Adventures in Americana, Indie, Jam and Groove

Barton Carroll’s fourth solo effort, Together You and I, was released January 19th on Skybucket Records. The album is full of compelling lyrics and interesting melodies. It’s Americana, but rich and dark, like an espresso stout to the rest of the genre’s amber ale.

A North Carolina native (and former member of Crooked Fingers) who now lives in Seattle, Carroll’s songs are structured in the folk traditions he grew up with, but he trades in standard instrumentation for the west coast horn sound of Craig Flory, and the production of jazz bassist Matt Weiner. He also sings his first duets with Seattle singer Anna Lisa Notter.

Seattlest says (about his previous album):

His guitar work isn’t necessarily extraordinary, but it builds cascading walls of sound that wrap around you, creating a nice little room where the songs dance amid filtered light and images of longing. His stories aren’t afraid to back off and let the instruments go for a spell. His voice cracks now and then the way skin cracks on a well-worked pair of hands. Honest is the best word for it.

Pitchfork says:

Barton Carroll is the kind of songwriter that gets taken for granted. In a modestly fragile tenor, he relates real stories instead of impressionistic poetry or woe-is-me folk confessions, full of acute observations and complex emotional developments. It’s literary in the sense that he has a strong grasp of character and voice, not in the sense that he favors big words or clever turns of phrase. Carroll may never be called innovative, but he can’t be called showy either, which places him in the school of troubadours like Freedy Johnston and John Hiatt, who have a similar folksy bent and a shared itch to try on new perspectives.

After giving Carroll’s new album a listen, I’m impressed with how patient he is as an artist. It seems like he’s coming from another time, and that’s a particularly nice feeling in today’s rush-to-discover-this-and-do-that world.

[MP3 Offering] “Monday Night” by Barton Carroll

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Court Yard Hounds are Emily Robison and Martie Maguire from the Dixie Chicks. Their debut album is available for pre-order at this time. With a pre-order, you will be able to download four album tracks immediately and receive special access to tickets for the band’s theater shows this spring.

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Grant-Lee Phillips took the Mississippi Studios stage last night, alone, just a man, his guitar and a head full of stories. Except for a few unconscious talkers in the back, the capacity audience hung on Phillips’ every note and every word.

Phillips appeared very comfortable on stage. He’s clearly a seasoned performer, but there’s something else. There’s a vibrant, hopeful message in his brand of lyrical narrative and six string delivery.

NPR says “Phillips knows how to radiate hope in quotable, genuinely inspirational ways that steer clear of mawkishness.”

In a music world full of hipper than thou attitude, Phillips is like a strong, nutrient-rich wind coming in off the Pacific. iTunes names his 2009 release Little Moon the year’s Best Singer/Songwriter Album, according to American Songwriter.

In the video above Phillips calls Little Moon his best work yet. I’m already a big fan of Virginia Creeper and Mobilize. Now, after last night’s show, I’m ready to indulge in a batch of new songs from this American craftsman.

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“You had bluegrass and you had rock, and in that respect there wasn’t much happening. You had the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and others with drums and stuff, but they were more country. We took it to a different place. We played with a lot more abandon.” -Drew Emmitt

Leftover Salmon first played together in 1989. To celebrate their 20th anniversary last fall, LOS teamed up with Jambase to deliver a special four-part feature on the band’s history and a free two-CD album that includes rare live tracks from 1991 through 2009.

Selecting, mastering and organizing the material fell largely on the shoulders of Leftover Salmon manger John Joy, who along with band archivist Chad Staehly and Eric Abramson, who did the Leftover Salmon Years In Your Ears DVD, narrowed it down from hundreds – if not thousands – of songs to bring this live compilation to life.

Track Listing for the Double CD Length Download “Celebrating 20 Years”
1. Blister in the Sun – 05/04/1991 McCabe’s Boulder, CO
2. Just Before The Evening – 05/04/1991 McCabe’s Boulder, CO
3. Whiskey Before Breakfast/Over The Waterfall – 05/04/1991 McCabe’s – Boulder, CO
4. Who Stole My Monkey – 05/25/1991 Stage Stop – Rollinsville, CO
5. Mystery – 10/02/1993 – Fox Theater – Boulder, CO
6. Weights – 10/02/1993 – Fox Theater – Boulder, CO
7. Dance On Your Head – 10/19/1994 Music Farm – Charleston, SC
8. Head Bag – 10/19/1994 Music Farm – Charleston, SC
9. Hot Burrito Breakdown – 08/07/1995 The Fillmore – San Francisco, CA
10. River’s Rising – 07/14/1996 Great American Music Festival – Winter Park, CO
11. Funky Mountain Fogdown (with Pete Sears) – 04/14/1997 The Fillmore – San Francisco, CA
12. Up On The Hill Where We Do The Boogie – 02/16/1998 JR’s Dickson Street Ball Room – Fayetteville, AR
13. Little Maggie – 02/22/1998 Tipitina’s – New Orleans, LA
14. Mama Look a Boo Boo (with Karl Denson) – 04/22/1999 Ogden Theatre – Denver, CO
15. Ooh Las Vegas (with Trey Anastasio) – 09/20/1999 Rialto Theater – Tucson, AZ
16. Nobody’s Fault But Mine (with John Bell, Jeff Austin, Pete Sears and John Cowan) – 09/09/2000 Planet Salmon – Lyons, CO
17. Austin Five (Mark Vann Original, Never Released) – 03/26/2001 The Canopy – Urbana, IL
18. Teen Angst (with David Lowery) – 09/24 & 09/25/2002 David Lowery’s Studio – Richmond, VA
19. Dark Hollow (with Del McCoury) – 11/09/2002 The NorVa – Norfolk, VA
20. Rocky Road Blues (with Mike Gordon) – 12/04/2002 Higher Ground – Winooski, VT
21. Ain’t No Use (with David Grisman) – 01/29/2003 McNear’s Mystic Theatre – Petaluma, CA
22. Ain’t Gonna Work Tomorrow (with Sam Bush and Ross Martin) – 02/20/2003 Fox Theater – Boulder, CO
23. Breakin Thru – 12/31/2004 Fox Theater – Boulder, CO
24. Catfish John (with Michael Wooten) – 12/31/2004 Fox Theater – Boulder, CO
25. Valley Of The Full Moon – 07/28/2007 Red Rocks Amphitheatre – Morrison, CO
26. Ask The Fish – 07/28/2007 Red Rocks Amphitheatre – Morrison, CO
27. Vampire Blues – 10/31/2008 Fillmore Auditorium – Denver, CO
28. Rise Up, Wake and Bake – 07/03/2009 High Sierra Music Festival – Quincy, CA

This is a ruthless collection of live tunes from LOS. Polyethnic Cajun Slamgrass brings joy to people’s lives. To experience this goodness, head over to Jambase and get your download on.

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Portland musician and producer Mike Coykendall has a new album out on Field Hymns Records. A dose of hi-lo-fi avant-pop, The Unbearable Being of Likeness, is available now for $11.

Since moving to Portland from San Francisco, Coykendall has produced, engineered and performed with M. Ward, She & Him and Blitzen Trapper. But he has been writing songs and making records since the mid 80s. Midwesterner’s might remember Coykendall in the Kansas prairie-psyche band Klyde Konnor; Americana fans might remember him the seminal San Francisco group The Old Joe Clarks; and a lucky few will have copies of his 2005 underground classic Hello, Hello, Hello, also available from Field Hymns.

The Unbearable Being of Likeness offers a diversity of sounds, from mellow ditties to melodic rockers. Coykendall’s compositions share something with Jay Farrar’s campfire comfortability, but his work in the studio mastering the songs adds layers to the album, making it a much spacier, more nuanced affair.

MP3 Offering: “First Shot, Best Shot”

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Richmond Fontaine is a four-piece alternative country band based in Portland, Oregon. Like Franz Ferdinand or Jethro Tull, the band is named after a real person but their namesake was not famous prior to being adopted by the band.

I was handed the band’s 2009 release, We Used to Think the Freeway Sounded Like a River, by Aaron Draplin last week.

John Dworkin at Blurt says, “A few of the songs on ‘Freeway’ deserve special mention and ‘Lonnie’ is one of them. Its crackling distorted rhythm guitars throwing off sparks, detailed melodic hooks, and attention to dynamics recalls Shawn Colvin’s ‘Get Out Of This House,’ but with more of the rough edges left in.”

I’d compare the song “Lonnie” to several by Drive-By Truckers, but it’s funny because no other track on the album sounds like “Lonnie.” What the other songs do have is plenty of story. In fact, Willy Vlautin’s dark, story-like songwriting, has helped the band achieve critical acclaim at home and across Europe.

Vlautin is also an author of two novels, with a third on the way. Here’s a promotional video for his new book, Lean On Pete, due in April in the U.S.

MP3 Offering: “Lonnie”

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Yael Meyer is an independent singer-songwriter-multi instrumentalist based in Los Angeles. Her recently released EP entitled Heartbeat was recorded in Los Angeles and produced by Bill Lefler and includes guest appearances by Danny Levin on trumpet, Fil Krohnengold on acoustic guitar and accordion and Joseph Karnes on bass.

Here’s a track from the new EP, “Shed Their Fear,” performed with her friend Chanie Kravitz.

Meyer’s EP is available now on Amazon and iTunes. My favorite track on the five-song effort is “Favorite Two.” It’s a very pretty track, in a flowery, alpine valley-in-summer kind of way. And sometimes that’s just what a person wants to hear on a rainy day.

MP3 Offering: “Favorite Two”

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Garage a Trois pulled into Portland last night prepared to showcase songs from their new album, Power Patriot, and to win over fans not yet accustom to the band’s new lineup (Charlie Hunter left Garage to focus on his own band and his family in 2007).

After playing shows with Robert Walter and John Medeski, the group finally melded with keyboard impresario, Marco Benevento. By all accounts the music is heavier now, but I didn’t hear anyone at Doug Fir Lounge last night complain. By my estimate Garage played in an inspired performance. I know I visited some intergalactic destinations I hadn’t seen in awhile on the strength of the band’s contemporary improv.

Here’s what JamBase is saying about the new lineup:

While I immensely enjoyed and appreciated the Garage A Trois from the first half of this decade, I honestly feel this lineup and sound is what Garage A Trois was meant to be and what will take them to the next level. While the former Garage A Trois’ sound felt more rooted in cross-cultural, past musical traditions, the new sound feels current and even futuristic.

Jambands.com puts it this way:

Only these four musicians—in their perfect storm of cosmic improv energy—could manage to make dark industrial jazz sound lighthearted (“Rescue Spreaders”) and conjure perfectly danceable freakout swing (“Fragile”), and that’s just the first two tracks of Power Patriot.

Glide Magazine also offers a review of the new record.

In an interesting twist of fate, Charlie Hunter played Mississippi Studios last night, just a few miles away from the East Burnside basement where his former cohorts were reaching for the outer limits.

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Twenty five years ago, Dirty Dozen Brass Band released its first album, My Feet Can’t Fail Me Now and New Orleans became that much funkier.

With classic cuts such as “Lil Liza Jane” and the stirring version of “St. James Infirmary,” in addition to rousing originals such as “Blackbird Special” and the title track, this album set the standard for what was to become a reinvigorated brass band scene in the Crescent City.

To celebrate the anniversary, DDBB has made the title track of its debut album available for free on its website. In addition, the group will re-release a re-mastered version of the currently out of print album and play the disc in its entirety at several shows this fall, according to Jambands and Jambase.

Here’s the full track list:

1. Blackbird Special
2. Do It Fluid
3. I Ate Up the Apple Tree
4. Bongo Beep
5. Blue Monk
6. Caravan
7. St James Infirmary
8. L’il Liza Jame
9. Mary Mary
10. My Feet Can’t Fail Me Now

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Colorado high country pickers, Drew Emmitt of Leftover Salmon and Bill Nershi of String Cheese Incident are meant to be in a band together.

Acoustic music fans have reason to the thankful, for the two apparently got the message and formed Emmitt-Nershi Band in 2007.

Two weeks ago the band released its first studio album, New Country Blues.

Music writer Kim Ruehl says:

Disc opener and title track “New Country Blues” is another major highlight. Its assaultingly quick pace gets the music started on the right footing, establishing straight away the theme of the album—pulling away from the trappings of urban life in exchange for the simplicity of the country. Its refrain is sincere and catchy, “I ain’t going back to the city no more / I’m staying right here on the farm.”

I also like track three, “Surfing the Red Sea.” It’s sounds like a Garcia-Grisman number to me.

Emmitt-Nershi Band is playing in-store today at Twist & Shout Records in Denver, before embarking on a Rocky Mountain and West Coast swing. We plan to see them at Mississippi Studios later this month.

MP3 Offering: “New Country Blues” by Emmitt-Nershi Band

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Light In August is a famous 1932 novel by William Faulkner. It’s also the name of a well read band from Ann Arbor, Michigan.

The band’s hometown newspaper says their “melodies hit the ear gently, supported by impeccable musicianship” and that their debut album, Places, is “an effective tonic for difficult times.”

Filmmaker Amy Weber likes their music. Her new Michigan-made movie, Annabelle & Bear, features Light In August’s track off the new album “Headline News.” You can hear the track on the band’s MySpace page.

Light In August formed in 2007, when guitarist, flutist and sitar player Alex Wand, came back to University of Michigan after studying in Spain. Bassist Jack Henry, drummer Max Stewart and keyboardist Ali Hodges make up the remainder of the band.

[MP3 Offering] “Northern Lights” by Light In August

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As a prelude to a four night run by Modest Mouse at the Crystal Ballroom this week, Casey Jarman of Willamette Week caught up with Isaac Brock and delved in to his side project—Glacial Pace, an indie label which is home to emerging bands Mimicking Birds and Morning Teleportation.

Here’s a look at the latter, a group of transplanted Southerners who originally got together in Bowling Green, Kentucky:

Jarman explains Brock’s attraction to the band…

Brock says their blossoming friendship was partly a matter of timing. “I just really had a good time any time I’d run into them,” he says. “At that point, anyone I’d try to hang out with wanted to hang out with a dollar bill hanging out of their nose. And those kids weren’t doing white drugs, so they were a lot more fun to hang out with. I was on my way out of the drug scene entirely, and just being buzzed and cruising around with these funny-as-fuck kids was great.”

After a few such hangouts, Brock finally had an opportunity to see the band play last year. His expectations were low. “I went and caught them just because they were playing in town the same night we were,” he says. “There was no one there, but they were fucking awesome. I was kind of shocked by how good they were. I liked the energy.”

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Ryan White, music critic at The Oregonian came up with a funny description for Philadelphia’s Dr. Dog, which played The Wonder Ballroom last night as part of MusicFestNW.

Dr. Dog looks a little like a VW micro bus — with a Ferrari’s engine and other essential parts dropped inside. They accelerate and brake equally fast. They handle well in any kind of weather. They hug the road.

It’s also probably true, as a friend theorized, that Dr. Dog might be far more powerful live than on record.

Darby has her own way with words and an amazing grasp of popular music. After a few songs, she turned to me and said, “The Beatles and The Clash had a baby.”

I nodded my agreement and added that I didn’t realize how much Ska was in the mix–an aspect to the band that might be more visible than it is audible. These guys high step with the best of them.

This morning I’m reflecting on how good last night’s show was (Portland’s Helio Sequence followed Dr. Dog). It was good enough for me to want to know more, that’s for sure. Which leads me to this in-studio performance and interview care of KCRW in Santa Monica:

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I and Love and You by The Avett Brothers–one of the most anticipated albums of 2009–hits the shelf on Sept. 29. Produced by musical Svengali, Rick Rubin, the album is the band’s major label debut.

Here’s an ad for the album meant to further build the listening public’s anticipation:

Bart Blasengame, a Senior Editor at Portland Monthly magazine, writing in the September issue of Paste Magazine says the North Carolina four-piece is “All Growed Up.” I don’t believe the article is available online at this time, but he argues that it’s kind of sad to see a favorite band blow up.

At the same time, Blasengame is in awe of the band’s new work. He writes:

…they’ve constructed something beautiful. An album that’s not merely loaded with ballads, it’s almost wall-to-wall epic ballads. Pianos trickle before the storm, strings ball up their fists, swell and waves of sound wash over the Avett’s sorghum-sweet harmonies. And this is just in the first song, a goosebump engorging title-track that could by itself inspire a legion of new fans.

The Avett Brothers have been playing their new title-track live for several months now. For instance, they played a special unplugged verison for The Ice Cream Man while in Newport, RI for the folk fest this summer.

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