Eric Brace & Peter Cooper

Master Sessions

Peter Cooper

The Lloyd Green Album

Red Beet Records

www.redbeetrecords.com

You only have to go four songs and one verse into Peter Cooper’s The Lloyd Green Album to find the lines that comprise what might be the purest distillation of every perfect country song: “There’s gonna be some wreckage when your dreams and your habits collide” from “Gospel Song.” Cooper, a Nashville singer-songwriter and journalist, follows up his debut, 2008s Mission Door with a record of emotionally deft songs, life lessons and character sketches of sketchy characters, all punctuated with the elegant pedal steel work of the legendary Pedal Steel Hall of Famer, Lloyd Green.

The purest moments come when its just Cooper’s voice rising over his acoustic guitar with Green’s swirling, mewing, swooping leads darting in and out, punctuating the sound (check out “That Poor Guy” or “Mama, Bake a Pie” for examples), but the tunes aren’t all sparse arrangements. Guitarist Richard Bennett and keyboardist Jen Gunderman add much, as do guest vocalists Rodney Crowell (who sings on “Tulsa Queen,” a track he and Emmylou Harris wrote) and Kim Carnes. Most of the tracks are Cooper’s own, although he shares a credit with Todd Snider on “The Last Laugh” (also heard on Todd’s The Excitement Plan) and with Baker Maultsby on the clever “What Dub Does.” Covers are impeccably chosen – Kris Kristofferson, John Hiatt and Tom T. Hall are pretty good sources. In fact, Cooper and Green’s reading of Hall’s “Mama, Bake a Pie” might be the best song of the bunch; the pedal steel work is as haunting and as aching as the poignant lyrics require. Green’s work is integral to this record; taking the songs to places they would never find themselves without his amazing, graceful talent to guide them there. We are lucky to be along for that ride.

But that’s just the opening act of a twin-bill punch. Along with Cooper’s record, Red Beet Records simultaneously released Master Sessions, wherein Eric Brace & Peter Cooper grab Green and dobro ace Mike Auldridge (Seldom Scene) along with a few other friends, hole up in a Nashville studio and concoct a incredibly charming record of graceful Americana. On the opening song, Herb Petersen’s “Wait A Minute,” Eric’s earthy, humid vocals blend with Cooper’s plaintive ones, backed with harmony from Kenny Chesney to roll above the Green and Auldridge’s astounding instrumental work, and is one of the best individual tracks I’ve heard this year. The rest of the record is wonderfully crafted folk/country with songs by Brace and Cooper as well as Don Schlitz (who wrote “The Gambler” among others), Tom T. Hall and John Hartford.

By themselves, either of these records are essential listens to the state of modern Americana music; together, they celebrate the past and illuminate the future.

Curtis Lynch

Playgrounds Magazine

November 2010

TybeeDawg’s Pick of the Litter 2009’s Top Ten CDs

Does the year you’ve had influence what you listen to, or is it the other way around? Do you listen to the blues because you have them or because you’re glad you don’t? And what about love songs? Or death metal? This year’s selections are even more heavily weighted toward the Americana genre than my normal listening habits, mainly because the songwriters here are unusually adept at surveying and communicating the human condition, and in my opinion, our condition in 2009 surely needs someone to explain it to the rest of us and put it in context. As Will Kimbrough says, “For balance, how about we take in a little Buddha…and Johnny Cash.” So with that in mind, here are the CDs that spoke to me in 2009, in no particular order.

Daddy –For A Second Time – finely crafted roots music from Will Kimbrough and Tommy Womack, two guys who know their way around a song. Best track: “Nobody From Nowhere,” also the opening track on Jimmy Buffett’s new release.

Grant Peeples -Pawnshop – Grant sounds like a rusty-hinged wooden gate swinging wildly, beating out a rhythm in the chaos of a hurricane, but whether he’s railing against capital punishment or singing about trailer-park breakups (“Leaving her was easy once she’d done throw’d all my shit out in the yard”), Peeples is consistently entertaining, provocative and not afraid to shoot straight. Best track: “Searching for a Sign” (“It’s hard to swallow the truth, but I sure could use a taste right now.”)

Peter Cooper – Mission Door – Cooper’s songs are eloquent without being stilted and manage to tug a heartstring just as easily as they coax a smile. Best Track: “715 (for Hank Aaron)” is the best song about sports ever. Ever.

Patterson Hood – Murdering Oscar (and other love songs) – Hood, the frontman for The Drive-By Truckers, has a second solo release is much more cohesive than his previous one, thanks to Scott Danborn and Will Johnson from Centro-Matic. Best track: “I Understand Now”

Todd Snider – The Excitement Plan –Todd successfully channels Randy Newman, wrings the most out of every line, and joins the ranks of Americana’s finest songwriters, maturity optional. Best track: “America’s Favorite Pastime,” the true story of Dock Ellis, the Pittsburgh Pirate who pitched a no-hitter on LSD.

Scott Miller & The Commonwealth – For Crying Out Loud – Rock n roll with a big heart and a sly grin. Best track: “Cheap Ain’t Cheap” – “the dollar’s weak but it’s stronger than me.”

Ryan Bingham – Roadhouse Sun – Rock n roll with a big heart and an upraised middle finger. Best track: “Dylan’s Hard Rain” - a scathing diatribe that would invite name-dropping if it wasn’t so sharply honed.

The Gourds – Haymaker! - Gleefully defying description, the Gourds play music for “well-read-necks.” This is a record for people who are okay with throwing the GPS out the window and taking a sudden left turn down a dirt road. Best track: “Shreveport” - a semi-tribute to a town filled with meth-addled, spandex-clad heavy metal rednecks.

Eric Brace and Peter Cooper - You Don't Have To Like Them Both - this duo release by Eric Brace (Last Train Home) and Peter Cooper is full of friendship, warmth and good times. And good tunes. Best track: Cooper’s bouncy travelogue “Denali, Not McKinley.” (co-written with Todd Snider)

The Drive-By Truckers – The Fine Print (A Collection of Oddities And Rarities 2003-2008) – Just what it says. The stuff the Drive-By Truckers leave behind in the studio is better than the most of the dreck that passes for rock-n-roll on the radio today. Best track: The cover of Tom T. Hall’s “Mama Bake A Pie (Daddy Kill A Chicken).”

I’m sure I left off several things, but such is the nature of these lists. What are your top ten CDs?

Curtis Lynch