Jan 16, 2025
Zach Galifianakis Country Reaction Gifs
Jelly Roll going for the double play
Dec 11, 2024
What Your Favorite Album of 2024 Says About You
Johnny Blue Skies - Passage du Desir
You’re either a Sturgill fan from way back, or a jam band fan who suddenly developed good taste. You also may be a scooter riding yacht rock connoisseur. Whichever way, you’re cool with me.
Petty Country
You always thought Tom Petty’s voice was kind of harsh, so you’re happy Nashville finally watered down his songs for you. You listen to this in the background while yelling at site supervisors as you cut people off on the highway in your F-450 XLT that you don’t actually do any work in. All the parenting duties fall on your (third) wife.
Thomas Rhett - About a Woman
You are married to Thomas Rhett.
Oliver Anthony - Hymnal of a Troubled Man’s Mind
You consider yourself deep because you memorized a Robert Frost poem one time in 7th grade. You knew he meant other obese people who like fudge rounds, not you. You aren’t from Appalachia, but you did stay in a Holiday Inn Express in Pigeon Forge one time.
Beyoncé - Cowboy Carter
You don’t really care if the album is country or that Beyoncé said it isn’t. It must be acknowledged as such and all must bow. You have only listened to the album like 3 times total. The color of your hair is not natural to the human species.
Luke Bryan - Mind of a Country Boy
You own a shop that sells mid-priced jewelry, tee shirts with southern sayings, and trendy pottery. You were asked to be the house mother for the Tri-Delts at Ole Miss but your husband spends so much time driving around in his F-450 XLT yelling at people, all the parenting duties fall on you.
Aug 15, 2024
New Beavis & Butthead Country Reaction Gifs
Nov 16, 2023
A Poignant, Bittersweet Coda: Tom Petty’s Final Farewell
While it’s difficult to believe, last month marked the sixth anniversary of the passing of Tom Petty. If there’s a Kubler-Ross subset of the stages of grief for great artists, one step is the crushing knowledge that his catalog is now finite. And of course, there’s the garden-variety heartache that accompanies the death of the front man of arguably the greatest American rock band.
But with a cinematic time capsule, Tom Petty: Somewhere You Feel Free – The Making of Wildflowers, fans of the Heartbreakers get a final look back. It’s not new – there was a limited theatrical release in 2021 – but will now enjoy wide viewership thanks to Amazon Prime.
Directed by Mary Wharton and Anne Ethridge, it relies heavily on a tranche of old footage someone discovered in the early 2000s – a video diary of the making of what Petty considered his best work, shot from 1993-1995 and never seen before. There’s a surreal aspect that makes the film all the more haunting: Intermixed with scenes of the album’s production – Tom was in his early 40s and had a little more than 20 years to live – are present day interviews with Heartbreakers Benmont Tench and Mike Campbell, along with Rick Rubin, the producer Petty settled on reluctantly. It’s counterintuitive to hear Petty say at the time, “You know, Rick was a lot younger than all of us,” then cut to a scene of the silver-bearded uber mensch producer reflecting on work now three decades old.
The Wildflowers album – not a Heartbreakers record – came at a time of transition for Petty, whose marriage was falling apart, and the band. The rhythm section underwent a 100 percent turnover. Drummer Stan Lynch, seemingly always mercurial and contrarian, was underwhelmed with the Wildflowers demos and moved on. The last cut he ever played with the band was “Mary Jane’s Last Dance,” and that wasn’t even a part of those sessions. Petty needed two more cuts for a greatest hits album he owed the suits to get out of his deal with MCA.
Bassist Ron Blair – burned out by the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle – punched out to open a lingerie shop. Petty poached Howie Epstein from Del Shannon, who would put in ten great years before succumbing to heroin. His presence on screen evokes another heartache.
New drummer Steve Farrone, who would be a Heartbreaker to the end, tells the wonderful story of his top-secret audition. He had no idea what was going on, “Then I walked in and saw Tom Petty and Mike Campbell in the control room, and said, ‘Ooooooooh.’”
Footage of the composing/arranging/recording is bittersweet; seeing the chemistry, the artistry – the love – it’s so beautiful and touching. But the knowledge that you’ll never see it again will leave a hole in your heart. A constant back-and-forth during the process was whether to make Wildflowers a double album. That was ultimately decided in the negative, and Petty spent three agonizing months just whittling and sequencing the final 15 songs that make up the hour-and-six-minute record. But the scrawny kid from Gainesville was rewarded with a posthumous triumph in 2020, when the mammoth, 54-track Wildflowers & All The Rest was released.
Rest easy, Tom. You’re missed.
Oct 14, 2023
Mar 24, 2022
Feb 11, 2022
Nothin’ Worth Believin’ Past the Cleveland County Line: A Conversation with Jason Scott
Caught halfway between amplified Americana and heartland roots-rock, Jason Scott & the High Heat create a sweeping, dynamic sound that reaches far beyond the traditions of their Oklahoma City home. Too loud for folk music and too textured for Red Dirt, this is the sound of a genuine band rooted in groove, grit, and its own singular spirit, led by a songwriter whose unique past — a Pentecostal upbringing and years logged as a preacher-in-training — has instilled both a storyteller's delivery and a unique perspective about life, love, and listlessness in the modern world.
While his bandmates — Gabriel Mor (guitar), Taylor Johnson (guitar, keys), Alberto Roubert (drums), and Ryan Magnani (bass) — grew up listening to popular music, Jason's childhood was shaped by the sounds of Sunday morning church service. He sang in the choir and eventually learned to lead his own congregations, often turning to music to get his messages across.
A multi-instrumentalist, producer, engineer, and session musician, Scott launched his solo career with 2017's Living Rooms. The 5-song debut EP introduced him as a folksinger with a knack for "fun little earworms" (NPR), and he spent the following year balancing his time between the road and the studio, where he produced albums for Americana artists like Carter Sampson, Ken Pomeroy, and Nellie Clay. Things began to expand as he assembled the High Heat, a band of multi-faceted musicians and roots-rock Renaissance men who, like their frontman, juggled multiple artistic pursuits. Together, Jason Scott & the High Heat have since become a self-contained creative collective whose talents include songwriting, music production, photography, video direction, and more.
Castle Rock marks Jason Scott & the High Heat's full-length debut. "Quittin’ Time" makes room for a dual-guitar attack, a barroom piano solo, and a storyline about a hardworking man's fruitless attempts to escape his limited horizons, while "Cleveland County Line" flips the script, delivering a narrative about a prodigal son bound for home after a dark spiral of Kerouac-worthy travels. Lead single "Suffering Eyes" — with its twinkling keyboards, chugging power chords, and cascading guitar arpeggios — is heartland rock at its modern-day peak, as panoramic as the Oklahoma plains themselves.
This album will remind you of a lot of your favorite artists, yet every song is original. Jason Scott may be a man of few words, but his music has a lot to say.
Sure, yeah. Well, those two for sure, Tom Petty and John Prine. I like James Taylor a lot. I like songwriters: Guy Clark, Townes, stuff like that. And just about everything in between, really. Hip-hop…Kendrick Lamar. I’ve got a bunch of old Dean Martin Christmas records, too, so I like a little bit of everything.
You’ve been producing records for a while. How did that help with the efficiency of the recording process, and implementing your vision for this album?
I actually went to school for some “studio stuff” at ACM here in Oklahoma City. I’ve just been in and out of studios for the last 15 or so years of my life, and several of the guys in my band are in that environment, too. Taylor Johnson, who plays guitar for us, is an incredible engineer and producer. So yeah, having a team around you like that certainly helps in the start you get from start to finish, that’s for sure.
An interesting nugget from your bio: You grew up in a Pentecostal household and were actually training to be a pastor before dealing with – and I’m quoting here – “a crisis of faith.” Expound on that a little; how has it affected your writing, and familial relationships, for that matter?
I definitely had an “I’m Leaving” moment, and that put some distances in some friendships and relationships for sure. Most of the ones who count are still people in my life. But going back to songwriting, you know, the Bible is full of good stories, so being a Pentecostal certainly influenced me in my writing.
When I heard the tag line, “Ain’t nobody gonna roll the stone away” in “The Stone,” it initially conjured images of the first Easter. But that’s a song about a veteran and his wife coping with PTSD. Tell us how that song came about.
For a while, I’ve been startled with the amount of suicides in the veterans’ community. It’s not a song about a specific couple, but it’s something a lot of households have dealt with the last couple decades. And to be honest, those numbers haven’t improved that much. And I think I just wanted to say something about it; I mean the song doesn’t really offer any solutions, just more of an “it is what it is” situation. I have some friends and family who are veterans, too, so that influenced the song or at least wanting to make the song.
I’m a sucker for pretty harmony. Who’s the lady with the voice?
I have a couple of girl friends on the record. Abbey Philbrick has a band here in Oklahoma City – and they’re just amazing. And then Carter Sampson is a long-time buddy – I actually helped produce some of her records, way back – and she’s on “Castle Rock” and “A Little Good Music.” There are a lot of great girl artists here in Oklahoma City.
You just led me right into my next questions. “A Little Good Music,” may be my favorite cut. It’s full of good advice; what was its inspiration?
Uhhhh…my wife. (Chuckles) We have two kids, and sometimes life…well, it’s easy to get stressed out. I don’t know if there was a specific moment that inspired it, just the last nine years generally.
Tell me about the preacher raining down fire at the beginning of “Sleepin’ Easy,” and how they’re tied together. And I’m wondering if this is the first time Ambien has gotten a shout-out in a country song?
Hmmm. I don’t know. There’s probably something out there about it. But “Sleepin’ Easy,” too, incorporates being a parent and stressing out. Being a parent in today’s climate – politically, economically, all of that – is part of the stress in that song: Just trying to keep your head above water, and everybody seeming to need something from you. And [including the pastor at the beginning] wasn’t meant to be a slight, more an acknowledgment that if you go to church, you have to pay to attend, in most places.
That final cut on the album is where we hear the phrase “Castle Rock,” which I understand is somewhere you lived upon taking your leave of the church. Care to explain?
Yeah. My mom & dad split up when I was about 12, and I went to live with my mom in Castle Rock. And without going into too much detail, it was a crazy time in life for me and my two younger sisters. And I basically got to do whatever I wanted; there was definitely less focus and attention on the kids. For the first time in my life, I was doing stuff outside of a church building. Castle Rock was a time of change of me, so it was important to include some of those experiences in this group of songs.
With as crazy as the past couple years have been, have y’all had a chance to road-test any of these songs, and are there plans for a tour after the release?
Yeah, we’re in discussions with a pretty well-known booking agency right now, and we’ve got shows starting in February. And we’ve absolutely played these songs live and gotten miles out of them in many different places. But hopefully we’ll be able to add a bunch more dates really soon, and I’m definitely excited for that.
---
Castle Rock is out today!
Nov 27, 2021
Aug 26, 2021
Oct 9, 2020
Album Review / Great Peacock / Forever Worse Better
By Matthew Martin
On Great Peacock's third outing, Forever Worse Better, they have finally created what they've been looking to create for the past few years. This is revitalized Heartland Rock. The band is tighter on this release. Everything seems to be in sync, making for a hell of an album.
The album is a much more personal effort for Andrew Nelson who has described some of the self-doubt and relationship failures that were the muses for some of the better songs on the album (and the best of GP's career). With songs like, "Heavy Load" and "All I Ever Do" there is a clear growth in songwriting both lyrically and musically. It takes a lot to be able to put to words the emotions that come with those feelings and relationships that just always seem to be pulling us down.
But nowhere on the album is the clear growth of Great Peacock more evident as "High Wind." This is the standout song on the album for me, and quite frankly, I think this is the best song of their catalog (subject to change). From the opening kickstart of the drums to the chugging of the guitars, musically this song is a barnburner. I hear it and immediately feel like I'm hearing my favorite Petty song but not a cheap imitation. And the lyrics are a perfect encapsulation of the album. On this singular song, Andrew laments not only his aging but also his relationship problems. But, there's hope in the song. You know we all have these problems, but the most important part is doing the most while you can. Live it up. In these weird, covid fever dream times, it's a song that feels so pertinent.
The album is full of these songs- "Rock of Ages" and "Learning to Say Goodbye" are beautiful, meaningful, and triumphant. These songs are a testament to the band and their ability to have taken these songs out on the road and truly fine-tune their sound. The soft songs are sonically textured in a great way. The rockers are there. And, the intertwining of Andrew and Blount Floyd's guitars and voices is something to behold. Frank Keith's basslines are tight and keep everything together. This is a group hitting their stride, finding their voice as a band, and hopefully they have a lot more left in them.
Go buy the album and support Great Peacock any way you can.
———
Forever Worse Better is available today on Bandcamp, Amazon Music, etc.
Jun 16, 2020
Jun 12, 2020
LinkWithin
