Showing posts with label The Damn Quails. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Damn Quails. Show all posts

Dec 29, 2011

Best Songs of 2011



1. Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit - Codeine

2. Kasey Anderson and the Honkies - Exit Ghost



5. The Damn Quails - Fools Gold

The Rest of the Best:
Hayes Carll - Another Like You
Bad Meets Evil - Fast Lane
Stoney Larue - Dresses
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
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
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
Chris Young - Neon
The Damn Quails - Mary
John Moreland and the Dust Bowl Souls - Good Enough
Foo Fighters - Arlandria
Jimbo Mathus - Cling to the Roots
Amanda Shires - Ghost Bird
Pistol Annies - Trailer for Rent
John Popper and the Duskray Troubadors - Champipple
Ronnie Dunn - Cost of Livin'
Miranda Lambert - Mama's Broken Heart
Nick 13 - Carry My Body Down
Raphael Saadiq - Stone Rollin'
Big KRIT - Another Naive Individual Glorifying Greed & Encouraging Racism
George Strait - Poison
Centro-matic - Estimate X 3
Amos Lee - Flower

FTM 101 Best Albums of 2011: 1-50





My tastes were more oriented towards roots-music this year than any in recent memory and The Damn Quails put out a stunning debut that satisfied my yearnings like no other. The unique voices of Bryon and Gabriel combine for divine harmonies and their writing is the class of contemporary bands that fall into the "red dirt" scene, or nearly any scene for that matter. There isn't a weak song on the offering and what's more, nearly every tune spent time lodged in my brain on replay at one point or another. Brilliant work, epic even. Best songs: All of them, but if you must have 1 or 2 …"Fool's Gold" and "Mary" always slay me.



Wrapped around the undeniable song of the year, "Codeine," is an album that more than pulls its own weight. Isbell fans may have hoped for something louder, but what they got was an artist-defining gem of a southern rock and soul record. Strong lyrics, excellent musicianship and plenty of easy-to-love melodies make this an album most anyone can appreciate, and true music lovers will adore. Best tracks: Codeine, Alabama Pines.





The boys went and growed up on us. While Hellbound Glory is still infatuated with the darker subjects - addiction, dysfunctional families and death, in particular - their songwriting has improved a great deal since their last album. Not that it was ever bad. It's just that this time around the songs are better developed. The hooks are hookier and the subject matter comes across more naturally - it no longer feels like they're trying to shoehorn in every deviant behavior and curse word they can, just because they can. This is a band on the rise and with material this good, they may eventually break down the wall between alt and country. Best tracks: Better Hope You Die Young, Knocked Off the Horse.



What else is there to say about Hayes? Rapier wit. Songwriting that recalls the greats of country and folk music. Memorable, affable voice. Actually has something to say. Just enough weirdness to keep him a little mysterious. Check, to all of those. This guy's the real deal; one of the few artists I'll buy an album from without hearing a single note. He never disappoints, never rests on his accolades. Thanks for another winner, Hayes! Best tracks: Another Like You, Chances Are.




Jimbo calls this "catfish music," and I see no better way to describe it. Confederate Buddha is a melting pot for southern music - R&B, rock, folk, country and swamp soul, all mixed, matched and sifted out at different times on the record. Mathus' writing is in turns poetic, straight-forward or abstract, all expertly crafted and emotionally performed. Best tracks: Cling to the Roots, Aces and Eights.




Bonnie Raitt, Janis Joplin and Neko Case in a blender vocals. Transgendered Hayes Carll songwriting chops. That was weird. …this album is great. 
Best tracks: Are You Ready to Die, Hell's Bells






The in-demand producer of #6/former hair band member/former 90's alt-rock band, the jack - nay master - of all trades turns in this hook-driven smorgasbord of power pop, hard rock and jangly country-flavored rave-up goodness. This album alongside #8 would make a killer party soundtrack. Best tracks: Synthesizers, Suckerpunch





If this is a sellout, I wish every artist who's been accused of such had such a well-done betrayal of ideals. The Black Keys expand their blues rock sound to (bluesy) glam rock and power pop without missing a step or making it sound contrived. Sometimes you just need to turn off your inner-critic and enjoy. Fun, fun, fun! Best tracks: Gold on the Ceiling, Nova Baby




Adele somehow straddles the huge divide between modern pop and "old people" soul music with great success. Even the songs that lack lyrically are made great by Adele's huge (but never diva-esque) voice. There hasn't been an artist in some time that brought together so many people in mutual admiration. This is a chick album that dudes can be unashamed to love. It's an old-school album that kids can groove to. Excellence. Best tracks - Rolling in the Deep, Someone Like You.



Sounding like the Black Crowes by way of Muscle Shoals, Ponderosa is a super-talented band of southern rockers who mostly steer clear of the clichés of the genre. Kalen Bush's lead vocals are stirring and the harmonies take their sound over the top. Ponderosa isn't reinventing the wheel here, but what they do, they do very well. Best tracks: Old Gin Road, Devil on My Shoulder.





13. Stoney Larue - Velvet
15. Ryan Adams - Ashes and Fire
16. Pistol Annies - Hell on Heels
17. Wilco - The Whole Love
18. Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears - Scandalous
19. Mastodon - The Hunter
20. Will Hoge - Number Seven
22. Miranda Lambert - Four the Record
23. Foo Fighters - Wasting Light
24. Justin Haigh - People Like Me
25. Frank Ocean - Nostalgia, Ultra
26. Frank Turner - England Keep My Bones
28. Bon Iver - s/t
29. Sunny Sweeney - Concrete
31. Bad Meets Evil - Hell (The Sequel)
32. Left Lane Cruiser - Junkyard Speed Ball
34. Big KRIT - Return of 4Eva
35. The Decemberists - The King is Dead
36. F*cked Up - David Comes to Life
37. Merle Haggard - Working in Tennessee
38. Eli Young Band - Life at Best
39. Adam Hood - The Shape of Things
41. Glossary - Long Live All of Us
43. Blitzen Trapper - American Goldwing
44. Dawes - Nothing is Wrong
45. Cody Canada and The Departed - This is Indian Land
46. The Civil Wars - Barton Hollow
47. George Strait - Here for a Good Time
48. Robyn Ludwick - Out of These Blues
50. Jason Boland and the Stragglers - Rancho Alto


Nov 30, 2011

More Damn Quails!

Enjoy! (I want to fight whoever's talking over this!)

Nov 22, 2011

Review: The Damn Quails - Down the Hatch

First of all, I'd like to welcome Kelcy Salisbury ( @ ) into the fold as an occasional reviewer and possible regular contributor to Farce the Music! His debut piece is a review of my current favorite album of 2011.


The Damn Quails - Down the Hatch

by Kelcy Salisbury


A great man (I’ve heard the quote variously attributed to Kris Kristofferson & Guy Clark) once said that there are two ways to write great lyrics. One is to write about “uncommon things in common words”. The other is to write about “common things in uncommon words”. As a music fan I’ve always leaned strongly on the lyrical quality of the music when choosing between what I consider good or bad. Of course good music requires strong playing and solid arrangements but that’s just the cover charge. To actually get in the club and make an impression, it had better have some serious lyrical weight.


I’m happy to report that the Damn Quails debut album, Down The Hatch, delivers on all counts. Most great songwriters excel at either common themes in uncommon words, or vice versa, to reference the previous quote one last time. The lyrical strength of the one-two punch that is Damn Quails songwriting is that they can pull off either type of writing with equal aplomb.


But there is much more here than just great lyrics and well crafted songs (I may be labeled as a heretic, but I’m looking at you Bob Dylan and you too, Neil Young when I say this). The performances, both vocally and musically more than hold up their end of the bargain and actually enhance the lyrics of each song.


Now, at this point in time the Quails are one of the most buzzed about bands in this region of the country and possibly in all of independent/Americana/Red Dirt music, so I’ll spare you the biographical information, but let me just say that I haven’t heard a duo that works this well together since at least Foster & Loyd, again risking being burned at the stake for heresy I actually prefer the Damn Quails to any musical duo I can recall hearing since the height of the Waylon & Willie collaborations and truthfully the Damn Quails are more of an actual duo than those efforts ever were. The third person whose contributions cannot be overstated is producer and Oklahoma music kingpin Mike McClure. The production is spot-on throughout the album. After about two dozen spins I can’t hear a single spot where I felt like the production was flawed or lacking, yet the album never loses it’s organic feel. It’s truly a remarkable achievement.


My personal favorite feature of the Damn Quails music is the interplay in vocal styles as they trade off lead vocals from song to song. Gabriel has a voice that vaguely reminds me of a celtic singer I heard once at a bar in Canada. Random I know, but I could definitely imagine him singing some Chieftains cover songs on a lark. Byron has what feels like a more classic country/folk voice to me. Neither voice is incredible on it’s own, though both are certainly very good. It’s the interplay of the two, and the changing styles from one song to the next that really give the album such a uniquely wonderful vocal quality.


Musically, there is plenty to love. The guitar work on opening track, Better Place To Stop, and Parachute both stand out to me but every song has great instrumentals, even a touch of organ in places. There is not a weak link musically on the entire album.


Lyrically every song is exceptional, I suspect everyone who listens closely will have a different favorite and will possibly change their minds about what that favorite is after each listen. Each song evokes the emotions of the story being told as the lyrics are perfectly blended with the instrumental arrangements to paint a picture that words alone simply cannot do. My personal favorites on the album are Fools Gold, Parachute and California Open Invitation but I don’t skip a single song any time I listen and I doubt I ever will.


If you can buy only one song on this album, save your money until you can buy the whole thing. A true piece of art deserves to be seen/heard the way it was intended to be, as a whole and this is a truly great piece of art. I simply have nothing negative to say about it.


Finally, this is deservedly the most buzzed about band out of the musical hotbed that is central Oklahoma in quite a while and (with all due respect to Jason Boland & The Stragglers whose Rancho Alto is incredible and all the other acts who put out great work this year) I am willing to state that this is the best record of the year, regardless of genre. It’s simply that good.



Nov 4, 2011

YouTube Gems: The Damn Quails - So So Long

Because I will not rest until at least 10 of my readers buy their album, here's The Damn Quails (again!) with "So So Long" from possibly my favorite album of the year, Down the Hatch. It's freaking awesome. Would I lie to you?

Oct 28, 2011

YouTube Gems: The Damn Quails

From my favorite new musical addiction, Down the Hatch, here's The Damn Quails with "Dollars." This band is HIGHLY recommended to fans of The Band, The Black Crowes, Band of Heathens, Zac Brown Band and possibly even Restless Heart. Excellent!

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