jason isbell, ‘live from the ryman’

this is jason’s second live album, the other being 2012’s ‘live from alabama’. just like that one did, ‘live from the ryman’ focuses on material from his last three studio albums: ‘southeastern’ (2013), ‘something more than free’ (2015), and last year’s ‘the nashville sound’.

the band has become to the ryman what the allman brothers once were to new york’s beacon theater. they have fourteen consecutive sellouts from 2014 through 2017, and are in the middle of their 2018 six night run right now. all of the material presented here is from the 2017 run, and the thirteen songs were hand selected by jason. the album is mixed by dave cobb, who also produced the last three albums. (they also worked together on the soundtrack to ‘a star is born’, with bradley cooper singing an isbell penned tune, ‘maybe it’s time’). in my mind cobb’s work on ‘southeastern’ is one of the reasons he is one of the most sought after producers in nashville. he has stated that he wanted the listening experience to make it feel like you’re right there in the audience. one of my first impressions is that you may be a little too close. the crowd noise is up in the mix, and there are a number of guys and maybe one female in the audience who feel compelled to give out a ‘whooo’ a little too often. other than that the band sounds great.

i have seen them three times over the last 18 months and this is pretty indicative of their usual performance. i think the best songs are the ones selected from ‘southeastern’, especially ‘elephant’. i never grow tired of that song. if you are not familiar with jason’s work, i would start with that album. his latest two don’t quite match up, in my opinion. this live album would also be a good introduction. ‘last of my kind’, off of ‘nashville sound’ is also a highlight here, mostly due to the band airing it out a little bit between lyrics and making it the only song that is significantly different than the studio versions of the rest.

which leads me to my only real criticism of the offering. if it wasn’t for the crowd, you might not know that it was live. no extended jams, covers or other features you might expect from a live concert. i know from experience that he does do this during shows, but for some reason chose not to include them in this release. still, you really can’t go wrong with a little more jason isbell in your collection.

as a curious aside, some of you may know that he gave up drinking a while ago, before these last three albums were recorded. of the 13 songs, my rough calculation is that he mentions drugs or alcohol in at least ten of them. maybe he lives vicariously through his characters. whatever it takes to keep him clean and healthy is ok with me.

john hiatt, ‘the eclipse sessions’

this is john hiatt’s first new recording in four years, his longest pause since the seventies. now 66, much of the material is reflective in nature. whether acknowledging his own shortcomings as a person, reconsidering old romances, or staring at his impending demise, the songs here are well constructed and honest. recorded in nashville last summer (three of the songs were recorded the day of the eclipse, hence the title), the arrangements are sparse but appropriate. kenneth blevins provides the drums, much like he has since ‘slow turning’ in 1987. and then we add some organ and a blend of acoustic and electric guitars for a nice folk/rock blend (check out the j.j.cale style leads in ‘over the hill’ below).

fans of his work will recognize his typical songwriting patterns and wry humor. this is probably my favorite album of his since ‘crossing muddy waters’. he seems to know that time is running out (and his voice is not what it once was), but he still has something to say and has the integrity to do it the right way.

he is going out on a solo tour starting saturday in new orleans. he has eighty songs prepared and will do about 25 a night he says, taking requests. should be a good show if he comes to your area.

grateful dead, pacific northwest ’73 – ’74

if you read enough of my blog posts you will see that i listen to a large variety of music, but the dead still hold a dear and significant place in my heart (and soul). i have gotten to the point of my music collecting career where i will buy anything that the grateful dead organization releases. i do this for three reasons, in the following order of importance.

first, there are still a ton of great recordings in their vault, and i have found that the quality of both the material and recording to be almost always top notch. david lemieux, the dead’s archivist, has stated often that those are the two equally important criteria they insist on when considering a show for production and subsequent release. second, i am a collector, so i always love an opportunity to add to my inventory of shows. third, they hold their value. whether it is the box sets or my 7 year subscription to the dave’s picks series, they are for the most part all worth more on the secondary market than what i paid for them.

and so it was without hesitation that i jumped on this box set when it was first introduced earlier in the summer, and i am not disappointed. the artwork and packaging are outstanding. this is one my favorite periods of the dead, and all six shows included here are exceptional. the recording quality is surprisingly good, with the only issue being an occasional imbalance in the overall mix. they seemed to have some trouble with keeping the vocals up in the mix, but it gets corrected in due time. the three shows from 1974 of course feature their legendary ‘wall of sound’. the book that accompanies the box is replete with pictures, anecdotes, and information. i have gotten through about half of the material so far, but can already give it my strongest recommendation. i didn’t want to wait to long to post on this, nor go into more detail about the material, mostly due to the fact that it might sell out and i wanted to make sure all of you had a chance of picking one up. they only made 15,000 of these things, and once they sell out, they will be gone. the price tag is around $190, but keep in mind that there are six full shows, 20 hours of music, and 19 fully loaded cds. i consider that to be a pretty good value. check out the two promotional videos they put out below, and then head over to dead.net and pick one up. if you don’t like it i will buy it off of you.

http://www.dead.net/store/music/new-releases/pacific-northwest-73-74-complete-recordings-boxed-set

folk soul revival

this the the fourth album by the aptly titled band, folk soul revival. this is my first introduction to them, and i am fairly smitten. hailing from bristol, virginia, they have been local favorites there for over ten years. even though they play plenty of gigs and do some occasional touring, they all still hang onto their day jobs. they are not in it for the money, and they play and sound like it. as their press release says, these are tales told from ‘front porches, back roads and friday night football games, sketching a picture that is quintessentially southern’. daniel davis is the primary songwriter and lead singer. his voice tilts back and forth between jason isbell and tyler childers. recorded in nashville over a span of two years, the tunes are passionately played and well recorded. the songs sound original and familiar at the same time. i have been through it three times now, and i like it more each time. my only complaint is that, as far as i can tell, it is only available by download. call me old fashioned, but i still like the actual cd. i am an avid liner note reader, and like to see who plays on what tracks. the only way i found out that the mccrary sisters sang some backup was from reading a few reviews. but this is a minor bicker, and if it is cheaper for them to get their music out, then i will roll with that. this is a band worthy of a wider audience. if you agree with most of my musical musings on this site, then just trust me on this one. on ‘that’s life’, he sings ‘they say a picture is worth a thousand words, but what if no one sees it?’. indeed.

hat tip to bill vv from austin. keep the suggestions coming.

the devil makes three, ‘chains are broken’

this is the devil makes three’s first release of original material in five years, and it’s somewhat of a departure from their previous work, including their album of cover songs from 2016, ‘redemption and ruin’. i really liked that one, and wrote about it when it came out. it was a collection of songs by writers as varied as townes van zandt, muddy waters, hank williams sr., tom waits, and ralph stanley, just to name a few. the song selections had a number of themes driven by faults, vices, and forgiveness (hence the title). in many ways the original tunes penned by guitarist pete bernhard on the new one explore similar thoughts and stories.

what makes this album different from the past is threefold. this is the first studio release with a drummer, as their touring drummer stefan amidon joins them throughout. in addition, the overall sound is a tad more sophisticated and catchy, and might be their most commercially accessible release to date. sometimes that would be considered a backhanded compliment, but i don’t think that’s the case here – i think that it’s just different, not better or worse. i have really enjoyed everything i have of theirs, and this is no exception. thirdly, the production then complements all of this with a more refined approach, as compared to their previous raw and rootsy style.

although they are often categorized and marketed as a bluegrass band, in reality i think they are better described as a blend of folk/country/ragtime with an occasional punk urgency, especially in their live performances. this album doesn’t sound anything like bluegrass to me, in fact it is a bit hard to categorize at all, which is often a good thing. if you are unfamiliar with the band, this is a great starting point. if you like this, then i would highly suggest looking into the rest of their catalog. i have not seen them live, and their current tour seems to be all out west, but i will keep them on my radar if they announce anything east of the mississippi. in the meantime this will be on my playlist for a while.