Roman Candle - Live at Workplay Birmingham, AL May 24t

From the first moment Roman Candle took the stage playing "Eden is a Garden" and lead singer Skip Matheny demonstrated his average white American leaping ability, I felt it would be a special show. I was not disappointed. The performance was high energy but laid back. That may sound oxymoronic but if you were in attendance you would know what I mean. There was nothing pretentious about Roman Candle. Aside from the aforementioned leaps by the vocalist, there was no showing off. There was however plenty of good music. There is a spiritual side to Roman Candle that they deliver without the maudlin shoe gazing of your typical "high school emo band." (See link to "Why Modern Radio is A Ok") They manage to do it while having fun, which seems to be the exception in modern music. They played a good balance between their current release Oh Tall Tree in the Ear and their previous one, Wee Hours revue..

The highlight of the evening was when they played what I think is the best song of the year, "Why Modern Radio is A Ok." Another high moment was "Another Summer" from Wee Hours Revue. Their professionalism was much appreciated since the audience size was reduced dramatically because everyone in Birmingham went to the beach for Memorial Day. (So much for the bad economy.) The band's label success may have been recent but they are actually grizzled veterans. They began in Chapel Hill, North Carolina over 10 years ago and developed a loyal following there. They also worked with some of the area's top talent like Thad Cockerell and Caitlin Cary. Also, they regularly toured and recorded with Chris Stamey. According to Skip Matheny, who I spoke with after the show, they decided a different scene might be helpful and now live in Nashville. They have had hard luck with labels over the years but let's hope now is their time.

Listen to the year's best song below:

The Gourds - Live at Visulite Charlotte January 22nd

Some things never change. The sun rises and sets every day, The Earth spins on its’ axis, Amy Winehouse gets wasted, Britney parties with no panties, Congress pisses away taxpayer dollars and The Gourds rock. From the first time I saw them years ago at SXSW until I saw them on January 22nd at Visulite in Charlotte they still freakin’ rock! They are older and a few miles have been put on the tour bus but a Gourds show is still about as much fun as you can have with your clothes on. They started off with “Country Lovin’” from the new album Haymaker then went into “Cranky Mulatto” off of Noble Creatures. The first half of the show focused on new and recent releases. The band is a group of multi-instrumentalists and has three members that sing. Over the years they have become more electric which I think has enhanced their studio albums. Also, it has made their live shows even more eclectic, and they were already the musical definition of eclectic.

In the middle of the show local Charlotte Americana musician David Childers joined the band on stage and sang a few of his own songs. At this point the band began to play more of their older songs. It is amazing to witness them move from irreverent acoustic songs to more electric jams so seamlessly. Also, I am happy to report that Accordion player Claude Bernard pronounced Burger King’s new “Angry Whopper” a success. They opened the encore with the classic “Magnolia” and followed it up with “Kicks in the Sun” which seems to have become a new classic. Some in the crowd were a little disappointed that they didn’t play “Gin and Juice” but I can imagine they need a break from that song now and then. Ausitn Singer-Songwriter Ramsay Midwood opened the show and with a little help at various times from The Gourds played a very entertaining set.

Video: DBT & Hold Steady Live in Chicago

November 14th the "Rock & Roll Means Well Tour"

The Hold Steady - Chelsea's Cafe Baton Rouge, La 8-7

The Hold Steady are known as a quintessential live band. I never doubted this but until I saw it for myself I never realized how true it is. Since I am currently Sequestered (but not subpoenaed) in Baton Rouge during the weeknights, when I saw that The Hold Steady was playing at a cozy venue like Chelsea's, I could not say no. (To hell with auditors who need info early the next morning.) In the Case of The Hold Steady seeing is believing. These guys have as much fun as any band touring. In fact they have as much fun as their audience.

Chelsea's had to be one of the smaller venues they played on this tour. This intimate college bar located not too far away from the LSU campus proved to have great acoustics and provided a perfect environment. Speaking of the environment, it would not be Louisiana without the humidity, which created another important ingredient to a live Rock N' Roll show, sweat. In fact, Craig Finn paid homage to Louisiana's French heritage by declaring it, "Hotter than a French whorehouse in here." The crowd on hand was dominated by Hold Steady fans who seemed to know the lyrics to every song. They opened with the song "Constructive Summer" from the new album Stay Positive On this song when Finn sang, "Raise a toast to old Joe Strummer. I think he was our only decent teacher." The crowd (myself included) instinctively raised our bottles and toasted along. Which confirmed another statement in that song which declares "our songs are sing-along songs."

Craig Finn interacted well with the audience. Dancing around on stage, he looked like a cross between Steve Martin dancing on the front porch in The Jerk and Pee Wee Herman's "Tequila" dance. It was so quirky and lacking in Rhythm it was cool. The coolest member of the band though was keyboardist Franz Nicolay. He was wearing a fedora and black suit that made him look like a mafia don. His stage presence and facial expression give the band its' panache. Not to mention Franz is an accomplished keyboardist. Just as impressive was Tad Kubler on lead guitar. At one point he played a solo on the 12-string neck of a bad-ass double neck guitar. His guitar solos were an unexpected surprise.

The song that came off the best live was surprisingly "Stay Positive" the title cut off the new record. The set was composed mainly if material off of the new record and Boys and Girls in America. "Massive Nights" from that release really stood out. Not surprisingly, they saved "Stuck Between Stations" for the encore. This crowd pleaser had everyone singing so loud Craig Finn could have let the crowd take over. In my opinion, The Hold Steady represent everything that makes Rock great and their live show only enhanced that opinion.

This cut from Letterman will give you a feel:


This review also appears on Twangville

City Stages Preview !!!!

For my local Birmingham readers it is City Stages time. Also, it is time to eat some crow. Last year I predicted the death of the festival. I was so wrong. With a new booking agency helping out, this is the best lineup in years! In fact, on Saturday there are multiple times where acts are playing simultaneously and I am going to need to miss some good acts.

The folks at al.com and The Birmingham News have asked me for my recommendations. Many of the acts playing this year are already familiar to Birmingham. Will Hoge, North Mississippi All-Stars, Marc Broussard, Ben Harper and Robert Earl Keen do not require an introduction from anyone. What about the best of the rest? Here are some other bands that I am most excited about:

Friday:
Carolina Chocolate Drops - Three African-American musicians taking Appalachian music and mixing it with gospel and other traditional styles. Their set will be a musical melting pot. I have a feeling they will be the surprise hit of the festival.

Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit - Many are familiar with his work with Drive-By-Truckers, but he has his own band now. His song "Dress Blues" is powerful live.

Old Crow Medicine Show - They have a high energy set of traditional tunes played with Rock n' Roll angst.

Saturday:
Act of Congress - This is a local New Grass band that is not getting the recognition they deserve. Their musicianship is excellent and they put on a really good live show. I hope It will be worth coming out early to see them on Saturday.

The Dexateens - This Tuscaloosa based band boasts an album produced by Mike Cooley and Patterson Hood of Drive-By-Truckers.

Grace Potter & the Nocturnals - This will be show stealer no doubt. A mixture of Blues and Soul delivered with an attitude.

Griffin House - His new album is one of the best singer-songwriter releases of the year.

Sunday:
Elizabeth Cook - Authentic country. She has great personality and a voice as real as Loretta. Her song "It Takes Balls to be a Woman" will be a crowd favorite.

Hackensaw Boys - This bluegrass act is eclectic enough to have shared the stage with Modest Mouse. If you like OCMS on Friday, come see these guys on Sunday.

Shooter Jennings - If you think he is coasting on daddy's name. Think again.

Drive-By-Truckers in-studio on Spinner

Check out The Drive-By Truckers in-studio performance on Spinner's The Interface

The Wreckers release live CD/DVD

WAY BACK HOME: LIVE FROM NEW YORK is the new Live CD/DVD from The Wreckers it was released Tuesday. The recording was done at the Bowery in New York. They are an sign of life in "Mainstream" Country music. Also, let's face it they are as easy on the eyes as they are on the ears. They are both also planning on releasing solo projects next year that we can look forward to.

Here is their number 1 hit "Leave the Pieces"

Deadstring Brothers Live @ Zydeco in Birmingham, AL

I always thought how inspiring it must be for a musician to walk on stage in fromt of 12,000 screaming fans. But what about when it is 12 fans? How inspiring is that? Pretty damn inspiring if the Deadstring Brothers are any example. In reality there were more than 12 people at Zydeco two nights before Thanksgiving, but to say there were 25 would be generous. What they gave the fans that night was an inspired set that had the feel of a private show for friends. It is so refreshing to see a band play because they love it, which clearly these guys do.

The cozy setting allowed the band to develop great rapport with the crowd. In fact , they were very curious about the Southern Phenomenon of the fried turkey. Which the lead vocalist Kurt Marschke is apparently willing to "eat the ass out of that bird." I don't think I would want to witness that but I bet they found some fried turkey on Thanksgiving to try. The musical highlights of the show included from the new album "Heavy Load" and "Queen of the Scene," which are consumate live songs. The best song of the evening though was "Sacred Heart" from Starving Winter Report. Another highlight came in the encore when they did a steeple rockin' version of the gospel song "Uncloudy Day."

Check out these video clips I shot at the show. The audio isn't the best but you will get the idea:

"Tennessee Sure Enough"


"Queen of the Scene"


"Singing Gospel"

Jason Isbell Live: Sloss Furnace Birmingham, AL

Jason Isbell put on a great show at the Stokin' the Fire Barbecue Festival in Birmingham this weekend. The festival was held at Sloss Furnace, which can be a challenge for a sound tech. For those unfamiliar with the venue it is a big metal roofed and walled structure with a stage in front of an old blast furnace. It has nice atmosphere and is a big part of the history of the Birmingham area. However, all that metal does tend to create a little reverb; but in this case it wasn't too bad. Something about Southern Rock and Barbecue that just goes together. Isbell mostly played songs from his solo effort Sirens of the Ditch. However he also mixed in a few Drive By Trucker classics he penned, including a great version of "Outfit" one of my favorite Truckers mid-tempo songs.

Isbell's band the 400 Unit do a nice job channelling the Southern Rock ethos. No doubt about it, when they rock it is a full on assault. However, they also do well on the slower tunes which show Isbell's songwriter side. For example, "Dress Blues," which is one of the most moving songs I've heard in years, was great live like it is on the album. My favorite song of the evening was "Try" which was one of those aforementioned full on assaults. For the closer they played the crowd pleaser "Jailbreak," a cover of the Thin Lizzy tune that the Truckers have made part of their live performances.

Check out the link below to My Music Birmingham for almost 12 min of high quality video shot
that evening starting out with the "Try":
http://www.myfoxal.com/myfox/pages/Entertainment/Detail?contentId=4179685&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=7.3.1

Kelly Willis live @ Zydeco in Birmingham, AL

Boy am I sorry I missed this one.

Check out the this video for Kelly Willis live at Zydeco July 6th. Thanks to TC for pointing this out to me.

http://www.myfoxal.com/myfox/pages/Entertainment/Detail?contentId=3709509&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=7.3.1

Justin Trawick: Live 9:30 Club DC

My friend Tom, who runs AWT's favorite blog Twangville, which I write for under the name "CrackerSoul," turned me on to Justin Trawick. Tom and I went to see him at the 9:30 Club friday night, June 29th. It was a great show. The 9:30 Club is also a great venue. Trawick is a real up and comer who has already developed a loyal following in the DC area. Here is a link to the Twangville review and a link to video Tom shot during the show:

http://twangville.com/580/justin-trawick-rocks-the-930-club/

Reluctant City Stages Preview

For readers in Birmingham I am reluctantly doing a City Stages preview. The lineup admittedly is a disappointment this year for City Stages but there are enough notables to mention:

Friday:
Bruce Cockburn- He hasn't been to Birmingham in years. The last time he was at City Stages was absolutely a spiritual experience. Don't miss this if it is the only thing you see at the festival this year.
Willy Mason - See my previous post on him. It is one of my favorite CDs so far this year and one of the few acts that is not a Stages retread or recently performed in Birmingham.
Saturday:
Adam Hood- An Alabama native that is not new to Birmingham but "Different Groove" is a great album. (See my recent review)
Will Kimbrough/Tommy Womack- These two have been around a while. Having them play together was one of the few original ideas the festival organizers had this year.
Matthew Perryman Jones- Heard he stole the show at the Reg's Coffeehouse celebration at the Alabama Theater. I missed the event so I am lookin forward to his set.
Sunday:
Stoll Vaughn- I also missed him at Reg's show but I absolutely love this CD.
Robinella- Probably her third appearance in the city in the last year but she is still fantastic.
Sam Bush- I am glad they signed him this year. His live shows are legendary and he is a virtuoso unrivalled. This is one not to miss. I've seen him many times and never been disappointed.
Ricky Skaggs- Credit to the organizers for the Sunday bluegrass lineup. Sam Bush followed by Ricky Skaggs is hard to beat.

A Sign of the Apocolypse for City Stages:
What no mention of Poison or Ratt headlining the Miller Stage you ask? Of course I am excited about it like an 80's schoolgirl in heat! But I can't bring myself to go. You see my parachute pants are too tight these days and they quit making my favorite hair gel years ago. Goodbye City Stages it has been a nice ride!

Elizabeth Cook Live - Workplay Birmingham, AL June 1st

Three songs into her set at the Workplay Theatre in Birmingham Elizabeth Cook broke into the Merle Haggard tune “Today I Started Loving You Again.” Somehow she took this Haggard composition and channeled Tammy Wynette and Loretta Lynn simultaneously. There is no doubt in seeing her live that she is every bit as authentic as Tammy or Loretta. Along with her husband Tim Carroll, the crowd at Workplay was entertained by someone that the Nashville music industry brass is not going to be able to ignore much longer.

The show moved seamlessly between honky tonk twang and rock. Tim Carroll also got in on the act rocking the crowd with his on music and covers like his hard driving cover of Randy Travis’ “Diggin Up Bones,” which Cook referred to as an “ironic cover” as he took a slow song and turned it up to “11.” Cook also got the crowd going when she sang Carroll’s “If I could.” “If I could pay all these bills with my guitar then I would pay these bills with some rock and roll,” is a line she sang from that song. Paying bills might not be much of a struggle in the future based the crowd’s reaction. Cook was great with the crowd joking around with good one liners. She got a big laugh when she thanked the folks at Workplay for the “Cheese Log and Carr’s crackers” before the show saying that most places they played didn’t treat her so well.

Cook is also one heck of a clogger. She exchanged her boots for tap shoes and put on a demonstration for the crowd as Carroll accompanied her with his lively guitar work. After the clogging demonstration she launched into the live favorite “Punk Rock Honky Tonk Girl.” Toward the end when she played “Sometimes it Takes Balls to be a woman” she introduced it by saying, “Here is the song that started it all. Let’s hope it doesn’t end it too.” If the crowd at Workplay gets their way, I see no end in sight.

This review also appears on: http://twangville.com/

Willy Mason's Rough Seas

For those of you reading this post in Birmingham make a note to "self" not to miss Willy Mason at City Stages on June 15th. He is playing atr City Stages unplugged Friday afternoon and opening for Bruce Cockburn at 8pm. I personally find it ironic he is opening for Cockburn since my first impression of If the Ocean Gets Rough was reminiscent of a young Cockburn. He has a deep compelling voice and writes lyrics that connect to your soul. Check out the video link to "We can be Strong" in which a man checking himself out of a mental institution declares "in the end they couldn't sell me grace." This is certainly a realization many people in our culture have discovered as they have tried many ways to acquire grace and failed. Indeed many of the characters on this album seem to be navigating rough waters.

Mason is a Martha's Vineyard resident. While he is a great young songwriter, he is more than just a folky troubador with a six string. He is influenced by a variety of traditional Americana music styles and crafts catchy melodies that make his songs grab hold. At 22 years old I have a feeling we will be hearing his melodies for a long time to come.

Blogging on the Radio

Although I am an XM subscriber, I reccommend you Sirius f0lks check out this blogger (My Old Kentucky Blog) on "Left of Center." on Thursday nights. For those of you who don't have Sirius, you can listen to the songs played on his website. My Old Kentucky Blog is one of my "Favorite Llinks"

You can also listen to past shows such as the Broken West featured previously here on AWT.

http://myoldkyhome.blogspot.com/2007/05/cary-brothers-live-on-mokb-sirius-blog.html

The Hold Steady on the Cover of Paste Magazine

It is about time this band got the recognition it deserves. My first listen to "Boys and Girls in America" I was blown away. This Brooklyn quintet has created pure rock and roll at its finest. "Paste" focused on them in their summer festival preview because they are playing at Bonnaroo and several other festivals this Summer. If you get a chance to see them, don't miss it they are gaining a reputation as a great live band. Check out this YouTube link to their Letterman appearance.