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dollar’s coming from and think about getting a shotgun and a garden patch (“In the Mean Time”); live hand-to- RECORD mouth on the road, staying drunk until the money runs low (Low Down Ramblin’ Blues”); or catch a bullet REVIEWS trying to break up a bar fight, and cut rights back. and Altenbaumer produced “in the it out with their own knives (“Noth- Mark Collie & his “Therein began the usual chain late hours of June 23rd thru June ing on Me”). Reckless Companions of events, where everything goes in 25th, 2011, fueled by pizza and beer,” On the title song, he feels good to Alive at Brushy Mountain the closet or in the dumpster,” Collie according to the liner notes. not be walking no more. On “(I’m State Penitentiary says. “I worked for a couple of years This is not a polished CD, but it’s diggin’ myself) Out of This Hole,” he Wilbanks Entertainment trying to figure out a way to get it well worth repeated listens. claims it might take some time for finished and get it out, but it was a —TOM GEDDIE people to see he’s not the man he I WAS PREPARED TO DISLIKE vision I shared with Tony, and Tony used to be. Mark Collie’s Alive at Brushy Moun- was gone. Finally, on the tain State Penitentiary because the And then I took a left turn, a 11th song, “The idea seemed to be such a rip-off of wrong turn or two, and stayed gone Lonesome Way,” he Johnny Cash’s Folsom Prison record- awhile. But I knew that I was the only acknowledges that ing, but the whole project is just too one who hadn’t given up on this, and “there ain’t no end in excellent not to like. I knew if I quit then it was over. And sight” when you run Collie, encouraged by Cash, re- I wasn’t going to quit. Everybody from yourself. corded this album in 2001 because, kept saying, ‘Why don’t you just Ray Kennedy he said, he knew people who’d been make another record?’ But I had this produced and added in and out of that prison and he record made, and I couldn’t leave it.” Hammond B3, thought he might be able to do some Good for him. And us. Wurlitzer, and elec- good for some of the prisoners (Ten- —TOM GEDDIE tric guitar. nessee shut down the prison in 2009, Along with the although that surely had nothing to studio musicians, do with the show.) Michael O’Neal Knight gets guest vo- The high-energy, sometimes re- Learning As I Go cals from John Prine, demptive and sometimes unapolo- Self-released Buddy Miller, and getic, attitude-filled songs country, Siobhan Maher- Michael O’Neal IS SO UNDER- blues, gospel, bluegrass, and Kennedy. rated as a songwriter that he’s almost rockwork right from the opening The songs are unknown, outside the Northeast “(all I want is) One More Second consistently good de- Texas area where he plays a couple of spite, or perhaps be- Chance.” times a month. On his third album, cause of, the famil- Collie’s vocals resonate with Learning as I Go, he continues to She co-wrote all seven songs: Bonnie Bishop iarity of the situations sometimes hoarse intensity and with write and deliver the kinds of songs if not the actual words. excellent contributions from his Chris Knight might write if Knight Bonnie Bishop Knight does this sort of thing “Reckless Companions” including had been raised in Paris. Free very well, and Little Victories is a good Kelly Willis, Gatemouth Brown, On a dozen songs, most of them Be Squared Records CD, a bit more musically involved — Shawn Camp, and guitarist David his own, O’Neal shares vignettes and but seldom cluttered — than some of Grissom (who’s played with John stories that put the listener in the BONNIE BISHOP’S SEVEN-SONG Mellencamp, Joe Ely, and so many CD, Free, is filled with soulful, some- his earlier albums. It’s easy to won- middle of a place and a circum- der, though, if it’s time for him to others), keyboardist Mike Utley stance. While not everybody will re- times in-your-face blues that explore (Jimmy Buffett, Dixie Flyers), gui- love, heartbreak, and strength. stretch a bit, to explore some new late personally to the stories whether territory, with his next one. tarist-mandolinist Tommy Burroughs he or someone else wrote them the The first couple of songs conjure —TOM GEDDIE (Riverbluff Clan), bassist Willie emotions ring true as a single slice of up strong women in dark, beer- Weeks (Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, the larger Northeast Texas and hu- scented bars. In “(No) Shrinkin’ Vio- B.B. King), accordionist Hassel man experience. let,” she sings that it takes a real man Teklle (Kix Brooks), and drummer Michael is a solid not great singer who’s not afraid to put his arms Chad Cromwell (Neil Young, Mark whose performances fit his material around her.” Knopfler). in a good way, bring a realism to his The title song is gentler, quieter, AMERICANA There’s only one problem with words. Learning As I Go is a sparsely almost pleading as it tells the tale of By Tom this album: how long it took to be but solidly produced country with a broken heart coming back to life. In Geddie released. rock influences. It’s also serious, not “World like This,” she claims that TEXAS Collie, who now has a home in love is hard to find, but that a man fluffy, music that often deals with the OR YEARS NOW, THIS COL- 1940s, Mingus played with Louis Schuller and played by 30 or so Fort Worth, was finishing the album keeps her hoping. F seamier side of life rather than fan- umn has been about Texas music Armstrong, Kid Ory, and Lionel musicians on trumpet; tenor, so- when Tony Brown left MCA; Brown Especially with the numerous F tasy; it’s music that deserves a bigger and musicians. Mostly but not al- Hampton. In the 1950s, he played prano, and alto saxophones; flute; was its supporter and tri-producer background vocals, there’s also a sort audience. ways some sort of Americana music, with Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, oboe; English horn; bass clarinet; with David Z and Collie, and without of gospel “feel” to some of these He adds acoustic guitar and gets whatever, as No Depression used to Bud Powell, Art Tatum, Duke piccolo; bassoon; trombone; piano; Brown’s support the album lingered songs about survival and redemp- help from a dozen musicians in the write, and may still, that is. The Ellington, and many others. bass; guitar; vibes; drums; and other tion, although the content is defi- on corporate shelves where so much studio, including TV alum Cas Haley column will continue to do that, too, Over the years, he moved through percussion, it’s a layered, dramatic nitely earthly. good music surely still gathers dust on upright bass, Chad Altenbaumer aside from this intermission. early big band jazz to the small combo piece of music. Bishop co-wrote all seven songs, until Collie and financier Tim on slide and other guitars, and Sarah When the folks at Legacy Re- sound to the avant-garde with al- The New Yorker called it the first produced with assistance from Jimmy Wilbanks succeed in buying the Coyle on backing vocals. Shad Blair cordings let me know that there was bums including Pithecanthropus advance in jazz composition since Wallace, played harmonica and a new boxed collection of Charles Erectus, The Clown, Tijuana Moods, Ellington’s Black, Brown, and Beige in acoustic guitar, and contributed to Mingus’ RCA and Columbia record- Mingus Dynasty, Mingus Ah Um, The 1943, and the New York Times ranked her own backup vocals. Supporting ings, I told them that if they sent me Black Saint and the Sinner Lady, with the “most memorable jazz events musicians are Wallace (piano, or- the set I’d figure out a way to write Cumbia and Jazz Fusion, Let My Chil- of the decade.” (Alvin Ailey, Robert gan, clavinet), Steve Mackey (bass), about it. Mingus, born in Nogales, dren Hear Music, and a hundred or so Joffrey, and other ballet and modern Fred Eltringham (drums and other Arizona, and raised in the Watts sec- others. dance companies have performed to percussion), Rob McNelley and Sam tion of California, was a musical ge- The Legacy boxed set includes his music many times, and I can see Hawksley (electric and acoustic gui- nius over a long, sound-spanning seven CDS — three of them double the movements, the costumes, and tars), and a bunch of backup vocal- career — bass and piano, sure, but CDs, for 10 discs in all including two the lighting as I listen.) ists. also bandleader and, perhaps most I already own — Mingus Ah Um and Mingus never thought the work This is Bishop’s fifth album; the important, a composer — from the Tijuana Moods, which he called the would be performed; he said he wrote first four fit more closely into the 1950s into the 1970s before he was best record he ever made — in addi- it for his tombstone. loosely defined Americana genre, diagnosed with a rare nerve disease, tion to eight others in my collection. I’m simply glad I can listen to it. which is more country, folk, and amyotropic lateral sclerosis, and died The others in the new boxed set are Mingus, from what I’ve read, was Southern rock than blues and gos- in Mexico on January 5, 1979.

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