Category Archives: My Back Pages

Chris Strachwitz and Arhoolie Records … This Ain’t No Mouse Music!

The last night of SXSW found me longing for the opportunity of discovery. Toss the official schedule, walk off the beaten path, and let the smell of Texas barbecue and the sound of new music guide me to euphoria. Problem with that was I was about two thousand miles away from Austin, the only path I could find was along the tracks of the Harlem Line of Metro North, and it was too cold and too early in the season for even the birds to sing their sweet songs. After a day on my feet and with no live music in the neighborhood, I opted for my default audio-visual excursion into the wilds of on-demand cable and Netflix streaming.

Options seemed slim at first, as I’ve caught up on most of my guilty pleasures. The HBO show Vice has been my latest vice, but there’s only so much international death and despair I can take in one sitting. Sonic Highways, which documents the Foo Fighters’ continental traverse of eight cities to record the album of the same name, looked like a good possibility. One of the producers is an old friend of mine, and I really liked the episode in DC featuring Ian MacKaye of Minor Threat and Fugazi. But it just didn’t speak to my mood.

Lacking any new content from any of the various Kardashian clan members, and with no interest in Larry King’s infomercial on fish oil, I swapped remotes and decided to scan the Netflix menu. I’m not sure if they offer the same library of films and television shows internationally, but in America, they actually have a decent selection of music documentaries. (Ed’s Pick: If you haven’t watched The Punk Singer about Bikini Kill and specifically Kathleen Hanna, do check it out.)

Whatever algorithm Netflix uses for recommendations, they hit it out of the park when on my list I found This Ain’t No Mouse Music!, the story of song catcher Chris Strachwitz. And while the music takes center stage, the leading man is this most extraordinary German-born folklorist, archivist, fanatical record collector and founder of Arhoolie Records who has spent over 50 years preserving American roots music. Produced and directed by Chris Simon and Maureen Gosling, who each previously worked with the world-renowned documentarian Les Blank, the film uses both archival and new footage for a look into Chris’ world.

The stories come alive when you hear them straight from the man who traveled to Texas, Mississippi, and Louisiana in the early ’60s to record blues musicians such as Mance Lipscomb, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Big Mama Thornton, and Fred McDowell. Hopkins introduced Strachwitz to his wife’s cousin Clifton Chenier, and in 1965 Strachwitz recorded Chenier in Houston. This led Strachwitz to make dozens of Cajun and Creole recordings from New Orleans with musicians such as Beausoleil, Autin Pitre, Amede Ardoin, Canray Fontenot, and others.

Over the years, Strachwitz loaded the car with his tape recorder and microphones to cruise throughout the countryside, and he’d set up on porches, in the fields, at beer joints, and local festivals. In addition to the blues, he added country, bluegrass, old-time, Mexican regional, Tejano, world, jazz, gospel, folk, and polka to the Arhoolie catalog. He recorded and released Country Joe and The Fish’s “I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-To-Die Rag” in exchange for the publishing rights, which earned him quite a bit of money after Joe got thrown on the stage at Woodstock a few years later and the moment was preserved on film and soundtrack. The cash infusion helped finance Strachwitz’s field recordings and fueled his record consumer passion. (He gave the publishing back to Joe after 20 years.)

Along with Strachwitz’s recollections and stories, interviews in This Ain’t No Mouse Music! are woven together to present an oral history of this man and his work. Some of the people you’ll see and hear are Ry Cooder, Bonnie Raitt, Taj Mahal, Flaco Jimenez, Michael Doucet, Richard Thompson, Santiago Jimenez Jr., The Pine Leaf Boys, the Treme Brass Band, No Speed Limit, and various friends, colleagues, folklorists, and the staff from the label and store.

Another aspect of Strachwitz’s story is that he is a fanatical collector of 78s, many of which he has released on compilations. In 1995 he founded the Arhoolie Foundation to document, preserve, present, and disseminate authentic traditional and regional music. So far he has donated over 17,000 78s, 23,000 45s, and 4,000 albums of Mexican-American and Mexican vernacular music that are being digitized. The foundation also has financed films and educational programs.

This film has been kicking around the festival circuit off and on for almost two years, and it’s now available on DVD as well as being screened at select theaters and universities. There’s also a companion soundtrack available, and you can find it and the entire amazing music catalog on the Arhoolie Records website. Here are a few more tunes to get you in the mood …

This was originally published as an Easy Ed’s Broadside column at No Depression: The Journal of Roots Music’s website.

Many of my past columns, articles, and essays can be accessed here at my own site, therealeasyed.com. I also aggregate news and videos on both Flipboard and Facebook as The Real Easy Ed: Americana and Roots Music Daily. My Twitter handle is @therealeasyed and my email address is easyed@therealeasyed.com

The Sixteen Stories of Anna and Elizabeth

It’s been an especially cold and snowy winter here in New York’s Hudson Valley, although not quite on the level of what my friends up in Boston have been dealing with. They just might stay frosty until the summer. But it’s been a good time to catch up on films, books, and music. On my digital jukebox, I’ve been exploring several compilations of 78 rpm records that have been recently released, and I can thank Amanda Petrusich for that directional nudge. Her wonderful book on record collecting and the people who do it (Do Not Sell At Any Price: The Wild, Obsessive Hunt for the World’s Rarest 78rpm Records) sort of gnawed at me, to the point that I was barely able to listen to anything that didn’t have oodles of scratches and surface noise coming out of the speakers. Indeed, there is something to be said for low fidelity.

Ten days ago, the sun finally peeked out a little and the mercury began to rise. I felt the pull to hear something with a more current vibe. Preparing to take a much-needed ride through the country, I stopped at my mailbox, found a disc in a plain brown cardboard envelope, got into my car, put it into the player and took off. Honestly, I didn’t even look at the cover or read the note that was stuffed in the package. It didn’t matter. My ears were longing for something new – a singer or songwriter, a band, folk, blues, country, rock, techno, neo-industrial post-punk thrash – it really didn’t matter. Something. Anything. Modern. Please.

What came out of the speakers were two voices and 16 songs. Anna Roberts-Gevalt and Elizabeth LaPrelle. Harmonic vocals, banjo, fiddle, guitar. One track has a bass. There is a touch of uilleann pipes. Anna & Elizabeth, as they call themselves, did not sound like anything new; but it sounded simply amazing.

I turned off the heat in the car, rolled down the windows, cranked up the volume, and drove around long enough to listen to each song three times. I got home, found their website, sent Roberts-Gevalt an email, listened one more time, and three hours later I was talking to Jefferson Hamer from the Murphy Beds and telling him about this great album I discovered. He sort of smiled, scratched his beard and said, “Yeah, me and Eamon just recorded some stuff with them. They’re great, aren’t they?”

LaPrelle is a native of Rural Retreat, Virginia. While her friends listened to Britney Spears and Maroon 5, she found herself deep in the archives of old-time ballad singers.

“The hair stood up on the back of my neck,” she told Beth Macy for Garden & Gun of the first time she heard North Carolina novelist and balladeer Sheila Kay Adams. “There was something very magnetic about hearing just that one voice, seeing the potential it has to focus attention like a laser beam.” She attended the College of William and Mary and majored in a self-designed program of Southern Appalachian traditional performance.

Roberts-Gevalt, meanwhile, got into old-time music in college in Connecticut, where she was a gender studies major. She told Hearth Music: “I remember reading a book about string bands, and there was a two-page section dedicated to women musicians, saying there were lots of them, but that the author didn’t really find that much information about them. That kinda galvanized me to get interested in women musicians of Appalachia, and I wrote a thesis about three generations of women (and girls) playing fiddle in East Kentucky. From there, I was fortunate to receive a grant from Berea College to do oral histories about some of the women whose music is in the archive.” She spent a summer in Kentucky interning at a traditional music program, moved back to Connecticut the following summer, and eventually settled in southwest Virginia.

The two came together about five years ago, after they met at a house concert and discovered that they both shared an interest in presenting this music in different ways. Storytelling, dancing, original artwork, shadow puppetry, and scrolling illustrations made of felt called “crankies” are incorporated in their shows. And their multimedia approach helped score them a gig as hosts of the weekly Floyd Radio Show. This variety show, streamed at floydcountrystore.com, features original plays, comedy bits, ads, jingles, and music from the area’s finest pickers and singers.

Why two young women still in their 20s have chosen to study and perform Appalachian traditional music makes me scratch my head. When I was their age, I wouldn’t listen to my parents’ music, let alone what my grandparents might have heard. But they are among a growing number of people not only keeping it alive but building upon it.

Over on the Hearth Music website, I found an interview with Roberts-Gevalt in regards to a compilation album from this new generation of Appalachian old-time players called The New Young Fogies, Volume 1. There, she articulately addressed that group’s interest in not only the music, but the lifestyle and folklore:

“For some folks, it’s a matter of choosing to live how their families have lived for generations, music included. For others, it seems that there (is) a desire (and nostalgia) to find a life that was simple, or one that was based on tradition, or country living—music is one part of that.

There’s a lot of plaid wearing kids in old time music, and we get excited to try homemade wine or so-and-so’s ancient cornbread recipe. We delight in old things as much as old-time music. But this isn’t universally true. John Haywood (who is featured on the album), for example, also plays in a heavy metal band. And there are plenty of New Yorkers who love the tunes and would never want to live in the country.”

With such an intense music and cultural marketing focus taking place in Austin at SXSW this week as I sit here writing, I like the juxtaposition of Anna and Elizabeth celebrating their album release by not being there. Instead, there was a Sunday night in Brooklyn followed by a series of concerts in Vermont. In May they’ll be touring the UK, and their website (www.annaandelizabeth.com) lists their latest itinerary, including the Floyd dates.

Think I’ll listen to some Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard before I go to bed.

This was originally published by No Depression, as an Easy Ed’s Broadside column.

Spuyten Duyvil and The Social Music Hour

In late January, I sat in a basement recording studio listening to the playback of Spuyten Duyvil’s third album, The Social Music Hour Vol. 1. Based in New York’s Hudson Valley, this six-piece band is an in-demand regional touring group that has been kicking around clubs and festivals for several years. Now, they’re beginning to push those geographical boundaries.

They are led by songwriting couple Beth Kaufman and Mark Miller on most of the vocals, though Miller also plays tenor guitar and pretty much anything else with multiples of four strings. Rounding out the lineup are Jagoda on percussion, Rik Mercaldi on guitar and lap steel, John Neidhart on bass, and Jim Meigs blowin’ the harp.

That night, as the songs played on, I tried to gather some words in my head to best describe what my toe-tapping feet were feeling. While it exceeds my personal 140-letter-limit for any album review, I’d call it a well-curated collection of traditional tunes that are infused in blues and smoked with folk. Blending both old-time acoustic and modern electric instrumentation with a consistently strong vocal performance from start to finish, it’s an Americana treasure chest.

I recently reached out to Mark and spoke not only about the band and new album, but also of the other work he and Beth do in supporting fellow musicians and the local community.

Easy Ed: What was the genesis of Spuyten Duyvil?

Mark Miller: The band started as a series of front porch old-timey jam sessions here in Yonkers. We’d fire up the BBQ, chill some beer, and invite over friends and neighbors to pick and sing. We were pretty happy with this situation. As I started to write songs, some of the regulars urged us to look for gigs, and one thing just lead to another.

I imagine some of the band members have day jobs and other responsibilities, so how would you characterize your performing opportunities?

We’re a little past the point in our lives where we can give up our apartments for a tour van, so we need to be smart about our routing. Fortunately, we are based in New York and there are literally hundreds of gigs that we can easily get to and from. That said, we are now making regular runs to Chicago and hope to do some touring in Europe this year.

I’d describe you and Beth as “connectors” on the local music scene. You present concerts at various venues, promote artists beyond your own band, and reach out to partner with other organizations such as Common Ground, Caramoor, and Clearwater.

For the last six years, Beth and I have run a monthly concert series called Urban H2O. We book touring high-energy folk, Americana, and indie pop artists. Our shows also explore the intersection between great music and great food and drink, with musical farm-to-table dinners, pig roasts, and artisan cheese tastings. We also smoke and serve our own pastrami and West Coast-style salmon at the shows. Together, this has built a unique and loyal core audience that is able to support great acts that we meet on the road who have not fully established themselves in the New York metro area. These same bands do their best to help us out as we expand our touring range.

What is the concept behind the Social Music Hour?

We have always drawn on traditional music for inspiration in our writing and included a few trad tunes in our live shows. The Social Music Hour Vol. 1 is our love letter to the roots of all American popular music. Our goal was to bring a collection of iconic folk songs to a modern audience and add some oil to the log-burning lamp that is the folk process.

That last track is one of my favorite songs on the new album, and I also wanted to feature it because of the guest vocalist. As Spuyten Duyvil was finishing recording, Mark and Beth’s daughter Dena Miller was asked to take the lead for one last track: “Make Me a Pallet.” A high school senior who is currently nail-biting the college selection boogie, she gets high marks for an exceptional version of this classic.

The Social Music Hour Vol. 1 is available to stream on Spotify, and is for sale at iTunes and Amazon. For more information about the band and upcoming shows, check out their website: http://www.spuytenduyvilmusic.com

I’m closing down this week’s Broadside with a video I can’t seem to watch often enough. It was shot at the Rockwood Music Hall in Manhattan during the summer of 2012, with Spuyten Duyvil and The Stray Birds.

And this is why I love music.

This article was originally published as an Easy Ed’s Broadside column over at No Depression: The Journal of Roots Music.

Many of my past columns, articles, and essays can be accessed here at my own site, therealeasyed.com. I also aggregate news and videos on both Flipboard and Facebook as The Real Easy Ed: Americana and Roots Music Daily. My Twitter handle is @therealeasyed and my email address is easyed@therealeasyed.com.

Dom, Kristin and Jefferson…with a nod to Tom Paxton

As I was getting ready to go out the other night, my teenage son was doing the same. With his Spotify playlist blasting through the computer speakers, I heard a Patti Smith song and paused to tell him the story about the time I was on my way to an Elvis Presley concert back in 1975. I stopped by at a party celebrating Patti’s debut album. Just for a minute or two. A quick drink. Going to hear the King. I heard a scream. I watched as Patti crawled across the club floor, up the stairs to the stage and just screamed again while laying on her back. Then the music started.

It was the darnedest thing. I stayed.

My son…his musical palette is diverse. When a Tom Paxton song came on next, that set me off talkin’ about when I heard him at a Gaslight reunion a couple of years ago. Steve Earle was there, and so was Patrick Sky. I had nothing to offer about the thrash metal band whose song that followed.

While he went off to to play Dungeons and Dragons with friends, I headed northeast for the opening night of this year’s American Roots series at the Caramoor Center for Music and The Arts, located about an hour north of Manhattan. ‘American Songster’ Dom Flemons, on a tour supporting Prospect Hill, his first solo album since his departure from the Carolina Chocolate Drops, was the headliner. Kristin Andreassen and Jefferson Hamer opened the show playing together as a duo.

On a sprawling estate in a sea of snow and ice yet to melt, the concert was presented in the Music Room, a warm and cozy space with its Renaissance furniture, needlework chairs, Italian maiolica pottery, Gothic tapestries and modern sculptures. While perhaps a far cry from the front porch of an old homestead in the hills of Virginia or a club in Brooklyn, if you want to hear roots music in a beautiful acoustically balanced venue where you can casually interact with the musicians after the show, this fits the bill.

I’ve been listening to Kristin for over a decade, although admittedly it’s only in the past year that I was able to connect the name with the voice. A fan of the bands Uncle Earl and Sometymes Why, it was during her set at this year’s Brooklyn Bluegrass Bash that I came to learn that she had been with both.

With her new album Gondolier picking up airplay and interest in the roots community (No Depression featured her first video) and beyond (CMT, The Bluegrass Situation), seeing her perform in this setting allowed her to show off her talents in solo and close harmony singing, guitar, harp, uke, body percussion and dance. She presented several offerings of her new music which simply sparkles, and Jefferson added his to the set list, including at least one from the critically acclaimed Child Ballads album that he released with Anais Mitchell.

Dom Flemons is a force of nature and a showman; whirling around the stage from instrument to instrument, spinning yarns and telling tales of the great country and blues musicians from the past, alternating from original material to old time songs that would be lost forever if it wasn’t for his respect and care in keeping it alive.

With his set divided between both solo work and his trio that included Mike Johnson on percussion and Brian Farrow on bass, it’s a roller coaster of entertainment and musical heritage not to be missed. He brought Kristin back up to do some clog dancing, sing and play the harp and in an unusual moment of personal coincidence, spoke lovingly of the Tom Paxton whom he met at Folk Alliance. This song from his new album is one he wrote with him in mind.

Something that makes both Dom and Kristin special beyond their talent, is that each spend time working with different programs that give back to and nurture the music community in different ways. Dom is a board member for the Music Maker Relief Foundation, which was founded to preserve the musical traditions of the South by directly supporting the musicians who make it, ensuring their voices will not be silenced by poverty and time. And Kristin, along with Laura Cortese, founded Music of Miles Camp which hosts all-ages music workshops for both amateur and professionals in Brooklyn, Boston and a week-long summer retreat in New Hampshire.

Next up for Caramoor’s American Roots series is Willie Watson and Cricket Tells The Weather on April 11, followed by their annual festival on June 27 (Kristin will be there) with Lucinda Williams headlining. July 10th brings the ‘I’m With Her Tour’ with Sara Watkins, Sarah Jarosz and Aoife O’Donovan.

I’m going to close out this final Weekly Broadside with Kristin’s new video. Next week I debut a new column, exclusive to No Depression. Whatever we call it, keep comin’ back.

The song is “Lookout”

An appropriate title.

Novelty Songs: From Benny Hill To John Prine

demento
Last week I was sitting in a chilly room with about a dozen guitar pickers and as is the protocol for this particular song circle, each person took their turn at presenting a tune and leading the group through it. There were traditional songs, some blues and the now-standard Sixties folk-rock repertoire. Really…just shoot me if I have to play “The Circle Game” one more time. But when the fellow sitting next to me said he wanted us to do “Shaving Cream”, I almost fell off my stool. A novelty song!

Benny Bell was an American singer-songwriter born at the turn of the last century, and he got his start in vaudeville singing in English, Yiddish and Hebrew. An early adopter of the DYI ideal, he founded his own record company and he sang and wrote in many styles: ethnic music, hot jazz arrangements with risque lyrics for juke box operators only, radio jingles (including the one for Lemke’s cockroach powder) and mainstream comedy records. In 1946 he released what would be his three best-selling songs, and for the next three decades he was a minor player in the New York Borscht Belt circuit of Jewish singers and comedians who performed in the popular Catskill Mountain resorts.

In 1970 a young ethnomusicologist from Minnesota by the name of Barry Hansen took his love for comedy, novelty and simply weird music to the airwaves in Los Angeles, and within a few years the radio persona of Dr. Demento was in syndication on FM stations throughout the United States, usually late on Sunday nights. The list of artists that he brought to the attention of his audience is pretty amazing in it’s depth and it still lives on through his compilation albums released on Rhino Records. When he began to regularly play ‘Shaving Cream’ in 1975, Vanguard Records rushed to release it and was an out and out smash. I found this video posted by a fan, and it seems to hit the high points.

The Encyclopedia Britannica defines the novelty song as such: ‘A popular song that is either written and performed as a novelty or that becomes a novelty when removed from its original context. Regardless of which of these two categories applies, the assumption is that the song is popular because of its novelty, because it sounds different from everything else being played on the radio or jukebox. It follows that novelty hits are unique; the second time around, the sound is no longer novel.”

Leave it to the British to make things clear as mud. I’ll describe it simply as a funny song; the style comes out of Tin Pan Alley, was popular in the 1920’s and 1930’s, and can be satiric, political, nonsensical, a parody and just plain weird. This one here qualifies for the latter.

Putting aside Allan Sherman’s My Son The Folk Singer album for the moment, when I think about roots music and novelty songs, “Alice’s Restaurant” is one of the first that come to mind. And maybe Arlo’s “Motorcycle Song” as well. But then I recalled Larry Groce, now of Mountain Stage fame, and the classic “Junk Food Junkie”.

You’ve got to mention Joe Dolce in this context. The Ohio-born singer-songwriter-poet -actor emigrated to Australia in 1978 and two years later recorded “Shaddup You Face” which became a multi-million-selling worldwide hit. He seemed to ride the ‘one hit wonder’ life for a few years and then settled into a more serious music career along with his wife Lin Van Heck. In the past decade he has become a well-published poet and essayist, winning awards along the way. I forgot how good this song was until I found it for this piece.

Somebody has said that there is hardly anything that John Prine has recorded that won’t either bring you to your knees in hysterical laughter or make you cry. I’ll close this out with one of my favorite Prine tunes. Should the spirit move you, feel free to add to the thread anything else that comes to your mind. Novelty music might not be the most important footnote to American culture, but I think it’s an interesting one and maybe it’s still out there, waiting to be found. The doctor will see you now.

This was originally published at No Depression: The Journal of Roots Music’s website. March 2015.

Americana and Roots Music Videos: Winter 2015

Pixabay License

Surfing in the digital stream and scouring YouTube for new music, old tunes and whatever I can find of interest. Here’s a few things that caught my eyes and ears this season.

I’d like to kick it off with the trailer for The Winding Stream, a great film first presented at SXSW. Subtitled ‘The Carters, The Cashes and The Course of Country Music’. Catch it if you can.

Jordie Lane and The Stray Birds

Two of my favorite artists, Jordie Lane from Australia and the US string band trio Stray Birds have recently come together and performed ‘Black Diamond’ for the Folk Alley Sessions. Both acts will have their own showcases in KC.

John Moreland

Before I leave this planet, I will one day see the great Oklahoma folksinger John Moreland. Performing since the early 2000’s, he came out of the punk and hardcore scene while in high school, and over the years he has matured into a great songwriter and captivating artist.

I Draw Slow

This bluegrass band made it on my list of favorite bands from last year, and this clip from last summer is why.

Dom Flemons

This seems to be the year that folks that formed the Carolina Chocolate Drops are stepping out on their own and breaking through to a wider audience.

The HillBenders

The HillBenders have announced that their new album will be a complete bluegrass tribute to the The Who’s Tommy album. This is a teaser they just posted.

Ian and Sylvia 1986

Bob Dylan, Steve Earle and The Rising Son

Two old guys and a kid. Hey…that’s what I probably should have named this article. But I’ve been reading up on how to build your online audience and it seems if you actually use names of famous people in the title you get more page views. So let’s give it a whirl….my Weekly Broadside column has been in the doldrums of late anyway, with only several hundred pairs of eyes each week. Could be I’ve just lost my edge, or my words are no longer as insightful, amusing, or interesting as once upon a time. And if this doesn’t pan out, maybe next week I’ll try to pair Gram Parsons with Bruce Jenner. At the very least I’m sure I’ll be trending, whatever the hell that means.

Dylan…oh how I love this new album. Admittedly early on I fell into the hole of pre-release hype that got it all wrong. They said it was a tribute to Sinatra. It ain’t. They paired it with what Rod Stewart, Linda Rondstadt and Molly Ringwald have done before…this Great American Songbook redux. It ain’t. And they said that Dylan’s voice is shot and this is merely some sort of joke, like his Christmas album. It ain’t.

There’s already too many reviews on Shadows In The Night, so you don’t need another one. But I’d like to throw out something new that I’ve yet to read, and that’s when I play these songs it reminds me of strong coffee from a Jersey diner, a bowl of high fiber cereal and a couple of tangerines. If you didn’t know where these songs came from, and most of you probably don’t, they could be his own. And if it was just served up simply as a new Dylan album, we’d be saying it’s the best thing he’s done since Blood On The Tracks. Because it’s really that good.

Citrus fruit aside, although the acidity often causes some folks a problem, both coffee and high fiber takes some time getting used to. As does sushi and refried beans I suppose. If you’re expecting Blonde on Blonde or thinking he’s going to sound like he does when he’s on his never ending tour where he deconstructs everything sounding like ‘Captain Beefheart meets Tom Waits’, you’ll be surprised, delighted or just pissed off. Because like the old Beach Boy’s promo campaign of the seventies that announced that “Brian is Back”…which he wasn’t… this time somebody got it right. Bob is back with a great folk music album.

Steve Earle…there is nobody else who has made music that I’ve loved and longed to hear more then him. He is my touchstone, occasional spiritual guide and my favorite performer and songwriter. I dig that he’s a survivor and an inspiration to many who’ve stumbled, fallen and picked themselves up. And like the imperfect hero he is, I’ve seen him when he’s right on the money and completely off the mark.

I’m about five days into listening to his newest album Terraplane. Like the Dylan release, people are going to love it or feel disappointed. While each artist has decided to dip back into time, while one has reinvented and produced something special, I’m not overly enchanted by this reworking of the blues that Earle recorded with the Mastersons. There are some really great songs, and some really annoying ones.

Now I remember that I once wrote that ‘there’s too much good stuff to write about…no need to dwell on the not so good’. And a writer…or music critic…replied that it was his responsibility to write honestly from his heart, and perhaps I didn’t understand the nature of critcism. He was right, I don’t. But I’m not so stuck within my own self-imposed rules to admit I don’t like this Terraplane (but the cover is groovy), and besides, Steve Earle is going survive my two cents just fine. The better news for his fans is that he’s got a memoir coming out this year, and a new country release.

Since we’re talkin’ blues, that box set released this year on Jack White’s label that features old 78s from Paramount Records out of Wisconsin won a Grammy award for best liner notes. Here’s something I think you might like even better than if I post one of Earle’s new tracks. Hell, he might like it better too.

Justin Townes Earle…the rising son. The third album playing on my digital jukebox this past week or two has been Absent Fathers, the second this year that follows Single Mothers. A few years ago I thought Justin might not make it. Not as a musician, because he’s exceptional at that; but as a walking, talking, functioning adult who could overcome addiction and immaturity. He is probably the first person on Facebook I de-liked because I couldn’t stand to witness his self destruction. But somehow, maybe like his dad or despite of him, he’s become to me of late the more interesting of the two Earles.

While the voice does not yet carry the physical weight and depth of dad, his songwriting and playing style has developed at a fast pace to a point where I frankly would prefer spending the night seeing him onstage than hearing “Copperhead Road” one more time. Sorry, for I’m sure I have just sinned, but at least his dad should be proud of his boy’s achievments and growth. I’m sure his mom is.

Two old guys and a kid. This time around I’ll take just one of each.