Best of 2014

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There’s a lot or pros and cons when it comes to listing end of year best ofs or favourites. Two years ago Blabber’n’Smoke eventually plumbed for the pros outweighing the cons so this is the third time we’ve presented what, when it comes down to it, is an arbitrary choice of remembered listen. Albums that have stood the test of (a relatively short) time, the ones we’ve returned to or recommended to others in the pub. Above all it’s been fun to look back, read the reviews and see if they still stand. So with this in mind the following are the official Blabber’n’Smoke 2014 picks, in alphabetical order.

Blue Rose Code. Ballads Of Peckham Rye
Birds Of Chicago. Live From Space
Fire Mountain. All Dies Down
Bradford lee Folk and The Bluegrass Playboys. Somewhere Far Away
Cahalen Morrison & Eli West. I’ll Swing My Hammer With Both My Hands
Jim Keaveny. Out Of Time
Parker Millsap. Parker Millsap
Michael Rank & Stag. Deadstock
Sturgill Simpson. Metamodern Sounds In Country Music
John Southworth. Niagara

Random honourable mentions go to

Lucinda Williams Down Where the Spirit Meets The Bone,
The Johnny Cash Native American album reboot, Look Again To The Wind,
Danny and The Champions Of The World’s Live Champs!
Dan Michealson & The Coastguards Distance
Cale Tyson’s EP, High On Lonesome,
Luke Tuchsherer’s debut You Get So Alone at Times It makes Sense,
Petunia’s Inside Of You,
Ags Connolly How about Now,
Chris Cacavas & Edward Abbiati. Me And The Devil along with Abbiati’s band Lowlands who delivered the excellent Love Etc.,
Zoe Muth. World Of Strangers,
Hank Wangford & The Lost Cowboys. Save Me The Waltz .
Grant Peeples and the Peeples Rebublic. Punishing The Myth.
Simone Felice. Strangers.
Bronwynne Brent. Stardust.
Sylvie Simmons. Sylvie (allowing an honorary mention here for Howe Gelb who produced).
The War On Drugs. Lost In The Dream.
Lynne Hanson. River Of Sand.
Gal Holiday & The Honky Tonk Revue. Last To Leave.
And finally John Murry’s EP, Califorlonia which is brilliant and hopefully just an appetiser for his follow up to the majestic Graceless Age.

Digging through the archives it’s been noticeable that there’s been a fine contribution this year from Scottish acts who dip into or draw from an Americana well to a greater or lesser extent. While Blue Rose Code’s Ballads Of Peckam Rye features above the following are all stellar contributions to the local scene.

Dropkick. Homeward
Dumb Instrument. The Silent Beard (with the Scottish song of the year, Suffering from Scottishness).
John Hinshelwood. Lowering The Tone.
The David Latto Band. Here Today, Ghost Tomorrow EP
Norrie McCulloch. Old Lovers Junkyard
The New Madrids. Through the Heart of Town.
Red Pine Timber Company. Different Lonesome
The Rulers Of The Root. Porky Dreams
Ten Gallon Bratz. Tales From The Long Shadows

Although his album, Little Glass Box came out in 2012, Fraser Anderson is a major find of the year while another local lad, Daniel Meade unleashes his Nashville recorded Keep Right Away in January. Hopefully folk will have long enough memories to recall this when it comes to compiling the 2015 lists. In the meantime it can be first on the New Year shopping list.

Ten Gallon Bratz. Tales From The Long Shadows

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Been a while since I heard from Ten Gallon Bratz, a band I reviewed for Americana UK back in 2006 but you can’t keep a good man (or band) down and Tales From The Long Shadows is a world away from their first tentative steps. Hailing from Greenock the Bratz are of a certain vintage that probably allows them to look back with some fondness to what passed for country rock back in the days before alt country kicked in. Their sound certainly reflects the likes of Poco, Guy Clark and the Eagles while there’s a Celtic tinge to some of their songs with Same Old Song seeming to come from time spent listening to The Waterboys.

A five piece band with three guitarists on board, they open the album with the guitar heavy stomp of Nothing Left To Say as the acoustics flail away and the electric guitar riffs in a Big Country style. It’s a big bold statement but in terms of the album somewhat misleading as what follows is more nuanced and dare I say, more interesting. Personally I’d prefer it at the end but there’s no doubt that it’s destined to be a crowd pleaser. The guitar crunching side of the band is revisited on the burnished bruise that is Fish Out Of Water, a shimmering groove that doffs its hat to Chris Issak and Jace Everett with its air of menace. For the remainder however the band allow their harmonies, allied to some fine picking, to showcase their talent and it’s here that that we find the heart of the band, one they offer live as testified some weeks ago when we saw them open for The Howling Brothers. While there’s a Ronnie Lane feel to the shuffling strut of Too Far Gone the band are at their best when they hunker down in their vision of American roots music. The addition of pedal steel by Iain Sloan (Wynntown Marshals) and fiddle (Alison McNeill, Reely Jiggered) fleshes out the sound on a slew of songs that drink deep from the Americana well. New King In Town has some very sweet and sorrowful Dobro and pedal steel flourishes as a relationship breaks down while All Fall Down swells musically despite the downbeat story. Brand New Old Fashioned Blues is a terrific tear stained lament with weeping pedal steel while Who’s Left To Save The Working Man delves into Steve Earle and Bruce Springsteen territory in their stripped down Woody Guthrie guises. Here the Bratz strive to celebrate and commiserate with the downtrodden and they succeed as they really nail it here.

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The Howlin’ Brothers & Ten Gallon Bratz. Admiral Bar, Glasgow. 16/10/14

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Fresh from the recent Glasgow Americana Festival The Fallen Angels Club have wasted no time in bringing some more top-notch acts to the city. For the Tennessee trio, The Howlin’ Brothers, this was their first time in Scotland (in the UK in fact), riding the wave generated by their recent album, Trouble, released on Brendan Benson’s label, Readymade Records (and reviewed here). First thing to say about them is that they have probably the coolest hat line up we’ve seen in some time. Straw Boater, black crumpled Trilby and stained Stetson sat atop the magisterial musical skills of Ian Craft (fiddle, banjo, kick drum), Ben Plasse (double bass) and Jared Green (guitar and fancy footwork). Aside from the hats the most pleasing thing about the band was their versatility and the variety of the songs they played. Bluegrass, blues, jug band, Cajun and country all tumbled from the stage with all three taking vocal duties on their respective songs.

From the off it was clear that this was going to be great fun as Craft’s fiddle and Green’s amplified step dancing bounced through the room while Plasse’s risqué Boogie showed that they can slow the tempo and still thrill. In a fairly lengthy set they ploughed through their two albums along with some cuts from their new Sun Sessions EP with the likes of the mighty George Jones country waltz of World Spinning Round and the bluesy swoon of Tennessee Blues standing out. Green’s Louisiana steeped Monroe showed that these Tennessee boys can wade through the bayou while The Boatman Dance positively reeked of chicken scratching’ dirt porch old timey American music and was a delight to see and hear. It was even more invigorating when the band later covered John Hartford’s Julia Belle Swain, another song steeped in Americana lore. Perfectly paced, the band ramped it up towards the end with Pack Up Joe a revved up road song while Hard Times stomped along with a defiant attitude. Ending with a fine Cumberland Gap The Howlin’ Brothers came across as a fine patina stained capture of some of the best rootsiest music we’ve heard in some time and this was reflected in the audience’s participation as the set progressed ’till the end when there were folk dancing at the back and the handclaps and whoops were drowning out the band. Catch them if you have the chance.

The night opened with a fine set from local chaps, Ten Gallon Bratz, high on a recent review for their album, Tales From The Long Shadows from R2 Magazine. Stripped of the album backing they entertained with three guitars and three voices recalling the likes of Poco and (early) Eagles opening with an acappella rendition of Hole In The Ground while Poor Man’s Money resonated with the audience. All in all a fine night.

The Howlin’ Brothers have a few more UK dates coming up http://thehowlinbrothers.com/shows/