Americana and country music is about storytelling, and since we’re wrapping up the new record. I thought I’d share some of the stories behind the storytelling. In no particular order…
Call Your Bluff - Have you ever been that guy who “works” for his girlfriend? Always running with a list of honey-dos. Always promising yourself that someday you’re going to give this lady her walking papers. I’ve been that guy.
Incidentally, bassist Josh Fleeger has an alternative lyric for the chorus of this song. I’ll let you guess what rhyme with “Bluff.” He’s good at alternative lyrics that are disgusting…and usually when I bring a song into rehearsal by the time we’ve learned it, he has a different version that he sings loudly on stage while we’re performing.
Not Another Song About California - Most Saturday night I go down to the Los Angeles Farmer’s Market. It’s a great place to people watch, and the big outdoor bar there is the headquarters for a great country music show. This one particular night there were three acts, and each one did a song about California. I think 2 of the 3 were called California. Now, I love California, but my first reaction to this was, “Geez, not another song about California.” I thought about that while I nursed my beer and puffed on a Montecristo. It only took a few minutes to piece together a story line, but it took about a week to put together a CCR kinda vibe for the music.
There is a line in this tune about the Pittsburgh Steelers and Iron City Beer. Of course, this was written in the fall and I had no idea those guys were going to win the superbowl. And it could be any team…the song is constructed so that if we want to do a version for Green Bay Wisconsin and use Old Milwaukee Beer and the Green Bay Packers it should all work nicely. ARE YOU LISTENING NFL?
Shiner Bock and Vicodin - I’ve had the title Shiner Bock and Vicodin in my notebook for about 3 years. I had a writing session with Sarah Stanley and when it came time to talk about what we might work on, I pulled out that title. I think that first session all we did was talk about the story. I didn’t even touch the guitar. It’s about a guy, and a high school sweetheart, and a wedding, and beer and pills. It was really a puzzle. Does he kiss the girl? Why is he drinking beer and taking pills? Where does he live? How far does he have to drive while high on the pills and beer. How is this different from Garth Brooks, I’ve Got Friends in Low Places? It took a couple months, and several writing sessions to hammer out the details. At first it was very fast - but once drunken night i started playing and singing it slowly…and it just stayed that way.
Chinese Democracy, the long awaited album by Guns and Roses was 17 years in the making, and garnered quite a bit of press for that reason. The new record, Willie and The Wheel from Willie Nelson and Texas Swing legends Asleep at the Wheel has been 30 YEARS in the making.
It seems that legendary producer Jerry Wexler who worked with, produced, or signed artists like Aretha Franklin, Led Zeppelin, Dusty Springfleld, Ray Charles, and Bob Dylan, suggested that Wheel and Nelson work together in the early 1970’s when Willie was on Atlantic Records. Unfortunately, Nelson left the label before the project could leave the ground, and it became a fond “what might have been” tale.
In 2007 Willie did a Texas Swing tour with Merle Haggard and others, and that got the ailing Wexler, who was in retirement in Florida, thinking about reviving the idea. He reached out to the two bands with a list of songs that he choose just for the album, and “voila” it all came together. As fate would have it, Wexler died at age 91 in August of 2008 before the record could be completed.
Both acts are remarkable for their stamina. I performed on the bill with Wheel last fall at The Key Club in Los Angeles, and they routinely play hundreds of dates a year. Of course, Willie Nelson is the all-time grand champion of touring. Spending his vast majority of days on a bus, smoking weed, and getting ready for the next show with his band/family. In addition Willie is remarkably prolific in the recording studio. Since 2000 he has released 15 studio albums, 3 live albums, and 8 partner albums (like Willie and The Wheel). He’s also 75 years old - the mind boggles.
This new record holds few surprises. Texas Swing and Asleep at The Wheel hold to a fairly strict format with only a few detours into areas that sound more New Orleans than Texas. The best example being Willie’s duet with Elizabeth McQueen on I’m Sitting on Top of The World - slow, with rich bourbon street horns, and a tasty piano solo.
But this is music made for dancing…Oh! You Pretty Woman is a prime example. 140 beats a minutes with an infectious drum pattern that compels you to dance. This song also has a hallmark of Texas Swing, and it’s hard to explain, but it is the tone of the fiddle. It has a soft edge, not like a country/hillbilly fiddle sound at all. It is light-hearted and almost like another voice. Another treat is South which features David Letterman band leader Paul Shaffer trading licks with chicken-picker, Vince Gill, and band leader Ray Benson.
One of the criticisms leveled against Texas Swing is that it can sound “samey”. Willie and The Wheel has been made with an eye towards that criticism and the production team has obviously worked to make a record that will please those already in touch with the genre and the uninitiated.
Perhaps the best part of the collaboration is the tour that has naturally followed. The shows have been, if online reports are true, outstanding with the set list including most of the record as well as Willie’s hits and Wheel’s Classics.
Please and proud to announce an appearance with legendary Texas troubadour Dale Watson. We opened for Dale some time back, and had a great time. Thrilled to be returning to Fishlips in Bakersfield with awesome storyteller.
It was a great time in the studio as we put the finishing touches on a couple of tracks for the new record, Stand Up Man.
We’re working at Rich McCulley’s Echo Park Studio. It’s small, cozy, and full of delicious black coffee. Americana music requires lots of bitter black coffee.
Tonight’s session goals are actually replacement parts. On Pretend You Love Me Tonight, I had Larry cut some guitar that mimics a pedal steel. He does it very well, but alas a telecaster is no steel guitar. A steel guitar is perfect cross between a piano, a 6-string, and a violin. On “The King of Sunset Hills” I sang all three backing vocal parts…but it sounded like Bohemian Rapsody. I’ve always loved the timber of Sarah Stanley’s voice and he agreed to come in and re-sing the highest parts.
One of the best parts about making music in LA is your access to talent. Within a 10 mile radius you can pull in some of the best players in the country. In fact, you come to know these people by just hanging out and playing around town.
Chris Lawrence has a long and distinguished resume. He is a member of the famous Sin City All-Stars, is a permanent side-man for Mike Ness, and most importantly, to me, he has a great story and photo of him and The Boss having a beer in new Jersey last year. Bastard.
This guy is amazing.
Chris Lawrence getting the sweet tone
He comes in, listens a couple times and then KILLS YOU with every take. He left an hour later, and we had 4 takes that each could’ve been used without a single edit. A real pro.
Sarah Stanley has graciously helped at several points in the production of the record, and tonight she was coming in to do a high harmony on the backing, “Doo Wop” vocals.
Sarah has a career that makes people furiously jealous. She writes and places some of the tastiest music in TV and film. She performs all over LA with her band, has a new record in the can, and ACTS!
Sarah Stanley
She works with Rich on lots of projects, and it’s always fun to hear them “kidding” each other. It’s a married couple kind of relationship.
I’ve lived in Los Angeles for many years, and spent hundreds of nights at The Mint on Pico Blvd. This night was, perhaps, the craziest, most sold-out, mash-up of a show I’ve ever seen, much less performed in. By the time it was over, I was exhausted, thrilled, and confused.
Marquee at The Mint
Who knows how these bills come together? Lowen and Navarro opened the show with a nice long set. L&N are an acoustic duo who got their start in the 1980’s writing great songs. As most of you know, Eric Lowen has A.L.S. and uses a rather sophisticated wheel chair to move onto the stage. The venue was already packed with fans - a number of which also appeared to be dealing with A.L.S. and using elaborate computer communication systems. The vibe and soul in the room was overwhelming…and they closed their set with the monster hit they penned for Pat Benatar, We Belong. Not a dry eye in the house.
Then local heros Stonehoney did their set of expertly crafted country rock. Shawn, Dave, Phil and the rest of the guys have decided to make a move to Texas, so the show was a goodbye to LA of sorts. It is so rare to find bands with one guy who can really sing, and they have 4 strong voices. They are, to my knowledge, the only band working the west coast today who commits to 3 and 4 part harmony in almost every song. It’s smooth, classy and a joy to behold.
Next it was me, GL and The Supermodels. I had decided to hold off doing any live dates until the new record was finished. This opportunity fell in our laps, and we couldn’t turn it down…but let’s just say we have our studio legs these days and not our live legs. The band was tight, and Tony, Larry, and Josh did an knock-out job. The problem was with me.
I went to Spain in December, then to London and got sick with some sort of sinus infection. Came home, thought I kicked it and boom - got sick again with another sort of head cold. Needless to say, this DESTROYS your voice. In fact, there is a 3 or 4 day lag effect. When you first feel bad you can sing like a bird. Then after you’ve recovered physically your voice is still dealing with the swelling from the drainage.
Too much detail for you?
Anywho, we rocked, we got through without incident and a good time was had by all.
Finally Relentless7 came up - Ben Harper’s new band/sideproject. I’ve been a fan of his usual music for some time, and always had great respect for him as a player.
He is, in fact, one of the best lap steel players working today. This band is also full of some MOFO musicians. Most notably the drummer, Jordan Richardson is worth the price of admission.The music is harder than Ben’s solo stuff…driving, frantic, very close to hard rock. This band is really making a go of it, with East coast dates and a trip to Australia. Check it out.
Needless to say. Quite a night for us… Here’s hoping we have many more just like it!
An eclectic collection of Los Angeles artists in the Roots Rock/Americana vein graced the stage of the legendary Cinema Bar performing a wide range of AC/DC classics.
The show was organized by Dean Chamberlain, and featured a set by his great band, The Honorable DHC - doing their take on It’s a Long Way to the Top If You Wanna Rock and Roll.
Other artists included Rich McCulley, Sarah Stanley, Dan Janisch, Dafni, Grant Langston and Bret Jensen.
The very first time this occurred to me was some years ago when the Shania Twain song, Honey I’m Home came on the radio. Please take a listen. At 1:08 in the song, you’ll hear a backing vocal that sounds AMAZINGLY like a background part from a Def Leppard record, circa 1985. And, of course, Def Leppard producer Mutt Lang was the mastermind behind Shania. I thought, “DAMN that sounds like Pour Some Sugar on Me.”
Over the years the evidence began to build: Big Choruses, Power Ballads, Rock Beats, and records that, essentially, have nothing to do with country music. Most obviously the music began to gain a sheen. Any sense of real performance was beaten out of it as it was polished and perfected to an astounding degree.
There is precedence with country music moving to mimic another musical genre.
In the late 1950’s country music went through an evolution as guys like Chet Atkins helped create a more pop sounding brand of country. The old fashioned hillbilly style of country wasn’t selling records anymore, and in an attempt to revive the genre the conventional wisdom was to make it sound very similar to pop music – with string arrangements and sophisticated crooners like Eddie Arnold.
But what I was hearing with modern country artists like Shania Twain, Keith Urban, Tim McGraw, and Rascal Flatts wasn’t an attempt to sound like a more a current genre, but an attempt to sound like a style of music that is so passé as to be extinct. 1980’s rock has become a laughing stock. The style was pulverized by Grunge in the early 90’s and it never really came back. Sure, we all still love some of the 80’s rock songs, and many of those tunes by bands like Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, Cinderella, and Slaughter and are really great. But the 80’s rock style – the exploding drum sounds, the wheedly wheedly wee guitar solos, the crazy reverb…seems pretty silly now.
If country was going to mimic a successful genre I suppose they would turn to hip hop, (And that has happened with some embarrassing results.) but mostly Nashville country sounds like watered-down 80’s rock music. Why?
For years I bumped up against this – and it was finally a long road trip conversation with sometime supermodel John Ramey when it all fell together. The audience that was 18 when 80’s rock was big and making an impact are 40 now…and they consume COUNTRY MUSIC. Their tastes and preferences were honed in a world ruled by Warrant, Motley Crue, and Poison. If the country music business wants to sell records (or downloads) to these people the best way is to make the music sound similar but softer to account for the years. This is just what has happened.
There are notable exceptions. Kenny Chesney has modeled himself after Jimmy Buffet with great success. Toby Keith is doing a kind of Hank Williams, Jr. take, and female singers, like Carrie Underwood are really just pop stars…but Modern Country and 80’s Rock are linked at the hip.
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