de la Vega (bass), Mickey Grimm Hunt’s band, added guitars and har- Kellerman on guitar, with Tim Waites (drums), Steve Conn (accordion), monica, and produced with Matt on bass, and with Raul Valdes on Anthony Crawford and Mike Daly Noveskey. Players were Brian drums. RECORD (pedal steel), Dave Francis (guitar Broderick (guitars), Hunt (vocals, We get 22 songs from a variety of and bass), Gene Rabbai (B3 organ), fiddle), Pat Harris (bass), John Arndt pedigreed sources. We get the whole Dennis Wage (mellotron) and Jon (piano), Kim Deschamps (pedal show on DVD. We get some behind- REVIEWS Byrd, Vickie Carrico, Dan Eubanks, steel), David Sierra (drums and other the-scenes stuff including an inter- and Britt Savage (backing vocals). percussion), and Ellie Carroll (vo- view, four songs by Kellerman with He was a master into the insights tic mix of traditional-sounding blue- Chris Gage added dobro on the hid- cals). Waites and Valdes, and more. Terry Allen of human need. grass and country. It’s, for the most Bottom of the World den track. —TOM GEDDIE The performances are absolutely On Sunshine Boy: The Unheard part, feel good music that urges lis- —TOM GEDDIE solid. One favorite is a nearly nine- Self-released Studio Sessions & Demos 1971-1972, teners to, as stated in the song’“Brand minute-long performance of Ray the songs are there; he still seemed to New Day,” “to wander through the Reed Turner Lucky Peterson Band I WOULD NEVER CALL TERRY LaMontagne’s “Trouble.” Another is be finding himself musically, or to world where you belong.” Ghosts in the Attic Live at the Allen irreverent. Instead, let’s call Willie Dixon’s nine-minute “You not, by then, have insisted on the “Wood” and “wire,” in case there’s 55 Arts Club Berlin him otherly reverent. On his new Self-released Shook Me;” Dixon was one of his stripped-down versions of his songs any doubt, refer to the acoustic in- album, which is his first collection of Blackbird Music mentors when Peterson was three that serve them so well. struments the band plays; there’s REED TURNER IS IDENTIFIED AS A original material since 1999, Allen is Bill Doggett Disc one is the studio sessions for also some electric bass. Add in the folk-rocker, and he’s got some cred- WHAT A PACKAGE. LUCKY years old, followed by , also at times traditionally reverent — Jimmy Smith what is described as “the previously old-time-seeming vocals with some ibility in that field including a Febru- Peterson Band Live at the 55 Arts , and others. Still an- sometimes both in the same song — unavailable music” — 16 outtakes modern sensibilities and you’ve got ary performance at the’International Club Berlin. Two CDs. Three DVDs. other is Tamara Peterson’s version so that we have a hard time telling and alternate versions — from his the band — Tony Kamel (guitar and Folk Alliance Conference in Toronto A fancy booklet highlighting the of Lemuel Humes’ “Ain’t Nobody Like one from the other. As, perhaps, it classic albums High, Low & In Be- vocals), Matt Slusher (mandolin and and earlier performances at other band. All in a four-panel display You.” should be. tween and The Late Great Townes Van vocals), Trevor Smith (banjo), and folk festivals. Ghosts in the Attic, case. The blues, soul, and funk are, Just about everything in this set The land of the Bottom of the Zandt. It’s often over produced, in Dom Fisher (stand-up and electric though, is more of a pop album. That of course, good, too. is first class. Pick your own favorites. World stretches from a trailer park to my opinion, a little less pure, more bass and backing vocals) — that has doesn’t make it irrelevant. There is The occasion: uh, a live perfor- —TOM GEDDIE Wall Street and all the way to Heaven, cluttered sounding with this instru- been together since October 2011. good pop music despite what people mance at the 55 where “the golden gates of forever mentation that includes a horn sec- The members have known one an- hear on the radio, and this is one of Arts Club Berlin. close tight on all the fun.” Allen sings tion. Disc 2 is the collection of a other from earlier bluegrass jams in the good albums within that genre. Peterson, who that angels have wing to be free, that dozen raw demos; it’s the better of Austin, from Old Settler’s Music Fes- It also includes enough variety lives in Dallas, John Wayne is dead and Jesus dies, the two for the straightforward sim- tival, and as members of My Pet within the format to keep it interest- grew up with the and of a man who loses all he has and plicity of performances stripped to Possum and Flatiron. In the studio, ing. blues in his gives that burdensome gift to his the essence: the words and the basic Brittany Haas added fiddle and Erick The opening “Modern Man” and father’s Buffalo, child accompaniment that supports rather Jaskowiak produced with the band. the title song are nicely played and New York, club, He — Allen, a celebrated multi- than gets in the way of the words. Slusher calls the sound “dirty moody, and Reed’s singing is com- recording his fist media artist — is ultimately optimis- Sure, some people prefer the Texas grass.” That’s where the mod- pelling, soft without being weak, and album — on a tic or at least persistently hopeful. busier versions of Disc 1 and, sure, ern sensibilities come in, although sometimes haunting. Hammond B3 or- His use of language is exquisite and many of those songs shine. except for some current references The third song, “Killed That Girl,” gan — when he the most often simple music is, too. “Tower Song,” which is only on including Kris Kristofferson singing is a bit edgier when he ventures into was five, learning Allen (keyboards) produced with the demo disc, is one of the best a Beatles’ song and Johnny Cash sing- revenge for seeing his “baby” in the guitar at age eight, his son Bukka Allen (accordion and samples of Van Zandt’s writing: “You ing a Tom Petty song, the opening arm of another man. French horn in B3) and with longtime collaborator built your tower strong and tall / outlaw-to-Mexico adventure, and a The Austin-based, Berklee school, and join- Lloyd Maines (guitars), accompanied Can’t you see it’s got to fall some day pointed but humorous stab at finan- School of Music graduate writes well ing Little Milton’s by Richard Bowden (violin, mando- / You close your eyes and speak to me cial dilemmas, the sound is, indeed, and with depth, too, especially on band at 17. lin), Brian Standefer (cello), and / Of faith and love and destiny / As mostly traditional. There’s even an “Locking Doors,” “The Fire,” and A dozen al- Sally Allen (backing vocals, along distant as eternity, / Truth and un- obligatory, it seems, coalmining song. “The Sculptor and the Stone.” bums and more with Maines and Bowden). derstanding / The wind blows cold All in all, Wood & Wire is a good “Are you comfortable, do you than 300 studio This is, as expected, an exquisite outside your door / It whispers words listen. Among the 13 consistently feel secure, seems these locks and sessions later, we collection of long-overdue songs. I’ve tried before / But you don’t hear good songs and a hidden instrumen- chains and broken frames are what get this live one —TOM GEDDIE me anymore / Your pride’s just too tal track, my personal favorite is “Bet you prefer, there’s a reason there’s a with his wife, demanding.” the World,” a fast-paced declaration lifetime of regret,” he sings on “Lock- Tamara, adding Townes Van Zandt Van Zandt was not a consistently of love: “I’d bet the whole damned ing Doors.” additional vocals, Sunshine Boy: The good singer, but he was always better world that the sun don’t shine like it Reed, who also plays in Phoebe with Shawn Unheard Studio than he apparently thought he was. does when you’re mine.” In fact, he was perfect for his special —TOM GEDDIE Sessions & Demos songs, though I don’t know if it’s the 1971-1972 specialness that makes the singing Amanda Pearcy Omnivore Recordings better or if his performances just fit Royal Street AMERICANA these songs the best. Self-released By Tom IT’S AN ODD THOUGHT, BUT —TOM GEDDIE Geddie what if Townes Van Zandt crawled AMANDA PEARCY HAS TAKEN A TEXAS into one of those dark holes once, big step forward, both as a writer and around 1970 or so, and found all Wood & Wire as a singer, with her second CD, these great songs just waiting to be Wood & Wire Royal Street, and it’s mix of country, IT’S GETTING HARDER AND know, when we think about it, that to be, of soon descending “like the Iharder for me to enjoy live music. we’re going to die. Even if it’s just the sun into the sea,” and of being a man sung. Van Zandt was one of our great Self-released blues, pop, folk, and even a touch of songwriters, for sure, with so many gospel that all fits well together in a Oh, the music’s usually good, and vague thought of “someday.” “wide awake and feeling mortal.” of those songs coming so early in his WOOD & WIRE’S SELF-NAMED dozen of her own songs, a cover of sometimes great. It’s some of the Kristofferson isn’t, let’s face it, a One of the satisfactions of aging career. release is a high energy mostly acous- The Rolling Stones’ “No Expecta- people in the dang audiences great singer. Especially as he, like — and there are damn few enough of tions,” and a hidden track of the who irritate me more than they anybody who reads this, ages. He’s those — is maturity, of realizing new traditional spiritual “Wish I’s in should. 76 years old until June 22. But he’s a insights or just coming to a deeper Heaven Settin’ Down.” Recently, I went to a song swap great songwriter and he sings the realization of self, of simple (and The writing first: On the title where a woman and a man sat in heck out of his own songs. satisfying) learning, of the way we song, she wants someone to follow chairs side by side trading songs for On “Mama Stewart,” relate to other people, of what we can her, singing, “Along the way I’ll leave the audience. The man’s music fits Kristofferson sings that everything is share with sensitive people or, for you little specks / Breadcrumbs of into the good category. The woman’s beautiful in the old and blind that matter, anyone who’s eager (or broken borrowed desires / Delicate fits into the near great. For anybody woman’s eyes because “everything is simply willing) to grow, too. Or, treasures from our old shipwrecks / who’ll listen. new and full of wonder and surprise most often, some combination of all And moments of hallelujah choirs.” She’s co-written a couple of na- in the world that Mama Stewart sees.” of these things as we rise in the dew On “Barking Dogs,” she sings of tional hits with a well known coun- On “Bread for the Body,” he sings of the east and eventually set in the traveling “past nothing for miles but try singer. that “life is a song for the dying to western seas. victims’ bones / Where things are The man did his first song in an sing and it’s got to have feeling to When I’m feeling mortal, I sup- quiet and I won’t hear.” already but not unexpectedly noisy mean anything,” and”“’cause the time pose that I hold tighter to what is On “A Thousand Tender Recol- room. The woman did her first. The that we travel from cradle to grave precious. I sing my own songs. In lections,” she sings of “summer sun- man did his second. was meant to be spent and not meant situations like the one with the two rise shards of light,” As she began her second song, to be saved.” singer-songwriters, what is precious Pearcy’s first CD was Waitin’ On two 20-something “men” walked up On “You Don’t Tell Me What to is the words, the music, and the Sunday, which I reviewed in Decem- to the guy, sitting inches away from Do,” he sings, “gone are the reasons human decency. ber 2009. That one was filled with the woman, and said hello, shook for changing my mind gone like the Oh, and how I respond to that moody, often sad songs about life hands with him, and carried on a future that I left behind.” arrogant indifference those people and love the way neither is supposed conversation. On “Castaway,” he sings, “like a showed to a very talented songwriter. to be. At times, it seemed a bit Rather than start an argument ship without a rudder I’m just drift- I could choose to not get into the strained, as if she was trying too hard with the arrogantly indifferent, I left. ing with the tide . . . just a speck upon middle of it, which I did by walking instead of relaxing into the song. Later, the woman told me that the water of an ocean deep and wide.” away, or I could choose to get into On this new one, along with the wasn’t the night’s worst rudeness. He sings of love and love never the middle of it by creating an ever maturing of her writing, she seems Near the end of the evening, two realized. On “Ramblin’ Jack,” he sings bigger scene. This time, my choice more comfortable as a singer, too. women stood right in front of the about a man who once claimed to be was to walk away. Sometimes that’s That’s a natural progression, per- singer-songwriters and obliviously “high on life and low on luck.” the best choice; sometimes it’s not. haps, since she picked up her first carried on their own conversation Kristofferson sings, “he has paid a On behalf of the rest of the hu- guitar — a pawn shop job that her that lasted for two songs into a third. little piece of his soul for every seed man race, I apologize for the rude- late first husband once owned — As a listener who cares about that he’s been sowing,” and, more ness those two “men” displayed. And, shortly after Katrina hit New Orleans music, this kind of behavior pisses important, perhaps, to us who at even though I was already gone, for and began applying the lessons she me off. least know who Ramblin’ Jack Elliott the rudeness of those two “women” learned while waiting tables and lis- How do I the above into my is and have heard him perform his who didn’t take their own conversa- tening and dancing to the music in comments about Kris Kristofferson’s songs and stories, that “if he knew tion somewhere else rather than right Houston - and Austin-area live ven- new country CD, Feeling Mortal, his how good he’d done every song he in front of the two artists — at least ues. first since Closer to the Bone in 2009. ever sung I believe he’d truly be one of whom has paid a little piece of Noted violinist Tim Lorsch pro- His 2006 release, This Old Road, was surprised.” her soul for the seeds she’s sowed, duced again and added strings, as he his first album of new material since On the title song, Kristofferson and who may or may not know how did Pearcy’s first. Studio musicians the mid 1990s. sings of “that old man in the mirror,” much good she’s done. Or how ■ were George Bradfute (guitars), Ron There’s a clue emerging here: we of wondering if he is where he ought many people appreciate it. 4BUDDYMARCH 2013