hayes carll, ‘what it is’

it has been three years since hayes released ‘lovers and leavers’, an album that explored his recent divorce, self medication, and fatherhood. ‘what it is’ finds him returning to his earlier work, including more character songs, his trademark self deprecating humor, and a few roadhouse country rockers. all bookended by a couple of love songs, inspired by his new fiancee, allison moorer.

carll’s career seemed to be on the brink of stardom after his 2011 release, ‘kmag yoyo’, but his unhealthy habits on the road and the collapse of his marriage seemed to derail him, unfortunately. i thought ‘lovers and leavers’ was good, but i am really enjoying this one. this is his sixth studio album – i have all of them – and i think this ranks with his best work. one of the things i noticed on this one is his sharing of songwriting credits with other writers, a trend that is becoming much more common in his new hometown of nashville. foremost among them is moorer, who co-wrote half of the twelve songs (she also co-produced the album). the songs about relationships seem to have a theme of being honest about themselves and to each other, possibly reflecting their recent divorces (allison had recently left her ex husband steve earle).

maybe the best example of the power of co-writing is ‘jesus and elvis’, a song set in lala’s, a dive bar carll used to frequent in north austin.

written by carll, moorer, and matraca berg in 2016, it was originally recorded by kenny chesney on his #1 country album, ‘cosmic hallelujah’. it may be the best song on the album, along with the title cut.

the two songs that have the least appeal to me are near the end, ‘fragile men’ and ‘wild pointy finger’. here he enters into some political musings, and i think he doesn’t quite seem to get his point across, although his polemics are more subtle and sly than what i seem to hear today.

as he mentions in the title track, ‘what it was is gone forever, what it could be god only knows, what it is is right here in front of me, and i’m not letting go’. he seems to be in a good place for now, and this is a great addition to your collection, whether you are a long time fan of his work like i am or a newcomer to his material.

tedeschi trucks band, ‘signs’

well, it’s early, but this is the best thing i have heard this year. their first studio release in three years, ‘signs’ is chock full of song material that is destined to be part of their live repertoire for years to come. they opened up their shows this weekend playing the album in it’s entirety. this is a must see tour this year. i saw them in november and hope they come this way again later this fall. they are simply one of the best touring acts in the country. this album seems to try and capture that magic in the studio, but that is a high bar to reach. my only complaint is that the twelve piece band sometimes sounds a bit compressed, but you can only fit so much raw power into a digital disc. my solution to this was to just turn it up louder, which works for the most part. this is a selection for your drive home from work on a friday afternoon. it also doesn’t hurt that warren haynes and doyle bramhall are guest guitarists.

sadly, the album was released last friday, the same day they learned of the death of longtime multi-instrumentalist kofi burbridge. he finally succumbed to the heart issues he had been dealing with over the last few years, but luckily he is featured quite prominently on many of the tunes, including songwriting credits. trucks had played with him for twenty years and he was a founding member of this band. he was an amazing talent and human being, and he will be missed.

as soulful and uplifting most of the material can be, there is also an undercurrent of grief and loss on many cuts. much of the recording had been done while dealing with the loss of gregg allman, and then butch trucks – derek’s uncle and one the the allman brother’s drummers. the final song, ‘the ending’, is about bruce hampton, longtime mentor and musician. he collapsed on stage at his 70th birthday concert (trucks and tedeschi both performed there), and then died shortly thereafter. but, as always, music has tremendous healing qualities, and this album is all about that. you have two homework assignments: buy this now and then go see them live as soon as you can.

here is ‘midnight in harlem’ from last night’s show. go ahead and try to tell me that derek doesn’t have kofi on his mind…..

grateful dead, ‘swing auditorium, san bernardino, february 26th, 1977’

the 29th installment of the dave’s picks series brings us a cleaned up version of a show i have had for many years, but hadn’t listened to in quite some time. i had forgotten what a magnificent evening it was. one of the things to keep in mind is that this is their first show in nearly two months, and was the first of their legendary spring tour of 1977, one of the strongest periods in the repertoire, in my opinion. since their last show on new year’s eve at the cow palace, they had been spending much of that time rehearsing and recording songs for what would eventually become ‘terrapin station’. indeed, two of those songs make their debut here in the first set, ‘estimated prophet’ and ‘terrapin station’. the fact that they ambitiously opened the first set with the latter gives us an idea as to the confidence they had in themselves and the material.

i am sure my first copy was from when the original ‘betty boards’ starting circulating in the late eighties as bootlegs. and so what we have here is the polished production of the original tape reels that were returned to the vault in the last couple of years. as such, the sound quality is fantastic. although there are a few spots when it feels like they are going through the motions, there are some exceptional highlights here. there is a great ‘help/slip/franklin’s’ in the middle of the second set, and a nearly perfect ‘eyes of the world’ shortly after that.

as bonus material, they added what they had of the following evening’s show at santa barbara, just the fifth reel. the other four reels have never been found. luckily, the fifth reel contains an excellent ‘morning dew’, one that rivals any i have heard from the 1977 period.

on an interesting side note, the venue was only in existence for another 4 years, as it was irreparably harmed when a twin engine cessna crashed into it (on september 11th, no less).

all in all a very worthy addition to the series. with any luck i will get to talk more about it with david directly. he is hosting the release of dogfish brewery’s ‘american beauty’ ipa this friday, and i will be there early to chat with him. i am sure i will be listening to this on my road trip there.

blackberry smoke, ‘the southern ground sessions’

following the band’s april 2018 release of ‘find a light’, they decided to go back into the studio and film themselves performing a couple of the tunes acoustically, mostly just to release on their website for the enjoyment of their fans. it went so well they decided to invite a few friends and add some more tracks. instead of just posting them online, they decided to release it as an ep. that project seems to have inspired them to take it on the road. although they are currently still touring in support of ‘find the light’ in their

electrified southern rock style, they will transition starting in about a month or so to the ‘break it down’ tour, where they will do their entire show in an acoustic fashion.

i have both of these albums, i can tell you that i prefer the shorter acoustic set. the songs translate well from their previous arrangements, and they added a bonus track with amanda shires joining them on tom petty’s ‘you got lucky’. amanda is joining them for some of the road dates as well, and i hope she is at the one i am attending on st. patrick’s day at the kent stage.

greensky bluegrass, ‘all for money’

this is greensky’s seventh studio album, and by most accounts it might be their best. known more for their free form live performances, this release captures the band’s string band ensemble abilities with the crisp acoustic lines you would expect from a quality studio session. for those not familiar with the band, they play all acoustic traditional bluegrass instruments, and are known for pushing the boundaries of the bluegrass genre. much like their musical brethren trampled by turtles, they are the first to admit they are more likely to play rock and roll songs with a bluegrass delivery system.

i can see all of these songs being great launching pads for further exploration in a live setting. if all of this piques your interest, then this is a good album to introduce themselves to you, and then go catch them live out there, as they are currently touring to promote the material. for my local followers, they are playing at the house of blues on february 5th. i hope to see you there.