Mike Farris - The Night Cumberland Came Alive

I'm not sure why the May floods that hit Nashville in May of this year did not seem to grasp the nation's attention like other recent natural disasters did. There was a lot of press attention, but it seems that the lack of hurricane force winds made the story less captivating. However, the people who lost homes and loved ones in the flood were as devastated as Katrina victims.

Mike Farris (The former front man of Screamin' Cheetah Wheelies) decided he would rectify the situation with a benefit EP. The Night Cumberland Came Alive,  is a Gospel recording done at the Downtown Presbyterian Church. This historic Church is the same venue Patty Griffin recorded her recent Gospel project. Farris is no stranger to Gospel, having won a Dove award for his most recent album Shout!  Proceeds will be used to help the flood victims.

The guest list is impressive featuring, Sam Bush, Kenny Vaughan (Marty Stuart), Ketch Secor and Gill Landry from Old Crow Medicine Show and Byron House. The opening title track is a wake up call to our own mortality, "I will remember the night the Cumberland came alive. It should remind you that you were born to die." Howver, the shock of the tragedy, is balanced by the call for hope and restoration provided by the song  "Dear Lazrus". Combine Farris' vocal styling with the all-star musicians contributing to the project and you have a donation worth making.

Don Was Gives Polish Without Changing OCMS

Using Don Was to produce an acoustic band could have been risky. An excellent Rock producer but it could have taken the roots out of their music. Was instead expanded their sound without changing what makes them great. To be sure there is more of an emphasis on songs and less on solos on Tennessee Pusher. However, I think thera has also been a tendency to view Old Crow Medicine Show as pickers and less as songwriters. No one will doubt their songwriting now. Don Was deserves the credit for that.

Listen to Caroline:

Old Crow Medicine Show to Release 2 New Projects

is prepping for two NEW releases! They're new Album "Tennessee Pusher" is out Sep. 23rd as well as a 3 Song EP "Caroline" out Aug. 29th.

Read OCMS Article on Billboard

City Stages Video Wrap Up

For all the hype Bonnaroo receives just a few hours south, we had a pretty good festival in Birmingham last weekend. For those whoa Aren't familiar with City Stages, it used to be one of the better festivals around. However, years of bad weather and debt trouble hurt the event and made it a shadow of it's former self. But Stages booked a deal with a national booking agency that also books for Bonnaroo and things turned for the better this year. While still not what it used to be, it had a great lineup this year. Here are some highlights of the weekend:

FRIDAY

Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit - I'll let a quote from my son Charlie be the review here. "Daddy this is cool. It is so loud I feel like I have 2 hearts." In other words he rocked. Also, he gave me one of the best memories ever from a music festival. When they played the DBT song "outfit" and Jason dedicated it to his father and all fathers, my son crawled in my lap and said "Daddy I love you. You are a good dad." Folks it doesn't get any better than that.

Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit - ''Grown,'' live at City Stages


Old Crow Medicine Show - It was late and already way past my son's bedtime so we had to miss OCMS but I heard they were good.

SATURDAY

I had unavoidable family obligations on Saturday. So I missed my 3rd day of Stages in the 18 years I have lived in Birmingham. I will share some video instead. I heard Grace Potter was the best act on Saturday from a couple of people the following day.

Grace Potter and the Nocturnals - live at City Stages

Griffin House at City Stages

OCMS


Ben Harper on Saturday


SUNDAY

The lineup on the Songwriter stage was: Elizabeth Cook, Pieta Brown, Hackensaw Boys, Shooter Jennings and Robert Earl Keen. Not one of those artists disappointed. Elizabeth Cook got it started with her country flair and Keen closed it out as you would expect with his typical Texas showmanship. However, The Hackensaw Boys may have put on the best show and they certainly picked up a bunch of fans in the Magic City.

All that being said the Flaming Lips generated the biggest buzz of the entire weekend. I ran into a couple of freinds after the festival ended and received rave reviews from them.. Amazingly enough thay weren't even that familiar with their music. Howwever, in order to see the Flaming Lips I would have needed to skip Robert Earl and that would have been sacreligious.

The Flaming Lips

The Flaming Lips - live at City Stages

More Flaming Lips: