The latest release from that bastion of all things real in country music, Cow Island Records, is this debut album from JP Harris and his tight Tough Choices band. The songs are bar-room missives on heartbreak, hitting-the-road and the high hopes for love, life and, all too often, lament. The songs are all written by Harris, who also produced the album, he understand this music in a way that so many on Music Row don't. I'll Keep Calling includes a surfeit of pedal steel, fiddle, baritone guitar and twang - all good. Harris sings in a voice that belies his 29 years. He has lived his life in a way that understands what these songs can mean to all those who hear (and equally have lived) them. A standout is the ballad Just Your Memory, "that's just your memory keeping me company", it uses a classic country premise to reveal loss and regret, as does the break-up bargaining of Take It All. This album is full of great and timeless examples of this music and despite some of the songs negative subject matter the music is vital, vibrant and entirely uplifting. Return To Sender is another song that will have feet tapping and faces smiling. With Marty Stuart and his Fabulous Superlatives Nashville has one such flag flyer for all honky-tonks heroes, but now the city has another in Harris and his band, also based in Nashville, but traveling all over the States and playing in bars and small festivals. It's not too big a leap to say that these guys aren't far behind in terms of overall quality and commitment. There is a humour at work here alongside the perceived pain and that makes I'll Keep Calling an album that all hardcore country fans should immediately check out. This music, like all good independent music, needs as much support as it can get these days and this is just one deserving cause. There are many great bands out there that need to be heard. I'll Keep Calling is a damn fine country album, and in this day and age that matters.
Chuck Mead & His Grassy Knoll Boys Back To The Quonset Hut' - Ramseur Records
Albums of cover songs are made for a lot of reasons, not all of them good, but on occasion and artist makes a album that pays tribute to music that inspired them and in doing so they bring something of themselves to the project. A spark that ignites the songs to burn fresh. Chuck Mead's last album, his solo debut Journeyman's Wager, expanded his musical palate to bring in some wider influences that all musicians can bring to bear on their music. But as Chuck explains in his song by song liner notes the first music he ever remembers hearing was Hank Williams. That's going to effect a man's musical outlook one way or another. Real country music is at the heart of Mead's soul no matter what music he plays. Back in the early days of BR5-49, playing in Roberts, there set was largely made up of then largely ignored classic country with the occasional "true story" song played alongside. These true stories were the bands increasingly competent original songs which sat easily with the older repertoire. Both Mead and fellow singer Gary Bennett's songs have stood the test of time. With country music of the old school values becoming a thing of the past at radio and on major labels a number of artists, like Marty Stuart, continue to mine the music's rich vein in a rewarding way. There is an accompanying DVD with this album that further explains how this project evolved and how they came to record it in the refurbished Quonset Hut studio using a blend of Mead's band and some of the legendary members of the A-Team crack session unit who played there back in the 50s on some classic recordings.
The seasoned sessioners included Hargus "Pig" Robbins, Bob Moore, Buddy Spicher and Harold Bradley alongside BR5-49 alumni Chris Scruggs, Mark Miller and steel guitarist Carco Clave and drummer Martin Lynds. Producers Michael Janas and Chuck Mead also brought in a slew of guest singers in Elizabeth Cook, Bobby Bare and Jamey Johnson as well as Old Crow Medicine Show for the opening vibrant take on Wabash Cannonball. This sets the tone and you know that over the next 12 tracks you into something special. I'm aware that not everyone will view it that way and they still have an aversion to covers album in general but to hell with that. I like what I'm hearing here and no mistake. At this point it's worth noting the stature of Mead's vocals which are increasingly assured and distinctive. He's having fun and sings the hell out of these songs. having listened now to the album several times there isn't a track I don't like but let's pick a couple of highlights. Sittin' and Thinkin' is full of truthful regret. Apartment No.9 is full of similar heartbreak and sensitivity, While the uptempo takes on Honky Tonk Hardwood Floor and Hey Joe and the closing Pickin' Wild Mountain Berries lift the spirit and set the toes tapping. Chuck Mead and the entire crew can be justifiably proud of this album, that brings a new energy to the genre while tipping it's hat to the stars, musicians and studio of the past.
Andy Vaughan & The Driveline 'Long Gone' Self-Release
There are out there still a number of bands true to the spirit of Bakersfield, bar-room ballads, beleaguered honk-tonk and big Texas shuffles. One such band is Andy Vaughan and The Driveline, a five piece band who play like they mean it. The play a selection of song that are written by Vaughan (other than one co-write with guitarist Jerry Renshaw) and they are songs that are in line with expectations, songs of leaving, loving, drinking and regretting. The production doesn't have that Music Row gloss and polish but that doesn't deter from the fun that can be had listening to the album and tracks like Honky Tonk Devil, Too Much Thinkin', Long Gone and the obligatory pop at the current state of country radio in So Help Me Hank. The album closes with a more restrained version of the Utah Philips' song Rock Salt and Nails that brings (what I assume are family members) Jennifer Vaughan and Buzzy Vaughan on board on harmony vocals and mandolin respectively for a more acoustic version that shows a somewhat wider scope that they are capable of delivering should they want to. Throughout the five players who also include Tim Stanton on pedal steel, Chip Farnsworth on drums and bassist Erik Kutzler put their heart into this music they obviously love and inhabit. There's nothing new here, no great innovation but then how could there be? This is about honouring and preserving a musical style while at the same time keeping it alive with new songs, committed playing and singing that not only remind the listener of earlier times but of (hopefully) better times to come. If you liked early Derailers or many of those bands like Red Meat that emerged over the last twenty years or so then this Richmond, Virginia band is well worth checking out.