Archives for 2004 » September
Waxed - Record Review from Issue #53 Sept-Oct 2004
Steve Earle – The Revolution Starts…Now
God bless Steve Earle. You have to love an artist who feels compelled to write about a subject that consumes him, even as he risks marginalizing himself even further in the marketplace. The more narrowly Earle focuses his music politically, the less likely anyone will hear it (beyond those who already share his views) or [...]
Waxed - Record Review from Issue #53 Sept-Oct 2004
Billy Joe Shaver – Billy and the Kid
There must be a special tincture of anguish reserved for parents who outlive their child, especially when that child is taken by wanton or self-destructive circumstances. And if an equally bitter draught exists for the loss of other loved ones, then Billy Joe Shaver has drunk deep of that, as well. The drug-induced death of [...]
Waxed - Record Review from Issue #53 Sept-Oct 2004
Various Artists – A Tribute to Jimmy Martin, “The King of Bluegrass”
There are quite a few former members of Jimmy Martin’s Sunny Mountain Boys around, and while many of them would politely decline the opportunity to rejoin the band, even more are willing to defend the cantankerous but prodigiously gifted singer-guitarist’s claim to his “King of Bluegrass” title. But only erstwhile Martin mandolinist Audie Blaylock has [...]
Waxed - Record Review from Issue #53 Sept-Oct 2004
Various Artists – Unbroken Circle: The Musical Heritage of the Carter Family
It was 43 years ago that the first album-length Carter Family tribute, Flatt & Scruggs’ Songs Of The Famous Carter Family, appeared — which provides some sense of how long the Carters have been acknowledged as pillars of American music. With a newly-released documentary, biography and various reissues, the only surprise is that the obligatory [...]
Waxed - Record Review from Issue #53 Sept-Oct 2004
Various Artists – Beautiful Dreamer: The Songs of Stephen Foster
Beautiful Dreamer represents a contemporary anomaly, a tribute album that’s not only good but essential. There’s no other contemporary album of Stephen Foster songs, even though his music lies at the deepest roots of American vernacular music. The album honors America’s first great professional songwriter with some of the most spectacularly beautiful popular singing I’ve [...]
Waxed - Record Review from Issue #53 Sept-Oct 2004
Various Artists – Escovedo 101: Songs of Alejandro Escovedo
The lion’s share of attention has gone to the two-disc model on Or Music, but another Alejandro Escovedo tribute album was recently assembled by an assortment of Canadian artists. Escovedo 101 is a much smaller-scale affair than its American counterpart, and overall is more uneven; yet it has a handful of high points that merit [...]
Not Fade Away - Reissue Review from Issue #53 Sept-Oct 2004
Various Artists – Fort Worth Teen Scene (1964-1967), Vols. 1-3
Compilations of ’60s garage music come and go. There’s probably been about a million since the godfather of them all — Nuggets — appeared in 1972, with Lenny Kaye slyly zeroing in on that moment just before pop’s collective self-consciousness kicked in, catching America’s youth in the midst of the anything-can-happen excitement of the British [...]
Not Fade Away - Reissue Review from Issue #53 Sept-Oct 2004
Vic Chesnutt – Little/West of Rome/Drunk/Is the Actor Happy?
If his songwriter peers were in charge of the music industry, Vic Chesnutt would no doubt be a major star. Beloved and championed by artists more commercially successful than he, the Athens, Georgia, artist boasts a body of work that ranks among the most formidable of any singer-songwriter currently active. These beautifully produced reissues testify [...]
Not Fade Away - Reissue Review from Issue #53 Sept-Oct 2004
Ian Tyson – Ol’ Eon
There’s a fascinating documentary making the art house rounds this summer titled Festival Express, comprised of footage from a roving rock festival that traversed Canada by train in 1970. Although the movie features The Band, the Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin and the Flying Burrito Brothers playing and partying on and off stage, the revelation for [...]
Not Fade Away - Reissue Review from Issue #53 Sept-Oct 2004
Lloyd Green – Master of the Steel Strings
Lloyd Green’s iconic status among pedal steel guitar fans is well-deserved. His clever harmonies, curling, twisting licks, and empathetic accompaniment graced dozens of 1960s and 1970s Nashville hits, starting with Warner Mack’s 1965 “The Bridge Washed Out”. He’s also featured on Charley Pride’s On Stage LP and the Byrds’ Sweetheart Of The Rodeo. Green left [...]
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