My piece on Indy musician Jethro Easyfield appears in the March 6-11 edition of NUVO. He’s a good dude. I enjoyed spending a couple days with him and getting a clearer picture of what he does. He’s quirky – not in a bad way, but he ain’t no slick Nashville boy. either. Jethro is rural Indiana with a unique voice and lyrics that take a couple listens to catch. And it is still all good. I love the backing band, “the Arrowheads”, that he recorded with, and has played with in the past (tuba, anyone?). He’s someone who could bring the band to a gig and play just about any venue that would hold 100 folks, and rock the place. It will be interesting to see if he climbs higher than where he is now. After peering into what Jethro is about, I think he is criminally underrated and could have a bigger influence on the Indy roots-rock live music landscape. Whether he can grab that, and whether others identify his uniqueness as a positive, we shall see. I just hope the guy captures some more ears.
Neil Young’s new/old invention is a 1959 Lincoln Continental that runs entirely on alternative energy -and it also serves as source material for “Fork in the Road,” Young’s new album,. It is out April 7 .
The album features longtime NY sideman Ben Keith (pedal steel guitar, keyboards), plus Chad Cromwell (drums), Rick Rosas (bass), Neil’s wife Pegi Young (vocals) and Anthony Crawford (vocals, guitar).
Here is the “Fork in the Road” track list:
“When Worlds Collide”
“Fuel Line”
“Just Singing A Song”
“Johnny Magic”
“Cough Up The Bucks”
“Get Behind The Wheel”
“Off The Road”
“Hit The Road”
“Light A Candle”
“Fork In The Road”
The album is about Young’s involvement with the Lincvolt Project, He spearheaded, with biodiesel expert Johnathan Goodwin, a car that uses no gas – a cool old car is the hook . I read about this project in the past year, and Neil believes in the endeavor. He may be considered a rebel with his ideas, but rebels can do brilliant things. I think Neil qualifies on both counts….Rebel and brilliant.
The vehicle, Young’s own 1959 Lincoln Continental, is making a cross-country gasoline-free road trip to Washington, DC. It will be filmed.
MY BEST INDY WEEKEND SHOW BET:
The Bittersweets – Royal Theatre in Danville
Roots rock just sounds good at the great little theatre. It’s not too far to drive, plus they sell micro-brewed beer in a little tap room in the theatre. It’s a listening crowd, respectful but not quiet. And The Bittersweets (w/ Cara Jean Wahler opening) create anthemic Americana. This is one of those shows that Indy-ites who are into hitting the best shows before a great band gets even bigger need to catch. ($18 door ($7.50 students) – all-ages show)
BONUS: The band has a free live album you can download on their website. Another reason you can tell they have a clue about how to work it in 2009….
HIS FIRST (AND MAYBE LAST) GREAT BAND
A Faces reunion may still happen in 2009 — but probably not a full-scale tour or album – and maybe not with Rod the Mod.
From Billboard
Keyboardist Ian McLagan says the latest idea, proffered by guitarist Ron Wood at a lunch in London with McLagan and drummer Kenney Jones, is “we do a couple shows and film it. Whether Rod (Stewart) wants to do that…I’m hoping he’ll be into that ’cause it’ll be such a lot of fun. It’s what the three of us would like Rod to agree to.” The Faces, with Stewart’s touring bassist, got together during November in London to play for three days in various configurations. McLagan says the sessions were “really, really great.”
McLagan says that Wood is currently in Los Angeles and plans to talk to Stewart about the latest idea. “I’ll get a call eventually, and maybe we’ll do something in June or July,” McLagan says, ” ’cause I don’t want to do anything next year. I’m not gonna wait again. It’s either gonna be this year…It’s now or never! I’ve got my fingers crossed, but I’m not going to waste energy trying to make it happen. I’ve worked for 30 years trying to make it happen. It’s now in the lap of the gods — or the hands of Rod, maybe.”
Live Faces from 1972 – how can you not like this band?
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ei-L_AuuaxI]
I’M DIGGIN THIS: Grungy bluegrass folkies Avett Brothers do a little Bruce.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmWIxnVBU7w]
ROB’S “FIRST 5 IPOD SHUFFLE EXPERIENCE”
With a nod of the head and friendly wave of the hand to ickmusic.com, one of my very favorite music blogs, I’m gonna rip of their idea and give you a little peek into what’s in my music library; what I listen to when I’m in the car or walking the dog. I’m going to put the ipod on shuffle and the first five songs that come up each week I will share with you. Feel free to comment on what you get on your First 5 Shuffle, or about the songs you see pop up each week here. And smoke ‘em if you got ‘em.
1. “Chips Ahoy” – The Hold Steady (Live at the Non-Comm Radio Convention)
As with a lot of the stuff on my ipod, it’s live. Bootleg copy recorded from a soundboard, it captures the grit and power of the critical darlings. I’ve never completely drank their kool-aid, but I do like their sound, most of the wordiness and the sheer volume that emits from the speakers.
2. “We Can’t Make it Here” – James McMurtry
Literate Crunchy Texas Country Rock. That’s his category. From the album “Childish Things”. I love this song, his honesty, and his Lou Reed-esque vocal delivery. He’s way too smart for me. Buy the first album, featuring Mellencamp’s band members backing him. Almost 20 years old, and it still rocks. And so does his new stuff.
3. “Close Enough For Me” – Henry Lee Summer
From his one and only live album. If you remember Henry Lee from the heyday, he was an unstoppable force in concert – full of hair, bravado, wearing Chuck Taylor high tops, slamming vocal chops and the ability to take a band and a crowd into the “magic” of what happens when the band is in the pocket and the crowd is crazy. This cut is a loose, groovin’ thang, with Carl Storie blowing on the harp. I miss this Henry Lee….
4. “Babo O’Reilly” – Bob Walkenhorst
Who cover via the ex-lead singer of a late 80’s roots-rock band The Rainmakers. I had a serious love affair with the band’s “The Good News and the Bad News” cassette tape around 1990 . Nasty Telecaster guitars, a rock and roll snare drum really high in the mix and songs that told stories, and even some horns in a couple tunes. Bootleg here recorded live at one of his solo gigs.
5. “Dancing Queen – The Yahoos
One of Dan Baird’s (Georgia Satellites) side projects. Greasy cover of the iconic ABBA song. He turns it into a rock anthem.
**
Meanwhile, Back at the Rock Sideman Icon Ranch: Steve Van Zandt – aka Little Steven from the E St. Band – has some interesting things to say about rock and roll and his desire to get his vision on Tv, or someplace else.
From Rollingstone.com
“We’ve been working on a TV series for years and came very close. It’s probably my greatest frustration right now, by far. Three years in a row we came within five minutes of a network deal. They keep backing out at the last minute, they’re afraid of music on TV. They tell me it never works. I tell them, ‘I know why it doesn’t work — because it always sucks. How about we do a show that doesn’t suck? Let’s try that!’
“We could do a fantastic TV show and I think that would change everything. It will completely focus this traditional rock and roll and contemporary garage rock movement. The main thing we would do and what you haven’t seen the last 30 years is that it will have kids dancing to rock & roll. I just feel that one day we were dancing to rock & roll and the next we started listening to it, and it’s been downhill ever since — somewhere around 1967 or so. I’m exaggerating only slightly. It may end up on cable.
We may have to start it on the Internet, or a fucking cell phone. It’s something I’m determined to do.”
***
With digital cable, and the web, there are more and more sources for live music and videos, and getting to something ultimately valuable and intelligently unique is tough. Frustrating sometimes. And while there is more music available that one or five or nine years ago, there is nothing on TV that has the singular drive to be garage rock-unique. I listen to Van Zandt’s excellent “Underground Garage” program on WTTS, and his Garage Rock channel on Sirius/XM. Some of it is challenging, most of it is pretty damn good and they are nearly all inspired recordings. He seems to be about the real. He pushes me to know the past and then blowtorching the preconceived notions of what something should be. He plays stuff I hear nowhere else, believing in his (this) music and presenting it with passion. Can’t ask for much more, other than some talent to back it up. Which he has. He should get this project done. Even if it becomes just one more option for people like us.
RN
Indiana
Roots Rock: U2, Jack Black, Little Steven, Mat Kearney
U2 is currently streaming their new album, “No Line on the Horizon”, on their MySpace page (www.myspace.com/u2) more than a week before its March 3 release. The band will play five consecutive nights on Late Night With David Letterman starting March 2. No word on if this is in response to staffers at Universal Music Australia inadvertently mading the new album available digitally more than a week before release. According to reports, high-quality downloads of the album were briefly made available earlier this week on Getmusic.com.au, a digital store operated by Universal Music’s Australian affiliate. “Horizon” is also now understood to be widely distributed via peer-to-peer file sharing networks. They ended up selling the nine-million copies of 2004’s”How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb”, which was also leaked, so this may be a case study in “Leaking an album just doesn’t matter if you are U2”
School of Rock star Jack Black married into a pretty impressive musical pedigree when he wed singer Tanya Haden. Haden is one of the triplet daughters of legendary jazz bassist Charlie Haden–best known for his work with Ornette Coleman. Her sisters Petra plays in the Decemberists, and Rachel is a founding member of The Rentals. Last year, the entire family, under the moniker Charlie Haden Family & Friends, collaborated on the American roots album “Rambling Boy”. They are all playing the Opry at the Ryman this weekend. Ricky Skaggs (also a guest on Rambling Boy), Del McCoury, Hal Ketchum & The Infamous Stringdusters will also be appearing.
Click on links below to listen
Opry on GAC
Opry on WSM Radio (online)
Originally expected in April, Dave Matthews Band’s as-yet-untitled new RCA album will now arrive June 2. The group has also announced its annual summer tour, beginning May 27 in Darien Center, N.Y. – They come to Indy for two nights at Verizon Wireless Music Center on Friday, July 31, and Saturday, August 1.
Mat Kearney is set to release his new album, City of Black & White, on May 19, a followup to his major label debut, “Nothing Left To Lose”, Mat recorded in his new hometown of Nashville, TN,
CHOOSE ONLY ONE? This Week’s Indianapolis Live Show Pick: Justin Townes Earle – Saturday February 21 at Spencer’s Stadium Tavern. Earle, son of singer/songwriter Steve Earle, releases his second album, ‘Midnight at the Movies,’ in early March. He proved he has the talent to stand on his own, with or without the legendary roots-rock name. LISTEN HERE
ALBUM CHART: Taylor Swift’s album “Fearless” returns to the top of The Billboard 200. The set moved 92,000 copies on a 44% salesjump, resulting in its nine non-consecutive weeks at No. 1. The last album spend more time at the top was Santana’s “Supernatural,” which was #1 for 12 weeks in 1999 and 2000. Selling 77,000 on a whopping 715% increase, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss’ “Raising Sand”zoomed from 69 to 2 following its album of the year win at the Grammys. The set debuted at No. 2 in late 2007 with 112,000 and has now sold 1.26 million to date. Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends”rebounds 31-8 with 62,000 sold (+271%); the album generated three Grammys, including song of the year for “Viva La Vida.” Bruce Springsteen’s “Working on a Dream” falls from 2 to 6 with 65,000 sold.
Springsteen guitarist Steve Van Zandt is about to launch a new hard rock label, Lost Cathedral, with the May 14 release of Crown Of Thorns’ “Faith.” Van Zandt’s garage rock label, Wicked Cool will continue to exist. We basically decided to keep Wicked Cool identifiable as a garage rock label, at least for now,” he told Billboard this week. “In the last couple of years, we’ve gotten a lot of hard rock things submitted to us. A lot of it is quite good — a little bit punkier or hard rock than we do with Wicked Cool.”
THE REALLY ODD PAIRINGS DEPT.: Ex-Smashing Pumpkin James Iha, Fountains Of Wayne co-founder Adam Schlesinger, Taylor Hanson of Hanson and Cheap Trick drummer Bun E. Carlos have formed a supergroup named Tinted Windows. Billboard reports the band has recorded their debut album, set for a spring release, with a SXSW showcase set on tap next month.
Concert Review: Healing Sixes/The Garrison at Radio Radio
The Healing Sixes successfully rocked a good crowd of 150 at their Radio Radio show on Saturday night. The Indianapolis band, who have been active for more than a decade, seem on the verge of becoming an “it” band all these years later. So can I give one suggestion to make them even better? Make a sax player, like the one who joined Saturday, a fulltime bandmember.
The band, opening with “Beautiful One” and “Port-O-Let Monkey”, proved adept at blending 70’s rock influences with enough of their own personality to continue to forge an identity that may yet get them into territory once occupied by the Why Store.
Mixing up the setlist with cuts from 2007’s “One Less Friend” album, their work with Joe Bonamassa, and 2002’s “Enormosound”, the band paired some sugary hooks with alt-rock crunch. Plus, they had the elusive likability factor in their favor; You watch and want them to be good because they play with a palpable, relaxed confidence.
Bandmates Doug Henthorn, Eric Saylors, Wade Parish and Jeff Stone channeled Black Crowes, Collective Soul, Led Zeppelin and even a little Cheap Trick, which ain’t ever a bad thing. Their “Fine Tune”, originally recorded with Bonamassa, was another set highlight, with slamming blues riffs and Henthorn’s gruffly sweet vocals carrying the song.
A word to all bands who do mostly original material: good decision. It is the direction best traveled to being taken seriously as a band and finding long-term success. I know that. But throw in a cover song, and some inventive ways to let us know that you know it is only rock and roll. And Healing Sixes did, with a Zep cover and the inserting opening lines from The Beatles’ “I Want You (She’s So Heavy”). Well done. Also smart move to experiment on a couple songs with the one-night-only addition of saxophonist Max McAllister. He’s a writer and business owner in the motorcycle racing industry. And a damn good sax man. The addition of a sax gave the group a tighter connection to the crowd and an R&B edge that sparked the crowd and the band.
Now, maybe McAllister wouldn’t be the man, but if I were in Healing Sixes, adding a horn would be a discussion worth having. Sure, a fifth member is dividing the payday one more way, but how many bands are doing new, rough-edged rock with twin chunking and screaming Gibson Les Paul guitars and a sax? In Indiana? Anywhere? I’m just sayin’ think about it. It worked superbly Saturday night.
The show was presented by On the Throttle TV, a motorcycle racing show. Healing Sixes drummer Parish, as well as the lead singer for opening band The Garrison, Scott Smallwood, and his bass player Pete Cline are all racers.
The openers rampaged through 45-minutes of punk-inflected music much like motorcycle racers compete: full of energy and a bit out of control. Not necessarily a bad template, but not completely successful on this night, though they tried hard to connect with the crowd. Smallwood still needs to refine his stage banter, and use more resonating between-song comments to get the crowd motivated rather than chiding them for not getting closer to the stage. But the band was tight and plowed forward, and at their best, had hints of 70’s Police, The Cure, The Clash and even the 80’s band The Godfathers. (Remember “Birth, School,Work, Death”?) At their worst? Faith No More.
Radio Radio is a great music room, with good, clean sound again Saturday, and Healing Sixes, with a couple shows coming up with the 2009 version of the Why Store, seem to be building some nice momentum. Not an easy thing to do for any group, and impressive coming 11 years after releasing their first album, “Maple”. It could be a good 2009 for the band.
Mellencamp Rocks Crowd at Historic Columbus Theatre
Under the guise of recording the pilot episode of a new A&E Bio show called “Back Where We Started”, Mellencamp and his band made creaky, cozy and barely back-to-fire code Crump Theater in Columbus, Indiana their musical bunker for the night.
Opened in 1872, The Crump Theatre is like many old theatres throughout the country; it has seen the glory days and they aren’t today. Red carpet with black spots, theatre seats carted in for the occasion, covered by backseat upholstery from a 1960 Chevy, and the giant “R” and a “P” letters of the giant “Crump” venue sign out front of the theatre not lighting up. It’s a legendary Indiana palace in need of some love.
It was perfect.
There were no bad views in the place. The balcony hung halfway over the floor seats.
Mellencamp brought the show to Columbus, a small city that took things seriously. A couple city blocks closed off. Key to the city from the Mayor. TV cameras documenting it all. Plus a nice little auction of 75 pairs of tickets for the show raised $42,000 for local flood relief.
It became an evening that never felt false or posturing. The show was witnessed by Hoosiers who knew John’s history, mostly ignored the cameras, cheered for the obscure songs, rocked with the new ones and sang the rest.
After three beautiful and fun Mellencamp accapella songs from the Columbus North High School Choir opened the show, John walked right out with the band and set the tone. He informed the crowd that they needed to keep the camera flashes to a minimum because he was told it screws up the video. Then he added he didn’t really give a crap and the audience could do what they wanted, this was a rock and roll show.
A killer “Check it Out ” popped up early, along with “Paper in Fire”, and an acoustic set that featured “Minutes to Memories”, plus a medley of late 70’s, early 80’s songs he never sings (“To M.G. Wherever You May Be”, “Taxi Dancing” and a solo “I Need A Lover”).
It was during the acoustic interlude that Mellencamp admitted he didn’t remember the time they played at the Crump Theatre 30 years ago
“Who remembers 30 years ago?” he said.
Following the acoustic set, he roared the band back to life, with drummer Dane Clark and bass player Jon E. Gee building a great groove for the new “Life, Death Love and Freedom” album cuts. The songs sounded inspired live, with a blazing “Troubled Land ” the highlight, featuring chunking electric guitars from Andy York and 35-year band vet Mike Wanchic. The tune stood up to the pressure of following the anthemic “Small Town” and “Rain on the Scarecrow”.
A set closing run of “Crumblin’ Down” “R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A.”, “Jack & Diane” led to the encore of “The Authority Song”.
Really a remarkable show, made so with a combination of the historic, tiny, character-heavy theatre in the middle of a small town, a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer swooping into the joint with a concert and a tv show videotaping in hand, and an audience that knew how to make noise, have fun, and respect the moment. All without failing to raise the emotion level for Mellencamp to have what looked like a damn good time.
It was the small things too. Very little security led to a relaxed, trusting vibe. One lady in our row got caught before the show by one of the few security guys as she was in her seat, drinking a bottle of Bud Light. That would have been OK — if they had been selling bottles of Bud Light at the show. Whoops. The security man started to come closer to her.
At the very least, the bottle would be taken and she’d be reprimanded. Security came nearer. He reached out to the woman.
With a “hear ya’ go” nod, a quick smile, and a extended hand, he waited until she poured the beer into the cup, then he took the bottle and was gone.
See? Life ain’t always that tough.
Not with a so-old-it’s-historic venue, a great midwest rock band and, by the end of the night, a bunch of people realizing they had witnessed something unique.
Rock and roll done right. Somethin’ to see, baby.
For one night, John Mellencamp returned to a place he said he couldn’t remember. But for the 600 or so radio station winners, auction top-bidders and whoever else could wrangle a ticket for the September 23 show that was not sold to the public, it turned out to be a memorable night of up close, back-to-roots rock, bearing the unique Mellencamp stamp. Brashness. Compassion. Pride. Middle-finger-extended attitude. Loud, rough-edged rock and roll.