Coming soon to a college town near you …

Because I’ve managed to get myself a slot as a reviewer for “a local webzine”:http://www.decodemedia.com/tiki-index.php , I’ve managed to get to see a good number of gigs in the general area of america/alt.country/whatever in the past year. So I thought I do a little survey of what I’d been to and make some recommendations. Details below the fold since lots of you probably couldn’t care less!

So here’s the list of acts I’ve seen live (more or less in the order I saw them):

The Bottle Rockets, Allison Moorer, Steve Earle, The Old Crow Medicine Show, The Dukhs, Tom Russell, Slaid Cleaves, Gurf Morlix, Mary Gauthier, Hayes Carll, Buddy Miller, Albert Lee, The Drive-By Truckers, Gina Villalobos, The Deadstring Brothers, Eliza Gilkyson.

Most of these I’ve seen in Bristol and, indeed, within walking distance of my house (the exceptions being Moorer and Earle — at the Wychwood Festival — and Mary Gauthier in Madison). And I’ve enjoyed all of them, with the possible exception of The Drive-By Truckers who struck me as over-loud Skynyrd wannabees. So that suggests a test: which would I think it worth travelling any distance to see, say from Bristol to Cardiff (44 miles)? And the winners are ….

“Steve Earle”:http://www.steveearle.net/ . In fact I’m travelling to London to see him play at the “Reprieve”:http://www.reprieve.org.uk/press_globe_110506.htm benefit in a few weeks ( “Allison Moorer”:http://www.allisonmoorer.com/site/ is also playing). Great songs, great stage presence, no more justification needed.

“The Bottle Rockets”:http://www.bottlerocketsmusic.com/ . I heard them play to a nearly empty club and they were tremendous. What is more, I think that Brian Henneman is one of the great under-rated songwriters (especially in the songs he writes with Scott Taylor). “Kerosene” and “Welfare Music” are great examples: understated and perceptive observation of ordinary life. There’s sound consumer advice (“1000 Dollar Car”), growing old and worrying about it (“Kit Kat Clock”) , and much much more. Like just about everyone these days, they have a “myspace page”:http://www.myspace.com/bottlerocketsmusic where you can listen to material from their forthcoming album Zoysia and from their recent Live album. Henneman himself often participates in “the band’s on-line forum”:http://www.undertowmusic.com/messageboards/viewforum.php?f=20 — under the pseudonym Buck Stopshere. There’s a recent fan interview with him “here”:http://www.rustedrobot.com/ (scroll down as permalink seems nonfuctional) .

“Tom Russell”:http://www.tomrussell.com/index_flash.html . Russell is kind of weird, intruiging, gritty. He writes great songs but also has a kind of abrasive but engaging on-stage persona. He has a new album out which I haven’t heard yet, but its predecessor, Hotwalker, has to be one of the strangest records made in recent years. There are maybe two proper songs on it, the rest being odd snatches of voice from Charles Bukowski, Lenny Bruce and others. Russell isn’t really much at ease with the modern world and exudes a kind of anti-politics, but he’s always worth listening to.

“Buddy Miller”:http://www.buddyandjulie.com/ … well I “posted”:https://crookedtimber.org/2006/03/03/buddy-miller-2/ about him recently. Amazing guitarist, great songwriter. All-round interesting guy. One of two former Emmylou Harris guitarists I’ve seen. The other was “Albert Lee”:http://www.albertlee.co.uk/ who may have the edge as a technician, but Miller’s music has more too it imho.

“The Deadstring Brothers”:http://www.deadstringbrothers.com/ . Since Exile on Main Street era Rolling Stones aren’t about to play in a club near you, these guys will have to do. Not just the Stones, though, as their latest album has a fine “cover of The Band’s Get Up Jake”:http://theband.hiof.no/sounds/covers.html (scroll for link). Not as original as those listed above, but for an all-round fun evening hard to beat.

“Mary Gauthier”:http://www.marygauthier.com/ . I think Mercy Now is a great album. There seems to be a production line of very samey alt-country female singer-songwriters at the moment: Tift Merritt, Gina Villalobos, Kathleen Edwards. Gauthier isn’t of that ilk … she’s lived a lot and you can hear it. When I saw her in Madison, Mary was on a double-bill with “Eliza Gilkyson”:http://www.elizagilkyson.com/ but I arrived too late for Eliza’s set. I remedied that the other night, and she’s worth checking out too.