Music Notes
By 
Being in Mexico, I don’t have any shows to talk about right now, but that doesn’t mean music isn’t still a central part of my life. In a different moment, I might have used this for a Film Club post, but let’s lead this week’s Music Notes with a discussion of Rachel Liebling’s 1992 film High Lonesome: The Story of Bluegrass Music. I found this on Folkstreams, which I mentioned in a Film Club post not too long ago. Now, seeing this brought me a lot of excitement because maybe 15 or even 20 years ago now, I found the soundtrack to this in a used CD bin and it’s been in semi-regular rotation ever since. The selected performances for that soundtrack are absolutely fantastic, like way better than just an average bluegrass soundtrack, so I had always wanted to see the film.
As a film, it’s pretty good. I think most of it was filmed in 1989 (there’s a couple of references to that year by various people) and naturally it centers on an aging Bill Monroe, fifty years after he brought his invention to the Grand Ole Opry. By this time, Monroe was much more media centric than in his heyday, when he was both grumpy as fuck to everyone and also incredibly jealous if the media then paid attention to more media friendly groups such as Flatt and Scruggs. Monroe notoriously used his influence in the Opry to ensure that no other bluegrass acts would get on the Opry for many many years.
Well, by this time, Monroe is the grand old man, still with a great voice, but much more settled and contemplative. One of the most powerful parts of the film is him walking around the ruins of his childhood home, still standing, but barely, in rural Kentucky. As such, a big theme of the film is to use bluegrass as a way to discuss the transformations of the South through the 20th century, from the period where the area was a true backwater with people playing the old Scotch-Irish tunes for entertainment to the development of radio and traveling Black bands (it does a good job on the Black influence critical to turning old time music into bluegrass) through the migrations of the Depression, the changes wrought by World War II, and the rise of rock and roll. It’s pretty successful at that. In the late 80s, most of the original bluegrass people were still alive, though not Lester Flatt or Carter Stanley. So she interviews Mac Wiseman, Ralph Stanley, Jim and Jesse, the Osborne Brothers, Jimmy Martin, and other core bluegrass acts. Oddly, there’s no Earl Scruggs. The reason I say that’s odd is that he was quite media friendly and there are whole documentaries just about him. But still, the quality of the interviews are very strong. Also, while Monroe also dressed up, he was classy. Jimmy Martin? Not classy. Fancy watches on both wrists! Of course there was little classy about the King of Bluegrass, a known rounder and beater of women (not that Monroe’s personal behavior was much better).
Because the film does follow bluegrass through time, it gets to the late 20th century as well and does a good job focusing on new acts in the back half of the film, though it manages to pick all ones I don’t overly care for. The Seldom Scene are alright, but too hippy. Sam Bush is a great mandolinist, but is really too hippy for my tastes and I’ve never really listened to any of his albums more than a couple of times. Alison Krauss is tremendously talented but her voice is too pretty for me. The Nashville Bluegrass Band I always just found too silly. But Krauss is very strong in discussing how hard it was to make it as a woman in that music. I do wish Hazel Dickens was part of this film since she and Alice Gerard pioneered women in bluegrass, but still, Krauss is pretty forthright about the sexism she’s faced and I am sure that was pretty directly from a lot of the old-timey men, though she isn’t naming names.
Anyway, check it out if you can–and you all can because here’s the link!
Other Music News:
Only one vice-president has written a chart topping song covered by Elton John, Merle Haggard, and Glen Campbell and obviously that was Charles Dawes. What, did you think it was Dan Quayle?
Not sure Claudia Sheinbaum’s effort to promote non-violent music over narcocorridos is going to do much to help the violence in northern Mexico. Guess it can’t hurt though.
Drake continues to whine about Kendrick. Just stop dude.
I don’t think we should even have another U2 album, but if we have to, please don’t incorporate folk music. Maybe they will force it on all of out iTunes again……
My Bloody Valentine plans to play live again for the first time in 7 years.
Bandcamp asked Wussy to pick their favorites and my heart was warmed that the first album they selected was John Moreland’s great In the Throes, which is one of the best albums of this century.
This week’s playlist:
- Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, Noopiming Sessions
- Bill Callahan, Ytilaer
- Richard Thompson, Hand of Kindness
- Mdou Moctar, Afrique Victime
- Wussy, Strawberry
- MC Yallah, Yallah Beibe
- Sun Ra, In Some Far Place: Roma 1977
- Fauxe, Ikhlas
- Don Cherry, Symphony for Improvisers
- Gang of Four, Solid Gold
- Old 97s, Hitchhike to Rhome
- Billy Joe Shaver, Old Five and Dimers Like Me
- Palace Music, Lost Blues and Other Songs
- The Waco Brothers, Resist!
- Johnny Paycheck, Slide Off Your Satin Sheets
- Guy Clark, South Coast of Texas
- Terry Allen, Salivation
- Yo La Tengo, This Stupid World
- PJ Harvey, Let England Shake
- Illegal Crowns, Unclosing
- Robert Earl Keen, Gringo Honeymoon
- Neil Young, Freedom
- Sunny Sweeney, Trophy
- Kurt Vile, Wakin’ on a Pretty Daze
- Lucinda Williams, Happy Woman Blues
- Sarah Shook & the Disarmers, Revelations
- Archie Shepp, Fire Music
- Kidd Jordan/William Parker/Hamid Drake, Palm of Soul
- Priests, Nothing Feels Natural
- Drive By Truckers, The Unraveling
- Dom Flemons, Traveling Wildfire
- Creedence Clearwater Revival, Willy and the Poor Boys
- Tropical Fuck Storm, Deep States
- Run the Jewels, RTJ2
Album Reviews:
Mamma Coal, Dance Hall Crush
In a more just nation, every town would have someone as good as Mamma Coal in their town. She has Tucson covered though, long an underrated site in modern country music. She rocks, she can do country and blues and all the roots, she has a nice voice. Now, as an album compared to all the other releases out there, well, it’s alright. There are a couple of pretty great songs, especially the lead track “Arizona Sunset Skies.” “For Everything Bad, Mezcal” is another good one. There’s definitely some filler here, maybe a bit too much reliance on some pretty standard blues stuff, an OK cover of “Walkin’ After Midnight.” I would totally go check her out if I lived in Tucson. The album? Well, listen to the couple of tracks I mentioned and then see how you feel.
C+
Magic Carpet, Broken Compass
Magic Carpet is a bunch of Chicago-based jazz and Afrian musicians getting together to jam around their ideas. For Broken Compass, the lineup is Parrish Hicks on bass, Timuel Bey on guitar, Ryan Mayer on percussion, Makaya McCraven on drums, Tewodros Aklilu on keyboard, Fred Jackson Jr. on saxophones and small percussion, and Kaliq Woods on clarinet. You can ride the groove of this album on said magic carpet from here to Addis Ababa. Now, this is an older set of tunes. Hicks died some years ago and Aklilu is back in Ethioipia. The band still exists though in a shapeshifting form. It’s just good global jazz. Again, this is groove, groove, groove all the way down. Some songs sound like they are straight from an Ethiopiques compilation, others have a much stronger North American feel.
A-
Jon Irabagon’s OUTRIGHT!, Recharge the Blade
Many years ago, Irabagon conceptualized a trilogy of albums based around the three major saxophones that he played. He got the alto and tenor albums out a long time ago, but struggled to finish the soprano album. Well, he finally has, thanks to a great band that includes Ray Anderson on trombone, Matt Mitchell on piano, Chris Lightcap on bass, and Dan Weiss on drums, plus a couple special guests and then a last song that has something like 60 musicians appearing. I admit that soprano sax appeals to me a little less than all the other saxes, but it’s prominence here certainly is no problem. The band is super tight and the ideas fresh. That last song doesn’t work so well, not so much because there are so many musicians on it, but more than the while it’s an interesting idea, the intro really really doesn’t fit the rest of the album, almost a cheesy radio-friendly R&B thing before it evolves into insanity. So much happens on this album outside of that, including a cover of the standard “We’ll Meet Again” as a duet between Irabgon and Mitchell, references from the entire history of jazz, not to mention R&B and hip hop, and a kitchen sink full of other things. Maybe it’s a bit too busy, but you aren’t getting bored here!
B+
Blackberry Smoke, Be Right Here
Blackberry Smoke has given southern rock fans updated versions of Allman Brothers and Skynyrd for nearly 25 years now and their latest album is another prime example. From my perspective, this band is fine. The band is far from offensive. It’s not stupid butt rock. But I also don’t know what it does that well either. The vocals are decent, the guitars are very guitary, the band wears its influences (but then what is new about that in most genres of rock and roll these days). The songs are pretty average though and unlike, say, Drive By Truckers, there’s not much of an attempt to do something new with a venerable but limited genre. So yeah, this is OK.
B-
Matthew Bourne/Emil Karlsen, The Embalmer
Not the easiest listen by any means, but in this largely spare but experimental duet between the pianist Bourne and the drummer Karlsen, you can hear a fine example of a particular kind of experimental jazz today, the kind that rubs up against what the classical world calls “new music.” This often moves me somewhat less than other forms of jazz, but I found this to be a highly moving set. Taking not a thing away from Bourne, but Karlsen’s percussion work really blew me away. I really need to check out more of his work. For something that neared the level of ambient, it was surprisingly urgent. Quite a fascinating recording.
A-
As always, this is an open thread to discuss all things music and art and none things politics.