Staying in the Christmas Spirit

After Patty Loveless released “Mountain Soul,” her magnificent return to her Kentucky roots, back in 2001, she stayed with the bluegrass influences for a little longer and quietly released a wonderful Christmas record, “Bluegrass and White Snow,” the following year. I’m going to try to post a few tracks from that record this week in honor of the season, but I was having a hard time deciding which one to pick first. Luckily, this past Saturday, I had the pleasure of seeing the wonderful up-and-coming St. Louis band Rough Shop (disclaimer: my good friend John Wendland is one of the band’s founders and frontpeople—but I’d still think they were great even without knowing John) perform “Beautiful Star of Bethlehem” at their CD release/Christmas show. Pretty much everyone in the band is a multi-instrumentalist and vocalist, so I’m already having trouble remembering who played what when they performed that particular song (I’m pretty sure keyboard player Nate Dahm handled the mandolin part, though). But I do know for sure that the virtuosic Andy Ploof sang lead, and Anne Tkach added a gorgeous harmony. I had tears in my eyes by the end of the song.

As wonderful as Rough Shop’s version was, though, I have to admit that I like Patty Loveless’s better. Then again, I could happily listen to Patty Loveless sing the phone book…as long as the recording didn’t have the evil copy protection that Sony BMG inflicted on her current CD, “Dreamin’ My Dreams.” But griping about that is getting away from the Christmas spirit, so on to happier matters: “Beautiful Star of Bethlehem” as sung by Patty Loveless.

Dale Watson: Hot Texas Christmas Day

If you’re looking for a really good, really twangy Christmas record you can’t go wrong with Dale Watson’s Christmas Time In Texas. Dale’s leaving Austin at the end of the year, if you haven’t heard, and I’m busted up about it. This week is his last Thursday night at Ginny’s.
Anyway, here’s a track from the disc. I won’t be around for about a week, so Happy Holidays y’all.

An Oldie, Just for Variety

Bill mentioned Keith Whitley the other day, and it reminded me that I haven’t listened to him nearly enough lately. That’s just not right, because he’s one of my favorite singers—of any gender, in any genre—of all time.

Whole volumes could be (and have been) written about the self-inflicted tragedy of Keith Whitley’s life, but I won’t contribute too many more here. I’ll just say that if you’re not familiar with him, you really should be, whether you delve into his early duet work with Ricky Skaggs, his all-too-brief tenure as vocalist with J.D. Crowe & the New South, or—Nashville haters, try to stop those knees from jerking—his many mainstream country hits. (Regardless of how you feel about Nashville production and mainstream country and all that, I have to come right out and say that if you’re not moved by “I’m No Stranger to the Rain,” you should have either your ears or your heart checked. I’m teasing, of course, but it’s still true.

My first exposure to Keith Whitley was in the latter phase, when he was a mainstream country star-bordering-on-superstar, not too long before his untimely death. (He had a hit single with my name in it; how could I ignore that?!) So several years ago, when I started listening to bluegrass, I was delighted to discover that he’d had a whole career as a bluegrass musician before he ever had Nashville hits. Some of his work with J.D. Crowe & the New South was reissued a few years back under his name, with the title “Sad Songs and Waltzes,” and I can’t recommend that CD highly enough…but tonight’s song actually comes from the almost equally superb J.D. Crowe release “Live in Japan.” Keith hadn’t quite found the depth of beauty and emotion in his voice at this stage that he possessed in such abundance later in his career, but it’s still a great song: “Rose Colored Glasses,” by J.D. Crowe & the New South. Vocal by Keith Whitley, 1955-1989.

Marah: “New York Is A Christmas Kind Of Town”

Marah has always been on the edges of the alt.country thing. They started out that way then influences like Oasis and Bruce Springsteen became evident. Still they fall into the infamous ‘big tent’ and this is offered in the spirit of the season.

Their new Christmas album, A Christmas Kind Of Town is kind of an audio play with skits and spoken word bits and appearances by family members. It blends solid originals like this jolly nearly title track that recalls NRBQ and the hopped up polka “Counting The Days (‘Til Christmas)â€? with an eclectic array of classics that jangle (“Christmas Time’s A Comin’â€?), wobble (“Baby, It’s Cold Outsideâ€?) and doo wop (“Silver Bellsâ€?). Overall it’s a surprising effort that’s likely to become a classic.

Marah: “New York Is A Christmas Kind Of Town”

The Dreadful Yawns: “Darkness Is Gone”

The Dreadful Yawns, from Cleveland, were the last band to be signed to Bomp Records by the late, much-mourned Greg Shaw. They don’t exactly fit what I think of as the Bomp sound—they’re not garage, and though there’s a certain dreamy/spaceyness to some of their songs, they’re not particularly psychedelic either. But all that proves is that Greg Shaw had good, not narrow taste, and knew a band worth hearing when he heard them.

So, having described what they don’t sound like, I’ll take a stab at capturing what they do sound like. The short version would be that they’ve clearly listened to plenty of Neil Young, Gram Parsons, and the Byrds, and though the term “country rock” may have negative connotations for some, it shouldn’t with respect to this band: they embody it beautifully. Their current self-titled record is not their first; they put out an EP some years back, and then the fine folks at Undertow released a full-length record called “Early” in 2003. I’m slightly embarrassed to say that I haven’t heard that one yet, though it’s on my list o discs to buy.

But the current record is one of my pleasant surprises of the year, a rare example of a record that I bought about two minutes after hearing online samples and still ended up liking. (I’ve had the opposite experience with records I’ve bought on the basis of 30-second online clips and ended up totally underwhelmed by that I’ve now forbidden myself to buy anything without hearing at least three full songs from it.) Here’s one of the more uptempo and twangy tracks from the record, “Darkness Is Gone,” for your listening pleasure.

Son Volt: “Armagideon Time”

The reaction to the revitalized Son Volt and their recent release, Okemah and the Melody of Riot can be best described as mixed. It seems Jay Farrar has always been an acquired taste for some and it’s safe to say that he’s never really topped the band’s debut 1995’s Trace – which you need to go listen to RIGHT NOW! But Okemah just gets better with each listen and when I saw SV at Stubb’s this summer, they were so good I described them as “state of the art roots rock”. “Armagideon Time” was written by legendary reggae producer Clement ‘Coxsone’ Dodd and originally recorded by the obscure Willie Williams. Most of us know it because the Clash included it on their collection of odds and sods called Black Market Clash. Son Volt performed it on tour this year as an encore, removing the reggae and bashing it out as a garage rock protest song. This version is taken from a radio station only release of Okemah, a double CD set that features the original studio record with three bonus studio tracks and a live disc sequenced the same way as the original with versions taken from performances at radio stations and in concert. This is the last track on that second disc and was recorded at The Orange Peel in Ashville, NC.

Son Volt: “Armagideon Time”

About This Blog

This is a multi-author MP3 blog devoted primarily but by no means exclusively to twang. By “twang,” we mean anything from alt-country-whatever-that-is to honky-tonk to three-named Texas singer-songwriters to classic country and even current Nashville-type country. The blog authors have diverse tastes, so expect to find lots of nontwangy stuff here too.

We welcome comments, and needless to say, if you’re an artist and would like us to remove or add an MP3 to the blog, let us know. You can contact us at postmaster at twangblog dot com.

For more info, please see the Welcome post, the very first entry in the blog.

Marti Brom: “Seven Lonely Days”

It’s probably bad form to link to a feature I wrote for the Austin Chronicle in my first post. But the word on the new Marti Brom record, Heartache Numbers, really hasn’t gotten out yet and it’s the best pure country disc I’ve heard this year so I can’t resist. It’s a concept disc where the Austin-based Brom, best known as a rockabilly diva, sings old country songs with numbers in their title and then sequences them on the disc in numerical order. Producer Justin Trevino is known for making solid trad country and he brings top notch players like Bobby Flores, Lisa Pankratz, Kevin Smith and Levi Mullen to the project to assure that Brom’s ideas really shine.

“Seven Lonely Days” was originally sung by Patsy Cline in 1961 and was written by Marshall Brown, Alden Shuman and Earl Shuman. It’s a perfect fit for Brom. When I first heard this disc I said that this would be the record Cline would make if she was still alive. Other number songs on the disc range from the fairly well known “A-11,” “Apartment #9″ and “One Way Ticket To The Blues” to the obscure like “13 Steps Away” which she claims she found on a Jimmy Dean record.

And no Marti (mar-tee, btw) doesn’t have a website.

- Smilin’ Jim
Marti Brom: “Seven Lonely Days”

the everybodyfields: “The Only King”

the everybodyfields are a trio from Johnson City, TN, who play a quietly gorgeous mix of folk, old-time, and alt-country (if we must use that term). I learned about them from a guy who shares my fondness for dreamy, atmospheric sounds, but the everybodyfields are a lot less ethereal than that description implies. They may remind you of Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, though I didn’t notice that similarity until I’d listened to their most recent album, “Plague of Dreams,” for the third or fourth time; it didn’t occur to me at all after multiple listens to their first record, last year’s “halfway there.” That might have something to do with the fact that co-lead vocalist Jill Andrews has a voice that’s both sweeter and, I think, a little more memorable than Gillian Welch’s, or maybe it’s because the everybodyfields make fairly heavy use of dobro, courtesy of reso-master Dave Richey. (Now that I’ve name-checked two of the band members, I’d be remiss if I didn’t also mention the other lead vocalist—and co-bassist/guitarist, along with Jill—Sam Quinn.)

I keep wavering about whether I like the looser, longer first record or the tighter, more song-oriented new one better, but the plain truth is that I love them both. For your listening pleasure, here’s “The Only King,” one of my favorites from the new record.

Visit the everybodyfields‘ Website for more info.

Welcome

Welcome to the TwangBlog. It’s pretty much a basic MP3 blog, with these general criteria:

1. Unlike just about any MP3 blogs we’ve been able to find, this one will be primarily but not exclusively focused on twang. By “twang,” we may mean anything from mainstream country (gasp!) to whatever passes for alternative country these days, from traditional/classic country and bluegrass to current and mostly unheard honky-tonk. And anything else we decide to define as twangy. But we’ll also be including other varieties of music that we enjoy and want you to hear, not being narrow-minded exclusionary purist types.

2. More than one person will be contributing MP3s and related write-ups, so there will be a wide range of tunage available.
3. MP3s will appear on the site for a limited time only (roughly 4 days each), and only a few will be available on the site at any one time. We’ll do our best to keep adding new stuff as we take down the old.

Two important notes for artists:

1. If we’ve included an MP3 of yours here and you’d like us not to, please let us know at postmaster at twangblog dot com. We’ll remove it immediately.

2. If, on the other hand, you’d like us to include an MP3 of yours here, let us know at the e-mail address noted above. We’ll give it a listen and work with you to add it if we like it.

That’s about it. Let the twangblogging commence!

—Amy