Cory Branan & Jon Snodgrass split 12"

Cory Branan & Jon Snodgrass - "S/T"

While Cory Branan fans anxiously await his forthcoming new full length, release date not yet announced, you've got the chance to hear a great sampling of Cory and one of Colorado's finest songwriters, Jon Snodgrass, on this split 12" vinyl (or cassette) release from Suburban Home Records. The recording is made up of 7 songs from these two songwriters. If you are wondering about the breakdown of said songs, here's the quick rundown from SH's Web site: "There are 2 originals by Jon, 3 originals by Cory, and 2 covers (Solo in Soho by Phil Lynott, Wild One by Thin LIzzy)."

Branan's songs include "The Corner" and "Walkaround," two songs that easily stand alongside any of his best material to date. The laughing at the end of the latter song, as well as the shredding at the end of "Yeah, So What?" give the record a bit of a more laid back feel, which, for lack of a better description, provides a bit of a more intimate setting that I appreciate from a limited edition release like this.

Fans should not be discouraged from giving this record a try if they don't have a vinyl player. As most vinyl sellers offer these days, this record comes along with a digital download card for the 7 songs. You can also buy it on cassette (also with downloads), for those of you lucky enough to have a cassette player in your car still. (On a side note, if car companies had just waited a bit longer before pulling cassette players from cars, we would be in so much better shape, because you could so much more easily play your ipod in the car, and wouldn't have to mess with all that itrip business.)

Snodgrass, who is one half of the songwriting core of Fort Collins band Drag the River, adds a couple of nice originals as well. "Born Apart" is a fantastic example of his songwriting style, and is a song that could just as easily be a DTR classic were it released by the band. Even if you're not familiar with his work, I think many can appreciate Snodgrass's voice upon first listen. I struggle to describe it accurately without sounding like I'm overly impressed with my own writing, but it is basically the perfect voice for the music he plays. Part growl, part twang, and just spot on for his alt/country/rock/roll/roots/whatever/drinking songs.

This record has the feel of a couple of friends going into the studio and sitting down to play some of their new songs for each other, with no rigid ideas about a finished product, and they come out with a solid project that is a great listen beginning to end. Each artist provides harmonies for the other, and while the two songwriters' styles are quite different, the songs mesh together cohesively. Plus, if you hadn't noticed, the cover has a cobra and a wolf, which should have sold you on it from the get-go.

Don't miss our recent interview with Cory that you can find here.

things

Nice interview with Langhorne Slim:
that you can find at gigbot. Interview by Heather Browne of I Am Fuel, You are Friends.

I'm interested in seeing:
the documentary BoneCrusher, a new film that deals with coal mining and all the hazards that go along with it. It would seem this one is more documentary and less artsy, i.e., it isn't another Seven Signs or Searching for the Wrong Eyed Jesus movie. It appears you may already be able to buy the DVD, but I'm not sure.

I would really like to find:
more blogs with really good writing. Less crap and repeat of what other blogs said, and instead actual good original writing. Leave me a comment to point me to some new ones if you know of any. Doesn't even have to be music. You can even self promote, as long as your blog meets the aforementioned criteria. Blogs with good original pictures are acceptable too.

Speaking of blogs,:
for some reason I really like this blog that H. ran across the other day, called My Parents Were Awesome. I would explain it, but you should just check it out.

For anyone:
who puts up with my discussion of spoken word, Buddy Wakefield's new CD Live at the Typer Cannon Grand came out today. Here was his newsletter announcement about it. He's touring with Andrea Gibson, of Boulder, this spring, but I'll tell you more about that as it approaches.

More on this at a later date:
but did you know that full issues of Billboard magazine are archived dating back all the way to 1942 by Google Books? Pretty amazing stuff, for example, to look at the issues from the late '60s. Some issues are missing, I think, but there are more than enough to see lots of cool stuff.

Dawes - When My Time Comes

I have not liked a song this much on first listen in a long time. I've been hearing about Dawes here and there for a few months now, but hadn't really taken the time to listen to them. I like the rest of what I've heard so far, but "When My Time Comes" really stands out for me right now. Looks like I'm going to have to go see them in Denver with Langhorne Slim on 10/29, and maybe check out their just-released debut LP North Hills soon as well. If the live version from youtube doesn't do it for you, try listening to the album cut on their myspace or alternatively on Daytrotter or Luxury Wafers.

You can find their Daytrotter session here and their Luxury Wafers visit here.

Flying Burrito Brothers interview

In some of my searching for information about John Braden, I ran across a blog called I Witness, run by a gentleman named Ed Leimbacher (who now owns and operates Mister E Books and Records in Washington state). A few years ago, he (re-)published an interview (in 5 parts) that he did in the late 1960s with Chris Hillman, Gram Parsons, Chris Ethridge and Sneaky Pete Kleinow of the Flying Burrito Brothers and I thought it would be of interest to pass them along.

Part I - Gram Parsons and Chris Hillman (plus a few words from Chris Ethridge and Sneaky Pete)

Part II - Parsons and Hillman (plus Ethridge)

Part III - Parsons , Hillman, Sneaky Pete, Ethridge

Part IV - Hillman alone

Part V - Hillman and Parsons

Part I answers a question I've wondered about for some time - that is, how do you spell the "Sneaky" in Sneaky Pete. The Gilded Palace of Sin LP spells it "Sneeky," while other records from the same time period I have seen spell it "Sneaky." Turns out he didn't really care. Kind of anticlimactic, I know.

On a completely unrelated note, this article from the LA Times talks about the backstory to one of the band's classics, "Sin City."

ramble on

Do you think:
that the Where the Wild Things Are soundtrack, composed mostly by Karen O, will sell a lot of copies because simply people will be looking for the song they hear on the trailer? A situation that will be unfortunate, because the song is actually "Wake Up" by Arcade Fire, and is not on the soundtrack? I do. This is like when the Everything Is Illuminated trailer used "How It Ends" by DeVotchKa, but neither the movie nor the soundtrack featured the song. Don't get me wrong, the WTWTA trailer is really good, but funny they didn't use some of Karen O's material for it.

Of course you're thinking:
"he just had to mention that movie, because every blogger in the world has mentioned that movie." What can I say, at least I tried to do my own take on it.

In case you cared:
your cool friends over at Pitchfork mentioned some time back that Chris Taylor of Grizzly Bear was releasing a 7" on his new label Terrible Records under the moniker CANT. Well, that record is finally up for pre-order.

Denver:
don't miss Slim Cessna's Auto Club and Drag the River at the Oriental Theater this Friday, Oct. 9th.

It's probably enjoyable because it's not PC:
and in fact there is a new What's So Funny? out today, and it's just as non-PC as ever.

I don't know why I am obsessed with the remote parts of West Texas:
but there is a pretty cool blogger from Alpine who does a blog called Gaping Void. He's actually an author, artist, marketer, and um, CEO of the US branch of a South African wine. Apparently he became famous for his "Ignore Everybody" blog/book, which is generally directed at helping people in the working world (maybe more specifically the corporate world?) to keep from hating their lives so much, or something like that.

Keeping with the West Texas theme:
I found this pretty sweet article about a guy near Abilene who lives in a cold war era missile silo. Lots of cool pictures.

As I've noted:
I'm increasingly impressed with Langhorne Slim's new material, and need to pick up his new album Be Set Free. You can check out a video interview and perfomance of "I Love You But Goodbye" from him here at LA Music Blog.

I don't know about you:
but I'm pretty excited about the new J. Tillman record Year in the Kingdom. It's out now on Western Vinyl, and apparently a vinyl version and a 7" are on the way.

In Avett Brothers news...let me revise that, in my own personal news:
my pre-ordered vinyl copy of I and Love and You, an album for which the vinyl version has been available in record stores for over 3 weeks, has still not arrived. I ordered it directly from the band's Web site, which apparently was the lowest priority to the label, and they didn't get their copies of the vinyl to mail out until last week. Throw in the inconsistent service by the USPS and you've got quite an awesome situation. If you know me, I like to prove points, so I'll probably have to return that record (when it finally arrives), even though it will cost me shipping, and then buy it from my local record store for the same price. If anyone has run into the same problem, hopefully you've found the one positive outlet that I have, which is that you can stream the entire album for free on the Avett's Web site.

3 albums I should have reviewed last year

As I note from time to time, the usual music listener doesn't exactly get to listen to new albums right away, and sometimes it takes a while to get around to everything you want to listen to. Not everyone gets advance copies of the album and then has the time and ability to write a snide review about it after two listens (you know to whom I refer).















Hayes Carll - Trouble in Mind

Hayes Carll's new material came back onto my radar about a year and a half ago when I had the opportunity to see him at a free show in Austin. I had seen him perform solo before, and loved his stage presence, but had lost interest as some of his more recent material I had heard sounded very "roadhouse," I guess you could say. But to be honest, I didn't exactly give it much of a chance. However, that all changed at this live show when I heard him play "Beaumont" off of his new album. This track is an amazing standout among great songs, and on its strength alone I was drawn back to giving Carll another listen. Suffice to say, I'm glad I did. Trouble is a fantastic collection of 15 songs, with a number of gems that include "Drunken Poet's Dream" and "Bad Liver and a Broken Heart." Another great moment on the album is the cover of Tom Waits' "I Don't Wanna Grow Up," and true to form, Hayes shows his comedic writing abilities on "She Left Me for Jesus." This album may be one of the best Americana albums released in the last 5 years or so.















DeVotchKa - A Mad and Faithful Telling

As is standard practice, DeVotchKa never ceases to show me how much more they know about music than I do. My first few listens of AMAFT left me wondering exactly what it was they were doing rather than wanting to hear more. As with most any album that I am not immediately drawn to, I put it aside for a time. I think some of my initial distaste was from my dislike of the first single "Transliterator," which I'm still not a huge fan of. However, I've come to recognize that the album has many strengths. It took listening to the songs toward the end to hook me on the album, as I consider "New World" and "Undone" to be the strongest tracks by far. Additionally, "Head Honcho," a remake from Super Melodrama, "Along the Way," and "A Clockwise Witness" are standout tracks that make this a work that shows DeVotchKa's strengths as a band and firmly hold AMAFT in place along with their best work to date.














Rodney Parker & 50 Peso Reward - The Lonesome Dirge

If you have found the common theme among these albums yet, then you get the award. Yes, they are mostly albums that just didn't take for me right away, and the latest from Rodney Parker is no different. The more I listened to this album, however, the more irresistible it became. One can hardly have any difficulty rocking along with the band's cover of Springsteen's "Atlantic City," or playing train beat air drums along with "Firefight," but the rest of the album takes a bit longer to sink in. At times, I found myself trying to figure out exactly what was up with the guitar shredding on "Brother," but now I generally accept that it just rocks a little country and a little bit of 1983 at the same time. No one ever said there was anything wrong with that. The Lonesome Dirge is extremely well produced, but not overly so, and the rhythms on the album make it a strong listen that sets it apart from other Americana records. This album is a great record to drive to, so what more do you need to know?

stuff

Do you remember when you could afford DeVotchKa concert tickets?:

Well, in a year you'll be talking about how you remember when you could afford to go see the Avetts.

By the way:
can I be the first one to recommend that DeVotchKa reissue Una Volta on vinyl?

Overheard:

"Dude, you going to Pretty Lights [Fort Collins electronic artist] in two weeks? It's just $40. $20 for tickets and $20 for festivities" [this means drugs apparently].

Since the Colorado tour stop didn't work out:

for Buddy Wakefield, I can at least let you know that his new CD, Live at the Typer Cannon Grand, just came out on Righteous Babe Records. It's a compilation of the best recordings of his best material - definitely worth it for my money.

I hope to see:
Denver folks out at the Thrift Store Cowboys/Amanda Shires show at the Hi-Dive on Thursday. Rosewood Thieves are the headliners.

Isn't it funny:
that Joe Ely was so quick into the internet game? He got in early enough to buy "www.ely.com." Apparently his site started in '83. I didn't even know about the internet until probably 1995.

Marfa never ceases to amaze me:
In the span of two weeks, Randy Quaid was arrested there, and Bon Iver is playing a show there. Bon Iver has only played Denver once, ever, as far as I know, and now he will have played Marfa too, a town of 2100 in the middle of the desert.

Last year's book review - The Legend of Colton H. Bryant

I recently had the time to read The Legend of Colton H. Bryant, by Alexandra Fuller, which was released in 2008 (i.e., this review is of a book that came out last year, not a review that I did last year). I am a fan of both of Fuller's previous books -- Scribbling the Cat and Don't Lets Go to the Dogs Tonight -- that deal with the experiences of her childhood, namely of growing up White in southern Africa in what is now Zimbabwe. In fact, the almost complete departure from those books to her most recent is probably what took me so long to read The Legend of Colton H. Bryant.

If you are wondering to yourself, "hmm, have I ever heard of Colton H. Bryant? ...doesn't ring a bell," then don't despair, because you are not supposed to have heard of him. In fact, Bryant was a common working man that met an early demise (sorry for the spoiler, but you know it is coming, and it's probably better if you're ready for it anyway), and the book covers his life. To be perfectly honest, I am not sure what led Fuller to write about Bryant, as opposed to Jim the truck driver or Donna the waitress, but when you read the story, you'll understand that she did not take on the topic haphazardly or without understanding the real circumstances in the lives of those she writes about.

Having just read Jon Krakauer's new book about the life and death of Pat Tillman, I found an interesting contrast to Fuller's book. Krakauer covers the life of an American who already had fame and fortune, and eventually gave his life for his country in the war in Afghanistan. Bryant, on the contrary, was not famous, but I think that is what makes his story important. You may still wonder, what makes this story a "legend?" I don't know what Fuller would say, but in my viewpoint, I think the legend is that of the lifestyle of the American West, and more specifically, the roles of masculinity in that culture. Thus, Bryant's story is important because he is an "everyman," a humble man with dreams, who works for a meager existence and enjoys the small things in life. It is a story about a place where people still believe dreams can come true, but for one reason or another, most often because of poverty, many dreams are cut short. I was actually struck by this brief social commentary from Fuller:

It isn't just plain poverty--an ordinary lack of money--that keeps you on the wrong side of despair. It's a whole raft of poverties--a poverty of choice and a poverty of support and a poverty that comes with the certain knowledge that no one's going to take you seriously when you're invisibly decked out in an apron, working the night shift. (p. 112)

Given the relatively short length of the book, and the fact that it is quite a fast read, I won't give away too much more, but I will say that I found the book a very worthwhile story. On a personal note, it was also quite odd to know that the drilling company Bryant worked for is based in Snyder, TX, just 30 minutes or so from where I grew up. It is also sad to recognize how little of Patterson-UTI's profits make their way into the hands of those who risk the most. This book serves as yet another call to anyone who will listen that America's most dangerous jobs remain relatively unregulated in terms of workplace safety, and thus, we continue to lose disproportionate amounts of the young and poor who have no option but to turn to jobs like this. I don't think Fuller glamorizes Bryant beyond who he actually was, but it is so well written that it is easy to lose sight of the fact that his family and friends continue to live their lives just 3 1/2 short years since his death. Fuller's book serves to tell the American story that typically doesn't have the chance to be told - the story of workers with no sick leave and no benefits, little education and few chances of moving up the socioeconomic ladder. It is not a feel good story of the American Dream, but rather a story of real Americans choosing to live life to the fullest in spite of all that is against them.

(note: image from Alexandra Fuller's Web site)