Album Review: Kasey Anderson - Nowhere Nights

Here is a review I've been needing to write for a while now. The album, released on Kasey's own Red River Records comes out next Tuesday but has been available via pre-order for some time now and includes a download card so you can listen to the songs early. I would recommend picking up the vinyl as it's wonderfully pressed and sounds oh so good (you will also get a download card with that as well). The album is also available right now via iTunes.

Now, I've had this album for quite a while....actually I have had it so long that when I listen to the album now all the songs have that type of familiarity that only great albums offer after repeated listening. Now, I know a lot of bloggers and writers like to shy away from easy comparisons, not me. I embrace the easy comparison. Matter of fact I think the easy comparison is great for letting potential fans know that "hey, I might dig this". With all that said, the obvious easy comparison for Kasey is Steve Earle. I'm talking fresh out of prison and kicking ass Steve Earle, not "I'm holding onto the last few hairs on my head and  hate republicans" Steve Earle.  Matter of fact, I bet ol' Steve wishes he would have written a song about the Iraq War as potent and inspiring as Kasey's "I Was A Photograph". Which I've mentioned multiple times on here, and I still think it is not only the stand out track on this album, but the song of the year (I'm calling it right now!).  I will post this link again, because it is a story that needs to be read : Story of I Was A Photograph

But wait, that's just one song.....and well worth the album price, but lucky for us Kasey saw fit to put 10 other killer songs on this thing.  The other songs on the album share a common theme of leaving and trying to find one's place. There is a good reason for this, as the album was written while Kasey was in the midst of moving from his longtime home of Bellingham, Washington to spend a year in Germany (from which he just returned). The opening track, aptly titled Bellingham Blues sets the tone for the whole album and states "This ain't ever been my home/I woke up here one morning and 15 years were gone".  Later in the album on the title track  Nowhere Nights he sings "I used to walk around like they built the damn town up around me while my back was turned"....man I love that line.

Now I know journalists are supposed remain objective, but fuck it, I'm not a journalist and I never claimed to be. Me, I'm a blogger and more importantly a music fan. As a music fan I love Kasey Anderson's music. As a blogger I have forged somewhat of an online friendship with Kasey. Most of you know he is one of the bloggers over at Ninebullets.net, and some of you may have interacted with him on Twitter or Facebook as well. Judging by his online self, he is one of the nicest musicians and folks you could ever have the pleasure to meet. He is also one of the most prolific online motherfuckers I believe I have ever seen. He has so many blogs and sites that I can't even keep track. I do know that he deleted his old blog which is a shame because it had a song by song write-up for Nowhere Nights, which you are going to want to read after you listen to these songs. Kasey, if you are paying attention, put those posts back up!

Listen to Kasey Anderson - Bellingham Blues here
Listen to Kasey Anderson - From Now On here

Official - Blog - Facebook - Myspace

Additional note: Look for some Kasey Anderson live stuff that will be posted tomorrow

Concert Report: Will Kimbrough @ Kirk Avenue Music Hall - Roanoke, VA 1/31/10

This Sunday I had the rare treat of seeing Will Kimbrough. I say rare because  it's rare that a good show comes through this area. Hopefully that is all changing because the venue Will was playing at, Kirk Avenue Music Hall in Roanoke is a very "Folk/Alt Country/Americana" friendly venue. Chris Knight played there a few months back (which I didn't find out about until after the fact), Dave Alvin will be playing there in a couple of weeks, and Tom Russell will be playing there early this summer. Those are just some of the bigger acts, they pretty much have a good show every week, check out their schedule, and it is highly recommended if you are in the Roanoke area. The place is right downtown, easy to get to, ample parking (of course that could have been due to the recent snowstorm and snow covered streets). Also, any bands reading this, this would be a great venue to stop at when you are driving up 81 from Knoxville or Charlotte to Charlottesville or Richmond (which most of you do).

Now, about the show....AMAZING. Will is such an incredible guitar player, such an incredible songwriter, such an incredible singer, and most importantly such an incredible entertainer. Will played from 7:30 to 10:30 taking about a 30 minute break in between. Nothing but Will, an acoustic guitar, and a happy audience. The most remarkable thing to me was just how much sound was coming from this one man and his guitar. It took me a few songs to catch on to what he was doing. He had a loop pedal and he was playing leads over his own rhythm playing. A couple instances he even laid down bass lines, and percussion by beating on his guitar....all this without missing a beat and in some cases playing harp to boot.

I went into this show a casual Will Kimbrough fan, knowing him from his many producing and sideman credits (such as Todd Snider, and Rodney Crowell), and I came out of this show a HUGE fan. So much so I can't wait for his new album Wings which comes out the Feb. 23rd, and pre-orders begin Feb. 3rd at www.willkimbrough.com (watch this vid where Will tells you all about it). You can also download the song "Three Angels" here.

Now I did take a lot of vid this time, but I will only post a couple. The first is the title track off the upcoming album "Wings". He prefaced this to say that Jimmy Buffet will also be recording his own version of this song, but his is a little different.




Next up is a vid of the rousing tribute to Chuck Berry and Yo Yo Ma.....the aptly titled Yo Yo Ma. This one includes the intro which will explain everything you need to know. This vid also shows off his loop pedal skills and just how much sound one man can make.....also some of the wildest Chuck Berry-ish guitar playing you are likely to ever see done on an acoustic guitar.



More Videos: Like Laughing - Philadelphia, MS - Piece Of Work

Wrinkle Neck Mules - Catfish & Color TVs (vid)

Really good vid of the Wrinkle Neck Mules performing the song Catfish & Color TVs on air last Thursday. This song is from their latest Let The Lead Fly.

Speaking of Drive By Truckers

As some of you may know, I've been spending the week in Cincinnati. One of the things I always try to do when I hit a new city is check out the local record stores. Thanks to some help from a few locals, I got some great tips for where the good record finds are in Cincinnati. Places like Everybody's Records & Mole's Records which is a sleepy little store right off UC campus that any vinyl hunter could easily spend a week in if unchecked (crates from floor to ceiling completely unsorted). One of the record stores I was told I HAD to go to was Shake-It Records. Shake-It from what I gather is somewhat of an institution in Cincinnati, and rightly so as it's one of the most eclectic, friendly, and organized record stores I've been to.

Now, on to the subject of this post. Shake-It Records is also a record label, and luckily for me, their latest offering is a Drive-By Truckers 7" that is Vol. 2 in a tribute to Muscle Shoals session legend Eddie Hinton (Vol. 1 is by Cincinnati native Greg Dulli of The Afghan Whigs). Now, click that Eddie Hinton link there because there is some interesting info there. For instance the DBT song Sandwiches  For The Road is based on the life of Eddie Hinton. As Dana Carvey would say in his Johnny Carson impression "I did not know that".

Now I haven't had a chance to listen to this yet, because my turntable is back home in Virginia, but I just wanted to give everyone a heads up on this. What I can give you though is a killer live version of side B: Everybody Needs Love

Download Drive-By Truckers - Everybody Needs Love (Live) here

Order Dangerous Highway: A Tribute To The Songs of  Eddie Hinton here

Drive By Truckers - After The Scene Dies (vid), and news

Here's a great vid of one of the new songs from The Big To-Do, due out March 16th. The band starts their Big To-Do tour tomorrow, and they are also offering a free download of the first single, a song called This Fucking Job. In even more DBT news, they will be screening the first ever DBT documentary entitled The Secret To A Happy Ending in Feb. I can't wait to see that!

From The Archives: Slobberbone - Last Show 3-13-05

Got a request for this the other day and wanted to get it in before I go out of town for a week. If I remember right, once upon a time I promised a Slobberbone sampler....well obviously I flaked on that, but never fear fine readers, because lucky for you Ninebullets.net's resident badass Romeo Sid Vicious recently created a "Through The Whiskey Glass" compilation of Slobberbone that is way better than anything I could have come up with. Check it out here: http://ninebullets.net/archives/diggin-on-slobberbone
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How 'bout some live slobberbone to kick off spring. This is probably the best boot I have found of theirs....not only because of the significance of it being their last show, but it's just a damned good boot. They play like it's their last show....running through almost all their best songs in a single night....plenty of debauchery as well. Here is a neat little write up I found on the show itself:

It was a sad day for Texas music on March 13, 2005. That’s when people from as far away as Europe crowded into a sold-out Dan’s Silverleaf in Denton to bid farewell to the State’s reigning ‘best bar band’. That final show was short on covers and long on remembrances, for the band and the audience alike. They resurrected a “Barrel Chested” era documentary film to kick off the night, standing quietly onstage while the film rolled on a screen set up near the entrance. Then they played for a little over two hours. While the album of the night seemed to be their second release, “Barrel Chested”, they managed to cover their entire career, but went sparingly on their last and most over-produced record, “Slippage”. Fittingly enough, the crowd seemed drunker than usual, even for a Slobberbone show. So while the beer and whiskey soaked crowd raised their bottles and glasses, the band kept playing songs about, mostly, drinking. When they first emerged on the scene way back in the early to mid 90s, they were compared to Uncle Tupelo, just like every other “alt country” rock band at the time; only these guys not only had a sense of humor, they, at least to this observer, didn’t take themselves quite as seriously as that by-then-defunct Illinois band. And like UT in the early days, their songs were part punk-rock, part southern-rock and part country. They mixed banjos and fiddles with the blaring electric guitars and channeled the feedback into glorious melodic anthems to lost love, lost dreams, and whiskey. Over the years, it became apparent that they probably owed more in the way of influence to Neil Young and Crazy Horse than to Uncle Tupelo. And now that it’s all over, it looks like frontman Brent Best will continue to play the occasional solo show and the rest of us, at least locally, can wait for the inevitable reunion shows. As far as bands go, it was a great run. Here’s to them!
-jitter

and a News Article

MP3 @ 320

Download Slobberbone - Last Show here

Truesounds - Winter '10

Ok, so here's the latest Truesounds comp. This one features a couple of new names, most notably Michael Dean Damron. I'm really late to the party on this guy, but well...it happens right. My excuse was I thought his former band "I Can Lick Any Son Of A Bitch In The House" had a horrible name so I never checked them out. Damn.

1. Dustin Bentall Outfit - Three Thousand Miles
Off his latest Six Shooter. This song makes me smile

2. Mark Stuart and The Bastard Sons - Gone Like A Raven
Formerly known as The Bastard Sons Of Johnny Cash, this is off their latest Bend In The Road.

3. Michael Dean Damron - Father's Day
Former lead singer of I Can Lick Any Son Of A Bitch In The House, this is the title track off his latest

4. Carolyn Mark and NQ Arbuckle - Downtime
Great little country rocker off their latest Let's Just Stay Here

5. Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit - Soldiers Get Strange
My latest favorite off their latest self titled album. So good

6. Kasey Anderson - Nowhere Nights
Title track off his upcoming Feb. 16th release. Pre-orders available now!

7. Wrinkle Neck Mules - One Hand In The Furnace
Laid back country rocker off their latest Let The Lead Fly

8. Chuck Ragan - Don't Say A Word
Off his latest, Gold Country

9. Sam Baker - Cotton
Title track off the latest Sam Baker album. Hey ho hor

10. Malcolm Holcombe - A Bigger Plan
Really, really love this song off the latest album For The Mission Baby from national treasure Malcolm Holcombe

11. Kieran Kane - Way Down Below
Love, LOVE this song....hell the whole album, last year's Somewhere Beyond The Roses

12. Ben Gibbard and Jay Farrar - Breathe Our Iodine
Was not very familar with Ben Gibbard, but the Big Sur soundtrack album this is off of, titled One Fast Move or I'm Gone, is killer

13. Bettysoo - Get Clean
You guys know I love Bettysoo, just another killer song off Heat Sin Water Skin

14. The Band Of Heathens - Golden Calf
Off their latest, One Foot In The Ether

15. Truckstop Coffee - Ghost Or Angel
Man, I just love this fricken song. Off their latest For Dear Life, which they are still offering on a "name your own price" basis

16. Jon Snodgrass - Fast In Last
From the solo album Visitor's Band of this Drag The River member

17. The Kill Devil Hills - Rosalie
Apparently this band is pretty big in Australia. I had never heard of them, and I dug this song off their latest Man You Should Explode

18. Headwater - Never Going Back
Another laid back country rocker, this time from canadian outfit Headwater. Off their latest Lay You Down

19. Blue Rodeo - One More Night
A FUNKY laid back country rocker. Off their latest double album Things We Left Behind

20. Drag The River - Best and Worst
Really could not think of a better song to end us out with. Off their latest Bad At Breaking Up

MP3 @ 192
Download Truesounds - Winter '10 here

Free Music Alert: D. Striker - multiple albums

Got alerted to this via an email of the video below. Needless to say it grabbed my attention so I headed over to their site and found that they are offering all their albums on a "name your own price" basis. You can listen to the songs prior to downloading. If you like it, throw 'em some dough if you can.

D. Striker reminds me a lot of the irreverent sides of Scott Miller and Mic Harrison, and knowing my love for them, you know I like this.

Watch this vid, go to the site, listen to the songs (they are pretty damned good, better than the vid in my opinion), and click the download album button if you dig it. You will be asked to name your price then and there, and provide an email to get the download link. Look on the right side for other albums (click "More Releases").



Visit the D. Striker official site to download albums

From The Archives: Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark, Ray Wylie Hubbard, & Bobby Rambo - Three Teardrops Tavern 1992

I have gotten a couple requests to re-up this because there was a problem with one of the zip files. This thing is so damned good. Like I said below basically just Townes and Guy and Ray Wylie and Bobby Rambo are filler. Fantastic sound, and I also love the simplicity of the artwork I made for this one.
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Someone left a comment asking where to start with Townes Van Zandt and if I have any shows of his....well of course I have some shows, and here's a brand spankin' new one. All I have to say about this one is DAMN!! The sound on this one....EXCELLENT, the performances on this....EXCELLENT!!
This is basically a Townes and Guy show with Ray Wylie and Bobby Rambo thrown as a bonus. After listening to this a couple times, I'm honestly surprised this hasn't seen official release yet....it's that good. The version of Townes' "Marie" on here kills me. Other bonuses on here....learn a little back story to Guy's L.A. Freeway, learn why they call it the Three Teardrops Tavern (now a Duccati dealership). Highlight is by far the Townes and Guy singing trading songs off and singing together at the end.
This is the first I've ever heard of Bobby Rambo, but I'm very impressed by what's on here, an artist I will have to find more about. Oh and if you still want to know where to start with Townes, get Live at The Old Quarter (especially if you like this)

MP3 @ 192 (206MB)
Download Three Drops Tavern here

Three Faces West (Ray Wylie Hubbard's first band) - The Outpost, New Mexico, 1972

So here is the treat I promised you. This is some amazing stuff right here. Now I only expect the most hardcore of Ray Wylie fans to be familiar with Three Faces West. You see Ray Wylie Hubbard started out as Ray Hubbard, folkie, playing what he called "Cosmic Cowboy Music". He was contemporaries with Michael Martin Murphy, B.W. Stevenson and Steve Fromholz (on this recording). He had formed a band with Rick Fowler and Wayne Kidd called Three Faces West and recorded an album in 1969 that according to Steve Fromholz, was the only album more obscure than his own debut album. This was before Willie moved back to Texas, and the music they were making along with Townes Van Zandt and The Flatlanders was very much the beginnings of the Texas "progressive country" scene that would come to dominate the Texas music scene throughout the 70s. This is an audio time capsule of that era.

(Below: Three Faces West 1969 L-R Wayne Kidd, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Rick Fowler)

Now like I said, this is folkie stuff. Those only familiar with Ray's output from the last two decades may be taken off guard by this. Musically this has more in common with Crosby, Stills, and Nash than greasy slide guitars. You've got harmonizing, and lots of acoustic guitars going on here. There are glimmers though of Ray's future recorded output, such as Healing Preacher and an early version of his song Portales (which is also on his first solo album, and his 1992 album Lost Train Of Thought).

I feel like I'm talking too much about Ray Wylie's input when there are other amazing artists on this set as well. Such as Steve Fromholz, who is probably most famous for touring with Steven Stills (which he talks about here), and writing The Texas Trilogy which was later recorded by fellow Texan Lylle Lovett. Some of the other artists on here are slightly more obscure. Dan McCrimmon who worked closely with Fromholz makes a few appearances, and you also have the other members of Three Faces West, Rick Fowler and Wayne Kidd. I could not find any info on those two, or what they are up to now, but I have to wonder if the Rick Fowler from Three Faces West is the same Rick Fowler who runs this Karate School right outside of Dallas. It is good to see however that Bill and Bonnie Hearne are still together, still playing and still recording.

If anybody has any information about what some of these folks are up to now, I would love to know just because this is such a great recording. Yes did I mention that. Not only is this recording historically important to "Progressive Country", "Americana", "Texas Country" or whatever the hell they are calling it this week, it's also a fucking great recording with damn near perfect sound. I would give this a solid A in the sound category.  If you are a die hard fan of Ray Wylie Hubbard....you're gonna want to get this. If you are a fan of "progressive texas cosmic americountry music" you are going to want to get this. If you are a fan of country rock and folk rock in the vein of Crosby Stills and Nash you will likely want to get this as well.

Here is a great article that talks about Ray Wylie Hubbard's early days as a singer/songwriter

I didn't make the back artwork for this because it would have been to hard to put 4 discs on one thing and well I'm not sure anyone even uses the back artwork. All the info is included in the info file (which I updated to correct some info and song titles), and I will include the track list in this post below. Also worth mentioning is even though I don't have an exact date for this. At one point they mention Labor Day being next weekend which means the most likely date for this recording is August 25th, and 26th of 1972. It's obvious this was recorded over at least a two night set so, that's the best guess I have.

I would like to also mention that if anyone has a digital copy of the out of print Three Faces West album, or the out of print Fromholz album please pass it along to me and I would be greatly in your debt.

Disc 1
1. Won't You Listen To Me - Steve Fromholz
2. She'll Sing For You - Steve Fromholz
3. Banter - Steve Fromholz
4. Rock And Roll Woman [Buffalo Springfield] - Steve Fromholz 
5. Stubby Intro - Steve Fromholz
6. Stubby - Steve Fromholz
7. Dimmy Jeans Banter - Steve Fromholz
8. I Will Try - Steve Fromholz
9. Everybody's Going On The Road - Steve Fromholz
10. Rest Area Waltz Intro - Steve Fromholz
11. Rest Area Waltz - Steve Fromholz
12. Banter - Steve Fromholz & Dan McCrimmon
13. Man With The Big Hat - Steve Fromholz & Dan McCrimmon
14. Saxton County Wildman Intro - Three Faces West
15. Saxton County Wildman - Three Faces West
16. Square Dance Banter - Three Faces West
17. Swing Your Partner One More Time - Three Faces West
18. Kansas Legend Intro - Three Faces West
19. Kansas Legend - Wayne Kidd & Dan McCrimmon
20. Portales Intro - Three Faces West
21. Portales - Three Faces West
22. Banter - Three Faces West
23. You Can Only Say So Much [Michael Martin Murphy] - Three Faces West


Disc 2
1. West Texas Highway - Three Faces West
2. Freeway Church Of Christ Intro - Three Faces West
3. Freeway Church of Christ - Three Faces West
4. Portales - Three Faces West
5. Grizzly Bear Intro - Three Faces West
6. Grizzly Bear - Three Faces West
7. Everybody's Going On The Road - Three Faces West
8. Banter - Three Faces West
9. Love Just Comes Along (Then It's Gone) - Three Faces West
10. Jazzbo Dancer Intro - Ray Wylie Hubbard
11. Jazzbo Dancer - Ray Wylie Hubbard
12. Wildfire Intro - Three Faces West
13. Wildfire [Michael Martin Murphy] - Three Faces West
14. Healing Preacher Intro - Three Faces West
15. Healing Preacher - Three Faces West


Disc 3
1. Black Eyed Peas Intro - Three Faces West
2. Black Eyed Peas - Three Faces West
3. Tin Can Jamboree Intro - Three Faces West
4. Tin Can Jamboree - Three Faces West
5. Everybody's Going On The Road Intro - Three Faces West
6. Everybody's Going On The Road - Three Faces West
7. Me and My Uncle Intro - Three Faces West
8. Me and My Uncle [John Phillips] - Three Faces West
9. Piece of His Cross - Three Faces West
10. Morning Stormbird Intro - Ray Wylie Hubbard
11. Morning Stormbird - Ray Wylie Hubbard
12. Drunken Lady Intro - Three Faces West
13. Drunken Lady Of The Morning [Michael Martin Murphy] - Three Faces West
14. Closing Banter - Three Faces West
15. Grizzly Bear - Three Faces West
16. West Texas Highway - Bill & Bonnie Hearne
17. White Line Fever [Merle Haggard] - Bill & Bonnie Hearne
18. Boy From The Country Intro - Bill & Bonnie Hearne
19. Boy From The Country [Michael Martin Murphy] - Bill & Bonnie Hearne
20. You Ain't Going Nowhere [Bob Dylan] - Bill & Bonnie Hearne
21. Blue Morning - Bill & Bonnie Hearne
22. Muddy Boggy Intro - Bill & Bonnie Hearne
23. Muddy Boggy Banjo Man [Ray Wylie Hubbard] - Bill & Bonnie Hearne
24. Wild Geese Intro - Bill & Bonnie Hearne
25. Wild Geese [Ian Tyson] - Bill & Bonnie Hearne
26. Rock Me On The Water [Jackson Browne] - Bill & Bonnie Hearne


Disc 4
1. West Texas Highway - Three Faces West
2. Rainbow Man - Three Faces West
3. Ricochet - Three Faces West
4. Me and My Uncle - Three Faces West
5. Banjo Breakdown - Three Faces West
6. Blackbird [The Beatles] - Three Faces West
7. You Can Only Say So Much - Three Faces West
8. Southwestern Pilgrimage [Michael Martin Murphey] - Three Faces West
9. Coming Down To The Metroplex - Three Faces West
10. Saturday Night [The Eagles] - Three Faces West
11. Won't You Listen To Me [Steve Fromholz] - Three Faces West
12. Wildfire - Three Faces West
13. Black Betty - Three Faces West

MP3 @ 192
Download Three Faces West - The Outpost 1972 here