Government Cheese - Hey Hey My My

Government Cheese

The Rutledge

Nashville, Tennessee

February 26, 2011

www.tommywomack.com

From the window of a downtown Nashville club, I watched a parade of four or five eighteen-wheelers tap their brakes and roll slowly forward, waiting to load out after the Brad Paisley mega-tour made its brief stop at the cavernous Bridgestone Arena. I turned around and waded back into a densely packed crowd that was stomping and swaying to the sound of resurrection.

Just why was the stone rolled away? In fact, it was because Government Cheese, a reborn band of post-punk ne’er-do-wells, were touring again. Sort of…this Nashville gig was not only the second gig of the tour, but it was also the last. It was also very fitting that their two-stop journey launched in their hometown of Bowling Green, Kentucky and then splashed down in the current home of one of the group’s members and keeper of the sonic flame, Tommy Womack. It was Tommy’s drive and desire, his love of what he and his band mates did (and maybe a bit of wanting to finally hear some ackn

owledgement of their place in music history) that inspired him to write the incredibly funny and delightfully insightful Cheese Chronicles: The True Story of a Rock N Roll Band You've Never Heard Of and to pursue purchasing the original masters from ex-manager Scott Tutt (other authors have told tales of being screwed by managers or record companies, but Womack’s are a must-read), then re-mastering and re-releasing them as a two-disc compilation titled Government Cheese: 1985-1995.

I never saw the Cheese back in the day, when they were selling out clubs all over the South. I was content with the music that was blossoming in Athens and with the ones that came to play: REM was (in Womack’s words) “still kickin’ then” and when Jason and the Nashville Scorchers showed up to play The 40 Watt, I saw Peter Buck and Michael Stipe jump onstage and roar through Bully Holly’s Rave On. I kind of imagine that was what Government Cheese sounded like back then.

Not that they didn’t sound good now. They came onstage to an embrace from a crowd that was more family reunion than audience. Womack appeared with a hospital bracelet on his wrist: nothing serious, but serious enough to recruit Warner E Hodges, the Scorchers’ lead guitarist, to go from knowing one song in the set to possibly having to play all of them in case Tommy couldn’t take the stage. As it was, he stayed there through a bunch of songs, even though Tommy played and sang with fire and fever the whole night. After an introduction from Athens’ very own William Orton Carlton (better known as Ort and more than a story on his own), they plowed through about thirty songs, including fan favorites Camping On Acid, Mammaw Drives the Bus, Fish Stick Day, and Tim Krekel’s (and Scorcher cover) Help There’s a Fire. Skot Willis still had the pipes and the moves of a lead singer that had his share of lingerie launched in his direction, Chris “Viva Las Vegas” Becker sneered and stalked the stage (often making sure Hodges was on the same page during songs), Billy Mack Hill played bass and sang with fervor and drummer Joe “Elvis” King pounded the skins as hard as one would expect from someone wearing a Led Zep t-shirt.

As dozens of roadies labored to load tons of equipment into trailers a few blocks away, the Cheese just played on. Maybe, just maybe, the choice isn’t between whether to fade out or to rust.

Maybe you can just rave on.

Curtis Lynch

Playgrounds Magazine

March 2011

Amos Lee "Mission Bell"

Amos Lee

Mission Bell

Blue Note Records

http://amoslee.com/

My first brush with Amos Lee was with El Camino, the opening track here on Mission Bell. Although its not the paean to the late 60s-early 70s muscle-car/truck hybrid I was expecting, it’s still a road song, one that’s full of longing and wishing that’s set along El Camino Real, a historic California highway connecting several Spanish missions, and one that sets the stage for the rest of the record. The thirteen tracks that comprise the Philadelphia native’s fourth release are produced by Calexico’s Joey Burns and feature Lucinda Williams and Willie Nelson on vocals, along with members of Calexico and Sam Beam (Iron and Wine).

Although at times the tunes here sound a little too slick, as some of David Gray’s work does, mostly Lee maintains a soulful folkie tone that propels the songs along, from Jesus (written after the death of his grandfather), which carries an ethereal, Jim White vibe to Hello Again, a Stevie Wonder-infused, horn-tinged ballad. One cannot underestimate Lee’s soulful vocals, which are the strength and backbone of this record. That tragically overused word soulful is most often applied to Lee, but in this case it’s wholly appropriate: by raising his voice, he can raise our spirits, as he does on Flower and Windows Are Rolled Down, as well as on the two tracks where he shares lead vocals with his guests. Lucinda sings achingly on Clear Blue Eyes, while Willie lends his omnipresent voice to a reprise of El Camino. Lyrically, Lee may not turn a phrase as well as he bends a note, but the production and performances disguise that. Mission Bell is a very good record, one that shows Amos Lee has the potential to make a great one.

Curtis Lynch

Playgrounds Magazine

February 2010

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

AthFest 2010 Compilation

AthFest 2010
Various Artists
Ghostmeat Records
http://www.athfest.com/

For music fans who like to explore new sounds, Athens, Georgia is the place to be. And if you want to dig into a bunch of new music in one weekend, then AthFest is what you’re looking for. AthFest compilations have always been something special for me… after listening to a number of them; I’ve been excited, enthralled, confused and bemused, but never bored. On this, the 13th AthFest compilation, the trend of offering something new continues: of the sixteen tracks, nine of them are previously unreleased.

This latest volume encompasses everything there is to like about walking through downtown Athens during AthFest, although it seems a bit more mainstream than previous releases. Then again, does mainstream even mean anything when it comes to Athens music? In the past we’ve had rap and blues and gospel and quirky experimental music, but this year the focus is rock and pop, with some country and Americana. Many of these bands have been around awhile, so the new and shiny factor is diminished. The quality, however, is not.

This is a fine group of songs that work and flow together in ways that many compilations can’t manage, from The Whigs garage-band raveup I Don’t Even Care About The One I Love to the new-wave pop of The Orkids or the speedy crunch of Pride Parade’s If You See Her, Say Hello.

The Packway Handle Band’s Outskirts, from their excellent What Are We Gonna Do Now? release, is a great addition, as is Five Eight’s The Ballad of Frankie Jr. and Timi Conley’s New Boyfriend. Also featured are Ken Will Morton, whose Tell It To The Wind quickly became one of my favorites, Venice Is Sinking, William Tonks, and The Incredible Sandwich.

Proceeds from the sale of this compilation benefit AthFest educational programs like AthFest InSchool, AthFest AfterSchool and Keys for Kids.

Curtis Lynch
Playgrounds Magazine
June 2010

Big Sam's Funky Nation

Big Sam’s Funky Nation
King of the Party
Hypersoul Records
http://www.bigsamsfunkynation.com/











The constituents of Big Sam’s Funky Nation know what they want and they know where to get it: direct from Big Sam Williams, former trombonist for the Dirty Dozen Brass Band and the leader of his own band since 2003’s Birth of a Nation. On this, their fourth release, they do what they do best; play a blend of New Orleans brass band, funk and R&B with some rock-n-roll teeth.

The party kicks off with Big Sam asserting himself as get-down royalty over a solid mix of massive drums, wailing guitars and blasting horns on the title track, and doesn’t really let up until the last track fades from the speakers. In between, you’re treated to flashes of James Brown funk, Parliament space-trips and vocal effects, second-line rhythms, and even a tasty cover Otis Redding’s “Hard to Handle.” Just as other New Orleans bands like the Dirty Dozen and Bonerama have worked to expand their musical boundaries outside the city’s confines, Big Sam’s Funky Nation have embraced the party-all-the-time dance machine ethos and work it until the sweat drips.

In short, Big Sam IS the King of the Party, and you’re invited.

Curtis Lynch
Playgrounds Magazine
May 2010

Boo Ray
Bad News Travels Fast
Independent Release
http://www.booraylive.com/

Boo Ray is a singer. And a songwriter. A singer-songwriter, for those of you who like things hyphenated. The songs he writes are loosely described as Americana. And the problem with being a singer-songwriter who writes in the Americana genre is that you can’t swing a singer-songwriter without hitting a banjo player and knocking him into a fiddle player. Yeah, it’s a combination shot, but it’s easier than it sounds.

Fortunately, Boo Ray is good songwriter. And a sneaky one. You’ll find yourself singing the hooks to songs like “Allez Allez” or “Six Weeks in a Motel” (where “we’ll do things we don’t tell”) and wondering how they insinuated themselves into your brain. The nine tracks here were recorded in Atlanta and in LA with a varied group of musicians including David Blackmon on fiddle and William Tonks on dobro (for the Atlanta half) and Steve Feronne (Tom Petty & The HeartBreakers) and Zander Schloss (Circle Jerks), who also co-produced the LA tracks. The album is bookended by the title track (co-written with Colin Linden), which wouldn’t be out of place on a Joe Ely record, and finishes with a stark cover of Dylan’s “Not Dark Yet.”

Bad News Travels Fast is a debut record that doesn’t sound like one and Boo Ray is a bit of good news that travels just as fast.

Curtis Lynch

Playgrounds Magazine

April 2010

The Contribution - Which Way World

The Contribution
Which Way World

SCI Fidelity Records
http://thecontribution.net/

The Contribution is a jamband supergroup. With New Monsoon’s Jeff Miller (guitar, mandolin, vocals) and Phil Ferlino (keyboards), Railroad Earth’s Tim Carbone (violin, vocals), and The String Cheese Incident’s Keith Moseley (bass) and Jason Hann (The String Cheese Incident) signed up, there’s no other way to describe it.

A jamband supergroup? Let me begin to list the ways that can go wrong. The jamband world is a family thing that stretches into the audience and in between bands, so it’s no surprise when it all starts to meld into one big gooey, swirling glob. And with supergroups, a penciled-in lineup of stars from various bands, well, too often those things can be a combination of what seems like essentially solo tracks sewed together into a cockeyed quilt. Each piece is fine on its own, but there’s nothing to tie them together other than the fragile string between them.

For the most part, The Contribution’s Which Way World manages to avoid both of those pitfalls over ten tracks of solidly constructed tunes that range from funky blues and energetic rock to country/bluegrass and they even throw in some classic pop influences. Miller’s guitar and Carbone’s fiddle dominate the color of the songs, but Ferlino’s keyboards are right there as well. Lyrically, the record is concerned with the world around us, especially the rockin’ blues of “Fear of Nothing” and the title track. No mere jamband recreation, Which Way World takes the best from each of its individual contributors and puts them to work as a team. This is one of those records you’ll listen to again and again and like it better each time.

Curtis Lynch

Playgrounds Magazine

April 2010

Delta Moon - Hell Bound Train

Delta Moon
Hell Bound Train
Red Parlor Records
http://www.deltamoon.com/
http://www.redparlor.com/

I’ve been following Delta Moon since their first record in 2002 and before that, guitarist Tom Gray’s previous band The Brains, a group that fell under a new-wave umbrella that was opened so wide and so often in the 80s that even Tom Petty was underneath its shadow. Delta Moon, however, is a roots-blues band that has little to do with Tom Petty and even less to do with new-wave. After recording with a couple of female vocalists, the band settled in with Gray as lead vocalist and the current lineup, which has been together since 2007, has evolved into a searing roadhouse blues unit, capable of simmering as well as boiling.

Hell Bound Train, their seventh, is a white-knuckled ride through a Southern gothic landscape where the branches of family trees groan and strain under the weight of loss and tragedy, too often self-inflicted. Gray’s lap steel and Mark Johnson’s electric slide toss off tandem leads over drummer Darren Stanley and bassist Franher Joseph’s red-clay rhythms across the eleven tracks here (although the closer, “Plantation Song,” is Gray solo on dobro) and create their best record yet. And I emphasize “yet.” Because Delta Moon just keeps getting better.

When Hell Bound Train stops near you, jump on board.

Curtis Lynch
Playgrounds Magazine
April 2010

Will Kimbrough - Wings

Will Kimbrough

Wings

Daphne Records

www.willkimbrough.com

There are lots of words you can use to describe Will Kimbrough: singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer, award winner, and on and on. But if you asked Will, I’d bet that husband and father would beat those out hands down. On Wings, his fifth solo record, his relationship with his family and with himself form the core for many of the ten songs, none more so than the opening track, “Three Angels,” a love song to his wife and two daughters (“Everybody has an angel, I’ve got three.”).

DADDY bandmate Tommy Womack’s 2007 CD There…I Said It! was also a journal about what it means to be a grownup, although their visions differ. (Of course, that disparity between the two is what makes their band so special.) Where Tommy fought and scratched his way to adulthood, Will seems to embrace it warmly. Wings is an album of love and contentment, with an uplifting warmth that permeates each song.

But it wasn’t that long ago that Will was also railing at the world around him. On 2006’s Americanitis, Kimbrough was a rock, a smooth one for sure, but one that skipped across the water with force, kicking up spray as it hurled itself against a raging torrent. Now, on Wings, he is that same rock, only this time, it is sitting in the middle of the stream, enjoying the feel of the rushing water as it flows on by. Same rock. Different speed.

Kimbrough’s folksy Americana sound is spiced with pop and Memphis R&B, seasoned with his own banjo, mandolin, guitars and keys and gets plenty of help from Paul Griffith (DADDY) on drums, Tim Marks (Taylor Swift) on bass and Pat Buchanan on guitar. The title track, co-written with Jimmy Buffett, is one of my favorite songs so far in 2010. (The song also appears on Jimmy’s newest, Buffet Hotel, which features Kimbrough’s songs and guitars.) With Wings, Will Kimbrough has crafted a record for grownups that doesn’t make you feel old.

Curtis Lynch

Playgrounds Magazine March 2010

www.playgroundsmag.com

Packway Handle Band - What Are We Gonna Do Now?

Packway Handle Band
What Are We Gonna Do Now?
Self Released
www.packwayhandleband.com

You know what I say? The Packway Handle Band can pretty much do whatever they want. The Athens-based band is already lauded for their tightly spun harmonies, material that includes a growing batch of their own extremely well-written songs, quirky cover choices and a string of impressive live performances. And with What Are We Gonna Do Now? they seem poised to step things up a notch and stand toe-to-toe with the best folk/bluegrass bands around. This is their fourth full length studio release (there was also a 2007 live EP) and their consistency and quality has to be reckoned with. This one, self-produced and recorded at fiddler Andrew Heaton’s house, is a departure from their stage show, where the band crowds around twin condenser microphones, stepping up to add a lick or sing a line, because on this record, each member recorded their parts separately. A minor point perhaps, but to my ears, there’s a different sense of space and warmth, a depth that comes from extra brushstrokes courtesy of sax and flute on a couple of tunes.

Heaton’s wry songs, “What Is A Packway Handle?,” which does absolutely nothing to answer that question (which is of course the point), and “I’m Glad You’ve Got My Priorities So Straight” provide the winking, smiling counterpoint to Michael Paynter’s five contributions. Paynter’s “Off My Knees” has surging bluesy riffs that explode into a chorus of layered harmonies, while “Outskirts” sports emotionally expressive lyrics that for some reason remind me of Dylan, circa Blood on the Tracks. Guitarist Josh Erwin chips in with three tracks including the instrumental “Horse vs. Technology.” This release is easily their most accomplished and well-rounded and I’d put it up against anyone else in that vague Americana/folk/bluegrass category that people want to talk about.

What Are We Gonna Do Now? I don’t know; just let me know when you do it.

Curtis Lynch
Playgrounds Magazine
February 2010

Jimmy Buffett - Buffet Hotel

Jimmy Buffett
Buffet Hotel
Mailboat Records
www.margaritaville.com


With apologies to Forrest Gump, Jimmy Buffett is like the anti-box of chocolates – you know exactly what you’re going to get. With every CD bought and every live show attended, the paying customer is guaranteed a sun-drenched, salt-rimmed good time. There are other places you can go if you want to be challenged or astounded, but sometimes you just want that familiar, comfortable cheeseburger. This year’s cheeseburger turns out to be pretty tasty. Bufett Hotel, Jimmy’s 42nd release, is inspired by a trip to Mali and the title comes from a hotel in Timbuktu where many Mali musicians got their start. The twelve tracks here are co-produced by longtime bandmates Michael Utley and Mac McAnally and guests include slide guitarist extraordinaire Sonny Landreth, Cedric Burnside and Will Kimbrough, who co-wrote four of the tracks and plays guitar, harmonica, banjo and mandolin.

In fact, full disclosure compels me to divulge that Will Kimbrough and Tommy Womack’s band DADDY is one of my personal favorites and they grab the opening track here. “Nobody from Nowhere” is a song that doesn’t romanticize rural, small town life so much as it simply accepts it for what it is, where “waiting for a car to drive by, just so you can wave hello” is the highlight of your day, and that’s okay.

Drummer Roger Guth contributes “Big Top,” a tune that gently acknowledges that the circus that is the travelling Parrothead roadshow is a bit out of their control (“I’m an accessory in front of the pack.”) and Kimbrough chimes in again on “Surfing in a Hurricane,” which takes the opportunity to slap in a few surf-guitar licks for good measure. Otherwise, the rest of the record is a pretty standard selection of familiar ballads, a couple of uptempo tunes that are obviously slated for live shows, a decent cover of Jesse Winchester’s “Rhumba Man,” Bruce Cockburn’s wistful “Life Short Call Now” and “A Lot to Drink About,” a pretty clever, topical “high-speed drinking song.”
As Buffett says in the extensive liner notes (printed on recycled paper), “when you are lucky enough to get to a point in your life where you can basically do what you want, the trick is to be able to enjoy it.” This is not the Buffett of 1973, who indulged in penny-ante shoplifting (“Peanut Butter Conspiracy” from A White Sport Coat and a Pink Crustacean), it’s been twenty years since this pirate looked at forty, and Buffet Hotel won’t garner him any new fans (not that he needs any), but it’s a pleasant enough listen. Buffett’s gift is making his enjoyment of life infectious, and on Buffet Hotel, he does just that.

Curtis Lynch
Playgrounds Magazine January 2010
www.playgroundsmag.com

An Open Letter to Music Lovers - Jazzfest

I’m currently reading The Great Deluge, a frustratingly accurate portrayal of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and its devastating effects on the Gulf Coast. Historian Douglas Brinkley painstakingly shows us the pain and suffering of Katrina’s victims, and how the government, at all levels, failed to protect those who needed it most.

In that light, and since Mardi Gras is upon us, and after that, Jazzfest, I thought I would bring back an open letter to music lovers I wrote that was printed in the April 2006 issue of Playgrounds Magazine.

One last thought: Does anyone else find it unsurprising that President Bush didn’t even acknowledge the issue of Katrina in his State of the Union address? Out of sight, out of mind is his motto apparently.

This is just as relevant now as it was a year ago. Unfortunately.

New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival

April 28-30 & May 5-7, 2006

www.nojazzfest.com

An open letter to fellow music lovers:

Katrina was a bitch. She was a hurricane that finally, inevitably, brought her horrific force to bear down on the Gulf Coast, destroying lives by the thousands, and yet, even after her apocalyptic aftermath was fully realized, the first thing I heard was… “Well, I guess you won’t be going to Jazzfest this year, huh?”

Never mind that my enjoyment was the least of my worries, but I will admit that I’ve been considering taking a break from the New Orleans festival after going every year since 1990 or thereabouts. The early spring brings out music festivals as thick as the pollen on our cars, and many conflict with Jazzfest. I had been eyeing Merlefest (www.merlefest.org) in North Carolina, for example, but post-Katrina, I knew I had to go back this year. For the city, for the residents, for the merchants, for myself.

After landfall, I watched the levees break, and I kept watching as the news channels broadcast hours and hours and scene after scene of destruction and rescue and despair, and finally, as I watched the dissolution of an entire city, I watched myself sink into a kind of walking daze of depression where I shielded myself from the truth that this could happen in a city in the United States of America. Where were the people I knew? Were they okay? After many phone calls, emails and message board postings, one by one they got back in contact with each other. Some were in the Northeast; one couple was in a hotel somewhere in North Mississippi. One photographer stayed behind, but he was finally, thankfully, located. My friends escaped without harm to anything but their property, but I can’t say the same for the friends of my friends. I do know the first time I saw a “504” area code on my cell phone, I about ripped the cover off trying to answer it!

Things are not back to normal by any definition of the word, no matter how liberally that word is used in New Orleans. It will never be the same.

But one thing about New Orleans is that it will carry on, the spirit will prevail. Mardi Gras was by all counts a success. People came, people partied, and people spent money. And the locals needed that.

And now they need Jazzfest.

This year, the festival has been scaled back by one day, some of the stages have been rearranged, and corporate sponsors have jumped in to an unprecedented degree. The promoters aimed with a shotgun, scattering several large draws over the two weekends, including Dave Matthews (who brought in the largest ever single-day Jazzfest crowd), Jimmy Buffett, Bob Dylan, rapper Juvenile, Bruce Springsteen (in his first Jazzfest appearance), Keith Urban, Lionel Richie and Paul Simon. And although most of the treasured Louisiana artists are playing, the quintessential New Orleans band The Neville Brothers will not be closing out the final Sunday night.

Will things be different? Without a doubt.

But for those of us who have adopted New Orleans as a spiritual and musical home, how can you not go back and partake of the amazing sounds, the wondrous array of food, and reconnect with the people who feel the same way?

Come to Jazzfest. Spend money. Talk to people. Donate your time, money or energy to help out.

New Orleans needs us. And we need New Orleans.

Sincerely,

Curtis Lynch

Music Lover