August 09 Newsletter --------------------------------------- Yesterday & Today Records PO Box 54 Miranda NSW 2228 ph/fax: (02) 95311710 email: [email protected] web site: www.yesterdayandtoday.com.au ------------------------------------------- Unfortunately there has been a slight postage increase, brought about by our friends at Australia Post. 1 cd $2/ 2 cds $3/ 3-4 cds $6.50 We will send registered or express as requested. New and just in. Hillside Records Country Song Roundup $30 This is new recordings on the Hillside label with special guest and musical director in Justin Trevino. Justin is still on the Heart of Texas label and his 4 songs (of a very generous 21). I can’t say I have heard Kenny Seratt before but that is mainly through lack of material available more so than anything else but lo & behold if he doesn’t sound like Lefty, which is particularly weird on “Hank & Lefty Raised My Country Soul”!! He appears on 5 songs and none are less than sensational. What a voice!! Jerry Inman is also fine on three tracks. He was once voted the CMA’s Best Newcomer of the Year. Well he is close to the best on this. The remaining songs feature Curtis Potter, Darrell McCall and Ray Sanders in various trios, duos and solo spots. These are different to the “Texas Dance Hall Music” cd. Curtis Potter, who recorded a duet album on step One with Willie Nelson, is a superb Ray price style vocalist (as if I had to actually tell Y & T regulars) and is grand on “January, April & Me”. A must have cd and one where everyone will agree there are 21 gems. All are only on this cd!! DVD Heart of Texas Records Proudly Present Ernest Tubb Record Shops Midnight Jamboree $35 After the Grand Ol Opry would finish many of the cast would make the short walk across Broadway (the Nashville Broadway that is) to the original Ernest Tubb Record Shop where a small stage was set up in the rear and they would do an encore if you like which was broadcast to radio. The shows still continue but are now at the Ernest Tubb Records Store in Music Valley Way rather than the original store. Occasionally the show will go on tour and this is how this dvd originates. Recorded in Brady, Texas in March 2009, this dvd offers 2 hours of some of the absolute gentry of country music, particularly the Yesterday & Today Records variety. There is Justin Trevino and Amber Digby (both together & alone), Darrell McCall (what a charismatic guy), Leona Williams, James Hand, Heather Myles, Frankie Miller, Big Bill Lister, Ferlin Husky etc. Then there are great contributions by the likes of Kimberley Murray, Rance Norton, Robert Mizzell (had one album by him a fair while back) and Mona McCall!! The band is under the direction of Justin Trevino. Just watch how Justin plays bass guitar. You would think you could go out and buy one and play with a similar level of dexterity; he just makes it looks so darn easy!! The band also features the brilliant Dickey Overby on steel guitar and there are few if any better. There is a bonus interview with David McCormick who has been the owner of the ET Record Stores (and hence owner of Midnight Jamboree) for a long time. A very sad legacy of the final years of the great Justin Tubb (after whom Justin Trevino is named). Seeing Justin Trevino and Amber Digby perform “How’s the World Treating You” is just mesmerising. Other Recent dvds (3 of ‘em….they are just not releasing them) DVD Jason Aldean – Wide Open Live and More $28 90 minutes of one of the bright new artists. Recorded live in Tennessee. DVD Old Crow Medicine Show – Live at the Orange Peel & Tennessee Theatre $25 70 minutes including quite a few tracks not on their cds. 1.Hard To Love 2.Down Home Girl 3.Trials & Troubles 4.I Hear Them All 5.Wheeling Breakdown 6.Raise A Ruckus 7.Caroline 8.Mary's Kitchen 9.Alabama High-Test 10.Reuben's Train 11.Hard To Tell 12.Humdinger 13.Next Go 'Round 14.Tennessee Pusher 15.Sally Ann 16.Wagon Wheel 17.Tell It To Me 18.Fall On My Knees 19.Tell It To Me (Reprise) 20.CC Rider 21. Shack #9 DVD + CD Sugarland Live on the Inside (only sold at Walmart stores in USA. NOT available elsewhere . The cd is an album of covers of such things as b52s “Love shack” plus other pop covers. The DVD has 16 tracks and over one hour of hits from their previous albums Joey Allcorn “All Alone Again” $30 This is the second cd by Joey and is right up to the quality of the previous “50 Years Too Late” which rated very highly in our 2006 Best of List. That album featured an appearance by Hank Williams III and indeed comparisons are apt between he and Joey. Joey is probably a slightly lower register but leaves Hank III for dead as far as backing goes. The backing on this is even an improvement on the first. The opening track “Honky Tonk Ramblin’ Man” is just a knockout. It features Chris Casello on guitar and steel guitar and he sounds like a one man Jimmy Bryant and Speedy West. He is joined by Hank Singer on fiddle and in places Chris Scruggs (son of Randy Scruggs & Gail Davies & a BR549 member) on guitar and the great Don Helms on steel guitar, in what is possibly his last recording. And just for good measure Lloyd Green drops in to lend a hand. “Lonesome, Lovesick Man” is classic. The songs are such a high quality that during our recent first ever garage sale (that was the special news from our last newsletter… it was basically by invitation and we will be having another prior Christmas. If you would like an invitation please let me know) we sold out of our first shipment. That was 15 copies and whilst it may be a tad short of a gold record it still is pretty good to sell straight off the bat to people listening to it for the first time. Truly, everyone wanted it and that is no surprise, as it is that good. All the material is of the highest standard. “Have At It Darlin’” is a great driving song. “Honky Tonk Hell” is the place where Joey sees as his final place for him and his ilk. Great references to the songs of Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, Ernest Tubb etc. Lloyd Green punctuates ever line with a mini solo. Uncompromisingly full on country throughout. Every song has a classic feel that you have to remind yourself all 13 have a 2009 copyright and are all Joey Allcorn originals. “Waiting by the Railroad Track” reminds a little of “Orange Blossom Special”. You can see the train!! For a change of pace he even manages a Hank style yodel on the “All Alone Again”, the album’s concluding track. Album of the year? Well I give it ten out of ten and would even add half a star on to that due his facial resemblance to Curly of the Three Stooges. A must have for all. We have a handful of his earlier “50 Years Too Late” for $30. There are no more once these go. Leon Russell – “Best of Hank Wilson” $30 Hank Wilson is Leon’s country alter ego. The first album, “Hank Wilson’s Back” was on Asylum Records back in the early 70s and was as important as the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s “Will the Circle Be Unbroken” in introducing real country music to a new audience. The songs that were on that original album have been re- recorded by Leon for this venture. There are also 3 songs that are additions to his Hank Wilson album set list, they being “San Antonio Rose”, “You Win Again’ and “Ballad of Jed Clampett”. There were 4 Hank Wilson cds altogether with the final one being the mid 90s “Rhythm and Bluegrass” which featured New Grass revival. I would suggest that even if you had all 4 you would be such a Leon nutter that you would want this for the bonus tracks and new recordings. “He Stopped Loving Her Today” is given a great reading and features Willie Nelson and whilst the album is pure country an exception is “Sixteen Tons” which owes a lot to Ray Charles. 22 tracks and well over an hour has Pete the Quaker rubbing his hands in great value joy. Leon is such a fine interpretative singer that it leaves you wanting more! Johnny Paycheck “Nowhere to Run: The Little Darln’ Years 1966-1970” $28 Johnny Paycheck was a self destructive, troublemaking nutter who in his very brief heyday (but represented in everything on this cd) was the greatest hard country singer ever and even made the likes of George Jones seem like a picture of sobriety in comparison. During the period of these recordings Paycheck was a touring member of George Jones’ band, “The Jones Boys” and featured on some Jones’ recordings. Under the auspices of Aubrey Mayhew and backed by some of the greatest country musicians in Lloyd Green, Pete Wade, Jerry Smith and Buddy Spicer. Paycheck’s recordings had a rawness that was his trademark. 8 of the songs on this album are previously unreleased and “Pint of No Return” has some classic wordplay. The cd “Real Mr Heartache: The little Darlin’ Years” was issued on the Country Music Foundation label and had classics such as “(Pardon Me) I’ve Got Someone to Kill” and “He’s In a Hurry (To Get Home to My Wife” which were brilliant.