For the past 20 years, Indiana roots-rocker Rusty Bladen has made his living playing shows between Indianapolis and Louisville. He takes the occasional trip anywhere else someone pays enough for him to load up his white van, to play a private party, bar gig or Saturday night campground blowout.
Bladen’s musical ground is the area between a cover song highway going one direction, and an original tunes road going the other. The Madison-based singer/songwriter, whose energetic live show has carried his career, has released seven albums of his own music. His live show mixes those songs with a healthy helping of “Brown-Eyed Girl”, “Jack and Diane” and more obscure-but-meaningful country-rock tunes
He knows it’s the live show that pays the bills. But Bladen has a strong sense of his own happiness, and that is how his show artfully makes room for his own tunes. Maybe the best description of who he is came from the Kentucky Headhunters, headliners for a show that Bladen opened for them, who complimented him with a description as a “hillbilly Tom Petty”.
ROB: You’ve been playing to Indiana music fans for more than 20 years. How do you still do it, and what is the key to having some local and regional success?
RUSTY BLADEN: Just like one of my favorite songwriters, Guy Clark said, “It’s gotta come from the heart if you want it to work.” I just do what I do and fortunately for me, a lot of people like it. I am so grateful to the folks who support my music. I can’t think of a more rewarding way to make a living than playing music. Independent artists have to work hard at promoting their music. One key to longevity is to balance the music with plenty of family time, avoid burning out, and taking care of your health.
ROB: You played with Jennie Devoe at Rathskeller on July 15. How did that come about?
RB: I met Jenny in the late ‘90’s when she was singing backing vocals for Larry Crane. I was opening for Larry one night in Indianapolis when, midway through my show, I heard this beautiful voice harmonizing with me. I looked over my shoulder and there was Jennie. We’ve been friends ever since.
ROB: How’s do you see the Indiana scene for folk/Americana/alt-country performers?
RB: Indiana’s live music scene, in general, is getting better. Live music is more valuable now than ever before. A lot of recorded music can be downloaded free on the internet. But you can’t download the experience of standing three feet from a performer, pouring his heart out for you in the flesh. You can’t download one-on-one eye contact and the personal interaction between a performer and an audience.
ROB: How do you use new media and social media to stay ahead, since those things weren’t around when you started playing shows?
RB: Facebook is a must for any serious artist. In the old days, we spent days hanging up posters in store windows and on telephone poles. Now you can reach ten times as many people with the click of a mouse. My website has been very valuable. Club owners and talent buyers don’t have to leave their office or home — they can see what I sound like and what kind of show I put on by watching videos at rustybladen.com. I also have plans to begin a “Live In The Living Room” webcast on Wednesday nights where I’ll sit chat with friends online and play songs, sometimes solo and sometimes with other guest musicians.
ROB: What have you been listening to? Any music that excites you? Performers you have recently seen?
RB: J. Roddy Walston, Ponderosa, Brett Dennen, and Hayes Carll are some of the new artists that I really like.
ROB: When you record, how do you do it? Are you at home? Studio?
RB: In the past never I recorded many demos. I’d write, rehearse, then hit the studio to make a record. I recently bought a Zoom H4 hand held digital recorder that is amazing. I’m currently performing a couple of new original songs. One was written with Mickey Clark called “Bakersfield Wine”, which placed 3rd out of 1,500 songs in this year’s Chris Austin Songwriting Contest at Merlefest in North Carolina.
ROB: What concerts from others have you seen recently that resonated with you?
RB: Robert Randolph and the Family Band. They are loaded with talent and soul. See them when you get a chance. You’ll be blown away.
ROB: What’s ahead for you in the next year?
RB: Lots of live shows and lots of miles on the road between Indiana and Florida. I am signing people up at my shows and at my web site for a drawing to win free house party concert where I go the winner’s house and play a private show for them and their friends. It’s a great way to meet new people and I have a lot of fun. I’m also writing some new songs and arranging some songs from my recent live solo acoustic album, Homegrown Treasures, to be recorded in the studio with a full band that includes some of John Mellencamp’s band members.
Jennie Devoe
Roots Rock News: Todd Snider in NY Times, Bruce doc in September, Truth & Salvage Co. video
A piece in the New York Times captures the essence of Todd Snider. I remember in 1996, seeing Todd and the Nervous Wrecks perform a sweaty blowout of a show at the Patio, and later that year, at the Vogue, and thinking then that he was pretty damn special. And I figured the road ahead to any mainstream success would be a long one. Truimphantly, he has persevered to create a solid spot for himself in the pantheon of Americana singer/songwriters. Viva Todd.
Read article here
Hear the BoDeans as they played both new and old music at Studio 92, in advance last week’s show at the Vogue. Brad Holtz chatted with them about returning to Indy, their new album, and writing “Good Things” in Bloomington. They played a set featuring “Idaho,” “Stay,” “Shine,” and “Good Things”.
Hear it on WTTS website
Americana songman Jethro Easyfields has two shows scheduled in Indianapolis on his birthday this Saturday. First, he is at Spencer’s Stadium Tavern from 7:00-11:00pm before hustling north for a rockin’ midnight set at Locals Only with his band The Arrowheads.
Wanna hit a show just south of Indy? Jennie DeVoe plays on the lawn at Mallow Run Winery in Bargersville Saturday night at 7:00pm. Tickets are $15 and available at the winery. Kids 12 & under are free. It s a blankets-and-lawn chair gig.
Truth & Salvage Co., who showed why they are a band to remember when they came to Birdy’s back in May, is taping Jimmy Kimmel Live on August 16. They have a Gap-related video from Bonnaroo that is pretty sweet. Click here to watch
And as has been speculated for more than a year, official word now arrives that confims Bruce Springsteen is working on completing a new package related to ‘Darkness on the Edge of Town,‘ and it will include the new Thom Zimny film “The Promise: The Making of Darkness On The Edge Of Town.”
The documentary will premiere at the 35th Toronto International Film Festival on September 14, according to Shorefire Media, Bruce’s PR people. The film reportedly has a ton of footage from the 1970s and has been rumored to have been in the works for a couple of years, as has a box set or re-release of the Darkness album tracks, plus some unreleased music from the sessions.
Indiana Music: Bobbie Lancaster's self-titled album
An earthy, rootsy, sexy sound on Bobbie Lancaster’s self-titled debut solo album flows through the record’s ten cuts, showing Lancaster as a folk and Americana artist who is set to become a worthy Hoosier contributor to the modern heartland sound. Album opener “What You Do To Me” lays the blueprint for the record: soaring vocals that build, almost so subtly, that by the end of a song, you’ve got goosebumps. Her voice is that expressive.
The Lowdown: Four (or Five) Roots/Rock Shows in Indy This Week
In my world of loosely-defined roots rock and roll, these four shows all fit, and there is a bit of a story to tell on each artist. And there is even a fifth band I thought should get added to the list, after I had decided I was already finished…
South Carolina guitarist/songwriter Zach Deputy plays Tuesday night Birdy’s (May 4), and is touring in support of his new record, Sunshine. He, according to a press release we got at NUVO, is “earning tremendous cred on the jam band circuit with his innovative blues, pop, calypso, soul blend”. They go on to mention Sunshine was named Album of the Year for 2009 by Homegrown Radio Network.
I dug into some of his online stuff, and especially checked into the YouTube videos he has posted. Here’s the deal: he’s a one-man jam band, using loops created live on stage to build up his songs and drive the young hippies and Dave Matthews fans into a groovin’ little dance trance. Definitely grab a puff and check this one out at Birdy’s, if that’s your thing, because I think he’s pretty damn good at what he does.
Roots Rock News: Shooter, Stephen King, Henry Lee Summer, Paul Simon's Kid
From the roots-rock home office – bits of news from my NUVO posting this week:
SHOOTER AND STEPHEN KING
Stephen King and Shooter Jennings will release “Black Ribbons”, a 70-minute album, with King providing the voice of Will O’ The Wisp, a late-night talk radio host who is in the last hour of his final broadcast before the airwaves are overtaken by government-approved and regulated transmissions. According to the news release, “With nothing left to lose, the radio host lets loose with a series of rants, punctuating his diatribes with 14 selections from Jennings. ” We love Shooter, and and this could either be the train wreck of the year, or could be jsut odd enough to be interesting.
INDY ACOUSTIC CAFE
One of today’s folk groundbreakers, Ellis Paul, visits Indianapolis on January 16 as part of the Indy Acoustic Cafe series. The show will be at the Wheeler Community Art Center, 1035 Sanders Street. Paul is part of the Boston school of songwriting – call it romantic folk-pop, call it acoustic intelligence, or I just call it good tunes with an acoustic guitar. Doors open at 7PM, Show at 7:30 PM. Tickets $17 advance and $20 at the door.
HENRY LEE SUMMER BACK ON STAGE
Got a chance to see Henry Lee Summer perform with ex-bandmate Zanna’s great little classic rock side project “4 On The Floor” in early January at Moon Dog’s in Fishers. Henry is releatively fresh out of rehab, and a bit rusty, but I will give him his due here: he seemed more engaged than the last time a saw him, which a has been a couple of years. His shows with his own side projects had become boring and I wanted more fire from Henry, even if he wasn’t going to play his own music with the Alligator Brothers or Candybomber. This time, there were flashes of his intensity and brilliance as a singer and bandleader, and my hope is that he keeps going forward, stays positive and knows he has fans and people who will support him again. And he should get a band (or even go solo with a guitar) and play his own music, ’cause we love that most. Our best to Mr. Swartz. Nice to see him back on a healthier road.
Henry Lee Summer – LIVE – Superstar Concert Series
North Manchester, IN – 1988
“Hey Baby”
PAUL SIMON’S BOY RELEASES ALBUM
Harper Simon :: REVIEW – from thatnashvillesound.com
Fair or not, the vocal comparisons between Harper and his father, Paul, are evident as soon as he opens his mouth. It’s really uncanny how similar his voice is with the layered echo-like lyrics- sounding a little like singing from the bottom of a well. Part folk, part country, many of the songs are obviously very heavily influenced by the humor and lyrical style of Simon and Garfunkel- albeit Simon and Garfunkel with a steel guitar. On the surface, that might seem like a strange or bitter combination- at once not original and original at the same time.
Read Review
IDEA I LIKE:
A series of classic album covers has been issued as a set of stamps by the England’s Royal Mail (their version of the US Postal Service). Other well-known record sleeves to have been made into first-class stamps include Pink Floyd’s Division Bell. The design on each of the 10 stamps shows a vinyl record coming out of its recognisable album cover.
See Stamps
SAME AS IT EVER WAS:
Three country acts who are sure-fire draws and have played the fair recently will be back in 2010 at the Indiana State Fair. The State Fair has announced that Rascal Flatts will perform August 7, Keith Urban on August 14 and Sugarland on August 20. Sugarland is always good, and Urban is one of the best country rockers, though has been here a few times now, some the excitement might wane for this, though the show will be killer. Rascal Flatts, however, is imitation vanilla, bland and full of fake sugar. Whatever. The State Fair does a pretty damn good job each year, between the free stages and the new Indiana Opry Barn and the main Grandstand. So make that point clear.
Urban won Best Male Artist at the recent People’s Choice Awards. However, he also gave the word to illegally obtain music.,saying “I don’t even care if you download it illegally, give it to your friends, I really don’t care.”
MusicRow.com has an interesting and misguided letter and commentary posted, upset about what Keith said:
“I wonder what his label, Capitol Records Nashville, has to say about his statement?” Cliff Doyle writes. “And what about his co-writers and other songwriters on Music Row whose talents he depends on to continue with his hugely successful career? Can they afford to work for free?”
Here’s the deal: His label can’t say anything of value. Urban is in a position that doesn’t require a label, just distribution. Capitol pissed? He can go somewhere else. And his magic is on stage, where he is the best guitar player/performer/showman in country music, and maybe (outside of Springsteen) all of rock music. Good for Keith. Tougher for those who haven’t made it yet to succeed without a label? I say no. – not for the ones that matter. The bands that hit the road/clubs/festivals and do it on their own are usually the best. Look no farther than Jennie Devoe right here in Indianapolis. Sure, she has fans in those who run labels, and many covet her music, but she sees what others like her know: control + talent+ drive = success on your terms. Just a different path, and different way to measure success, than 10 years ago.
Indiana Album: Jennie Devoe – "Strange Sunshine"
There is a mystery solved upon hearing the new album “Strange Sunshine” from Indianapolis’ Jennie Devoe. From the title cut’s “Strawberry Fields Forever” echoes of the opener to the weary-but-powerful “All This Love” that closes Devoe’s new album, she takes leaps of tempo and the occasional genre, but never loses the listener. We take the trip – and do because her voice is so damn expressive. Makes you want to hold her hand and just listen to her sing.
It is the voice – the soulful, raspy, yet sing-like-a-bird voice – which Devoe and producer John Parish (Tracy Chapman, PJ Harvey, and Devoe’s 2004 album “Fireworks and Karate Supplies”) smartly push up in the mix. She’s a tough. She’s introspective. She’s tells her version on the truth.
They fill the remaining space (but not all of it – this isn’t a too-much-is-better record) with grooves that rock, gospel where necessary and some dirty blues.
Devoe and Parish have succeeded in creating a record that touches on influences, but never falls completely into what I call the “Lenny Kravitz Abyss”. That’s when an artist makes a pretty good record but listeners can’t stop hearing the songs and artists that were the main influences for the album. Early Lenny records were really pretty good, but so derivative it hurt him, at least until his third or fourth record and we realized “Oh. OK. That’s Lenny”.
But “Strange Sunshine” plays it right, giving us familiar notes and chords and ooh’s and aah’s that hit the gut, reminding us of how the best music is made – honoring the past while pushing sounds forward. The mix of Jennie’s soul and voice blends with music bubbling with an undercurrent of an unpretentious musical history.
Drummer John Wittman rides Ringo-solid with more swing, while Greg McQuirk’s Hammond B3 , Wurlitzer and piano playing is a constant thrill. His interplay with the guitars of Paul Holdman and Parish dives into the musical white space and subtly colors it with sounds of confidence and flexibilty. Church sounds. Stax sounds. Motown sounds.
The bass-and-drums of “Exit 229” make you want to swing your hips, as background “whoo-whoo’s” and handclaps support Devoe’s tale of the good that can come from driving all night. “Butterfly” (the first single) is slice of AAA/Americana pop that has Jennie gradually pushing her voice harder, and grabbing the song’s great sugary hook when it hits the chorus.
“Nobody Love You” is a retro lounge sound, circa 1940, all piano and Amy Winehouse, minus the sloppiness, heroin and makeup. It fades into the blues of “Shoulda Stayed” and the stark acoustic guitar and Hammond B3 opening of the hymn “I Break Down”. It burns. Amen.
Devoe wrote or co-wrote all but one of the songs on the album, with the Etheridge-like “Foolproof” contributed by another strong female artist, blues and rock guitarist Shannon Curfman.
Sure, I want to like music that is made locally (even if they went to Bath, England to record the record, like Devoe did for this one). And yeah, I have been fooled by a record and the first couple listens I take.
There is no fooling on “Strange Sunshine” – Jennie Devoe has made her best record ever. No mystery why. It is smart and playful, the past mixing with the now, the dirt grandly mixing with the shiny. And it is the sound of Devoe’s voice that makes it all come together.