The Greencards - The Brick Album

It does not seem long ago that the Greencards burst onto the New Grass scene. Almost immediately they captured audiences with music that blended influences from their Australian, European and American heritages. With the release of their fifth studio album, The Brick Album, The Greencards are now one of the most respected bands around. Their musicianship is admired by their peers, and the voice of Australian lead singer, Carol Young, is captivating. On the duet "Heart Fixer", Young is joined by Vince Gill and their voices complement each other with perfection. The album leads off with another all-star guest, Sam Bush, on the song "Make it Out West", which takes the smooth style of the band and adds the kick of Bush's mandolin.

The guest appearances are well chosen, but The Greencards are just as impressive on their own. The Greencards eclectic musical and lyrical brilliance is on full display in each track. The Brick  also captures the energy and passion of the band. Their passion was understated on their previous two releases, but this new project has a live feel. Anyone who has been to a Greencards show knows exactly to what I am referring.

The Greencards are an ever evolving band. With each release the expand their horizon. They don't seem content standing. Instead they continue to push boundaries, which makes room for a growing fan base.

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.

The best of 2009

The Winner is...
Tis the season... The best of lists are coming out in force. So I am going to get ahead of the curve. This year is particularly interesting if you want to check out the top "Twang" lists. Keep your eye on Twangville for a collaborative list for those of us in the Posse, as well as individual lists. The best best of list will be The Bird List, but there will be more on this later. For now let's just focus on my humble list here on AWT.

In my mid-year list, Buddy and Julie were on top, but they have been replaced by Band of Heathens in the final list. This was actually a close call and was decided by addiction. Once I listened to the first song, One Foot in the Ether became audio crack. Other new entries into the top ten are Roseanne Cash, Two Tons of Steel, Sam Bush and Grant Langston. Enough banter the list is below and then I will spend the remainder of the year writing individual posts on my top 12. (Sort of a twelve days of Christmas with no turtle doves.)

1 Band of Heathens - One foot in the Ether
2 Buddy & Julie Miller - Written in Chalk
3 Roseanne Cash - The List
4 Ryan Bingham and the Dead Horses - Roadhouse Sun
5 Roman Candle - Oh Tall Tree in the Ear
6 Two Tons of Steel - Not That Lucky
7 M. Ward - Hold Time
8 Charlie Robison - Beautiful Day
9 Sam Bush - Circles Around Me
10 Grant Langston - Stand Up Man
11 Lucero - 1372 Overton Park
12 Wrinkle Neck Mules - Let the Lead Fly
13 Monsters of Folk - Self Titles
14 Wilco - The Album
15 Slaid Cleaves - Everything You Love Will be Taken Away
16 Justin Townes Earle - Midnight at the Movies
17 Stephen Kellog and the Sixers - The Bear
18 Brendan Benson - My Old Familiar Friend
19 Sarah Jarosz - Song Up in Her Head
20 Sarah Borges & the Broken Singles - The Stars are Out
21 Nitty Gritty Dirt Band - Speed of Life
22 Elvis Costello - Secret, Profane and Sugarcane
23 Guy Clark - Sometimes the Song Writes You
24 Scott Miller & the Commonwealth - For Cryin' Out Loud
25 Hill Country Review - Self Titled
26 Conor Oberst & the Mystic Valley Band - Outer South
27 The Gourds - Haymaker!
28 Donna Ulisse - Walk this Mountain Down
29 Bottle Rockets - Lean Forward
30 The Decemberists - The Hazards of Love
31 Bob Dylan - Together Through Life
32 Chuck Prophet - Let Freedom Ring
33 Derek Trucks - Already Free
34 The Flatlanders - Hills and Valleys
35 Dallas Wayne - I'll Take the Fifth
36 Red Stick Ramblers - My Suitcase is Always Packed
37 Chuck Mead - Journeyman's Wager
38 Bruce Springsteen - Working on a Dream
39 Gina Villalobos - Days on Their Side
40 Cracker - Sunshine in the Land of Milk and Honey
41 Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit - Self Titled
42 Kieran Kane - Somewhere Beyond the Roses
43 Radney Foster Revival
44 Mindy Smith - Stupid Love
45 Mark Olson & Gary Louris - Ready for the Flood
46 Dave Matthews Band - Big Whiskey and the Gru Grux King
47 Pter Holsapple and Chris Stamey - Here and Now
48 Neko Case - Middle Cyclone
49 Sara Watkins - Self Titled
50 Dierks Bentley - Feel that Fire

Sam Bush - Circles Around Me

Circles Around Me, Bush's seventh solo album is a mix of classic bluegrass covers and new originals. Quite possibly this is Bush’s most cohesive release. Bush has always been a dichotomy. He is influenced by the old but is the original innovator of the new. Hell, he literally coined the term new grass with his original band New Grass Revival, which he founded. The young innovators of today like Chris Thile, Infamous Stringdusters, Old Crow Medicine Show, Chatham County Line, Hackensaw Boys, Crooked Still and more recently the likes of Sarah Jarosz, owe their success to Bush, Bela Fleck, John Cowan and their peers.

On this new release, Bush blends the old and new seamlessly with both covers and original compositions. Produced by Bush, Circles Around Me includes appearances by Del McCoury, Edgar Meyer and Jerry Douglas to name a few. Let’s not forget Bush's own band; Scott Vestal, Stephen Mougin, Byron House and Chris Brown, which is one of the best in all of Bluegrass.

The album includes some great songwriting collaborations. The title cut was co-written with Jeff Black. My favorite is "The Ballad of Stringbean and Estelle," which Bush co-wrote with Guy Clark and Verlon Thompson. This song is a true story of the 1973 murder of Grand Ole Opry star David "Stringbean" Akeman and his wife. "Souvenir Bottles" and "Whisper My Name" are re-workings of New Grass Revival songs. These songs build a nice bridge to the traditional tunes on the record. Del McCoury lends his unmistakable tenor on two Bill Monroe covers, "Roll On Buddy, Roll On" and "Midnight on the Stormy Deep." However, the most poignant and powerful of the traditional songs is the excellent rendition of "Diamond Joe."

Whatever you perspective, Circles Around Me gives us an artist that obviously is content where he is now, where he came from and where he is headed. Maybe that is why he just received the AMA lifetime achievment award.

Check out his AMA performance:

WSM starts new show - Music City Roots

The legendary Nashville radio station WSM, the broadcasting home of the Grand Ole Opry, has a new show, Music City Roots. It is broadcast from a new venue, The Loveless Barn, just outside of Nashville.

This week was Sam Bush and Mike Farris. The first episode was Emmylou Harris. Check out the website .

The Upcoming Lineup is unbelievable. You can also go to the WSM Website for on demand streaming

The Waybacks Neo-Traditionalism

"Tradition in Transition" is the title of the cover article in next to last No Depression It focuses on how young bands such as Crooked Still, The Avett Brothers, Uncle Earl and Chris Thile's new project the Punch Brothers are innovatively changing traditional acoustic music. A couple of bands that aren't as young as the subjects of the ND article that also fit the bill are The Steeldrivers and the subject of this post, The Waybacks.

The Waybacks new album Loaded is remarkable. Releasing on Compass Records March 25th it was produced by Byron House and features guest appearances by Sam Bush among others. The album represents a new direction for the band that is largely the influence of touring with Bob Weir and Ratdog. Loaded mixes their frenetic traditional sound with the free form eclectic influences of Weir along with, Honky-Tonk, Irish and Swing. The Band started out as an acoustic side project for San Francisco Bay area electric guitar player James Nash. They used to be a five piece outfit that played as many traditional tunes as originals. Though they were their own versions to say the least, which made them favorites of the Merlefest dance stage for the last few years. They dropped two original members and recently added excellent fiddle player and songwriter Warren Hood. Also, they are no longer just acoustic. Nash shows off his electric chops with great results on this album. The creative overflow on the album is evidenced by the fact that all of the songs on are original. So mark the 25th on your calendar and pick this one up.



This review also appears on
Twangville

Ron Block of Union Station Finishing Production of Album by Mandolin Prodigy

As Allison Krauss tours with Robert Plant in Spring of 2008 members of Union Station are going to be working on various projects. One of these projects is currently under way. Ron Block is working on production of an album by 15 year old Bluegrass Mandolin prodigy Sierra Hull. The album will be released in the Spring of 2008 on Rounder. Contributing musicians include Tony Rice, Dan Tyminski and Rob Ickes. However, dont't think that she will intimidated sharing the studio with these legends. She has already shared the stage with Alison Krauss, Ricky Skaggs, Sam Bush, IIIrd Time Out and appeared on the Grand Ole Opry. She also appeared on the Randy Khors video on CMT that has been previously featured here on AWT. She wrote several of the songs for the album, which will be her second release. She released her first album Angel Mountain in 2002 when she was only 10.

She has done all of this by the age of 15 and what have I done my life? Well to quote Jimmy Buffett "I'm an over 40 victim of fate."

Check out this video:

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!