When The Time Rolls Around

Alright I admit it. It's Xmas.

So a first here at The Kingdom and an official Xmas feast, I mean, post.
And a christmas song that has been posted on the blogosphere before but not recently, is something I've enjoyed for years despite the cultural associations of the season. I guess that part of the joy is that the celebration is for it's own sake, the best of reasons. And it's really the overlaps that make this track shine because it's not really about Xmas at all, it's about New Orleans. And the way Dr John tells it New Orleans already embodies the Xmas Spirit year round.

Xmas in New Orleans - Dr John*

Apparently this, and the other tracks on this album (Zu Zu Man - Trip 9815 from 1975) were recorded as demos back in the days before Mac Rebennack became Dr John The Night Tripper, and the transition is there to be heard clearly in the progression from Trader John to Zu Zu Man, from the kindly but astute pawnshop owner to the Voodoo Medicine Man. So we're back in the mid sixties sometime. Dr John is reportedly unhappy with the release of these tracks and in relation to what he was doing at the time the were released I can see that they were not representative. However when I bought this LP (which has been rearranged and redistributed in many forms over the years) I knew not, and cared less. These are great tracks, and all the better for not being embellished with spit and polish. You can hear a tight band and some catchy tunes that were recorded with the aim of sharing some lovely musical ideas with some sharp and mellow players.

Trader John is a simple funky diatribe about cash on the nail for "anything other than trade or pawn", but the store has everything you'll ever need including Voodoo products unlimited, and Trader John will sort you out if you have the cash.

Trader John - Dr John*

Did She Mention My Name is a totally different attitude in comparison. Sweet and plaintive vocals that put you in mind of the Neville Brothers, as they might have been if they'd done their thing as a vocal group in 1964 instead of more recently. I really had to stop and wonder who could be singing here, but I think it is Rebennack. I'd love to know who else was there, though. The band eases into this with grace and style.

Did She Mention My Name - Dr John*

Xmas in New Orleans is, as I mentioned earlier, a funky and laid back celebration of the perennial party atmosphere that New Orleans is rightly famous for.


*EDIT at least that's what I thought! Dan Phillips over at Home Of The Groove has pointed out that some of the backing tracks feature Dr John (or Mac Rebennack as he was known at the time) but none of the vocals on these tracks are his. More info to follow

And to stay with the season, here is a beautiful let's (not) get together and do a video (not) together and still sound good together (although we're not together) starring Dr John and the equally incomparable Leon Redbone.



And this is what happens when you let your mind get free and your tongue be righteous.
Not for the squeamish or stuck up.

Blue Horse Out-take

In a recent discussion about perennial favourite albums - the ones you just have to come back to - I was pushing around the ideas for the runner-ups but I think that Blue Horse by The Be Good Tanyas is probably the favourite returnee in The Kingdom. Made in 2000 with Jolie Holland still a major influence on the sound, it's quirky, sweet, upbeat, downbeat, pretty, profound, soothing and inspiring all at once.

So it was nice to visit their myspace yesterday and find they have contributed to PepperMill Records anthology of songs by, about or for tree planters. And they have contributed an out-take from Blue Horse, with Julie Holland taking lead vocals and going by the name of "Cabin In The Woods". It's a beautiful reminder of where the gals where coming from at the turn of the millenium, musically and spiritually.

Read their description of the recording

The nearest I've got to tree planting is putting in oak and hazel and chestnut and birch, with ash for firewood here at the Kingdom and some fruit trees to follow, so I can be suitably impressed by those crazy souls who wander the uplands of BC with T-shirts shrouding their heads and midge repellent caked on like pan stick. A season of that stuff and you deserve every penny you get and all the good karma you can carry.

The relevant thing to us is, of course, that though the Tanyas are the name band on this compilation, all the tree planting community that I've come across are deep into their music and quite capable of turning a listening ear their way. Go back to the PepperMill Records link and click on a few tracks and see if thereisn't just something special in there.

Might meet you there.

The Be Good Tanyas feat. Jolie Holland- Cabin In The Woods

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Gill Landry

I have a theory that this is the Burren in County Clare, Ireland, which probably means that it was taken in 2006 while Gill was subbing for Critter Fuqua of the Old Crows during their European Tour. Maybe he was there some other time. But I like my theory. Anyways he's hanging out on the Limestone. Once (many years ago) the home to thousands of poets and musicians and farmers and goats, and now the home to hundreds of well, poets and musicians and farmers and goats and so on. A good place to hang out for a while, or a lifetime.

The pic is up on an amazing collection of photos at the Kitchen Syncopators website from which I just bought three of their albums. If you can just afford one then I recommend Pepper In My Shoe, but I could afford three so i got Tijuana Zebra and Gill's first solo album. It's like discovering an old bluesman on Document Records, or getting The Memphis Jug Band box set in the post. Loads of great tunes played like the bar is open and the street is still busy outside, but we need to get some customers in here so fire em up boys and get the party started. Drinks are on the house.

Get em while you can.

Gill's album (2003) has to stand comparison to his 2006 album for Nettwerk. The Ballad Of Lawless Soirez. My favourite album of 2007 ( I'm a bit behind OK. We live on a huge bleak bit of limestone, alright, only got electricity when the millenium got going. Hang fire. The dates are all fecked anyway, it should be nineteen thirty one or somesuch)

All that said it's great and gets as much play as any of the others. Intriguing and rich, earthy and raucous, slick and sure, and it's got Gill's great voice. The voice is what has changed the least between the two albums. He really knew these songs back then.

Get it while you can.
NOW!
Then get this:

Amazon.co.uk have it at various prices and it's worth every penny, whatever you pay.









So fast forward to 2008 - Gill Landry with The Old Crow Medicine Show performing for the Lightning 100 radio show while they were in town to play The Ryman in Nashville. Gill wrote and sang the track Mary's Kitchen on the new Tennessee Pusher album and it's a high point of funky fun on a dark, gritty album. He's been subbing for Critter (again) since the last European tour and is now officially acknowledged as an Old Crow.



Here's a couple of Kitchen Syncopators tracks from Pepper In My Shoe
Black Rat
Way Down In Arkansas
And the title track from Ballad Of Lawless Soirez:
Lawless Soirez


Who's this busking in NOLA?
Gill and Annie Ford on flickr at a radio gig.

Gill's Myspace has some unreleased tracks.
Gill's Websitepages has the bare bones.

Way down south in Louisville

I'm hearing some great things about last night's show in Louisville, KY.

The Old Crow Medicine Show and The Felice Brothers sharing the billing and (at times the stage) can guarantee some crazy times
and some high energy performances. Here's the perennial crowd pleaser, Wagon Wheel with most of both bands on stage. Stormin' it Up to the rafters. Can't you just hear it tearing off into Tell It To Me at the end. Wow.





"Way down south in Louisville
They showed me to the door
They hadn't seen a railroad bum
Since 1924
Its a rich folk's town
They don't need me 'round"

runs the verse from Trouble That I'm In by the Old Crows. Maybe so but the door they're being shown now is the way in.

Old Crow Medicine Show - Trouble That I'm In from Live
The Felice Brothers - Trouble Been Hard from Adventures of The Felice Brothers
The Carolina Chocolate Drops - Short Life Of Trouble from Dona Got A Ramblin' Mind

The Chocolate Drops were supporting the Old Crows at The Ryman in Nashville over the weekend.
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Old Crow Medicine Show - Tennessee Pusher Review

OK So it's different. Ketch is stretching out as a songwriter, Gill Landry is stepping up to the plate for slide, banjo and songwriting. While Critter is contributing vocal harmonies, but no picking or new songs.

They've come down from the mountain and have been living in the City for how long? OCMS was pretty much Mountain music. Big Iron World was transitional. Tennessee Pusher is born out of time to think about the lives rolling past. Lots of lives. Some of them not making it. It's City Music. It's vision is bigger out of necessity, not so much hoe-down and more looking and thinking sharp. But still the same work and trials and heartbreak, only with an edge. It's watching the world and it's triumph is how immediate it is. These are personal songs and they make OCMS seem like a dream. A romance back there when we were kids, and leaning on the El Dorado. That old beast is rusty now and you're wary when it goes past.


Alabama High Test is a rompin uptempo tune with energy and attitude. A great opener if you don't know where this album is going by verse two you should only go outside during daylight hours.

Highway Halo is the biggest departure. I guess it's the daylight hours version. A gentle drum and slide led reverie of the open road. Morgan's bass runs are pretty modern here, too, and the banjo is way back. You'd be hard pushed to recognise this as Old Crow. It's a very catchy song though and once I made the adjustment it quite often comes to mind during the day. I'd love to hear what this sounds like live, after hours, waiting for lift south.

Greatest Hustler is my favourite song on the disc. It's ancient and it's happening right under our noses. It fits right in there with Always Lift Him Up in that "them's just folks" department, so it doesn't cast judgement. It's plaintive heart string stuff, and it's a timeless story that is stretching the realm of possibilities just too far. It's funny. It's cartoon but it's heart break. Beautiful and instantly memorable.

Methamphetamine is dark alley stuff, the modern drug fable, and it twists you as the story unfolds. The harp is great as are the harmonies and that "falls of the Cumberland" line is stellar. I'm not so enamoured of keltner's drumming on this, but it's another powerful song and we start to get a picture building up.

Next Go Round is just stunning. Stop me in my tracks. An instant classic, like Take Em Away from OCMS this is timeless and achingly beautiful. The fiddle. Willie singing with Ketch and Critter harmonising. Another favourite.

Humdinger. A fun tune from Kevin and great to sing along with. I think this song got left unfinished - I loved hearing it live and somehow there's a bit missing here. In fact a live version for the album would have been the way to go. I don't mind the "right-winger/folksinger" bits - it's Animal House here and all comers who can take the pace are welcome .. just don't go making speeches or sitting on the stairs being all aloof and enigmatic.



Motel in Memphis comes lurching off of the Rolling Thunder Revue, whitefaced and staring out of those dark corners again, and it yet sounds so pretty - the fiddle - the melody. I get the impression that MLK is as much an icon here as Mr Crump, and we're been given another broad brush-stroke of the obvious. The Old Crows walking out with their eyes open. It's still about the street where we all live.


Evening Sun is another of Willie's plaintive ballads, with the beat picked up a little. The opening melody is very similar to Next Go Round but damn it's a good song. There's another "Thousand somethings", too, which bugs me a bit. But damn it's a good song.

Mary's Kitchen is wonderful and boy am I ready for some old time uptempo footstomping sweaty goodtime music. Thanks Gill.

Crazy Eyes. Starts off on the porch real personal like. Another of Ketch's alter-ego's trying to make sense of the world, not causing trouble but not really getting involved anymore, making good sense but and still Crazy. I love this track. And the way it steps back and then makes way for

Tennessee Pusher is eeire. Another instantly real narrator telling the story we don't want to hear. It's just us Crows here and we can talk straight, right. Throw another log on the fire, I feel cold inside, and I'm wondering where this life of mine is going ...

Always lift Him Up is a lovely treatment of an good song. Willie's voice hits the heartstrings again, and there's that Willie/Ketch/Critter harmony effortlessly lifting us higher than a cathedral roof - plus it's just Old Crows playing. We're reminded that there's been no judgement at all for the last hour. Just watching, wondering , trying to explain, trying to feel our way through this crazy world. And our friends and neighbours trying to do the same.

Caroline. This version is now neck and neck with the OCMS out-take. I love the pace and muscially it has the edge, but the out-take has the turning flips line and the thousand miles apart line. Tough call. Great song either way, and a good closer for the album.

This going to be in my player for a good long time.

Old Crow Medicine Show Buy It From The Boys!! The whole full quality Top Notch CD for $11.99 !!

You can hear a bunch of the songs over at the Amie Street Blog which seems to be legal lowbitrate versions, since Amie Street is selling the album ($8.98 download).

Here's an example:
Greatest Hustler Of All mp3

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Crooked Still

One Sunday in May we took the Kingdom to Ennis to see Crooked Still at the sparkly 'new' theatre there. Glór. It's a funny place, not least because you can't take your drink into the auditorium. The stage is wide and the seats are not far away but the back of the room, the depth of it is not as wide as the stage if you get my meaning. There's a good sound system so the sound can be good if it's handled right. It was that night.

There should be a couple of footnotes here. The band had just got off the plane and spent the afternoon renegotiating a van that was the right size for their gear. They did if I remember rightly have some spare time though coz their was talk of Brittany Haas swimming in Kilkee (or was it Spanish Point?) I start to realise my memory is a little hazy here coz it was clearly said that she swam in May without a wetsuit. In the Atlantic. No mean feat.

There's a saying in Kilkee which seemed logical at the time:
April and May - stay out of the Sea
June and July - swim til ye die


My memory is a little hazy due to the second footnote about Saturday being such a beautiful night, all balmy, still and full of friends, that I could not sleep at the party I went to (and didn't get home til way after dawn). All day I was receiving important messages from my liver such as **WARNING! YOU HAVE BEEN POISONED. PLEASE DO NOT MAKE ANY SUDDEN MOVEMENTS - WE ARE ATTEMPTING TO MINIMISE THE DAMAGE** so I wasn't on tiptop form when I got to the theatre. Painkillers (the good ones my friend K has for her migraines) were sneered at by my internal repair team. I nursed my bottle of water through the first set. And took a medicinal Whiskey during the interval. That was well received.

So what of the gig? All I can say was it was good enough to go and see them again a few days later in Galway, in a small room with maybe 120 people, and with the band wedged in between the tables. Great. The Irish water (whiskey?) has done it's work and they are looser and freer and having fun.
Here they are doing a Bill Monroe Instrumental, "Road To Columbus" with some funny chat about Tattoos and Piercings. Led by their new fiddler, Brittany Haas. Actually the chat was led by Aoife O'Donavon during the introductions for the new members, Brittany, and Tristran Clarridge, but Brittany led the tune. (I like the way her myspace categories say "Acoustic/Folk/Psychobilly" btw)


It was a great gig and the new CD, Still Crooked, is still on high rotation here two months later.

A couple of tracks from that too.

Undone In Sorrow
Tell Her To Come Back Home

here's a great review of the new album, Still Crooked, over at Cover Lay Down

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And next up is banjo player, Greg Liszt's project the Deadly Gentlemen, about which you hear a tantalising snippet of introduction at the end of the live track.

Top Ten Covers

OK semi retirement be damned.

Berkeley Place is hosting an Audience Participation event, tracking down the top ten covers of the Century (so far)

get on over there and see if they've missed anything.

Here's mine (for today anyway)

Old Crow Medicine Show - Down Home Girl (the Coasters)
Hetten Des - Ace Of Spades (motorhead)
Gillian Welch - Black Star (radiohead)
Johnny Cash - Hurt (NIN)
The Duhks - Ol’ Cook Pot (Shawn Byrne)
Sinead O’Connor - Untold Stories (Buju Banton)
Antony and the Johnsons - The Guests (Leonard Cohen)
James Bouchard - Cape Cod Girls (Jim Rader)
The Sumner Brothers - Sam Hall (Johnny Cash)
Crooked Still - Oxford Town (Bob Dylan)


Go Watch Buju Banton - Untold Stories (May God Help Your Soul)

Or Hetten Des' version of The Ace Of Spades

The Felice Brothers

I just heard a few tracks by The Felice Brothers Myspace over at Red Blondehead and the first one was good enough to send me browsing around. Apparently they were in Europe this summer (damn) and there are some great videos on YouTube from the CornburyFestival in Oxfordshire - try this one for size. Looks like they managed to gather a crowd for a pre-breakfast gig - lovely light and lovely sound.

The Duhks

So not only are the Old Crow Medicine Show playing tomorrow night, but The Duhks (Myspace) are here next week, along with Aoife O'Donovan of Crooked Still Which promises to be a right rootsy night, as they have some cracking songs up on their Myspace page

And here's a Crooked Still track for the fun of it.

Ain't No Grave

this is from their recent "Shaken By A Low Sound" and there are a couple of tracks from there previous CD on their Listen and Buy page.

I'm Going Down the Road to See Bessie

So The Band sang on "The Basement Tapes".

Bessie Smith died following a car accident in 1937, four years after her last recordings, still in demand throughout the 30s for live performances. The 20s were her heyday, though.
Today is the anniversary of her death. 70 years ago.

There is a good discography at Red Hot Jazz and you can listen to each track there, or at Jazz On Line which has a few extra tracks, albeit a slightly smaller selection. Either will keep you going for hours, though. (Both use the RealAudio Plugin).

CBS put out a ten(?) double LP set of her recordings many years ago which bizarely had the first recordings and the last recordings on the same double album and the recording sessions actually met up on the last LP of the set (being the middle of her career) if I understood the whole concept. I bought the first (and last ...) sessions LP and not having had access to it for a few years now I seem to remember that there were a few stunning standout tracks and the rest were not so memorable. It's a tribute to Bessie Smith's vocal prowess that as i sift through the Discographies looking for the songs I have, that I recognise and can put a tune to most of the tracks from that double album. Sometimes the material was below par, but Bessie's voice always connects.

I was wondering what to post of 160 recordings, and there are a couple of (to me) favourites, and her first single (which apparently sold 750,000 copies in the first year (1923). That's mind-boggling.

Then there is an oddity. let's start there.

Graveyard Dream Blues and Cemetery Blues were the two tracks recorded on the 26th of September 1923. Yep. Todays date. The anniversary of the day she died. Strange, huh? I went looking through the discography to see, and there are a couple of death related titles, but nothing so strikingly poignant. I'm not reading much into this. Just pointing out the oddity, and the way Graveyard Dream Blues finishes. It has a little more depth and power because of the circumstances as I look back on it, wondering if in some way she was looking forward. Weird.

Bessie's First single was Down Hearted Blues and it was a good choice. Beautiful.

Another track from 1923 is Tain't Nobody's Bizness If I Do - a strong contender for my favourite of all her recordings, as is Black Mountain Blues which popped up recently in a version by Nick Drake.

You can get all of these tracks on Quadromania at Amazon.co.uk which is 24-bit remastered and contains 65 tracks on 4 CDs.

But listen up to these and explore the discographies. Bessie Smith left an amazing legacy.

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UPDATE

I was just browsing the Hype Machine and came across Lil Mikes excellent and tasty selection of musical morsels, including "Big Butter and Egg Man" By Louis Armstrong and Bessie Smith. But my ears won't have it. Who is that singing? Bessie surely didn't sing that high, ever? Well maybe on occaision, but ...

A bit of research: there are plenty of references on the web to Louis and Bessie doing this trackin 1926, but also ProperBox 93 contains the track and lists the vocalist as May Alix on a November 1926 session in Chicago.

Is this the track or is there really a Bessie Smith version of this track out there?

oo i love a good mystery ...
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