DRIVE-BY
TRUCKERS Brighter Than Creation's Dark
Brighter Than Creation's Dark from Drive-By Truckers is a 19-song 75+ minute southern
gothic rock n' roll masterpiece. Featuring songs from Patterson, Cooley and Shonna.
The album also features contributions from Legendary Muscle Shoals keyboardist
Spooner Oldham. (New West Records) MORE
INFO CD $16.99 JASON
RINGENBERG Best Tracks and Side Tracks 1979-2007
Since his emergence in Nashville in 1981 with the Scorchers, Jason Ringenberg
has blazed a trail through country music with punk attitude and the heart of a
dusty road poet. With The Scorchers, Ringenberg set the high water mark for country
rock performers, laying waste to gritty bar rooms and fancy stages from Nashville
to L.A. A key patriarch of both the alt-country and Americana explosions of the
1990s, Jason is roots music royalty and his creative lineage is detailed here
on the two-disc collection Best Tracks and Side Tracks 1979-2007. The set includes
tracks from all phases of Ringenberg's storied solo career - new versions of Scorchers
classics, re-mastered original solo material, rarities and new unreleased tracks.
Re-worked Scorchers classic, "Shop It Around" starts out the Best Tracks
disc and "Help There's a Fire" from Side Tracks represents Jason's pre-Scorchers
band Shakespeare's Riot, making this the definitive Jason Ringenberg compendium.
The set even includes material from Ringenberg's children's music persona, Farmer
Jason. Built for hardcore fans and country music historians alike, Best Tracks
and Side Tracks 1979-2007 sums up the career of one of roots music's most influential
artists. Track Listing: Disc One Best Tracks: Shop It Around (new lyrics and recording)/The
Life Of The Party (new recording)/Bible And A Gun (with Steve Earle)/Camille (with
Swan Dive)/Punk Rock Skunk (rawk remix)/One Less Heartache (with The Wildhearts)/She
Hung The Moon Until It Died/Rainbow Stew/For Addie Rose/Born To Run/The Price
Of Progress/Prosperity Train/A Pocketful Of Soul/Eddie Rode The Orphan Train/Link
Wray/Tuskegee Pride/Half The Man/Chief Joseph's Last Dream/Broken Whiskey Glass
(new recording with The Woodbox Gang)/The Last Train To Memphis. Disc Two Side
Tracks: Lovely Christmas! (with Kristi Rose)/Moose On The Loose (with exended
Webb Wilder outro)/The Sailor's Eyes/Cappuccino Rosie (live country version with
Arty Hill)/Moms 70th Birthday Song/Help There's A Fire (Shakespeare's Riot version)/Buckminster
Fuller We Need You Now/Who's Gonna Feed Them Hogs/Paradise (with R.B. Morris,
Tom Roznowski and Janas Hoyt)/Jimmie Rogers Last Blue Yodel (with The Wildhearts).(Yep
Roc) MORE
INFO + SOUND CLIPS 2 CD $16.98 NORTH
MISSISSIPPI ALLSTARS Hernando
Hernando also marks the first release since 2005's critically lauded and Grammy-nominated
Electric Blue Watermelon. Where EBW was a tribute to the tradition of the Hill
Country Blues legacy that has always influenced the band, the brothers Dickinson
-- Luther (guitars, vocals) and Cody (drums) -- and bassist Chris Chew, decided
to cut the lines from the past with the new record and create their most personal
sonic statement to date. To celebrate this newfound unity in independence, they
called the record Hernando, which is the name of the town the trio grew up in
together. "This is definitely our most focused record of original music that
we've done," says Luther. "This records stands alone... we don't draw
as much on our Hill Country roots. We're a blues rock band and set out to make
a blues rock record." (Songs OF The South) MORE
INFO CD $15.98 CAT
POWER Jukebox (Dlx)
Her second album of covers; this one a tribute to the great vocalists who've influenced
her over the years. Guest appearances: Spooner Oldham (Neil Young, Janis Joplin,
Bob Dylan), Larry McDonald (Toots & The Maytals, Taj Mahal), Teenie Hodges
(Al Green, Memphis Rhythm Band), and Matt Sweeney (Chavez, Will Oldham). "She
inhabits other people's songs with a fierce conviction that's sometimes startling"
- Mojo. (Matador Records) MORE
INFO CD $18.98
CAT POWER - Jukebox MORE
INFO CD $14.98 DRAG
THE RIVER You Can't Live This Way
The 15-cut album was put to tape before the band slowly disintegrated over the
course of a few months last year. Although the band officially broke up last summer,
Drag the River is saying its final goodbyes to fans with one last album. (Suburban
Home) MORE
INFO CD $10.98 BARTON
CARROLL The Lost One
The Lost One is a collection of twelve cinematic country songs by Barton Carroll.
Since 2002, Barton Carroll has toured and recorded extensively with Crooked Fingers
and Eric Bachmann, playing guitar, steel guitar, and upright bass. Carroll has
also toured, playing various instruments with Azure Ray, Dolorean, and Micah P.
Hinson. The album title, The Lost One, was stolen from one of the classic films
of the Noir canon, a genre that Carroll is hooked on. Like the film, the songs
tell stories of souls who, burdened by their past, fear they will not be redeemed.
Carroll's sardonic and self effacing wit is evident. Musically, the record is
a mixture of the mountain music that Carroll grew up hearing in Western North
Carolina, and the sweet, sad, melodic sensibility of Alex Chilton. Carroll has
a sincere, durable voice well suited for storytelling and folk songs.The Lost
One was produced by Martin Feveyear, who engineered and produced the 2005 Crooked
Fingers release, Dignity and Shame. Feveyear is a veteran producer and engineer,
having worked with such artists as Mark Lanegan, Damien Jurado, and John Wesley
Harding. (Skybucket) MORE
INFO + SOUND CLIPS CD$ 14.49 LIAM
FINN I'll Be Lightning
Welling up from the dark bars and clubs of London's thriving indie music scene,
rock n' roll prodigy Liam Finn has bounded onto the international music scene
with the force and presence of an artist twice his age. The twenty-three-year-old
New Zealand native writes, produces and engineers his own music, adhering to a
strict DIY creative process. Finn penned the songs on Lightning during the past
two years which have seen him leave his native New Zealand and move to London
with his band betchadupa. Now on indefinite hiatus.Liam's new songs are inspired
by some ensuing bad fortune including evictions, muggings, thefts and the ending
of a long-term relationship. Recorded in his father's (Crowded Houses' Neil Finn)
Roundhead studios in Auckland, NZ, I'll Be Lightning was recorded live to analog
tape and in keeping with his DIY credo was written, produced and engineered by
Finn himself. Finn's melodies feel as if they were snatched from the ether, faintly
familiar like the musical stowaways of a dream. His lyrics sit latent, only making
their meaning known when you stop trying to interpret them. His innovative future-vintage
approach to his craft and his strict hands-on creative philosophy are two reasons
he remains an authentic and talented independent artists on today's musical landscape.
(Yep Roc) MORE
INFO + SOUND CLIPS CD $13.49
TOWNES
VAN ZANDT Rear View Mirror
In 1990, Townes Van Zandt was working on a three-CD retrospective for which
he was re-recording much of his repertoire. That album never appeared, but in
1993, the tiny Austin-based Sundown label released Rear View Mirror, a 17-track
album running nearly 58 minutes and containing newly recorded versions of Van
Zandt songs dating back to 1968. Though a cover note claims "unique instrumentation,"
that seems to consist of only of an occasional second guitar and a fiddle. (Sparse
applause indicates the recording had been made in a club.)" - William Ruhlmann,
All Music Guide. Includes liner notes by John Conquest. Track Listings: Pancho
& Lefty/If I Needed You/For the Sake of the Song/Our Mother the Mountain/To
Live Is to Fly/Lungs/Flying Shoes/No Place to Fall/Dollar Bill Blues/White Freight
Liner Blues/Tecumseh Valley/Don't You Take It Too Bad/Tower Song/Rex's Blues/Brother
Flower/Waiting Around to Die/Colorado Girl. (Fat Possum) MORE
INFO CD $14.98 GUY
CLARK Old No 1
Guy Clark's debut from 1975 is one of the all time classic country singer-songwriter
records. By the time of its release the Texas native had been shopping his tunes
in Nashville for a few years and the songs from Old No. 1 were already well aged
and often covered. Regardless, though Clark considers himself more a songwriter
than recording artist, nobody holds a candle to these performances. From the rollicking
Texas swing of opener "Rita Ballou" to the finger picked heartbreak
of closer "Let Him Roll" there is not a stinker to be found. Features
help from Emmylou Harris, Rodney Crowell and a young Steve Earle. (DBK) MORE
INFO CD $18.98 GUY
CLARK Texas Cookin Originally released in 1976, Guy Clark's
sopohmore effort for RCA is another fine set of country tunes that run the gamut
of emotions from goofy and playful to brutally heartbreaking, sometimes within
the same song. Featuring a ridiculously talented set of players that includes
Emmylou Harris, Waylon Jennings, Johnny Gimble, Chip Young, Jerry Jeff Walker
and Rodney Crowell, Texas Cookin' is an Outlaw Country classic. While Willie and
Waylon were turning the Outlaw into a marketing campaign, Guy Clark really was
doing things differently than the Nashville/Vegas crowd, preferring whiskey and
a picking session at his Nashville home to the endless drugs and groupies of the
road. (DBK) MORE
INFO CD $18.98 BUCK
OWENS & HIS BUCKAROOS Live In Scandinavia (Live)
Buck Owens' legendary live albums from Carnegie Hall, Japan and London were landmark
efforts that captured Buck and the Buckaroos at their peak, but he also recorded
other live albums overseas. The most obscure of Buck's live releases was his April
1970 show in Oslo, Norway that featured Don Rich with the Buckaroos, Buck's son
Buddy Alan and the Hagers. Fiery and intense, it reflects that unique early '70s
period when Buck was experimenting and broadening his sound beyond his old style.
With only a couple thousand copies pressed for the Norwegian market, this was
Buck's rarest album. Track Listing: Opening Announcement By Gunner Bide/Up On
Cripple Creek/Okie From Muskogee/The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down/Buckaroo/Murray
Kash Introduces Buddy Alan Owens/Freeborn Man/Big Mama's Medicine Show/Murray
Kash Introduces the Hagers/I'm Jesse James/Six Days On the Road/Murray Kash Introduces
Buck Owens/Medley: Act Naturally-Together Again/Gunner Bide Wishes Buck Owens
Welcome/Medley: Love's Gonna Live Here-Cryin' Time-Sam's Place/Medley: I've Got
a Tiger By the Tail/Open Up Your Heart/Orange Blossom Special/Let the World Keep
On A-Turnin'/Tall Dark Stranger/Johnny B. Goode. (Sundazed) MORE
INFO CD $17.98 SNEAKY
PETE The Shiloh Records Anthology
Sneaky Pete Kleinow was best known as a mind-altering pedal steel guitarist, and
an integral part of the sound of Gram Parsons' original Flying Burrito Bros. Every
rock fan worth his salt knows Sneaky as the brilliant steel player zigzagging
his way across The Gilded Palace of Sin, the Burritos' stunning 1969 debut, and
as the band member on the album cover decked out in an all-black Nudie suit with
a golden pterodactyl on the chest, where Superman's red "S" would have
been. And that was Sneaky, to a T: super-hero steel guitarist to no less than
the Rolling Stones, Booker T. & the MG's, Joni Mitchell, Graham Nash, Doug
Sahm, Jackson Browne, Linda Ronstadt, Randy Newman, Little Richard, Frank Zappa,
Leonard Cohen and John Lennon - among countless others. Here's a brilliant taste
of the pedal steel guitar genius of Sneaky Pete Kleinow. Long may he wave. Track
Listing:Beat the Heat/Hickory Wind/Sister/Oklahoma Stomp/From Me to You/Sleepy
Lagoon/Silverbird/It Makes No Difference/Ain't No Easy Way/Louisiana/Love of the
Common People/Cannonball Rag/Fly the Bright Sea/Woman/Sneak Attack/Turn! Turn!
Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season)/Sleepwalk/Faded Love: The Flying Burrito
Bros. (Sundazed) MORE
INFO CD $17.98 FAIRPORT
CONVENTION Unhalfbricking
Unhalfbricking, originally released in 1969, was a transitional album for Fairport
Convention, as vocalist (and American folk-rock enthusiast) Ian Matthews left
midway through the recording. As a result the band looked further into their own
country's folk traditions for influence, as their decidedly British style was
cemented by the addition of Dave Swarbrick's fiddle. This is not to say that Unhalfbricking
is a weak album, on the contrary, it is a stone cold classic and includes some
of the band's finest material including their take on Dylan's "Percy's Song,"
the traditional "A Sailor's Life," and one of Sandy Denny's finest compositions
in "Who Knows Where The Time Goes?" (Water) MORE
INFO CD $17.98 FAIRPORT
CONVENTION What We Did On Our Holidays
The second Fairport Convention album, originally released in 1969, is the first
to feature the beautifully haunting vocals of the legendary Sandy Denny. What
We Did On Our Holidays contains some of the Fairport Convention's finest moments,
including Denny's own "Fotheringay," Richard Thompson's "Meet Me
On The Ledge" and their stunning take on Bob Dylan's "I'll Keep It With
Mine." This LP finds the Fairport Convention moving away from the California
folk-rock of their debut album towards a more British approach to similar material.
It is also the last full LP to feature Ian Matthews on vocals. (Water) MORE
INFO CD $17.98 OWEN
TEMPLE Two Thousand Miles
"His songs, even the rowdy ones, barrel straight through the roadhouse on
the way to better, safer places, like the center of a woman's heart. He has a
curl of Townes Van Zandt's spoken-word style of singing, which lifts the sincerity
and power of his lyrics." -- Andy Moore, No Depression (Thirty Tigers) MORE
INFO CD $12.98 FLESHTONES
Take A Good Look
Take a Good Look is a romping revival of happy-go-lucky mayhem. CBGB heyday stalwarts
The Fleshtones are the originators of the garage revival still raging in the 21st
century. With Take a Good Look, the band has reduced its Super Rock sound down
to pure muscle and bone. Fuzzy guitars, vintage organ and cocksure swagger abound
as the band re-stakes its claim on early 60s garage. Co-produced by session vet
Ivan Julian (The Clash, Richard Hell, Elton John), the album seethes with party
anthems and head-bopping mod rhythms. (Yep Roc) MORE
INFO CD $15.49 KENNEDYS
Better Dreams
Better Dream is The Kennedys first CD of all originals in seven years. At the
heart of the album is dreams. Inspired by a pair of seminars they conducted on
"using dreams to unlock your creativity." "All of these songs have
something to do with the dreamtime," where "we have a different kind
of freedom there," The Kennedys explain. The Kennedys use their full palette
of vocal and instrumental colors to bring their songs to glowing life. Maura's
lead vocals range from comforting to yearning, from girlish to womanly, from exuberant
to delicate, sometimes bolstered by her own sweet harmonies and those of Pete
and several guests. As usual, multi-instrumentalist Pete provides a vibrant tapestry
of chiming, jangling and twanging guitars, as well as mandolin, keyboards, bass
and drums, interwoven with Maura's sturdy acoustic rhythm guitar, harmonica and
glockenspiel. (Appleseed Records) MORE
INFO CD $16.99 SUPER
FURRY ANIMALS Hey Venus (Bonus Cd)
"A collection of twelve autonomous songs ranging in style from country and
contemporary rock to orchestral psychedelic pop. A gloriously intricate album
jam-packed with the sort of sunny melodies and melancholy arrangements that make
every SFA release a symphonic and smart slice of songcraft. The expanded US edition
contains an enhanced bonus disc with four b-sides and three videos. "Pure
pop excellence" - Harp Magazine. (Rough Trade) MORE
INFO CD $14.98 MATT
COSTA Unfamiliar Faces
"Costa's voice sometimes seems to betray a bit of a Liverpool or Manchester
twang, especially audible in the choruses of the title track. In fact there's
a distinctly British tinge to the whole album, from the Belle and Sebastian infused
''Vienna'' to the Beatles-esque title track ''Familiar Faces'' and first single
''Mr Pitiful''. To his eternal credit though Costa dodges the wilfully meaningless
lyrics of swaggering mop-top mini-me's, Oasis, in favour of beautiful 4-4 descending
piano, quirky choruses and a dash of well-applied clapping. ''Heart of Stone''
shows Celtic influences crossed with a good dash of mid-phase REM and the album
is rounded out by the good-time harmonica and gee-tar of ''Miss Magnolia'', a
great song which, if you met it late at night, you might just think was Mungo
Jerry's ''In the Summertime''." --Harry Holgate, bbc.co.uk (Brushfire) MORE
INFO CD $15.49 FEELIES
Crazy Rhythms
Formed in New Jersey in 1977 by high school buddies Bill Million and Glenn Mercer,
The Feelies were one of the most highly regarded bands of the New York City post-punk
scene. Crazy Rhythms, their debut album, was originally released in 1980, and
features a noisy angular sound that's somewhere between Krautrock, the Velvet
Underground, and New Wave. Massively influential to bands as wide ranging as R.E.M.
and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. A post-punk classic back in print for the first
time in years! (Water) MORE
INFO CD $17.98 JACK
PENATE Matinee (Bonus Cd)
This 22-year old South Londoner delivers on many levels with his debut, from upbeat
to downbeat and heartfelt to joyous. He writes both infectious and intelligent
pop songs. "Those Brits have the busking thing down...and in the fine tradition
that has strung from Billy Bragg to KT Tunstall, Jack is a singing, stomping,
clapping bloke with a guitar, a batch of tight tunes, and a self-effacing sense
of humor" - MTV's John Norris. (XL Recordings) MORE
INFO CD $14.98 RAY
BONNEVILLE Going By Feel
Ray Bonneville's unique musical artistry is a blend of funky visceral grooves
framing rich story-songs, anchored by his smoldering blues-drenched guitar and
harmonica talents. Acclaimed in Canada (he's won a Juno Award, the Canadian Grammy)
his dual-citizenship has enabled him to count too many places as home over the
years, having lived in Montreal, Boston, Alaska, New Orleans, Colorado, Seattle,
Austin and, most recently rural Arkansas. It's undoubtedly informed Bonneville's
unique musical cocktail -- a smooth melding of swamp, blues, country and folk.
(Red House) MORE
INFO CD $16.99 DAVE
VAN RONK On Air
An American music legend in a historical 1993 solo performance recorded at Bremen's
Packhaus-Theater. The great Dave Van Ronk was more than just a folk singer in
his lifetime. An integral part of the Greenwich Village bohemia scene since the
early fifties, he was a one-of-a-kind raconteur and an artist who sang and played
in the true spirit of vintage jazz. This recording presents the pure essence of
Dave Van Ronk, Musician, NYC, USA. A special glimpse into the mind of a man who
was very much in touch with music's past. (Traditional & Moderne) MORE
INFO CD $19.98
ERIC
ANDERSEN Avalanche
Originally released in 1969. Track Listings: It`s Comin` & It Wont Be Long/Old
Song/Louise/Think About It/So Hard to Fall/Good to With You/We Were Foolish Like
Flowers/ Avalanche/For What Was Gained. (DBK Works) MORE
INFO CD $17.99
ERIC
ANDERSEN Eric Andersen
Originally released in 1969. Track Listings: Don`t Leave Me Here for Dead/It Wasn`t
a Lie/Sign of a Desperate Man/I Will Wait/What Is It Like to Be Free/She Touched
Me/Lie With Me/I Was the Rebel (She Was the Cause)/Secrets/Go Now, Deborah. (DBK
Works) MORE
INFO CD $17.99
STEVE
POLTZ Traveling
Steve Poltz is the only songwriter in the world with the range to have written
tunes with Jewel ("You Were Meant for Me" ...the longest charting song
in Billboard history), Glen Tillbrook ("Hot Shaved Asian Teens"), and
Mojo Nixon ("UPS My Heart"). Poltz, who pioneered punk-folk music as
the front man for The Rugburns, is a unique and gifted singer/songwriter with
a colorful past whose live performances are mesmerizing and whose recorded material
has been consistently critically acclaimed. (Thirty Tigers) MORE
INFO CD $12.98
PATTY
LARKIN Watch The Sky
Patty Larkin has been redefining the boundaries of folk-urban pop music for more
than 20 years with her inventive guitar wizardry, vocals and uncompromising lyrics.
With Watch The Sky, Parry Larkin has created a one-of-a-kind release that she
wrote, produced, engineered, edited and performed, including all instruments and
vocals on each song. (Vanguard) MORE
INFO CD $15.98 BUZZCOCKS
30
The album was recorded live at the Forum, London during their 30th anniversary
tour in 2006. Track Listing: You Tear Me Up/Friends/Operator's Manual/Isolation/Running
Free/Reconciliation/What Ever Happened To?/I Don't Mind/You Say You Don't Love
Me/Moving Away From The Pulse Beat/Strange Thing/Love You More/Soul On A Rock.
(Cooking Vinyl) MORE
INFO CD $15.98 GUY
DAVIS On Air
Bluesman Guy Davis & The High Flying' Rockets (Nerak Roth Patterson, electric
guitar; Mark Murphy, bass) in a spirited and inspired performance from July 2003.
Recorded on a hot summer-night at Radio Bremen concert hall, this is New Acoustic
Blues at its very best. As one of the most prolific and popular practitioners
of the genre, Guy Davis infuses classic repertoire with contemporary spirit and
a lot of soul - from Robert Johnson to Bob Dylan. (Traditional & Moderne) MORE
INFO CD $19.98
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