Freight Train Boogie Podcast #44

GEOFF MULDAUR & THE TEXAS SHEIKS have a new CD that is featured on Show #44… it’s full of jug-band-country-blues played by an all-star band. Also new releases from EMMITT-NERSHI BAND, BRANDI CARLILE and TOM GILLAM. The full playlist is posted below.  Here’s the iTunes link to subscribe or download the show and here’s the direct download link to listen right now on your computer. Check the artist’s websites and order their CD’s or downloads and tell ‘em you heard the songs on the FTB podcast. Please  email me with any questions, comments or suggestions for the podcasts.

Show #44
GEOFF MULDAUR & THE TEXAS SHEIKS – The World is Going Wrong Texas Sheiks
HOT CLUB OF COWTOWN – What You Meant to Me  Wishful Thinking
WORKS PROGRESS ADMINISTRATION -  Always Have My Love WPA
TOM GILLAM – Ride Had Enough
(mic break)
CRACKER – Friends (w/Patterson Hood)  Sunrise in the Land of Milk and Honey
GRANT PEEPLES – Real Country Pawnshop
AMANDA SHIRES- Angels And Acrobats West Cross Timbers
GEOFF MULDAUR & THE TEXAS SHEIKS - Blues In The Bottle Texas Sheiks
(mic break)
EMMITT-NERSHI BAND – New Country Blues New Country Blues
HOOTS AND HELLMOUTH – Root Of The Industry The Holy Open Secret
THE FAMOUS – Spooky Spooky Time
BRANDI CARLILE – Dying Days Give Up The Ghost
TOM LAVERACK – Coney Island Heart Cave Drawings
(mic break)
GEOFF MULDAUR & THE TEXAS SHEIKS - Please, Baby Texas Sheiks

Bill Frater
Freight Train Boogie

Americana Music Releases for the week of Oct. 27th, 2009

Here are some of the better new Americana music releases for the week of October 27th, 2009.   The artist’s names link to their websites or MySpace pages and the CD title links go to either Amazon or CD Baby for easy ordering.

ROSIE FLORES – Girl of the Century (Bloodshot)
With cover art and production by Jon Langford and back-up by the Pine Valley Cosmonauts, this is a welcome return for the “Rockabilly Filly. ”   Bloodshot say Girl of the Century is an album of spirited and soulful romps through the back roads of American music.

SARAH LEE GUTHRIE & FAMILY – Go Waggaloo (Smithsonian Folkways)
a 13-track disc of children’s music from Sarah Lee Guthrie & Family featuring Johnny Irion, their two daughters, and a host of other family and friends including her father Arlo Guthrie, Pete Seeger, and Pete’s grandson Tao Rodriguez Seeger.

THE DEL McCOURY BAND – Family Circle (McCoury Music)
Celebrating a 50 year career, Del McCoury started playing banjo before joining Bill Monroe’s Bluegrass Boys in as lead singer in 1963.  His band featuring his 2 sons Rob and Ronnie are not only the best bluegrass band in the land but also the most popular, even among the rock ‘n roll crowd.

THE MOTHER HIPS – Pacific Dust (Camera)
For the band’s seventh full-length studio album, The Mother Hips have never been more primed to share their well-traveled tales the long days and nights on the road, the gritty politics, the smart inward reflections and man, the music! – all delivered with a most appealing balance of Americana storytelling and their California-burnished rock.

CHUCK PROPHET – Let Freedom Ring! (Yep Roc)
The studio was state-of-the-art…for 1957. Surgical masks were as common as sunglasses. Earthquakes shook the streets. This was Mexico City, 2009, the city that was the muse for Chuck Prophet’s new album ¡Let Freedom Ring! Needing a vantage point outside his home country to make what he calls, “a political album for non-political people.”

CHIP TAYLOR – Yonkers, NY (Trainwreck)
Taylor’s newest album is a heartfelt and endearing window into the life of a young man learning about music, horses, girls, — and family. Set in the small bedroom community just north of the Bronx that’s the album’s namesake, Yonkers, NY finds the celebrated storyteller chronicling his upbringing,  along with his two brothers, actor Jon Voight and renowned scientist Dr. Barry Voight, and the trials, tribulations, and triumphs of a young man finding his way.

…coming soon: THE DIXIE BEE-LINERS, HANK WILLIAMS SR., MICKY & THE MOTORCARS, RICKIE LEE JONES …  more new releases.

Here’s a link to this week’s Americana Music Association’s Americana Airplay Chart

Bill Frater
Freight Train Boogie

Freight Train Boogie Podcast #43

The new CD by SAM BUSH entitled Circles Around Me is featured on Show #43. Also new releases from MALCOLM HOLCOLME, ELLIOTT BROOD and EXENE CERVENKA. The full playlist is posted below.  Here’s the iTunes link to subscribe or download the show and here’s the direct download link to listen right now on your computer. Check the artist’s websites and order their CD’s or downloads and tell ‘em you heard the songs on the FTB podcast. Please  email me with any questions, comments or suggestions for the podcasts.

Show #43

SAM BUSH - You Left Me Alone Circles Around Me
MALCOLM HOLCOLME – Leonard’s Pigpen For The Mission Baby
SONS OF BILL – Broken Bottles One Town Away
EXENE CERVENKA – Trojan Horse Somewhere Gone
(mic break)
RED ROOSTER – Black Point Road Walk
SAMANTHA CRAIN – Scissor Tales Songs in the Night
GUY CLARK - Wrong Side Of The Tracks Somedays The Song Write You
SAM BUSH - Circles Around Me Circles Around Me
(mic break)
SARA PETITE – Doghouse Rose Doghouse Rose
OWEN TEMPLE - Making a Life Dollars and Dimes
THE ROSELINE – Profit Lust for Luster
ELLIOTT BROOD- Without Again Mountain Meadows
(mic break)
SAM BUSH - The Ballad of Stringbean and Estelle Circles Around Me

Bill Frater
Freight Train Boogie

Americana Music Releases for the week of Oct. 20th, 2009

Here are some of the better new Americana music releases for the week of October 20th, 2009.    The artist’s names link to their websites or MySpace pages and the CD title links go to either Amazon or CD Baby for easy ordering.

DANNY BARNES – Pizza Box (ATO)
From the Bad Livers, “banjo player and much more” Barnes got big help from Dave Matthews who not only sings on a few songs but also put out the album on his own label.  This is the most developed and realized stuff he’s ever released.

SAM BUSH – Circles Around Me (Sugar Hill)
Sam is a monster mandolinist and he defined “newgrass” over 20 years ago, influencing 100’s of acoustic jam bands. This 14-song set includes appearances by Del McCoury, Edgar Meyer, Jerry Douglas and, thanks to the discovery of an old demo, New Grass Revival co-founder Courtney Johnson (posthumously).

LYLE LOVETT – Natural Forces (Curb)
Lyle is one of the most consistent and quirkiest Americana artists.  Always performing with a talented group of musicians. Natural Forces showcases his songwriting alongside songs from such Texas writers as Eric Taylor,  David Ball, Vince Bell, Robert Earl Keen, and the legendary Townes Van Zandt.  He’s always tasty!

KEB’ MO’ – Live & Mo’ (Yolabelle International)
This a live release on his own label.  Four new studio tracks are also included with a nice  song called “A Brand New America.”

TIMOTHY B. SCHMIDT – Expando (Lost Highway)
The bass player from the Eagles and Poco hasn’t put out a new release in many years. Joined by guests like The Blind Boys of Alabama, Graham Nash, Dwight Yoakam, Kid Rock, Keb’ `Mo, Van Dyke Parks, and Greg Leisz. It’s mix of nice ballads, over-produced pop and few really nice tracks.

…coming soon: CHIP TAYLOR, THE DEL McCOURY BAND, CHUCK PROPHET …  more new releases.

Here’s a link to this week’s Americana Music Association’s Americana Airplay Chart

Bill Frater
Freight Train Boogie

Freight Train Boogie podcast #42

TOM RUSSELL’s got a new CD called Blood And Candle Smoke is featured on Show #42. Also new releases from REBECCA PRONSKY and CORB LUND. The full playlist is posted below.  Here’s the iTunes link to subscribe or download the show and here’s the direct download link to listen right now on your computer. Check the artist’s websites and order their CD’s or downloads and tell ‘em you heard the songs on the FTB podcast. Please  email me with any questions, comments or suggestions for the podcasts.

Show #42

TOM RUSSELL – East Of Woodstock, West Of Viet Nam Blood And Candle Smoke
REBECCA PRONSKY – The Best Game In Town The Best Game In Town
JUBAL LEE YOUNG – I Refuse The Last Free Place in America
WINK KEZIAH – Sometimes You Win Hard Times
(mic break)
KATE MacLEOD – The Day Is Mine Blooming
PETER COOPER - Mission Door Mission Door
CORB LUND – Devil’s Best Dress Losin’ Lately Gambler
TOM RUSSELL – Mississippi River Runnin’ Backwards Blood And Candle Smoke
(mic break)
JASON EADY – God Fearing Blues When The Money’s All Gone
KIM RICHARDSON – Devil On A Sunday True North
ADAM HOOD – Varnado Different Groove
MICHAEL FORD, JR. & THE APACHE DERBY -   Sweet Louisianne 1988
(mic break)
TOM RUSSELL – Nina Simone Blood And Candle Smoke

Bill Frater
Freight Train Boogie

Americana Music Releases for Oct. 13th, 2009

Here are some of the better new Americana music releases for the week of October 13th, 2009.  I just hope you’re ready for the first batch of Xmas albums!  The artist’s names link to their websites or MySpace pages and the CD title links go to either Amazon or CD Baby for easy ordering.

JOHN COWAN – Comfort and Joy (Koch)
Ex-New Grass Revival vocalist Cowan has been guilty of  “over-singing” before, “O Holy Night” is custom-made for over-singing!  At least he reprises Jesse Winchester’s “Baby King.”

JERRY DOUGLAS – Jerry Christmas (Koch)
Yet another Christmas album, with a guest vocal by  Maura O’Connell. Amazon says “Jerry Christmas” gets that warm, down-home holiday feeling just right from the first note to the last.”

BOB DYLAN – Christmas In the Heart (Sony)
Say what you will about the thought of Bob Dylan singing  “Here Comes Santa Claus.”   He is donating all of his U.S. royalties from Christmas In The Heart to Feeding America in the United States and The World Food Programme and Crisis UK in perpetuity.

JOHN GORKA – So Dark You See (Red House)
Gorka has always been one of the premier songwriters in folk music and with So Dark You See, he offers up yet another masterpiece. The record is powerful, vibrant, intelligent and tender. The 16 tracks dazzle with a freshness that appeals to a broad spectrum of fans yet holds to that classic Gorka sound making this one of his strongest recordings of his career. (From Amazon)

ERIN McKEOWN – Hundreds of Lions (Righteous Babe)
Erin McKeown’s newest studio release, Hundreds Of Lions, is an intelligently written, catchy album – a perfect blend of up-tempo and slow acoustically layered tracks, resulting in harmonious, gorgeous songs that truly display Erin’s versatility as an artist. (From Amazon)

JAMES McMURTRY – Live in Europe (Lightning Rod)
The live album includes a bonus DVD featuring live video performances from the Amsterdam show. His band on this tour feature the Face’s keyboard player Ian McLagan and  also a lead guitarist!

…coming soon: LYLE LOVETT, SAM BUSH, DANNY BARNES, TIMOTHY B. SCHMIDT  …  more new releases.

Here’s a link to this week’s Americana Music Association’s Americana Airplay Chart

Bill Frater
Freight Train Boogie

Freight Train Boogie Podcast #41

Kitchen Radio, the debut CD from TERI JOYCE that is featured on Show #41. Also new releases from MARIA MULDAUR and GRANT DAVIDSON. The full playlist is posted below.  Here’s the iTunes link to subscribe or download the show and here’s the  direct download link to listen right now on your computer. Check the artist’s websites and order their CD’s or downloads and tell ‘em you heard the songs on the FTB podcast. Please email me with any questions, comments or suggestions for the podcasts.

Show #41

TERI JOYCE – Don’t Look For Me ‘Til You See Me Comin’ Kitchen Radio
MIKE AMABILE & RUN OVER TWICE – John and Marianne Better Side Of Me
GRIFFIN HOUSE – Let Me In Flying Upside Down
AMY SPEACE – Dog Days The Killer In Me
(mic break)
AMY FARRIS – Let It Go Anyway
YARN – 5 Guitars Empty Pockets
GRANT DAVIDSON – Fool Of Me Tired Limbs For Ashes
TERI JOYCE – I Can’t Help Myself Kitchen Radio
(mic break)
BLUE MOTHER TUPELO -  Tupelo Heaven and Earth
MARIA MULDAUR - Shake Hands And Tell Me Goodbye Garden of Joy
AJ DOWNING – Up North River of Life
TWO TONS OF STEEL - Wanna Dance Not That Lucky
(mic break)
TERI JOYCE – The Party After The Party Kitchen Radio

Bill Frater
Freight Train Boogie

Americana Music Releases for Oct. 6th, 2009

Just a few new releases for the week of October 6th, 2009.  The artist’s names link to their websites or MySpace pages and the CD title links go to either Amazon or CD Baby for easy ordering.

ROSANNE CASH – The List (Manhattan)
These are contemporary interpretations of songs from a list of essential Country songs passed on to her by her  father Johnny when she was a teenager. Featuring duet partners Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello, Rufus Wainwright, and Jeff Tweedy. Highly recommended!

EXENE CERVENKA – Somewhere Gone (Bloodshot)
Exene’s first solo album since 1991, is a sometimes dreamy but always intimate, circuitous passage through folk and country; subdued, but no less edgy, her vocals carry all the passion of X without all the loud.  Exene is a genuine icon and inspiration to a generation.

ELLIOTT BROOD – Mountain Meadows (Six Shooter)
Elliott BROOD are a band not a guy… like Jethro Tull.  They’ve won over legions of fans with their raw and energetic live shows and their atmospheric, richly crafted records, making a name for themselves worldwide and through several cross-Canada touring marathons.

MARIA MULDAUR – Garden of Joy (Stony Plain)
Maria first recorded in the early 60’s with both The Even Dozen and The Jim Kweskin Jug Bands. Here she has reunited with several of her former jug band mates and recorded many tunes from the classic jug band era (early 30’s), as well as two newly penned gems by Dan Hicks.  Special guests include John Sebastian, David Grisman, Taj Mahal, Dan Hicks, Fritz Richmond and new discovery Kit Stovepipe.

…coming soon:  JAMES McMURTRY, BOB DYLAN, ERIN McKEOWN, JOHN GORKA …  more new releases.

Here’s a link to this week’s Americana Music Association’s Americana Airplay Chart

Bill Frater
Freight Train Boogie

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival Sunday Highlights

Elizabeth Cook

Everything was back to “normal” Sunday at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass in San Francisco.   By normal I mean the winds were not as strong and the crowds were a mere 80 thousand or so… I really have no idea what the real attendance figures were for each day but Saturday was a thousand or five too many to get around comfortably, and although it was a pretty breezy on Sunday, you could at least walk westward without an effort and it was still bearable after 6pm.  Even HSB mastermind and financier WARREN HELLMAN came out to join EARL SCRUGGS for “Soldier’s Joy.”  That’s gotta be the ultimate pay for play.

I got there a little later than I had planned, life is pushing us faster and faster this century and getting anywhere on a Sunday in the Bay Area is always challenging.  So I missed BOOKER T. with the DBT’s and “COWBOY” JACK CLEMENT with MARLEY’S GHOST.  Maybe like DAVE ALVIN and his GUILTY WOMEN collaboration, which started here last year and sounded so good they kept band together, these other one-shot bands will tour together.  I heard from guitarist STEVIE COYLE that THE CHIEFTAINS were fantastic, bringing out dancers and pulling out all the stops for their brief 50-minute set on the Star Stage.  HAZEL DICKENS has been at HSB since the first year but her limited voice has sadly gotten only worse but DOC WATSON hasn’t lost a thing with his lightning guitar pickin’ fingers and distinctive voice.

Mavis Staples

The musical highlight of the day for me had to be MAVIS STAPLES… that woman has  unbelievable vocal power and her passion for what she does is truly astounding.  ROBBIE ROBERTSON”s “The Weight” was particularly inspired.  Word’s can barely express how good her music “felt” to the heart.  Over on the Porch Stage ELIZABETH COOK was twangin’ it up, looking good even in a big coat and big shades.  She’s got a new CD due next year produced by DON WAS, till then her latest,  ”Balls” will do and her hilarious song by the same name blew away the crowd.  I got the feeling that most of the NorCal crowd were just hearing her for the first time.

Neko Case

Not so for NEKO CASE… the one-time Bloodshot Records Alt.Country unknown drew a massive crowd to the Star Stage.  Her heavily reverbed voice was remarkable as was her band.  Life is short, so we shifted over to the see THE KNITTERS at the RoosterStage, which now has a cool over-the-hill backstage entrance that is great for us spoiled “Friends & Family” folks.  John, Exene and Dave were in rare form, reelin’ and rockin’ in their own imitable ragged way.  Alvin was particularity inspired, spreading his legs like in the BLASTERS’ days taunting the huge crowd bouncing up in front.  So many young bands try to do ragged roots music,  (I’m lookin’ at you AVETT BROTHERS), and they’re all pretty close but still can’t touch The Knitters, at least not today.  Unfortunately, it was after taking a bunch of great pictures that I realized that I didn’t have my SD card in my camera, so they may be lost… perhaps a decent night’s sleep would’ve helped.

The Knitters

Back to the Porch Stage for a small taste of ALLISON MOORER, yet another powerful female voice, which seemed to be the theme for the day. All the while walking between stages we were able to hear some of the great RALPH STANLEY and later DEL McCOURY BAND from the Banjo Stage, but it was too crowded to really get a look at them.  Really fine people-watching at HSB, especially the young scruffy 20-somethings huddling around playing “Salty Dog” or “Wagon Wheel,” always one song or the other.  After a Jambalaya treat from one of  the food courts, we warmed up for the inevitable and alway wonderful EMMYLOU HARRIS.   She has somehow gotten better in the last few years, lovingly bringing back classics from her early albums like “If I Could Only Win Your Love” and Carlene Carter’s “Easy From Now On.”  It felt like the whole crowd was singing along to the final chorus of “Return Of The Grievous Angel.”  Sublime, but my addict mind still wanted one more great band to finish HSB out.

LITTLE FEAT, was just down the way at the Arrow, it was completely dark by now.  They, (or we), took a little time to find our groove, crucial drummer RICHIE HEYWOOD was missing from the mix.  But by the time they hit “Willin’”,  I knew all was right in the world… well at least the musical world… well, at least with amazing gifts like Hardly Strictly Bluegrass in 2009.  The power of music is such a magnificent thing, and the man who chooses to give it away is indeed a very grateful individual.

Ronnie & Del McCoury, Ralph Stanley, Paddy Maloney, Earl Scruggs & Doc Watson... it doesn't get much more real than this! photo by Tim Lynch

Bill Frater
Freight Train Boogie

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival Saturday Highlights

I should’ve known something was up when I saw numerous people locking their bicycles to random trees and signs because the bike rack area was full.  In nine years of going to the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in San Francisco this was probably the most unusual day.  Two reasons… first is was extremely windy in the afternoon, especially at the largest meadow where the Banjo Stage is.  The gusts were just  crazy, coming in from the coast and just whipping down the long meadow, blowing over big potted bamboo plants backstage and even forcing HSB promoters to remove the large transparent fabric from behind the stage.  The other thing was the crowd was over-the-top gigantic!   Areas that used to be walkways and open areas at the back of the Banjo Stage were full of people sitting down on blankets.  Of course, neither of these issues were controllable or predictable, but combined they caused a lot of people to  leave the Park earlier than they usual.

So many people were walking around trying to find their friends on their iPhones that the AT&T cells went down.  The small and narrow Rooster Stage was packed with blankets clear back to the road which made seeing the stage from there impossible with the Marx Meadow dogleg design.   The open access road for  festival transport and emergency services was hampered by the throngs of people who wouldn’t stop to let the vehicles through.  We’ll have to see what Sunday looks like in the weather department.

The Abalone Dots

So, on to the music, which is really why we were all there… besides the thousand or so homeless people who happen to live in Golden Gate Park all year long.  Early visitors who went to see BUDDY MILLER were rewarded with EMMYLOU HARRIS and ROBERT PLANT joining him for a few songs.   I was not one of them,  starting my day with THE ABALONE DOTS, featuring 4 Swedish women who played cello, fiddle, and  acoustic bass with sweet harmonies.  After their easygoing set, I got to the  home base of the Banjo Stage for the always amusing RON THOMASON telling his stories mixed in with a few bluegrass songs from his band DRY BRANCH FIRE SQUAD.

Rosie Flores & PVC's

Trying to navigate my way to the Arrow Stage to see HAYES CARLL proved to be time consuming, in fact we didn’t make it in time for his set.  Headed up the hill for GUY CLARK and that wasn’t going to be worth it so I hung a left down the road towards two back-to-back stages of Star and Towers of Gold.  Adding the 2nd stage allows them to share backstage facilities and the two stages alternate sets meaning no down time between them, except you have to walk around to get in front of the stages.  Australian ROGER KNOX unfortunately had visa problems so he didn’t make it but JOHN LANGFORD with ROSIE FLORES, SALLY TIMMS and  THE SADIES were awesome.  The same band did a set later that afternoon on the Arrow Stage which was probably a HSB first, two sets in one day.  Rosie’s new CD is produced by Langford and they sounded good together, reviving the YARDBIRDS’ classic  ”I’m Not Talking”.

Dave Alvin & GW

I even enjoyed OKKERVIL RIVER, an Austin Brit-rock inspired band who drew a huge crowd.  DAVE ALVIN came out rockin’ with “Marie, Marie” just like their first performance a year ago… albeit  bittersweet with the recent passing of AMY FARRIS.  Dave got right to the point dedicating “California’s Burning” to her with some candles on the stage.   SUZY THOMPSON filled in on 2nd fiddle and accordion.  I got about 1/3 of the way into the meadow to hear BOZ SCAGGS and blues friends.  They sounded great but it was just too crowded to get into it.  It used to be okay to bring your dog to HSB but the few people I saw with dogs today didn’t seem happy in the long snaking lines of people trying to get somewhere to sit down.  Heading back to the Banjo for STEVE MARTIN  was disappointing… you could barely hear them and I didn’t see a fake arrow through his head.  By now the wind was starting to pick up.. stay positive here, it a beautiful place and it free.

Marty Stuart

Running into some old friends was nice and we hung out in a protected spot for quite awhile, catching a little of the CLAIRE LYNCH BAND but completely blowing off the great BILLY JOE SHAVER because of the human bottleneck at the back of the Banjo Stage.   Part 2 of the PINE VALLEY COSMONAUTS was fun and GILLIAN WELCH sounded good from a distance.  We headed west for MARTY STUART AND HIS FABULOUS SUPERLATIVES who were rockin’ and twangin’ in front of a smallish crowd.  Stuart is a confident and consummate showman and he shared a new song about the plight of the working man today.

Steve Earle & BGD's

The wind and cold was getting unbearable but THE FLATLANDERS were doing their thing bravely and back at Speedway STEVE EARLE AND THE BLUEGRASS DUKES were huddling around a single mike like a campfire to warm up the dwindling crowd.  That stage was catching more wind then anywhere else in the park and it’s a wonder they didn’t blow off.  It was time to head for the car and turn on the heat and head home.  So the question has to be asked, has HSB reached critical mass and will the true music fans stop going in the future because of the crowds. We’ll see what Sunday looks like…  Here’s a short SF Gate story…

Bill Frater
Freight Train Boogie