With the 2011 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominees just announced, there are a couple easy picks and many nominees that elicit a “huh?” Plus, the slights just keep on comin’…
First, who is not nominated: Cheap Trick, Rush, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Devo, Stevie Ray Vaughn or KISS. And how about Willie Nelson? It’s criminal, I say.
Among the 15 artists, first-time nominees (artists who released their first record in 1985 are eligible for the first time) include Bon Jovi, Tom Waits, Neil Diamond, Donovan and Alice Cooper. Previously nominated artists include J. Geils Band, LL Cool J and the Beastie Boys, along with New Orleans legend Dr. John, disco queen Donna Summer, and R&B/disco act Chic. Also nominated are Laura Nyro, Darlene Love, Chuck Willis and Joe Tex.
roots rock twang news
Indiana Music: Album Release from Scott Kellogg; Rusty Bladen and Duke Tumatoe at Winefest
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
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]
Cracker's David Lowery explains himself – one song at a time
David Lowery has always been the articulate, inspired, not-afraid-to-let-go-on-stage type of singer for which I am a sucker. Show some passion and an ability to both understand and play music that has roots to songs that came before it, and I may be hooked. And I really like it if they can politely rock the shit out of their own tunes.
Lowery is the frontman for the band Cracker, and also – for those with any memory of 80’s college rock – Camper Van Beethoven. He’s launched a blog that may prove to the the best rock music writing of 2010. On 300songs.com, Lowery writes about each of 300 songs he has penned. But the genius of the execution – the reason the writing becomes more than simple narcissism – is because of the detours he takes, into stories that feel like letters from a friend.
Stories about taking his band into Las Vegas with his band for th first time. Squaring old disagreements. Explaining the history and intrigue of the Lost Coast of California. Including chord charts and lyrics for the featured song. How’s that for a start?
Always, Lowery is writing interesting prose -the Hunter Thompson version of the truth. Real and slightly psychedelic.
Whether or not you are a fan who has seen the band at The Vogue or Birdy’s or a festival in Indy, you can trust me: the music he’s made with Cracker has been some of the best rock/Americana/alt-country/whatever of the past 20 years.
Now we get a proudly woozy blog – about songs I haven’t even heard, but know I need to. Especially now., because Lowery made me want to.
Read it here
Lowery is slated to release his first-ever solo record, The Palace Guards on February 1, 2011 on Savoy/429 Records.
VIDEO: Cracker – “Eurotrash Girl”, with some of guitarist Johnny Hickman’s fine raunch.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38Vun2LYnoY]
Todd Snider: Busy Man Comes to Bloomington
(originally written for NUVO.net (8.31.10)
I hate musical labels. But I can use them. I’d call Todd Snider a roots rocker, having seen him with his old band The Nervous Wrecks, all sweaty and rockin’. Call him folk, or a kind of Prine/Petty/Jerry Jeff Walker/Jagger hybrid. Some of those work for you?
Todd will perform at the 3rd annual Hillbilly Haiku Concert at the Upland Brewing Company in Bloomington, Indiana this Friday (September 3rd) at 6pm. TV Mike and the Scarecrows and The Elly Maze open.
The Hillbilly Haiku Americana Music Series is hosted by the Upland Brewing Co. to raise money for the Sycamore Land Trust. All proceeds from the concert’s ticket, food, and beverage sales benefit the Sycamore Land Trust, whose mission is to preserve the landscape of southern Indiana. Working with private landowners to protect their family heritage, SLT has conserved over 5,500 acres on more than 66 parcels and helped plant over 55,000 trees.
After he rolls out of town, Snider will head to the Americana Music Festival held in Nashville beginning September 8, and will fire up a group he is calling Todd Snider’s Rock & Roll Revue, featuring Jason D. Williams, Dan Baird and Friends.
New Springsteen "Darkness" Reissue Contains Intriguing Additions
Though grounded in a rock and roll, with a healthy R&B/60’s Soul tradition chromosome, Bruce Springsteen was signed as a folk guy (at least that’s what Columbia Records thought they were getting). As successfully as any artist in modern music, has been able go from folk to rock to soul to pop without losing his ability to write insightful lyrics and embrace rock music.
But the record that has proven to be the strongest, most timeless work is 1978’s Darkness on the Edge of Town album. It gets a newly remastered treatment (The Promise: The Darkness on the Edge of Town Story, a 6 CD/DVD set, due out November 14) with a package that includes two CD’s of unreleased, new/old songs from the original recording sessions; a live concert video from 1978; and a making-of documentary – one that debuts at the Toronto Film Festival September 14, and on HBO in August.
I have the orginal CD in my car. It’s a favorite on my iPod. I can still remember the day in 1984 , going to the used record store in Hillsdale, Michigan, and coming out with a used vinyl version. I still have it.
It a record that has some of Bruce’s meanest guitar playing, down-but still-hopeful lyrics and a core set of songs (“Badlands”, “Prove It All Night”, The Promised Land”) that form the heart of most of the band’s live shows.
He had to wait two years following the release of Born to Run before he could even get into the studio to record the album, because of the lawsuit with his management, and a judge’s injunction against recording with his new manager Jon Landau while the court case dragged on.