Dean Owens and the Celtabilly Allstars – Settin’ the Woods On Fire (Songs of Hank Williams). Southern Fried Festival. Perth. Sunday 31st July 2016

Posted on by

 

DSC_0271

Dean Owens is a regular feature at Perth’s Southern Fried Festival where, in addition to hosting the late night Songwriter Sessions, he is a star attraction in his own right. Last year Owens and his band, The Whisky Hearts played a blinder of a show that drew heavily from his album Into The Sea, a finely crafted blend of Celtic Americana which received rave reviews across the board. This year Owens doffed his hat to one of his heroes, Hank Williams with a show that featured him in a trio setting, The Celtabilly Allstars along with guitar whizz Stuart Nesbit and his former Felsons’ band mate Kevin McGuire on double bass. As on a previous venture, his tribute to the man in black, Cashback, Owens and his compadres selected a bunch of Hank written and Hank related songs to perform along with a self penned number, Celebrate The Life that hymned Williams’ life and works.

DSC_0314

Despite the tears and tragedy of Williams’ words and life this was a joyous show. Stuart Nisbet’s lap steel playing along with McGuire’s dextrous bass work giving a fine hillbilly feel to the proceedings while Nesbit was in fine vocal form on the Gospel song Calling You. They opened with the excellent country lope and swagger of Setting The Woods on Fire which contrasted with the beer fuelled melancholy of You Were On My Mind, the music still at a fair clip but the youthful exuberance of Setting The Woods on Fire replaced by bitter experience. The show continued to alternate the exuberant side of Williams with his darker side. Hey Good Looking saw Nisbet switch from lap steel to his Gibson for a raucous ramble which was followed by a stellar version of Why Don’t You Love Me while My Bucket’s Got A Hole In It was a light humoured delight.

DSC_0270

Owens reminisced about his first encounter with Williams courtesy of a friend who owned a record shop back in the day who played him Ramblin’ Man, Owens’ version today quite excellent, his voice capturing Williams’ hi and lonesome vocal break on the line endings. He also recalled his attempt to write in Williams’ style when back in The Felsons on a song called Dave, a warning to a friend about a treacherous woman.  There were fine deliveries of Lost Highway and Your Cheatin’ Heart, the melancholia seeping through, Nisbet’s lap steel a mournful wail, before Owens sang his song, Celebrate The Life, a number delivered in the style of I Saw The Light with the audience joining in on the chorus as Owens entreated us to remember the “hillbilly Shakespeare” with his “songs of love and heartache, liquor, beer and tears“. The show ended with Owens alone on stage to deliver a spellbinding I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry, a reminder not just of William’s genius but also that Owens has matured into a masterful performer, his voice rich and emotive along with a whistling solo that was just superb.

DSC_0320

Dean Owens has several other shows lined up over the coming weeks (see here) but currently there are only two further outings for this Celtabilly Allstars show. One is tonight at Glasgow’s Glad Cafe and then in Edinburgh’s Queen’s Hall on Wednesday 24th August. Aside from being a tremendous show these will be the only opportunity to buy a limited edition CD that The Celtabilly Allstars have recorded of Hank’s songs, Settin’ The Woods on Fire (Songs I Learned From Hank) which features most of the songs from the show including Celebrate The Life. It’s a fine listen that enlivened our journey back from Perth.

 

 

Daniel Meade and The Flying Mules. Let Me Off At The Bottom. At The Helm Records

Posted on by

ath19848

Time then for Daniel Meade, Glasgow’s own hillbilly hell raiser, to raise the bar with his third official release and the first album to feature his wingmen, The Flying Mules. The Mules (Meade – guitar and piano, Lloyd Reid – guitar, Mark Ferrie – double bass, Thomas Sutherland – drums) are well kent faces locally with several regular slots in city bars and are veterans of tours with Pokey LaFarge and Sturgill Simpson. Indeed, they appeared as Simpson’s band on his latest Glasgow date, the US chart topper unsure about appearing before a Glasgow audience on his lonesome at the cavernous O2ABC. Meade himself has recently toured supporting and then playing alongside Diana Jones with several of the songs here making their first appearance. Now, hot on the heels of five packed shows in four days at the Kilkenny Roots Festival in Ireland last weekend, The Mules are set to unleash Let Me Off At The Bottom on the world.

Equally at home with Jerry Lee Lewis styled rockers and George Jones like laments Meade has the ability to take country music clichés and turn them into rockabilly poetry, the honky tonk hell raisers and beer stained weepers delivered with a Glaswegian gallusness. There are some fine examples in the rollicking There’s a Headstone Where Her heart Used To Be with Meade explaining, “Well I met lots of women on this rocky road, I love them whether long short or tall. Some for a weekend some twice as long but I still love them all.”  Of course he’s derailed by a femme fatale, a merry widow whose lips taste of candy, laughing with his friends as he looks on from beyond. It’s delivered with a vengeance, Meade’s honky tonk piano driving the song with an excellent guitar solo from Reid that’s half Les Paul, half Chet Atkins.

There are several hi-octane belters here, The Mules firing on all cylinders, the rhythm section tight as the proverbial duck, bass supple and slapping while the traps are expertly deployed. Back To Hell opens the album with a locomotive energy, Meade introducing one of the album’s themes, the demon drink, from the beginning. It’s a breathless dash from start to finish, again Reid throws in one of his seemingly  effortless solos, the notes curling from his guitar sweet as honey. Ghosts and Crocodiles has a jug band like infectiousness to it while Please Louise is a guaranteed crowd pleaser as Meade tries to back pedal from a shotgun marriage, his lyrics delivered expertly over the barrelhouse keyboards and fretboard wizardry, a Jordonaires type chorus the icing on the cake. He hasn’t learned his lesson on the avaricious rocker Lock Up You Daughter and it’s back to the drink for the closing The Bottle Called For Me, a saloon bar knockabout that ends with a good old rabble rousing chorus.

As infectious as these songs are (and a good indication of how superb the band are live) The Mules have other strings to their bow. As evidenced on his last album Meade can turn his hand to old time country songs and waltzes (as on his duet with Diana Jones on Help Me Tonight) and there’s a brace of these sadder tear stained moments on the album. Meade has an acute grasp on the topics that engaged George Jones and Hank Williams (heartbreak mostly), while his voice can convey the hurt just as well as the good times. He Should Have Been Mine laments with a fine plaintive piano and Poison Dart lopes along with some sweet guitar curls and a lonesome prairie feel. Best of all is the powerful confessional of Leave Me To Bleed, Meade, superbly accompanied by Siobhan Wilson on harmonies, reaching into the darker recesses of country music, his bride dead before the wedding, guilt and faith confused, the music a back porch funereal.

Midway twixt the light and dark there’s an excellent country ramble on Count The Roses which delves into George Jones territory with some style while the title song recalls the Everly Brothers with its harmonies. Like Pokey Lafarge, Meade has the ability to write songs that seem to have been around forever and here he’s forged a set of songs that cover a panoply of half a century of rockabilly and country music. The album’s a whirligig of rabble rousing honky tonk and forlorn laments all delivered with some panache.

Let Me Off At The Bottom is released on May 27th on At The Helm Records. There’s an album launch in Glasgow at The Rum Shack on the Southside on the 28th May.

website

At The Helm Records

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cale Tyson. High on Lonesome EP. Clubhouse Records

Posted on by

2014 is turning out to be a fine year for new artists delivering new music that is steeped in a country tradition. After Sturgill Simpson’s magisterial retake on hard core outlaw country along comes Cale Tyson, a new signing to Clubhouse Records who grasps the sound of Hank Williams and George Jones in a warm embrace to deliver some wonderfully honky tonk soaked, tear stained ballads. The sound Tyson and his excellent band produce is mesmerising with the guitars and pedal steel given a spectral feel, as if Santo and Johnny of Sleepwalk fame had turned up at the Grand Ole Opry or Chris Isaak had joined Petunia and The Vipers. At heart however this is pure Country and the opening song, Honky Tonk Moan, is a perfect example as the Hawaiian sounding pedal steel introduces the band who clip clop into view while Tyson moans like Hank Williams. It’s an almost perfect song with Kenny Vaughan’s electric solo dripping with class as the song weeps out of the speakers, guaranteed to melt the heart of all but the stoniest listener.

One could be forgiven for expecting the remainder of this seven song disc to fall short of the standard set by Honky Tonk Moan but Tyson rises to the challenge with a set of songs that at times are better in that they are less anchored in the past. Is the Flame Burning Low is another tear stained waltz with more George than Hank. With a lighter touch on pedal steel, a more acoustic feel and some fine piano added to the mix Tyson croons wonderfully albeit with a lump in his throat. Lonesome In Tennessee is another love letter to a lost girlfriend (and by now one is wondering if Tyson will ever get to keep a gal) which adds a female chorus to his love raddled misery while the band are yet looser with drummer John McTigue adding a touch of drama with his cymbal work. By now it’s clear that Tyson is destined to be lonesome and Not Missing You adds a touch of defiance as he determines to move on from his heartbreak. Despite this, it’s still a sorrowful song with the sense of loneliness accentuated by a fine fiddle solo from Christian Sedelmayer. Again, the song is in waltz time but on this occasion one can hear the influence of another of Tyson’s heroes, Gram Parsons, in the vocal delivery and lyrics.

There’s a change of tone next as Long Gone Girl is given a darker, bluesy feel. Tyson is more judgemental here, his girlfriend drug addled and dragging him down. Sounding not a million miles away from The Doors on LA Woman the band lay down a neon rain specked vibe while Tyson’s lyrics are evocative and bang up to date.
Now my mind is racing faster than a car/Back in Texas for a night I’m playing in a bar/She calls me up ‘cos that girl is never quite too far/Saying Baby, come back home to me/I live like a sunset and all your drinks are on me/Though when I return she’s too coked out to see
This is brilliant story telling that raises the hair on the back of your neck recalling Jim White’s more spectral moments but following this we’re back in traditional territory as Old Time Blues returns to George Jones’ like laments while Thorn In My Side returns to the Hankness (if there is such a word) of the opening song. Again it’s a pitch perfect capture of raw country music back in the days when giants ruled the Opry although there is a hint of Parsons in the delivery.

Overall Tyson shows that he has an extraordinary ability to capture and repackage what some folk might consider to be the golden age of Nashville while tweaking it somewhat to bring it up to date. A post modern take on Parson’s Cosmic American Music perhaps, indebted to the elders, topical topics on occasion but overall infused with the spirit of Country music. Whatever it’s one of the best discs we’ve heard this year. The EP is released in early November on Clubhouse Records

Website

The Foghorn Stringband, The Cactus Blossoms.

Posted on by


When it comes to faithful recreations of old time string band music you’re hard pressed to find anyone doing it better than The Foghorn Stringband. Their latest offering, Outshine The Sun crams 21 songs and tunes into its 57 minutes contained in the craftily well-designed sleeve and each and every one of them is a delight. When we reviewed a trimmed down version of the band, The Foghorn Trio, last year we said that “they are astonishingly good at capturing the earnestness and innocence that is a quintessential ingredient in the pleasure one gets from listening to pre war country music” and that remains the case despite line up changes. Recorded sitting around a wood stove using one microphone in mandolin player Caleb Klauder’s Portland, Oregon home this sounds as if it could have been taped in the forties were it not for the lack of crackles and static. Klauder(who also plays fiddle and guitar), Stephen Lind (fiddle, banjo, guitar), Nadine Landry (double bass, guitar) and Rebecca Willms (guitar) are all excellent players and all add vocals that fit the songs and the sense of old timeyness perfectly either singly or in the excellent harmonies.
We can’t pick out any favourites or outstanding tracks here as each one is as good as the next. Whether it’s the rousing Be Kind To A Man When he’s Down, the jaunty By the River, the Cajun waltz of Tit’s Yeux Bleus or the tear jerking ode to a dead mother on Sweeter than All The Flowers, the playing captivates and the listener hits the repeat button in order to savour the lyrics. Half the fun here is in reading who inspired the band arrangements and while familiar names crop up in the album notes (The Carter Family, The Stanley Brothers and Charlie Poole for example) a musical quest beckons to find out who exactly were Da Costa Woltze’s Southern Broadcasters (see here). Definitely the best string band album this year, check out the website which carries a great and up to date blog of their ongoing adventures.

website

As luck would have it when reading The Foghorn Stringband’s blog we noticed that they played a gig with The Cactus Blossoms reminding us that we’ve shamefully neglected their debut release which has been sitting here with pleading eyes for several months. Minnesota based brothers, Jack Torrey and Page Burkum (you figure the surnames) are two fresh faced handsome cowboy types who have obviously steeped themselves in the old Nashville sound of Bill Monroe, Ernest Tubbs and Hank Williams with a dash of the Everly Brothers and Woody Guthrie thrown in. Aided and abetted by the fine playing of Mike Russell (fiddle), Liz Draper (double bass) and Randy Broughten (steel guitar, Dobro) they’ve penned most of the songs here but manage to capture the post war Grand Ole Opry sound perfectly. Stately and respectful songs of regret and lost love are played and sung in a manner that captures a lost world of innocence, full of gingham and manners, songs your mum and dad would love. Nevertheless if the likes of hank Williams rocks your boat then you’ll love this. Cold Foot Boogie stomps along with some fine steel guitar sonic adventures and jazzy fiddling while Adios Maria is sublime with some excellent Dobro frills.

website

Woody Pines. You Gotta Roll.

Posted on by

We first came across Woody Pines back in 2009 when we reviewed his album Counting Alligators which was a fine slice of old timey songs. Woody also popped up on an Old Dollar Bill release at one point. Now we’ve got this excellent EP released to coincide with their current UK tour. Five songs long with a brief intro that sounds as if one were tuning into an old radio show it bodes well for the shows portraying as it does a tight and fast picking band with a sure hand on the old Americana tiller. Although the songs are all covers Woody and his band own them here. From the opening traditional Long Gone Lost John we’re in country swing territory with Woody playing some fine snappy guitar runs that fuzz and bite while clarinet reinforces the jazzy feel embedded in the best of that genre. As they hurtle to the end of the song they swing like a bell on what is a great opening song, punchy and defiant. The smooth acoustic drive of Doc Boggs’ Ain’t Gonna Be Treated This way is embellished with some spooky resonator guitar that echoes the wide lonesome plains while Leadbelly’s Ham & Eggs rocks with a neat fifties style and again features some nifty guitar work. Hank Williams’ Can’t Keep You Off My Mind is given a laid back (or as laid back as they get) honky tonk feel with Zack Pozebanchuck’s upright bass a special delight here. The all too short disc ends with another traditional song Treat You Right with much finger picking, harmonica and muted organ that reminds you of just how groovy and infectious old time country music can be when it’s in the right hands.
With Woody in fine fettle on vocals and demonstrating some fine guitar and harp skills the rest of the band (Lyon Graulty, guitar, vocals, Zack Pozebanchuck, upright bass and Mike Gray, drums) more than keep up with him and much of the delight in listening to this is in the individual contributions of each adding to a very nice whole. If they sound half as good live then get thee to a show.

website
Long Gone Lost John

Woody Pines is currently touring the UK.

Tues Apr 17: The Acorn Theatre, Penzance
Wed Apr 18: Chichester Inn, Chichester
Thurs Apr 19: The Chattery, Swansea
Fri Apr 20: The Beach, Clevedon
Sat Apr 21: Bridge House Theatre, Warwick
Sun Apr 22: The Canteen, Bristol (afternoon)
Tues Apr 24: Red Room, Cookstown, Co Tyrone
Weds Apr 25: The Atlantic Bar, Main Street , Portrush, Co Antrim
Thurs Apr 26: Clonmel, Co Tipperary
Fri Apr 27: The Glens Centre, Manorhamilton, Co Lietrim
Sat Apr 28: Seamus Ennis Centre, Naul, Co Dublin
Sun Apr 29: Laurie’s Acoustic Music Bar, Glasgow
Tues May 1: Old Library, Kilbarchan, Renfrewshire
Wed May 2: Harbour Arts Centre, Irvine
Thurs May 3: Aros Centre, Isle of Skye
Fri May 4: An Tobar, Tobermory, Isle of Mull
Sat May 5: Brew at the Bog, Bogbain Farm, Inshes, Inverness Tickets
from http://www.ticketsoup.com – 0844 3954000
Sun May 6: Woodend Barn, Banchory
Tues May 8: Leith Folk Club, Victoria Park House Hotel, Edinburgh
Wed May 9: The Catstrand, New Galloway
Thurs May 10: Woodlands Hotel, Broughty Ferry
Fri May 11: Adam Smith Theatre, Kirkcaldy
Sat May 12: Heart of Hawick auditorium, Scottish Borders
Sun May 13: Saltburn Community Theatre, Saltburn-by-the-Sea

The Lost Pines, Downtown Mystic, Sean Giddings.

Posted on by

The Lost Pines. Sweet Honey.

Just what we need in the depth of winter is some sweet country music that will warm the cockles of the heart and remind us of summer days and sunny skies. Fortunately The Lost Pines provide just that, perhaps it’s the hot climes of their native Austin, Texas that infuse the grooves of this album (well, if it had grooves) with an infectious warm humour.
A relatively young band they’ve gone from busking to recording in just two years with this second album being produced by the legendary Lloyd Maines. Acoustically driven they have their roots in bluegrass and folk with all 14 songs here written by themselves. While some of the songs do have a rustic feel the overall sense is that of the country pickers who over the years have bothered the popular charts, acts like Hank Williams and Bob Wills. All of the songs have memorable toe tapping melodies while the instrumentalists variously decorate or blaze away with the stand out showcase being Out of the Rain. Over the very assured and at times thrilling playing the vocals by Talia Bryce and Christian Ward drive home the sheer quality on show here. Hot picking, hot singing and hot songs. Sweet.

website

Out Of the Rain

Downtown Mystic. Standing Still.

If sweet down-home acoustic picking and playing doesn’t rock your boat then why not fire up the old adrenaline with a shot of good old fashioned full blooded American rock’n’roll. The opening song on Downtown Mystic’s Standing Still certainly fits the bill here. Backdoor is a great rocker with gnarled guitars done in the best Stones’ style while Downtown Mystic mainman Robert Allen hammers home a ribald rock and roll story. Even better is Hard Enough where he’s backed up by Garry Tallent and Max Weinberg from the E Street Band. This song is a killer with Allen doing a great take on Springsteen. Of the 14 songs here there are several other belters, Modern Ways pummels away with a Chuck Berry riff while History reclaims the art of great rock’n’roll piano. Elsewhere Allen recalls the retro sound of the later incarnation of the Flamin’ Groovies on Better Day which has a superb guitar sound. The downside here is that the album is somewhat uneven. A full set of songs such as mentioned above could have produced an album that would sit quite comfortably with the likes of Dave Edmunds’ Rockpile albums. Unfortunately there are a few of Allen ‘s slower songs that leave one a little bit underwhelmed.

website

Hard Enough

Sean Giddings. The Morning Greys.

In contrast to the in your face rockers above, the debut disc from adopted Californian Sean Giddings The Morning Greys is a muted affair. The inner sleeve pictures Giddings on a path in autumn and autumnal is a good description of his sound. With only six songs it’s a short season but at the end one is left with the impression that given time Giddings could come up with material to rival Bon Iver, a comparison that begs to be made after listening to this. He plays all instruments apart from the drums and has a light, ethereal voice and admits to being influenced by the likes of Mumford and Sons. The result is a collection of songs that have a resigned, at times despairing air to them. From his publicity it appears that Giddings was due to marry however it fell apart and he threw himself into his music. Perhaps it’s a bit too pop psychology to say so but this information again made us think of Bon Iver and his lost Emma, real or not.
Despite the downbeat message the songs are lush with rippling guitars and washes of keyboards over which Giddings sings beautifully. While they are all fully formed and well worth listening the stand out listen is All It Takes. A wonderful gem of a song, weightless, sparkling and dare I say it, captivating One to watch out for.

website

All It Takes

Old Dollar Bill. Lucky From Kentucky.

Posted on by

When I wrote about the latest Wilders’ gig in Glasgow I noted that they had appeared here so often recently they were becoming akin to locals. Interesting then that they have indulged in a spot of musical miscegenation, teaming up with Edinburgh duo Old Dollar Bill for this release. Furthermore it’s a bit of a menage a trois as another popular visitor, namely Woody Pines is also involved.
Before we get too confused what we have here is a one track CD single, the title song from the forthcoming Old Dollar Bill album, their second. Before you ask “why should I buy a single with one song that’s going to be on the album anyway?” I’d point out that, in this day and age of digital downloads it’s an actual physical artefact and comes with some very attractive packaging and for the price of a pint is well worth getting.
As for the song itself Old Dollar Bill and the tourists (as they’re described in the notes) spend almost six minutes on a splendidly loose limbed picaresque tale of a “whisky drinking, finger pickin’ bluegrass man.” The bass playing of Nate Gawron and Dobro from Phil Wade certainly fill out Old Dollar Bill’s sound. Woody Pines introduces the song and Stephen Clark and Ike Sheldon swap vocals. Like Hank Williams without the heartbreak it’s good time music and it sounds as if they had a whale of a time recording it. The enthusiasm certainly spills out of the speakers. It’s a tremendous performance and akin to having a jam session in your room.
Available at gigs and here it’s a great opportunity for fans of all three bands involved to get a piece of the action. You can hear it on the Old Dollar Bill MySpace page.