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The Coolest Allman Brothers Tribute I've Ever F*cking Seen...
Brett Underhill...I don't know who you are, but I like the cut of your jib. This is absolutely fucking brilliant. Great job with this video. You absolutely nailed all the looks in all the periods. The little things, too: Oakley nodding his head, Derek Trucks slide hand working it's magic...all killer. Love the nods to different songs and album covers: 'Liz Reed, Dreams, Ramblin' Man, Eat a Peach. The montagne of Gregg with the house lights on him was damn good.
I love this because a fan took the time to do it. That is what we fans are for. We didn't make the music, but we write about it, we create around/with it, we talk about it, we listen to it incessantly and then we share it with other fans.
Inspiring and just plain cool...
I'm a massive Allmans fan and love all the nuances in here and appreciate the time spent against this. Can you spot all the hidden bits?
6149 Turn-Ons: Paul Pena is one of the THE hidden folks in the lore of music
In 2000 I was living in Boston, MA. I was still listening to terrestrial radio back then. Boston has a long history of pushing boundaries in radio. I grew up listening (from over in good ol' New Hampshire) to WZLX, WBCN and many, many college radio stations. Between all of those, I felt like I was in prime position to be turned on to any new sounds and any sounds that were older, but new to me. By 2000, radio was changing and Boston radio was no exception. Even though corporate had crept in and changed the experience, discovery was still happening.
I was driving home from work one day on RT.128. I had the dial pegged to 92.9 WBOS. I was cruising along when I heard a song that forced me to pull the car into the breakdown lane and listen. That had never happened to me before while I was driving. Right from the outset this song popped out of the dashboard and grabbed my attention. It was just so damn alive and real that I felt compelled to give it my undivided listening attention.
That song was "Gonna Move" by Paul Pena. Wow. As soon as it was done, I exhaled and then got back on the road and made a bee-line for the record shop. I bought Paul's album and sped off, racing home to listen. Little did I know, but this guy was a native son, born in 1950 in Massachusetts. Little did I know that this guy had a lot of rock and roll history on him. Little did I know that this album would be one of the coolest finds I had in the first decade of the new century...and it was almost 30 years old even though it was a new release.
I'll let this 2000 promo vid tell Paul's story. I hope that after watching it you want to know more about and listen to more of, Paul Pena. His story is fascinating and effects your listening in a warm and rewarding way.
This is the album in question, "New Train". Here is the excellent allmusic reveiw. In it they said:
New Train sounds fresh, essential, and invigorating, even 27 years after it was recorded, establishing this as one of the most magnificent, previously missing albums of that, or any, era.
Please pause to have a listen...
Here is a 2001 live performance on Conan O'Brien. Paul does his version of "Jet Airliner". Of course you know the Steve Miller version...now hear the writer tell the tale HIS way...because the story in the song is Paul's.
Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi are big Paul fans having covered him in live shows many times. Here is Derek and crew doing the song that pulled me over, "Gonna Move":
Reducing the Clutter: CDs & Concert T's (WWJD...What Would Jerry Do?)
Recently I wrote a post, a Part II actually: The CD Conundrum: Coasters or Collector's Items (what to do with my 1,000+ CDs). Not only was it a savvy use of the word 'conundrum' in a post title, the resulting conversation proved to be a cathartic exercise well worth taking.
The post was really about two things: my changing music consumption habits and my desire to jettison my physical CD collection. There were a number of comments from faithful 6149'ers on how their own consumption habits are changing (streaming versus buying music is a polarizing topic to say the least). There was also a lot of discussion on what role the physical CD plays now and, if there is a want to shed them, what the hell to do with them all?
The latter subject is the one I want to talk about. It fits in well with a subject I am thinking a lot about right now: "reducing the clutter". What the hell am I talking about here? Reducing the clutter has been a central theme of my life as of late. My efforts to reduce the clutter has been a success from the big philosophical things to the little bullshit-y things. I'm focusing on what what I am most passionate about and interested in, eliminating unnecessary variables from choice and decisions, changing patterns and getting stuck into the new work I am involved in. That is the big picture stuff. I am cutting a swath through the little bullshit, too...like my CD collection.
The (pending) elimination of my CD collection is not the only physical clutter I am trying to reduce. I have a ridiculous collection of concert T-shirts, too. I haven't worn some of them in years. Between my moves from Boston to Florida to Sydney, Australia and to London...that is 8+ years of lugging plastic and cloth all over this big ol' globe. Now that I have potentially solved my CD conundrum, I had to make a move on the T's. I didn't want to throw them away...I just couldn't. Instead, I found a way to, as they say, re-purpose them.
I found this service called UBlanket. You send them 20 of your fave T's and they turn them into a blanket for you. I looked at a number of other similar services and this seemed to be the best. The cool thing is that you send them the shirts and they take pictures and post them online. You get to crop the design to your satisfaction and then you click and drag your "panel" into the frame and decide the layout of your T's / blanket.
I was their first international order. Once we sorted out some logistics, my fave Ts were in the mail headed for the chop shop. Once they were posted online, I designed my masterpiece. It should be here within the next couple of weeks. In the meantime, here is a pic of the design I came up with:
If you are like me and have an unhealthy emotional attachment to Rock & Roll schwag, like concert T's, that marked seminal moments in your life (and who doesn't, right?)...Ublanket may be a good option for you.
Funny, as I type this I am wondering if I actually reduced clutter or if I just consolidated it.
-----
Let's step into the way-back machine, circa 1987. I was in high school. I had a VHS copy of "Rolling Stone Magazine 20th Anniversary" special (yes, VHS...this was the 80's). The video was chock-full of interviews with people from the heyday of the mag back in the 60's, straight up to the video darlings of the mid 80's. One of the interviewees was Jerry Garcia. There was one thing Jerry said that struck sparks in my young mind (I am paraphrasing): "we all want to live a clutter free life". That had an impact on me back then as it does now.
I didn't know it at the time, but Jerry was revisiting a comment he made many moons ago when Haight Ashbury was alive and well with the Hippie ideal and the freewheeling fever of Fillmore gigs, free will and fucking. He and the rest of the Dead were being interviewed by Harry Reasoner, of CBS...the straight press. Funny...when you watch this, who looks like the real freak? The interviewer or the interviewee? Truly...one man's normal is another man's strange.
Here is that video: Harry Reasoner's The Hippie Temptation. If you haven't seen it, it is worth the viewing. The Jerry/clutter comment I am referring to happens at 1:20.
Reducing clutter...it makes me think of a song from one of my fave rave albums of the year, 'Brothers', by The Black Keys. The name of the song is, "Tighten Up". Reducing, tightening...yeah, that sounds right. It is a song so fixated in the now, but leans so heavily on influences of the past. It has a deep, sticky, dewey groove with a buzz & fuzz vibe layered on top. I love it. I love the whole damn album. Here is a double-whammy for you: the official video for the track and a live performance on Letterman.
If you have this album and downloaded it...you fucked up. Bite the bullet and go buy it on vinyl. The difference is staggering. If you don't have it already...and don't own a record player...don't be a fuck-up. Bite the barrel and invest in a turntable. Get with it...this is 2010, for Keith's sake!
Neil Young "still sees the vista & hears the muse" and is making new Le Noise in September
If you look over the the left hand side of this blog you will see a statement next to my "about me" picture. It says, "I've got my own row to hoe". That was adapted from a Neil Young song, "Thrasher". This quite possibly is my favorite song of all time. It isn't the music or the melody that appeals so much to me. What appeals to me most is the message I get from that resonates: You own yourself, own up to the outcomes of your decisions and focus on the "now".
"I've got my own row to hoe". Every time I read/say that...I feel good. I also feel good about the upcoming release from Neil in September: Le Noise. Here we have Neil, own his own terms, a solo outing that showcases his soft-sonic, yin-yang, acoustic-electric 1-2 punch. This has been Neil's secret weapon over the years. His sound cuts such a wide swath in between these sonic boundaries that he cannot (will not) be pigeonholed or hamstrung by genres, opinions, labels...or, hell, even himself.
I don't think Neil reinvents himself, either. He is in constant flux. He doesn't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows because he doesn't give a shit which way it blows. If it blows him in one direction or the other...so be it. He will makes sounds once he touches Terra Firma.
Fortunately for us, he touched down in Daniel Lanois capable hands. Lanois produced the new album and coaxed, from all accounts, another Neil classic. Pop & Hiss, the LA Times Music Blog, had a write-up on a sneak-peek listening session they attended. Here is a cool bit:
What’s striking about “Le Noise” is the way it both summarizes and distills Young’s singular approach to music, predominantly just Neil and a guitar: his big, white hollow-body Gretsch electric slashing and burning for most of the tracks, a couple built around picked and strummed acoustic instruments. Both are recorded and amplified -- literally and metaphorically -- by Lanois’ signature soundscapes that loop vocals, and enhance the guitars’ bass notes through distortion boxes, synthesizers and other electronicsThe songs bristle with energy -- anger, passion, love, self-doubt, regret, hope -- emotions that seem all the more pure expressed without percussion, keyboards, strings or other instruments, just by Young’s voice and guitars.
Hot Damn! I can't wait for this. Neil is going to release this in a variety of formats, too. Says Neil:
It will be available in Vinyl, CD and I tunes in the first edition, followed by Blu-Ray, and an APP for I-Phone and I-Pad a month or so later. The app will be free. It gives you an interactive album cover. Forgive my use of the word “album”. I am old school. When you buy the songs/movies from I- tunes they show up in your app. Peace ny
I will be buying all of the above (except for CD). I'm down with the Blu-Ray. I bought the Archives Vol.1 on Blu-Ray without owning a player. I picked upa PS3 to bring it to life. The archives is all I use it for...that a few concert films and my BR copy of "Almost Famous".
I stumbled on a music news website called "TwentyFourBit". Aside from them being a kindred alpha-numeric-blog-titled-music-site spirit, they had some good Neil intel on the new album. One particular post had five vids of Neil performing songs from Le Noise on his current Twisted Road tour. Jump on over to 24Bit to see the post with all five vids. I included one here of a song called, "Love and War". This one hit bone for me.
Speaking of cool Neil websites, the coolest on the web, Thrasher's Wheat, was recently the subject a not from Ol' Shakey himself:
THRASHER'S WHEAT UNDER FIRE, August 17, 2010
It has come to my attention that the negativity on this site has caused the founders to wonder whether it is worth it to continue. They have been moderating and trying to bring fans the news for nearly two decades. This is the most respected site on the net for this type of activity. Let me take this opportunity to thank you for your interest in what I am doing. There is always negativity with any internet endeavour. Now it has perhaps worn you down. It is alright to say goodbye. You have done some folks a great service for a long long time and I appreciate the effort you have shown. Always someone will be negative. Don't dismay. Whether you choose to continue or just hang it up and get on with your life is up to you. Just know that I have appreciated your efforts, tried to stay out of your business and watched you from afar through other's eyes. As for myself, I still see the vista. I hear the muse. I continue. Godspeed. Thank you. Mahalo. Neil.Very cool that Neil acknowledge a Champion effort by a very dedicated fan site. What I absolutely loved, what made me sit up straight and feel oh so damn good about Neil was the message he left in there for all of us fans:
"I still see the vista. I hear the muse".
Damn straight, Neil. Damn fucking straight.
You can read all about all the scuttlebuttin' over on TW's site.
As if it needed to be said...thanks for stopping by and Keep on Rockin' in the Free World, 6149'ers.
Delaney & Bonnie's Southern Soul, Rollicking R&R: If they haven't already, they 'gonna get you some day'
One of those weird, cosmic, connect-the-dots, WTF thingies happened to me last week. It was just after dinner and I was checking out a twitter list that I created (it is chock full of music bloggers and journalists). I decided I needed some foreground music for this. I dropped an album on to the turntable that I have been obsessed with since picking it up a month ago at a used record shop in Paris.
So there I am, rousting along to side two of the legendary, shit-hot...no, white-hot..."On Tour with Eric Clapton" from Delaney & Bonnie & Friends when a tweet from Jim Fusili, Wall Street Journal rock journo (@wsjrock), caught my eye ("cue the weirdness").
Fusili had just posted an article on Delaney & Bonnie...the spookiness ensued. Fusili's article was about the grandiose re-release of this very same album. Love that cosmic timing. Rhino records has re-released this set as a sprawling 52 track, 4 CD set with over three hours of unreleased greasy, gut-bucket, southern soul rollicking rock and roll. It only comes in physical format, but box it comes in a box shaped like a roadie's case...cool for for collectors, if anything. Funny though, it adds a wrinkle to my post last week on only buying downloads and vinyl. I'll have to make a "cool boox sets" clause for situations like these.
I have to admit, I am late to the party on Delaney & Bonnie. Yes, I listen to them and never flip the dial when they come on the box, but I never really got into them. I think it has something to do with when I was younger and first heard about them. I was still learning the about the folks and the lore of the sweet-spot period of rock and roll in the late '60's / early 70's and, unfairly, I locked D&B away as an Eric Clapton side project. in my "wax-on, wax-off" learning phase, the big-stars made bigger impressions on me. Back then, I didn't understand that Clapton was just one many stars and not the star in this constellation of "Friends".
This wasn't you average band; which is why it was so damn good: Delaney & Bonnie, Clapton, Carl Radle, Jim Gordon, Bobby Whitlock, Jim Price, Bobby Keys, Tex Johnson and at times, Rita Coolidge, George Harison and Dave Mason. Eeeeh Dogeee...that deck was stacked. You've got the future Derek & The Dominoes in there, future Stones horns stalwarts and other superstars in their own rights. Yeah, no wonder...
I don't hink it would be possible to trace back the lines of influence back to Delaney & Bonnie. Do yourself a favor...let them influenced your listening flavors.
The rerelease had me wondering what was thought of the original. I jumped over to allmusic to have a look at what they had to say about the album. It was short and sweet and packed a wallop. here are some highlights:
"[Clapton] rises to the occasion with dazzling displays of virtuosity throughout, highlighted by a dizzying solo on "I Don't Want to Discuss," a long, languid part on "Only You Know and I Know," and searing, soulful lead on the beautifully harmonized "Coming Home." Vocally, Delaney & Bonnie were never better than they come off on this live set, and the 11-piece band sounds tighter musically than a lot of quartets that were working at the time, whether they're playing extended blues or ripping through a medley o fLittle Richard songs....One only wishes that Atlantic Records might check their vaults for any unreleased numbers from these shows that could fit on an extended CD."
Well, what do you know...this lucky bastard's wish has come true! For more on the Rhino re-release, go here. Check out Fusili's article on D&B as well as Rolling Stone's write up. You can get more history on the band as well as current thoughts from Bonnie Bramlett (Delaney has since moved on to the great gig in the sky).
After all of this dot-connecting, opened YouTube and went a searchin'. Here are some of the choice vids I pulled up. Enjoy...
Comin' Home: Damn, I love this song. That riff is so crunchy and snarly and, of course, the harmonies are spot on.
Poor Elijah / Tribute to Johnson: So, so, down home cool. This song deserves a hot day, cold beer and friends trying to sing the harmonies together.
Come On Into My Kitchen: You have to listen to this, just because "Brother Duane" Allman is playing slide. Brother Duane is one of the top three "what if" cases in R&R history. Listen to Duane lay that slide think and greezey.
>
Only You Know and I Know: More foot stompin' w/Brother Duane and Brother Gregg...
I Don't Want to Discuss It: And then there is this humdinger with Clapton, George Harrison, Dave Mason, Bobby Keys, et all, ramblin' along side D&B. Sick Boogie...
New bow-down material from Tom Petty & The Ass-Kickers: The line forms behind me for the new album...
This is shit-hot. Mike Campbell...meet your new Guitar Hero moniker. Someone put a fucking tiger in his tank.
Ass Sniffers and Record Collectors: Sound Hounds are the purest of breeds
Click here to download:
ass-sniffers-and-record-collectors-sound-hounds-are-the-purest-of-breeds-tFBtkhnkbjgfteFsdfmz.zip (3708 KB)
We're out in the park playing fetch or taking a walk and we run into another dog. Like a fucking thin, red laser beam, my dogs zero in on the other dog's asshole. This is the gut reaction, the centuries old knee-jerk response...dogs are natural born shit sniffers.
Yeah, they could smell the other dog's face, they could sniff the other dog's coat, but to really find out what that other dog is all about, to really get a feel for how they roll, they've got to get a good snort of that other dog's shitter.
Record collectors are natural born shit sniffers, too.
That's right. We ain't no dogs, but we are shit sniffers of a high order...evolved, upright, thumbs. I'll admit it, I've sniffed a lot of shit in my days, and I bet you have, too. We can't help it either; it's just what we do.
Record collectors. Music lovers. Sound hounds. When we meet people, there is only one way to find out what they are all about and that is to stick our noses as far up the other person's record collection as possible. Case in point...
Take my new friend, George. George and I just met recently. I had heard about George through a friend. George has worked in the record / radio industry for a number of years. From what I was told, George knows his music (confirmed). So, when we were introducing ourselves I passed him a link to my record collection that I have stored in an online doc.
What better way for George to know where I am coming from than to have virtual finger flip through my collection. I am my collection. It says a lot about me. I am happy if George, or anyone else, makes their first impression of me based on it. Shit, I have been curating that now for close to twenty-years. As I tell my wife: "sorry baby, but my first love and longest lasting relationship has been with my music". Oh yeah, she loves that one.
After he had a look through my list, George said something that made me smile. He said when visiting some one's home for the first time, he heads straight for their record collection (like a thin, red laser beam). I laughed because I do exactly the same thing. Other people don't want you looking through their fridge, they don't want you pawing through their underwear drawer, but they certainly don't mind if you flip their records.
(As George rightly pointed out...not many people have records anymore. Now we have to spin their CD rack, or worse, scroll through their iTunes)
George had good things to say about my collection (mustard officially passed). One thing he did notice was the "total lack of any punk". Good eye, George...I am not a punk fan. He was cool with that (personal taste), but what he could not tolerate was me having no Clash records in my collection at all.
Before I go any further, let me say that my preconceived notions about the Clash and their music was completely misguided. I disobeyed a cardinal rule of one my heroes, Boo Diddley: You can't judge a book by looking at it's cover.
I am a blues man. Punk just never resonated with me. As far as I knew, the Clash was punk. I didn't even take the time to validate that judgement. Fuck it, I have Otis Rush and Charley Patton...who needs the Clash.
I stand corrected. There is definitely room in my predominantly 12 bar collection for the Clash.
After getting berated by George for my Clash oversight, I went head first into "London Calling". Yes there is punk in there, but there is so, so much more, too. There's R&B, rock, Bo Diddley's beat, jazzy shit, ska...you name it, its in there. There are rockers, slow ones, aggressive ones and flat out ball-busters. The best thing about it is that it sounds different and not contrived.
The band put themselves and their scene into the sound and what came out was a true and honest representation of who they were at that point in time. Like all true classics, that point in time has the legs to live on forever.
As always, I was interested in the story behind the album. I watched the docco on the making of it: "The Last Testament". I was hooked after that. I LOVE the back story. It adds so much depth and richness to the listening experience. Have you seen it? If not, have a go...it is well worth it.
So, thanks to George's sniffing around my record collection, I am now knee deep in learning about the Clash...and a better man for it. Hopefully I get a change to flip through George's collection when we meet. Who knows, I may be able to turn him on to something that I think he is missing in his collection...?
We shit sniffers need to stick together.
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If you haven't looked at my collection before, please do so. I call it Judd's Juke Joint (click that link). I'm always updating it. You can even subscribe to it and get emails on when I feed the dragon and buy new sounds. There are a few tabs at the bottom of it: CDs & Downloads, Vinyl, DVDs and "The Honour Roll". Have a look at all of them.
You'll find a note atop Judd's Juke Joint. It reads: I do not believe in conventional genres. Genres are used to sell records. I believe in music that is deeply engraved in the background of the music makers; all of of whom are connected by a shared experience that links them inextricably; music with a message and a literal truth. Everything else is a product of the record labels.
Damn straight.
Special note on Judd's Juke Joint: While living in Sydney, Australia, my collection grew not just in numbers but in sheer quality. I owe most all of that to my good mate, Nev...The Kingfish. I've written about Nev many times on The 6149. Nev is the owner and resident keeper of the independent record store chain in Sydney Australia. He taught me more about the blues than I ever could have learned on my own.
Six days of the week you can find him hanging at his shop, Mojo Records, bestowing bits of blues wisdom on bow-down tracks and albums that are ball-tearer's. Stop in and tell him Judd sent you...
Roust on, Kingfish. Long live "Nev's Nuggets"!
Hidden Gems: The Scene and Sound intersect in Paris for a full-on, bow-down, live blues romp
It was Valentine's Day, Paris, 2004. My wife and I had been out sharing good food and drink, indulging our love, striking sparks and celebrating the glorious unknown that the future held for us. We ended up floating throughout the Latin Quarter looking for turn-ons. We stumbled upon one; it was a hidden gem of a pub cum subterranean homesick blues-joint: the Le Caveau des Oubliettes.
While passing by we heard the familiar six string sting of blues licks and bass drum kicks. We looked in the front window and saw a small, cramped, crowded bar with no band in sight. Where the hell was this music coming from? We went inside, sidled up to the bar and shouted out for a round.
"Barkeep...a pint of your strongest ale and a glass of your bubbliest bubbly...and please tell me where those licks are being plucked".
With a point of his finger and a knowing wink he sent us off to the far corner of the bar. There we found a door...no, "door" doesn't do it justice. This was a hatch; an opening; a portal...to a true scene. We made our way down the stairs of stone. We were going into a basement of filled with a history of lost souls and shared sounds. You see this blues bar used to be a prison back in the 1400's. What used to be populated by life'ers and death'ers is now filled with hipsters, beer hoisters and transients all in search of the sound of a raucous blues band. This place is a gold mine for blues-scene prospectors like me. It is a classic combination of integrity, character and true-grit.
This past Saturday I re-visited the scene of the crime with a good mate. This time it was no serendipitous stumble; I made a beeline for the joint this time. I had promised my friend a happening and I was anxious to see I was going to be a man of my word or not. I was.
The band was huddled tightly on a cramped stage at one end of this carved out cave. The drummer and bassist bumped elbows while the guitarist and harp-man straddled the stage and dance floor trying to make room for their expansive solos. My buddy had never been here and judging by the initial look on his face, I held up my end of the bargain.
We had a couple pints pulled for us and then joined the other cellar dwellers to catch the tail end of the night's second set. Our blues-crew tonight was a barnstorming quartet out of Holland: The Juke Joints. These guys have been around for twenty years and it showed. They were combustible. They whooped up a calamity of blues and rock that could have damn well collapsed that concrete cavern at will...if they wanted to.
By why ruin a good thing. They were there to play and did they ever. You want to talk about passion...these guys were drenched in it. There is something about a band who has been together for twenty years and still exudes such shear joy, pleasure and passion for their music. They were tight. They knew all the trick and cues...old pros with the enthusiasm of young turks on the prowl for a big break.
This is what the live scene is meant to be. Four guys playing their guts out for the shear joy of the jam and reaction of the crowd. At the end of the second set, the crowd thinned. My friend and I held our ground and held up our end of the deal as fans and faithfuls. We stayed glued to the stools for the third and final set. By this time the crowd was only twelve. The band didn't give a shit. If there were twelve or twelve hundred, I know that they would have played with the same passion and inspiration
They blasted through a forty minute set of pulsing blues and rousting rock and roller licks. I love these moments. When I can see the band loving it, loving what they are doing and going-for-it, I feel indebted to them. I feel like I owe them one. It is my job to tap a foot, pump a fist and shout and holler back at them to feed the rhythm machine. The live scene is a legacy of give and take and to and fro. It is a push and pull, hand-clap-sing-a-long exchange that doesn't require a handshake, but does deserve a reaction. We gave 'em one...
We left satisfied as all hell. Thanks to The Juke Joints and a (literal) hole in the wall, scene and sound intersected to form a sweet spot for our late night Paris carousings. Ooh la la, indeed.
_____
I couldn't help but by one of their CDs. The Juke Joints have a quite a catalog, too. I bought one their live offerings: Live in Ireland. I am going to give it a spin tonight and see if there is lightening in this here bottle.
After all that, you don't think I would leave you hanging, do you? Here are a few vid clips of the Juke Joints in full romp. Check out the first one where Boogie Mike trades guitar licks for harp licks with Sonny Boy. The second clip is a band in hot pursuit of a red hot sound. The third one is more of the same except Sonny Boy trades in his mouth harp for the squeeze box.
Enjoy!
- Posted from Paris, France
Ray Charles turns up the heat on Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire" (stop what you are doing and watch this NOW!)
I don't think I can say anything more to emphasise how fucking brilliant this is. Ray takes this song to a new level...and that is no easy task.
The cultural impact of Johnny having Ray on his show cannot be understated. Can you imagine the loyal Cash rednecks watching this? But that is what Johnny was...the Great Communicator. Races, religions, genres...he bridged all gaps.
Ray Fucking Charles...
The Drive-By Truckers play the pimp AND prostitute: how to sell your new album and stay off your knees
If the Drive-By Truckers sold an album of nursery rhymes interpreted through the sounds of armpit farting noises...I would buy it. I would...on CD and Vinyl.
Seriously, I would buy that. It is not because I am a big fan of old timey armpit harmonies (I think Smithsonian Folkways sells a box set of this stuff from the early 1900's). I would buy it for the simple fact that the Drive-By Truckers are chock-full of integrity. In fact, I would argue that they have the most integrity of any band traveling the highways and byways of the Good Ol' USofA today.
"Give us your tired, your hungry, your poor...and we'll sing about 'em". That is the fundamental ethos that underpins the DBTs music. Their songs are filled with the stories of the American underbelly. They sing with an "I've been there" tone that makes believers of the music and them as an integral part of it.
Their latest album, "The Big To-Do" doesn't stray from the (dirt) path either. This is their "critical mass" album. This has been brewing for sometime. In 1998 they released their first album that was full of guts-balls, piss and gasoline rock. Since then they have been one-upping themselves with each album release. In the process, they have been positioning themselves to be a big deal with "The Big To-Do". How they got here:
- "Gangstabilly" & "Pizza Deliverance": building the rabid fan base
- "Southern Rock Opera": critic's darlin's
- "Decoration Day" & "The Dirty South": flexing muscles
- "A Blessing and a Curse": the transition album
- "Brighter Than Creation's Dark": looking inward
- "The Big To-Do": critical mass
- They also backed Booker T. and Bettye Lavette on their respective albums: building artist cred
Why do I think that The Trucker's have moved on to the "critical mass" phase? The push behind this new album, that's why. They are going all in on this one. Yes, I am a fan so I have been on the lookout for this album. I am also signed up to their newsletter, facebook fan page and twitter account. So, yes, I am where they are broadcasting their message, but it is how they are using those channels that has my antennae buzzing.
Why such a push? The Truckers have a new label, ATO. This has got to be it. New West Records put all the blood and sweat into the band during their "muscle flexing, transition and introspective" works. Now ATO is throwing the party and they are whooping it up.
What have they been doing:
- Free downloads of new songs
- The new webisodes
- Streaming the entire album on their site
- Deluxe pre-order packages (I bought the vinyl one)
- Appearance on Letterman
- Live in-store record store performance
- Live video streaming on iClips.net
- Massive push through their social media outposts (facebook, especially)
- an iPhone app (!)
- The traditional PR...but on human growth hormone
Like I said, critical mass. ATO is smart. They have a band on the apex of going BIG. Here is why I think the Truckers can pull this push off without looking like street corner whores: the "slow build" and that they are still the same ol' same ol'.
We ain't never gonna change
We ain't doin' nothin' wrong.
We ain't never gonna change
So shut your mouth and move along
...Well I ain't much different than the man I wanna be and the man that I already am"
Those are lyrics from one fo their earlier songs, "We Ain't Never Gonna Change"...and they haven't. Integrity
They have been working hard for a long time. They have experienced all the time-tested up's and down's that all bands that are in it for the long haul go through. They never sold out and sacrificed who they were. They are still here...better than ever...the same as ever. Integrity.
Sometimes, when you see a fave band go from "yours" to "every one's", you feel let down. "Let down", because they start to get all tarted up and homogenised, ready for a safe coming out party ("carrying a bucket of wealthy man's paint"). Here is why I think the Truckers have earned the right to play pimp and prostitute.
They aren't pushing any bullshit. What you are seeing is what has been all along. They aren't saying anything new about themselves, just talking a bit louder is all. ATO is doing a good job of keeping it real...and I'm sure that is the law that the Truckers laid down. If you just let your label pimp you out like a blue light special, people will see through that. The stench of bullshit is stronger than it has ever been. People are more empowered and keen on how to spot a fraud...and most often there isn't a trial by peers.
The kicker is that the Truckers can walk the talk. They know they have a winner here; it is a winner because the content is damn good.
This is a Rock record through and through. My first thoughts were: guitars, guitars, GUITARS and drums...lots of them. There isn't a clunker on here. It is full of that muscular, passionate, soulful ruckus that is the DBTs sound. It also has their signature storytelling in each and every song. The storytelling: my fave part.
Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley are natural born storytellers. The artful illustrations of rough-hewn characters and hard-luck cases are full-frontal on this set of thirteen tall tales. What I love about their storytelling is that that both come at it from different angles.
Hood gets right down in the muck and mire with excellent first person narratives. He tells you like it is from where he is at...smack dab in the middle of the story. Cooley, on the other hand, most of his stories are told from the third person. He is the ultimate voice-over in rock and roll today. The new story, "Birthday Boy" is told so well.
He's inside the head of a hired hooker here:
Working for the money like you got eight hands
Flat on your back under a mean old man
just thinking happy thoughts and breathing deep
Between your mama's drive and daddy's belt
It don't take smarts to learn to tune out what hurts more than helps
Flat on your back under a mean old man
just thinking happy thoughts and breathing deep
Between your mama's drive and daddy's belt
It don't take smarts to learn to tune out what hurts more than helps
Hot Damn! You get it all there: the back story (is she a single mother that needs to keep her kids fed), the characters (the nasty son of a bitch, who payin' for it and probably cheating on his wife...who hates him anyway), the martyr's resolve (she ain't no dummy, she's doing it for her kids).
This is my favorite song on the album. Cooley only has three vocals "TheBig To-Do", but that's OK. Keith only got one or two per album for a while, too. Here is the first in a series of webisodes from the DBTs. They talk about the songs and stories behind them. This one focuses on "Birthday Boy":
This is the audio for the entire "Birthday Boy Song"
There is so much on this record. I hear some Chuck Berry. I hear some Neil Young & Crazy Horse circa "Ragged Glory". There are great vocal performances...check out Hood's on "Fourth Night of My Drinking". There is a fist-pumping anthem, too..."This Fucking Job". There are tender moments..."You Got Another".
This whole record is bow-down material. It ain't armpit sounds...but it's damn good.
Stream the new album here
Download the free MP3 of "Birthday Boy"
- Posted from Kensington and Woking, United Kingdom
