This page is part of an opinionated overview of "alt.country" music, with record reviews by me, Joe Sixpack... Naturally, it's a work in progress, and quite incomplete, so your comments and suggestions are welcome.
Bruce Cockburn "Speechless" (Rounder, 2005)
This all-instrumental album is a real treat, especially for those of us who have treasured the musical side of Canadian folk-pop poet Bruce Cockburn's as much as his lyrical strengths... Gathering instrumental tracks from numerous albums (including one from a Japan-only release that came out a while ago), this disc is emminently listenable, and surprisingly shies away from the occasionally florid aspects of Cockburn's music... I was particularly pleased to hear "Train In The Rain" and "Sunrise On The Mississippi," two bright gems that were highlights of his 1994 Dart To The Heart album... They also serve as centerpieces here, with chiming, sprightly warmth and a crystalline tone. Although there is some experimentation, Cockburn's approach on most of these tracks is acoustic and direct, hewing to simple melodies that reflect the same life-affirming warmth as the rest of his work. Recommended!
Ray Condo & The Ricochets "Condo Country" (1991)
A roots-rock revivalist from Canada's great white North, the late bandleader Ray Condo was one of the hardest working, most tireless road warriors in the Americana scene... Condo and his crew mixed hard country, rockabilly and old-fashioned R&B with some of the most authentic sounding hillbilly boogie this side of Sid King or the Delmore Brothers. Condo showed he knew his history, but also popped out some great original material... And he will be sorely missed...!
Ray Condo & The Hardrock Goners "Hillbilly Holiday" (Fury, 1993)
A scrappy, silly, sometimes sinister set of rock-and-billy hybrids from this esteemed Canadian crew. The production, particularly the vocal mix, is sometimes rickety, but the music is vibrant and alive. The use of the violin in a rockabilly/hillbilly boogie context is interesting and unusual; might not make the snobbier, purist elements of the rockabilly scene happy, but it's kinda cool from an alt-country perspective.
Ray Condo & The Hardrock Goners "Come On!" (Fury, 1994)
Condo's best...!! A must-have for alt-country fans. Guitarist Jimmy Roy, of the 5 Star Hillbillys, sits in on several tunes and the disc kicks off with a rollicking version of one of Wynn Stewart's best teen-themed tunes, "Come On," slathered with a richly textured mix of alt-country & hillbilly goodness... The song selection lingers in the early 'Fifties range, includes some old Wayne Raney, Harmonica Frank Floyd and Webb Pierce tunes... While Condo plays the stump-the-obscuro-lovin'-collector-nerd retro game, he does it with great aplomb -- this is one of the musically richest of all his albums... a real keeper!
Ray Condo & The Ricochets "Swing Brother Swing!" (Joaquin, 1996)
These Canadian cut-ups lead the '90s retrobilly dance scene, where ducktailed, sideburned rockabilly enthusiasts (and their gingham-clad galfriends) tore up the dancefloors until the yuppies spoiled the fun. On this disc, they dip deep into the R&B traditions of the 1940s and '50s, drawing the connections to western swing and hillbilly boogie, all laced together with nice, mellow steel and guitar work... There are also several direct nods towards Cab Calloway's Depression-era heyday, bringing that expansive, hi-de-ho showmanship into play as well... The vocals are a little on the goofy side, though, which both signals their unpretentiousness, yet also undercuts the accomplished feel of the band itself. But as a seminal, indie-as-all-heck release that helped fuel the "Americana" scene of the '90s, this disc still holds its own all these years later. Definitely worth a spin!
Ray Condo & The Ricochets "Wall To Wall Maniac" (Joaquin, 1997)
Snazzy, ragged retrobilly, with a healthy dose of pre-rock country boogie and a few jazz/swing standards thrown in for good measure... I'm not so big on the rockabilly revival tip myself, but the loopy pedal steel riffs and Les Paul licks keep my attention if it starts to wander, and Condo and his crew certainly hold their own next to compatriots such as Big Sandy & The Fly-Rite Boys. What with all the rough edges and stuff, I think this might be my second-favorite Condo album... At least it seems like the most hick-alicous.
Ray Condo & The Ricochets "High & Wild" (Joaquin, 2000)
Although there's still plenty of chicken-pickin' country on here, the influence of the swing cance revival is pretty apparent... The band is still diverse, but much slicker and more professional sounding. Ray kind of addresses the faddishness of the swing thing on "Whatcha Gonna Do When There Ain't No Swing," but I guess in the end I prefer hearing the band be a little raspier and twangier... Still, this is a pretty fine record, and despite the silly name, Condo took roots music more seriously than the twangcore crowd... Worth checkin' out!
Cooder Graw "Cooder Graw" (Three-To-One Records, 2000)
Some Texas fellas who have a good rowdy streak, though at times it's tempered by a slick, maybe-we-can-make-it-big, poppy side. Still, as heirs to the long Lone Star state tradition of great, funny, under-the-radar bar bands, these guys sound pretty good. Highlights include the rompin', stompin' trucker tune, "18 Wheels Of Lovin'," "Two More Tears For Texas," and the deliciously snarky "My Give A Damn Is Broken." Fans of Jerry Jeff, Pat Green, or Cornell Hurd may find similar comfort here.
Cooder Graw "Segundo" (Three-To-One Records, 2001)
Oh, now I finally "get" their band name! Duh. On this live outing, these Texas smartalecks prove themselves as fine a country bar band as you could ever require... There's about a 50% overlap between this disc and their first studio album... and in many ways, the live versions are a lot more fun!
Cooder Graw "Shifting Gears" (Three-To-One Records, 2001)
Cooder Graw "Live At Billy Bob's" (Smith Music Group, 2002)
Cooder Graw "Wake Up" (Emergent, 2004)
Ry Cooder - see artist profile
John Corbett "John Corbett" (Fun Bone, 2006)
The guitar-god pose on the cover may be a little embarassing, but the music within is surprisingly solid, in a journeymanlike way... Actor John Corbett is best known as "Chris the DJ," the smarmy, omniscient narrator on TV's long-gone cult classic, Northern Exposure... Apparently, he also had a long-running romantic role in Sex In The City, but I would deny knowing anything about that until my dying day. Anyhoo, here he plies himself to roots music and Nashville-styled twang, getting funky on some tunes and playing it straight-up Top 40 on others. Is he making a serious play for mainstream success, or at least putting this disc out there as a Music City demo? Sure, why not? He's got that voice, after all, and it lends itself well to the deep, velvety growl that's so popular among the current crop of Nashville purty boys... He might fit right in... Then again, maybe he's just having some fun. Either way, lots of folks might be surprised by this one... Yeah, it's formulaic and sometimes even a bit forced, but he hits the right tone on a few tunes.
The Corn Sisters "The Other Woman" (Mint, 2001)
Pacific Northwest lo-fi collides with alt.country DIY as Canadian twang-punks Neko Case and Carolyn Marks joins forces for a rowdy live performance at a Seattle venue... They play the hick schtick a little bit broadly for my tastes: echoing some aspects of her Maow days, this disc is full of exaggerated accents, clattering Loretta Lynn covers and various white trash stereotypes... Still, their performance is undeniably high-energy and the crowd seems into it. This is actually an older performance, from a gig in 1998, and in many ways it's mainly Mark's show -- most of the original material is hers, only one song is by Case. Not my cup of tea, but it's got a scrappy DIY vibe that may resonate with the cowpunk crowd. (Also see Neko Case)
Elvis Costello "Almost Blue" (Columbia, 1981)
At the peak of his powers as an angry young punk/wave icon, UK rocker Elvis Costello turned his image on its head and delivered this fine set of countrypolitan ballads. He pays homage to the lush Nashville Sound production style of great producers such as Owen Bradley and Billy Sherrill, and throws himself with surprising sincerity into the milky pathos of country music. Costello went to Nashville and hired Sherrill himself to produce the album (although he used his own backing band, the Attractions, rather than a battery of Nashville studio vets...) The song selection is flawless: Hank Williams, Gram Parsons, Merle Haggard, Charlie Rich, even a stellar cover of the old George Jones hit, "A Good Year For The Roses." While some of Costello's rock-oriented fans saw this as a disappointment, a betrayal, or merely as the first instance of Costello slumming in other musical styles, as a diehard, lifelong country music fan, I gotta tell you guys, this record stands up over the years. It was really good when it first came out, and it's really good now. Elvis knew what he was doing. There are several versions of this record that have come out over the years -- the original 12-songs LP, the Rykodisc expanded version of the late '80s and the re-expanded reissue on Rhino years later -- they are all good, and the core of the album remains the original Sherrill-produced sessions. Recommended!
Elvis Costello "The Delivery Man" (Lost Highway, 2004)
Hailed as a back-to-basics roots-rock album, this is less a country-rock outing than a return to Costello's old fondness for tortured, James Carr-ish soul wailing... There's some slap-happy electric blues and Memphis-styled reverb-a-billy, but little in the way of the countrypolitan twang of the Almost Blue variety. Frankly, as an old Costello fan from the '70s and '80s, I now find his ceaseless, by-rote wordsmithing mildly impentrable, not because I can't understand what he's saying, but because I don't really want to... This album sounds okay, but it doesn't seem to be saying anything new, and Elvis mostly appears to be going through the motions. It's not like he actually needs to express deep feelings anymore, it's just that that's what you do when you make records, so let's crank up the irony machine again and see what comes out. Aurally, this is a perfectly adequate, listenable album... It's just that nothing really stands out as particularly new or emotionally resonant. There are a couple of notable duets: Lucinda Williams delivers a remarkably insincere vocal performance on the negligible "There's A Story In Your Voice," while Emmylou Harris brings gravity and heartbreak to "Nothing Clings Like Ivy," a song that may be the album's highlight. I suppose this record is good enough, but it's not an album I'd see myself revisting over the years.
Cowboy Junkies "The Trinity Sessions" (1988)
Cowboy Nation "Cowboy Nation" (Demon, 1997)
Cowboy Nation "A Journey Out of Time" (Shanachie, 2000)
Cowboy Nation "We Do As We Please" (Paras, 2001)
Cowboy Nation "Cowgirl A-Go-Go" (Paras, 2002)
Alt.country-ish slowcore from some longtime SoCal musical bad boys The actual "cowboyness" of this latest offering by Tony & Chip Kinman (formerly of Dils/Rank&File/Blackbird punk/indie infamy...) is fairly obscure. Twang-tinged, droning, drifting tunes in which their vocals sound remarkably like Hoyt Axton. A few songs are too repetitive, though on the whole this has a lulling, narcotic feel.
The Cowslingers "Americana-A-Go-Go" (Shake It, 1999)
Loud, garage-y punkabilly. Too clangorous for me, but not bad for the style.
Roger Creager "Having Fun All Wrong" (Dualtone/Crystal Clear, 1998)
At the forefront of latest crop of Texas indiebillies, songwriter Roger Creager bears more than a passing musical resemblance to Robert Earl Keen, Jr., matching wordy writing and craggy, uneven vocals with a rich hard country sound. Creager shies away from overly-introspective or poetic songsmithing, though, in favor of booze-soaked loser lyrics, ala Jerry Jeff Walker. At the more playful, rowdy end of this spectrum there's "The Everclear Song," a paean in praise of that most frat-boyish of drinks -- on the more reflective sides, there's the softer "Until The Thought Of You" and the album's bouncy title track, in which his debt to Jerry Jeff becomes more clear. Overall, a fine debut from one of the Lone Star State's most promising newcomers! (Produced by Lloyd Maines, who also plays on the album.)
Roger Creager "I Got The Guns" (Creager Music, 2000)
Despite the rowdy-sounding album title, this disc is much mellower and more poetically inclined than Having Fun was. Oh, sure, there's a duet with John Evans on "Mother Was A Redneck, Too," but other than that, the main preoccupation on this album seems to be romantic (as in broken-hearted and forlorn), with an on-the-road song or two thrown in for good measure. It wasn't as much fun, if you ask me, but it's still nice stuff, in an Americana-y kinda way. Lloyd Maines produces and plays again...
Roger Creager "Long Way To Mexico" (Dualtone, 2003)
His best album, at least in musical terms. The outlaw angle is still kinda tined down, but his vocals are the best they've been, both in terms of delivery and how they fit into the sound mix. Producer Lloyd Maines sculpts a fine, full sound, and nestles Creager's rugged voice into the environs. It sounds pretty nice, and the songwriting is pf a higher calibre as well. Radney Foster duets on one of the few rowdy tunes here, "I Say When I Drink What I Think When I'm Sober," (which would have been pretty funny if it weren't so sadly offensive...) and Maines plays, of course, throughout. If you like Robert Earl Keen, Jr., then you'll want to check this one out!
Roger Creager "Live Across Texas" (Dualtone, 2004)
The Crooked Jades "Going To The Races" (Crooked Records, 1998)
The first album by one of San Francisco's finest old-time stringbands. Here the Jades emerge as amiable acoustic twangsters, along the lines of the Dry Branch Fire Brigade -- knowledgable, enthusiastic and relatively accessible to bluegrassers and other non-old timey fans alike. The vocal chores are evenly split between the guys and gals, and when they really get going, their clattering enthusiasm is a thing to behold.
The Crooked Jades "Seven Sisters: A Kentucky Portrait" (Crooked Records, 2000)
The soundtrack to a documentary film about several generations of an Appalachian family, this shows the band's intensified interest in the more rarified, stark and otherworldly strains of old-timey music. These city folks nail it right on the head... Sinking deeper under the tow of old-timey music's darker side, the Jades present the passionate fatalism of mountain music along with all its musical charm. Singing higher and more plaintively, playing tighter and more aggressively, this is clearly a band that has found its footing, and is setting off to make its own original mark on some old, traditional music. And when the hair starts to stand up on the back of your neck, that's how you know they've succeeded. Cool record -- check it out!
The Crooked Jades "The Unfortunate Rake, Volume 1" (Crooked Records, 2000)
Under the guidance of their pal and guest producer, Richard Buckner, the Crooked Jades go even deeper into the Gothic side of the old-timey continuum. Once again, I'm not a big fan of high-concept country, but I am intrigued by their efforts to recast these foreboding old themes into an updated sensibility. There are lots of nice touches, such as their slowing an old barndancing standard such as "Ida Red" down to a near-crawl, and allowing the antiquated, somewhat saucy, lyrics to take on new twists and secondary meanings. The picking and plunking is pretty good, too -- these city kids know how to play a breakdown right -- although at times I have to struggle the vocals, particularly those that are most openly imitative of Richard Buckner. As with many alt.country artistes, the Jades have a tendency to sound a little stilted, but they back it up with a strong command of their material, and this record is several notches above the rest of the crowd. Particularly fascinating are their variant versions of traditional songs -- in the best folkloric tradition, they travel familiar paths, but they veer off into the forest from time to time, just when you least expect it. Great record -- highly recommended!
The Crooked Jades "The Crooked Jades" (EP) (Self-Released, 2005)
With a new lineup and increasing ease behind the mics, San Francisco's Crooked Jades have produced possibly their best record to date. This five-song EP features two originals and three traditional tunes, each of which are delivered with a solid, confident elegance... While their earlier old-timey albums have had a choppiness and self-conscious air at times, this is a smooth, self-assured set, with nary a forced note to be heard... Can't wait to hear the band's next full-length album!
Crooked Jades "Worlds On Fire" (2006)
This San Fran outfit has become notably less bluegrassy or old-timey, and now they've entered into artsy musical terrain that's truly distinctive and new. The songs are arch and intellectually dense, the music is in turns expansive and tightly cut. Now, as a rather pedestrian listener myself, I have to confess this didn't have enough of a melody-chorus orientation for me to latch onto it -- I'll be darned if I could tell you what any of these songs are about -- but for anyone looking for new, unconventional music that is pushing the boundaries of Americana and twang, I'd say this disc is a must-hear record. I don't know what the hell the Jades are doing here, but I know it's something new. You might wanna check it out.
Alt.Country Albums - Letter "D"
Hick Music Index
