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Picks & Pans

With Nashville's Top Music Critic, Stacy Harris

 


A little "housekeeping": I welcome the receipt of and will review just about all NEW product received. (Contact me for an explanation if you think there might be extenuating circumstances.)  Major or independent label. It makes no difference.

That said, my unique, open door policy requires, in fairness to all, that product be evaluated and reviews posted in the order in which submissions have been received.

Ground rule: I don't do downloads.  

If a review peaks your curiosity, please consider sampling/and or making a purchase through its Amazon cover art link. Commissions I earn through your purchases make updates possible.

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Stacy's Ratings

*****Outstanding

**** Good

*** Promising

** Fair

*Makes A Good Coaster

Michael Sarver

       Rating *** 1/2


When a singer owes his career to American Idol, and lands a recording contract after placing 10th in the eighth season of the program’s finals, a jaded, veteran music critic is going to set the bar quite high.

Whether fans will be as critical has yet to be seen, but, at 29, Michael Sarver, to take a line from the strong opening song, Watch Me, suggests skeptics won’t hold him down (this small-town boy whose dreams transcend the county line) because “it’s my time.”

 Always Surviving, another well-written selection, strikes a similar tone. 

 Ferris Wheel may do more for the amusement park ride than any song since Freddy Cannon’s Palisades Park.

 Were that all of the material were as strong: The chorus to the otherwise uninspired I’m in the Mood sounds like a self-involved, castrated male’s oxymoronic mating call.  Let Me Love You is not much better, typifying much of the filler here, the lyrics of which seem to draw on familiar country-music themes best communicated in past chart-toppers..

Team Sarver has chosen the final song, You Are, as the first single.  But Tell Me, an abandoned son’s message to his father, is much more compelling

The cover art to this self-titled CD (my advance copy, anyway) suggests a rush job.  How else to explain that there are 13 songs listed when, in fact, this CD, without apparent bonus cuts or other extras, has 14 tracks?

 

Gary P. Nunn

Taking Texas to the Country

       Rating *****

    


If you were as lucky as I was during the early ‘70s to see Joan Baez perform on your college campus, you know the joy of hearing someone who can actually sing, singing lyrics you can actually understand, with a musical accompaniment that neither drowns out the artist nor blasts your ears.  You also have an appreciation for Gary P. Nunn’s approach to making records.

Those of us who have followed Nunn since his recording of London Homesick Blues (courtesy of public TV’s Austin City Limits) have come to respect Garry for his directness and simplicity.  So it is refreshing that Taking Texas to the Country doesn’t involve a lot of bells and whistles, merely an appreciation of what Nunn’s core audience wants.       

There’s really not a bad selection among the 13 here.  Déjà Vu provides a jaunty, jocular opening that should find fans singing along while providing just the proper inspiration and instruction for any songwriter challenged to write about classic country themes in a new and entertaining way.  The title song, “road-tested” by Gary and his Bunkhouse Band, is a musical statement of a mission: To bring the Texas-based music loved by fans of Bob Wills & the Texas Playboys, Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson (all name-checked here) to Nunn’s own while “having fun and making money.” 

Merle’s fans may be surprised that It’s Not Love (But It’s Not Bad) is not a cover of Haggard’s 1972 hit single.  One wonders, however dissimilar the actual songs of the same name, if Gary’s title will catch the attention of Hank Cochran, who, along with Grady Martin, co-wrote the Haggard hit.  

Other tracks are familiar Texas Swing and Texas Two-Step fare, there’s even a bit of Cajun music and a hint of Jamaican reggae here, but my favorite are I’m Not That Kind of Guy (about a gent who lays his cards on the line) and The Likes of Me (a celebration of differences).

2010 is only almost half over, but, for the reasons I’ve mentioned, Taking Texas to the Country gets my vote for the best country-music album of the year- so far…

The Kathy Kallick Band

Between the Hollow and the High-Rise

       Rating *****


The Kathy Kallick Band (who are guitarist/lead and harmony vocalist Kathy Kallick,  Kallick’s fellow harmony vocalists,- Dobro and banjoist Greg Booth and fiddler Annie Staninec- plus acoustic bassist Dan Booth and Tom  Bekeny on mandolin who trade lead vocals with each other and with Kathy) are the future of bluegrass.

 Kathy’s lyrics give a contemporary lift to music that endures as it pays homage to its storied past.  Where Chris Gantry wrote of the Dreams of the Everyday Housewife, Kathy’s My House is a song that speaks to the modern working woman’s leaky sink full of dirty dishes, the house’s peeling paint and, if she can bear to consider the thought, even a broken window.

With 14 songs with which to please the band’s fans (and also to justify the title of the CD), there are reminders of, and bows to, the traditional bluegrass sound that bring those who grew up in the hollow to the high-rise.  They include excellent renditions of traditional bluegrass favorites including There’s A Higher Power, Lonesome Night, Come Walk With Me,  and a great updated and rewritten version of  White House Blues the quintet calls New White House Blues (given its name-checking presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush,  Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld,  Alan Greenspan and even Rush Limbaugh and Bill O’Reilly.

There’s also the band’s take on a song I always thought was more folk or mountain than specifically bluegrass- (Get Along Home) Cindy- but with additional lyrics I guess it is now!

Panhandle Rag and a couple of original pace-changing instrumentals complete the package:  Greg Booth’s Monobrow and Tom Bekeny’s Winterlight Aire.  

Plunder: The Crime of Our Time

       Rating **** 


Veteran Emmy award-winning network (ABC, CNN) news producer (and author) Danny Schecter has produced/directed a 100 minute video (excluding bonus footage) as a companion to his book, The Crime of Our Time: Why Wall Street is Not Too Big to Jail.

Using archival film, animation (as in Larry King Alive!) and multi-genre musical soundtrack, Schecter dissects Wall Street fraud through conversations with the players (e.g., former Bear Stearns, Chase Bank and Goldman Sachs employees), investors and protestors in a manner that is both entertaining and understandable.

Danny surveys the buying, selling and insuring of fraudulent mortgages, concluding that the “bedrock of the whole process is crime.”  Yet, Schecter charges, the story is not being told by America’s cable networks business and news channels nor its daily newspapers. 

Further, Danny opines “the media” (which, by definition is NOT monolithic) has been co-opted.  This has resulted, Schecter believes, in what he calls (a cadre of) Wall Street-imbedded (business) journalists whose focus on, for example, Bernie Madoff’s $65 million Ponzi scheme misses the point.

For Danny believes that while focusing on Madoff puts a face on evil, it obfuscates the larger issue which is an estimated total of $171 that has suddenly disappeared from a country where 70 per cent of the wealth is owned by one percent of the people.

Amid all of the outrage over the bailouts following liars’ loans, “We need a jailout,” Schecter opines.

It might be suggested that Danny’s blaming media, mainstream and otherwise, for the financial crisis is an oversimplified easy out.  While I would recommend this DVD for the factual information, Schecter’s featuring of say, Jesse Jackson (who seems to insert himself into everything even vaguely political), whose refusal to make the finances of his Rainbow Coalition transparent, suggests an alliance that may not exist.

The soundtrack, with titles such as Plunder, Speechless!, Free Money Blues, The Economy Bailout Song, Nobody Wants My Debt Anymore, I Love Subprime and on and on, adds the necessary elements of parody and/or dark humor here.

The DVD's “extras,” including Sex Addiction on Wall Street, are intriguing, too.

Further information is available here, here, here, and here. 

Marty Rabon

At His Best

       Rating **** 1/2




Shenadoah’s former lead singer, if he must be still so identified, is nearly at his best performing these 11 sides.    Any equivocation evinced by the qualifier “nearly” references not Marty Raybon’s superb performances, but rather the weakness of some of the material.

Marty simply loves to entertain and to emote- and it shows on record as well as on stage.  I’ll be he is equally passionate about his music when simply rehearsing.  Marty sings what he knows – and Raybon is not a bad songwriter, either, having co-written almost half of the songs here.  One of these Still My Little Man (Matty’s Song),  Marty cowrote with Peter McCann as a tribute to Raybon’s soldier son.   

That’s The Only Way, probably the best song on the CD, is a reminder of the importance of self-knowledge and integrity, while The Change is an introspective,  close second.

Marty delivers The Heat is On in such a way that the music, the lyrics and the production fuse, appropriately building to the musical equivalent of a haunting yet frenzied burst of sexual energy.

Big Pain is a pretty convincing “hurtin’ song,” but the evident hit, Daddy Phone, strikes me as mawkish contrivance, while I Don’t Want to Lose You Anna (set in, predictably, Louisana) simply sounds contrived.

Still, in all, this is a "must" album for Marty Raybon fans.

The Grascals

The Famous Lefty Flynn's

 Rating *** 1/2

Sonny Osborne’s liner notes tend to make any comments of mine (or any other reviewer for that matter) seem superfluous.

Reflecting on the Grascals following a trend of other bluegrassers who’ve been covering ‘60s pop tunes of late, Sonny writes that the sextet, with the release of The Famous Lefty Flynn’s, has recorded “some songs that will put you in another orbit.  Last Train to Clarksville is enough for me… but there’s so much more.”

What could be interpreted as a left-handed compliment from Sonny, if not a cwhile oncession to the popularity of music out of Osborne’s “orbit,” comes with praise for including covers of Bobby and Sonny Osborne’s hits:  Up This Hill and Down is a song I thought no one could ever get the feel for… but they did…  Son of A Sawmill Man is hard to do because it is so fast… but they did it.”  

The Grascals’ fourth album also features the group’s rendition of Steve Earle’s My Old Friend the Blues and, with the assistance of Hank Williams, Jr., a 21st century recording of  I’m Blue, I’m Lonesome.  (Hank Williams and Bill Monroe shared writers’ credits on this one.)

The banjo of the Grascals’ newest (and only female) group member, two-time IBMA Banjo Player of the Year honoree Kristin Scott Benson, is prominently featured on all 12 performances found here, including the title song (a story-song tribute to a legendary prison inmate, told from the perspective of an admiring coconspirator).

Satan and Grandma will impress Christians and amuse non-Christians, while the Grascals’ revival (no pun intended) of the public domain chestnut, Give Me Jesus, will likewise please the largest segment of the Grascals’ audience, perpetuating religious exclusivity at a time when a bow to diversity would be more helpful in expanding its fan base.

Shy Blakeman

Long Distance Man

 Rating ***

If Waylon Jennings had not already sired a son who seems to be following in his (mother, Jessi Colter’s and) late dad’s footsteps,   he might have claimed Shy Blakeman.

While the Texas singer-songwriter also claims The Black Crowes and Ray Charles as his musical influences, Waymore’s specter even extends to Blakeman’s choice of producers:, Ted Russell Kamp (whose credits include, yes, Shooter Jennings).

Shy’s opener, The Kamp-penned title song is a bit of bravado Waylon might easily have recorded as is the track that follows, So Many Honky Tonks. 

But with musicians such as Marc Ford and Audley Freed lending credence to Blakeman’s Crowes’ connection and other all-star musicians  (Doug Pettibone, Kenny Vaughn, Jason Sutter, Don Dziubla and Gia Ciambotti contributing their time and talent,  this is hardly a Waylon Jennings tribute album.

Not that remakes are totally absent.  Shy shines on his reprise of the Rusty Wier hit,  Don’t It Make You Wanna Dance.

Then again, Quarter to Three is not a remake of the Gary “U.S.” Bonds classic but rather a brassy, ballsy, bluesy self-indulgent slightly gospel-infused rocker written by the Warren Brothers and Rob Stoney.

 Likewise, Living Proof is not the cover of a Hank Williams, Jr. hit and listener won’t be thinking of Jeanne Pruett as Blakemore goes full-throttle on Willis Alan Ramsey’s daydream of sorts, Satin Sheets (Rest assured, John Volinkaty’s heirs will NOT be suing for copyright infringement).

Those who like their music rollicking, rockin’, raucus and sometimes with a touch of the blues, will find that Long Distance Man does not disappoint.  For Shy Blakeman is anything but- well, shy!

Steve Palmer Band

Apparition

 Rating *** 1/2

The Steve Palmer Band’s debut album positions the quintet (Palmer, lead vocalist and guitarist; Bryan Ewald, lead guitarist; Anthony Setola, bass, musical director; Larry Hall, keyboards and B3; Tony Morra on drums) among 2010 newcomers worthy of your attention.

Palmer, who co-produced (with David Huff) and wrote each of these 12 songs released on his own label, is the driving force and focal point for a tight band of musicians who, along with background singers Vicki Hampton and Cindy Walker, enhance Steve’s performances.

P
almer takes universal musical themes and personalizes them in a way that  is somewhat revealing, but sometimes a little guarded to the point that listeners are forced to rely on their own interpretations.  While this is par for the course with much music of the Americana genre, this reviewer prefers the in your face approach .

Yet, from his musical articulation of the burden of Living a Lie to the stark reality of Never Gonna See Her Again,  Steve’s music provides the proverbial window to the soul, his often subtle style notwithstanding.  The title song is a message from a potential suitor to a prospect weighed down by personal baggage, while I Think I Am In Love is a celebration of new love and moxie.   

The music of the Steve Palmer band hits just the right note at the intersection of rock and country.  Palmer’s is easily one of the most entertaining groups I’ve heard in 2010.

Michelle Turley

Dance With Me Tonight

 

 Rating *** 1/2

Singer/songwriter/keyboardist Michelle Turley’s album is a family affair.  Michelle co-writes with her producer (who just happens to be her brother) and looks to her husband and mother for additional inspiration.  (Daddy is apparently posthumously immortalized in one of the songs, despite his daughter's apparently feeling conflicted about him due to memories of abuse.)

As the listener scours the list of song titles on Dance With Me, it would be erroneous to conclude that Michelle is covering ‘60s hits.  For I Understand is not the old Herman’s Hermits hit, it is Turley’s lyrical acknowledgement, based on experience, that some lessons must be learned firsthand. And Bus Stop is not Michelle’s version of The Hollies’ hit, but rather a slice-of-life musical metaphor for the various forms of fortune.      

While the title song suits the singer, it’s the album’s opening song and another positioned toward the end that bring cohesiveness to the project.  Caroline provides a geographical setting for a story-song that is reprised near the close.  Add to this a familiar, rousing instrumental train tribute, in the form of, as Michelle titles fusion of original writing with a “special” country-music standard, Caroline (in Orange Blossoms).    

Turley has an affinity for occasional falsetto, just short of a yodel, and her music will be of particular interest to fans who would like to hear a singer whose voice conjures comparison to what is best described as a blend of the artistry of Margo Smith and Christy Lane.

 

Gary Allan

Get Off on the Pain

 Rating **** 1/2

Gary Allan is one of the most underrated of country-music’s established talents.

Gary’s music has long been overshadowed by his personal life, but there has always seemed to be a convergence of the singer’s turbulent private life with his music and/or his persona.

For Gary Allan sported the threatening tattooed biker’s look long before tatts became a generational fashion statement for many who are young enough to be Gary’s children.

The masochistic “appeal” of the title song suggests Bill Luther, Brett James and Justin Weaver set out to write a “Gary Allan song;” one in which the protagonist interrupts his pitty party just long enough to voluntarily take responsibility for his actions.

Gary’s brooding, bad boy image is played out in several of these songs, redeemed as it arguably is by the saving grace of a somewhat oxymoronic tender vulnerability.

In Gary Allan’s musical world, women are usually at the center of the recording artist’s frustration or occasional despondency.    These attitudes are occasionally offset by the swagger and assertiveness typified by the mildly sexist lyrics of That Ain’t Gonna Fly.

Today is a song of jealousy and immaturity.  The hostile imagery of its lyrics suggests a powerful emotion is not limited to the double entendre evinced by the title of Kiss Me When I’m Down and begs the question, assuming its authenticity, amid the selfi-indulgence of yet a nother selection (Along the Way) "When will Gary Allan grow up?".

We Fly By Night is an upbeat sexual celebration; one of the album’s concessions to country radio (others include When You Give Yourself Away and the somewhat supposedly autobiographical tribute to a special lady: She Gets Me).

No Regrets, a charitable bit of introspection, is an ideal closer to the ten songs available on the standard issue of Get Off On the Pain.  Those who opt for the deluxe version will enjoy Long Summer Days as well as “live” versions of Right Where I Need to Be, Best I Ever Had and Watching Airplanes.

The latter underscore the strong connection between Gary and his fans and provide the best examples of Gary’s captivating performances that suggest a total entertainer at his best.

Becky Schlegel

Dandelion

Rating ****

Becky Schlegel’s latest CD is a baker’s dozen of self-written songs produced by Becky and her manager, Brian Fesler.  (Fesler also contributes his musicianship to the project.  That’s Brian listeners hear on banjo, acoustic and electric guitar.)

Anna, the opener, is a story-song of fractured domesticity that Becky delivers with an appropriately haunting tone.  The title song is a metaphor of wistful frustration. 

All of Becky’s songs capture a certain imagery, several retaining the esoteric quality I commented upon when reviewing Schlegel’s For All the World To See.

Colorado Line (a song of regret about the one the protagonist left behind),  Don’t Leave It Up To Me (a plea for parity in a relationship) and I Never Loved You Cowboy (self-explanatory, no doubt, but requiring clarification for the rodeo rider who has seemingly missed the point) feature Randy Kohrs on harmony vocals.  Randy returns to add not only harmony vocals but also the sound of his resonator guitar on So Embarrassing, a tale of what ensues when one of the parties to a relationship is caught off-guard.

Becky’s creativity shines on this venture and, unlike many songwriters, her vocals are strong enough for her to possibly be her songs’ best interpreter.

Dandelion was engineered by Matthew Zimmerman at Minneapolis’ Wild Sound Studio.

Mike Schikora

This Cowboy's In Love

 Rating ****

Mike Schikora may be a cowboy, hat, horse named JB and all, but if This Cowboy’s in Love (a bow to the title song?) is cowboy music, it must be cowboy music for the 21st century, as there are only bits and pieces suggesting a throwback to the singing cowboy era of yesteryear.

Mike wouldn’t have to evoke Muddy Waters’ name in Long Way From Where I’ve Been (the first of 12 songs Schikora either wrote or co-wrote here)- though he does- for it to take me too long to conclude that Mike's kind of cowboy music is at least equal parts blues (Check out Be Good To Me) and/or sometimes country.

Hoot Hester and  Hargus "Pig" Robbins lead the list of impressive musicians assisting Shikora (who provides his own background vocals) with this project.

Mike produced this CD and also assited Zane Baxter with the arrangements.

The songs are uniformly pleasant.  All have their moments and some seem to coax the listener to sing along, though be advised that Run Like the Wind is not a cover of the old Christopher Cross hit.

As far as hit material, that might depend on if the world is ready for yet another song titled Blue Heartache.  Then again, with the right promotion, Come Closing Time, Pour Me Back Down and Be Good To Me could be contenders.

Josh Turner

Haywire (Deluxe Edition)

 Rating *** 1/2

Perhaps the first order of business should be to explain that “Deluxe Edition,” in this case,  refers to four tracks not found on the standard-issue 11-song Haywire CD and two video downloads (an interview with Josh and Turner’s Why Don’t We Just Dance video).  The four bonus songs include This Kind of Love, Let’s Find A Church (a song recorded during Turner’s 2003 Long Black Train sessions, but only released seven years later), and “live” recordings of Long Black Train and Your Man.

Josh Turner fans, who have yet to buy either version of Haywire, don’t need me to tell them that, if they can afford the couple of extra bucks to spring for the deluxe edition, it will be well worth it.  For the casual Turner fan, the recommendation to buy either version or neither is less certain.

That’s because Josh’s latest album (counting two editions of this one alone, imports etc., I’m more hesitant than others to put a release number on it), while one that offers (on both editions) Turner's hit, Why Don’t We Just Dance and, at this writing perhaps the next one (the label favorite, Your Smile), while, it has its moments (notably, Why Don’t We Just Dance and Josh’s cover of the Don Williams classic, I Wouldn’t Be A Man) several songs seem to fall into a pattern of sameness established by Turner’s choice of material on earlier albums.

The insipid choice of the lyrically-silly Eye Candy (which concedes that a lover’s kisses, while, “ain’t nutritious,” are “delicious”) all but pulls down the rest of this CD with it.

I applaud Turner for his strong convictions, positive attitude and insistence on recording songs that uplift and inspire rather than those that degrade or otherwise send a destructive message.  To the extent he has proven that it can be done I give Haywire high marks, but I hope his next up for the inability to find an album’s worth of consistently good, new, innovative material. effort will not rely as heavily as this one does on covering and rerecording past hits to cover.

Bill Anderson

Songwriter

Rating ****

Having not heard a new Bill Anderson album in years (Thanks for adding me to your promotional mailing list, Bill!), I expected from the title of this one and a glance at the unfamiliar titles of these 12 songs that I was in for a less-than-routine listening session; one perhaps where Bill would take the role of the reluctant songplugger intent on expressing his innermost thoughts while searching for a convergence of the esoteric and commercial.

Since I’m not sure what my role would be in such a scenario, I’m glad Bill’s effort relieves us both of those respective “responsibilities.”

The initial track, It Ain’t My Job To Tote Your Monkey (which Bill co-wrote with Rivers Rutherford and Anderson’s co-producer Rex Schnelle) immediately strikes listeners as not your typical Bill Anderson song.  That was my first impression.  But, then again, it might be a song I could have written if Bill commissioned me to write a ditty that combined the popularity of  Po’ Folks and Peel Me A 'Nanner.

Bill co-wrote all of these songs, variously assisted by Rex (who engineered, mixed, mastered as well as played and sang background), Jamie Johnson, Buddy Cannon, Jon Randall, Brad Paisley, Barry Dean, Tim Nichols, Joshua Ragsdale, Bobby Tomerlin, Jim Martin, Gordy Sampson, Coley McCabe, John Wiggins, Billy Montana and Brad Crisler.  (That’s Paisley’s electric guitar you hear on If You Can’t Make Money- an Anderson/Paisley/Randall cut I don’t see being covered by a female artist.)

Wherever She Is is interesting in that same, vaguely misogynous, way in that it's not the sort of song co-writers Anderson, Martin and Tomberlin would have pitched to Conway Twitty.  (Twitty often said that the secret to his success was Conway's refusal to record a song with lyrics that put a woman -as opposed to, say, lay a woman- down.)

Anderson’s songwriting has always intrigued me.  Bill has written and/or performed some of the best- and unfortunately, especially when he panders, worst- songs I have ever heard.  Rarely have I encountered a songwriter/performer who hits both extremes.  (Perhaps because Bill's best choices are so good, as with other capable songwriters,  it is disappointing to listen to lyrics that sound calculating, personifying the person the writer may have been at one time but is no longer, or just not up to a writer’s demonstrated capabilities.  In fairness, artist/songwriters typically deliver a series of consecutive singles and/or albums that are terrific, before the rigors of the road, the pressures of topping themselves, adjusting to a new lifestyle, the loss of identity or whatever, reduce their writing and/or song choices to caricature.)

More talented, ambitious and self-aware than the average hit songwriter, Bill has enjoyed an all-but-unprecedented successive career as a songwriter who co-writes.  But, since Anderson's  best work has historically been his own, I hope he’ll consider removing the security blanket.

For, while several of these songs ignite creative sparks, there are only three I don’t feel like I’ve heard before:  The Songwriters (Anderson’s and Sampson’s paean to tunesmiths, the tribute is both well-written and executed as well as refreshingly humorous, unlike more intense efforts to lyrically cover the same ground),  That’s When the Fight Broke Out and Some Kind of War.

That’s When the Fight Broke Out, while repetitive and, like an old and/or corny joke, predictable in spots, is a jocular, comedic Anderson/Schnelle cowrite  that adds to the variety of material here.

Some Kind of War, written by Bill, Coley and John, vys with The Songwriters for the most gripping song on this album (perhaps depending upon one’s mood).  It is the lyrical reminder that we all need from time-to-time of what former Nashville radio-TV news and talk personality Ruth Ann Leach (now philanthropist and occasional public speaker Ruth Ann Harnisch) refers to in her speeches as our "own private hell;” that incident, or series or incidents or perhaps time, in our past or present, that is so sad, traumatizing, debilitating or worse that, if we do not keep it secret, remains difficult to address even if we don’t consider it inappropriate conversation between us and those we know less than intimately. 

In Anderson’s world, this negative “corner of my life,“ as Bill might put it, need not be quite as hidden so much as unapparent.  The point expressed, so much more succinctly than I am doing, is that it’s not necessarily necessary that we know what roads our fellow travelers have walked- or are walking.  Rather, and more important than learning the specifics sought by a gossip, we can take it on faith that if someone’s behavior appears inexplicable, atypical, inappropriate to the situation or otherwise extreme- it doesn’t mean there isn’t the provocation that might surface were we insightful enough, and possibly not so wrapped up in ourselves, to ask the right questions.    

 

Randy Kohrs

Quicksand

 Rating ****

Randy Kohrs calls his music a mixture of blues, country, bluegrass and Americana.

It is all of that- and more. 

Kohrs delivers 13 songs, several of which are as attention-getting as his cornucopia of musical influences.  The title cut brings this home as Randy’s credible covers of Del Reeves’ It’s Been So Long, Webb Pierce’s This Must Be the Bottom and Tom T. Hall’s revisionist take on John Henry (More About John Henry) makes this old music  new again, to a brand new generation of listeners,  whle not alienating those of us who remember the originals..

Kohrs really shines, though, as he evokes the imagery of a young man dressing in Sunday Clothes and, on perhaps the most unusual and well-written song on this CD,  a social commentary of the anti-eminent domain variety: Truman’s Vision.  (Yes, that’s as in Harry S.)



Liz Talley

More Than Satisfied

Rating *****

Of the twelve tracks, including the title song (the title of which summarizes my reaction to this collection), the rousing Bump Bounce Boogie, and Liz’ duet with Tony Booth (remember him?) on a Billy Yates-Jerry Salley song (What We Don’t Have), I have a few favorites of my own:  These include Talley’s take on Leona Williams’ The Way It Was and  Liz' reprise of I’m Not That Good At Goodbyes ( perhaps even Stella Parton agrees, a standard deserving a cover rendition at least every decade or so, that it might be introduced to a new generation of listeners).

But perhaps the most innovative recording here is Johnny Getting Out of Jail Barbeque.  If you’ll recall, it was a perhaps apocryphal barbeque (depending upon the source), that resulted in Johnny Rodriguez heading for jail (for the first time), so this song has nothing to do with Rodriguez.  Rather, it’s a creative tale about an unusual gig, with a narrative from the “entertainment’s” perspective.  (Road-weary and otherwise struggling musicians will want to buy Liz’ CD based on this story-song alone!)           

If the surname Talley makes you thing of James or Lewis, realize that, in addition to her loyal U.S. following,  Liz receives “a lot of attention and sales overseas.  I’ll be going back to Germany in March with Martha Moore and a couple of Texas acts… Hopefully with time, I’ll get some opening act spots or increased sales.”

I expect both for Liz in 2010.  She’s easily made one of the best CDs I’ve heard in 2009!



Nathan Lee

Risk Everything

Rating ****

If you’ve a 12th & Porter regular, you’re no stranger to Nathan Lee’s music. A tattoo collector, Nathan Lee, is no longer homeless, though his personal struggles factor into the autobiographical lyrics, as well as the personal philosophy, permeating the lyrics of these 11 self-penned (or co-written) tracks. (Something to keep in mind lest you, scanning the titles of song selections, think that Still, a song Lee co-wrote with Paul Moak, is a Bill Anderson cover.)

It’s hard to classify Nathan’s music, though it is in keeping with one whose musical persona is that of “Hallmark cards & hand grenades," "rainbows & razor blades” and on and on. Lee’s vocals suggest a raspy, growling mixture best described as Rod Stewart meets Bob Seeger meets Kenny Rogers.

Nathan is clearly a thinker and one with an ability to turn a phrase. There’s a little gospel, a little Christian imagery, and a lot of introspection in these lyrics.

It’s hard to pick out any particular song that will drive this album, though the infectious, Open Road (Yes, for all his raspiness, Lee can hit a high note) is the perfect opener.


Bob Dylan fans know the name Hollis Brown. So do those who have followed the indy quartet for years. (Check out the group’s Running Out of Range released in 2000.)

Hollis Brown’s new self-titled CD (featuring Passin' Me By) has been heralded by both MTV and CMT. Such convergence commands respect that music critics appreciate, as should music fans, whether or not the band’s energized, hard-driving sound appeals to those beyond a certain age.

Hollis Brown is Jon Bonilla (lead guitar), Mike Montali (vocals, guitar), Mike Graves (drums) and Michael Woscyk (bass).

All 11 songs were written by Jon and Mike. Best bets (especially for those who are more CMT than MTV): Walk on Water and Carolina, Carolina

Bryan Ragsdale

Where Cowpokes Grow

Rating ***

Nothing in Bryan Ragsdale’s Luck Media bio suggests any kinship to Ray Stevens (née Harold Ray Ragsdale), so I’ll assume there is none.

Indeed, Bryan’s music is less suited to Stevens’ style than to say Michael Martin Murphy. Listeners instantly get the feeling that if Bryan didn’t cut these largely western songs first, Riders in the Sky, or singers of yesteryear ranging from Moe Bandy to Rex Allen, Jr. might have chart career resurgences.

Actually, Ragsdale has done all right for himself, building on the success of his 2007 debut album Wyoming Melodies with this CD and the debut single from it, Modern Day Mountain Man.

The single was wisely chosen since it is easily the most radio-friendly song on this 13-song CD, though I’m sure many will enjoy the title song or any number of the other recordings found here.

Looking at the list of tracks, I couldn’t help but notice #13: Somewhere Over the Rainbow. Surely, there can only be only song by that title, I thought (sometimes it’s not good that you can’t copyright a title), but how would it fare alongside the largely cowboy titles like He’s A Cowboy and A Cowboy Lives?

Actually, the musical departure suggests some versatility, as Ragsdale keeps Judy Garland’s wistfulness while changing a line or two to make his rendition truly Bryan’s song (Apologies to Brian Piccolo fans. I couldn’t resist!)

Airwaves

Rating **

This self-titled EP features the music of Brooklyn-based songwriter/vocalist/guitarist Nicole Schneit and her group.

Nicole is a promising songwriter- she wrote each of the five songs featured here- but as a singer I can only charitably call her a stylist.

That’s not a slam if Schneit’s music is to reviewed the same way one might critique Bob Dylan, Kris Kristofferson or many other songwriters who record but are not really “singers.” However, when I can hear Nicole’s lyrics over what is at times overpowering production, I’m still giving points largely to what is impressive musicianship

Nicole’s vocals sounded flat and off-key when I heard the first track Gems, which, frankly, sounded more like an assault on my ears than- well, a gem.

Thanks to shared vocals with drummer Dave Ferraro, Ryan Trott (on bass and guitar) and Chester Gwazda (the album’s producer), Lightning is a vast improvement.

The other songs here are OK, but maybe by shifting lead vocals and recording its next CD in a Nashville studio (this one was recorded in Baltimore), Airwaves will make me more of a fan.

David Nail

I'm About To Come Alive

Rating ****

This 11-song CD’s title track may not become a classic, but it is a well-written addition to music of the classic “don’t give up on me” theme of many country songs.

Indeed, it sets the mood for the following selection, one with which David Nail’s fans are already familiar, given the hit status of Red Light, again, an interesting lyrical twist on the traditional leavin’ (or, in this case, being left) country song.

Lookin’ For a Good Time is the title of a song that comes close to that of an Alan Jackson hit, but its interesting take on the realities of casual sex seems more suited to David’s ability to address the concepts of introspection and growth than to Jackson’s shy, laidback persona.

Summer Job Days sounds more like a song Kenny Chesney may have written or had on hold. (In reality, the song was written by Neil Thrasher, Dulaney and Gary LeVox.) This is especially intriguing in that Kenny co-wrote (with Scooter Carusoe), the almost equally-nostalgic Turning Home, seemingly for David who wrote about his own roots in the “Show Me” state, Missouri.

But my hands-down favorite on a CD of several good songs is one that David co-wrote with Scooter: Clouds got my attention with a brilliant lyric espousing a philosophy that many women probably haven’t considered and don’t necessarily want to hear, but this “guy’s song” lays it on the line, if you want to know “the truth.”

As with most of the other songs on this CD- and how could I resist saying so?- David’s nailed it!

Sean Walsh and the National Reserve

Homesick

Rating ** 1/2

Sean Walsh & the National Reserve are a Brooklyn-based group (with members, apparently, whose number exceeds the number of fingers on both hands) that have a style all their own.

That’s not to say I fully understand their music, described as being “steeped in Americana tradition.” That’s because, even with a second listen, some of the songs seem to be overpowered by the mix.

The listener feels robbed, but not sure whom to hold responsible: Kyle “Slick” Johnson engineered and mixed Lovesick, co-producing the album with Walsh. In any event, Sean is obviously content with his choices because he’s released Lovesick on Lover’s Dream, Walsh’s own label.

I enjoyed what I could clearly hear, notably My Dizzy Head, the theme of which is suggested by its title and a rockin’ hand-clapper titled You Know.

Cathy-Anne McClintock

Rating *** 1/2

Former Tumbleweed singer/songwriter Cathy-Anne McClintock’s self-titled CD is much-anticipated by fans of the Canadian bluegrass band. McClintock’s newest ”ensemble” effort (hubby Steven produces, daughter Tessa sings harmony, as do Trisha Gagnon, Eric Uglum and Matt Borden) also features Alan Doyle and the songs of David Fertitta, Larry Wayne Clark and others.

McClintock’s inclusion of I Wanna Live Like That , a pleasant, upbeat duet (one of two, featuring Tim O’Brien) proves that Cathy-Ann continues to embrace the bluegrass sensibilities that have brought these 13-songs being marketed as folk/Americana/country to the fore.

Highlights include No Matter What (I like the wisdom and willingness to take a stand suggested in the lyrics and well as McClintock’s rendering of the song) and Strong Enough (Cathy-Anne, as protagonist, projects an artful display of crabbiness, somehow making such an emotional display an almost endearing quality.)

Hey, a song of attitude, is puzzling in that it contains the four-letter alternative to the word excrement. Unfortunately, this all but(t) guarantees either radio censorship or an edited radio version of an unnecessary diversion from lyrics that are powerful enough without evoking a reaction suggesting that, even in the 21st century, behavioral double standards still rule.

Best song found here? That would be So American, an artfully-written commentary that Bob Dylan might have written had Dylan been channeling John Mellancamp . (Indeed, how many songs can you name that conceptualize “serial monogamy” while name-checking Ben Bradlee’s better-half/Quinn Bradlee’s mom, the equally-famous-in-her-own-right, Sally Quinn and Page Six favorite, Steve Wynn?)

Tanya Tucker

My Turn

Rating *****

By now most of Tanya Tucker’s fans are aware that Tucker’s cut a dozen country standards for a record label imprint as a one-off project. They know that these covers of hits, ranging from Faron Young’s recording of Wine Me Up to Merle Haggard’s Ramblin’ Fever, are songs that Tanya believes honor the memory of her father Beau (a/k/a Bo), who loved traditional country music.

They may not know, however, that while no one twists Tucker’s arm, she had to be persuaded to go this musical direction.

When I interviewed Tanya at entertainment law attorney Jim Zumwalt’s office July 8th, Tucker told me she was six songs into a Greg Brown-produced album of new material when Pete Anderson called her “out of the blue… I asked Greg to call [Pete] back [but Greg] never did.

“So I called Pete back and I said ‘What’ve ya got?’ He told me and I still was a little hesitant because I was more into coming out with something new, but then I met with Jim Zumwalt and he put it into layman’s terms for me."

Zumwalt’s practicality impressed Tucker, ultimately winning out because Saguaro Road Records, while hardly a household name, packs the muscle of its Time-Life association in the all-important areas of marketing and distribution.

In the end, Tanya told me “ I’m so glad I made the decision to do it because working with Time-Life has been a real walk in the park. Compared to all of my other record labels put together, they have done more for me already than any of them have… They listen to suggestions… and they actually do something about them."

Listeners are the real winners, however. While Tanya’s pairing with Jim Lauderdale on Love’s Gonna Live Here Again won’t bring back Buck Owens and Don Rich, it’s the next best thing.

Similarly, while Tanya and The Grascals are no Conway and Loretta, they bring off an entertaining yet respectful interpretation of After the Fire is Gone.

Tanya and Rhonda Vincent also offer a respectful rendition of You Don’t Know Me that I think both Cindy Walker and Eddy Arnold would have thoroughly enjoyed.

Even the staunchest Wynn Stewart fan will admit that Tucker and Jo-El Sonnier do justice to Big, Big Love, while Charley Pride and Ben Peters would concede that Is Anybody Goin’ to San Antonepostamble();