Rob Nichols

Indiana Music: Cara Jean Wahlers new album "Goodnight Charlotte"

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After Indianapolis singer/songwriter Cara Jean Wahlers saw cellist Grover Parido perform with Blueprint Music a few years ago, she talked to him about working together. It led to the duo’s collaboration on Goodnight Charlotte, Wahler’s new 12-song collection, featuring her vocals and guitar, and Parido’s cello, piano and bass.
A stunningly beautiful set of quiet-yet-engaging songs, it is anchored by Wahler’s in-you-ear vocals, and Parido’s achingly gorgeous sound. Whether his contribution is part of the atmosphere, or is a solo that creeps from the background and engulfs the listener, his playing is pointed and pretty, soulful and satisfying.
The album is music for your head and your heart. Think “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down” for the 2010’s
The opening song, “Chinatown” reveals the gifts both players bring. Wahlers is a cinematic writer, building scenes in songs that a listener’s mind can see. Rain on a face. Trinkets in a pocket. Throughout, Parido adds weight to chord changes, and slides forward when warranted.
Wahlers best moments come when she drops details on the listener.
On “Orange Blossom”, she sings how “pine needles sting my bare feet.”
In “California”, she compares a love to AM radio, both “barely able to stay in tune”.
With “Mark’s On The Earth”, she sings: “I am tired of trying to prove that I am beautiful, burning for you. I am tired of trying to prove that I am good enough – broken hearts can burn too”
Wahlers works inside a pleasing Joni Mitchell/Ricki Lee Jones/Emmylou Harris template – more West coast than rural – and a hint of Indiana in her voice helps anchor a sound more organic than shiny. Parido’s piano visits regularly and then backs off. There’s space in the album’s soundscape for instruments to appear and then recede – a sympathetic mix providing room for voice, piano, cello and Wahler’s anchoring guitar work.
“Black Dog” may be the best song on the album, about falling in love with Steven and his dog. And yes, Wahlers references the Led Zeppelin song near the end of her tune, supported by Parido’s Zep-like lines.
Not sure if anyone will make a smarter, lovelier record in 2010. Wahlers and Parido have created an intelligent and gentle album, hearfelt and soulful in it’s quiet beauty.
website

Indiana Music: Album Release from Scott Kellogg; Rusty Bladen and Duke Tumatoe at Winefest

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A pair of outstanding Americana musical evenings for our Southern Indiana readership….
On Friday night (Sept. 24), Scott Kellogg hosts an album release show for debut solo CD, Silver in Their Veins. He’s been name-dropped by me for his work on Bloomington Americana darling Bobbie Lancaster’s first solo record earlier this year. Kellogg will share the stage with the Shiny Sounds band, which includes Lancaster. She and Nick Einterz will open the evening with their own music.
8pm / John Waldron Arts Center – Bloomington, IN / $10.
map/directions
Latest tracks by Scott Kellogg
Duke Tumatoe and Rusty Bladen team up for a Winefest show at Chateau de Pique Winery in Seymour, about an hour south of Indy off of I-65. Bladen opens with Indiana rock (sounds like Petty) and tunes from his recent Homegrown Treasures album before Dr. Duke hits the wineheads with his blues/rock. The show is free; a beer garden will be open. FYI: Governor Davis plays Friday night, and the winery website says there is free camping (!)
website
5:30pm / Chateau de Pique Winery – Seymour, IN 47274 / free
map/directions

A Look Ahead: Gaslight Anthem in Indianapolis – Tuesday, Sept 21

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The Gaslight Anthem spent the summer touring through Europe with their recent American Slang album, and for the last month or so have worked their way across the US, and into the Midwest, and make a stop in Indy at The Vogue on Tuesday night.  They play Milwaukee on Saturday, Madison on Sunday and Chicago Monday.
Their Springsteen/Clash sound, live energy and resonating lyrics has launched them into the realm of bands that urgently defend the rock and roll flag staked by Bruce and those that came before him. And they do it better than most, if not all. With these guys, and then the The Hold Steady visiting on September 30 (and teh Drive-By Truckers in October), it is a wealth of rock riches…
Video from Europe tour – Great sound – pro shot
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTauQwfcxBc]

Larry Crane Back in Indiana; Headlines Saturday’s Beech Grove Fall Festival

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When we talked to former Mellencamp guitarist Larry Crane this summer (for an interview in Indianapolis’ NUVO) , he mentioned two things: the old Mellencamp band may be getting back together to record, and that he would be in Indiana later in the summer for a show. Well, it is now the final weekend of summer, and as promised, Crane has returned. He brings his heartland rock and roll to the stage at the Beech Grove Fall Festival Saturday night.
Crane was in Bloomington in June for an album release show at the Buskirk-Chumley Theatre, marking the Indiana debut for Tropical Depression, an album that sound familiar to those who kept up with him as he was banging around the clubs and theatres with his band in the early and mid 90’s, after his spilt from Mellencamp.
Now based in Florida, Crane’s quotes in the story garnered enough attention that Mellencamp’s management released a statement saying John was going to be busy with his No Better Than This album, and had no other plans. With the success of that album ( #1 for the fifth consecutive week on the Americana charts last week), he has his own tour lined up through the fall, including dates in Fort Wayne, South Bend, two shows in Indy, with a tour-opening two night stand at IU’s Memorial Auditorium on October 29 and 30. He’s garnering terrific press with the new record, and was was honored at Nashville’s Americana Music Awards last week and was given their Lifetime Achievement Award for Songwriting.
But that note from management never really said the musicians from John’s big pop/rock 80’s heydey (Kenny Aronoff, Toby Myers and Crane) wouldn’t be reuniting – just that there were no “plans”. I’d like to hear the old band again, so I take the statement as a positive sign.
Meantime, Larry and his band hit the stage (located at 8th and Main) with romping guitar and drums Midwest rock and roll at 9pm Saturday night in downtown Beech Grove. Added bonus: Indy’s Healing Sixes crank up their amps just before Crane, with a set from 7-8:30pm.
website/stage info

Trio of Americana albums this week from Plant, Earle, Johnson

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There’s three impressive album releases of Americana music this week. Jamey Johnson has the most ambitious offering – a double-disc CD garnering triumphant reviews – and it is primed to make him a reluctant country music (and more) superstar. Robert Plant follows his Raising Sand masterpiece with a solo record, aided by Americana guitarist/singer/songwriter Buddy Miller. Justin Townes Earle continues to build a career worthy of the Earle name, and may have the most accessible, joyous record of the three.  It’s a warm, retro sound for his third album of literate country, folk and rock music.
Jamey Johnson – The Guitar Song
Review: “It’s a stunning, varied and far-reaching set of 25 hardcore country songs, sonically and thematically integrated into a musical journey designed to be experienced, optimally, in sequence, from the first, generally darker “Black” disc on through the more upbeat sounds of hard-won redemption in the second “White” disc. It’s a country album, and one as ambitious in its intentions and successful in its execution as country music has seen in decades, able to hold its own with albums conceived as such by Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard and Johnny Cash.” – Wall Street Journal
Read full review at WSJ.com
Great in-depth piece with Johnson from Peter Copper from tennessean.com
Justin Townes Earle – Harlem River Blues
Review: “The album offers an impressive variety of styles. While the title track sounds like gospel music that’s been kicked in the backside by Elvis, Earle follows it with what might initially seem like the standard “I’ve lost my love and I’m sad” kind of ballad. But it’s really a metaphoric slap in the face — a call to stop wasting time with those who aren’t willing to give us what we want or need.” – NPR
Read full review at NPR
Hear the album via NPR
Lengthy, revealing interview from Michigan’s mlive.com
Robert Plant – Band Of Joy
Review: “Three years after Raising Sand, his collaboration with country diva Alison Krauss, Robert Plant shuffles a little more in the direction of his beloved gospel-soul-blues with this album, named after his first band. Read what you like into that fact, but the 62-year-old is carving out a future rather than recalling the past with this intense, challenging and frequently brilliant collection. If Krauss’s crystalline voice and T-Bone Burnett’s production were key last time, then guitarist and co-producer Buddy Miller is the main man here. But the band has many strengths, including the remarkable Patty Griffin on vocals.” – Irish Times
Read full review at IT
Former Rolling Stone writer Alan Light’s interview with Plant in NYTimes