YouTube Gems: Drew Kennedy - Rose of Jericho

From his masterful new album, Wide Listener, here's Drew Kennedy with "Rose of Jericho."

Best Albums of 2013: 3/4 Report

1. John Moreland - In the Throes

2. Jason Isbell - Southeastern

3. The National - Trouble Will Find Me

4. Drew Kennedy - Wide Listener

5. Austin Lucas - Stay Reckless

6. The Band of Heathens - Sunday Morning Record

7. Run the Jewels - s/t

(free if you click "Get It Now")

8. Ashley Monroe - Like a Rose

9. Shooter Jennings - The Other Life

10. Fifth on the Floor - Ashes & Angels

Album Review: Drew Kennedy - Wide Listener

Wide Listener is Drew Kennedy's most accomplished and satisfying album yet. Drew's already excellent songwriting is augmented this time around by co-writes from such luminaries as Lori McKenna, Josh Grider and well-known sportswriter, Wright Thompson (!?). Of course there's also Kennedy's uniquely expressive vocals (which are stronger than ever) to draw you in. 

"Good Carpentry" is a thinking man's "my woman done left me" ballad, somehow successfully equating solid craftsmanship with the memory of a lost lover. On paper (blog), it doesn't sound like it would work, but Drew makes the metaphor go over smooth as caramel on cheesecake.

"Hello Goodbye" and "Jackson Square" are probably the two cuts with the best shots at (Americana) airplay, blending immediate hooks with soulful undercurrents. They take me back to a time (late 90s) when earnest singer-songwriters with folk leanings were played alongside alt-rockers, pop-punkers and boy bands on Top 40 stations.

Those nostalgic feelings are deftly pulled along by the thread of traveling and things/places/people left behind that Kennedy weaves through the album. Not that it's all wistful; on "Love on the Highway," the trip isn't taken alone.

"The Poet at 33" closes Wide Listener with an introspective but welcoming look into the creative soul. It easily foregoes the usual yawns induced by songs of this ilk with honest lyrics and a melody that will stick with you long after the album is over.

Wide Listener is the sound of a man who's found the sweet spot - where creativity, passion and talent all overlay each other on the venn diagram. Drew Kennedy may never be the best known singer-songwriters in the world, but with albums like this, we can rest assured he'll always be known as one of the best.

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Wide Listener is available for purchase on Amazon, iTunes, Drew's site and Lone Star Music.

Drew Kennedy on the Inspiration for Wide Listener

Wide Listener from Modern Trade on Vimeo.

Wide Listener out next Tuesday!

Drew Kennedy's New Album Cover Revealed

Country Day June '13: DAC, Hunter Hayes, Chris Young, etc.

Another shortened edition of Country Day this month. Everything slows down in the summer (even FTM, as I've reduced the amount of posts for a time), including the album release schedule (thus, less covers to farce), so this will likely be the norm through fall.

Wallet Chain Weekly

Drew Kennedy: MMA Fighter

Drew's gonna have to work on his muscle tone if he wants to stick around the MMA game for long.

Drew Kennedy's New Video: "Stars in California"

And now for something worthy of your time. Here's Drew Kennedy with his new video for "Stars in California." Honestly, it's one of the more beautiful videos I've ever seen if not for the beardy dude getting in the way of the shots all throughout.

Drew Kennedy - "Stars in California" (Official Music Video) from M. Andrew Barrera on Vimeo.

The Pastures of Madison County

I was able to make it back to this year's incarnation of Pickin' in the Pasture, a family and friends event in Madison County, MS starring Fireman John's BBQ, Drew Kennedy's beard and usually Josh Grider and/or Matt Skinner, after I missed 2011. I won't do a big write-up like I did in 2010, but it was another great show. Our three heroes, along with Josh Grider's lovely wife, a lovely bassist named Chris and a lovely drummer named (___?) played a full band/four singer concert for the family, friends, dogs and a blogger. They took turns trading solo tunes (Drew Kennedy did "Vapor Trails" among others), cover songs (Josh Grider and his wife did a great version of Johnny and June's "Jackson") and co-writes (Matt Skinner did both an electric and an acoustic version of the haunting Corb Lund co-write "One Left in the Chamber"). It was a fun time and here are the pictures to prove it!

Matt Skinner, Josh Grider and Drew Kennedy tuning up pre-show.

Josh Grider accompanies his wife on guitar.

Drew Kennedy has a wallet chain. Remind you of anybody??

The band in reverse.

Matt Skinner tearing it up on guitar. 

The tall and handsome Josh Grider is now a Nashville songwriter. Please don't write about trucks, Josh!

Josh Grider with two future bluegrass or country superstars. Seriously, they were great!
Sidenote: Josh has gotten really good on the guitar.

Electric show-closing barn-burner "Ain't Livin' Long Like This"

The beginning of the late-night acoustic jam.

Annnnd, this isn't from Pickin' in the Pasture, but here's a video of Matt Skinner performing the awesome tune "One Left in the Chamber."

Best Songs of 2011

1. Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit - Codeine

2. Kasey Anderson and the Honkies - Exit Ghost

3. Austin Lucas - Thunder Rail

4. Scott H. Biram - Broke Ass

5. The Damn Quails - Fools Gold

The Rest of the Best:
Hayes Carll - Another Like You

Adele - Rolling in the Deep

Bad Meets Evil - Fast Lane

Stoney Larue - Dresses

Ryan Adams - I Love You But I Don't Know What to Say

Robert Earl Reed - Road to Hattiesburg

Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears - She's So Scandalous

Mike Ethan Messick - Walking Into Walls

Robyn Ludwick - Out of These Blues

Larry Hooper - Time to Go

Ha Ha Tonka - Made Example Of

Dawes - Fire Away
Hellbound Glory - Better Hope You Die Young
Willie Tea Taylor - Life is Beautiful

Eric Church - Springsteen

Blitzen Trapper - Love the Way You Walk Away

The Black Keys - Gold on the Ceiling

Drew Kennedy - Home to Me

Bon Iver - Holocene

Frank Turner - If I Ever Stray
Brad Paisley - A Man Don't Have to Die

Kelsey Waldon - God-Fearing People

JC Brooks and the Uptown Sound - I Am Trying to Break Your Heart

Glossary - Some Eternal Spark

Justin Haigh - Is It Still Cheating?

Chris Young - Neon

Cary Ann Hearst - Are You Ready to Die?

The Damn Quails - Mary

John Moreland and the Dust Bowl Souls - Good Enough

Ponderosa - Devil on My Shoulder

Foo Fighters - Arlandria

Jimbo Mathus - Cling to the Roots

Amanda Shires - Ghost Bird

Pistol Annies - Trailer for Rent

Jason Fratesi and the Dirt Road Jam Band - Heart Cryin' Out Loud

John Popper and the Duskray Troubadors - Champipple

Social Distortion - Diamond in the Rough

Ronnie Dunn - Cost of Livin'

Miranda Lambert - Mama's Broken Heart

Left Lane Cruiser - Pig Farm

Nick 13 - Carry My Body Down

Raphael Saadiq - Stone Rollin'

Cage the Elephant - Aberdeen

Big KRIT - Another Naive Individual Glorifying Greed & Encouraging Racism

George Strait - Poison

Centro-matic - Estimate X 3

Amos Lee - Flower

YouTube Gems: Drew Kennedy "Vapor Trails"

From his new album released this week (go buy it and the novel!!!), Fresh Water in the Salton Sea, here's Drew Kennedy with "Vapor Trails."

Drew Kennedy - The FTM Interview 2

Friend of Farce, Drew Kennedy has returned to the scene with not only a new album, but also an accompanying novel. We're impressed a New Braunfels resident could string together more than 2 sentences! Anyway, you can pre-order the album (which will be officially released November 1st) by clicking here. A paperback version of the book is available for pre-order here. iPad and Kindle versions are also options.

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Let's get on with it now. Here's the (as usual) highly enlightening interview:

FTM - Hey there Drew. A lot has changed in your life since last we spoke. You have another kid, you've toured the greater Austin/New Braunfels area multiple times, you've completed a new album and you've written an accompanying novel. How do you find the time?

D - Uh, I don't have any children.

FTM - Well, okay then. Sorry, this new job has left me very little time to make sure I have my facts right. I guess that was some other Drew Kennedy with the new rugrat.

Next question: Is this novel semi-autobiographical or is my Paxil just acting up?

D - The novel is about a fictional songwriter named Dan Murphy. There is nothing autobiographical about me as a songwriter writing a book about a songwriter with a D in his first name and an Irish last name. I don't know why people keep jumping to that conclusion. It's clearly a work of fiction. That's the beauty of fiction… you can write about someone who has a completely different worldview than you might.

FTM - Larry Lee Turnage has put you on his church's prayer list because of some of your language in "War With Myself." What do you have to say for yourself?

D - Sigh. Larry Lee's a bit of a stickler for that sort of thing, isn't he? I also saw that they're praying for a couple of big donations this Sunday to cover some of their medical supplies. It's funny, right? You just KNOW that snake isn't going to bite you, as a true believer, but no matter how often you try to explain that to OSHA, they just won't budge on their "Anti-Venom must be present and readily accessible" rule. I hope they get that donation, too. Word on the street is that they went through their entire supply last week. Accidents, or something. Wasn't nobody that done got bit in the actual service. Jokes aside, I appreciate Larry Lee's concern for the eternal resting place of my soul.

FTM - In "We've All Got Our Marks to Make," you name drop Hank Sr. What ground do you have to stand on when you speak out against the evils of Justin Moore and Eric Church now?

D - Yeah… the record isn't out yet so I've been working on coming up with a standard answer to that. No dice yet. You got me.

FTM - Does the title of this album/novel have anything to do with Val Kilmer?

D - Wait, why are you asking that? They didn't start shooting yet, did they? I got a letter saying they were looking for a script, so that's what I wrote for them.

FTM - The movie came out in 2002. It's called The Salton Sea

D - Ugh. F--ing postal service. I thought for a second something was weird about that letter. Then I figured they probably had a batch of old stamps lying around at the studio's office. Saving some money on postage... trying to fly under the radar.

FTM - Have you ever considered seeking out a corporation to back a tour? Wahl could sponsor you and hand out beard trimmers at your shows or something.

D - That's not a bad idea. I got a bunch of shirts from Affliction in the mail last year with an endorsement letter, but then they asked me to return it when they realized I wasn't the Drew Kennedy that's an MMA fighter. That's as close as I've gotten to buddying up to the bean counters.

FTM - This whole new project of yours reeks of pretense. How many sweater-vests are in your closet?

D - That's the only kind of sweater you can get away with wearing in south Texas. It stays pretty hot down here. I used to buy regular sweaters and then cut the sleeves off. Then I saw Jim Tressel coaching a game on television and I thought, "Of course! A sweater and a vest! A sweater vest! The answer is seven.

FTM - What do you hope the world (the 43 family members who purchase it and the 75 people who download it illegally) will glean from your artsy-fartsy novel and album?

D - Honestly, or are we talking big pie-in-the-sky-hopes-and-dreams here?

FTM- Both.

D- Okay. That I'm clearly, like, the next John Grisham.

FTM- Which one is that?

D- Both.

FTM - Your wife is quite an artist. Why did she ever see fit to hook up with a creative simpleton like yourself?

D - Kindred spirits. You know how artists are. We need to find people we can relate to. Boy, it sure was a shock to her when she realized that I was just as broke as she was.

FTM- How long did it take for her to find that out?

D- When I pulled up outside of a little B & B in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania and said "This honeymoon is going to be awesome!"

FTM- Isn't that where you're both from?

D- You should have seen her face. It was priceless.

FTM - Your buddy Josh Grider recently moved to Nashville to sell his soul. Has he hooked you up with any autographs yet?

D - No. He's been keeping his decision to relocate afloat by selling them on ebay. I understand, of course. He sold a John Rich yesterday for $3.77.

FTM - What's your favorite salad dressing (and please don't say raspberry vinaigrette, that's so passé)?

D - It used to be ranch, but the buffet at the Ryan's Steakhouse here in town keeps watering it down. They think they're saving money, but I'm hip to their game. I can tell by the way it looks. A little more blue than usual… so I usually opt for the frozen custard machine. That's gotta cost them way more in the salad dressing department. Gotta teach them a lesson somehow.

FTM - What's the last good movie you saw, besides Port of C*ck, New Whoreleans?

D - I saw this really great French noir post-war drama last week at the local art theatre.

FTM- No you didn't.

D- No. Haha. It was Port of C*ck.

FTM - Can you bait a hook? Can you skin a buck? Do you know who Jack Daniels is?

D - (silence)

FTM - When is your pal Austin Collins going to put out a new album? Is he waiting till your album is out a while so there aren't too many tall, overly-serious singer-songwriters from Texas on the market at the same time?

D - Yeah. Once this one is out he has to wait at least eight months to release something of his own. We figured out that people get really tired of all of that angst-ridden, intentionally obtuse crap so we have to pace ourselves.

FTM - Good, nobody likes to have their dirt road and tractor songs interrupted by all that authentic emotion.

Next question: I spent a couple of months unemployed earlier this year. What's it like to be eternally unemployed?

D - You actually get pretty good at it after a while. All these people are talking about struggling in a down economy. They ask me how I'm coping. Like I've even noticed. I've been in my own personal recession for about ten years now. I'm pretty much a pro.

FTM - Lightning round time!

Self-deprecating humor or self-defecating humor and why?

D - How could I dare pick the second choice in the presence of a master self-defecator?

FTM - If I had nuts on the wall, would those be walnuts?

D - You'll always have sunflower seeds, no matter where you put them you pervert.

FTM - Drive-by Truckers or Lady Antebellum?

D - Oh man… do I hate my geometry teacher for giving me a D in 10th grade, or do I just hate myself? Can't decide.

FTM - Are grits groceries?

D - To quote the late great Titus Turner, "If I don't love you baby / grits ain't grocery / eggs ain't poultry / And Mona Lisa was a man." That's a great answer, isn't it? Unless, of course, you subscribe to the theory that di Vinci painted it as some sort of jokes-on-you self portrait. That really throws a kink into ol' Titus's overtures, doesn't it? Unless he was a subscriber to the self portrait theory. I bet he did. Ol' Titus, that sly dog… pulling one over on the ladies again.

FTM - Erasure or The Pet Shop Boys?

D - The pet shop only has two workers in our town, and they're both women. Schwarzenegger killed it in Erasure, though, didn't he? I'm going to go with that one.

FTM - How many times have you been arrested?

D - 5.

FTM - Really? 5?

D- Wait, did I say that wrong? I can never remember how you do this. I meant to say I plead to five. Plead the five? Whatever. No comment.

FTM - Does your concert rider include brisket and facial hair grooming products?

D - I'm not sure what passes for brisket in Mississippi, though this gives me a pretty good idea. We don't have to ask for hairless brisket in Texas.

FTM - What kind of truck do you drive?

D - I don't drive a truck.

FTM- No, seriously.

D- I don't.

FTM- What do you drive then?

D- A Prius.

FTM- Haha, you got me. That was funny.

D- I do. Seriously.

FTM- I said you got me. Don't overdo it.

Have you ever gotten Jason Isbell and Jason Aldean confused?

D - Nah, it's easy to tell them apart. Aldean is the one that wears earrings like my grandma used to.

FTM - Do you like Waffle House patty melts?

D - Is grits groceries?

FTM - List the current contents of your murse.

D - My library card. And I bought an iPhone just so I could get that Sing Like T-Pain app. The one that does instant auto tune? I got it just incase this record bombs… practicing so I can fit in better in Nashville if I have to try and make it up there instead. Always got to have a plan B. A plan that's perfectly, robotically tuned to B.

FTM - If they came out with beard bump-its, would you try one?

D - They'd better get in touch with me about one of those sponsorship deals we were talking about if they do, I'll tell you that much.

FTM - You're a funny guy, Mr. Prius-driver. I'm still snickering over that one. Well, I hope people who read this will run out and buy your album and novel. Neither one of them sucks!

YouTube Gems: Drew Kennedy

From Drew's upcoming (stellar) album Fresh Water in the Salton Sea, here are my scruffy pals Drew Kennedy and Josh Grider with "War with Myself."

Red Dirt Day - Parody Album Covers

Country Album Cover Warning Labels

Country Doppelgängers XI

Kenny Chesney (sans hat) and actor, Paul Giamatti.

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Kellie Pickler's comments are frequently doppelgangers for this girl's.

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Texas singer/songwriter Drew Kennedy apparently had a Toby Keith phase.

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Country music newcomer Walker Hayes has the Justin Bieber thing going on.

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Yet another country newcomer, Brett Eldredge, resembles Bears QB Jay Cutler.

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Shooter Jennings and a black monkey.