jcshepard's Last.fm Journal

If You Don't Like Hank, You Can Kiss My Country...

Sat, 26 Jan 2013 19:52:42 +0000

Pop Country pretty-boy Mr. Miranda Lambert opened mouth and insert foot, letting out an apparently unfiltered "F*ck You" to Roots and Traditional Country fans. Blake Shelton tells GAC TV:
Nobody wants to listen to their grandpa’s music. And I don’t care how many of these old farts around Nashville going, “My God, that ain’t country!” Well that’s because you don’t buy records anymore, jackass. The kids do, and they don’t want to buy the music you were buying.
The man with no hat goes on to attack the legend Ray Price in the Twitterverse... Yeah, I think we know who the donkey's behind is sitting back there in NashVegas. SavingCountryMusic.com nicely points out that market studies actually find the reverse. It's us "old farts" that have the disposable income to actually BUY (not stream) music, and Country Radio is hemorrhaging listeners as they pop-ify the airwaves.

I think Dale Watson sums it up nicely here:
I'D RATHER BE AN OLD FART THAN A NEW COUNTRY TURD
.

.
P.S. Mr. Blake, at 36 you're pretty much an "Old Fart" yourself, take it from one just a couple years closer to the grave.

JCs Scrobbles Most Scrobbled in 2012

Tue, 1 Jan 2013 22:30:58 +0000

2012 is the year I gave into streaming. For a number of reasons it was easier to put KRFC-FM or MPR's Radio Heartland on stream than putz with a scrobble client, and when I did it was mostly on Random in the background. Two noticeable exceptions from two performing songwriters--Gretchen Peters' excellent new release Hello Cruel World, and Marybeth D'Amico's 2011 release The Light Inside that was new to me in 2012.

After 8 years in the wilderness, I left a small town in a large state for a larger city in the smallest state. The search for a new setting set back my search for new music. Will 2013 restore the old JC's search for the best and brightest in Americana? Or will I go softly into that good night of streaming other people's picks? The new iOS Scrobbler is a good start for my iPad/iPhone, tho Spotify is claiming more ear-time while I'm at home... However, my large city in a small state lies just across the line from Colorado's Front Range and all the musical attractions that implies. We shall see.

Top Scrobbled Artists of 2012
1. Alison Krauss / Alison Krauss & Union Station
2. Johnny Cash
3. Lyle Lovett
4. Dwight Yoakam
5. Emmylou Harris
6. Tom Russell
7. Willie Nelson
8. Merle Haggard
9. Patty Griffin
10. Audrey Auld / AUDREY AULD MEZERA
11. Graham Lindsey
12. Steve Earle
13. Drive-By Truckers
14. Gillian Welch
15. Marybeth D'Amico
16. Gretchen Peters
17. Corb Lund
18. Gram Parsons
19. Cowboy Junkies
20. Lynyrd Skynyrd

Top Scrobbled Albums of 2012
1. Merle Haggard - Legendary Hits [Disc 1] / Legendary Hits [Disc 2]
2. Marybeth D'Amico - The Light Inside
3. Waylon Jennings - The Essential Waylon Jennings
4. Hank Williams - 20 Of Hank Williams' Greatest Hits
5. Gram Parsons - Sacred Hearts and Fallen Angels: Gram Parsons Anthology [Disc 2]
6. Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys - The Essential Bob Wills: 1935-1947
6. Steve Earle - I'll Never Get Out Of This World Alive
8. Sand Sheff - Free On This Mountain
9. George Strait - 50 Number Ones
10. Willie Nelson - Teatro
11. Gillian Welch - The Harrow & The Harvest
12. Gretchen Peters - Hello Cruel World

Top Scrobbled Tracks of 2012
1. Emmylou Harris - If I Needed You
2. Trisha Yearwood - Perfect Love
3. James Blunt - I Really Want You
4. Graham Lindsey - The Bird That Lived in a Burning Tree
5. Drive-By Truckers - Used to Be a Cop
6. Gram Parsons - Love Hurts
7. Adrienne Young / Adrienne Young & Little Sadie - Hills and Hollers / Hills & Hollers
7. Sand Sheff - Free On This Mountain
9. Baskery - One Horse Down
10. Old Crow Medicine Show - Caroline
10. Bleu Edmondson - Finger On the Trigger
12. Graham Lindsey - No Way Out but Down
12. Rodney Crowell - I Know Love Is All I Need

###

Americana Music Awards for 2012

Thu, 13 Sep 2012 16:20:25 +0000

And the Americana winners are...

Americana Music Awards and Honors 2012 Award Winners:
Instrumentalist of the Year: Dave Rawlings
Album of the Year: This One’s For Him: A Tribute to Guy Clark; produced by Tamara Saviano and Shawn Camp
Song Of The Year Award : “Alabama Pines;” Written by Jason Isbell and performed by Jason Isbell And The 400 Unit
Emerging Artist of the Year: Alabama Shakes
Artist of the Year: Gillian Welch
Duo/group of the Year: The Civil Wars
Lifetime Achievement for Performance: Bonnie Raitt
Lifetime Achievement Award for Instrumentalist: Booker T. Jones
Lifetime Achievement Award for Songwriting: Richard Thompson
Lifetime Achievement Award for Executive: Dennis Lord
Better than last year. I disagree with the Civil Wars, way too pop for my taste even without their Taylor Swift episode. Overall, tho, more grit and soul. Well done.
.

11th AMA on the 12th a Bakers Dozen of Americana and Then Some

Thu, 6 Sep 2012 22:39:50 +0000

Americana fans, here we go again. I was going to title this the Good, Bad and the Ugly, but I didn't think y'all needed me going all political with you and the Empty Chairs. PR from AMA

September 5, 2012, Nashville: The Americana Music Association announced today the list of performers and presenters to appear on the 11th annual Americana Honors & Awards, presented by Nissan, Wednesday, September 12 at the historic Ryman Auditorium.

The performer list includes the best and brightest icons and rising stars: Bonnie Raitt, Alabama Shakes, Booker T. Jones, Carolina Chocolate Drops, Deep Dark Woods, Hayes Carll with Cary Ann Hearst, Guy Clark, Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, John Hiatt, Justin Townes Earle, Kasey Chambers & Shane Nicholson, Punch Brothers, Tom T. Hall with Lee Ann Womack and Peter Cooper, Robert Ellis, Sarah Jarosz, The Mavericks, Richard Thompson, and an all-star finale tribute to Levon Helm.

The list of Americana luminaries extends to the presenters of the awards featuring The Civil Wars, Patterson Hood, Sara Watkins, Brandi Carlile, Amy Helm, Sam Bush, Bruce Robison & Kelly Willis, Allison Moorer, Rodney Crowell, Mike Mills, Jody Stephens and The Wallflowers.

Americana fans can choose one of many ways to watch or listen to the spectacular lineup live from The Ryman Auditorium on September 12. The Americana Honors & Awards, presented by Nissan will be airing live on AXS TV, NPR.org, Sirius/XM and WSM (7pm CT/8pm ET). “Austin City Limits,” will broadcast an edited special November 10th. Voice of America and Bob Harris of BBC2 will broadcast overseas in the following weeks.

The program, described by Paste Magazine as “the best awards show in the world,” will again be helmed by the best two men for the job, host Jim Lauderdale and band leader Buddy Miller. Miller will be leading and performing with the All-Star Band that includes Don Was, Rami Jaffee, Brady Blade & Larry Campbell.

The awards show kicks off the festival with more than 100 official showcases throughout Music City. Last year more than 12,000 fans enjoyed the festival’s musical events...

Brandi Carlile? Really? Since I still don't buy into The Civil Wars in our little Americana fraternity (fratricide?) I guess I'll grin and bear it. On the upside, i hear Gretchen Peters and Mary Gauthier will be there, too. And no way I've got the $$$ to attend, even if I could get the time off work... Anyway, I'll try not to delay my witty critique of everything they screw up in the Awards next week.

.

Grammys 2012: Not So Chorney

Sun, 26 Feb 2012 18:33:14 +0000

The good news about the 54th Grammys is that it could have been worse. Without reason, I continue to hope that this venerable institution will do right by the music. Instead, the collective continues to do right by the marketers. It's who you know, not what you know. One day I'll learn that lesson.

Select Results of Some Americana-ish Interest in the 2011 Grammy Season, awarded in February 2012

Best New Artist: Bon Iver I've at least heard.

Rock Performance, etc: I don't mind the Foo Fighters (not an Americana-ish comment, just a complimentary comment in the could-have-been-worse vein)

Most of the "Country" categories: Nashvegas marketers win again (insert disparaging remarks about Taylor Swift here, tho I will say this, she's the best pop star out of Nashville since Faith Hill)

Best Country Duo/Group Performance: Barton Hollow Many of my go-to Americana tweeters like The Civil Wars. I've avoided them simply because it's a stupid name for a band. (Like MTV I also asked Who the hell are The Civil Wars?) Definitely defiantly file under coulda-been-worse. I had a guilty favorite in Thompson Square due to a family member in the band, but oh well, see above Country comments there.

Best Americana Album: Nominations for the much anticipated category 43 caused quite a commotion this year. Unknown New Jersey pop singer Linda Chorney's bid exposed major flaws in the system... or highlighted that faith, hope and determination can overcome all barriers (including talent). Take your pick. My biggest beef with Chorney is the same beef as with the marketers overall--they have no idea what "Americana" is, and didn't care.
Other Americana nominees included Ry Cooder (Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down), Emmylou Harris (Hard Bargain) and Lucinda Williams (Blessed). I would love to see a Linda v Lucinda cage match--Williams would blow the upstart off the stage before ever picking up a guitar. Levon Helm brought the trophy home for Ramble At The Ryman, an safe choice, but a hundred other artists on the AMA radio charts were worthy.

Best Bluegrass Album: Alison Krauss & Union Station take it home again for Paper Airplane. Love Alison Krauss, yes I do, tho I consider this album more Americana than Bluegrass like so much of her work... (They got another trophy in cat 64, Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical, in which Gillian Welch's album The Harrow & The Harvest was also nominated.) Other nominees, all worthy, included Jim Lauderdale, Steve Martin & the Steep Canyon Rangers, The Del McCoury Band, Ralph Stanley, and Chris Thile & Michael Daves.

Best Blues Album: Tedeschi Trucks Band, Revelator. Meh. Not bad. Not terribly memorable, but not bad. Other nominations: Gregg Allman, Marcia Ball, Warren Haynes, Keb Mo.

Best Folk Album: Here's where The Civil Wars' Barton Hollow is more at home. Some wags were worried that Eddie Vedder's Ukulele Songs would take the win on name recognition alone. Meh, again. I don't know I've ever listened to Fleet Foxes. However, I absolutely liked both Steve Earle's I'll Never Get Out Of This World Alive and Gillian Welch The Harrow & The Harvest. Pox on the Academy for overlooking these fine artists.

And kudos to Béla Fleck for Best Instrumental Composition.
.

Scobbling my way thru 2011

Sun, 1 Jan 2012 19:32:31 +0000

Another list posing as a post. You'll see many of my Best of 2011 on the list and some 2011 releases that were candidates. Some old favorites and some new favorites. Some country, some folk, some blues, all good stuff.

JC's Artists Played in 2011

1 Alison Krauss & Union Station / Alison Krauss
2 Drive-By Truckers
3 Cowboy Junkies
4 Emmylou Harris
5 Dwight Yoakam
6 Willie Nelson
7 Gillian Welch
8 Lyle Lovett
9 Steve Earle
10 Johnny Cash
11 Patty Griffin
12 Lori McKenna
13 Tom Russell
14 Lynyrd Skynyrd
15 Lucinda Williams
16 Audrey Auld
17 Graham Lindsey
18 Merle Haggard
19 Billy Joe Shaver
20 Kasey Chambers

Albums spun in 2011

1 Drive-By Truckers – Go-Go Boots
2 Alison Krauss & Union Station – Paper Airplane
3 Various – Country: The American Tradition
4 Steve Earle – I'll Never Get Out Of This World Alive
5 Lucinda Williams – Blessed
6 Amos Lee – Mission Bell
7 Gillian Welch – The Harrow & The Harvest
8 Kasey Chambers – Little Bird (Deluxe Edition) / Little Bird
9 Bearfoot – American Story
10 Various Artists – A Very Special Acoustic Christmas
11 Lori McKenna – Lorraine
11 Bridger Creek Boys – Live at Bozeman Brewing Company 2011-10-17
13 Hayes Carll– KMAG YOYO (And Other American Stories)
14 Iris DeMent – Lifeline
15 George Strait – 50 Number Ones
15 Patty Griffin – Downtown Church
17 Cowboy Junkies – Demons
17 Matraca Berg – The Dreaming Fields
19 Hank Williams – 20 Of Hank Williams' Greatest Hits
19 The Tinder Box – These Winds EP

Tracks tracked in 2011

1 Alison Krauss & Union Station – Paper Airplane
2 Drive-By Truckers – Used to Be a Cop
3 James Blunt – I Really Want You
4 Trisha Yearwood – Perfect Love
5 Emmylou Harris – If I Needed You
5 Bearfoot – When You're Away
7 Amos Lee – El Camino
7 Steve Earle – Molly-O
7 Gillian Welch – The Way It Goes
10 Rodney Crowell – I Know Love Is All I Need
10 Adrienne Young – Hills and Hollers
12 The Del McCoury Band – 1952 Vincent Black Lighting
12 Alison Krauss & Union Station – Lie Awake
14 Gram Parsons – Love Hurts
14 Matraca Berg – Oh Cumberland
14 Graham Lindsey – The Bird That Lived in a Burning Tree
14 Drive-By Truckers – Go-Go Boots
14 The Tinder Box – These Winds
19 Steve Earle – God Is God
19 Gillian Welch – Tennessee

Happy new year, may it bring you many musical delights.

(For commentary visit my blog, jcshepard.com)

Townes book due out in January

Wed, 2 Nov 2011 17:56:19 +0000

From Tamara Saviano (music industry type with some neat projects under her belt):

Townes Van Zandt simply never fit this earthly world. After all, the “electric cowboy” knew his time here would be short. “I don’t envision a very long life for myself,” Van Zandt said. “I think my life will run out before my work does. I’ve designed it that way.” Van Zandt lived fast and wrote faster. Classic songs rapidly emerged (“Pancho and Lefty,” “If I Needed You”). When he died on New Year’s Day 1997, the songwriter left behind a stunning catalog (“Tecumseh Valley,” “Lungs”).

Fifteen years on, Brian T. Atkinson’s I’ll Be Here in the Morning: The Songwriting Legacy of Townes Van Zandt spotlights the elegant (“To Live’s To Fly”) and engaging (“For the Sake of the Song”) lyricist’s significant impact on songwriting peers and followers. “‘Pancho and Lefty’ changed—it unchained—my idea of what a song could be,” folk icon John Gorka says midway through the new book, a tightly woven collection of more than 40 interviews with artists deeply impacted by Van Zandt’s singular poetry.

Several living legends – including Guy Clark, Rodney Crowell, Kris Kristofferson, Lyle Lovett and Lucinda Williams – analyze Van Zandt’s breathtakingly beautiful lyrics throughout the book and share poignant stories of witnessing the troubled troubadour’s rise and fall. Atkinson doubles down on these recollections with new insight from younger artists such as My Morning Jacket’s Jim James, The Avett Brothers’ Scott Avett, Grace Potter, Josh Ritter and Kasey Chambers to present a nuanced view of Van Zandt’s unparalleled body of work, his reckless lifestyle and his long-lasting influence.

Forewords by Van Zandt producer “Cowboy” Jack Clement and longtime road manager Harold F. Eggers, Jr. open the book. Each chapter begins with a carefully crafted introduction in which Atkinson provides context and background, linking each interviewee to Van Zandt’s growing legacy as his generation’s most influential songwriter. “Townes is a Christ-like figure in Texas,” says country star Jack Ingram at the book’s close. “He is the one. He was writing on another plane.”

“Townes’ reputation is awesome,” echoes Outlaw country pioneer Ray Wylie Hubbard. “The word ‘poet’ keeps coming to mind. I mean a real poet. When people discover Townes, they’re just enlightened. They’re instant fans. If it were a perfect world, Townes would be as well known as Bob Dylan.”

###

.

The Americana Volvo Commercial Awards Show

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 21:59:32 +0000

NPR streamed this year's Americana Music Association Awards live from Nashville. When I clicked the link on my iPad it came up a Flash thing so I skipped it and read a book. Probably a good choice.

As I saw the winners roll by on Twitter later in the evening, I had a growing sense of unease. As one cranky outsider observed, it seemed more like Volvo commercial than a Celebration of Roots music.

ALBUM OF THE YEAR: Band of Joy, Robert Plant

ARTIST OF THE YEAR: Buddy Miller

INSTRUMENTALIST OF THE YEAR: Buddy Miller

NEW / EMERGING ARTIST: Mumford & Sons

SONG OF THE YEAR: “Harlem River Blues” by Justin Townes Earle

DUO / GROUP OF THE YEAR: The Avett Brothers

Lifetime Achievement Award for Songwriter: Lucinda Williams

Lifetime Achievement Award for Performance: Gregg Allman

Lifetime Achievement Award for Instrumentalist: Jerry Douglas

Jack Emerson Lifetime Achievement Award for Executive: Rick Hall

Now, don't get me wrong, I do have most of the AMA winners in my iPad. They are good. They're just not Great. I feel like the AMA has been taken hostage by 1970s soft-rock FM DJs. My "Americana" just leans towards more Hank.

Tho any show with Alison Krauss ain't all bad.

(cross-posted from JC Shepard.com)

Grammy, Grammy, Grammy

Mon, 14 Feb 2011 23:41:49 +0000

Lady Antebellum takes Grammy Record of the Year for NEED YOU NOW off the "record" of the same name. Wow, didn't see that coming. Who cares if Arcade Fire took Album of the Year instead of Lady A, at least they both kept Lady Gaga gagging in her egg suit along with the rest of the dregs of pop music. Good job.

As you may guess, I can take or leave Lady Antebellum, but they're much easier on the ears than ANY of the alternatives. Tip my hat to 'em on Country Album and Country Duo Performance, too.

I was pulling (if just a bit) for Miranda Lambert's The House That Built Me. Yeah, yeah, she didn't write it herself, and it's formula country radio, but it's kinda catchy. Actually, that summarizes most of my feelings for Ms. Lambert. I'm coming around to her in spite of myself so I smiled that she got Female Country Vocal even tho I like Gretchen Wilson's better.

Not surprised Robert Plant got dissed on Solo Rock Vocal. Whatever. Although again I'm luke warm on the Band of Joy he's 10x better than any of the other dead white guys in category. Get over past glory, guys.

While above I give the h/t on Country Duo, I did prefer Zac Brown Band and The Steeldrivers, not to mention Dailey & Vincent - Dailey & Vincent Sing The Statler Brothers. Grammy obviously is tone deaf but you knew that.

Usually I lead off on these things with Americana. This year, well, I was under-impressed. I'm not really getting into Band of Joy. I like Rosanne Cash and like following her on twitter these days. I like Willie Nelson and I like his album Country Music... Same with the Bluegrass category and Patty Loveless. It's just.... I don't LOVE them. Oh, well, Mavis Staples deserves it as much as anybody.

Maybe next year.

-jc

p.s. I guess I need to listen to Marty Stuart's new album. I almost got it just for the Train.

Top Tunes of 2010

Thu, 30 Dec 2010 22:31:52 +0000

This was the year I sort of blinked and missed. Musically, that is. Zip dang it was gone. My personal soundtrack, therefore, didn't benefit from much new music. All I could do to keep up with old music let alone add much more to the old Scrobbling machine.

So, you get the idea, another list posing as a journal. Stuff I played the most in 2010.

Artists:
1. Alison Krauss & Union Station / Alison Krauss (tis an artificial distinction)
2. Lyle Lovett
3. Johnny Cash tied with Emmylou Harris
5. Dwight Yoakam
6. Halden Wofford & The Hi-Beams / Halden Wofford and the Hi-Beams
7. Patty Griffin
8. Tom Russell
9. Merle Haggard
10. Graham Lindsey
11. Audrey Auld / AUDREY AULD MEZERA
12. Billy Joe Shaver
13. Cadillac Sky
14. Lynyrd Skynyrd
15. Patty Loveless
16. Kendel Carson tied w/Sand Sheff (they'd make a cute couple)
18. Adrienne Young
19. Corb Lund
20. Waylon Jennings

Albums:
1. Sinners and Saints / Sinners & Saints (new release)
2. Portraits (a best of album)
3. Legendary Hits (tho lost.fm seems not to know this one too well)
4. For a Decade of Sin: 11 Years of Bloodshot Records
5. Into the Wild
6. 20 Of Hank Williams' Greatest Hits
7. At Folsom Prison
8. Alright Dynamite
9. The Essential Bob Wills: 1935-1947
10. American VI: Ain't No Grave (new release)
11. I Am What I Am (new release)
12. Downtown Church (new release)
13. Blind Man Walking
14. Plow to the End of the Row
15. Halden Wofford and The Hi-Beams
16. Townes
17. Indians Cowboys Horses Dogs tied w/Billy Joe Shaver's Greatest Hits
19. We Are All Alone in This Together
20. Lonesome, Wild and Blue
Posted favorite new albums of 2010 on my blog at www.jcshepard.com.
Christmas albums not counted.

Tracks:
1. Trisha Yearwood - Perfect Love
2. James Blunt - I Really Want You
3. Emmylou Harris - If I Needed You
4. Sand Sheff - Free On This Mountain
5. Adrienne Young - Hills and Hollers
6. Graham Lindsey - The Bird That Lived in a Burning Tree
7. Mary & Mars - one less fiesta
8. Bleu Edmondson - Finger On the Trigger
9. Graham Lindsey - If I Was a Horse
10. Lyle Lovett - South Texas Girl
11. Graham Lindsey - No Way Out but Down
12. Cowboy Junkies - Sweet Jane (the original, not the re-recorded version)
13. Eddie Vedder - Tuolumne tied w/Graham Lindsey - We Are All Alone in This Together
15. 5 way tie:
Townes Van Zandt - Snowin' On Raton
Gram Parsons - Love Hurts and In My Hour of Darkness
Eddie Vedder - Guaranteed
Miss Leslie - In the Matter of Me and You
20. Eric Blakely - Something Into Nothing

That's all, folks!

-jc