She Likes Every Kind of Music Except Country

An update as to what's in my mix this week (Hey, it's my damn blog, and this is what it's about, and besides, long ago, someone asked me for this. Boy, is she regretting it now!).

• Country Love Songs by Robbie Fulks: Ohmigod! I kept hearing about Robbie Fulks, but just came across this CD (his first) for the first time the other day. Amazing music, with a classic country feel. He's hard to nail down, as he's someone people sound like, not a person who sounds like someone else... Let's say he can be serious like Steve Earle, funny like Lyle Lovett, and sounds like a cross between Buck Owens and Hank Williams with a little Dwight Yoakam rockin' thrown in for good measure. Damn that's a lousy description... Just listen to him already, will you?

  His subject material can be damn sad or damn funny. My favorites are Let's Live Together (I'm partial to any song that puts cavemen, "backwater Baptists", and people from Alabama in the same category), Every Kind of Music Except Country, Tears Only Run One Way, The Scrapple Song, and Papa Was a Steel-Headed Man ("go Donnie, you hillbilly!").

• Ghost Train by Hot Club of Cowtown: I think of the Hot Club as similar to the Squirrel Nut Zippers, but from Texas. Instead of prohibition Jazz, the Hot Club resurrects Western Swing, a cross between the gypsy guitar Jazz of Django Reinhardt and country and western music from the Fifties. You'll also be surprised that they have only three instruments -- guitar, fiddle, and bass, because they have such a full sound.

  I love the Hot Club, but truthfully, their strength isn't in their CDs -- it's in their live performances. Their CDs are great, but very eclectic, and thus inconsistent. This CD does much better in a random mix rather than listening straight through. They cover everything from Jazz standards (You Took Advantage of Me), old-time (Cherokee Shuffle, a great fiddle tune btw), gypsy music (Fuli Tschia aka "Bad Girl", another amazing example of Elana's fiddle virtuosity), and mock gospel (Pray for the Lights to Go Out). Add quite a few originals, with Whit's amazing guitar, classic twang, and humor, and you've got a pretty good, if very inconsistent CD. Other notable songs are Forget-Me-Nots (which took some time to grow on me) and Sleep (which I'm hearing often on WDVX and Back Porch Music).

  Here again I want to reiterate that since the Hot Club are so all-over-the-place style-wise, that every CD they've had (and I have all four) has at least one song that I just don't like, and sometimes a song that I hate. So, bear that in mind when you hear them, and don't judge them by one or two songs. And, for the love of God, if they come to your town, go and see them!

• Living Reeltime, Thinking Old-Time by the Reeltime Travelers: This is one of my favorite CDs of the past few weeks. I kept hearing their song Hallelujah on WDVX, and I loved it. Then a friend lent me this album, and I'm hooked! They play a lot of old-time fiddle tunes, some gospel, and some new-fangled Gillian Welch-like old/new-time stuff. The song Hallelujah is my favorite as I'm a sucker for great harmonies and lovesongs about trucks. Other favorites are any of the fiddle tunes, and there's plenty of 'em, Little Bird of Heaven (which has a real Gillian/Nanci Griffith feel), and Higher Rock.

  The best part of this band though, besides being from East TN like me, is that they're coming to play at a Forty Acres House Concert next month! Tickets go on sale soon! WOOHOO!

• Thus Always To Tyrants and Are You With Me? by Scott Miller: Scott Miller was the lead singer of the Knoxville-based alt country band, the V-Roys, who I never had the good sense to go see while I lived there. These CDs are both recommendations by my friend Amy, and, Amy, I'm so sorry I'm just now getting around to listening to them. You were right -- they're great!

  Are You With Me? is a live, solo, acoustic album, taped in the Fall of 2002, and it is very good. On this disc Scott's got a Dylan-esque one-man-band sound with guitar, harmonica, and vocals, but I really like his guitar-playing (as opposed to Dylan's). I think I actually like this CD a little better than Tyrants, because it's more consistent. My favorite songs are The Bastard's Only Child, Daddy Raised a Boy (which is also on Tyrants), AM Crescent (a train song that quotes J. Alfred Prufrock!) and Goodnight Loser (which was a V-Roy's song, I believe).

  Thus Always To Tyrants is a studio album, and ranges from acoustic to heavy electric, country to rock, modern to Civil War. Actually, after listening through it again, I'm surprised to realize a few of the poppier rock tunes actually have a real George Harrison feel to them. Anyway, I like this album a lot, but some of the songs better than others. My favorites are Daddy Raised a Boy (which is also on Are You With Me?), Goddamn the Sun, and Dear Sarah. This last song is a beatiful Civil War-sounding ballad that features quotes from "Barbara Allen," which since Songcatcher, I've been real partial. I find it odd that I like this song so much, because I usually despise Civil War-styled art and literature. Hmmm...

  Boy, I hope he comes to Raleigh/Chapel Hill soon...

• Come Away With Me by Norah Jones: Another recommendation from a friend, this time from Mike D., it has a real "Southern Jazz" feel, very similar to Shelby Lynne. (Guys, this is a good one to have in your collection for those romantic nights when your best girl is over at your place... as is Shelby Lynne.) Very nice for night listening... with a glass of wine... She has just a touch of country to add to the mix, and even covers Hank Williams' Cold Cold Heart.