TybeeDawg’s Pick of the Litter 2010 – Top 10 CDs

TybeeDawg’s Pick of the Litter 2010

“Where does it go? The good Lord only knows….seems like it was just the other day…”

Billie Joe Shaver sure knew what he was singing about, because 2010 got away from us pretty quick, didn’t it? I’m sure I’m stealing this from some forgotten comic’s stand up act, but did you ever notice that kids measure their ages with fractions while adults use decades? (“This is Alicia. She’s eleven.” “No I’m NOT. I’m eleven and a HALF.” “Hey, how old is your friend Ginger?” “Not sure, she’s in her thirties, I think.”)

I think that what I liked most about my favorite music this year is not so much that it was incrementally pulling me forward as much as it was wrapping me in some comforting layers of reassurance, so there’s nothing here that’s cutting edge or experimental, just some things that made me feel good. So in that sense, 2010 was less of a magic carpet than a slightly threadbare security blanket.

With that, here are some albums that kept me warm:

Jim Lauderdale - Patchwork River - With help from Al Perkins on dobro, E-Streeter Garry Tallent and James Burton on guitar, Lauderdale and Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter have the year’s most compelling record. Lauderdale serves up melodies and hooks while Hunter consistently delivers memorable lyrics like “If you’re looking for justice, what you doing in court?” This record spent more time in my head than any other on this list.

Darrell Scott – A Crooked Road – A very ambitious double album from one of the most talented songwriters and musicians working today, and each listen unveils a new level of complexity. In this case, words fail me, so just go get it and thank me later.

7 Walkers – 7 Walkers - An unfailingly delicious homage to the Crescent City courtesy of Papa Mali, Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann and Meters bassist George Porter Jr. The record is scattered with gris gris and absinthe and slathered with shifting textures and grit. 7 Walkers is one of the best things you’ll put in your ear all year.

Will Kimbrough –Wings – Will Kimbrough’s folksy Americana sound is spiced with pop and Memphis R&B and seasoned with his own banjo, mandolin, guitars and keys, but lyrically is very much rooted in his relationship with his family and with himself. With Wings, Kimbrough has crafted a record for grownups that doesn’t make you feel old.

Robert Plant – Band of Joy – Distinctly American in feel and tone, Plant is backed by some of the best musicians Nashville has to offer (Buddy Miller, Patti Griffin, Darrell Scott, Byron House), who tackle both traditional tunes as well as those by songwriters like Townes Van Zandt, David Hidalgo and Louis Perez (Los Lobos), and Richard Thompson.

Honey Island Swamp Band -Good To You – This New Orleans band comes on like some funky, blenderized mix of the Gourds, Little Feat, the subdudes, Mofro and Paul Thorn. Be good to yourself and get a copy of this one.

Packway Handle Band -What Are We Gonna Do Now? - You know what I say? The Athens-based Packway Handle Band can pretty much do whatever they want. This is easily their most accomplished and well-rounded, they seem poised to step things up a notch and stand toe-to-toe with the best folk/bluegrass bands around.

Ray Wylie Hubbard -A. Enlightenment B. Endarkenment (Hint: There Is No C) –Ray Wylie testifies that “Muddy Waters is as deep as William Blake” and churns out a mix of rural blues and poetic chaos as the backdrop for his fatalistic tales of death, dust and destruction.

Drive-By Truckers -The Big To-Do – Throughout these thirteen tracks of lap dances, alcoholism, tragedy, double crosses, solitude, duress, restraining orders, falls from grace and falls from high wires, the Truckers continue to produce the smartest, sharpest high body-count rock n’ roll to be found.

(tie)Peter Cooper -The Lloyd Green Album / Eric Brace & Peter Cooper - Master Sessions – Different sides of the same coin, these two records demonstrate Nashville’s future with Brace and Cooper’s songwriting skills while honoring the past with the striking presence of steel guitar legend Lloyd Green and covers by Tom T Hall, Kris Kristofferson, Don Schlitz and John Hiatt.

Nudged out of a crowded field: Paul Thorn – Pimps and Preachers, Carolina Chocolate Drops - Genuine Negro Jig, Peter Karp and Sue Foley - He Said She Said, Have Gun Will Travel - Postcards From The Friendly City.

Curtis Lynch

Playgrounds Magazine January 2011

Drive-By Truckers - Live from Austin TX

Drive-By Truckers Live From Austin TX (DVD/CD)
New West Records
www.drivebytruckers.com

If you’re partial to analogies, let’s say the Drive-By Truckers’ 2009 compilation CD The Fine Print (A Collection Of Oddities And Rarities 2003-2008) was a super-8 home movie and the band members are your kids. And over the course of that record, you can watch them grow. That makes this dual DVD/CD live release a snapshot in 4/4 time, a musical Polaroid of a band touring behind an extremely strong record (Brighter Than Creations Dark) with a ton of great new songs. Shaking off the lineup changes that saw guitarist and songwriter Jason Isbell leave, keyboardist Spooner Oldham step in on The Dirt Underneath tour, the addition of Jay Gonzales on keys and a greater role for sideman John Neff, the band shows strength and resolve. The core remains the same, with Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley providing the vocals, guitars and stories, while Brad Morgan on drums and Shonna Tucker on bass have coalesced into a formidable rhythm section.

Appearing on Austin City Limits as a first timer, evidently the band wanted to showcase their songwriting talent as much as their reputation as a raucous rock band that slings sweat with the best of them, and as such we are treated to a fined honed set of music that is as solid as Morgan’s backbeat and as soaring as one of Neff’s pedal steel solos.

The same thirteen songs are on both DVD and CD, although the some of the stories and between-song banter are cut from the audio disc. The most compelling story is an updated tale of Hood’s momma Jan and her trucker husband, Chester, “Eighteen Wheels of Love,” first heard on the band’s 2002 live release, Alabama Ass Whuppin’. Patterson knows how to tell a story and this one is worth the price of the disc all by it’s own self. Luckily, the rest of the record is just as good. The Truckers like their alt-country and rock with a splash of soul and use this base to spin their tales of the down and out, dispossessed and dispirited with both passion and compassion. Mike Cooley’s countrified tunes “Perfect Timing,” “A Ghost To Most” and the acoustic, heartbreaking “Space City” sit well alongside his rockers “Marry Me,” the Stones-ish “3 Dimes Down” and “Zip City,” while Hood’s tales of life in the ragged Southern trenches “Puttin’ People On The Moon,” “Heathens” and “The Righteous Path” are balanced by celebratory “The Living Bubba” and “Let There Be Rock.” Shonna steps up to the mic with her lush “I’m Sorry Huston.”

The audio and video quality on both discs is stellar, befitting the performances. If you’re a fan of the Drive-By Truckers, this is what you’ll want to pull out when someone asks you about the band. If you’re not a fan, you will be after this one.

Curtis Lynch
Playgrounds Magazine March 2010
www.playgroundsmag.com

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

Drive-By Truckers The Dirt Underneath Tour 4/28/07

This past Saturday night, I was witness to the rebirth and the rededication of a band of scruffy, rock and roll musicians. It was the second show of a two-night, sold-out stand for the Drive-By Truckers at the Georgia Theatre in their adopted hometown of Athens, Georgia. Outside, spandex-clad bicyclists were careening around the corner of N. Lumpkin and Clayton at crazy speeds, vying for position in the Twilight Criterion. Inside, fans in denim and black t-shirts were trying to find seats, something a bit unusual for followers of a band that thrives on the visceral chaos of rock and roll.

Patterson Hood, just one of three songwriter/guitarists in the band but the most articulate advocate of the redemptive power of rock and roll since Springsteen, had already kicked around the idea of doing a few stripped down shows that got back to the intimacy of playing for people who cared about the songs. The fact that these shows, christened The Dirt Underneath Tour (after a line in “Bulldozers and Dirt” on Pizza Deliverance) were talked about before guitarist Jason Isbell inevitably left the band to pursue a solo career didn’t deter the rest of the boys (and girl, bassist Shonna Tucker) from moving forward with the idea. So not only were they already looking to try something different with a more acoustic based approach, they were also faced with a lineup change. Without Jason, the band went in two directions: backwards and forwards. They played old songs; they played brand-spanking new songs. But mostly, they enjoyed being on stage in front of a friendly, if sometimes boisterous, crowd. Longtime sideman and pedal steel wizard John Neff assumed a greater role, and they reached back into their Muscle Shoals lineage to draft keyboard legend Spooner Oldham into the band for this excursion.

The Friday and Saturday night shows were different, as are all of their sets: they work from no setlist, just nodding at each other and following along, but in this case, there was at least a framework. Both nights started with “Bulldozers and Dirt” and ended with the elegiac “Angels and Fuselage” from Southern Rock Opera. I’m sure that the latter song was chosen with a purpose, because in the context of SRO, it signals an end, but I believe that the line “I’m scared shitless of what’s coming next” is a lie.

The Drive-By Truckers ain’t afraid of nothing.