Now Playing on Festival Radio
Saturday, August 28, 2004
Fairport Convention still going strong
The gang in Fairport Convention continues to put out quality folk/rock af ter all these years. Their brand new one, Over the Next Hill, released in the US on Compass Records, features tight vocal harmonies, crisp ensemble playing, and occasionally frenetic fiddling -- all the things you've come to expect from Fairport over the last three+ decades.
Tift Merritt's new CD, Tambourine, reminds me most of Lone Justice in their prime, combining elements of country, rock and Memphis soul, with glorious horns. I've had a hard time taking it out of my CD player to preview other material, it's that good.
Mutual Admiration Society consists of singer/songwriter Glen Phillips, backed by the members of Nickel Creek. Together, they've put out an album of mellow folk/pop. I would have been happier if they had taken more opportunity to let the Nickel Creek gang really let go on their instruments.
The Wailin' Jennys is three women from Manitoba doing a mix of Celtic-flavored traditional tunes and folky, acoustic originals. I've been playing Cara Luft's solo CD for a couple years, so the talent of this group comes as no surprise to me.
David Jacobs-Strain has put out a really fine album mixing blues with world-beat instrumentation on a couple tracks (oud, anyone?), and the results often go beyond what one would expect from what is otherwise a traditional blues album. If you like acoustic blues, and like recordings to take a little step beyond the traditional, check out Ocean or a Teardrop, particularly the title track.
Friction Farm, an acoustic duo from South Florida, plays pleasant acoustic/folk pop, with a sound a little reminiscent of the Indigo Girls.
Cowboy Jack Clement, one of the great producers and songwriters in country music history, has a new album out with some of his classic songs done, not surprisingly, in the classic country style. The production on Guess Things Happen This Way is very retro and Cowboy Jack gets to croon a couple of the great tunes he wrote that are associated with Johnny Cash - the title track and "Ballad of a Teenage Queen." If you like that classic country sound, you'll dig this a lot.
Todd Snider's East Nashville Skyline continues Snider's tradition of writing witty tunes that celebrate the underdog and those on the fringes of the culture. By turns witty and poignant, this CD also contains some of Todd's most pointed political statements on such tunes as "Conservative Christian, Right-Wing Republican, Straight, White, American Males", where he lampoons the title characters, and "The Ballad of the Kingsmen", where he takes on those blaming popular music for teenage misbehavior. Another high point is a cover of Fred Eaglesmith's "Alcohol and Pills."
Kenny White's Symphony in 16 Bars is a subtle album of jazz-influenced piano pop, with superb playing and arrangements. The songwriting is tuneful, with hooks a plenty, and the words are full of striking images. From the title track, on missing an absent lover: "How do you fit an ocean into a riverbed?/How do I turn your memory back into you instead?/I might as well try naming all the stars/or write a symphony in 16 bars." Good stuff.
Canada's acoustic bluesman Ray Bonneville has a new CD out, Roll it Down on Red House Records. The production is more fleshed out than his last CD, Rough Luck, which was pretty much Ray and his guitar, but the full band sound does not obscure Ray's wonderful blues picking, solid songwriting and classic blues voice.
Oysterband
Next week's features artist is Oysterband. Why? Because they're great, I haven't featured them yet, and I thought that since it's Labor Day weekend coming up, that they would be appropriate artists given their longstanding record of writing songs favoring the little people against the Man (most notably in Thatcherite England. Since I'm away for Labor Day weekend, I couldn't think of anyone better to give to you for that extra day.
Wait Wait Don't Tell Me
I was fortunate last week to go the Columbus taping of "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me", the NPR news quiz. Dang, I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. Some of the best bits didn't make it to the final show, and much of what went on was visual. During the "DJ Carl's Countdown" segment, one of the tunes was "Torn Between Two Lovers" and Adam Felber and Mo Rocca each grabbed one of Roxanne Roberts' arms and started pulling her back and forth. Adam Felber in particular was hilarious.
Tift Merritt's new CD, Tambourine, reminds me most of Lone Justice in their prime, combining elements of country, rock and Memphis soul, with glorious horns. I've had a hard time taking it out of my CD player to preview other material, it's that good.
Mutual Admiration Society consists of singer/songwriter Glen Phillips, backed by the members of Nickel Creek. Together, they've put out an album of mellow folk/pop. I would have been happier if they had taken more opportunity to let the Nickel Creek gang really let go on their instruments.
The Wailin' Jennys is three women from Manitoba doing a mix of Celtic-flavored traditional tunes and folky, acoustic originals. I've been playing Cara Luft's solo CD for a couple years, so the talent of this group comes as no surprise to me.
David Jacobs-Strain has put out a really fine album mixing blues with world-beat instrumentation on a couple tracks (oud, anyone?), and the results often go beyond what one would expect from what is otherwise a traditional blues album. If you like acoustic blues, and like recordings to take a little step beyond the traditional, check out Ocean or a Teardrop, particularly the title track.
Friction Farm, an acoustic duo from South Florida, plays pleasant acoustic/folk pop, with a sound a little reminiscent of the Indigo Girls.
Cowboy Jack Clement, one of the great producers and songwriters in country music history, has a new album out with some of his classic songs done, not surprisingly, in the classic country style. The production on Guess Things Happen This Way is very retro and Cowboy Jack gets to croon a couple of the great tunes he wrote that are associated with Johnny Cash - the title track and "Ballad of a Teenage Queen." If you like that classic country sound, you'll dig this a lot.
Todd Snider's East Nashville Skyline continues Snider's tradition of writing witty tunes that celebrate the underdog and those on the fringes of the culture. By turns witty and poignant, this CD also contains some of Todd's most pointed political statements on such tunes as "Conservative Christian, Right-Wing Republican, Straight, White, American Males", where he lampoons the title characters, and "The Ballad of the Kingsmen", where he takes on those blaming popular music for teenage misbehavior. Another high point is a cover of Fred Eaglesmith's "Alcohol and Pills."
Kenny White's Symphony in 16 Bars is a subtle album of jazz-influenced piano pop, with superb playing and arrangements. The songwriting is tuneful, with hooks a plenty, and the words are full of striking images. From the title track, on missing an absent lover: "How do you fit an ocean into a riverbed?/How do I turn your memory back into you instead?/I might as well try naming all the stars/or write a symphony in 16 bars." Good stuff.
Canada's acoustic bluesman Ray Bonneville has a new CD out, Roll it Down on Red House Records. The production is more fleshed out than his last CD, Rough Luck, which was pretty much Ray and his guitar, but the full band sound does not obscure Ray's wonderful blues picking, solid songwriting and classic blues voice.
Oysterband
Next week's features artist is Oysterband. Why? Because they're great, I haven't featured them yet, and I thought that since it's Labor Day weekend coming up, that they would be appropriate artists given their longstanding record of writing songs favoring the little people against the Man (most notably in Thatcherite England. Since I'm away for Labor Day weekend, I couldn't think of anyone better to give to you for that extra day.
Wait Wait Don't Tell Me
I was fortunate last week to go the Columbus taping of "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me", the NPR news quiz. Dang, I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. Some of the best bits didn't make it to the final show, and much of what went on was visual. During the "DJ Carl's Countdown" segment, one of the tunes was "Torn Between Two Lovers" and Adam Felber and Mo Rocca each grabbed one of Roxanne Roberts' arms and started pulling her back and forth. Adam Felber in particular was hilarious.
Sunday, August 15, 2004
Hurricanes, Thursday Next, Irish Fest Recap and Mark Heard
Hurricane Charley
My parents have been up in Ohio for the last two months, but their primary home is in Port Charlotte, Florida. Their plan was to leave Ohio in a week and a half fora long-planned driving vacation of the west, including Tahoe and San Francisco. Instead, thanks to Hurricane Charley, they left for Port Charlotte this morning. Early reports are that the damage to their home includes some missing roof tiles and the screening covering their lanai. All in all, if this assessment is correct, then they were extremely lucky. If they can get their home secured and repairs underway, then they are still hoping to make their trip. Mom is a paid part-time Christian Education staffer at Punta Gorda First United Methodist Church, in the area that seems to have received the worst of the storm.
Jasper Fforde
I drove to Dayton on Wednesday to see Jasper Fforde, author of the Thursday Next series. He is amusing and engaging in person, and read a passage from his latest book, Something Rotten. The most important news from the event is that it may be a couple years until the next Thursday Next book appears, as he will be working on a mystery that is sort of hinted at in The Well of Lost Plots based on Jack Spratt and the nursery rhyme characters who have been set into Caversham Heights.
Dublin Irish Festival
Weather: perfect
Richard Thompson: incredible beyond the ability of words to describe. All he had, and all he needed, was an acoustic guitar.
Best Celtic rock band I saw: Tempest. They have all the rock and roll moves and impressive instrumental skill as well. Got their 15th Anniversary box set at the festival - very impressive three-disc collection with a disc each of studio, live, and radio station appearances, many from Columbus station WCBE. It includes a brand new studio recording of Dylan's "Masters of War" that you will be hearing soon on the Online Folk Festival.
Best Traditional band I saw: Danu. Impressive instrumental skill creating a wall of sound. No wonder they've won all those BBC Folk awards.
Most overrated band there: The Saw Doctors. They struck me as being like the Huey Lewis and the News of Ireland - pleasant, inoffensive four-minute pop tunes featuring a saxophone that you can hum along to. I was surprised by how much adulation was heaped on the band by the crowd given how mediocre the music seemed.
Best Rick James Tribute by a Celtic Rock Band: Canada's Slainte Mhath, who played a credible version of "Superfreak" featuring uillean pipes and fiddle. Slainte Mhath played a very entertaining set. I'd never heard them before, but I was very impressed, and they got they crowd up and dancing by the end. They mix a bit more funk into their style than many of the bands I saw.
Best Band With Two Pipers: Knocknagael, from Cincinnati. They put on an impressive show, with a very funky bass player and two pipers.
Best Band with Hairstyles circa 1986 The Alarm: Wolfstone. Both the guitarist and the bass player had that spiky updo mojo going for them, though they didn't quite have the necessary length. The bass player was the best I heard all weekend and their musicianship was tight.
The Other Band I Thought I'd Like Better Than I Did: The Prodigals. I couldn't understand their lead singer through the thick accent, I quickly got tired of the button accordion, and the songs all started to sound the same. After about 35 minutes I left to catch the end of the Gaelic Storm set. I have to admit that, having not seen Titanic, I knew nothing about this group, and I found them entertaining and talented and won't hold their appearance in that movie against them.
Mark Heard
Singer/songwriter Mark Heard is the Featured Artist of the Week this week on the OFF, commemmorating the anniversary of his untimely death on August 16, 1992 at age 40. He was a remarkably talented songwriter and performer, and he had an amazing way with words. For some of the amazing lyrics, visit the Mark Heard Lyric Project. His last three CDs, Dry Bones Dance, Second Hand, and Satellite Sky, in particular are worth tracking down. Dry Bones Dance is my favorite, and it sounds like a cajun hoe down gone slightly awry, in a good way. High energy folk rock. It still seems a shame to me that he was taken too soon, right when he was hitting his creative prime. He influenced several of today's important folk singer/songwriters including Bruce Cockburn (whose song "Closer to the Light" is about Heard's death), Pierce Pettis, and Brooks Williams among others.
My parents have been up in Ohio for the last two months, but their primary home is in Port Charlotte, Florida. Their plan was to leave Ohio in a week and a half fora long-planned driving vacation of the west, including Tahoe and San Francisco. Instead, thanks to Hurricane Charley, they left for Port Charlotte this morning. Early reports are that the damage to their home includes some missing roof tiles and the screening covering their lanai. All in all, if this assessment is correct, then they were extremely lucky. If they can get their home secured and repairs underway, then they are still hoping to make their trip. Mom is a paid part-time Christian Education staffer at Punta Gorda First United Methodist Church, in the area that seems to have received the worst of the storm.
Jasper Fforde
I drove to Dayton on Wednesday to see Jasper Fforde, author of the Thursday Next series. He is amusing and engaging in person, and read a passage from his latest book, Something Rotten. The most important news from the event is that it may be a couple years until the next Thursday Next book appears, as he will be working on a mystery that is sort of hinted at in The Well of Lost Plots based on Jack Spratt and the nursery rhyme characters who have been set into Caversham Heights.
Dublin Irish Festival
Weather: perfect
Richard Thompson: incredible beyond the ability of words to describe. All he had, and all he needed, was an acoustic guitar.
Best Celtic rock band I saw: Tempest. They have all the rock and roll moves and impressive instrumental skill as well. Got their 15th Anniversary box set at the festival - very impressive three-disc collection with a disc each of studio, live, and radio station appearances, many from Columbus station WCBE. It includes a brand new studio recording of Dylan's "Masters of War" that you will be hearing soon on the Online Folk Festival.
Best Traditional band I saw: Danu. Impressive instrumental skill creating a wall of sound. No wonder they've won all those BBC Folk awards.
Most overrated band there: The Saw Doctors. They struck me as being like the Huey Lewis and the News of Ireland - pleasant, inoffensive four-minute pop tunes featuring a saxophone that you can hum along to. I was surprised by how much adulation was heaped on the band by the crowd given how mediocre the music seemed.
Best Rick James Tribute by a Celtic Rock Band: Canada's Slainte Mhath, who played a credible version of "Superfreak" featuring uillean pipes and fiddle. Slainte Mhath played a very entertaining set. I'd never heard them before, but I was very impressed, and they got they crowd up and dancing by the end. They mix a bit more funk into their style than many of the bands I saw.
Best Band With Two Pipers: Knocknagael, from Cincinnati. They put on an impressive show, with a very funky bass player and two pipers.
Best Band with Hairstyles circa 1986 The Alarm: Wolfstone. Both the guitarist and the bass player had that spiky updo mojo going for them, though they didn't quite have the necessary length. The bass player was the best I heard all weekend and their musicianship was tight.
The Other Band I Thought I'd Like Better Than I Did: The Prodigals. I couldn't understand their lead singer through the thick accent, I quickly got tired of the button accordion, and the songs all started to sound the same. After about 35 minutes I left to catch the end of the Gaelic Storm set. I have to admit that, having not seen Titanic, I knew nothing about this group, and I found them entertaining and talented and won't hold their appearance in that movie against them.
Mark Heard
Singer/songwriter Mark Heard is the Featured Artist of the Week this week on the OFF, commemmorating the anniversary of his untimely death on August 16, 1992 at age 40. He was a remarkably talented songwriter and performer, and he had an amazing way with words. For some of the amazing lyrics, visit the Mark Heard Lyric Project. His last three CDs, Dry Bones Dance, Second Hand, and Satellite Sky, in particular are worth tracking down. Dry Bones Dance is my favorite, and it sounds like a cajun hoe down gone slightly awry, in a good way. High energy folk rock. It still seems a shame to me that he was taken too soon, right when he was hitting his creative prime. He influenced several of today's important folk singer/songwriters including Bruce Cockburn (whose song "Closer to the Light" is about Heard's death), Pierce Pettis, and Brooks Williams among others.
Tuesday, August 03, 2004
Richard Thompson, Laura Love, Pierce Pettis and more
I know Richard Thompson has a long-established connection to traditional music of the UK through Fairport Convention, but still, I wonder whether about the irish connection and him being booked by the Dublin (Ohio) Irish Festival. I'm not complaining, mind you, and I'll be as close to the stage as I can get, but still I wonder. Thompson has a scorching new live cd out from the archives, Faithless, recorded in 1985. It's worth tracking down. A lot of other great performers as well, including Tempest, Danu, Wolfstone, local band Knot Fibb'n, The Prodigals, The Saw Doctors, Gaelic Storm. So, since I'm pumped about seeing Richard Thompson, I'm serving him to the OFF listeners all week as the featured artist this week.
Other New Adds
Laura Love has a new CD, You Ain't Got No Easter Clothes, a companion volume to a simultaneously released memoir of the same name about growing up poor and African-American in small town Nebraska. This is the first I've heard of Laura Love, and I like it a lot. It's funky folk, with a little bit of an edge, including an attempt at an Afropop feel for one song. Very nice cover of the Stephen Foster's "Hard Times."
Liz Carlisle is an up-and-coming singer/songwriter who has produced an album that's remarkably good for someone who's only 20 years old. Half and Half, which refers to the influences of both her native Montana and her current home, Boston, is a good mix of smart originals and a well-sung cover of the traditional "The Water is Wide."
Pierce Pettis has a new CD out. Finally. It's been worth the wait, as it always seems to be whenever Pettis records. This album has a more acoustic feel than his recent CDs, which have tended to be produced with more of a pop music sensibility, and the songs benefit from the breathing room, especially the now-standard Mark Heard cover which opens the CD, "Another Day in Limbo." Other standout tracks include "Leonardo", a ballad about Da Vinci, and "Alabama 1959," a snapshot of growing up in the segregated South.
Occasionally, I get a worthwhile CD out of the blue from a band I've never heard of before. It's even more fun if it has a customs sticker on it. The Queensberry Rules, from the UK, has a pleasant acoustic sound, and well-crafted songs about life and change in Staffordshire, particularly about the globalization of traditional trades such as pottery. I never knew what a sagger maker's bottom knocker was before, and now I do. If you're interested in finding out, listen for the song on the Online Folk Festival, or better yet, pick up their new CD, Heritage and History.
Sandy Cash apparently has been the most popular English singer/songwriter in Israel for quite some time. After listening to A Thing So Real, I can see why. Her songs are full of wit, humor, and grace, and she has a rich voice. If you like Christine Lavin, you should check out Sandy Cash.
Carla Ulbrich has a new CD of creative song parodies about encounters with the medical profession, punnily titled Sick Humor. Parodies included are of Willie Nelson, Tommy Tutone, the Pretenders, Huey Lewis and the News, and herself. Very funny, with occasional bathroom humor (and I literally mean bathroom humor). I used to tape Doctor Demento shows when I was in junior high, so this is right up my alley.
(On a related note, the summer we went out west (1979?), three boys, my parents and a gold 1976 Chevy Impala staion wagon hauling a pop-up trailer through a heat wave, we had a tape we made from the Dr. Demento show that we played in the car over and over and over and sang along with. "Dead puppies! Dead puppies! Dead puppies aren't much fun! Everybody sing along, okay!" The fact that my brothers and I were allowed to survive this trip is a testament to my parents' love for us and their sense of humor. )
Other New Adds
Laura Love has a new CD, You Ain't Got No Easter Clothes, a companion volume to a simultaneously released memoir of the same name about growing up poor and African-American in small town Nebraska. This is the first I've heard of Laura Love, and I like it a lot. It's funky folk, with a little bit of an edge, including an attempt at an Afropop feel for one song. Very nice cover of the Stephen Foster's "Hard Times."
Liz Carlisle is an up-and-coming singer/songwriter who has produced an album that's remarkably good for someone who's only 20 years old. Half and Half, which refers to the influences of both her native Montana and her current home, Boston, is a good mix of smart originals and a well-sung cover of the traditional "The Water is Wide."
Pierce Pettis has a new CD out. Finally. It's been worth the wait, as it always seems to be whenever Pettis records. This album has a more acoustic feel than his recent CDs, which have tended to be produced with more of a pop music sensibility, and the songs benefit from the breathing room, especially the now-standard Mark Heard cover which opens the CD, "Another Day in Limbo." Other standout tracks include "Leonardo", a ballad about Da Vinci, and "Alabama 1959," a snapshot of growing up in the segregated South.
Occasionally, I get a worthwhile CD out of the blue from a band I've never heard of before. It's even more fun if it has a customs sticker on it. The Queensberry Rules, from the UK, has a pleasant acoustic sound, and well-crafted songs about life and change in Staffordshire, particularly about the globalization of traditional trades such as pottery. I never knew what a sagger maker's bottom knocker was before, and now I do. If you're interested in finding out, listen for the song on the Online Folk Festival, or better yet, pick up their new CD, Heritage and History.
Sandy Cash apparently has been the most popular English singer/songwriter in Israel for quite some time. After listening to A Thing So Real, I can see why. Her songs are full of wit, humor, and grace, and she has a rich voice. If you like Christine Lavin, you should check out Sandy Cash.
Carla Ulbrich has a new CD of creative song parodies about encounters with the medical profession, punnily titled Sick Humor. Parodies included are of Willie Nelson, Tommy Tutone, the Pretenders, Huey Lewis and the News, and herself. Very funny, with occasional bathroom humor (and I literally mean bathroom humor). I used to tape Doctor Demento shows when I was in junior high, so this is right up my alley.
(On a related note, the summer we went out west (1979?), three boys, my parents and a gold 1976 Chevy Impala staion wagon hauling a pop-up trailer through a heat wave, we had a tape we made from the Dr. Demento show that we played in the car over and over and over and sang along with. "Dead puppies! Dead puppies! Dead puppies aren't much fun! Everybody sing along, okay!" The fact that my brothers and I were allowed to survive this trip is a testament to my parents' love for us and their sense of humor. )
