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.................sons of the new west?
Behind any great label you'll usually find one man or woman's vision. In
the case of New West that vision belongs to Cameron Strang. After
a career as a lawyer his enthusiasm for music found an outlet when
Kelley Deal contemplated releasing her own record. Strang helped her and
so was born the fledgling label. Deal didn't carry on the label side of
things but with backing from indie distributors Red he set out to
release just the kind of music he liked - "Bands who made great
records and seemed to make a go of it playing unbelievable bar room
shows".
What started in
1997 as a small indie concern has grown with Strang picking up just the
kind of music he liked along the way. Perhaps the biggest fish to swim
into the New West net and certainly the one with the biggest critical
clout is that 'inventor' of the outlaw movement and all-round country
songwriter's hero Billy Joe Shaver. But he's also got an ear for
the new artist too with great perfomers like Jim Roll, Bocephus King and
Jon Dee Graham rubbing shoulders with more established people like Jon
Tiven, Stan Ridgway and Stephen Bruton. The labels identity seems to be
male dominated at the moment perhaps reflecting a wider male dominance
in the 'Americana' scene. Latest addition is Tim Easton who gained many
plaudits for the sublime 'Special 20' record on which took all of ten
seconds to send me into raptures. Look out for his New West debut!
After just three
years and a bit Strang has established a roster that many a small
alt-country label would die for. This is because his 'fan' involvement
in the music from way back means that not only do his artists trust his
business sense but also his knowledge of the music and the 'life's
little ups and downs' it brings. Good to see. No doubt that lawyers
training comes in useful too. For now suffice it to say that New West is
an invaluable jewel in the crown of the 'No Depression' era -check 'em
out!
JIM ROLL : LUNETTE (NW6011)
Now Jim and I go way back. Ok not really but I did heap a shovelfull of
critical praise on his first disc 'Ready to Hang' through the pages of
U.K. songwriter magazine Hearsay
which you will be able to read elsewhere on the FSR site soon as I get
round to doing it. There I said that I thought the folkier tracks
stronger than the Green on Red country punk feel of others. Durn it if
Jim ain't done it again on this second disc. This time though the
Cacavas shadings are melded with the feel of other Silos projects
especially The Vulgar Boatmen which isn't surprising considering the
producer was none other than the Silos' Walter Salas-Humara himself. Add
to that a dream wish-list of J.D.Graham, Gurf Morlix and old
friends from Ann Arbor scene like Brian Lillie and do we get something
better or worse than '...Hang' or a work of total genius? Ummh
definitely maybe. I had a lot of expectations of this disc and it threw
me a curve-ball ( is that a baseball metaphor?) in typical Roll fashion.
Opener '1955' is so classic I can't believe it didn't exist before and I
reckon it'd work in whatever fashion it was played - I can see John
Prine and Whiskeytown playing it -hey Jim get the songwriting royalties
sorted now! Well that's your money's worth with track one. Then Jim
being Jim he goes all old timey banjo on us before hitting a
Earle/Crowell groove -another keeper 'Blind Me' is close to the feel of
first album. Nowt wrong with that. The lyrics up to the usual standard
as fiddle and banjo dance. 'Down' is harmonica blues -atmospheric guitar
figures - and a nice duet with K.C.Groves. 'She ain't gonna go' reveals
that he' hasn't lost his old Paisley Underground shades and shirt. Hell
I like it but maybe Jim does this kind of thing in his sleep? Helluva
chorus though..........she ain't gonna go, she ain't gonna go is one of
those melodies that sticks like gum. Title track is the Vulgar's in
disguise I swear. Walter's handprints all over it although he's not
actually playing. It's next track 'These Winds' that is stand-out for me
despite the uniform quality of what's preceded it's the first track
where I think he's pushing on from what he knows he can do to something
new. Lyrics Roll, score Mary Rowell it says on the sleeve and it starts
with some John Cage tomfoolery before hitting some string-driven
balladry where Jim's voice is beautifully measured in ways it was
pitched on first disc's 'Mary Anne' and 'If I was a sailor'. It's filmic
reminds me of David Ackles. More please! What do we get next. Alt-C,
bloody good alt-c. A little bit Buckner, a tad Cacavas but mostly a durn
good lyric and Jim's voice and tasty guitar ( Brain Delaney). Nice but a
dissappointment after the previous adventure. Production remains
top-notch in Walter's hands by the way. Talking of which next track
'Everything' pulls another curve with Mercury Rev soundscape behind a
more moderated vocal. A great track. If only Jim had thrown caution (
and alt-country) to the winds he might have made a legendary disc as
opposed to a very good one. He picks up folk guitar/fiddle on 'Bleed, if
you're bleeding' then things get nicely askew again on 'Dear'. Weird and
wonderful. Guess what next track puts the train firmly back on the track
with an 'in my sleep' '15$ and a bottle of wine'. Ok, just Ok. Final
track 'Witness world' is banjo and voice. Bravo. He does this kind of
slow folk song to perfection. I'm all for range and texture on a disc
but I felt that first disc suffered from a folk/rock switching and I
reckon he's done it again. Take all the weird, slow tracks from both
discs and re-sequence them and do the same with the up-tempo and you
have two classic recordings. I reckon he should do a Springsteen
two-record set next time just like that -there's too many ideas and too
much talent bursting out in every direction here to pin him down
properly. Next time Jim -SLOW, WEIRD FOLK CLASSIC. Please? Still better
than nine-tenths of everything released this millennium though and Jim
loves the sound of early Staples Singers. Cool.
STAN RIDGWAY :
ANATOMY (NW6010)
Ex-Wall of Voodoo main-man with the instantly recognizable droll
delivery offers up another batch of his observations on the world. At
times as on the desert-twang of 'Train of thought' he comes over like a
laid back Paisley Underground survivor ( it was recorded in L.A.). Fans
of the later work of Chris Cacavas and Russ Tolman would love it.
Adventurous as ever the mood switches from orchestral film-noire to
heavy rock with whip-snag ocilator (?) to a cover of Merle Travis's
'Sixteen Tons' as trip-hop for god sake! 'Valerie is sleeping' is Gary
Numan plays The Carter Family...OK I give up ...one for fans, the
adventurous and lovers of off-the-wall experimentation. True to the feel
of the disc there is even a live ep encoded as Liquid Audio files on the
disc. I downloaded and listened to a couple of live tracks. You are also
given the option of picking up more from the net. Fine but having to add
another player if you haven't got L.A. player is bit of a pain - but
full marks for exploring new avenues there Stan. I felt more at home
with the 'standard' backing of harmonica and steel guitar on 'Whistle
for Louise' with the classic last line ' the day her garage blew
the dog was all they found'. A bit different you could say ..skewed and
beautiful would cover it too after all how many discs credit someone for
prayers and incense these days? Come to that how many Stan Ridgways are
there these days. Answer ...one.
JOHN TIVEN GROUP : YES I RAM (NW 6009)
This disc comes dripping with cool references. Not many people have
worked with an A-list of blues and soul people like Jon Tiven has in his
career as songwriter and producer. B.B.King, Robert Cray, Buddy Guy,
Wilson Picket...oh lord. Dan Penn likes the guy and Van THE man even
sent him an unreleased song from 1970. His voice is like a lighter John
Campbell but without the desperate edge that haunted that artist's work.
In fact desperate edge is missing throughout the opening bluesy
workouts. Track 5 'It's harder now' is different. A great slow ballad
that really grooves like an old James Carr record or the afore-mentioned
Cray at his soulful best. However it's only this and 'The other side of
town' that really stand out for me as songs. The rest is let down by the
kind of 'blues' attitude that Paul Rodgers and Stevie Winwood bring to
their 'mature' discs. Can't fault the musicianship but give me Vic
Chesnutt any day. Single exception is a bit of punkish-ness with Jim
Carroll in best CBGB voice involved -'Jessie' is at least funny when I
swear he intones 'pretty' in best Lydon way. The other two keepers
should have been a 7" single with a mock Fame logo -that would have
been really cool. Last track is called 'Badmouth Mama'. Really.
TIM EASTON : SPECIAL 20 ( HEATHEN AVAILABLE THRU JACKASS RECORDS)
Not strictly
speaking a New West release but an artist now flying under the New West flag.
For anybody lucky enough to have tracked down 'Special 20' then I'm
preaching to the converted. He plays a '47 Gibson, named his record
after a Hohner harmonica and sounds like the bastard son of Doc Watson
and The Replacements. There you go what more recommendation do you need?
He's released a Czech solo record, a CD-EP and more recently a vinyl
7" on Jackass Records which will be reviewed soon. He was a member
of the Haynes Boys who made one CD 'Guardian Angel' out of Columbus,
Ohio (Gibson Brothers territory!). 'Special 20' saw him joined by some
excellent musicians who had worked with everybody from Steve Earle to
Lucinda Williams to Ron Sexsmith. The textures are wide - ranging from
opener 'Just Like Home's' recorded at home on 4-track (I'd love to hear
the rest) garage blues shaker to the REM-like 'Everywhere is Somewhere'.
At other times he sounds distinctly Ryan Adams/ Replacements like before
throwing a power pop curve with 'Help me find my spacegirl' a revved up
Byrds if they had been in The Plimsouls. Woopee. Silly lyrics but who
cares when it sounds this great! Then he gets all folk fingerpicky on
'Sweet Violet' and guess what it's great too. Dam how I hate people this
talented - maybe that's why I don't play guitar much these days. Without
being too gushy I'd say New West can't go wrong with this artist and
let's hope he gets his just rewards. Me I can't stop playing it. 'Hey
Rosine' is pure pop whilst last track 'Rewind' is singer-writer new
Springsteen bliss and you know I've only covered half the disc -
discover the rest for yourself. Worthy and righteous. Righteous and
worthy. Oh and ..incidently it has one of the best designed sleeves I've
seen in a good while.
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SHAVER : ELECTRIC
SHAVER (NW 6007)
If Billy Joe Shaver had done nothing more than write/co-write the
majority of Waylon Jennings' 'Honky Tonk Heroes' he'd be assured of his
place in country history. As it is there's a whole lot more ammo in the
Shaver clip and as he cutely puts it in the press release
"'Victory'( first disc on New West) gets you in our sights and then
...whammo..we get you with the right cross". Know what -he's dam
well right. From opener 'Thunderbird' he and son Eddy with
co-conspirator Ray Kennedy ( half twang-trust) go for glory through the
gumbo groove of 'Try and try again' they mix up down-south blues,
southern boogie and folk/gospel acoustic strum in a joyous disc.
Throughout Billy Joe is in fine voice and the production lays wicked
Excello like patterns behind him as on 'Leanin toward the blues'. It
isn't a million miles from the Tiven disc but as they say it either has
or it ain't got that swing and this has a full bottle of 'em. 'New York
City' is a jaunty little tune with a Earle-ish feel. The lyric quality
is top-rate throughout. Rates up there with the best of Chip Taylo(
Slave at the feet of the Queen) and Jesse Winchester amongst his
contemporaries and dare I say it probably outshines a good few of
Waylon's recent discs. The Tex-Mex 'Manual Labor' is just crying out for
a Mavericks or Los Lobos cover although B.J. sounds more like Merle
Haggard or Dave Alvin. Cracking stuff. 'I'll be here' is more great
songwriting -this man is on a roll - the best of the 'no depression'
generation should study this disc for pointers. Classic folk/country'blues
as in 'She could dance' don't just come along every day. Kennedy's
production shines throughout. 'Way down Texas way' ' even though it says
Hank Williams mastered the disc is more Bob Wills! Maybe he drives the
bus? Great stuff or as Steve Earle says '...of course it is, it's Billy
Joe ******* Shaver!!!!!! I ain't heard the other New West disc 'Victory'
but if it's half as good as this it's a 'purty disc'. Only one complaint
-cover is dreadful -a little improvement in that area would have got the
message across to more people I'm sure even though this proves there
ain't no book you can judge by the cover. Wonderful!
STEPHEN BRUTON :
NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH ( NW 6005 )
A similar background in some ways to John Tiven, Stephen Bruton has
weaved his way behind some of the greats in his journey from the
original home studio he shared with a teenage T-Bone Burnette in Fort
Worth, Texas. Bonnie Rait, Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello have all benefitted
from his mastery of the guitar and skills as a producer. Indeed its the
production which first strikes home on this disc and sure enough he's
'assisting' on that too. 'Nothing but the truth' starts with just drums
before a bass and Bruton's half-talking voice bounce in a reggae/funk
way more Sly/Robbie than Bob Wills. But as he himself stresses there's
black and white influences -'everything' in his background. 'Nobody get
hurt' is a swampy thing - Tony Joe White meets George Clinton sorta
groove that compensates for a b-grade lyric. Next track 'When love finds
you' is more interesting with a spoken lyric making up two thirds of the
song and sounding uncannily like some of Leo Kottke's pieces in a
similar vein but chorus is pretty standard stuff. Next track 'That's
love' is more like it. Like Rockpile complete with barroom piano - nice,
real nice. Then we're back to some bass-led guitar production without a
song -nice but that's all. In fact it's the lack of any killer lyrics
that stands out most - too many vague abstractions - but some lovely
music behind them. By track seven I was quite prepared to edit out the
'funky' bass player and the 'rawk' guitar. 'Against my will' at least
features an acoustic guitar but the sentimental lyrics don't come close
to the beauty of the Hammond B-3 behind. My 'Stingometer' started
to flash as I moved swiftly on. Dammit that bass was back - white
reggae anyone? 'She's the Reason' is pretty good -sort of Mellancamp/Donald
Lindley groove. Then we get a song using moon as pearl simile -oh dear.
Not terrible -just average really. Not a 7" -more an EP. Last track
'Spirit Lake' is drop dead gorgeous. An instrumental that displays his
effortless style perfectly. Just goes to show every cloud has a silver
lining.
JON DEE GRAHAM :
SUMMERLAND (NW 6006)
1997's 'Escape from Monster Island' on Freedom Records of Austin (
Glitterhouse in Europe) was a great way to start for ex-True Believer
J.D.Graham. It had just the right mix of B-3 organ, smoky vocals and
smouldering steel guitar lines to make it welcome in my house. The
songwriting was excellent throughout - kind of a country tinged Waits
-rough diamond vocals over country soul licks so I was looking forward
to sophomore offering 'Summerland'. Would it have more gems like 'Big
Canal' and the classic 'Kings'. Well first track starts off in similar
style to where 'Airplane' ended the first. The effortless 'classic' rock
sound he achieves is very reminiscent of Neal Casal band at its best and
all self-produced too. Cool guitar tone, hammond organ and those hints
of bygone West Coast greats The Waits-like breathy tone hits next track
'Half the time' as it flicks like spent ash across Kathy Thornberry's
vocal and a guitar riff as he intones 'Half the time I think I'm crazy
and half the time I wish I was' - a dobro counterpoints this great
lyric. 'Big Sweet Life' is desert rock like Giant Sand made on thir
early records i.e. Punk Rock as opposed to Lounge Rock. All those old
Skunks days leaking through the Stetson there - fine by me - makes me
want to fish out 'London Calling'. Dueting with Patty Griffin on the
ballad 'Look Up' bring things back to the edge of the highway at
midnight mood. Mike Hardwick again offers pristine steel - Graham's band
are just that a real band and you can hear the empathy. Next track
'Black Box' revisits Graham's interest in airplanes only this one is a
full on rocker trip to the ground. Not entirely convincing lyrics on
this one -a clever idea? No matter the dobro's back on 'Butterfly Wing'
which is as melodic as you could want and the raspy voice intoning
'she's as pretty as a butterfly wing' is affecting -one of those tracks
that stands out first time you hear it. 'At the dance' reveals the
threads of tex-mex/soul/blues swirling around in J.D.'s head. A
beautiful meditation on the south's musical past right up there with
Alvin's 'Border Radio' - now that's g.o.o.d. 'October' reminds me of
that other Austin band 'Shoulders' who I loved. 'Say I died of October'
he sings like Mr. Waits and hey he does it well. Brilliant song with
spiky guitar prickling the mix just like old giant sandy Gelb. The band
workout to great effect on instrumental 'God's Perfect Love' before J.D.
& K.T. duet. 'Threads' and 'Lucky Moon's travelogue round off a
great record, great songwriter, great band.......'the moon over
Maryville' is still singing in my head with its Smithereens sound. Every
home should have a copy.
BOCEPHUS KING : A
SMALL GOOD THING (NW6004)
Mentioning Mr. Waits in so many reviews can get tiresome but perhaps
it shows just how influential the man is. From now on perhaps I should
just refer to the W-Factor. Does Mr. Bocephus King reveal the W-factor.
Indeed he does and you know it don't matter at all 'cos there's a whole
lot more in there too despite one of the best names to come down the
pipe in a while (apparently 'Bocephus' is a term for roots music).
Opener 'What am I doing here' swings and is brightly produced despite
inclusion of piano, rippling tremelo riffs and full on chorus. The boy
done good -can he keep it up -sure can. There's an obvious lyrical
talent here and craftsmanship from a just across the border Canadian who
shared the same fascination for folk and country that pulled a young
Robbie Robertson south. Where it pulled 'Bocephus' was to a small studio
outside Minneapolis where he mixed some of his southern travel memories
with gospel choirs, fiddle and cello, marimba, mandolin and of course
those W-factor pipes to achieve a fantastic disc. A bit difficult to wax
so lyrical after praising the Graham, Shaver and Roll discs but for me
this artist may just be the jewel in the New West crown in the years to
come for his sheer ambition displayed here. Despite the range of
instrumentation there's a untiy to this disc and a sparkling roots
quality that mark it as something special. Not everything is perfect
-maybe the W-factor is too strong on 'The haunting of a New York moon'
but the backing is as good as ever especially the mandolin. Hits the
same musical spot Preacher Boy been exploring lately. 'Ruby' is a Fahey
and Kottke guitar mastery kind of blues ballad with a few too many
ingredients in the stew obscuring the narrative. The spoken voice gets
more room on 'Nowhere at all'. The country funky stroll of 'I'll die in
mine' is an absolute joy with one of the best guitar breaks I've heard
in a country mile. Words fail me...it just wiggles. A couple more tracks
don't achieve that tracks perfection but hey we're all human and they
remind me of Ronnie Lane's solo work so they're still pretty good. Last
track 'Land of Plenty' switches mood into full on W-Factor solo piano
mood that also manages to evoke Randy Newman and Hoagy
Carmichael........I'd say we're gonna here more from BO-SEE-FUSS King.
Quite rightly I'd say. A good thing.
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