TOP 5: GROWING UP

Mar 312010

So Larry posted a comment and mentioned a most wonderful song that brought back memories of childhood for me and inspired this week’s Top 5. Don Williams – Good Ole Boys Like Me was the song he mentioned and it’s included on my Top 5 for this week. Mine is probably a little strange as my parents had weird rules governing what music was allowed in their house and that colored my childhood music memories. But it is what it is and those strange musical roots did provide the foundation on which my current musical tastes are built. So without any more rambling from me here’s my Top 5:

Growing Up

Track Archive

So what makes you think of being a kid? I know I enjoyed this one a whole lot. Don’t ask me how hard it was to find that Barry McGuire hippie/country/Christian track! My dad loved that album and played it all the time. I had to put it on here. And speaking of being a kid…I managed to track down a copy of Song of the South recently for my horde of heathens. Now Uncle Remus can tuck them into bed just like did for me growing up in Southwest Houston and wishing I could live in the country.

AUTOPSY IV’s ANSWERS:

Ray Charles – Hit The Road Jack

My grandmother had this album on vinyl when I was a kid. We’d sit back in her sewing room and she’d sew while I listened to/danced to and sang this song releatedly. How the woman had the patience for it is beyond me.

Kenny Rogers – The Gambler

The Gambler was the first song I ever learned every word to. I can remember taking a bath and singing it to make sure I knew it all

Hank Williams Jr. – A Country Boy Can Survive

This song served as my first song obsession. It was the summer of 1982. I was 9 years old. One rainy morning while I was reorganizing my tackle box. On the table sat a cassette, Hank Williams Jr.’s Greatest Hits Vol. 1. I stuck it in the tape player, pressed play, and I went back to my tackle box. The moment I heard “A Country Boy Can Survive,” I was utterly obsessed.

Jimmy Buffett – A Woman Goin’ Crazy On Caroline Street

I was raised on Jimmy Buffett. Living in Florida it can happen almost by accident but there was no shortage of Jimmy played in my house as a youngster. I know it’s hip to pan Jimmy but you’ll never catch me doing it and I’d venture to guess anyone who took the time to get to know his early music beyond the singles wouldn’t either. Anyhow, when I was a little kid I loved this song.

Dire Straits – Money For Nothing

Remember the scene in The Hangover where Mike Tyson is waiting for the drum roll in “In The Air Tonight”? The intro to Money For Nothing is like that, only 1000 times better. And that opening riff can not be touched. Money For Nothing was released in 1985 by Dire Straits on the Brothers in Arms album. I was 12 years old. My mother’s broom doubled as my axe and I was a fucking broom guitar god.

WHERE’S MY MARCH PODCAST?

Mar 312010

I know. It’s the last day of March and this should be a post containing the ever familiar ninebullets podcast graphic. So, why doesn’t it? Because it’s Wednesday, that’s why. I know this probably sounds silly to y’all but I prefer to post the podcasts on Fridays.

So, it’s complete and ready to go we’re just waiting on Friday to get here. Till then, I’ll leave you with some ninebullets in the wild pictures and make sure you check back later today for this week’s Top 5.






MICAH SCHNABEL LIVE IN (AT?) NATALIE’S BACKYARD:

Mar 302010


I recently joined the mailing list, Postcard From Hell. I tried to join it years ago but the sheer mass of email it generated resulted in me unsubscribing about 2 hours later. The original plan this time around was to join for the SxSW info I could gleen from it and promptly unsubscribe as soon as I returned home. Hell, I even told the fella who runs it as much. Then I met some pretty cool people from the list while in Austin and once I got home I just couldn’t bring myself to unsub. Now, I am trying to stay on top of the wave but occasionally it envelops me and I just have to “mark all read” and move on. Well, yesterday one of those “mark all read” threads resurfaced and as it turns out it was a recording of a Micah Schnabel solo show from Natalies Backyard (i dunno if that’s a bar or an actual backyard) way back in September of 09. As I listened to the show I decided I needed to post it over here…

While the sound quality in this show may not always be the best I am posting it because of the amazing job it does of capturing the emotion of a Micah Schnabel solo (and Two Cow Garage as a whole) show. If you’ve ever seen him, or the band before it’ll do a great job of taking you back to that moment. If you’ve never seen the show just stare at the picture above and listen…then make a point to get to a Two Cow or Micah show…

Track Listing:

  1. Intro
  2. American Static
  3. Your Humble Narrator
  4. Cut Me Mick
  5. Swingset Assassin
  6. Should’ve California
  7. No Shame
  8. Folksingers Heart
  9. Duran Duran
  10. The Great Gravitron Massacre
  11. 135
  12. My Blue Heart
  13. American Girl (Tom Petty Cover)
  14. When The Stage Lights Go Dim
  15. Camo Jacket
  16. Hillbilly
  17. Arson
  18. Burn THe Maps

DOWNLOAD ENTIRE SHOW

TUMBLEDOWN – TUMBLEDOWN:

Mar 302010

This little album was released almost a year ago, May 2009, and didn’t get noticed by many of the folks I read and didn’t get a mention here. I only found it today thanks to Kelly’s post over on Twangville. (Make sure not to miss his SXSW pics and comments since yours truly apparently sucks at actually writing about big events). I may loseWeight Exercise some street cred but I sort of liked MxPx way back when but haven’t thought about them in years. So when I saw that Mike Herrera was fronting a twang band I was intrigued and had to go get a copy at Amazon and check it out. I was hoping for something different to be completely honest. I wanted a gritty southern/alt-country record that would inspire me to find a new whiskey for my next Booze Talk and that’s not what I got. While not what I wanted I was pleasantly surprised at what I did find when queued this up.

Now I don’t expect that every 9B reader will enjoy Tumbledown’s offering but I think it may find a niche in some of your collections. I also plan to depart from the norm around here and make comparisons to let you know what you’ll find when you press play on this one. Imagine Mike Ness got together with ALL during the Dave Smalley years and The Stray Cats then had an illegitimate child (autopsy says: HUH?) and you’ll have an idea of some of what you’ll find on Tumbledown’s self titled release. The lyrics are better than the music in my opinion but that’s mainly because the music is too clean. It feels like it should have a little more…something. That’s not to say it isn’t a decent piece of work overall and they do harken to that ALL connection I mentioned in a six degrees kind of way with Jon Snodgrass helping on Son of a Gun. I could see using this album on a road trip during the day on a straight highway without wanting to hit random and find another song but it’s drinking music. The more I listen to it the more I think it might not be the music sounding clean but maybe it’s Mike’s voice. Something doesn’t fit quite right on some of the songs.

In short this won’t be Essential Listening but I think it may find a place on my MP3 player at some point. I always appreciate artists expanding the musical repertoire and anyone who can get Jon Snodgrass to offer his vocal stylings must be doing something right even if I can’t put my finger on it. Heck maybe this one won’t grow on me because it’s not my cup of tea. I do hope it finds one or two of you that like it out there even if I was a year late in reviewing it.

Tumbledown – Butcher of San Antone
Tumbledown – Came Here To Fight
Tumbledown – Son of a Gun (feat. Jon Snodgrass)

Tumbledown’s Official Web Site
Tumbledown on MySpace

MERLE HAGGARD – I AM WHAT I AM

Mar 292010


Merle Haggard was sitting in the audience for three of Johnny Cash’s infamous shows at San Quentin. Merle dominated the charts in the 70′s and 80′s and if you ask people who might know about such things, Merle’s life was the basis for the 1983 Academy Award-winning film Tender Mercies starring Robert Duval. Somewhere in the mid-80′s/early-90′s Nashville started to change, and since Merle wouldn’t, he, like Johnny Cash, sort of got swept aside. However, much like Cash (albeit to a lesser degree), Merle has experienced a comeback of sorts here in the 2000s.

In sports, certain players obtain enough respect and pop culture status to be know by their first names. If I say “Walter”, “Lawrence” or “Michael”, odds are you’ll say Payton, Taylor and Jordan, regardless of how closely you follow sports. The musical equivalent of that is acceptance of what you are. Take Lucero for instance, they release album after great album to critical acclaim but ultimately the critics ask for more. “How many songs can he write about the one that got away?” “Will Lucero ever shake their sound up?”, and so on. On the other hand, Merle Haggard can release an album in 2010 that could have just as easily come out in 1970 or 1980 and it’s not only accepted, it’s taken on its own merits instead of being compared to whatever preteen boy loving, pure American blonde that Nashville happens to be exploiting at the moment.

Merle Haggard titled his 2010 release I Am What I Am, and by doing so made any review that went beyond those 5 words seem self-indulgent.

Merle Haggard – I’ve Seen It Go Away
Merle Haggard – The Road To My Heart

Merle Haggard’s Official Site, Merle Haggard on myspace, Buy I Am What I Am

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