in 2019 the tedeschi trucks band decided to present ‘layla and other assorted love songs’ by derek and the dominos in its entirety for their appearance at the lock’n festival. they eventually released that as a live album last summer. a number of weeks ago i was scheduled to see them play at a venue in buffalo, and started looking at their setlists to see what they were currently playing. i began to notice songs that they were regularly playing that i did not recognize, and became aware that they had some new material coming out. more importantly, the new material was being released in a rather unorthodox fashion, and there was a unique story behind the album.

first, the story. when the pandemic hit in 2020, the band found themselves not being able to get together to record or tour. mike mattison, one of their lead singers, began reflecting on the lyrics that he had had to learn for that layla gig. knowing that the title track was inspired by a book that eric clapton had read, he decided to read that book/poem during some of his downtime. ‘the story of layla and majnun’ is a 12th century epic written by the persian poet nizami, and tells the tale of two lovers who fell deeply in love when they were young, but their romance was thwarted by fate. majnun was his nickname, which translates as ‘madman’, because he eventually goes mad due to his undying love for layla (her family will not allow the marriage). clapton related to this due to his similar situation with pattie boyd, who was then married to his best friend, george harrison. mattison felt that the songs on ‘layla’ were from clapton’s/majnun’s perspective. after reading the book, he realized that layla was an important character as well, and deserved to have her side of the story told. so he invited everyone to also read the book, and consider writing some songs around this idea. it seems the band really took to the concept, and the project grew and grew as the pandemic wore on. mattison is quick to point out the project was not meant to be a counterpoint to the original album, nor was it meant to be a musical score to the book – just a starting point to explore the question: ‘are we really, in the end, in love with the dream of love’.

as the project grew, they had enough for a double album of original material. instead of releasing it all at once, they have been releasing it as four individual ep length snippets, one per month. the third came out last friday, and the last installment will be at the end of this month. after that i understand you will be able to get the whole thing in one deluxe packaging edition. each release has also been accompanied by a full length video of the whole thing, artfully done by mattison’s ex wife.

after successfully consuming the first three, i think i can safely say this is the best studio album they have ever done. the songwriting is shared by many members of the band, and the addition of gabe dixon as their new keyboardist has added new vocal and writing elements. derek is his usual spectacular self, and susan’s vocals have never been better. there are a wide variety of musical styles – blues songs from susan, a little feat sounding ‘gravity’ from dixon, to an allman brothers epic instrumental rave up from the rhythm section, ‘pasaquan’.

along with the full length videos they also put out a few informational videos about the original concept and making of the record. i will embed below. as a big fan of this new record, and the original layla, i decided to read the book as well. not required to understand everything here, but very interesting.

as i mentioned above, i did catch them on tour, and can also say with confidence that they are peaking in their live shows. i have seen them three times in the last year, and this was the best of the three. los lobos opened for them at a very cool venue called artpark, an outdoor theater overlooking the niagara river gorge. thanks to my friends in buffalo that made it possible. susan and derek joined the band from east la for a couple of songs. overall one of the best shows i have seen in some time. go out and see them if you can.

if you have followed wilco for as long as i have, you may have begun to think that as a band they were about to go by the wayside. in the last five years, frontman jeff tweedy has released four solo albums, but only one with wilco. and then they go out and release their longest studio album ever. ‘cruel country’ clocks in at 77 minutes with 21 songs, and it may be their finest work in years. although tweedy’s previous band – uncle tupelo – is often lumped in with the generation of bands that began to be referred to as ‘alt – country’, tweedy himself has often bristled at the notion that wilco had much of anything to do with the country genre.

but in an essay he penned in conjunction with the release of the new album, he tried to explain why
they decided to return to the genre, and at the same time tie it in with lyrics that often reference the
other definition of country. the title track is an observation on his feelings about his home country, both
proud and disappointed. there are a few other tracks that have some political content, but written in a
reflective and timeless way.

there has been a lot written about this album in regards to the band returning to their earlier country
roots, and that this is a ‘country’ album, but I am not sure I totally buy into that. yes, there are a handful of songs that would fit well on a flying burrito brothers album, but there are a lot more that sound like they would fit well on wilco’s ‘sky blue sky’ record. It seems to me more of a folk/rock/pop tangent, with an occasional nod to country elements.

more importantly, it all flows together really well. much of it was recorded live in their chicago studio,
and on many songs there is a sense of spontaneity in their playing. i have been listening to it non stop
over the last few days and it just seems to get better. consider it for a great addition to your summer evening playlist.

i mentioned in my last post that i was lucky to catch mavis staples at jazzfest in new orleans a couple of weeks ago. unbeknownst to me, this album was set for release just this past friday. it captures a visit she and her band made to levon’s barn in woodstock in the summer of 2011. after a few days of kicking around some songs there, they eventually put on a live show for 200 or so lucky locals – her band combined with his.

mavis and levon had gone way back, first getting to know each when recording ‘the weight’ together for the ‘last waltz’ documentary in 1975. pops staples, her father, had been impressed by the gospel reference to nazareth, and that recording is one of my favorite parts of the movie.

twelve interesting covers, many of them gospel oriented. two by her father, but also songs by dylan, curtis mayfield, buddy and julie miller, larry campbell (who is on guitar here), and a few others. one of my favorites is ‘you got to move’, by mississippi fred mcdowell and reverand gary davis, made famous by the stones on ‘sticky fingers’. the version here is much more upbeat then keith and mick’s version.

much to love here, as there is clearly a chemistry in the air – not just the two headliners, but both bands. it was one of levon’s last recordings, as he would be gone by the next year. might be something to get for your memorial day party.

i first learned of ian’s work when i got his debut album, ‘between the country’, in 2019. i felt his writing and delivery were profound and unique, and that album stayed in my rotation for quite a while. he somewhat dropped off the radar after that, i am sure partly due to the pandemic. but now we get his follow up to that album – what he considers to be the flipside – with ‘river fools and mountain saints’. he claims he conceived of the title first, and then came up with the characters and stories to flesh it out. the landscape and people of his hometown of lee county kentucky are imbued throughout, appalachia history seeps up through the tracks.

it is tempting to try to lump him in with other kentucky artists that have recently made it big, like chris stapleton, sturgill simpson, and tyler childers. but ian is deeper and more pure than that. it is always unfair to compare new artists to legends like dylan and prine, but it is not terribly out of line here. i can hear a bit of both, especially their earlier work.

he says that most of his characters are real life people, with ‘river fool’ being about a local legend who is a fixture in the region, who ‘spends his days in a muddy haze, tangled in the cattail poles, working on an ancient bottle’. rather than trying to cast him as a local drunk, he shows the carefree and happy life he leads. it may be the most uplifting song on the album.

it was recorded over a span of two years strictly on reel to reel tapes, at a leisurely pace that gave time for the songs to marinate and evolve. if you liked his last one, you will surely love this one.

sometimes a post just nearly writes itself. i have been listening to a lot of new material lately, and as occasionally happens in my part time writing mode, nothing was really jumping out and grabbing me to sit down and pontificate about it.

but molly’s newest album changed that recently, and so let me tell you about it. molly tuttle is a renowned master of the clawhammer banjo and a crosspicking guitarist and a recipient of the musician of the year by the international bluegrass award committee. she is a very capable songwriter as well, and has released a number of albums on her own prior to this. but, for whatever reason, she has not actually done a bluegrass album before.

until now.

she not only put together one hell of a bluegrass band to flesh these songs out, she also has a very impressive list of guest artists. some are from the bluegrass world (old crow medicine show, sierra hull, billy strings, dan tyminski), and some are not (margo price, gillian welch). jerry douglas, the best and most recorded dobro player in the world, helps produce and plays on many of the tracks. she has a cowriter on nearly all the tracks, with ketch secor from old crow helping out on most of them.

it is just a solid effort from cover to cover, and it stayed in my rotation for quite a while. the aforementioned billy strings has been at least partially responsible for a rejuvenation in all things bluegrass, and rightly so. i have seen him a number of times and will be catching him in new orleans in may. he is likely on this album for a number of reasons: he and molly have been playing at events for years, they share a love for what they do, and he wants her to get a bigger audience. so do i, as i think she deserves it. they have slightly different styles when it comes to the guitar, but i for one do not think that one is better than the other. so if you are a billy fan, or a bluegrass fan, please give this one a try.