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Wednesday, June 11, 2008
McMurtry, Carll garner top AMA nominations
Alison Krauss & Robert Plant are expected to clean up when the winners are anounced in September, but acerbic Austin singer-songwriters James McMurtry and Hayes Carll received several nominations, including Artist of the Year for McMurtry, in the 2008 Americana Music Association Awards announced Wednesday.
Carll’s “Trouble in Mind” and McMurtry’s “Just Us Kids” will go against Krauss & Plant’s “Raising Sand” and Levon Helm’s “Dirt Farmer” in the album category.
The Song of the Year competition pits McMurtry’s vitriolic “Cheney’s Toy” and Carll’s “She Left Me for Jesus” against “Broken” by Tift Merritt, “Gone Gone Gone” by Krauss & Plant and “Poor Old Dirt Farmer” by Helm.
Artist of the Year nominees include McMurtry, Helm, Steve Earle and Jim Lauderdale.
New Emerging Artist of the Year nominees are Justin Townes Earle, Mike Farris, parttime Austinite Ryan Bingham and the Steeldrivers.
Austin guitarist/ producer Gurf Morlix is nominated in the Best Instrumentalist category along with Buddy Miller, Chris Thile and Sam Bush. Duo/ Group of the Year nominees are Alison Krauss & Robert Plant, Drive By Truckers, Kane Welch Kaplin and the Avett Brothers.
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Top 10 local albums of 2008 (so far)
- 1. ‘Real Animal,’ Alejandro Escovedo.This sounds like the solo record Escovedo has waited his whole life to make — and so much of his life is laid out here, from his first fave nightclub (‘Golden Bear’), his first band (‘Nuns Song’), his first real band Rank and’ File (‘Chip N’ Tony’), his main man Iggy (‘Real As an Animal’) and the last time and place he was invincible (‘Chelsea Hotel ‘78’). Marketing’s a little heavy on the glam resurrection, but Escovedo makes it stick. Good call on the Chuck Prophet collab, too. — Michael Corcoran
- 2. ‘Rook,’ Shearwater. ‘Rook’ starts with croon and some piano chords as Jonathan Meiburg softly laments ‘the death of the waters.’ A wave of sound crashes into the spare melody about halfway through as drums, guitar feedback, trumpets and strings — the album’s whole palette — show up at once. Then it fades away, the wave returning to the dying sea. Not a bad introduction to the most accessible work of Shearwater’s career. — Joe Gross
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3. ‘Sonidos Gold,’ Grupo Fantasma.The title and CD cover seem like a humorous nod to all those vintage ‘Exitos de Oro’ (‘Golden Hits’) salsa compilations, but Grupo Fantasma certainly comes through with the serious goods. There’s not a weak song on the 11-piece Austin band’s first studio album in four years. — Parry Gettlelman
A-List pics from the CD release | SoundCheck360 - 4. ‘Let’s All Go To Bed,’ Mother Truckers. Not only is the sound cleaner, punchier (than on previous LP ‘Broke, Not Broken’), but Teal Collins displays a major-league voice (check out her version of Billy Joe Shaver’s ‘When I Get My Wings’). Led by countrified shredder Josh Zee, drummer Dan Thompson (Zee’s former bandmate in prog metal band Protein) and bassist Danny G, the band goes all out, like three guys on a caper, especially on the wicked leadoff track ‘Dynamite.’ If Southern Culture On the Skids hear ‘Dynamite,’ they might retire. — M.C.
- 5. ‘Dan Dyer,’ Dan Dyer.Produced by David Boyle (ex-Scabs) in a renovated black Pentecostal church, Dyer feels the spirit and comes to genuflect before Stevie Wonder, Donny Hathaway and Curtis Mayfield. — M.C.
- 6. ‘Trouble in Mind,’ Hayes Carll.A ceaseless thrum of polished portraits and priceless punch lines, ‘Trouble In Mind’ sketches a peerless blueprint of songwriting as unpretentious modern art. — Brian T. Atkinson
- 7. ‘The Graveyard of Utopia,’ World Burns to Death. Eight songs, 25 minutes, absolutely no mercy. Utterly raging hardcore punk, thrashing yet exceptionally well-played, from Austin’s most apocalyptic outfit. A perfect soundtrack to our ever-approaching end times, especially if you wear bullet belts, tight jeans and T-shirts from black metal bands. — J.G.
- 8. ‘Just Us Kids,’ James McMurtry.A strong followup to his breakout ‘Childish Things,’ McMurty plays it safe by not altering the country-crunch sound, but begs for a fatter FBI file with anti-Bush songs (‘Cheney’s Toy’). — J.G.
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9. ‘Strange Invitation,’ South Austin Jug Band. An album of texture and taste, ‘Strange Invitation’ strives to sustain its dark, yet resilient mood from beginning to end, even at the cost of keeping the vocals low in the mix. Meanwhile, Brian Beken and Dennis Ludicker, who trade off on fiddle, mandolin and guitar, will blow you away on their repertoire of breakdowns, reels and gypsy jazz. — M.C.
SoundCheck360 - 10. ‘Directions to See a Ghost,’ the Black Angels.Much like their debut effort, ‘Directions to See a Ghost’ is chock-full of the dense and powerful sounds that pushed the Black Angels into the national spotlight. One listen to any of the album’s tracks reveals that the band is still challenging itself to evolve creatively. — Shannon McGarvey
Did we get it right? Name your own top local albums in the comments below.
Related:
- An Austin CD summer: Four for the playlist
- Austin’s songs of the summer, 2008 edition
- McMurtry, Carll garner top AMA nominations
- More notable CDs: Ocote Soul Sounds and Adrian Quesada | Adam Carroll | Pinetop Perkins | Kimmie Rhodes | Eliza Gilkyson
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Austin’s Songs of the Summer, 2008 edition
- ‘Peace Love & BBQ,’ Marcia Ball
- ‘California Wine,’ Heybale
- ‘Misunderstood,’ Carolyn Wonderland
- ‘Don’t Call On Me,’ Band of Heathens
- ‘Dog of Love,’ Jo Carol Pierce | SoundCheck360
- ‘Love In Her Eyes,’ Reckless Kelly
- ‘Runaway Train’, Eliza Gilkyson
- ‘All Gone To Nothing,’ Nelo
- ‘Car Outside,’ Jimmy LaFave
- ‘Don’t You Evah,’ Spoon
- ‘Thicker Than Water,’ Vallejo | SoundCheck360
- ”m Hot, You’re Cool,’ Ian McLagan & the Bump Band
- ‘Dynamite,’ Mother Truckers
- ‘From the Cradle to the Grave,’ Dale Watson
- ‘It’s a Shame,’ Hayes Carll
- ‘Always a Friend,’ Alejandro Escovedo
- ‘Gimme Some,’ Grupo Fantasma | SoundCheck360
- ‘Falls So Fast,’ South Austin Jug Band | SoundCheck360
Agree with our list? Are we missing something? Name your own songs of the summer in the comments below.
Related:
- Four for the playlist
- Top ten local albums of 2008 (so far) | Photos
- More notable CDs: Ocote Soul Sounds and Adrian Quesada | Adam Carroll | Pinetop Perkins | Kimmie Rhodes | Eliza Gilkyson
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CD review: Ocote Soul Sounds and Adrian Quesada
Ocote Soul Sounds and Adrian Quesada
‘The Alchemist Manifesto’
(ESL Music)
Grupo Fantasma’s Adrian Quesada and Antibalas’ Martin Perna first joined forces on “El Niño y el Sol,” Ocote Soul Sounds’ 2004 full-length debut. Their atmospheric “soundtrack” for an imaginary movie was picked up by ESL Music, Thievery Corporation’s label, for wider release in 2005.
The live incarnation of Ocote Soul at the Austin City Limits Music Festival last year was an ecstatic, sweaty, polyrhythmic dance party, but Quesada and Perna’s second album is more in the cinematic vein of “El Niño.” The polyrhythms of Afrobeat and Latin styles propel the tracks forward, while Quesada’s guitars and keyboards and Perna’s flutes and baritone saxophone seem to hover in the air, setting moods that subtly shade from pensive (“The Grand Elixir”) to trippy (the title track) to ominous (“Gunpowder”) to dark (“One Hundred Years”). Individual tracks might not stand out as much as one of Grupo Fantasma’s or Antibalas’ crowd-pleasers, but the album as a whole creates a fascinating little world, and it will be interesting to hear how the compositions evolve when the project takes full band form again this summer.
(Ocote Soul Sounds opens for Thievery Corporation at Stubb’s on June 24).
Recommended: “Grand Elixir” and “Gunpowder”
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CD review: Adam Carroll
Adam Carroll
‘Old Town Rock and Roll’
(self)
This San Marcos guitar poet sees a song in everything, but he unfortunately doesn’t always hear a melody to go with it. So while Carroll writes wonderful observations about the way people live, especially in nothing towns, his songs plod at times. Telling the stories of “Old Town Rock and Roll,” which take their sweet time unfolding, are more important than sending the listeners away humming.
An exception is “Highway Prayer,” a song beautiful and tender in every way. It’s a song about hitting the road for the chance to tell people where you’ve been; pretty much Carroll’s job description the past 10 years or so.
Unlike the previous four Carroll albums, this one isn’t produced by Lloyd Maines, but rather by guitarist Scott Nolan. There’s a sittin’ ‘round the campfire feel here, with little mistakes and chatter left in. This record sounds unfinished, but there are places out there in the world that can’t get enough of this sort of rustic Texas songbirth. Ireland awaits.
Recommended:“Highway Prayer,” “Hi Fi Love,” “Old Town Rock and Roll”
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CD review: Pinetop Perkins
Pinetop Perkins
‘Pinetop Perkins and Friends’
(Telarc)
Although it’s a little rougher, a little looser, the new “Pinetop Perkins and Friends” album featuring such guitar greats as B.B. King, Eric Clapton and Jimmie Vaughan reminds me of magical nights in the mid-1970s when Pine would play until 4 a.m. at a club in Waikiki, Hawaii, after his gig with Muddy Waters at the weeklong Kool Jazz Fest. Man just lived to play the piano blues.
Pinetop, who lives in Austin, will be 95 years old on July 7, but he can still play that boogie woogie blues. That he’s had an amazing life in music comes out loud, but not always clear, on an album that sounds like an impromptu jam among friends. Still, expect another Grammy nomination for this national treasure.
And if you want a real treat, don’t buy “Pinetop Perkins and Friends” in a record store, but from the man himself. The great Pinetop Perkins usually has a table set up at Nuno’s on Sixth Street to sell and sign CDs.
Recommended:“How Long Blues/ Come Back Baby” — Michael Corcoran
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CD review: Kimmie Rhodes
Kimmie Rhodes
‘Walls Fall Down’
(Sunbird)
With a majestically smooth voice and a gift for matching lyrics and melodies that has made her a favorite of such mainstream country acts as Wynonna Judd, Trisha Yearwood and her hero Emmylou Harris. Wimberley’s Kimmie Rhodes is incapable of making a bad album. But as evidenced by the sweetly pessimistic, yet inconsistent “Walls Fall Down,” she also might be incapable of making another modern masterpiece like “West Texas Heaven,” her 1996 mood piece with the power to dim lights.
Her sound casts a long spiritual shadow on new songs such as “Shining Like a Sun” and “All In All,” but one thing the Lubbock native should stay away from are politically-charged odes. When “Your Majesty” questions how a certain dimwit achieved such a position of power (perhaps also the inspiration for her cover of the Beatles’ “Fool On the Hill”) or when she spits out the lyrics of Rodney Crowell’s “Sex & Gasoline,” the spell is broken.
A song like “There’s a Storm Coming,” which seems to be inspired by the Hurricane Katrina tragedy/travesty, without actually referencing it, works better. And LP closer “Last Seven Seconds” dresses bleakness in lovely musicianship.
All in all, a pretty good record, but not a Kimmie classic.
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CD review: Eliza Gilkyson
Eliza Gilkyson
‘Beautiful World’
(Red House)
One happy-go-lucky love song into this CD, I was ready to report that “Beautiful World” is Austin singer-songwriter Eliza Gilkyson’s watershed album —- that is to say, her first truly joyful record of the 21st century, the kind of record our admittedly angst-ridden, socially conscious heroine promises to record for us … someday. Just not right now.
Sure enough, “Beautiful World” is a terrific album: topical, poetic, impassioned, witty and (as always) deeply attuned to matters of Earth and nature. But I wouldn’t file this one under the “Happy” bin. Gilkyson’s new songs are built on the premise that we live in perilous times —- personally, politically, environmentally, nationally, globally —- and that a big change is gonna come. “Beautiful World, ” indeed.
Yet the dominant emotion in most of these songs is hope, the idea that the “light burns brightest in the darkest times.” The very best of these new tunes —- such as “The Great Correction” or the delightful “Unsustainable” —- seems to welcome the day of reckoning, as if to say our planet will be healthier, our conscience will be healthier, our world will be healthier, when we’re forced at last to face the sin of our own neglect.
So file this one under “Hope.” Or maybe: “Revolution.” Recommended:“Wildewood Spring” and “Great Correction” —- Brad Buchholz
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Mother Trucker’s sister slain
The tragic news from San Diego is that Ginger Bass, 51, was stabbed and shot to death in an apparent murder-suicide attempt by her ex-husband, authorities said. Bass is the older sister of Austin-based Mother Truckers singer Teal Collins-Zee. Read more on the story here.
In addition to Collins-Zee, Bass’s survivors include mother Patti Collins, brother Carl Collins and sister Robbie Gregorich of Minnesota.
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Demme’s Escovedo doc on hold
Oscar-winning director Jonathan Demme’s plans to film a concert documentary on Alejandro Escovedo at Las Manitas have been pushed back since January 2008 and now the project is on hold, according to Escovedo’s new manager Barbara Carr.
“I think there’s still a question of ‘Where’s the money to make that documentary?’ says Carr, of Jon Landau Management.
Escovedo is currently on tour, playing 18,000-seaters as opening act for the Dave Matthews Band. “The first one went very well,” Carr says of Monday night’s show near Detroit . “Dave came out and introduced Alejandro and his crowd seemed to really like him.”
Escovedo will perform on “The Today Show” the morning of June 24, when his new “Real Animal” album comes out.
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Waterloo Top 10 for the week ending June 7
Mother Truckers, “Let’s All Go to Bed” (Funzalo)
Weezer, “Weezer” (Geffen)
Fleet Foxes, “Fleet Foxes” (Sub Pop)
Shearwater, “Rook” (Matador) TX
Eliza Gilkyson, “Beautiful World (Red House)
Death Cab for Cutie, “Narrow Stairs” (Atlantic)
Vampire Weekend, “s/t” (XL)
James McMurtry, “Just Us Kids” (Lightning Rod)
Aimee Mann, “@#%&*! Smilers” (Superego)
The Black Angels, ” Directions To See A Ghost” (Light in the Attic)
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Musicmania Top 10 for the week ending June 8
Bun-B, ‘II Trill’ (Rap-A-Lot)
Bun-B, ‘II Trill Chopped & Screwed’ (Rap-A-Lot)
Usher, ‘Here I Stand’ (LaFace)
Lil Keke, ‘Chronicles (Hustle Town)
Lil Keke, ‘Chronicles Chopped & Screwed’ (Hustle Town)
Big Moe, ‘Unfinished Business’ (Koch)
Pimp C, ‘Greatest Hits’ (Rap-A-Lot)
Ashanti, ‘Declaration’ (Motown)
Lil Wil, ‘Dolla$ Texas’ (Asylum)
Rick Ross, ‘Trilla’ (Def Jam)
