MODERN
TWANG
An
Alternative Country Music Guide & Directory
by
David Goodman
(Dowling
Press ISBN 1891847031)
It's
a hard job but somebody's gotta do it! Well, David
Goodman deserves several medals for taking on the
task of of documenting the alternative-country
movement in such a thorough and entertaining way.
This book will be especially useful to those of us on
this side of the water who may have taken a little
longer than required to cotton onto the depth of good
ol' songwriting talent present in this still vibrant
stateside movement. That it should find its
'historian' in as fastidious and enthusiastic a
person as Goodman bodes well for this second version
of 'Modern Twang' -the
first was self-published but now finds a natural home
on Dowling Press who brought out the similarly
inexpensive anthology of articles from No
Depression magazine. The two would make good
bookends to a small shelf of alt.c related
books. The editor's own enthusiastic immersion in the
alternative side of country started as a teenager
into The Byrds and Gram before
student years were diverted into frequent tours of
Austin. He kept tabs on anything slightly off the
tracks through the 80's until the whole Alt.Country
movement spurred him into this task. For a music that
may sometimes not get the attention it richly
deserves whether it be honky tonk or a post-punk
collective's take on the Carter Family it
seems to have fallen into safe hands here.
In
the main covering a post-1960 period this guide is
particularly strong in reflecting this very diversity
as a plethora of post-punk takes on the old forms
fill not only the pages of No Depression but
increasingly a number of European journals and
stages. There aren't many guides where you'll find The
Residents rubbing shoulders with Herb
Pederson, and a swift take on the career of Blood
on the Saddle a few pages down from The
California Cajun Orchestra. This breadth not
only gives a true sense of the genres' present 'good
health' but also helps to quantify a lot of disparate
strands within it. The information within is as
complete as possible at date of publication and
double-checked with an academic thoroughness. I take
my hat off to his sense of detail which has proved
remarkably accurate despite operating in a volatile
world where groups come and go and the internet
springs surprises every day. The style used
throughout is also clear with the minimum of opinion
expressed. Indeed the only area where his hand is
shown is in the entertaining amount of new 'tags'
which sub-title each entry -particularly liked the 'Lubbock
Mafia' tag but still not sure exactly what 'No
Depression' music is! The discographies are
detailed and pretty complete with regard to newer
artists but restrict themselves in the case of
someone like Johnny Cash to a sensible run
through of discs relevent to this 'modern' movement.
There is a useful guide to the tags at the start of
the book along with an entertaining mission statement
and bio. The back contains some extremely useful
information on labels, bands, radio and even current
( yes! current!) websites which any self-respecting
fan of the music literally cannot live without.
They
say the test of a good pudding is in the eating and
if I could count the occasions on which I've already
turned to this book for information and been rewarded
then it is very good indeed. I only have some tiny
criticisms and they may appear churlish but a couple
of artists that I thought might have been included
don't appear to have made the cut e.g. Chip Taylor
and Jerry Jeff Walker but maybe I'm expecting too
much! The second is that it is so good a reference
work that by committing it to paper it, by its very
nature, will date pretty quickly and thus it seems a
must for Goodman to provide a database either on the
web or by CD-Rom that could reflect the most up to
date information. I for one would subscribe to that.
I
unreservedly recommend this to anyone interested in
the history and future course of folk and country
based musics. It is already getting worn sitting next
to my copy of the old Salamander Press Illustrated
Encyclopedia of Country Music ( Dellar,
Thompson,Green) that kept me going the last twenty
years -here's to Modern Twang for the next
twenty years. Cheers!
BLUE
LIGHTNING
Ed.
John Harvey.
(Slowdancer
Press ISBN 1871033438)
A
more than generous double lp -18 tracker this
anthology of trans-atlantic crime/music/writers and
just plain writers comes in an attractive jazz-noir
smoke curl sleeve and the musical references are
fleshed out by some intriguing musical taste bios as
a coda.
So
what do we get between the spiralling lines? Mostly
some very good writing indeed. John Harvey's own
Resnick novels/ t.v. series introduced us to the jazz
obsessions of detective/ author so it is no surprise
that an anthology of music-related writing shaped by
his hands should be both jazz and crime tinged. The
musical leitmotif runs throughout although in some
cases the connection is more tenuous than in others.
First
track - A flower is a lovesome thing -Charlotte
Carter's tale of a fading Broadway hoofer hits the
spot straight away with an affecting last scene
-beautifully paced. The same cannot be said of
Rosanne Cash's 'Lennon in the South' which I
skipped to impatiently but left me hunting for her
'Demos' record instead. Her contrived tale of Lennon
and J.Cash meeting in Memphis felt just that and no
more. Her bio. entry was more intriguing -her father
did meet Lennon on another occasion -now that would
be interesting - a bit more truth rather than
storytelling please!
By
now you will have noticed an althabetic democracy at
work and indeed next in line is Jeffery Deaver's 'Nocturne'.
Deaver's bio informs us that he is a 'former' New
York singer/songwriter and his is a beautifully
crafted tale of a thief and a violin which twists
like a Sherlock Holmes short story. The same cannot
be said of Stella Duffy's 'No' which reads a
bit like the discordant Japanese avant-garde music
that inspired it. Horses for courses but it didn't
grab my attention and I was struggling before the end
- maybe the musical allusions affect the reaction? I
found myself warming to the writers with similar
tastes to my own. There could well be fans of Duffy
and Ghost or Khaiji Haino out there who think this
tops sliced bread but when it comes to art I like my
songs/ stories with a degree of structure and my
shark-fin to taste of sea not formaldahyde. Likewise
the musical prejudice lights flashed for 'Aja'
but bad memories of the seventies were dispelled by
the sheer quality of Kirsty Gunn's writing. A
graceful disintegration of a middle-aged woman's
life-style was hung on the hat-peg of the song but
really it could have been any song -the story would
remain as strong. The editor gets a quick look in
with 'Cool Blues' -again assigned to Resnick
but along with the entertaining music bio. saying
more about Harvey than the eponymous detective.
Lovely detail ( e.g. the difference betwen the old
and the new Pizza Express for jazz buffs) that leaves
me wanting more -and wondering where is the
autobiography that gives us the full lowdown on Buddy
Holly at the Kilburn Gaumont?
'Backing'
by Michael Z. Lewin is a taut stroll but leans
heavily on the 'backing' metaphor. 'Grace Notes'
succeeds in conveying the collapse of a European
jazzers world around him. Next is the collections
title track - Blue Lightning- which is a marvellous
introduction to Walter Moseley's creation Socrates
Fortlow. The fellow looms large through a
wonderful piece of writing which looms equally large
over this collection. From this showing I'd say go
apprehend more of his work at once! Gary Phillips
writes with a rap ear through 'Stone Cold Killah'
but failed to engage -again maybe because I'm not a
rap fan I was left missing the plot. Similarly Peter
Robinson's 'Memory lane' left me wondering
why as it lumbered to its inevitable denouement. 'Vocalities'
- James Sallis - skip this one if you don't mind
which is not to say his books aren't great -but
'speaking out into the darkness'-phew -art with a
capital A.
I
was straight away more at home in Joan Smith's world
of country songs, cajun and Chris Smither. The deft
way she ravels three perspectives on the mother-star
relationship to a perfect conclusion in 'Too mean
to die' means I'll be searching the racks -
sorry shelves - for more of her New Orleans brand of
mystery -her New Orleans Mourning is
published in the U.K. by Slowdancer by the way.
Neville Smith writes television scripts and this
informs The Bill gone wrong nature of his
contribution 'Heartache Tonight' which
seemed so intent on burying the image of the Met. it
forgot to be interesting. The same cannot be said of
Brian Thompson's lightness of touch in 'Life's
little mysteries'. A spendid tale of ship to
shore love/lust held together by some real period
detail/invention. Which brings us to last letter in
this 'jazzeteer'.I warmed to J.L.Williams for his
entertaining bio and perfect musical taste -i.e.
-exactly the same as mine. However his story took
'suspension of disbelief' way over the edge of the
Cardiff Bridge he blows up and on into pure
silliness. However if he'd only filled us in more
about the real Victor Parker with the fluidity he
showed in the classic 'Into The Badlands'
we'd all have ended the book happily. As it is I'll
just point you in that book's direction and say that
armed with both Blue Lightning and
that you'd have a pretty good introduction to the
best of crime-fiction on both sides of the Atlantic
right now. Like all good compilations it serves as a
good overview and could lead you on to some friends
for life...me I'm off to look up Walter Mosley.
Favourite colour's blue...and I ain't got a record..
