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.

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.

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.

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.