Sturgill Simpson-Metamodern Sounds in Country Music

Metamodern Sounds in Country Music is the second album from Kentucky native Sturgill Simpson it's an album that takes you on a refreshing journey where country meets blissed out psychedelia and the defiance and spirit of the 70's outlaw movement. This album is a breath of fresh air against the pallid play it safe sounds coming out of corporate Nashville, it reminds us of the best elements of country music the ability to tell a tell with honesty and true grit. You couple with that the fact that this guy could sing the phone book and have you mesmerised, Sturgill has a powerful throat. There is a weariness and cynicism in the songs, that life isn't quite all it's cracked up to be and what we were promised and told was all a falsehood.

Turtles All the Way Down extols the virtues of seeing the landscape of life through an altered lens, even though mind altering substances might lead to important questions it might not lead to revealing answers but he puts the case for the freedom to try. At the end of the day love's the only thing that truly resonates within a life. It also call into question blind faith in religion, once a bastion of old time country that was sung about only in revered tones. It's a song that harkens back to the early 70's outlaw sound pioneered by the likes of Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson but Sturgill gently bends the song with ghostly echoing vocals.

Every time I take a look inside that old and fabled book
I'm blinded and reminded of the pain caused by some old man in the sky
Marijuana, LSD, psilocybin and DMT they all changed the way I see
But love's the only thing that ever saved my life.

Living the Dream with all it's cynicism and hopelessness still has a defiance about it, the idea that if you want you can just sit around and wait to die.

Time and again Lord I keep going through the motions
A means to an end but the ends don't seem to meet
Walking around living the dream anytime I take the notion
Til the truth comes bubbling up so bittersweet.

Long White Line is a great trucker song harking back to the likes of Dave Dudley, classic country tale girl is gone so why not hit the road and try and find the end of the long white line, from New York City to ole St Joe and on to New Mexico. Not content to revel in the past Sturgill makes the road one that twists and bends with a stretched out droning guitar. Sturgill also shows his voice is more than suited to a ballad, The Promise is great sounding like it was cut in the early 70's maybe at Quadraphonic in Nashville with those crisp sounding rim shots on the snare just drifting off into space. It's one of those tear jerking country tunes that make you think of George Jones and Faron Young etc and this sits comfortably with their best tear jerkers. Looking forward to seeing how far he continues to push the boundaries on future albums.

Ryan Adams/Jenny Lewis-Forum Theatre 20.07.14

It was on a freezing cold night in Melbourne that I headed down to the Forum Theatre in Melbourne to see Ryan Adams and Jenny Lewis and it was a gig that delivered in spades. I've been a Jenny Lewis fan for some time and have enjoyed her last studio album The Voyager, in a live setting I was taken aback by the strength of her voice. With a cracking five piece band she played the lilting west coast countrified tunes Just One Of The Guys, Head Underwater and She's Not You from The Voyager. She also dips into the bag for some tunes from her days with Rilo Kiley including a cracking version of The Moneymaker. It was disappointing that she didn't get the respect she deserved from the audience, there was a lot of chatter during her set. She never hesitated or faltered and finished with an angelic version of Acid Tongue with her band providing a gospel style backing.

Ryan Adams live is often seen as a rollercoaster ride with a myriad of outcomes from the sublime to the sheer scary, so it was with some trepidation that I headed to the Forum last night to see him in the flesh. To say he was brilliant would be something of an understatement, it was so far my gig of the year and it will take a lot to beat. He played for 2 hours and left nothing but his rock and roll heart on the stage, it was intense and moving. He took the audience on a ride with extended jams and a more than generous serving of his back catalogue covering some 23 songs. With his backing band The Shining he carved out a set that honoured fans new and old, with special mention going to his band and in particular keyboard wiz Daniel Clarke who was phenomenal. The set kicked off with Gimme Something Good the opener from his latest self titled album and a good way to loosen things up. With such an extensive catalogue Adams mixed things up an amazing blissed out version of Peaceful Valley was from his days with the Cardinals, which showcased his underrated guitar prowess. He stuck with the more intense numbers from his recent album Stay With Me was lean and Shadows had a sense of urgency in his performance. Jenny Lewis came back on stage for a dramatic rendition of Oh My Sweet Carolina, he also gave a restrained but by no means impassive version of New York which was my introduction to his music.

Kacey Musgraves-Same Trailer Different Park

I tend to give country music a wide birth unless it's the traditional kind pioneered by Hank Williams, Lefty Frizell etc I'm not a fan of the Nashvillepolitan style that is generic and formulaic give me anything but Keith Urban and Tim McGraw. So it took me awhile to come across this country gem, and whilst it's been a big crossover success there isn't anything safe or mundane about Same Trailer Different Park by Kacey Musgraves. Country is at it's best when it embraces rebelliousness mixed with humour and some defiance thrown in for good measure. Rather than the chest beating God fearing lyrics country tends to embrace Musgraves opts for something more heartfelt and honest. She puts small town southern America under the microscope and the stories resonate with hardship, struggle, addiction and feelings of hopelessness.

Silver Lining offers an optimistic beginning in the face of adversity, the idea that from the darkest moment comes a ray of light

If you're ever gonna find a silver lining
It's gotta be a cloudy day
If you wanna fill your bottle up with lightning
You're gonna have to stand in the rain

Musgraves doesn't try to push to hard on this one, all the familiar sounds are there the banjo and pedal steel there is no caving for pop sensibility on this tune. The bright My House extols the joys of living mobile,

Water and electric and place to drain the septic
Any KOA is A-OK as long as I'm with you
So come on hitch your wagon
To the living room I'm draggin
If I can't bring you to my house
I'll bring my house to you.

Merry Go Round is about small town values and they way in which they suffocate the next generation, church and family the binds of small town America don't always offer a path to happiness.

If you ain't got two kids by 21
You're probably gonna die alone
Least that's what tradition told you
And it don't matter if you don't believe
Come Sunday morning, you best be there in the front row like you're supposed to.

Dandelion is an interesting detour, sounding more like a southern soul song Musgraves' voice is pure and enchanting, I listen and think what Chips Moman or Tommy Cogbill would do with that song at American studios. The more uptempo and driven Blowin Smoke has Musgraves feeling resigned to life working in a diner, idle gossip and big talk aren't enough to get her on that midnight bus up the highway. Follow Your Arrow is the tune that got Musgraves into trouble, causing a stir in the conservative circles of Nashville. It's a song built on the rebel tradition of of Waylon, Willie and Johnny not only a swipe at the conservative moralism of Nashville but also at those who criticise conservative values. It's a plea for freedom from judgement to live a life how you choose free from moral judgement.

If you save yourself for marriage you're a bore
If you don't save yourself for marriage
You're a whore-able person
If you won't have a drink
Then you're a prude
But they'll call you a drunk
As soon as you down the first one 
If you can't lose the weight you're just fat
But if you lose too much
Then your on crack
You're damned if you do
And damned if you don't
So you might as well do
Just whatever you want

Same Trailer Different Park is bookended alongside albums by Ashley Monroe, Miranda Lambert and Angaleena Presley that are edgy and prepared to challenge the Nashville orthodoxy and the music and the listener is better for it.

Gill Landry-Gill Landry

In March Gill Landry released his third solo album, known as a mainstay of Old Crow Medicine Show this self titled set surprises. Whilst not deeply rooted in the old time Americana that Old Crow have become famous for Landry has crafted an exquisite set of songs, honest and elaborate with an imbued melancholy Landry explores the often rough and barren landscape of love. It's a concise album Landry doesn't waste words allowing space for interesting musical alignments.

The delicate Funeral In My Heart features an intricate guitar pattern Landry sets the tone with a song expressing loss and regret.

There's a funeral in my heart
Everyone is dressed in black
With chrysanthemums and voodoo dolls trying to bring you back
As the lonesome hearse rolls slowly to the graveyard of my mind

Just Like You has a similar stripped back framework, a haunting harmonica matches the haunted protagonist. A life that once held purpose and happiness is replaced by one that is intransigent and listless, a sense of resigned ambivalence starts to set in.

Broken down. hung up and wasted in a heartless town
Thinking of old loves and wedding gowns
Passing time.
It's so hard trying to find a golden spark
When the world is cold and dark in my mind

Waiting For Love for the first time displays an influence of Old Crow, the melancholy strains of the fiddle reminiscent of Ketch Secor at his most wistful and plaintive. Take This Body is a highlight a beautiful duet with Laura Marling, his own vocal performance also stands out, sounding weary and defeated. Fennario takes a leaf out of the Calexico songbook with that dark, twisted south of the border sound, it's a reminiscence of glory days well past, a town of where the revelry lasted deep into the nights. Lost Love has a horn refrain that the Memphis Horns would have been proud of, it turns it into a song where Memphis and Nashville meet somewhere in the middle on a dusty highway.

It often happens that the quiet member of the band who doesn't get any notice often has a talent that is completely overlooked. It's quite possible that this could be the case with Landry who has crafted an immensely enjoyable album where each song is unique and stands on it's own. His songwriting shows maturity and depth there is no fall into maudlin self pity each song has a grittiness and world weary despair that adds to the beauty of this album.

Lee Morgan-Lee-Way

Soul Jazz has been an oft maligned and misunderstood part of the Jazz genre, written off as being simplistic and catering to popular tastes it's never received it'd due recognition. Looking into the canon of soul jazz you find a plethora of amazing albums and musicians coming out of the hard bop era who were looking to explore jazz in a different but still challenging way. Still keeping the anarchic elements of bop as it's thread Soul Jazz added a relaxed and rolling swing with some funky twists and turns along the way. Cookin-Hard Bop and Soul Jazz 1954-1965 is a great history of Soul Jazz and gives you the breakdown on what you need to listen to.

Lee Morgan remains in the background in terms of Jazz music's pioneering trumpet players, his early passing in 1971 has meant that his catalogue has been largely ignored. I found this record in the second hand section at Greville Records, keen to expand my jazz knowledge I grabbed it and was intrigued by the intensity of what I heard. Lee-Way was recorded in April 1960 for Blue Note under the supervision of famed produced Alfred Lion, the album came at a juncture in Morgan's life, he was battling a growing addiction to heroin which would see him return to his Philadelphia home within the year to get clean. This was also the period in which his reputation was reaching an early peak, he had become a member of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers in 1958 at the tender age of 20. Lee-Way features an all star cast with Art Blakey on drums, Jackie McLean on alto sax, Mile Davis alumni Paul Chambers on bass and Bobby Timmons also from the Messengers on piano. Lee-Way is the early genesis of soul jazz, retaining a lot of the brimstone of hard bop it also has a relaxed groove that permeates the album. Timmons was a great composer writing songs like Moanin and Dat Dere and This Here for Cannonball Adderley, in a similar vein to Wynton Kelly he played the blues with feeling and restraint. Paul Chambers at the peak of his powers was at that point the go to sideman for a powerful swinging anchor on the bass. Jackie McLean had also been a Jazz Messenger as well as part of Charles Mingus' band and a searing sound emitted from his alto.

The reflective These Are Soulful Days is an elegant tune but with an ominous feel, McLean and Morgan duet on the opening refrain and it feels like there is a darkness in that opening. Paul Chambers and Bobby Timmons then take their turn to bounce of one another before Timmons delves into a solo that starts out refined then brilliantly begins to slink and snake along picking up a distinct blues groove along the way. Even though Timmons was a pianist that respected space and rhythm he was more than adept at firing off clusters of notes. McLean is probably at his most relaxed in his solo, more known for his piercing modal riffs he is very wistful on this tune. Morgan floats and weaves, unlike Miles who at that point was becoming less known for his intense bursting solos, Morgans playing has an intensity and urgency to it.

The Lion and the Wolff was a dedication to produced Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff, it has one of the best opening rhythms I've heard. Timmons plays an ominous refrain with Blakey summoning up a boss nova style groove before McLean and Morgan match each other note for note with some funky meanderings.It's Timmons playing that captures my attention melodic and deeply infused with soul he then plays some call and response with Paul Chambers. Blakey is one of my favourite drummers, so precise and powerful with those ham fisted rolls, and then he just rolls into that opening groove. Morgan pours some fat on the fire, maybe ruminating at his current state of affairs, it's a solo full of jagged twists and turns.

The Jackie McLean penned Midtown Blues, is just that, late night greasy filled slice of blues. With McLean and his leader playing the distinct opening melody before Lee unleashes a brutal assault full of sonic piercings. Nakatini Suite is a more driven hard bop number which is enhanced by the powerful drumming of Blakey who combines fierce syncopation with a latin pulse. If you want to hear the coming of age of soul jazz, Lee-Way is a good place to start.

The Milk Carton Kids-Monterey

Monterey is the third studio album from California duo The Milk Carton Kids, it's a deeply haunting album set against the backdrop of lives in motion and uncertainty. It's a road album to use another imperfect analogy, recorded before gigs during their North American tour and mixed in a church in Nashville. It becomes difficult to explain what occurs when the voices of Joey Ryan and Kenneth Pattengale envelop around a song, sounding like one voice there's is a wistful melancholy that is beautiful and affecting. Monterey sounds like a tribute to the California Coast, rugged, unpredictable and at times unforgiving like the swirling Pacific Ocean they lend that quality to a set of timeless songs that focus on lives in shift and change.

Asheville Skies opens in mournful grey skies, a sense of fleeting hope dashed as the ominous winter clouds roll in.

Good God, is it November
The leaves burn Auburn red
The Asheville skies and timber
Are holding on to it. 
But I cannot remember that hopeful song
That rose out of our September
My word what have we done


Roads are a strong creative symbol in the U.S from great American literature to the work of artists like The Band and Jackson Browne. Robbie Robertson once said the road was a goddamn impossible way of life, the uncertainty, the shifting ground and the wheels forever in motion, never any time to stand still and reflect.

Could have hope sprung eternal on darkened, dreary roads
The heart that beats nocturnal knows not where it goes
We listen for the signal to raise the dirt again
Our livelihood is equal to the air that breathes us in.

Apart from the depth and beauty of the their lyrics another standout is the continued growth of Kenneth Pattengale as a guitarist, his weaving intricate picking reminds me of the great Dave Rawlings. Getaway renders it's beauty in the shadow of violence and the lingering pain of never finding a place to stand still. The soft and plaintive vocals just add to the sense of despair and fear.

In those years of moving, I was slowly losing all my names
No matter what I'd ruin, it couldn't hold a candle to the pain
My tears are really and all my own
Pouring down there all alone
The soft roll of the water reminds me of my fathers parting words
Son, now don't you go looking for your place out in the world
The tide will roll through the waves
Son, you'll find your Getaway

The title track further explores the calling of the road, the sacrifices of leaving the tranquillity of home.

I can hear the road call
I can hear near
The road call out my name
A journey made
Mercy paid
An old refrain 
To light the way

Freedom has a political resonance and in the light of the Arab Spring it signals an ominous tone for what has been and for what may come,

Freedom rings loudly now
Listen up, hear the sound
Of screaming as the shots ring out
That's what freedom sounds like now.

The City of Our Lady has an old time feel, harking back to the days of Woody Guthrie, hopping a train for cities near and far.

On a city train heading down the line
The faces of the strangers, showing the passing of the time
History is hanging as a picture in a frame
Everywhere we go we are the child of where we came.

Monterey captures the uncertainty of life, that we are prone to move pushed by invisible forces and the sometimes unkind hand of fate. In capturing that feeling they evocatively use the West Coast as their canvas, for all it's twisting roads and the rushing motion of the Pacific Ocean. For any moment of reflection this should be your soundtrack.