Category: Music

I vaguely remember hearing about the collaboration of Robert Plant and Alison Krauss a few months ago. At the time I thought it could either be an incredible project or a dud.

Surfing the net today, I discovered that their collaboration has been released. It’s called Raising Sand. I went to the web site for the project at www.robertplantalisonkrauss.com hoping to learn more about the project and maybe hear some samples of the resulting music.

The project was produced by T Bone Burnett. I have one of his CD’s called The Talking Animals. I bought that mainly for a song called “The Killer Moon” which initially reminded me of John Lennon. The rest of the CD is ok, but I never was interested enough in his stuff to buy anything else by him.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that you could listen to the entire Raising Sand album on line at the web site. I didn’t really know what to expect. Alison Krauss is probably the best female singer I’ve ever heard. And of course, Robert Plant is a legend in rock music. Maybe I halfway expected them to sound something like Hayseed Dixie. Boy, was I wrong.

If you’re looking for upbeat music, this isn’t the album for you. It’s definitely not a cross between rock and bluegrass. I don’t really know how to describe it. I guess it reminds me more of Cowboy Junkies than anything, and I don’t like the Cowboy Junkies.

I think the main problem with this album is the song selection. Apparently Burnett picked the songs.  I guess he was trying to avoid anything that might be similar to what Plant and Krauss would normally do, and I think he succeeded very well at that.

I was familiar with one song on Raising Sand. “Please Read The Letter” was a cut on the Jimmy Page/Robert Plant CD called Walking Into Clarksdale. Without Page’s guitar work, the song lacks spark and punch. But actually, most of Raising Sand could be said to lack spark and punch.

The drums (or whatever; it’s hard to tell) are some of the muddiest sounding drums I’ve ever heard. The vocals, from two of the best vocalists in the business, sound so subdued that you have to wonder if they were really into the project. According to the video on their website, they were into it.

I think Rounder made a big mistake when they put the whole album on line to listen to. I would have probably bought the album unheard had I seen it in a record store. I’m definitely not going to do that now.

I really hope these two get together again, but with a different producer. They have incredible potential as a duet.

Sitting here listing to the Beatles 1, and Hey Jude is playing.

Does anyone else think that Ringo’s drums sound like cardboard boxes? The snare doesn’t have any top end and the bass drum sounds like he’s kicking a Kleenex box.

I’m just sayin…

It’s now official: The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is bogus.

According to this article, the Hall is controlled by the publisher of Rolling Stone magazine. This year’s nominees to the hall are Chic, Afrika Bambaataa, John Mellencamp, the Beastie Boys, Donna Summer, Madonna, Dave Clark Five, the Ventures and Leonard Cohen.

Chic? Afrika Bamalamadingdong? Beastie Boys? Donna Summer? MADONNA? You have got to be kidding me. And the Dave Clark Five should have been in in the last vote, because they got more votes than, get this, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. What’s rap “music” got to do with Rock and Roll?

The Hall of Fame should have been located in Memphis, Tennessee to begin with. The fact that Cleveland got it is due more to the money they put up than anything the city had to do with the history of Rock and Roll. That should have been a clear indication of the criteria they’d use for induction to the Hall of Fame.

So, who’ll Madonna beat into the Hall of Fame? Roger Friedman’s article I linked to above lists lots of artists and bands. Bands like The Moody Blues, Yes, Genesis and performers like Tina Turner, Neil Sedaka, and Billy Preston. The fact that none of these historically significant performers is already in the Hall pretty much diminishes the Hall’s importance.

Actually, the band is called the Black Crowes; they’re coming to the Ryman Auditorium at the end of August.

I saw them play at the Grand Ole Opry House in the early 90’s, and they were fantastic.  I’d like to go see them again, but I’m not sure my ears could take it.

At the time, that was the loudest concert I’d ever been to. It surpassed the Boston concert I’d seen in the 70’s by quite a bit.

As a former soundman, I’ve never understood the reasoning behind  making everyone’s ears bleed. I’ve often wondered why OSHA or the FTC or some other government agency hasn’t enacted some rule regarding sound pressure levels, either for the workers or the patrons.

There’s this myth that “louder is better”. It may be true to some extent, but louder than a jet engine isn’t better; it’s dangerous.

I started  wearing ear plugs to concerts and club shows about four years ago. I’d gone to a show at the Mercy Lounge and my ears rang for a month afterwards. I ended up having a hearing test that showed some damage in the 4kHz range. Luckily it was only temporary, but I learned my lesson.

That show at the Mercy Lounge now ranks as the loudest one I’ve ever heard. The performer was Sonny Landreth, and the sad part about the loudness was that it takes away the subtleties in the music. I’ve seen him at another venue since then and it was a lot better. I saw Hillbilly Casino at the Mercy Lounge a couple of months ago, and again, it was way too loud for the venue (even with ear plugs in it was borderline uncomfortable), which suggests that  the sound engineers they’re using don’t know how to deal with the live room.

Anyway, I doubt I’ll go see the Crowes. The ticket prices start at $35, and that’s just way too much to pay for a band that hasn’t had a decent album out in a decade.

Just had a few random thoughts about things I figured I’d put down here in the blog.

RETIREMENT FUND: Over the last week, there’s been a big deal made out about the fact that NASCAR drivers don’t have some sort of pension or retirement fund. Maybe it’s me, but I think that’s the drivers’ responsibility, not NASCAR. The drivers don’t even work for NASCAR; they’re contract employees for team owners. If the driver wants a pension, then they either need to see a financial planner or put it in their contract. It’s hard to feel for Tony Stewart when he says NASCAR should “take care of us after we race, or take care of the ones that came up before.” Tony, you’ve made more money in one race (even after the owner’s cut) than some of those drivers made in their entire career. You could easily put away part of your money for your own retirement and donate to an “old drivers’ retirement fund” if you wanted. Sports Illustrated writes about NASCAR maybe twice a year; this just sounds like something they’ve dredged up to sell magazines.

A FOREIGN MANUFACTURE IN NASCAR? Everyone’s making a big deal out of the fact that Toyota is going to be fielding cars this year in the Busch and Cup Series (they’ve had teams in the Truck Series for a couple of years now). Purists say NASCAR should only have American made cars and American manufacturers. But the purists haven’t been paying attention. Back when NASCAR ran the Dash Series, they allowed Toyotas to run. And is there really an American car nowadays? Wouldn’t you want to include Nissan, who makes cars just down the interstate in Smyrna, or Honda who also makes cars in the US? What about Dodge? They’re no longer an American company, but everyone was elated when the Pettys could run Dodge’s again.

Perhaps the real point here is that the purists are slowly fading away. As NASCAR continues to get new fans at the expense of the old fans, this manufacturer debate will also slowly fade away.

BROADCAST TEAMS: I still haven’t figured out ESPN’s rationale behind who they’re going to have in the booth. Rusty Wallace is moving over from the IRL booth (except for the Indy 500), which makes some sense. Wallace will have the driver’s perspective, while Andy Petree will give a crew chief’s perspective, with Jerry Punch calling the race. For some reason, Brent Musburger has been named as “host”.

I don’t really need an ex-crew chief’s perspective. If there absolutely has to be three people in the booth, I’d rather have two drivers, like TNN had with Buddy Baker and Neil Bonnett. Speaking of Baker, why hasn’t someone grabbed him for TV? He always had great insight and was funny to boot.

NOT SO LITTLE E: Dale Junior wants a piece of his Daddy’s business. Who’d didn’t see that coming from a mile away? From the reports I’ve seen, it looks like he wants that as compensation for being their driver, which doesn’t make sense. If he wants to own the team, why doesn’t he offer Teresa Earnhardt a truck load of money to buy her (at least partially) out? Maybe if his dad wanted him to have the company, he’d have inherited it instead of Teresa. I think I’m going to go out on a sturdy limb here and predict that he’ll be driving for another team next year.

SHOOTOUT: So the Bud Shootout is Saturday night. I’ve got it set to record on my DVR so I don’t have to watch all the commercials or all the between segment filler. I wonder how many other fans do that now? I honestly couldn’t imagine watching a race nowadays without being able to fast forward through the ads. That’s probably not what NASCAR and the networks want to hear, but that’s the way it is. It’s not like I’m not exposed to a ton of sponsors, so they’re still getting exposures. I just don’t need to see 40 Levetra commercials during a race.

I’ve lived in Nashville since 1982. For the first time ever, we went to the Opryland Hotel complex to see a band play in one of the clubs. So, what group motivated us to go mingle with the tourists? Hillbilly Casino.

If you like rockabilly, you’ll love these guys. They’re fronted by a fellow named Nic Roulette. We first saw him a few years ago when he opened up for Webb Wilder at the Radio Cafe in Nashville. We were absolutely blown away. I’ve been doing the occasional internet search on his name since then to find where he was playing, but we were never able to make it to any of his gigs. Last night we finally go to see him with his new (to us, at least) band.

Continue reading “Hitting the Jackpot at the Hillbilly Casino”

We went to see Webb Wilder play last night at Puckett’s Grocery in Franklin. As his website said, this was a “limited personnel gig”. That is, it was Webb and Tony Bowles, both on acoustic guitars.

I’ve been to Puckett’s Grocery in Leiper’s Fork many times, and had their great hamburgers. But this was the first time I’d been to the one in Franklin. You could fit the complete Leiper’s Fork store inside the dining area of the Franklin location, and still have room. Where Puckett’s Grocery in Leiper’s Fork is a grocery first and a music venue second, it’s just the opposite in Franklin.

A few weeks back, we saw Webb and the Beatnecks at the Bluesboro. They had a deal for $29.95 you got admission to the show and dinner for two. At Puckett’s, it was $29.95 and admission to the show per person (or you could pay a $15 cover for just the show). I like Webb a lot, but that’s still kind of steep.

But, the show was worth it. Webb opened up with a song I’d never heard before (and the name escapes me). Then went into songs like “Pretty Little Lights of Town” and others he usually plays with the full band. And Tony actually sung backup on quite a few songs! Very well, I might add.

They also did two new songs that Webb had written in the last few months, and I can’t wait to hear the whole band do them. He also did “Original Mixed Up Kid”, which the band normally doesn’t do, so that was refreshing.

The nearly 90-minute set ended with Human Cannonball.

I think it’d be interesting for Webb and the Beatnecks to do an “unplugged” show some time, with Tom on an acoustic bass guitar.

We’ll be checking Webb and the full band out at 3rd & Lindsley on February. If you’re a fan of good music, you should “pick up on it.”