The Avett Brothers are getting some love from American Songwriter magazine. Click Here for the article. The article is a bit too flowery or pretentious for my tastes but there’s some good quotes so definitely worth the read.
And thanks to Natasha for the tip, here’s the video of the Boys covering Glory Days by Bruce Springsteen.
Folks,
Justin Townes Earle releases his new album Midnight at the Movies March 3. And then he comes to Lincoln. Which is awesome.
Justin Townes is the son of country legend Steve Earle, of Copperhead Road fame(check out the awesome ’80s music video on the link) . Justin Townes’ namesake is Townes Van Zandt, cowboy songwriter and reluctant country star.
And to support the new album, Justin Townes will be playing at Knickerbockers on O Street on April 14th.
Go.
NPR recently did a story on Justin Townes and his dad, Click Here for the story.
Oh and Justin Townes Earle’s banjo and harmonica player is Cory Younts, a Phormer Philmont employee who has played with the Tennessee Boys and The Roadside Fireworks.
Here’s one of my favorite tunes, Lone Pine Hill.
The boys played a gig in the Gondola at Jackson Hole, Paste magazine rated it as the second best live performance of the year, check it out.
So about two weeks ago I recorded a video of me playing the harmonica. I tried to upload it to youtube.com and before I could check that the upload worked, my computer crashed. Apparently my 2005 Dell Inspiron 600m wasn’t quite ready for Vista after all and I digress…
So anyway, I finally got my computer back on Friday and when I searched for a different video, mine popped up on the search. I was quite surprised. So here’s my version of Jaybird Coleman’s unknown classic “I’m gonna cross that river of Jordan.”
Unfortunately Burl C. “Jaybird” Coleman died in 1950 in Tuskegee, Ala. so he wasn’t able to put any of his videos up on youtube. He’s famous for performing on street corners in Alabama and does have some recordings that can be found on his complete works album.
So i’ve got some friends who play music. And in addition to playing music, they write music. This clip is an amateur recording of their song “By a bear.” It’s a calm little ditty about the trials and tribulations of backpacking and the dangers you can run into in bear country. Pay close attention to the words and advice and you may just make it out of the woods alive
You can’t see very well, but that’s my friend Tim on guitar and lead vocals. It’s the Rich family featuring Ms. Rose on backup. They entertained at their homestead all summer. I was lucky enough to spend some time with them. During the day it was mostly relaxing for us guests and the family would keep the ’stead going feeding the animals and tending to the garden. They built an amzaing fence and grew some great crops that Tim harvested later in the fall.
At night they would play music and sometimes we’d stay up late into the dark singing and strumming and having a good time. One of my favorite memories was when i picked up the guitar and blasted away on my harmonica my best “Backwards with Time,” an Avett Brothers tune. Tim grabbed Ellie and they two-stepped around the cabin while the red-haired boy did the same with Ms. Rose. It was a beautiful night.
The Avett Brothers just canceled two shows in Florida. The decision was made because Scott and his wife were about to have their first baby. Though it is not uncommon for concerts to be canceled for personal reasons, the fan response to this cancellation seemed uncommon to me.
On the blogs, message boards, myspace, and the Avett Brothers website, there is only positive response to the cancellation. Well, people are bummed about the shows, but the fans are ecstatic for Scott and his family. Maybe it’s a little weird that the fans feel so connected. But I think it is only a good thing.
The positive energy, encouragement and emotion that the Avett Brothers give to their fans is why people love them. And for fans to reciprocate their love and encouragement for the boy’s off the stage is a testament to the community the Avetts have created.
Oh, and the gospel album, Jim Avett and Family, comes out in two weeks.
Last spring my friend Vern came to town and gave me a couple of CDs. In the mix that included John Hartford and Townes Van Zandt was also R. Crumbs Heroes of Blues, Jazz and Country. This album features a great selection of older tunes, many recorded before World War II. It features historically relevant artists like Dock Boggs and Cannon’s Jug Stompers.
The track the stuck out to me the most was “On the Road Again” by the Memphis Jug Band. It’s a hearty harmonica heavy blues song that chronicles the story of a man coming home to a woman that is less than faithful, and she can’t even cook. The song has the crunchy call and response that I love in older blues tunes and seems like the kind of song that would be a lot of fun to play. And it is.
Many of you may know about my band, the Rattlesnake Boys however you are probably unfamiliar with my house band, the Tree Planters. It consists of me and my roommate and is a bluesier, gospel-e-er, and more soulful conterpart to the more contemporary and folk-rock elements of the RSB. The Tree Planters have a new arrangement of “On the Road Again” that keeps the traditional instrumentation of harmonica and Kazoo and also incorporates stories from our own life. In addition to the timeless lyrics about women and food is also the story of one of our fabled trips to Minnesota in which we lost a member of our party to appendicitis before we even left Nebraska.
As the Tree Planters were researching “On the Road Again” we stumbled across another recording of the song. This one was by the Grateful Dead, formerly the known as Mother McCree’s Uptown Jug Champions. In 1981 the Dead performed their version of this song live on the Tomorrow Show on NBC. The song has racially adjusted lyrics and a rockier feel but it’s still the same old tune.
The most recent recording of this song is by one of my favorite bands, the Roadside Fireworks. On what I assume is their 2006/7ish self-titled release, that hasn’t actually been released (you gotta known someone to get a copy, and I know Vern), is their throw-back version of “On the Road Again.” Again featuring that kazoo jam the song is known for, the Fireworks have added a fiddle and banjo part to give the song a more distinctive North Carolina flair. The mellower singing and slower pace of the song sounds more like Hank Williams than the Memphis Jug Band and I think that was the point. Unfortunately I currently don’t known how to get a copy of this song up on the Report, so you’ll have to trust me that it’s good.
I have read in several different places that the Avett’s are coming out with a gospel album. This could be their last album on a small record label and is rumored to feature the boys and their family. Both the Brothers sister and their wives have joined them on stage at various times, with their sister also contibuting to “Swept Away (Sentimental Version)” on Mignonette.
Apparently the album is to be released on November 1 but some fans are hoping for a preview at the Halloween show in Greensboro, NC. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what November brings. I’m always open for whatever they want to share with us especially in November, especially if it’s blue.
So I got an email today telling me some good, no great, no excellent, no, PHANTASTIC news. Phish is one step closer to coming back together.
I know I’m again straying from the Alternative Country that I’m supposed to be writing about but this is huge. The entire world of music has been affected by Phish, at least my world has. I saw Phish in their third to last show before they broke up in 2004. It was at the Tweeter Center in Camden, NJ. It was a great show, they played the best Julius ever recorded. The show opened with WIlson and closed with Frankenstein, it was beautiful.
Now, more than four years since the break up, the rumors are becoming truth. I always had a feeling they’d get back together but i had no idea when. They are officially scheduled for three shows at the Hampton Collesium in Virginia this spring. Hampton, the site of the infamous six disc live recording “Hampton Comes Alive,” is one of the band’s favorite places to play. I think they’ve had enough time away from each other now, and I have too.
I haven’t intently listened to the boys from Burlington in a while but maybe it’s about time to get back in. Less than a month ago they played for a wedding, here’s a cellphone camera clip of another memorable Julius, enjoy.
I went to the Robert Randolph concert last Wednesday. It was free. It was a good show. There were some problems. He came on two hours late, apparently because he had to see the end of the Mets game. This bothered me for a couple reasons but more so than his lateness, his set list bothered me a lot. It felt like he was pandering and making fun of the predominantly white crowd in Lincoln. This rant isn’t really necessary for this post but i had to put it somewhere. Robert Randolph isn’t even an Alt-Country artist. There, that’s enough.
iTunes Genius is genius. I don’t know how it does it but the program really picks some great tunes. Today I started a playlist with Esmerelda by Cast Iron Filter. I saved the playlist because it was so good. It had Cast Iron Filter, Great Big Sea, Old Crow Medicine Show, Doc Watson and Gillian Welch, absolutely nothing to complain about.
The only thing that might be missed on this playlist is Yonder Mountain String Band. And there’s Big news about Yonder. They’re coming to Omaha!
On Saturday October 25 YMSB will play at the Sokol Auditorium in Omaha. I don’t know if this is their first time in Nebraska but it’s the first time I’ve known about it. The only problem is that the show might be during the Baylor – Nebraska game. So, if that’s a conflict for you, which it might be for me, there’s another chance to see them. Friday night before at Liberty Hall, Yonder plays in Lawrence, Kansas which is a great venue for any concert. I’ve seen Yonder, OCMS and even a metal band there and each show has been amazing.
Yonder Mountain String Band who are half bluegrass, half jamband and all fun are from Colorado and have great songs about just about everything under the sun. They play bluegrass classics like Raleigh and Spencer (a personal favorite) and Little Rabbit. They also play their own tunes. The band was heavily influenced by John Hartford and pays frequent tribute to him with songs like Up on the Hill Where They Do The Boogie.
If you ever have a chance to see them, go for it. Here’s one of their most popular live tunes, “At the End of the Day.”
