Featuring a talk with Leeroy Stagger about his fabulous new album, Everything Is Real and his cozy upcoming show. We just had to hear a bunch of his great songs from his already impressive career. Also coming up this week is the CD release/bake sale for Winnipeg’s own Western States at WECC, so a couple from them. And, a ton of great new music that’s come in recently.
We’re hoping to chat with Leeroy Stagger today, although he’s on the road in the mountains of BC, so we’re not at all sure it’ll work, but we’re going to try. If it doesn’t work out today, we’ll try again on Thursday. Of course, Leeroy and his band will be in Winnipeg on Saturday, June 13 for a very exclusive engagement at The StuDome. Should be an amazing show. In case you haven’t been keeping up with the blog or the show (shame on you!), Leeroy has an AMAZING new album called “Everything Is Real” which I’ve already called Album of the Year. If you haven’t got your copy yet, hopefully you’ll pick one up on Saturday, or, if you’re really, really lucky, you might even win one on today’s Tell the Band to Go Home! Tune in, 2-4 pm central on 101.5 UMFM in Winnipeg or at http://www.umfm.com to listen live online around the world.
Changes Coming to the Folk Grammys
SANTA MONICA, Calif. (June 3, 2009) — Due to the increasing growth of traditional music, The Academy has split the category Best Contemporary Folk/Americana into two categories: Best Contemporary Folk Album and Best Americana Album. Additionally, the Folk Field has been renamed American Roots Music, which will now include the Best Traditional Blues Album, Best Contemporary Blues Album and Best Bluegrass Album categories. In the Latin Field, the Best Latin Urban Album will now be combined with Latin Rock or Alternative into Best Latin Rock, Alternative Or Urban Album. To ensure the Awards process remains representative of the current musical landscape, the Best Polka Album has been eliminated, which brings the total number of GRAMMY categories to 109.
For more info, and a complete listing of Grammy categories, check
out: www.grammys.com
Freeing a Mentor From His Mythology
By ANTHONY DeCURTIS
Published: May 7, 2009
WOODSTOCK, N.Y.
SINCE he released his first album in 1968, and especially since his death in 1997, the country songwriter Townes Van Zandt has been a prototypical cult figure. Though his songs have been recorded by the likes of Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson and the Cowboy Junkies, Van Zandt never sold many records himself, and he battled addiction and depression for decades. His songs, at once lyrical and unsentimental, depicted love, and life itself, as experiences to be enjoyed free from all (inevitably disappointed) expectations. In the world of alternative country and beyond, to announce yourself as one of Van Zandt’s fans helps establish your critical discernment — and, by implication, indicts an undiscerning public that allowed a genius to die essentially unknown.
The singer-songwriter Steve Earle is having none of that. Something of a cult figure himself, he was Van Zandt’s protégé and remains one of his most ardent champions. But he is not interested in sustaining the myth of Van Zandt as a beautiful loser. “When somebody’s as good as Townes Van Zandt was and more people don’t know about it, it’s Townes’s fault,” Mr. Earle said at his home here. “For whatever reasons, he shot himself in the foot every damn chance he got. ”
Mr. Earle has put himself in a tough emotional spot. Recording “Townes” (New West), an album of songs by Van Zandt set for release on Tuesday, forced him to confront the tangled history he shared with his idol. After all, Mr. Earle is one reason why the adjective “legendary” clings to Van Zandt as if it were his first name. On a promotional sticker on one of Van Zandt’s albums Mr. Earle declared, “Townes Van Zandt is the best songwriter in the whole world, and I’ll stand on Bob Dylan’s coffee table in my cowboy boots and say that.”
That statement embarrasses Mr. Earle today. “Did I ever believe that Townes was better than Bob Dylan?” he asked wearily. “No.” For Mr. Earle, Van Zandt was both an inspiring and bedeviling model, a man who put his art above all other considerations but who sometimes seemed to regard success itself as inherently compromising. Though far from a superstar, Mr. Earle has earned two gold albums and two Grammy Awards, and he views such recognition as a valuable reward for hard work. “I don’t think Townes was a victim,” Mr. Earle stated. “Part of him didn’t consider himself worthy of anything.”
In a way, however, Van Zandt’s reward was the legend that followers like Mr. Earle helped foster. To this day he is the subject of tales that are told and retold, embellished and laughed over, whenever anyone who met him has a willing audience. There was the time, for example, when Van Zandt, frustrated that Mr. Earle was fooling with a .357 Magnum during a get-together, picked up a pistol himself, put a couple of bullets in the chamber and spun it around, pointed the gun at his own head and pulled the trigger twice. The gun didn’t fire, but Van Zandt had made his point about bravado.
Such stories established Van Zandt as a doomed romantic figure. Throughout his life he wandered among Tennessee, Colorado and his home state of Texas, often calling no particular place his home. His live performances could be riveting. On good nights he seemed to disappear into chronicles of existential joy and agony like “To Live Is to Fly,” “Waiting ’Round to Die” and “Tower Song,” gently delivering irreducible truths summed up in lines like, “Everything is not enough/And nothing is too much to bear.” On bad nights he would fall off his stool onstage, too drunk or high to get through a set.
With “Townes” Mr. Earle attempts both to pay a debt and to extricate his idol’s songs from the mythology surrounding his life. Mr. Earle, who first made his mark in the 1980s with smart country-rock albums like “Guitar Town” and “Copperhead Road,” has endured devastating struggles with addiction, was jailed for drugs and weapons possession and nearly died. The romance of Van Zandt’s problems long ago lost whatever allure they may once have had for him.
Mr. Earle’s house here, which he purchased last year with his wife, the country singer Allison Moorer, includes a sleek electric wine cooler left by the previous owners. Mr. Earle displays it prominently by the counter in his kitchen. You won’t be served a hard drink here. Bottles of seltzer and diet soda stock the cooler. Mr. Earle’s rule is that if you bring an alcoholic beverage into the house, you must carry the container out when you leave. “I don’t underestimate my disease,” he said.
The years between 1990 and 1994 that Mr. Earle essentially lost to heroin and crack cocaine constituted a “vacation in the ghetto,” as he has described it, during which he gradually abandoned writing, recording and even playing. That unproductive period has instilled a ferocious work ethic in him. “Townes” is the ninth studio album he has released since he sobered up and got out of jail in late 1994. He has also published a collection of short stories, written and produced a play, performed hundreds of shows, produced albums by other artists and become an outspoken political activist.
He’s now finishing a novel called “I’ll Never Get Out of This World Alive,” which is loosely based on the life of Hank Williams. The urge to complete that book, which he has intermittently been working on for eight years, led indirectly to the “Townes” project. “I’ve talked about doing it for a long time,” he said about recording an album of Van Zandt’s material, “and since I didn’t have to write the songs, I thought I could make this record, turn it in and then finish the book.”
The duality of that motivation — expediency partnering neatly with heartfelt desire — suggests some of the complexity of Mr. Earle’s relationship with Van Zandt. Mr. Earle, who was raised in Texas, moved to Nashville and now primarily lives in Greenwich Village, first met Van Zandt in the early 1970s. At the time Van Zandt was the leading light on a Texas music scene that floated between Austin and Houston on a sea of alcohol, drugs and artistic conviction. Now 54, Mr. Earle was a teenager at the time, and Van Zandt was roughly a decade older. Mr. Earle was a well-read high school dropout who believed that in the wake of the Beatles and Bob Dylan it was possible to create songs that might be “literature that you can consume while driving in your car,” as he said at a recent event. Van Zandt’s hard-bitten, eloquent songs lived up to that standard and he was near at hand.
“I met him at his absolute peak artistically,” Mr. Earle recalled. “He had a really horrible reputation because of his behavior, but I also knew that he had made a decision to write songs at a certain level, that how good the songs were was primarily important to him. I committed to making art whether I ever got rich or not by Townes’s example.”
To all but a handful of his closest friends Van Zandt was a remote, elusive figure, apt to disappear and turn up with equal unpredictability. As mentor to Mr. Earle he was hardly a steady, guiding hand, and he was much too stoic to dispense sage advice about songwriting or anything else. The premise of their relationship was something like, if I didn’t think you were good enough to do it yourself, you wouldn’t be here. He did, however, recommend that Mr. Earle always put the top back on the bottle so that the alcohol wouldn’t spill when it inevitably got kicked over and, when injecting drugs, to use clean needles every time.
He also instructed Mr. Earle to read “War and Peace,” though Van Zandt had not read the book himself, as Mr. Earle discovered to his surprise when he dutifully returned with questions about it. “I just thought you
should,” Van Zandt idly told him.
Beyond that, like so many protégés, Mr. Earle was expected to reflect well on, but certainly not to exceed, the master, as he eventually did, at least in terms of commercial success and visibility. To this day Mr. Earle retains an eager, puppyish quality that the softer side of Van Zandt could enjoy. In his cool detachment, though, Van Zandt also understood that withholding his approval would always bring an admiring Mr. Earle back for more. Distance can breed desire, and perhaps Mr. Earle took his mentor’s remove as a challenge; in any case being part of Van Zandt’s circle was important validation for Mr. Earle.
“As in a lot of these kinds of relationships, the hero is the tor-mentor,” said Justin Townes Earle, Mr. Earle’s oldest son and a recording artist in his own right. The origins of his middle name are obvious. “From the day my father met Townes, Townes tortured him,” he continued, alluding to how Van Zandt mercilessly heckled his father from the audience the first time he saw him perform, repeatedly insisting that he play “The Wabash Cannonball.” “Then he became the noogie songwriter who put my dad in a headlock.” Justin suggested that his father may be irked “that Townes never said to him, ‘Great record.’ ”
“Maybe he did,” he added, “but I think if he had, my dad would have told me.”
“Townes will always be bigger than life in his head,” the younger Earle concluded. Steve Earle admitted that Van Zandt never really saw him as an adult. “I was the kid,” he said. “I understand that, and I’m cool with it. But he could be brutal with me. ”
The two men saw each other infrequently after Mr. Earle’s descent into the drug underworld, though Van Zandt once visited him in the depths of his addiction at the request of mutual friends. “I must be in trouble if they’re sending you,” Mr. Earle remarked. Once Mr. Earle became sober, he began recording and touring with a vengeance, and Van Zandt continued his peripatetic ways. But they remained friends, even performing together at a Nashville benefit in 1995. When Van Zandt died of a heart attack at 52, Mr. Earle wrote the ballad “Fort Worth Blues” for him on his album “El Corazón.” “See you when I get there maestro,” reads Mr. Earle’s dedication.
So, given that complicated emotional history, how effective a tribute is “Townes”? In a sense it is the Townes Van Zandt album that Van Zandt couldn’t or wouldn’t make himself, but should have. With rare exceptions, most notably “Live at the Old Quarter, Houston, Texas,” Van Zandt’s overproduced recorded work betrays the extraordinary quality of his songwriting. Mr. Earle sought to remedy that.
“It is a form of channeling at its best,” said Mr. Earle, who recorded most of the album in his Greenwich Village apartment. “What I tried to do is sit in a room by myself for 12 of the 15 tracks and play them as close to the way I remember him playing them.” Van Zandt classics like “Pancho and Lefty,” “To Live Is to Fly” and “No Place to Fall” sit comfortably next to worthy, if lesser known, songs like “(Quicksilver Dreams of) Maria” and “Where I Lead Me.”
Completing a generational journey, Mr. Earle and his son Justin duet on “Mr. Mudd and Mr. Gold,” the dense, troubled gambling story-song that Mr. Earle performed nearly 30 years ago to impress Van Zandt the first time he saw Mr. Earle perform. Like the album itself, it’s a tribute that demands respect from its subject.
“Townes’s inability to promote himself and put his dukes up for his own art failed him over and over again,” Mr. Earle said. “But none of us is whole. We all do some things better than others. As a songwriter, you won’t find anybody better. I hope this record will make it a little more apparent just how good these songs are.
Red House Records is one of THE great/important independent folk/roots labels anywhere. They have great people, a great philosophy, and they put out great music. Not all of it is for me, but I stand wholeheartedly behind the label and what it stands for. They put out music for Greg Brown, The Wailin’ Jennys, Guy Davis, and a whole lot more. They’re not going anywhere (I hope), and they’re not asking for a handout. What they are asking is that if you do buy Red House products (and I sure hope that you do), you do it from them. Start with their anniversary box set which came out not too long ago. That’s a real treasure-trove of great folk/roots music.
Dear Red House Records fans,
Buy Direct is the message of this important note to you, our dedicated fans.
The reason is simple. We know you love the music we bring to you and we want to be able to continue that mission. But it’s getting harder and harder to stay independent and successful. One way you can help is to continue to buy Red House releases direct from us (by phone or on our web site) or at your local independent record store. And, please encourage your friends to do the same. When you buy direct from us, Red House and its artists can remain financially viable. That’s how we’ll stay alive and healthy – producing the best in folk, Americana, blues and acoustic-based music.
The word on the street is that labels are irrelevant. That couldn’t be farther from the truth when you’re talking about independent labels like Red House. In contrast to major labels, Red House Records honors its artists, committed always to their artistic integrity and freedom. We treat our artists like family, fairly and with respect. We give our all each day to provide them with an array of services – marketing, promotions and publicity, shipping, artist relations and operations – which enables them to devote their time to their passion: songwriting and performing.
Locally owned and independent -it’s a hard row to hoe – with all the buy-outs, take-overs and Wal-Marts in every town. But with your help we will persevere and continue to be more than a “label.” We will continue to be the Red House family, bringing together artists and music lovers in common cause. You’ll never have to wade through the thousands of yearly releases to find the quality music you want; it’s right here at Red House Records.
Please call or e-mail us anytime. We are real, live people here in St. Paul at the end of the phone line and behind the web site. And we love hearing from you.
Again, thanks for buying direct from Red House and supporting music-making on a human scale, where our walk and talk really match, where roots meet the here and now!
All of us at Red House Records!
Red House Records, Inc.
www.redhouserecords.com
PO Box 4044
St. Paul MN 55104
800-695-4687
Check out an amazing, revealing article about Buddy & Julie Miller now available from Paste Magazine. If there were ever a reason to consider helping with the new movement to save Paste from being another victim of the struggling economy, this is it.
First off, a great thanks to everyone who attended the Tell the Band to Go Home show this week at the West End. I thoroughly enjoyed myself, and many of you have been kind enough to say the same. A special thanks to Dom for making it happen and for all of the great times this week. I’ve already seen 4 shows in the new building, and I’m looking forward to many, many more. If you haven’t checked it out yet, you simply must.
And what better way than to see one of Canada’s greatest living songwriters in a full night of amazing songs, stories, and guitar playing. Thursday night at WECC, the great Stephen Fearing takes the stage. If you’ve never seen Stephen live, you’re missing out on something special. Those of you who have seen him in his many appearances at WECC or the Folk Fest surely know what I’m talking about. As I’ve told you many times before, seeing Stephen at the Folk Fest back in the early 90s sent me down the long road to finding out what other amazing artists I was missing out on, and inspired me to want to share them with you so you wouldn’t be left out. What I’ve found out since then is that Stephen is one of the most humble, approachable, appreciative musicians out there, so it’s my great pleasure to be speaking with him again this Sunday. We’ll chat about his new home, his new record of mostly old material, his experiences at WECC, the new Blackie album which is slated to be recorded very soon, and much more.
I’ve also got another huge pile of great new music, including one that is surely this year’s Discovery of the Year award winner. Check it out this Sunday.
And, if you haven’t done so yet, check out the new look of tellthebandtogohome.com. The always great KK has teamed up with her talented brother Jason to give us a much needed makeover, and I think it looks fantastic. Not everything works like it will, and not many of the other pages have been updated, but take a peek at the home page and tell us what you think. I can’t say enough how much I appreciate the help behind the scenes, so let’s hear it for KK and Jason.
And thanks to all of you for sticking around and putting up with my ramblings. Your support and encouragement makes this the most rewarding unpaid job in the world.
Last year when I first heard Christina Martin’s album “Two Hearts,” it blew me away. It’s so melodic and so interesting and so powerful and so pretty and just plain AWESOME. I’ve said before that she combines the heartbreaking lyricism of Lucinda Williams, the smoky, sexy voice of Amy Rigby, and the immediately memorable melodies of Shawn Colvin into one complete package. I really think that this gal should, and hopefully will be a well known and well respected artist, world wide, some day, so I’m getting in on the ground floor as quickly as I can. I tried to get her hooked up with a show in the area so I could see her live, but then I realized that sometimes, if you want something done right (and I’m not going to screw this up!), you just have to do it yourself. And so, I’m very excited and proud to present live, in concert, in my house, Christina Martin and her good friend Steven Bowers (another talented singer/songwriter who I know you’ll love), live at the Sunset Saloon on August 27. That’s still a ways away, so no real need to worry about getting tickets now, but mark it on your calendar and make sure you’re around, because you’re not going to want to miss this one!
I love it when I get something in the mail that absolutely takes my breath away and makes me wonder how the hell I’ve been missing out on this for so long. Last year when I heard Christina Martin for the first time, it was just like that. Previously, Catherine MacLellan and a bunch of others had that distinction.
This year, a couple of other lovely ladies are trying to steal my heart. True North Records is slowly resurrecting itself from the dead and slipping out some exciting new stuff, including a band called Madison Violet. They used to be called Madviolet, and if memory serves me correctly, they were pop tart kind of fluff. Well, either I’m really wrong about that, or they’ve grown up a lot. Check out their new album “No Fool for Trying,” or tune in to Tell the Band to Go Home to hear what they sound like. They’re kind of a rootsier version of Dala, or Kasey Chambers x 2. They have the pop hooks (and the hot looks), but this is a pretty country-oriented affair. It’s pretty damned impressive, and I know this band has a bright future with stuff like this. Check them out SOON.