Autopsy IV

Part time blogger. Full time hater.

JUSTIN TOWNES EARLE – NOTHING’S GONNA CHANGE THE WAY YOU FEEL ABOUT ME NOW

May 182012

Justin Townes Earle has returned with his 5th album which has a title long enough for the next two, Nothing’s Gonna Change The Way You Feel About Me Now. I have a feeling that the title, along with the subject matter of a lot of this album is a reference to his well publicized battles with drugs and his relapse last year. I feel no need to rehash those battles here. If you’re a fan of Americana music you already know all about them, and if you don’t you’re better off for it.

The wife and I recently took off on a 4 day beach getaway up in North Florida and I brought this album along for our listening pleasure. I only mention this ‘cause I wanna explain how intimately I got to know this album over those 4 days. In the end, I expect I spent about 15 hours listening to it and thinking about how I was enjoying it. I’ve seen some people pan the album for various reasons, and I can’t tell you whether or not you’re gonna like the it. I can, however, tell you that I like the cd. I like it a lot. Like, Essential Listening lot, and here are some of my thoughts about it.

The first solid opinion I had on the the album hit me somewhere around Starke. The wife was sleeping and I was in the middle of one of those rainstorms I don’t think you get anywhere outside of Florida. Mentally, I was at total peace, as I love thunderstorms and the brand new tires on the truck, plus the inability to exceed 25 mph and see out the windshield alleviated any hydroplaning worries. There, in the middle of the rain, I realized how perfect this album is for solo road-tripping. The mild pacing of the album seems almost made for driving alone.

The second solid thought I had about the album was how much I hated the song “Unfortunately, Anna” while my third was how “Unfortunately, Anna” sounds like it should be a Counting Crows song. I still don’t like “Unfortunately, Anna” as a JTE song but I am pretty confident I’d love it if the Counting Crows covered it.

The next thought that really settled in was how well the “Memphis sound” fits Justin’s songs. I probably could have talked about this when I was mentioning how good of a road trip album this is, but I wanted to mention it separately. It seems like there is a definite trend in the Americana scene right now to implement horns and keys and justify it by saying they wanted to add some Memphis swag to their sound. I don’t doubt any of them, and some are doing it with great success (see Lucero) but Justin doesn’t sound like he’s “going Memphis” with Nothings Gonna Change, at least…not to me. With Nothings Gonna Change it sounds like Justin tapped into the heart of where his soul currently is. Some reviewers have called it “tired”, others have called it “haggard”, but I think it’s sincere. I really feel like this album’s sound and feel was born out of recovery, and the need for complete honesty with one’s self during that process made its way into the writing and recording of this album.

Justin Townes Earle – Am I That Lonely Tonight?
Justin Townes Earle – Memphis In The Rain

Justin Townes Earle’s Official Site, Justin Townes Earle on Facebook, Justin Townes Earle on Spotify, Buy Nothing’s Gonna Change The Way You Feel About Me Now

PLAYLIST: NINEBULLETS RADIO 05.17.2012

May 182012

For the first time in my short radio career I had to program a show last night despite not feeling very well. While the show (i think) turned out pretty good it was really tough to get inspired to search out much brand new music. I did manage to get some brand new songs from Denver’s Bonnie and the Beard, Portland’s Michael Dean Damron, Orlando’s The Woolly Bushmen, Louisiana’s Hurray For The Riff Raff and the internet’s Noah with his “semi-viral” cover of LMFAO’s “Sexy And I Know It.”

If that sounds like the good stuff go put some ears on the archived stream of the show and thanks for tuning in.

Below is the playlist for May 17, 2012

01. Todd Farrell – Ninebullets Radio Intro
02. The Woolly Bushmen – Just Don’t Know
03. James Leg & Left Lane Cruiser – Ramblin’ On My Mind
04. Truckstop Darlin’ – Miss You More
05. Anais Mitchell – Welcome The Hadestown
06. Bonnie & The Beard – Sweet Devil Whiskey
07. McDougall – Gates Of Victory
08. Noah – Sexy And I Know It (LMFAO Cover)
09. New London Fire – Other Side Of Town
10. Lucero – I’ll Just Fall
11. Matt Woods – A Company Town
12. Michael Dean Damron – Autotune The World
13. Hurray for The Riff Raff – Born To Win (Part I)
14. Sallie Ford & The Sound Outside – Write Me A Letter
15. The Lumineers – Ho Hey
16. Murder City Devils – Rum To Whiskey

Bold = Request

Ninebullets Radio on Facebook
You can stream Ninebullets Radio here
You can download Ninebullets Radio here
If you like Ninebullets Radio please drop a 5 spot in the Tip Jar.

P.S.: If you like this show, do me a favor and post about it on your Facebook/Twitter/Blog. It’ll do a lot to help these bands reach new ears…and in the end, that’s what this is all about. It’ll also help bring the existence of the radio show to more people’s attention & the more people there are listening/paying attention to the show the more likely it is to stay on the air.

Episode 72: aired 05.17.2012

ROBERT CHILDS’ GUITAR: MATT WOODS

May 172012

Matt sat down with me on May 13th (my birthday) and played a few songs on my Dad’s guitar. Enjoy:

“Dead Man’s Blues”

“It Ain’t No Living”

For more information about Robert Childs’ guitar please see this post.

INTRODUCING ROBERT CHILDS’ GUITAR

May 172012

Robert Childs’ Guitar is a running series here on ninebullets that has a special place in my heart. In the past few years my father had picked back up playing the guitar and sometime in early 2011 he decided that he was gonna build one. Now, my father had built plenty of things in his life; churches, shopping centers, the house he and my mother live in but a guitar is a completely different beast. While some folks get an idea, buy a kit and glue it together he went and bought a set of plans and some boards. For the better part of the year he and a friend cut, re-cut, sanded and glued pieces of wood together until sometime in September 2011 all that was left was some tuning pegs a bridge and a pickguard from an honest to god, hand built guitar.

In late October of 2011 my father was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer and in November had a tumor the size of a grapefruit removed from his head. Neither me nor my brother have any true musical talents so either of us keeping the guitar seemed (to me) to be a disservice to both the instrument and my father’s spirit since it would just find itself collecting dust in a corner until we died too. So I cooked up this silly scheme…

Ninebullets allows me access to lots of musicians so why not take them my dad’s guitar. Record them playing some songs on it and post it all on the internet. The guitar gets used for it’s intended purpose and through that, in some small way, maybe my father will live on. I discussed it with my brother and father who thought it was a great idea and in May of 2012 I brought the guitar home and began the process of making these videos.

So. That’s the backstory for “Robert Chids’ Guitar”….please enjoy the songs…

IS THIS THE FIRST DUBSTEP SONG EVER?

May 172012

All credit goes to my sister-in-law for finding this/sending it my way. Could she have found the first dubstep song ever? Should we start dropping Skrillex/Beatles comparisons?

Check it out around 0:56 and lemme know your thoughts.

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