the last act that john prine signed to his ‘oh boy’ record label before he died was a fellow by the name of arlo mckinley. arlo, a native of cincinnati, is a veteran of the kentucky/ohio/west virginia music scene, much like a few of the recent success stories like tyler childers, sturgill simpson, and a fellow i wrote about recently – ian noe.
he released his first album in 2014, and has been working on his second one here for a few years. recorded in the legendary sam phillips studio in memphis, produced by matt-ross spang (prine, isbell, margo price, etc.), and surrounded by some of nashville’s best studio musicians, arlo delivers one of my favorite albums of the year so far.
he comfortably distills country and folk to use as his palette to reflect on good times and bad times, broken relationships, and tales of addiction in the underbelly of the midwest.
when prine saw him for the first time during a showcase event at a small venue in nashville, he performed ‘bag of pills’, a song that had been in his repertoire for a few years. this song, as well as a few others on this collection, remind me of isbell’s work on the same topic. one of my favorites is a little honky tonk nugget called ‘she’s always around’, and it took me a couple times through it to realize that ‘she’ was not actually a woman, but rather a narcotic that was always there when he was vulnerable (much like neil young’s ‘old laughing lady’ wasn’t a woman either).
the whole album just has a natural feel to it, as if you had known some of these songs all your life. he has a distinctive voice, the songs are expertly crafted, and the production is supportive and impeccable.
if you are a fan of any of the artists i have mentioned above, then i am going to ask you to trust me on this one and just buy it. this is a really tough time to make your national debut, and i think this guy deserves a shot.
we lost one of my favorite singer songwriters over the weekend. i think the first album i ever got of his was 2010’s ‘harlem river blues’, and i have been hooked ever since. unfortunately i never got to see him live. some say that in order to be a good blues singer you have to live the blues. i don’t necessarily believe that, but it could possibly be true of justin. he certainly led a troubled life, and we may eventually find out that it led to his early demise. i hope that turns out not to be true. regardless, he was a great story teller, and he attached all types of musical styles to that prose – blues, swing, country, folk, you name it. i have pretty much everything he ever released, and they were always well done and enduring. he grew up in his father’s shadow, but, as i have said here before, i think he is a better songwriter than the old man. if you are not familiar with his work, i think last year’s release, ‘saint of lost causes’ was some of his best, but the aforementioned ‘harlem river blues’ is also a good launching point.
just another bullet point to add to this already shitty year. he was such a huge talent. it is a tremendous loss to his family and the musical community. the family suggested on his instagram post that we listen to his ‘looking for a place to land’ today, in his memory.
yes, this is jason isbell playing in his band on the letterman show:
‘troubled days are behind me now and i know they’re gonna let me in’
i was having a cocktail with a friend of mine the other day and the subject of non satellite commercial radio came up and the lack of good quality music there these days. my comment in reply to her was something like, ‘that is not measure of whether there is actually great music out there, but rather the nature of the radio business these days’. my contention is that things have never been better in regards to musical choices. you just have to seek it out. along those lines, here are 6 albums i picked up in the last few weeks.
lilly hiatt – ‘walking proof’
source – outlaw country sirius xm
one of my favorite songwriters of all time is john hiatt. here we have a great album by one of his daughters, lilly. this has actually been out for a while now, and i knew it was out there, but i can’t give you a good explanation of why i delayed. if you consider taking a flyer on any of these selections today, i would ask you to strongly consider this one. it would be unfair to compare her songwriting to her father, but i think she holds her own. i am sure if you were to ask him he would be damn proud. and she has a great voice.
pretenders – ‘hate for sale’
source – american songwriter magazine
this ageless band has put together a great new addition to their collection. chrissie has never written or sounded better, and martin chambers still brings it on drums. i first saw her when she returned to her hometown at blossom music center in cuyahoga falls in 1981 right before i went off to college. loved her then, still do.
margo price – ‘that’s how rumors get started’
source – pitchfork magazine
i was an early adopter on margo, and i posted on her first album before she became well known. i wasn’t nearly as enamored of her second album, as i think her success and political posturing got to her head. on this one she steers away somewhat from her nashville roots and gets a little seventies rock on us. sturgill simpson produces, and the songs are well done and varied in styles. i have seen a number of reviews give comparisons to latter era fleetwood mac and stevie nicks, and there is some merit to that. however, i think margo is a better singer. she easily tackles all the material here vocally
gillian welch and dave rawlings – ‘all the good times’
source – reader dave c. from jersey
somewhat of a quarantine session, gillian and dave set up an old reel to reel in their house and laid down ten cover tracks of some of their favorite songs by artists such as prine, dylan, norman blake and a few others. the version of prine’s ‘hello in there’ might be the best i have ever heard. here we have elizabeth cotton’s classic ‘oh babe it ain’t no lie’.
jerry garcia and john kahn – ‘garcialive, volume 14’
source – jerrygarcia.com
tomorrow marks the 25th anniversary of jerry’s untimely passing. i am sure i will get in a retrospective mood sometime soon this weekend, and this may be part of my soundtrack. here jerry and his longtime garcia band bassist john kahn present a short acoustic set in a small venue in the heart of new york city. the crowd is part of the show here, up in the mix and egging these guys on. billy strings does the liner notes and goes into great length on how he first got turned on to jerry by listening to his bluegrass work with david grisman, and then gives great descriptions of the twelve songs presented here. i really miss jerry. the world would be a better place if he were still around.
the texas gentleman – ‘floor it!!!’
source – american songwriter magazine
as they used to say in monty python, ‘and now for something completely different’. a bunch of texas studio musicians who have also been part of backup bands for country artists like kris kristofferson and george strait, among many others, these guys just put out their second studio album, and it is highly interesting. if that description gives you a notion of what kind of music they would bring, you would likely be totally wrong. often when i have trouble explaining or categorizing an artist’s sound, i usually find it to be worth the time. and that has never been more true than with this hour long tribute to the pop and rock bands of the seventies. you will here glimpses of little feat, steely dan, the meters, solo mccartney, randy newman, leon russell and so on. not for everyone, but if that sounds interesting to you, give it a spin.
as i have been saying for months now, it has never been more important to support our musicians out there. try out a few of these.
redeyegin 