? D REVIEWS JOHN the REVEALATOR FREEFORM
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« ? d COAST MUSIC CHRIS SMITHER #186/274 JUNE 2012 • ( ; . »*. w ■ ’ ■ v y ■ • ; W ^ S f c ^ > y ^ x£ o ^v . y ^ f t'' \ y v \ y K$ * v £& mA - A *.;»• ■:•• j : *fj ¿ .; • jT j jKffSHnR REVIEWS J i f xV xV xfi xV xV T*x v + \ y ^ t y ^ t (o r not) Cowboy Cop T if Ginn s -*p ¡¡Hk^ S^KIM s& ■tl-W ^R Great «0^11 W Recession Texas Music (2nd Edition) JOHN THE • REVEALATOR The Hobart Brothers FREEFORM & Lil’ Sis AMERICAN Hobart • ROOTS #154 Treasa ROOTS BIRTHS Lavasseur • & DEATHS Li’l Mo & The Monicats ‘NONE OF THE • i HITS, Red June WA ALL OF THE Billy Joe TIME’ Shaver )) C O N C E P T i DESIGN BY A MAN CAUED WRYCRAFT FREEFORM AMERICAN ROOTS #154 THE HOBART BROTHERS REAL MUSIC PLAYED FOR REAL PEOPLE BY REAL DJS & LIL’ SIS HOBART DURING MAY 2012 A t Least W e H ave E ach O ther # 1 JP H a r r is A T h e T o u g h C h o ic e s : I I I K eep C a l l in g (Freedom # * * * ) (Cow Island) MB/*AG/*CP/*DP/*LMG/*00/*PT/*5H/*TA/*TM he Hobart Corporation, of Troy, OH, manufactures commercial kitchen and grocery 2 The Great Recession Orchestra: Double Shot (NewTex) Tstore equipment, and to be a Hobart brother or sister you must, at some point in your *AA/*DA/*DWB/*DWT/*GS/*MB/*MI/*MM/*RH/*TB/*TR life, have slaved over a Hobart sink. At least what’s qualifies New York-based Freedy 3 Tif Ginn (self) *BB/*BR/*FS/*KC/*TF Johnston (bom Fred Fatzer, in Kinsley, KS, amazing what you can find on the Internet), 4 Willie Nelson: Heroes (Sony/Legacy) Austin’s Jon Dee Graham and the flower of New Orleans, Susan Cowsill. Johnston and *DS/*JT/*KW/*LB/*MO/*OAM Graham, mutual admirers of each other’s songwriting, originally planned a concept album, 5 Grant Peeples: Prior Convictions (Gatorbone) and had written a couple of songs, about long ago lousy pay the rent jobs, washing dishes *DT/*EB/*MF/*MP/*NA and hauling restaurant trash, for which there may well be a market, if not exactly any urgent 6 The Two Man Gentlemen Band: Two At A Time (Bean-Tone) *MDT call. However, enlisting Cowsill changed the dynamic, and while First Day On The Job 7 John Fullbright: From The Ground Up (Blue Dirt) *SC and The Dishwasher hark back to the original concept, the 10 songs, all credited to the 8 Marty Stuart: Nashville, Vol.l: Tear The Woodpile Down threesome, though it’s not hard to figure out who really wrote them, and written in three (Sugar Hill) *RT days, are not the musical equivalent of George Orwell’s Down And Out In Paris And 9 Matt Harlan& The Sentimentals: Bow & Be Simple (Berkalin) London. Ranging from the desperation ofI Am Sorry and All Things Being Equal to the *EW/*JB heartache of Sweet Señorita, the nostalgia of Almost Dinnertime and the sweet pop silliness of SodaPop Tree, the collaboration brings out hitherto unseen facets of three very different 10 Chelle Rose: Ghost Of Browder Holler (self ) *CTS/*TPR talents. Interestingly, all the songs except SodaPop Tree are offered in two versions, the full 11 Six Mile Grove: Secret Life In A Quiet Town (Renas Kitchen) recordings with Cowsill’s husband Russ Broussard on drums and acoustic demos which *R E /*R F show even more clearly how easily three established solo performers meshed together. JC 12= Cornell Hurd Band: Drop In On My Dream (Behemoth) Joe Goldmark: The Wham Of That Steel Man (Lo-Ball) *M T TREASA LEVASSEUR • B road Ray Wylie Hubbard: The Grifter's Hymnal (Bordello) (Slim Chicken ijHjHjHfr) 13 JD McPherson: Signs & Signifiers (Rounder) *DC ot sure how or why I came across the Toronto-based singer, but watching Levasseur 14 Del Barber: Headwaters (Six Shooter) *JR/*SR Nperforming live on YouTube, I thought, “This is not her first rodeo.” There’s something 15 Lisa Biales: Just Like Honey (Big Song) really refreshing about watching someone quite so (righteously) confident and in control. 16= Moot Davis: Man About Town (Highway Kind) Confidence was certainly rather essential for her third album, which was made with four J W W & The Prospectors: It ’s High Past Time (self) different bands and producers, in three studios in two different towns. By rights, this should Linda McRae: Rough Edges and Ragged Hearts (42 RPM) *RA sound like one of those raggedy-ass albums made in ‘when we scrape up some money for 17=Antje Duvekot: New Siberia (s e lf) *C J studio time’ installments, but Levasseur’s rich, assured vocals (she also plays piano, Wurlitzer Jason Eady: AM Country Radio (Underground Radio) *RS and accordion) more or less weld the twelve tracks together, though the three cut with young Paul Thorn: What The Hell Is Going On (Perpetual Obscurity) Canadian blues band Raoul & The Big Time are noticeably cruder than the four with blues- 18= Caroline Doctorow: I Carry All I Own (Narrow Lane) *DJ rockers MonkeyJunk (though I could have lived without Randy Newman’s God’s Song), two The Stray Birds: Borderland (self)*MJM with roots veterans Wroxton Allstars and three with her regulars, The Daily Special. The album title reflects both Levasseur’s ballsy image (“If I were a Hepburn, I’d be Katherine, Louise Taylor: Tangerine (Blue Coyote) *BG not Audrey”) and her range of influences, which go from Brill Building pop to Muscle 19= Alabama Shakes: Boys & Girls (ATO) Shoals R&B via Detroit, Memphis and New Orleans. When you see her being compared to Tom Armstrong: Wine Stained Heart (Carswell) such diverse artists as Laura Nyro, Bonnie Raitt, Carole King and Marcia Ball, it’s hard to Leftover Salmon: Aquatic Hitchhiker (Los) *TL argue with her website’s description, “one of a kind,” JC 20 Lawrence Peters Outfit: What You Been Missing (self) *HT 21= Tony Denikos: Under The Church (self) RED JUNE • B eauty W ill C ome Dr John: Locked Down (Nonesuch) (self ***.5) 22= Katya Chorover: Big Big Love (self) *PGS harlie Faye lucked out in Asheville, NC, when she was making her connect with the Otis Gibbs: Harder Than Hammered Hell (Wannamaker) *RC Clocals and cut one track in each city tour of America (Travels With Charlie),which Jon Dee Graham: Garage Sale (Freedom) *JM tells me she didn’t run into the old timey/bluegrassy/folk/Americana trio of Will Straughan I See Hawks In LA: New Kind Of Lonely (Westerns Seeds) (guitar, resonator guitar, vocals), John Cloyd Miller (guitar, mandolin, vocals) and Natalya Bill Poss: H ay (se lf) *B S Weinstein (fiddle, vocals). Mind you, it seems the Asheville region has plenty of music lovers Hank Williams III: Long Gone Daddy (Curb) but no music press, at least Red June has a very full summer schedule, including festivals Woody Pines: You Gotta Roll (self)*CS as far afield as Wyoming and Utah, but just one review, and that was from Nashville. The group’s great strength is their vocals, individually and, particularly on the acapella call and response gospel ofI ’m Willing To Try (the only cover), in harmony. Weinstein’s lead on Bittersweet is rivaled only by her terrific fiddling on the instrumentals, Piney Branch Compact Disco Breakdown and Connor ’s/Scott's (Reels), but the guys sing pretty good too. I have to say Records • Video that this is rather more lightweight than I usually favor, but, while I don’t beguile easily, WATERLOO Red June are undeniably charming. _____________________________________ JC 10*11 Man* Sat 12*11 S a « T roubadour B lues 600-A North Lamar Austin. TX 78703 wtvw.watariooracortia.com o review as I haven’t seen it yet, but Tom Weber’s documentary, ten years in the (S12Ì474.2SOO Nmaking, featuring Peter Case, Chris Smither, Slaid Cleaves, Sam Baker, Mary WHERE MUSIC STILL MATTERS Gauthier, Dave Alvin and other singer-songwriters is being shown at Jax on June I4th, along with Troy Campbell and others performing. I’ll get back to you on this one. JC NEVER HEARD OE ‘EM (Austin 's (¿Music Explosion '-U/üu No Yodeling NEVER HEARD OF ‘EM on the Radio (A u s t in 's Mu sic Ex p l o s io n : 1994 - 2000) New release from By Sue d o n a h o e R em em ber LOCAL FLAVOR? Karen CoUins REMEMBER THOSE FIRST INDEPENDENT CDS FROM KEVIN FOWLER, BIG POW WOW, & The Backroads Band SHELLEY KING AND MORE? Available at R em em ber To m m y FIa n c o c k ’s self releases ? cdbaby.com and amazon.com Th e y're all in th e pages of t h is h appy COLLECTION OF PHOTOS, INTERVIEWS, HISTORY AND MEMORIES. http://backroads.karencoiiins.net Ge t t in g great reviews in Texas & Eu r o p e! N o w A vailable A t : Bo o k peo ple, Waterloo R e c o r d s , Bo o k w o m a n , A n t o n e 's R e c o r d s , W ild A b o u t Mu s ic , Bob Bullo ck Texas H isto ry Mu seu m AND FROM Domain Names www.austin78704.com NEVERHEARDOFEM.COM [email protected] (361) 960-5833 TIF GINN THE GREAT RECESSION ORCHESTRA (selfv-v-v-v-.5) Double Shot ack in the early 70s, a friend used a set of LPs as a flipbook, showing Tom Rush (New Tex tfctfetlfctfe) B evolving (or not) from clean cut folkie to blissed out stoner.