Emergency hybrid video version Mixed Music Action/
Road Dispatch!Pinnell in Ga. Edition!
By Kevin Broughton
On the penultimate stop of a three-week tour with Logan Ledger, we managed to corral our grappling troubadour for a brief, freewheeling conversation. Eddie’s Attic, (“the best room in Atlanta”) was the setting. The video speaks for itself, but stick around for some context and analysis.
So yeah, that was something. Our boy went on to play a great set, and we’ll be posting much more content from a magic night in Decatur in the coming days. But his seemingly random reply to the “any new music?” query cries out for a response.
Yes, he said, “Leo Sayer.” Yes, he seemed quite serious. Yes, this is like Andy Kaufman being cast in the role of Chief in One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest.
It’s 9:30 a.m. EDT on Friday, Sept. 13 as I write this. If I’m gonna have an ear worm (about 20 hours now because it was in my dreams,) everybody is. Thank Jeremy Pinnell. Have a nice weekend.
“Man, we played Macon last night, and I kinda blew my voice out,” are the first words out of Brent Cobb’s mouth during a brief tour-bus visit before a late February show in Atlanta. And why wouldn’t it happen? Macon’s just 70 miles up the road from Cobb’s hometown of Ellaville; what to expect, if not a rocking show?
And yet, there’s one more tour stop, tomorrow in Nashville. Our boy was gonna have to dig deep.
And dig deep he would. Atlanta’s a good bit further from Ellaville than Macon, but there’s a partisan Cobb crowd on hand. It’s largely respectful of the opening act – rising country star Gabe Lee – but there’s a sense of anticipation bordering on rowdy.
As the moment arrives, Cobb and the band make quite the entrance: the front man in a shiny, mother-of-pearl-colored jacket with raised paisley, his bandmates sporting Kelly-green blazers of their own. The night is actually three concerts in one, as most of the songs from the gospel record make an appearance. After a quick jacket swap – as mother-of-pearl gives way to mustard corduroy – there’s a brief acoustic solo set, followed by a full-band, secular rocker to close things out.
It’s not until the last leg that Cobb’s vocal fatigue peeks in. “So, we played Macon last night, and I kinda blew my voice out,” he tells the crowd, before addressing the sound man. “Could we double up the vocal monitors, please?” And he soldiered on, including this live version of his 2020, tongue-in-cheek “Shut Up And Sing.”
Unsurprisingly, the lights come on after the last song of the set, signifying there’ll be no encores. Nobody complains, knowing they’ve watched a native son leave it all on the stage.
We caught up with Tennessee Jet before his July 24 show at the iconic Eddie's Attic in Decatur, Ga. and discussed a range of topics, including touring post-Covid, his forthcoming album (South Dakota,) and whether there's a movie in there somewhere. There's also a video of his Whiskey Myers' cut "Bury My Bones" below the interview.
These can be tough times for the independent, professional musician. Without a label’s support – and the bill that inevitably comes due for up-front money – an artist might find himself playing to a room of six people; then it’s on to the next town with no guarantee there, either.
Jonathan Tyler – who’s been steadily grinding while putting the finishing touches on his next album – was recently presented an opportunity from an unlikely source, a chance to gain exposure to new audiences without taking a financial hit.
Those familiar with Tyler’s work might raise an eyebrow when they hear he’s opening for Midland, a mainstream country act on the Big Machine label. It actually makes perfect sense.“It’s a cool opportunity, because I’ve become friends with these guys in Midland, and it might lead to more things down the road,” he says. It’s the second long weekend of three in this mini-tour. “Last week was Boston and New Jersey; this weekend is Atlanta, Huntsville, Ala. and Baton Rouge.”
We caught up with Tyler over spaghetti and Budweisers after his sound check. In a couple hours, he’ll open the show at the Tabernacle, a historic and iconic Atlanta venue. And he’ll light the place up, rocking out a 30-minute set for the capacity crowd of 2,600 with the help of drummer Josh Greco (formerly of Austin’s Uncle Lucius.) Oh, and Midland drummer Robbie Crowell – who’s dabbling in bass guitar – joined them on that instrument for a couple songs.
After the Baton Rouge show Saturday, it’s back home to Austin where Tyler will put on his producer’s hat and record Jeremy Pinell’s next album in the studio he’s built in his house. He scored a Jack Daniel’s commercial last fall, enabling him to make upgrades. “I keep re-investing everything,” he says. “I did something for Camel cigarettes last year, too, and several other corporate music-production jobs. The Jack Daniel’s spot was such a huge opportunity for me, and I’ve bought more microphones and a bunch more gear.”
Texas Jonny backstage,
sporting a Kinky Friedman look
On the Midland opportunities, present and future:
“It’s been really nice. They’re letting me ride on the bus; they’re giving me enough money to make a little bit. It’s a good thing, to go on tour and not lose money. It’s a little early to be thinking about it, but I feel like we’re getting close to that point – where we might look at producing a cut, or helping them write a song on their next album. I’d love to do that.
“Right now a three-week thing. It might turn into more. Maybe they’ll ask me to do more dates.”
On expanding his in-home studio:
“Now I’m able to invite other artists into my house and make music with them. It’s a win-win, all the way around.”
On producing and engineering for Jeremy Pinnell:
“I met Jeremy through a friend and got to check out a few of his shows. He’s just out there grinding, playing three or four shows a week, driving from town to town. Jeremy’s really putting in the hard work, and his band has gotten so tight. He’s another one of these guys who’s just so good, but gets overlooked by the modern country ‘business.’ So I wanted to help him out and make music with him. We’ve already done a lot of pre-production. So he and his band and I are just gonna track a bunch of stuff live; we’ll try to get it all done in five days. It won’t be easy, but those guys are real musicians, man. They can play. And Jeremy’s one of those blue-collar guys. I really respect his work ethic.”
(Note: as of press time, Pinnell & his band were on their way from Austin to Little Rock for a Valentine’s night show. “No title yet,” Tyler says. “But it’s gonna be really good.”)
On the release of his album, the follow-up to 2015’s Holy Smokes:
“I’m trying to figure it out. I made the album on my own – self-financed – and it wasn’t cheap. So I’m sorta out of money right now. I may just self-release it into the vacuum. It’d be nice to have a record label, but these are tricky times; I’ll probably just start releasing individual tracks on my own, directly to Spotify, Apple Music and the other outlets in March because I just can’t wait any longer. I would say that the entire album will be released by the summer time.”
Final thoughts?
“The new Drive By Truckers album may have been financed by the Chinese government. I really don’t know.”
On the heels of his critically acclaimed breakthrough album Songs From The Exile, Dalton Domino has
eschewed traditional venue-based touring in favor of a daunting, national,
50-set house show circuit. Dalton and tour manager Doug explained that they put
out some social media feelers and were bombarded by more than 600 email responses
in just a few hours.
This tour stop in East Cobb County was organized by the fine folks at Georgia Red
Dirt Country, who go above and beyond to promote music from the Lone Star
Republic, right here in the Thirteenth Colony.
Domino is in fine storytelling form in this intimate
setting, a nice quiet place for a song about a little sister who got taken
away, “Half Blood.”
One of a bunch of great songs that made Songs From The Exile my album of the year.
And once again, thanks to the awesome @dirt_Georgia for the
hospitality & kindred musical spirit. They’re a must-follow for the Red
Dirt fan in Georgia.
Son Volt: Notes
of Blue review and Atlanta road dispatch
By Kevin Broughton
Don’t get down when
the Cavalry doesn’t ride; doesn’t mean that Hollywood didn’t get it right.
So begins what may be the most Son Volt album ever.
We spent some time in this space six
weeks ago mulling over an old Son Volt record, and how it should be judged
against the band’s body of work. In the process of that look back -- which
corresponded with the release of Notes of
Blue, its eighth studio album not counting compilations – a thought occurs
to the dedicated Son Volt fan. To wit: This
band will always be whatever Jay Farrar finds compelling at any given moment.
If he finds something interesting that needs a new voice or
interpretation, we’re gonna get a new Son Volt album. If it resonates with the folks, great.
If not, that’s okay too, because Jay’s gonna do his thing. Case in point, 2013’s Honky Tonk, Farrar’s sublimely faithful
send-up of the Bakersfield sound. Which itself was the first peep heard from
him since 2009.
As the simply self-evident title suggests, Farrar decided
he’d do a blues record. And he did, man, and put a stamp on it only he could. Notes of Blue, which Jay says is
influenced heavily by Mississippi Fred McDowell and Skip James, certainly isn’t
your conventional blues deal. It’s alternately rambling and driving, with the
customary stop-go tempo changes that date back to Uncle Tupelo thrown in. There’s
a cowboy ethos…as many Westerns as are coming out these days – remake and
original – Notes of Blue should be a
soundtrack to one of them.
And it’s a bunch of wonderfully different tunings (which
made for frequent equipment changes live, see below), 30 minutes efficiently
packed into 10 songs. There’s vitality, there’s brooding, and sheer badassery
on “Threads and Steel.” But as the opening cut, “Promise the World,” passes the
Bakersfield-to-blues baton between albums.
And it was often the pedal steel-playing of [some dude] that got the crowd’s
attention time again at Atlanta’s Terminal West on March 10. I’m sorry, but as
we acknowledged earlier,
“Son Volt” is Jay and whomever is behind him at the moment. The guy on
steel was exceptional, and played keyboards really well, too. [That one guy] on bass sang competent
harmonies. The band was tight. Oh, wait.
Opening act? Yeah, there was one at the sold-out (625,
standing) venue.
Let me tell you about him for just a second. The advertised
bill was SON VOLT WITH JOHNNY IRION. So I Googled the guy.
-------
Oh, good. The Google hit reveals some
hippie-communist-douchebag who decided to prove his bona fides by doing an anti-Trump song.
Wow, guy. You must be
legit! And courageous. It takes a lot of balls to write songs hating on a
Republican. Is it lonely out there on that bastion? You know, I didn’t vote for
president last year, my first time ever taking a pass at the top of the ticket.
But, dude. Since you’re a musician,
I’m starting to come around to your way of thinking. Tell me more.
Wait, what? Your wife
is Woody Guthrie’s commie granddaughter? And y’all did a trio – no kidding –
with Pete Seeger’s Bolshevik great grandson or some such?
Oh, wow, Johnny. You’ve
swayed me. I’m a Democrat now. I demand that boys be allowed in girls’
bathrooms. Immediately, and anyone who objects is a bigot.
Good job, Johnny. I just
wish I’d been born in time to march with an NVA flag and spit on Vietnam vets
in airports.
-------
Sorry. Yeah, let’s keep politics out of music. He did some
songs. I didn’t listen.
The show was great. Farrar – did his hair seem unnaturally
dark, and did that question seem catty – led the band
onstage and quickly into “Cherokee Street,” emphasizing the Cowboys-and-Indians
vibe of the record. They played all but one of the cuts off the new album, and
oddly, not a single one from the last. The balance of the 20-plus song set was
a healthy sampler of Son Volt’s best work.
Trace,
appropriately, was well represented, with “Tear Stained Eye,” “Catching On,”
“10 Second News,” “Route,” “Drown,” and “Windfall” making the list. The
highlight for a lot of folks was an encore that featured three Uncle Tupelo
Cuts. I’d never heard the lovely “Still Be Around” live before, and it was
awesome.
Trailer tells me Farrar’s on Twitter these
days. That’s neat. He was more interactive March 10 than I’ve ever seen
him. He said lots of words.
“How’s everybody doing tonight? You guys okay?”
“Hey, thanks a lot.”
“Thanks. I’d like to introduce the members of the band.
[Proceeds to do so.]”
He’s never been that chatty. And he changed guitar about
every 1.7 songs. Freaky tunings.
Know what he didn’t say? Anything about politics.
Yay.
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Notes of Blue is available everywhere you can purchase music, except Walmart probably.
One of the benefits of being in Farce the Music’s stable of reviewers/critics is regularly getting
turned on to new artists.Yes,
many friends consider me a “music snob” (if not a general butthole) for my
sneering at their infantile tastes, and I wear that badge (well, the “music
snob” one) proudly. I haven’t listened to music on commercial radio in years,
and Outlaw Country is pre-set #1 (channel 60) on my Sirius/XM receiver. Still,
all it takes is a periodic email from FTM
Boss man/Editor “Trailer” to make me feel like a noob.
The names in an email soliciting reviews might as well be
“some guy,” “this one band,” “her,” and “them.”
That’s how I discovered Austin
Lucas, and stumbled onto the best country album of the year. And through
him, I met another amazing artist I’d never heard of. And of course, the ubiquitous Sally.
Lucas and Matt
Woods (formerly “Who’s This Guy?” to me) played The Earl – an iconic
Atlanta venue -- in mid-July on their “Live
on Eight Legs” tour.
The solo acoustic twin bill was a delightful study in
contrasts of elite songwriters whose catalogs stand up just fine in an intimate
setting without a band’s support.
Woods, a scruffy, husky East Tennessean, ambled through an
hour-long set of poignant songs punctuated with witty observations, sometimes
at his own expense. (Imagine Steve Earle with a sense of humor, as tough as
that is.)He revealed what might
have been the moment he became destined to be an artist. Glued to the TV as a
youngster, “There was Conway Twitty, in a dark suit with that long,
skinny-handled microphone. He was drippin’ sweat and singin’ about gettin’
busy. I knew I had a chance. ” His natural connection with the audience is one
of the first things you notice; well, after the bracing vocals on songs like
“Johnny Ray Dupree,” a murder ballad that does Earle’s “Billy Austin” one
better.
“I spent the better part of the last two years living out of
a backpack,” Woods notes, “supporting my album With Love From Brushy Mountain.” He explains that Brushy Mountain
is the state pen down the road from his childhood home “and it scared the shit
out of me.” He then does a rousing version of that album’s title cut, itself a
fine murder ballad. He previewed his upcoming album How To Survive (October 7 release date) with “The
American Way,” a painful, increasingly all too common tale of a veteran
trying in vain to re-adjust to civilian life.
But it was “Dead Man’s Blues,”FTM’s Song of the Year in 2013, that
closed Woods’ portion of the service, and it definitely had an altar-call feel,
with an enrapturedaudience-turned-choir joining him on the last chorus for a full throated
a cappella finish.
Lucas would do him one better on a closing number, but first
he had an album’s worth of new material to introduce. Actually, the songs came
just after Sally settled in for the show.
It’s one thing to hear a professionally produced album with
great songs and top-flight instrumentalists; without them, Between the Moon and the Midwest wouldn’t be the great record that
it is. It’s another thing entirely, though, to see it put to the test in a
small room with nothing but a guitar and a microphone. Producer Joey Kneisser
did a fabulous job on it, but he didn’t use studio sleight of hand or any other
gimmicks. One after another, a
balanced mix of songs from the new album and 2013’s Stay Reckless poured out of Lucas and filled up the room. During
one of them, he hit the brakes suddenly, paused for a beat or two, and then
started belting the opening lines of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’.”
And he freaking killed
it. I mean Steve-Perry-note-for-note-not-in-a-lower-key smoked that thing. “That’s the number
one downloaded song of all time, and if you don’t like Journey, I don’t know
what’s wrong with you,”* he said, before resuming his song.
You can’t fake that.
“Some of y’all know,” Lucas said, as he readied to close the
show, “that I have issues with anxiety and depression, so I’d like everybody to
gather around.” The 50 or so in attendance complied (including Matt Woods &
me at the back of the crowd), as he unplugged his guitar and stood down from
the microphone. (At this point Sally got up from the guitar case, stretched,
then lay down in the middle of the stage.) It was time for another sing-along,
this time the touchingly
sweet “Alone in Memphis.” And for a few moments, artist and audience –
every one of them – had a genuinely spiritual connection.
You’d be hard pressed to find a better pair of artists – so
dedicated to the craft – for a night of singing and songwriting excellence. And
serious live music fans should hope that “Live on Eight Legs” gets an encore
tour, sooner rather than later.
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*Journey is the worst band of all time – maybe second-worst
behind Poison – but he may have a bit of a point here. And he freaking crushed
that song.
