Chris Knight - Little Victories

If you were to paint a portrait of a singer-songwriter and ex-mine reclamation inspector  hailing from 90 acres in Slaughters, KY, Chris Knight would be the visage on the canvas. Writing songs from a common working mans perspective, Knight writes compelling songs filled with characters drawn not from TV or documentary portrayals, but from real-life, sweat and blood insight into the average 21st Century American's existence.

Knight is a man who prefers to let his music do the talking. If you are as contemptuous of modern "Country" music as JS-NYC and lucky enough to see any of his mainstream CMT-type interviews, check in to see Knight maintaing a level of interview enthusiasm halfway between Robert DeNiro and J. Mascis and watch the plastic hosts wither. His records come out every four years or so and perform as respectively as any other singer-songwriter on the circuit, but Knight keeps the lights on with the royalties from the covers of his tracks by mainstream acts like Montgomery Gentry and Ty Herndon.

Little Victories is a solid collection of songs, filled with portraits of good common men and women trying to make it through another day, not living high on the hog, but living nonetheless.  Co-conspirators include Buddy Miller as well as personal Knight hero John Prine, who pops in to take a pretty aces guest verse on Little Victories. Nothing On Me and You Can't Trust No One are two other high points, but there really isn't a bad song on Little Victories. I'd pick it up with the quickness.

As Knight thinks globally, but performs most locally around the South, those North of the Mason-Dixon line are best advised to get hard copies of Little Victories here from the Chris Knight web presence. Stay tuned to JS-NYC for news of any dates in town.

R

Centro-matic - Candidate Waltz

Why Centro-matic are not gargantuanally huge I can't tell you. With all respect to The National and My Morning Jacket, I can't see why those two are playing the Garden and Centro-matic are still playing Mercury. Centro-matic have released hands down better, more consistent records over almost two decades that are recorded in top-notch fashion and consistently top critics lists. The new Candidate Waltz is yet another in a relentless succession of awesome, sporting nine of the best songs you'll hear all year.

Save yourself and buy Candidate Waltz here.

R

Live: Centro-matic with Sarah Jaffe @ Mercury Lounge 6.30.11

It had been a hell of a week, and one of the easiest panaceas for such things is a Centro-matic show at Mercury. The Mercury Lounge is my favorite place in town (maybe on Earth) to see a show, and while I don't get there nearly as much as I used to, it's always a pleasure to see those kids. I rolled in just as Sarah Jaffe was finishing leveling a packed room. I hadn't heard of her previously, but she sure can sing. Evidently she's from Denton as well. I grabbed the record, so look for more on her soon.

Denton's scruffiest took the stage with little circumstance, launching into over an hour of old and new tracks, including an extemporaneous new Danborn number worked up while the left side of the stage waited for power to return so they could play Blisters May Come. We also learned that cleaning up toxic waste on Long Island is not a great job, even if you do get songs out of it. Consider yourself informed. Centro-matic are a force live, and this evening was no exception. Drummer Matt Pence is terrifying behind the kit, making it look easy as he beat the piss out of his kit like it owed him cash. Danborn and Johnson sing like angels and Mark is one hell of an all-around player, even if he left his X-Series at home. There was a fair amount of ex-pat Denton in the room that upped the ante to boot. The new record Candidate Waltz dropped 6/22, courtesy of the good folk of Thirty Tigers. Look for a review in a bit, but don't postpone joy: see Centro-matic when/whereever you can. Here's a link that will let you do both.

R

Live DBT @ Skyscraper

All:

My review of the record release show at Bowery for the latest Drive By Truckers record Go-Go Boots is up currently at Skyscraper.

Here's a link.

Thanks to Traci Thomas at Thirty Tigers for the guest list, ATO for the spot and Andrew at Skyscraper.

R

DBT at Skyscraper

All:

Review of the 2011 installment of awesome new DBT record, this one called Go-Go Boots, is up currently at the Skyscraper web presence.

Here's a link.

Look for a review of the NYC Go-Go Boots record release show at Skyscraper soon.

Thanks to Andrew Bottomley at Skyscraper and Traci Thomas at Thirty Tigers.

R

Will Kimbrough review at PopMatters

Hey Kids:

Review of the new Will Kimbrough record called Wings is up currently at PopMatters. Peep it here.

Thanks to Sarah Zupko at PopMatters and Traci Thomas at Thirty Tigers!

R

Backyard Tire Fire at PopMatters

Hey Kids:

Sorry it's been so sparse around the parts with the updates. Got a million things brewing for PopMatters that are taking me out of the game. The first one of the avalanche will be the new Backyard Tire Fire record called Good To Be. Peep the review here.

Thanks to Sarah Zupko at PopMatters and Traci Thomas at ThirtyTigers.

R

Ray Wylie Hubbard review at PopMatters

Hey Kids:

Review of the new Ray Wylie Hubbard record is currently up at PopMatters. Here's a link. Thanks to Sarah Zupko at PopMatters and Traci Thomas at Thirty Tigers.

R

Patterson Hood - Murdering Oscar (and other love songs)

Hey Kids:

Patterson Hood, who you should know from the Drive By Truckers, has finally got around to recording another solo record. And there was much rejoicing. Patterson is nothing less than prolific when it comes to the songwriting, perhaps to a fault. So many great songs pop up for a tour or two, never to reappear outside of the live trading set. Murdering Oscar has songs that date as far back as the end of Adam's House Cat (Patterson and Cooley's first band from the 80s) and some as recent as the last couple months. All of them are pretty fabulous. A lot of the material reaffirms Hood's love for all things Big Star. Danborn and Johnson of the mighty Centro-matic guest on a lot of the tracks, as does co-producer Dave Barbe. If you like DBT, there is very little chance that you won't enjoy Murdering Oscar. It may be a little bit less rock, and you may miss Cooley and Shonna a little bit, but realize they aren't going anywhere. There's a DBT odds and sods comp coming down the pike in the Fall, and there's always the Booker T. Jones record to tide you over. Carpe Diem, kids. Murdering Oscar (and other love songs) is out now. You can grab it via this handy link. The live show is pretty fierce , too, so stay more than a second or too and peep the tour dates.

R

Live: Patterson Hood and the Screwtopians with Will Johnson at Bowery Ballroom 6.24.9

The new Patterson Hood record Murdering Oscar and other love songs had been inching ever closer to the top of the pile before Traci at Thirty Tigers got in touch about seeing the show at Bowery. His first solo record Killers and Stars, dropped almost five years ago now, but Patterson always has a million songs in various stages of completion. Many of them have been recorded for the new record, but there are easily an equal number still gestating.

The Screwtopians are Patterson's solo band, featuring Neff and EZB from Drive By Truckers, Scott Danborn and Will Johnson from Centro-matic, with Mr. Dave Barbe filling out the line-up on bass. Look at that band and then tell me how the hell this show didn't sell better. I know I'm broke, but the economy can't be so bad that this show should have been so sparsely attended. The ignorance of New Yorkers never fails to astound me. Will opened up the evening with a short solo set, featuring a pretty great Husker cover, Danborn for a tune or two, and a tune with the Screwtopians to close the set. Will deserves to be very famous, very soon. We should all do everything we can to make that the case.

I had hoped for a seamless set, especially with The Screwtopians coming out for Will's last song, but it was not to be. They were out soon enough, working through some sound problems, but still pretty much killing it. You would do well to pick up a copy of the new record stat. It's got recorded versions of Heavy and Hanging and Back Of A Bible and some other newer fare. Even though I haven't reviewed it formally, you would be wise to buy it immediately via this handy link. Check out the tourdates here and get your friends to go see those Screwtopians. The show is far too good to be passed over in favor of the next spate of DBT shows.

R

Live: Bloodkin @ National Underground 6.19.9 (late)

So Traci at Thirty Tigers mentioned that Bloodkin were going to be in town and suggested I pop in. I really like the new Bloodkin record, Baby They Said We Would Rise Again. I had written it up for the final print issue of Skyscraper and they were playing in the neighborhood, so I double dipped and dropped in after the 1.6 Band reunion.

Barry has had good things to say about Monday's at NU. Evidently Kevn Kinney plays the pretty regularly and its a good time. On a Friday night upstairs, however, it's kind of a pain in the ass. Bloodkin kicked ass, but the constant traffic back and forth was pretty irritating for this cranky old bastard, and I wasn't playing. The gents are no spring chickens, and I'm sure have played much worse situations, but I felt for them. I saw the first set and would have stayed for the second had it not been like seeing a band in a hallway full of the finest Friday night douchebags the bridges and tunnels could provide. If you can see Bloodkin, you definitely should, though. The new record is great and the old stuff is pretty fabulous it's own self, very Athens, with a healthy dose of DBT, if you're into that kind of thing. Oh, I so am. Keep track of the fearsome fivesome that is Bloodkin here and get the new record Baby They Said We Would Rise Again here from the good folk of Sci-Fidelity. It's a banger.

R

Doug Sahm Tribute Review up now at The Tripwire

Hey Kids:

My review of Keep Your Soul: A Tribute To Doug Sahm is up at The Tripwire. Check it out here.

Thanks to Derek Evers at The Tripwire and Traci Thomas at Thirty Tigers!

R

Keep Your Soul: A Tribute To Doug Sahm

Doug Sahm came on my my radar first through my Freddy Fender fixation and The Texas Tornados, a relationship reinforced by his appearing on the last Uncle Tupelo record and Wilco doing Take Back The Key To My Heart a lot live after Doug's untimely passing in '99. I still don't really want to hear another rendition of She's About A Mover, with all due respect to Sir Doug and Augie, but the rest of the Sahm canon is pretty untouchable, mixing Texas rock, Bay Area psychedelia and traditional Mexican music into a salsa well-loved by reefer aficionados since the 70s.

In 2002, the Bottle Rockets did an entire record of Sahm covers for Bloodshot Records called Songs Of Sahm. It's not the biggest-selling record in their catalog, but it did a lot towards exposing Sir Doug to a younger, non-Texan audience. This year marks the 10th Anniversary of Doug's passing and Vanguard Records has put together fourteen covers of Sahm material to commemorate his passing. Entitled Keep Your Soul: A Tribute To Doug Sahm, the fourteen tracks are a rarity in that they are both well-done and performed either by peers or by true torch-carriers of the Sahm cosmic music continuum. She's About A Mover opens the proceedings with 60's rocker Little Willie G's version of the oft-mangled Nuggets classic, then proceeds a bit deeper into the Sham canon with great covers by Greg Dulli and Dave Alvin. 

The rockers are great, but to ignore the Tejano influence on the Sahm music is to obfuscate a huge portion of his canon. Texas Tornado compadre Flaco Jimenez weighs in with a stellar Ta Bueno Compadre and Joe "King" Carrasco does the same with Adios Mexico. The Texas royalty appears in the form of Delbert McClinton and Charlie Sexton. Perhaps the best cover of all from that camp is Jimmie Vaughan, who kills his version of Why, Why, Why. The horns and staccato guitar are just right, as is Shawn Sahm closing the proceedings with Mendecino. It's a shame that Doug has passed, but with covers like the ones on, it's obvious that the Cosmic Cowboy and his energy will be influencing music for a long time to come. 

You can grab virtual or actual copies of Keep Your Soul: A Tribute To Doug Sahm from the good folk of Vanguard here. 

Live: Jason Isbell @ The Living Room 2.25.9

Jason did a little invite-only thing over at The Living Room the other night. Thanks to Traci Thomas at Thirty Tigers for the hook-up. It was a small room and a short set that featured a bunch of stuff off the new Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit record that just dropped. Acoustic for the most part, Jason was in good voice. Sound is always great there and you can't beat the commute. The 400 Unit are playing tonight at Bowery with Deer Tick starting around the 9 o'clock hour. Be there. Thanks and/or apologies to wheredaveis for stealing the photo from his Flickr. Here's a link to his awesome photos.

R