Ryan Adams & The Cardinals have a new EP out called Follow The Lights. The material on it sounds much like Easy Tiger and if it had a couple more songs (there are seven) the EP could stand up as an album. I’m always amazed at the volume of amazing music Ryan Adams cranks out especially with all the touring that he does. You can sample Follow The Lights here but I highly recommend picking up your own copy!
Kings Of Leon are streaming their first single off their new album Because Of The Times (set to be released sometime this spring) on their MySpace page. The song is called “On Call” and while its a little more down beat than most of the previous KOL stuff it remains true to their sound. Kings of Leon are one of those bands that gets unfairly written off as a Strokes clone. While they do have the retro vibe to them, Kings of Leon have a sound thats all their own and I wouldn’t be suprised to see these guys making great records for many years to come even after the Strokes thing is no longer cool. (via stereogum)
There is a Texas style troubadour that I’ve been listening to a lot lately. His name is Richard Buckner and he is phenomenal! The only thing more soulful and heartfelt than his songwriting is his voice and his guitar. He’s conveniently labeled “Alt Country” and I’m still not sure that I know what that term means. Buckner’s voice reminds me slightly of Dwight Yoakam and his songwriting reminds me of Townes Van Zandt. When you check him out listen to his debut album “Bloomed” which features Buckner in his purest form. Oh and by the way, he’s getting ready to play Madison Square Garden.
Myspace Page Here
It seems like Jam is a four letter word these days, with all the great jam band pioneers breaking up right and left. The new Trey Anastasio album Bar 17 is a great anecdote to all the bad jam karma lately. Its not quite as radio friendly as last album Shine was but is considered by Trey to be an accompanying album to Shine. Trey is in the company of some killer musicians on this album including Skeeto Valdez, Mike Gordon, Joe Russo, Marco Benevento and John Medeski. Most of the lyrics were penned by Trey’s old friend Tom Marshal. The sound on this album has more of a big jam band sound than on Trey’s last two releases and features more bass and drums. Bar 17 is chock full of signature Trey guitar style but you can also hear an evolution of Trey’s solo sound. I know Trey is feeling the backlash from the Phish breakup still, but Bar 17 is excellent and deserves a listen even by the most critical of Phish phreak.
Related Jambase Links:
A video was just released for God’s Gonna Cut You Down which is one of my favorite tracks on Johnny Cash’s American V: A Hundred Highways release. I miss music videos and while mtv no longer plays them on TV, you can catch just about any music video on mtv.com. You can watch the God’s Gonna Cut You Down video here. The video features cameos from tons of musicians an actors including:
On a related note, Johnny’s farewell album American V: A Hundred Highways is one of my favorite albums of 2006 and has been in my regular rotation for a couple months now. The amount of pain and wisdom that Johnny bestows on this album can’t be beat. I highly recommend a listen if you haven’t heard it yet. (via)
Willie Nelson’s new album Songbird was released today, what an excellent Halloween treat! The album was produced by Ryan Adams and features Ryan and his band the Cardinals as Willie’s backup band. The album is very bluesy and has some killer guitar licks to compliment Willie’s lyrical presence. The steel guitar really sounds sweet, giving Songbird the country sound of a Willie Nelson album. The album features many covers including Grateful Dead’s Stella Blue, Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah, Gram Parsons‘ $1000 Wedding and Fleetwod Mac’s Songbird. If you are a Willie Nelson, you must check out Songbird!
The new JJ Cale and Eric Clapton collaboration, The Road To Escondido is a must hear for any Clapton /Cale/Blues/Guitar fan. Its got a laid back blues, rock, soul, americana sound and some killer guitar work. In addition to the licks of Cale and Clapton, Derek Trucks also lays down some slide work on this one. Most of the songs were written by JJ Cale with “Three Little Girls” written by Clapton and “Hard To Thrill” by (of all people) John Mayer. The shows on the tour for this album must be amazing as they freature the likes of Taj Mahal, Doyle Bramhall II, Derek Trucks, Albert Lee, Nathan East, Willie Weeks and Steve Jordan. There is a great video documentary of the making of the Road To Escondido over at ericclapton.com.
Related mp3:
Shooter Jennings is the son of the late great Waylon Jennings (for those why might not know) and his brand of outlaw music could be described as Waylon Jennings meets Led Zepplin. His brand of rock and roll kicks soooo much ass and asures us that outlaw music lives on! His most recent release Live At Irving Plaza 4.18.06 is a testament to that. His vocals sound scarily like his daddy’s and his style is very similar, but the biggest difference is that it has a heavier, more rock ‘n roll sound. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, Shooter raises just as much hell as Waylon did. He looks just like a young Waylon too… You can see this in Shooter’s portrayal of his dad in the movie Walk The Line.
Joel Selvin has a fantastic review of this year’s Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in yesterday’s San Francisco Chronicle. The article also has some great photos. I’m going to figure out a way to make it to this festival next year come hell or high water. Hopefully they will break the “you can only play once every five years” rule and have Todd Snider back again.
By the way, Near Truths And Hotel Rooms is an excellent live Todd Snider album and a great introduction to him if you’ve never heard him before.
I was just reading on Rolling Stone’s website how Ryan Adams produced Willie Nelson’s latest album entitled Songbird which is set to be released on October 31. Ryan Adams has really gotten a ton of attention lately. In addition to putting out 40 albums per year he’s been playing shows with Phil Lesh and Friends. Adams is an imensely talented musician, but it seems odd to me that he’d produce Willie and not the other way around. I guess that the trend these days is for the younger artists to produce the older ones (see Alison Krauss and Dolly Parton). At any rate I can’t wait to get my ears on Songbird which I read somewhere is supposed to have a Grateful Dead tune or two on it!
For your listening pleasure may I suggest:
Phil Lesh and Friends Live at Fillmore Auditorium on 2005-07-15 (with Ryan Adams)
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