CCR (don’t make me hurt you) #150/239 JULY 2009
JOHN THE REVEALATOR FREEFORM AMERICAN ROOTS #119 ROOTS BIRTHS & DEATHS REVIEWS $ $ $ $ $ Cor not) RAY CHARLES TISH HINOJOSA • KAREN MAL GRANT PEEPLES JERRY SIRES BAND 2009 KERRVILLE WINE& MUSIC FESTIVAL 10th Annual SCHEDULE OF CONCERTS AND EVENTS FRIDAY. Sept. 4______SATURDAY. Sent. S SUNDAY. Sept. 6 $24 in advance / $30 at gate $28 in advance / $35 at the gate $28 in advance / $35 at the gate (Ticket booth & campground open at 1 p.m.) (Campground gate open 24 hours) (Campground gate open 24 hours) IQ a.m. Bike Ride ______26 mile road ride of the Hill Country 11 a.m. Folk Song Service-Chapel Hill Rudolf Harst (San Antonio TX) 1 p.m. Concert - Threadeill Thea. 1 p.m. Concert • Threadeill Thea. Abi Tapia (Housatonìc MA), New Folk In-The-Round with: Big Wide Grin (California & Virginia) Joe Crookston (Ithaca NY), Rebecca Loebe (Attenta GA), Ben Matiott (Austin TX), Louise Mosrie (Greenfield MA), Tom Neilson (Greenfield MA), RADISSON 3 p.m. Ballad Tree - Chapel Hill 3 p.m. Ballad Tree - Chapel Hill HOTEL AUSTIN g Michael McNevin (Fremont CA) Don Conoscenti (Taos NM) Bob Livingston (Austin TX) NORTH t *3:30 p.m. Wine Seminar-Threadgiii *3:30 p.m. Wine Seminar-Threadt-m AUSTIN, TEXAS -8 Texas Ports Vintner's Choice - Texas Reds For information or to request jf g 7 t>.m. Evening C oncert______7 o.m. Evening Concert______7 p.m. Evening Concert______a reservation packet, call (830) 257-3600 or email to Brian Ashley Jones (Nashville TN) Greg Trooper (New York NY) The Siekers (Austin TX) alliancefabkerrville-music.com. Chip & Marvin (Austin TX) Michael McNevin (Fremont CA) Bob Livingston (Austin TX) Registration forms are available Don Conoscenti (Taos NM) Stonehoney (Austin TX) The Ginn Sisters (Austin TX) on-line at: www. SWRFA. COM Los Texmaniacs (San Antonio TX) Baskery (Stockholm Sweden) Thad Beckman (Portland OR) Karen Abrahams (Austin TX) Ecléctica (USA) Fred Eaglesmith (Port Dover ONT Canada) Tickets: Order on-line at www.KerrvMeiolkSesttval.com or call the festival office at (830) 257-3600 RV SITES Sunday Afternoon New Folk In-The-Round A limited number of RV hook-up sites are available in the campgrounds. Sites with water+electricity+sewer are $30 per night. Sites with water+electricity only (for small campers and pop-ups) are $25 per night. RV site occupants can keep one tow vehicle on their site at no additional charge. Reservations required. RV reservations and fees do not include festival tickets. Call (830) 257-3600 for info and availability. SLEEPER VEHICLE PERMIT RV s or trailers that set up in the campgrounds without hook-ups require a Joe Crookston Rebacca Loebe Ben Matiott Louise Mosrie Tom Neilson permit. Also, obvious sleeper vehicles such as vans, pick-ups with camper shells, etc. may purchase a sleeper vehicle permit for a single $20 fee ADVANCE DISCOUNTS (advance discounts expire 8/28) CAMPGROUND FEES You must have a festival ticket in order to camp or enter the upon entry. No ins and outs for sleeper vehicles. If the vehicle doesn't 3-day Ticket (Fri, 9/4 - Sun, 9/6) - $75 campgrounds during the festival! A wristband is required to enter leave the campground, no additional camping fees will be required. $20 Single Day Tickets - Advance prices listed above campgrounds after 6 PM. Tent camping (wristband) fees are $5 per will be charged for EACH re-entry to the campgrounds. Wine Seminars (Sat. 9/5 or Sun, 9/6) - $7 per seminar per person night per person. Wristbands are provided FR EE with a 3-day ticket. VEHICLE PARKING FEE PURCHASE TICKETS Vehicles in the Campgrounds: In order to maximize space for tents, $3 per vehicle per day. Payable at the ticket booth or lot entrance. For your best value on ticket purchases, you should buy on-line we must restrict the number of vehicles we allow in to the campgrounds. *WINE SEMINARS by visiting www.kerrvillefolkfestival.com To do this we charge $20 per day to keep a transportation vehicle in Pre-paid reservations required. The fee for each seminar is $7 per person For phone orders*, call the festival office at (830) 257-3600 the campgrounds (refundable. S20 two-hour unloading permits will be available at the campground entrance so you can drop off gear), (if purchased in advance) or $10 (if purchased during the festival) and during business hours Monday through Friday, includes a souvenir festival wine glass. You must have a festival ticket in *Prices listed include sales tax and most service fees. Phone CHILDREN’S in PRICES order to attend the wine seminar(s). Seminar Tickets may be purchased in orders are subject to a $4 service fee per order* Children under 12 are admitted FR EE when accompanied by ticket advance or you may register at the wine ticket booth during the evening holding (or purchasing) adults. Children 12 and over must have a ticket. shows provided there is still room. Space is limited. Seminars start No refunds or exchanges on tickets for any reason. No one under 18 may be admitted without parent or legal guardian. promptly at 3:30 p.m. (no late seating with or without a ticket). FREEFORM AMERICAN ROOTS #119 RAY CHARLES REAL MUSIC PLAYED FOR REAL PEOPLE BY REAL DJS Modern S ounds In C ountry & W estern Music/ during J une 2009 Modern S ounds In C ountry & W estern Music #1 Dave A lvin & T he Guilty W omen V ol 2 (Yep Roc) *BS/*CS/*00/*RL/*W R (Concord) 2 Todd Snider: The Excitement Plan (Yep Roc) *BJ/*DF/*MB/*TR ast month, I mentioned, anent the advent of Yoakam, Lovett and Earle, my 3 Levon Helm: Electric Dirt (Dirt Farmer) *GM/*MDT/*RC/*TG L“hitherto worthless, indeed much mocked, interest in country music,” then, lo 4 Eilen Jewell: Sea Of Tears (Signature Sounds) *DD/*HG/*MM and behold, the primal source of that interest showed up in the mail in the form of Ray Charles’ twin 1962 LPs of country classics packaged as a single CD. I know there 5 Leo Rondeau: Down A t The End O f The Bar (self) *JB/*JT/*RH were country music fans in Britain before Modern Sounds, the amazing Thomas 6 Owen Temple: Dollars And Dimes (El Paisano) *HT/*KD Fraser in the Shetland Islands for one, but, except for American Forces Network, 7 Wayne Hancock: Viper Of Melody (Bloodshot) *LMG/*SH/*TJ country wasn’t on the radio and virtually no country records were released, for the 8 Steve Earle: Townes (New West) *JP/*SC simple reason that they wouldn’t sell—more than 20 years later, MCA’s UK VP told 9= Staid Cleaves: Everything You Love Will Be Taken Away me he couldn’t hardly give away George Strait or Reba McEntire albums (of course, this speaks rather well of my people). Point is, country was so far out of the British (Music Road) *BK mainstream that the. best proof of its existence was its Platonic shadow, the fact that VA: Man Of Somebody's Dreams; A Tribute To Chris Gaffney it was so universally despised. In this context, Modern Sounds was a bombshell, (Yep Roc) *KF not simply a commercial and artistic success for Charles, who placed four tracks in 10= Patterson Hood: Murdering Oscar A Other Love Songs the UK charts, I Can’t Stop Loving You going to#i, but a roadmap to the strange and (Ruth Street) *3RC mysterious country of country. Of course, though Charles started his career in the hillbilly Florida Playboys, apart from the material, neither volume was, in any way, Madison Violet: No Fool For Trying (True North) *CJ/*JR/*SB shape or form, a country album, but I know I wasn’t alone in sitting in front of my 11 Genuine Cowhide: Paint The Ponies (self) *LB/*TM Dansette thinking, ‘My word, this Hank Williams chappie can’t half write a bloody 12= BettySoo: Heat Sin Water Skin (Sweet Papaya) *DT/*XE good song.’ People I’d never heard of, Cindy Walker, Eddy Arnold, Floyd Tillman, Ted Flounders Without Eyes: What's The Rush (Zone) *HA Daffan, Don Gibson, shot to the top of my search list. A pretty fruitless search, I may 13= Rick Shea: Shelter Valley Blues (Tres Pescadores) *WT say, and that roadmap turned out to be rather rudimentary, so it wasn’t until 1968, with the invaluable assistance of the first edition of Bill Malone’sCountry Music Je rry Sires Band: Live A t Jovita's (Caliche Pit) *GS/*RA USA, that I got a real grip on the subject. However, though Modern Sounds got 14= Albert A Gage: Dakota Lullaby (Moon House) *PP me started, and I still have my copy of the first volume, I haven’t actually played it Li'l Mo A The Monicats: On The Moon (Cow Island) in donkey’s years. Somewhere along the line, I developed an acute, well nigh phobic, 15 Son Volt: American Central Dust (Rounder) *JM/*RV distaste for string arrangements and choirs, which, though Charles’ interpretations 16= Elvis Costello: Secret, Profane A Sugarcane (Hear) are still amazing, makes it hard to recapture the thrill of hearing Born To Lose for the first time. These albums are monumentally important, but, like Nashville Leaving, TX: Late Gettin' Started (Lucky Range) *EW Sound/Countrypolitan, I wish there was some way to strip out what I consider to be 17 A rty Hill A The Long Gone Daddys: Back On The Rail the extraneous noise that gets in the way of the music. JC (Cow Island) *RT 18 Red Stick Ramblers: My Suitcase Is Always Packed A FAR ‘INTERVENTION’ (Sugar Hill) *KW fter I’ve compiled the FAR chart, I often comment on it to my guys and gals, 19= Scott H Biram: Something's Wrong/Lost Forever usually observations on the dynamics—the difference between #1 and #2 can (Bloodshot) *BR Avary between a three figure juggernaut or a triple-recounted one digit cliffhanger. Sarah Jarosz: Song Up In Her Head (Sugar Hill) *ES However, while sending out the last reminder for May, when Steve Earle’sTownes was narrowly in the lead, I honestly felt an intervention was in order. To me, the 20= Romi Mayes: Achin' In Yer Bones (Factor) *FS obvious implication of making an album of covers #1 would be that people like Slaid VA: Keep Your Soul: A Tribute To Doug Sahm (Vanguard) *HP Cleaves and Eilen Jewell are wasting their time writing original material. If Van Zandt 21= Daddy: For A Second Time (Cedar Creek) *BB was totally unknown or had no albums available, that would be a different matter, and Steve Martin: The Crow (Rounder) *NAT I have absolutely no quarrel with anybody recording or spinning covers of a Townes David Serby: Honkytonk A Vine (self) *MP song or two, but an entire album of them devalues the singer-songwriter concept. Illustrating yet again that it’s hard to get the FAR reporters to agree on anything, Amanda Shires: West Cross Timbers (self) this is a summary of the responses I got, and my responses to them: 22 Ryan Bingham: Roadhouse Sun (Lost Highway) 1. “Totally inappropriate.” OK, I accept this, and apologize. This was only the second 23 Dale Watson: The Truckin' Sessions Vol 2 (Hyena) *TS time a voting trend gave me heartburn, but if it ever happens again, guess I’ll just 24= Bob Dylan: Together Through Life (Columbia) *TPR have to keep quiet, cross my fingers and hope for the best. The Lovell Sisters: Time To Grow (2DefPigs) *DA 2. “Not inappropriate at all.” The gist of these responses was that FARsters are too bloody-minded to be influenced, so my mouthing off didn’t make any difference. I Chuck Mead: Journeyman's Wager (Grassy Knoll) *RMP feel this to be true, the fact that the Flatlanders’ very iffyHills & Valleys stalled Sara Watkins (Nonesuch) *DWT out at #8 demonstrates that nobody gets a free pass in FAR. 3. “No problem, Earle’s album isn’t good enough to be #1.” I happen to agree, but my problem was content not artistic merit, which I specifically didn’t address. 4. “Quite right, FAR shouldn’t look like every other chart.” Well, Earle did top the Euro-Americana and Roots Music Report’s Roots Rock charts, but, to be fair, The Flatlanders have, so far, held him to #2 in the AM A chart. 5. “The educational value trumps all.” Tricky one. I sure do hope Earle turns some people on to Van Zandt, on the other hand, I’d play the originals to make his point. 6. “Albums of covers should be excluded.” I wouldn’t go that far, I just hope there’s never a month so thin that an album of covers really is the best thing around. 7. “Would you have felt the same if the Chris Gaffney tribute had been #1?” Good question, but I think it’s apples and oranges.Man Of Somebody’s Dreams was a benefit for Gaffney and his family. Earle’s album may, in its own way, be a tribute, but it’s also a commercial release. *XX = D J ’s A lbum of the Month 8. “I’m glad FAR isn’t run by a machine.” Well, that’s the truth. I don’t think I affected Freeform American Roots is compiled from reports provided by 140 freeform DJs. the final outcome of last month’s chart, but while I’m as passionate about the music More information can be found at http://tcmnradio.com/far/ as the FARsters, I’m going to have to trust them to do the right thing. 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m m m HOUSE CONCERT AUSTIN, 7PM MM PATTON 0 SHERRY BROKUS W/RICHARD BOWOEMO M F I D D L E You can update your web site yourself EBBjECiTWTK AOE.COM FOR INFORMATION AND have your own custom design. mmtm* m m mm Want to add & update your own gigs, write a blog, upload photos to your EV AN C E LI NE CAFF8106 BRODIE LANE AUSTUM on-line scrapbook, post the latest news, and modify it anytime from anywhere? Don't know a scrap of HTML? Don't want to puzzle out a generic-looking FRO COAST MUSICSONGWRITER SHOWCASE IM THE template? No problem! websiteCOPILOT is easy to use and as unique as you are. ROUND WITH KIM MILLER, C L E V E C SWEET MART» w e b s i t e COPILOT AMO MM PATTOM € SHERRY BROKUS VO PM FÄRM Site Design, Hosting, Domain Names & much, much more. Friend* of fim ericaa Affordable Rates for Musicians & Small Businesses Roots Music For more information: www.websiteCOPILOT.com - 512 442-8953 TISH HINOJOSA • O ur Little P lanet JOHN THE REVEALATOR (Varese Saraband # # # # ) ure as I say she’s unique in Austin music history, someone will come up with new something was off in the Vem Gosdin obit, but couldn’t figure out Sanother example, but Hinojosa was extremely unusual, if not actually unique, in what. However, my loyal, trusty librarian, Joe Specht of Abilene, points out having been on not just one major label, rare enough in itself, but two, A&M putting K that the word ‘tribute’ should have come between ‘ET’‘Set and ’Em Up Joe,’ out Homeland in 1989 while Warner Bros released Destiny’s Gate in 1994 and which was actually written by Gosdin, Hank Cochran, Murray Cannon & Dean Dillon, Dreaming From The Labyrinth/Sonar Del Laberinto in 1996/1997. With playing off Two Glasses Joe, written specially for Ernest Tubb by Cindy Walker. three other albums on Watermelon and four on Rounder, by 2000, she’d averaged • Joe also tells me that chapter #47 of Steve Eng’sA Satisfied Mind (Rutledge an album a year, again pretty unusual, but then she became the very unlikely subject Hill Press, 1992) is devoted to ‘The All-Girl Band—The Right Combination,’which of lurid DUI and border drug bust headlines. This, after all, was an artist with a Porter Wagoner put together in late 1983, with, as noted, Wanda Vick (guitar, notoriously sedate crowd—I remember a club booker once telling me, “I love Tish, fiddle, banjo) and Nancy Given (drums), plus Lisa Spears (steel guitar), Glenda but she kills us at the bar.” I’m sure it’s pure coincidence, but of the three people Kniphfer (acoustic guitar), Becky Hinson (bass) and Patti Clements (keyboards). who first come to mind when thinking of musicians who’ve pulled off a complete • How much would you pay to see Lyle Lovett? How about $500, or $1000 for rehabilitation, Hinojosa and Rick Broussard were born in San Antonio, while Steve reserved seating? Oh, but you have to buy tickets in blocks of ten, so that’ll actually Earle was raised there, pick the bones out of that. Despite, or perhaps because, of be $5000 for the cheapskates, $10,000 for the front row fans, and that’s not for The what she’s been through, La Sirena is once again at the top of her game, singing Large Band, just The Acoustic Group. FAR reporter/Border Blaster Todd Jagger beautifully and reunited with Marvin Dykhuis, who coproduced with her, plays more (Border Blast, KRTS, Marfa, TX) sent me the “I shit you not” skinny on Lovett’s May instruments than you shake a stick at, including pedal steel, and rather merits co 30th benefit for local arts complex Ballroom Marfa, which, you will be amazed to billing, while the 12 originals, two cowritten with Buddy Cannon, one, Mi Pueblo, hear, didn’t draw many locals. Todd says, “I was told there were three private jets at with David Rodriguez and another, the title track, with Dykhuis, are up there with the Marfa airport. For the most part Marfa has dealt with the influx of New York/LA her best work. The backings, on various tracks, feature Richard Bowden violin, David art types and well-to-do patrons amazingly well, but this kind of thing really rubs Carroll upright bass, Chip Dolan accordion, Randy Glines harmonica, Michael Hearne that economic disparity in people’s faces. They could’ve at least had some bridge toacoustic guitar, Glenn Kawamoto bass and the late Greg Leisz pedal steel, with guest the community; you know, bring a few dozen kids from the schools or something.” appearances by Carrie Rodriguez, violin and duet vocals on Mi Pueblo, Rosie Flores • I’ve had some fun with theAmericana Music Association’s award and, not altogether successfully, Dale Watson. JC nominations in the past, but this year, apart from wondering how Justin Townes Earle gets to be New & Emerging two years running, maybe they’re just going to keep GRANT PEEPLES • P awnshop nominating him until he wins the bastard, the list is a real snorer. For Album o f the (Gatorbone # # # # ) Year, between Alejandro Escovedo’sReal Animal, Buddy & Julie Miller’sWritten teve James still personifies the marriage of Art & Grit (Discovery, 1996), but in Chalk; Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit and Justin Townes Earle’sMidnight SPeeples, based in the armpit of Florida, is sure no stranger to the concept. As At The Movies, I really don’t give a shit, I could name a dozen albums better than with James, the art is in the exceptional musicianship, arrangements and production, any of these. Ditto for Artist o f the Year, Alejandro Escovedo, Buddy Miller, Justin the grit in the equally exceptional material and delivery. I have to say that I could Townes Earle or Raul Malo. For Instrumentalist o f the Year, I have to back Gurf live without the closing Jesus Was A Revolutionary (“he died in the electric chair of Morlix over Buddy Miller, Jerry Douglas and Sam Bush, and for New & Emerging his day”)—the problem with Guthrie-esque songwriting is, well, you can finish this Artist, I have to go with Sarah Borges, who Joan Hathaway and Kate Walker told sentence yourself with no trouble. Balanced against it though are more than enough me was ‘new & emerging’ five years ago, when she first appeared 3CMon Presents, real winners, notably Leaving Her Was Easy (“once I’d made up her mind”),I Know over Band of Heathens, Belleville Outfit or Justin Townes Earle. Then it’s back to Why The Poets Drink And Smoke, Better Jobs Down In Richmond and, outstandingly, don’t give a shit forSong o f the Year, between Julie Miller’sChalk, The Gourds’ the anthemic, ultra-gritty rural backroads Real Country (“this is real country, and Country Love, Joe Ely, Jimmie Dale Gilmore & Butch Hancock’sHomeland Refugee, it ain’t pretty”). As Gurf Morlix remarked ofIt’s Later Than You Think (2008), Kasey Chambers & Shane Nicholson’sRattlin’Bones and Rodney Crowell’sSex And “writers like this are hard to come by.” Incidentally, if you drop Peeples an address, Gasoline, and more of the same for Duo/Group o f the Year, Buddy & Julie Miller, he’ll mail you a copy; “I sent $1200 to a guy I’d never met or spoken to and he sent The Flatlanders. Kasey Chambers & Shane Nicholson and Reckless Kelly. me a Telecaster I wanted. That got me thinking, why can’t I just do that with my • Another music magazine goes belly up, Performing Songwriter has called records? If I trusted that guy. why don’t I just trust people to send me payment for it quits after 118 issues, with, it seems, no plans to join the undead on the Internet. some songs?” He even includes an SASE to make it painless. JC I hardly ever picked up a copy as it had an uncanny ability to run cover stories on people in whom I have absolutely no interest—would you spring $8 for a magazine JERRY SIRES B A N D » Live A t J ovita’s with Pink on the cover? Still, I was mildly annoyed by the press release which claimed (Caliche P it# # # .5 ) that “Performing Songwriter helped usher in the DIY movement: PS was the first aving just given John Doe a ration of shit, it may seem rather contradictory magazine to recognize and support independent musicians and their work.” I make Hto commend someone else for doing the exact same thing, but where Doe’s no such claim whatsoever, but six of the eight albums reviewed in the first issue of album of country classics was an ‘Eve completely run out of ideas’ holding action, Music City, five years before Performing Songwriter launched, were self-released, Sires and his Austin vets are chronicling what they do most weekends, when the and such albums have been a constant ever since. This is in no way highminded Day Jobs allow, which is play hardcore honky tonk. They’ll never get rich or famous crusading altruism, just a reflection of how things were in Austin in 1989 and still with their energetic versions of Drivin’ Nails In My Coffin, Walk On By, I Like My are now that 3CM has a wider catchment area. I’m sure much the same was, and Chicken Frying Size, Two Glasses Joe, I Never Go Around Mirrors, San Francisco still is, true for any magazine covering local or noncommercial music. Bay Blues, Don’t Be Angry and Wild Side O f Life, leavened with the more obscure • I run into Brits every now and then, but usually all we have in common is a craving Woman Down In Memphis, Bully O f The Town, Greg Brown’sEarly, Sires’Dodging for real deal fish & chips. However, a couple of weeks ago, at a garden party Will T Bullets and, bonus tracks originally released on Jerry Sires & The Stallions’Live At Massey threw for Tish Hinojosa, I visited with Immy, who runs a club/vegetarian Stubbs (1989), I Found Me A Trailer That Matches My Truck, Daddy-0 and Old restaurant in Camden Town, round the corner from a bookstore where I worked for Hand At Singing Inside, but that’s not the point. They’re in this for love of the music some years, and lives less than a block away from my onetime drum in Kentish Town, and if Gram Parsons wanted a good saloon in every single town, I want a band at least so I had a good time brushing up on the old, though apparently much changed, hood. as good as this in every one of those saloons. On one level, there’s as little reason to I’d not heard tell ofThe Green Note,but when I dug out a couple three issues of the buy this album as Doe’s, on another, there’s a genuinely important one—support a mag for her, Immy told me that half the people I’d reviewed had played at her place, local country band, someday they may be scarce. JC and, for a 65-seater, the list on her MySpace page is staggering, kind of the Cactus Cafe of North London. One difference, as Michael Fracasso was disconcerted to K AREN MAL • T he Space Between discover, after his opening act ran way over time, is that most of the audience has to (Waterbug # # # # ) bail well before midnight so they can catch the last underground trains home. ou know you’ve been gone too long when someone you actually like gives you • Sad to hear about the death of keyboard player Barry Beckett, a very amiable Y a CD that’s been out for a year or so. Though I hadn’t seen her in way too long, bloke whom I met in 1973 under rather ludicrous circumstances. For demented rock Mai still looks like Botticelli’s favorite model and still sings like a seductive angel star reasons, Traffic decided to hire the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, Beckett, but maybe plays guitar and mandolin even better than I remember. In theory, Mai’s Roger Hawkins and David Hood, for a British tour and I got hired on to help handle original songs are more soft-core than I generally favor, but as Michael Jaworek of the extra work. My abiding memory of the tour was Traffic’s road manager paying us The Birchmere puts it. “They are sweet without being precious,” a particularly good after a Birmingham gig and remarking, “This is the first time we made enough money example being the AA Milne-sounding When I Was Three, which could have been to cover the Rhythm Section.” Bear in mind that, among the top session players in unbearably twee but instead is very poignant. With stellar backing (Marvin Dykhuis, America, they were charging Traffic their session rates. OK, maybe this is one for Chris Gage et al), a classic ‘could sing the telephone book’ voice and twelve well-crafted the musicians and music biz people among you. songs, this an unabashedly folkie album you could easily learn to love. JC C o w I s l a n d A iw ic COUNTRY, ROCKABILLY, HONKY TONK, WESTERN, SWING AND Ait STOPS ALONG THE WAY Upcoming Dates:
Jfel - 7/7 Mucky Duck, Houston, TX 7/8 Cactus Cafe, Austin, TX 7/10 Woody Guthrie Folk Festival O kem a h, O K VM Saxon Pub, Austin. TX 7/22 Candlelight, San A ntonio. TX 7/30 Main Street Crossing, Tom ball, TX 8/1 Room with a View, Salt Lake City, UT 8/7 Big Top Chautauqua, Bayfield, Wl | g (supporting Joan Baez) t i’l M o and the Mooieats O n The Moon Celebrating her third studio release M on ica "LSI ||j|Po$s>iri’s ; celebration of American Music: Country,; A rty Hilt Heat Sin Water Skin Rockabilly, Co(u»/Zyd®G% R&8 gr?d even a Back On The Roil Lpfjfc Produced by G u r f Morlix little "6G's pop, the little gal from NYC with Reissue of Arty Hill’s debut recording, ^ Featuring “Never Knew No Love” the big beautiful voice has .done it again. twelve original songs written by Arty and played with ccrwtcfton by the Available Now at www.BettySoo.com : Also available at iTunes m l i r E Hjj jft | J P.O. BOX 51979 t BOSTON, MA'’tl2205 I wwfv.cowislandmusic.com j UtJ®6 ir & Waterloo Records 1 BIH m w I For more information about BetiySoo, dates, or to get in touch, please visit BettySoo.com .... . :
Country is as country WAS
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CONOfTIONep$ oa Sj&uh mjmptmtii MoonHouse Records PO Box 41021, Austin, TX www.MOONHOUSERECORDS.com CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL T he Concert (Concord/Fantasy $&$&$$$&) hile writing about BettySoo last month, I had a wild hair, instead of agonizing over cover stories, in future, I’d just call Gurf Morlix and ask him Wif any album he’d produced would be coming out next month. However, the follow-up question—does a story come with it?—takes us out of his area of expertise and into mine. Indeed, last month, Gurf was the hook (for some reason, 7609 Islander Dr, Austin, TX 78749 some reviewers thought he was an odd choice, but I imagine BettySoo figured the 512/712-5574 • [email protected] best was good enough). If most albums offer little in the way of a reasonably interesting backstory, the publisher/editor • John Conquest 40th anniversary reissue of The Concert, aka The Albert Hall Concert (Fantasy, SUBSCRIPTIONS (12 Issues) 1980), while rather jumping the gun, is rich with possibilities. For instance, CCR is clear proof that if some bands can operate as democracies, for the most part they US/Canada • $18 (1st class)/$6 (email, PDFs) need what in Britain we called a guv’nor, someone in charge, making decisions. John Elsewhere • $30 (air mail)/$6 (email, PDFs) Fogerty’s insistence on total control eventually caused the the band’s breakup, but Mardi Gras (Fantasy, 1972), on which he let bassplayer Stu Cook and drummer SPONSOR REVIEWS CODE Doug Clifford record their own songs, made his point. The experiment was, from Killer Fogerty’s point of view, totally successful, the album a disaster, while the solo career What's not to like? of his elder brother Tom, who had already quit, can most kindly be described as low FARM key. What the others couldn’t accept was that without John Fogerty’s direction, they’d Can do better still be playing bars in their hometown of El Cerrito, CA, at best. Friends of Why did they bother? CCR is also, for me, clear proof that the 45 was the pinnacle of recording A m erican Piss on this noise technology, and Fogerty a perfect master of the format. Though they had six platinum ? I don't get it LPs, two hitting #1, CCR was derided as a singles band by critics so obsessed with Roots Music rock’s pretensions that they couldn’t allow themselves to enjoy a great rock & roll % Fraction of what you pay for band, but Fogerty saw clearly that the band’s future lay with hit singles. Elated by the success of CCR’s remake of Dale Hawkins’Suzie Q, which got to #11 in the Billboard WHERE IS THIS LIVE MUSIC CAPITAL OF charts, depressed by the relative failure of Screaming Jay Hawkins’I Put A Spell On You, which peaked at #58, he was vindicated by an incredible string of original and double-sided hits, starting with Proud Mary/Born On The Bayou at #2 (beaten by THE WORLD OF WHICH YOU SPEAK? Tommy Roe’sDizzy !), which made CCR one of the top bands of its day. Of course, it irst off, I’m going to refer you to Scott Unzicker’s articleKeep Austin Quiet helped that Fogerty could write, and CCR deliver, two great three minutes max songs (there’s a link at www.scottunzicker.com), an invaluable guide to Austin’sat a time when they were surrounded by jam bands—famously, CCR didn’t get to F Kafkaesque zoning labyrinth. Among other things, Unzicker points out play at Woodstock until 3am, after The Grateful Dead had put everyone to sleep. that the new noise limit being enforced is 70 dBs, not, as reported by the Austin CCR’s success, in turn, leads to the difficulty of explaining to people who didn’t American-Statesman, 75. This is a big difference. Decibels have been described as have to live through the late 60s and early 70s, just how far out out of step the band the most misunderstood measurement since the cubit because they’re not units but was at the time. Today, their synthesis of rockabilly, swamp pop, R&B and country logarithms—80 isn’t a bit louder than 70, it’stwice as loud. can easily be described as roots rock, which is fair enough, but that was a term that As Austin restaurant venues work to find solutions, ranging from shutting down only came into use in the 80s—one band does not a genre make. However, even if their music voluntarily, finding loopholes like reclassifying as cocktail lounges or the roots rock pigeon hole didn’t yet exist, CCR’s distinctive sound clearly struck a applying for rezoning, it’s time someone put the blame for this assault on Austin music chord. While I’m not claiming that their singles and albums wereonly bought by where it belongs, with Council member and fiber-square Laura Morrison, who, last marginalized music lovers, I am, nonetheless, convinced that CCR tapped into an February, didn’t just dust off a 20 year old ordinance that had never been enforced audience that wasn’t buying much of anything else that made the bestseller charts. but requested implementation be declared an emergency, stating at that same session The UK charts demonstrated that CCR also had a considerable following in that some clubs already operate at 70 dBs, which is impossible—if they did, the music Britain, hence their (sold out) appearance at The Royal Albert Hall. Though I was at would be drowned out by the traffic outside and the conversation inside. Morrison that show, on April 14th, 1970,1 couldn’t for the life of me tell you what they played, was elected with the support of Austin’s notorious ‘neighborhood associations’ andbut it probably wasn’t much different from the January 30th show at Oakland is now enabling their crankier members to shut music down whenever they want Coliseum, which turned out to be where what was originally dubbed The Albert instead of having to wait until 10pm. A quirk in Austin’s ordinance is that you don’tHall Concert was actually recorded. have to be able to hear the music at all to call 911 and complain, though I have to say The Concert has had mixed reactions over the years, some claiming that the that if Austin’s cops have nothing better to do than shut down Sahara Smith—of all live versions of their hits, Born On The Bayou, Green River, Travelin’ Band, Bad people!—at Shady Grove, there’s a lot more trimmable fat in the APD’s budget. Moon Rising, Proud Mary, Fortunate Son, Commotion, Down On The Corner and To be fair to the neighborhoods, or at least to long time residents—if you moved Who’ll Stop The Rain, plus the album tracks Tombstone Shadow and Night Time next door to Freddie’s or Shady Grove and then started complaining, screw you, Is The Right Time from Green River, Don’t Look Now and Midnight Special from asshole—the root of the situation which Morrison has elevated into a problem is Willy & The Poor Boys and Keep On Chooglin’ from Bayou Country, weren’t that UT students took over 6th Street and turned it into the cover band, fake ID, as well defined as the studio takes, while others, on the contrary, thought they stuck fuck me pumps, amateur shot drinking capital of the world. Time was, you could too close to the studio versions, either way making the album redundant. Sometimes walk between The Black Cat Lounge, Steamboat 1874, Chicago House, Joe’s Generic, you just can’t win. Headliners East, Raven’s, Liberty Lunch, Babe’s, The Ritz and Chances, all long gone, Frankly, I don’t get either of these criticisms. Recorded at the band’s peak, there’s in large part because their crowds couldn’t take 6th Street anymore. This created an obvious energy in the live performances, particularly the five minute opener, Born opportunities in the residential areas on the periphery, with, as I recall, Grizwald’s On The Bayou, and nine minute closer, Chooglin’ that , takes me back to a show, OK, taking the lead, rather ironically in the location that is now Freddie’s, Morrison’sthe ‘wrong’ show, that was such a highlight that it didn’t come close to being rivaled first victim. until Joe Ely came over seven years later. In between, the only thing that made the Where things will get interesting is seeing how the Austin City Council deals 70s tolerable was that I was stoned most all of the time. Well, you had to be. with the ACL Festival in October and SXSW next March. It’s not that the two events If Tom Fogerty, Stu Cook and Doug Clifford hadn’t been such self-centered, won’t be granted waivers to exceed 85 dBs, the maximum allowable anywhere, any shortsighted dickheads, CCR might still be the greatest rock & roll band in the world fool knows that’s going to happen, it’show they justify those waivers without actually (Tom died in 1990, but the trio, by all accounts, functioned just fine without him). saying that there’s one rule for the locals and another altogether for ACL and SXSW Mind you, Cook and Clifford, neither of whom ever had a remotely comparable gig because of the huge tax revenue they generate from hotels and restaurants. again, seem belatedly to have realized their mistake, forming a CCR cover band, Still, be to be on the safe side, I’m making nice with venues in Manchaca, the Creedence Clearwater Revisited, like who gives a shit? Then again, CCR lived fast, died future ‘Live Music Capital of the Live Music Capital of the World.’ Meanwhile, Austinyoung and, apart from Mardi Gras, left a goodlooking corpus. As Joe Specht says, will be renamed Pleasantville, TX, where everyone has the right not to be offended for some of us, for whom their singles and LPs were oases in a musical wilderness, by anything. JC CCR can never ever mean Cross Canadian Ragweed, no matter what. JC l U l Y 2 0 0 9 Uled l/t • llonk llarri/on Trio (cafe) Thu 2nd • (Hike Phelan & Ron Young (cafe) fri 3rd • fir/t fridoy: lo/ Rle/colero/ (cafe. 6pm) milch Webb & The Swindle/ (church. 9pm) Sol 9th • CIOSGD for the 4th. Tue 7th • michael martin (cafe) Wed 8th • Ro/ey*/ fflon Cru/h & friend/ (cafe) Thu 9th • TBfl fri 10th • Siren/ n* Root/: Aly Todro/. Alye Block & Sarah Peacock (church) Sot 11 th • Paulo Bel/on Bond (church) Sun 12th • Go/pel Brunch with Gar food Go/pel Orche/tro (church. noon-Spm) AT THE CHURCH Tue 14th • Bell Butler & Joel Dilley (cafe) Wed 15th • Ca/beer/ Campfire (cafe) new location Thu 16th • Tremoloco + Jerry Gidden/ (church) 1150 South niamo fri 17th • Will Taylor & String/ Attached (church) Sot 18th -TBA Son Ontonio, TX 78010 Tue 2 l/t • Open mike w/Glenn & Kim (cafe) 010/071-7791 Wed 22nd • Gorfood tlootenony (cafe) Thu 25rd • Aaron Ginhou/e (cafe) full Bar/draft beer fri 24th • Belt Butler (church) Beautiful Patio Sot 25th • SPIASSA llorry Hour floppy Toil/ (patio) Tue 28th • Ruben Y (cafe) Expanded menu with our famou/ fri 5 l/t • Beou/oleil ovec michael Doucet (church) Enchilada/ & Burner/ www.ca/beer/.com Buy-Sell-Trade 2213 South I st 2928 Guadalupe Austin, Tx. 78705 (512) 322-0660
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