I’ve not been posting much lately because I’ve been teaching new material, starting a new semester and also been assessing another department as an external panel member. Busy busy busy. Still, life goes on in the insterstices. One of the things I look forward to in my weekly schedule is driving my youngest son to his piano lesson because this co-incides with “Bob Harris Country”:http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/shows/bobharriscountry/ on BBC Radio 2. I’d long have said that the one genre of music I just couldn’t listen to is country. But Bob Harris has always been one of my favourite DJs and I’ve just been sucked in by what is one of the best music programmes on the BBC, to the point where I’ve bought 5 Steve Earle cds in the last month. No doubt everyone else has been listening to Earle for years, but for me he’s a new discovery, a songwriter who managed to summon up a whole world in a few minutes. I confess to listening to the unbelievably poignant “Billy Austin” from his live “Just an American Boy”:http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000AOV39/junius-20 several times in a row.
{ 37 comments }
des von bladet 02.05.05 at 1:49 pm
Two words: Johny Cash.
(URL tweaked for charitable purposes, and to check I could.)
peter ramus 02.05.05 at 2:28 pm
As they used to say, heeere’s Johnny: “Johnny.”
On the other hand, how many arrs in Pirate Kierkegaard?
peter ramus 02.05.05 at 3:04 pm
Chris—
Here’s a downloadable mp3 of James McMurtry’s song “We Can’t Make it Here”. It’s populist, for country music.
John Barton 02.05.05 at 4:53 pm
Yes, Steve Earle’s been out there for years. He should not be classified as country. Each of his CD’s must be taken on it’s own as country, bluegrass, straight up rock, folk, or whatever style he chooses and does so well.
phred 02.05.05 at 5:14 pm
Try wdvx (wdvx.com), broadcast from a shack in East Tennessee. Great country radio, from folks who grew up with it. As it happens, they play lots of Steve Earle. And the DJ’s accents are soothing to us hillbillies.
Also check out Loretta Lynn’s “Van Lear Rose” album.
yabonn 02.05.05 at 6:51 pm
For me too, country is some kind of kamchatka.
Then i saw some light with will oldham (bonnie prince billy) : “i see a darkness” or “the way”. I’m not sure, though, that it qualifies as “country”.
As we are into music here, and after holbo’s last post : no more being shamed before europeans.
nolo 02.05.05 at 7:05 pm
Steve Earle is most excellent. If you don’t already have it, you absolutely MUST own “Copperhead Road.” Oh, and Steve Earle’s incredibly poignant “Ellis Unit One” is the best (but not the only) reason to own the soundtrack album for the film “Dead Man Walking.”
Enjoy!!
Chris Bertram 02.05.05 at 8:16 pm
Thanks for the links guys. I’m listening to wdvx right now … aren’t those internets great?
ionfish 02.05.05 at 9:16 pm
yabonn: following Uncut, I’d say Bonnie Prince Billy falls into the “Alt. Country” bracket.
ProfWombat 02.05.05 at 9:22 pm
Among many, perhaps the best song ever about America’s gun craziness, “The Devil’s Right Hand”.
phred 02.05.05 at 9:35 pm
Chris,
Me too. I even heard a Steve Earle song earlier.
I have a sentimental attachment to wdvx – they’ve been fighting the good fight about bandwidth space under the 1996 telecomm act, I grew up in spitting distance of their studio, and they support a lot of local artists and businesses. So, please forward the link to anyone else worldwide who might like it and/or support it.
-phred
phred 02.05.05 at 9:43 pm
oops –
I just heard that they broadcast from Knoxville now. They used to be in a trailer near Clinton. Glad they’ve moved up in the world.
The Defeatist 02.05.05 at 10:49 pm
Two Words: Hank Williams. Senior, that is, not his over commercialized, over produced, and under talented progeny.
paperwight 02.05.05 at 11:39 pm
In the general vein of Steve Earle (though not as diverse within their own bodies of work), I might suggest Robbie Fulks, Robert Earl Keen, Jr., and James McMurtry (yeah, he’s Larry’s son).
Mill 02.06.05 at 12:42 am
Greatest country artist alive: Mojo Nixon. He recorded a great song about the first Gulf War (“My Free Will Just Ain’t Willin'”) which was EERILY suited to the second one too.
“Get the troops out of Haiti, cause poverty ain’t no crime
They’ll never help themselves if we conquer and divide
What they need is victuals, TV and ESPN
They don’t need invading, just a friend”
(Well, everything after “Haiti” is appropriate. Yeah, the TV/ESPN thing is a joke, he can’t get too sincere or his ironic hipster audience would abandon him.)
That’s off “Whereabouts Unknown”, his best album, although if you’re a certain kind of person you might like the one he did with Jello Biafra better. (That one also includes a great update of “Love me, I’m a liberal” that starts “I cried when I saw _JFK_…”)
lalalalaura 02.06.05 at 4:55 am
It’s hard to confidently make recommendations without knowing exactly what you like about Steve Earle specifically, but since I also like him, here are a few others I listen to in similar moods.
Well, obviously he himself worships Townes Van Zandt as a songwriter.
Buddy and Julie Miller. I believe they’ve opened for him, actually.
Fred Eaglesmith. Possibly Billy Joe Shaver.
And I, of course, listen to Kasey Chambers in ANY mood and recommend Audrey Auld as well.
Ajax Bucky 02.06.05 at 6:06 am
Inasmuch as “country” is contradistinct from “city”, Earle’s country; he’s as country as they get nowdays, come to that.
Since there isn’t a “city” genre though, and since “urban” is a euphemism for young Black music, and since corporate Nashville’s a subsidiary of the New York/Los Angeles entertainment machine that mass-produces “country” music that’s as tame and trimmed and rootbound as a potted plant – thus transmogrifying what was once the sound of the soul of rural America into the shallow yapping and maudlin whimpering of over-confined suburban yard dogs, and since Steve Earle has about as much in common with that media-created media-driven media-owned “country” music as he does with Terry Riley or Olivier Messiaen – much less really – I’ll suggest it should probably be left up to him to determine whether he is, in fact, “country”, or a weird-acre hybrid renegade-redneck version of a modern-day Celtic jongleur.
SamChevre 02.06.05 at 2:07 pm
On the other side of alt. country, Gillian Welch has one of the best voices in country music–backup is just her partner’s guitar. “Red Clay Halo” is probably my favorite of all her songs, but everything is good. My favorite album is Hell Among the Yearlings, which is proper country in mood–bleak and desperate–but set in modern times rather than the past.
paperwight 02.06.05 at 3:18 pm
I actually saw Mojo Nixon live as the opening act for Steve Earle when Earle was touring on Copperhead Road. That show was a blast.
Second the Gillian Welch recommendation, though she is actually a product of UC Santa Cruz. Whoda thought that good old-timey music would come out of that particular place?
Clancy 02.06.05 at 3:33 pm
I’m thrilled that you’re enjoying Steve Earle; I have been a big fan of his for many years, and after meeting him at one of his concerts in Knoxville, TN when I lived there, I was even more impressed. He’s just a great, nice, accessible guy.
Have you heard John Walker’s Blues? Give that a listen if you haven’t. You know, after reading this article, which addresses the disconnect in the Democratic Party between the educated and well-off and less-educated and less well-off, I started thinking about Earle’s political views and messages in his music. Does the Left need a Toby Keith? (The popularity of “Courtesy of the Red, White, & Blue” among mainstream country music fans is considerable, especially in the southern U.S., and I’d guess some other red states.) Not that Earle would necessarily be that person, but he’s the closest match now.
Oh, by the way, Earle has also written a book titled Doghouse Roses. If you’re still on your Steve Earle buying spree, Chris, pick up a copy of it.
No Preference 02.06.05 at 5:31 pm
McMurtry’s “We Can’t Make It Here Anymore” is brilliant. Thank you, perter remus.
No Preference 02.06.05 at 5:44 pm
Ur, that was “peter ramus”
MQ 02.06.05 at 9:23 pm
Surprised no one has mentioned Lucinda Williams, maybe the best singer-songwriter of the 90s.
Dumping on “country music” as a single undifferentiated thing just shows you don’t know very much about the history of American popular music.
But the Nashville stuff currently played on mass-market country radio is admittedly the worst in the whole history of the genre.
Clancy 02.06.05 at 9:56 pm
I didn’t intend to “dump on” any genre of music, only point out the popularity of the Toby Keith song. It’s true I’m no music historian, but having spent the first twenty-four years of my life in the Shoals area, I have a sincere appreciation of all the music that comes from my home, and Appalachian folk music as well, and I’m well aware that “country music” is no monolith. I tried to qualify by saying “mainstream country music,” but apparently I didn’t cover my ass well enough that time.
NickS 02.06.05 at 11:34 pm
I second the recommendation of Townes Van Zandt. Absolutely phenomenal songwriter.
Clancy 02.06.05 at 11:50 pm
I second the recommendation of Lucinda Williams.
bob mcmanus 02.07.05 at 1:35 am
As someone who actually remembers when the Byrds grabbed Gram Parsons; and as someone who has a dozen Ian & Sylvia and Martin Carthy albums on his hard drive; along with Townes 1st 6 a bunch of Alison Kraus & Nanci Griffith * Emmie Lou(Yeah I’m old)…these distinctions between folk and country and whatever don’t make a lot of sense
someone needs to explain them to me…look all just like singer/songwriters to me
SamChevre 02.07.05 at 2:40 am
OK, I don’t know how I missed recommending this one the first time. The Tractors is a great, rocking, western album. Several populist tracks, and very toe-tapping.
Clancy 02.07.05 at 2:45 am
Maybe the distinctions are false, I don’t know. But when I think of folk music, I think of more “traditional” ballads and other songs that are different in terms of intellectual property: communally owned, attributed to no one particular writer. The kind of songs performed by artists like Sparky Rucker and Jean Ritchie.
ogmb 02.07.05 at 6:33 am
Don’t like him, never liked him, but here is a review pilfered from an alt.country newsgroup written by a former fan who seems to think he’s gone pussy. Enjoy…
Steve Earle, critically acclaimed country-rock veteran and recovered
heroin addict has added a new wrinkle to his artistic talents. After
focusing on the intricacies of Japanese haiku and bonsai, the dog-eared
crooner has wrapped himself up in origami. “You just fold the
motherfuckers up into a crane or a frog,” exclaimed Earle during a brief
interview in his Japanese garden outside of Nashville. “It’s fuckin’
amazing how the paper comes to life…this ain’t no Little Caesars’
pizza box pterodactyl shit,” he continued.
Steve’s fascination with the paper art can be traced back to his early
days as a drug user. “Some hippy chick back in ’74 showed me how to
fold a damn piece of tin foil from a chewing gum wrapper into a bowl for
smoking pot; that’s pretty much where it all started,” Earle reminisces
with a torn look. “Though now the focus is just on the positive Zen you
get from folding a square piece of tissue into a fuckin’ elephant,”
Steve adds.
With the newfound hobby come two projects for Steve that look great on
paper.
The first project is an origami presentation and exhibition benefit for
Whales in Paper, Whales in Danger, a non-profit organization to stop
Japanese whaling and promote the art form. It will be at Mikado
Japanese restaurant on I-24 and Harding Road in Nashville (across from
the Harding Road Honda dealership) on August 25th.
The second is a pilot shot for the Bravo Network called ‘Creased
Lightening – An Evening with Steve Earle, Origami and Guests.’ “Creased
Lightening just came out of an idea to do an Origami show with guests,
music and an unlikely host in Steve Earle…the name comes partially
from Steve’s rebellious background…we just think it’s fabulous and to
think we almost lost it to Oprah’s Oxygen Network,” said Lance Wu,
Director of ‘Creased’ and Assistant Vice President of New Programming
for Bravo and longtime origami enthusiast.
Some of the guests featured on the pilot include paper animal specialist
Michael LaFosse and Steve’s son Justin Earle as the musical portion.
“Michael LaFosse is the best damn Origami designer in the whole world
and I’ll stand on Akira Yoshizawa’s tatami mat in my benjo surippa and
say that,” barks Steve as his trims his bougainvillea potensai before
final planting.
According to early press releases, Future guests include the rock band
Marah, Steve’s sister Stacy Earle, paper-user comedian Rip Taylor and
Stephen Stucker, who played the flamboyant origami loving air traffic
controller, Johnny, in the 1980 film Airplane!.
Creased Lightening airs on Bravo six times on Sunday, July 23 at 7am,
10am, 1pm, 4pm, 7pm, and 10pm.
catfish 02.07.05 at 2:22 pm
Country Music is just like every other genre. The stuff they play on the radio is crap, but there is a lot of great stuff out there. You just have to dig.
Steve Earle is indeed great, although I began to lose interest after _Jerusalem_. I always thought his song writing talent tended towards story songs rather than grand political statements. If you enjoy Steve Earle you should check out back issues of No Depression. Lots of artists this magazine supports are more on the rock side of things, but they also support country artists outside the Nashville Mainstream.
You will, of course, need to go out immediately and buy some Willie Nelson.
Matt 02.07.05 at 6:05 pm
The New Yorker magazine recently published a profile of Gillian Welch, online at
http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?040920fa_fact3
Also, there’s a profile of Lyle Lovett in the same series, don’t know if that one is online.
Eric Goff 02.07.05 at 9:46 pm
I saw him play in Dallas Saturday. He was fantastic.
catfish 02.07.05 at 9:56 pm
I haven’t seen Earle since the _Transcendental Blues_ tour, but that was one of the best concerts I have ever seen.
james 02.08.05 at 12:12 am
“this ain’t no Little Caesars’ pizza box pterodactyl shitâ€
That was the best laugh of my week so far; are you sure this isn’t an Onion article that has jumped the fence?
Richard 02.08.05 at 2:17 pm
Some things you ought to hear if you like Steve Earle include: A) Anything by the Bottle Rockets (The Brooklyn Side and 24 Hours a Day, in particular); Anything by Uncle Tupelo; C) The Waco Brothers and D) Gram Parsons solo stuff and Emmylou harris through, say, Quarter Moon in a Ten cent Town and E) Not by any means all of the Mekons, but… Honkytonkin, Edge of the World and Fear of Whiskey are essential country-rock in the Earleian sense.
Richard 02.08.05 at 2:19 pm
Some things you ought to hear if you like Steve Earle include: A) Anything by the Bottle Rockets (The Brooklyn Side and 24 Hours a Day, in particular); Anything by Uncle Tupelo; C) The Waco Brothers and D) Gram Parsons solo stuff and Emmylou harris through, say, Quarter Moon in a Ten cent Town and E) Not by any means all of the Mekons, but… Honkytonkin, Edge of the World and Fear of Whiskey are essential country-rock in the Earleian sense.
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