ida Con Snock. Gnomosong (Gong 13).
Michael Hurley (for those who don’t know of him) is a living link to the freakier side of American folk from the sixties and seventies. With fellow travellers The Holy Modal Rounders he took the essence of Harry Smith’s Anthology and ran with it. Thankfully he’s still around these days with his unique take on old Americana (for want of a better description). On his second release on Devandra Barnhart’s label he’s teamed up with American band Ida who provide a very sympathetic backing to his croons, yelps and mock trumpet. Comprised (as has been the case over the past few releases) of reworkings of some of his back catalogue coupled with a choice selection of new songs and covers Hurley weaves his magic with style.
With songs dark and light, singalong and introspective the album will delight fans and may prove more accessible to newcomers due to the smoother production and Ida’s contributions. While his older songs such as “Wildgeeses” and “Hog of The Forsaken” stand out his cover of “Rag Mop” is engaging and he even makes a decent fist of old chestnuts such as Molly Malone and the Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond. Best song however is the opener, “It Must Be Gelatine” where Jean Cook’s violin shivers as Snock dismantles the old blues analogy of jelly and sex. As he slyly sings amid picked and plucked strings
“if it looks like jelly, if it shakes like jelly, then it must be gelatine.”
For a taste of the old world brought up to date you can’t do better than picking this up. Hurley is appearing in the UK early in the New Year.
String Driven. “Songs From Another Country” Backshop Records.
The past is another country, as L. P. Hartley almost said and here Glasgow singer and songwriter Chris Adams does his best to prove him right. Adams, a Glasgow beat, hippie, rock star and producer once shared management and label with the likes of Genesis in the seventies. His band String Driven Thing graced the pages of Rolling Stone and the NME and almost made it big time. Since then he has occasionally resurfaced, has been big in Europe and has most recently grabbed his history by the collar and revamped his website amid acclaimed re-releases of his back catalogue. Here, on an album suffused with nostalgia, he digs into that past to produce a set that talks to the baby boomer years in much the same way as many of his American contemporaries have been doing as they revisit their own histories.
Without the “trademark” violin sound that characterised the String driven thing’s heyday this is an album of mature, reflective songs superbly played by a very simpatico band. The sound is warm, bluesy and rootsy with a southern flavour. One is reminded of recent releases by Gurf Morlix or Colin Linden (of Blackie and the Rodeo Kings). Adams’ vocals have an attractive weathered quality and at times he approaches the gruffness of the late John Martyn or the idiosyncrasies of latter Dylan especially on the final song “Love Dies.”
As mentioned, much of the album consists of reportage or impressions of Adams’ formative years. Amid verbal nods to his heroes (including the Beatles, Stones and the Byrds) he recalls events in places as diverse as Glasgow, Dublin and New York. “Kelvin Way” is a gorgeous essay on the frailties of memory and with its emphasis on the descriptions of the landscape of the park and the journey there could be an outtake from an early Van Morrison album if Van had come from Glasgow. Adams repeats this on “Grisham Hotel” where he actually visits Morrison’s territory. Again the lyrics are evocative, impressionistic and poetic.” Die Without It” is a rite of passage song describing the writer’s early introduction to rock in a similar vein to Gurf Morlix’s recent Drums of New Orleans with the late night airwaves turning a generation of kids onto the devil’s music. On “Idol” Adams recounts a meeting with one of these ghostly early airwave heroes and imparts a sense of loss and loneliness reflecting the failure of his generation to change the world.
Adams lyrics are excellent throughout but special mention must be given to “Affairs of the Heart.” Dense, romantic and delivered perfectly, this would sit comfortably on a Dylan album as Adams sings
“Affairs of the heart are not covered by protocol/they come from a realm governed by fate/affairs of the heart are measured in metaphor. /where passion is heat and ice it is hate/and the cycle began with original sin/temptation too great not to give in/and so we were cast out from our paradise/to live in a world where innocence dies.”
Lyrics of this quality are scattered throughout and one gets the sense that Adams has garnered years of experience, personal and as a fan and poured it into this record. The band, George Tucker, Andy Allen and Dick Drake rise to the occasion.
Overall this is an excellent album. Like a fine wine it oozes quality and slips down easy and is all the better for being of a certain vintage.