Unfiltered Camels and Jack Daniels Roundup

It’s been a mediocre year for the usual Americana suspects. Lucinda Williams and Son Volt delivered disappointing efforts, and Emmylou, Neko, Gillian, Buddy Miller and John Prine have been missing in action. Except for the ever-delightful Patty Griffin, the latest from The Avett Brothers, Devon Sproule’s wondrous Keep the Silver Shined and Ryan Adams’ surprisingly consistent Easy Tiger, nothing has really wowed me. Until the last few weeks, that is. Steve Earle’s latest, Washington Square Serenade, due out in a couple months, is a fine return to form. And these three albums, all made by relative unknowns, make me remember...  read more

If I Were You

I’ve been listening to Chris Knight’s The Trailer Tapes pretty much non-stop all day. Knight’s a great, gravel-voiced folk rocker with a twang, Bob Dylan with a Stetson, but unlike Dylan he’s considerably more plainspoken, if no less intense. He’s got four good alt-country/rock albums that are well worth your time, but these trailer tapes (yep, recorded in the living room of his single-wide in Slaughter, Kentucky) are something else again, raw and plaintive and stripped down to the bare essentials, including the lyrics. It’s just Chris, his acoustic guitar, and his piercing words. Here are some of them: If...  read more

A Down Year for Music?

It’s been a year without masterpieces, the critical consensus moans. And the critical consensus is right. The Shins didn’t change our lives, and Modest Mouse disappointed. Arcade Fire came through, sort of, and certainly didn’t embarrass themselves. But nobody’s released a certifiable 5-star album thus far in 2007, at least to my ears. So has it been a disappointing year in music? Not at all. If no one has released a perfect album, many artists have come close. Here’s a list of albums that are in 4- to 4.5 star territory for me, all of them released in the past...  read more

The Case for the Cases

It’s possible that there are people named Case who are tone deaf and who couldn’t put together a rhyming couplet involving the words “moon” and “June.” But I haven’t found them. So here’s a handy rule-of-thumb:  if you find an album by anyone with the last name of Case, buy it. Here are three reasons why, from best known to least known. 1. Neko Case Neko Case is the best musical redhead in the world (sorry, Bonnie Raitt; Danny Bonaduce, you weren’t even in the running). Possessing a voice that is a force of nature, equal parts Patsy Cline and...  read more

Spencer Moore—Hot New Talent

There is something to be said for delayed gratification. I’ve been thoroughly blown away by the eponymous album by Spencer Moore. In a year in which folks such as Ralph Stanley, Charlie Louvin and Porter Wagoner have taken the youngsters in cowboy hats to school (a one-room schoolhouse, no doubt), Moore fits right in with the educational theme. He’s got an ancient, craggy voice that oozes more soul than any ten Nashville hats/aerobic dancers of your choice, and he sings blood-chilling mountain ballads like “The Lawson Family Murders” and “Little Rosewood Casket.” Spencer played a tent show with the Carter...  read more

The Death of Local Radio

Switching it over to AM Searching for a truer sound Can’t recall the call letters Steel guitar and settle down Catching an all-night station somewhere in Louisiana It sounds like 1963, but for now it sounds like heaven -- Son Volt, “Windfall” It occurred to me a while back that I never listen to the radio. This is an odd thing for a music reviewer to admit, but there you go. I simply never turn it on in the car, or when I’m at home, although I’m listening to new music all the time. And it’s a bit of a...  read more