Roots Music Rec's Request

[sisabet]

So apparently there is a ton of interest in American Roots Music - so yay! I've drafted help on the essay front from two very intelligent and musical sources, so this might actually make sense. This is my goal for May/June.

Before that - I do want to do an actual *music* post of Americana, kinda like Lum did with the blues posts, just so there is a starting point. I mean, I can bring up King Wilkie or North Mississippi Allstars or Uncle Tupelo or Professor Longhair or Alison Moore or Steve Earle (and believe me, I *will*) but music is a strange beast in that we can talk all day long about what makes *this* Americana and how this is actually folk music but since it was so heavily influenced by such and such artist that it sounds kinda country and how this is classic country but if you listen carefully, you can definitely hear a blues influence and this is classic blues by way of southern rock and this is not any of the above, but something totally different, but is important because it helped shape all of the above.

And it can all be called Americana because it all arises from roots music.

But none of this means anything if we are just talking about it - we gotta listen to it as well (so we have something to talk about). So now I need your help - if you are reading this and are into roots music -- please post a couple of essential rec's in the comments cause, as you know, this is an extremely large playing field.

And my definition of roots music is extremely wide - so if you think it fits, go ahead and suggest it and tell me why (if you can, you don't have to).

Also - you can just give the name of the artist and album/song - uploading mp3s is not a requirement to play.

Comments

[carenejeans.livejournal.com]

Man, this hurts. I used to loooove roots music, Americana, whatever you want to call it. But my hearing is too bad to enjoy it anymore (it's a slow, hereditary hearing loss, which once caused a bluegrass musician/fan to joke about whether it was "progressive" or "traditional" /bluegrass in-joke).

But you want recommendations, I got 'em. I can't point you to MP3s because I don't download music because of above. But as for bands & CDs:

Del McCoury Band -- does a really fine bluegrass take on the blues (fave CD: A Deeper Shade of Blue).
Lynn Morris Band -- one of the few BG/Old Time/Country bands led by a woman. Fave album: Mama's Hand.
Hazel Dickens -- Classic old time. A good sampler is A Few Old Memories. (She wrote "Mama's Hand," above).
Rosie Flores -- punk turned rockabilly/Roots rock. Oh, and while I'm thinking about it -- WANDA JACKSON! Yay, Wanda! She did some songs with Flores.
Iris DeMent -- some people call her folk, though some folkies run screaming from her twang.
Kevin Welch -- Americana/country. I like his first album best, but "Pushing Up Daises" from a later CD I can't remember now is a great song. My all-time favorite song of his, though, is "True Love Never Dies."
Joe Ely -- Americana/roots rock. I always liked his first album best, and could listen to the trio of songs "Tennessee's Not the State I'm In," "If You Were a Bluebird," and "Treat Me Like a Saturday Night" over and over forever. Along with Jimmie Dale Gilmore & Butch Hancock, he was a member of early "alt-country" band the Flatlanders. Gilmore is weirder, and Hancock is more folk (and weirder still!) but it's all good.
Townes Van Zandt. Anything and everything.
Steve Earle, of course.
Johnny Cash!
Johnny Cash!
Johnny Cash!
I don't actually have to *hear* Johnny Cash songs anymore. They're engraved on my DNA. 8-) And anyway, he's the quintessential crossover guy. It didn't always *work*, but he took some wild musical risks.

I think if anyone is interested in hearing the difference in how Rockabilly can lean more towards R&B on one hand or country on the other, it's instructive to listen to songs by Ronnie Dawson and Dave & Deke Combo, respectively. Just a thought.

Oh, and the Bad Livers are a must-have. They blended punk and old-time sensibilities in a really compelling way. Their funniest song is "Shit Creek," though I think they regretted recording it, because it's more of an obvious novelty song, and everybody always mentions it, the way I'm doing now.

Speaking of novelty, here's a fun oddity: The Vultures (http://www.highlandpublishing.com/Highland_Records_%C4/Albums%20%C4/Highland_Records_205.html). It's an album of mostly old rock instrumentals (Pipeline, Apache, Walk, Don't Run, Wipe Out) done with acoustic instruments. A dobro can really get that weird "wet" sound on "Pipeline," and the drum solo from "Wipe Out" is played on somebody's face. *g* (The "Vultures" include David Grisman, Roy Ickes, Norton Buffalo…)

Er… I could go on…. just don't get me started! *g*

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

I love almost everything you mentioned. And want to talk about them except work! Dammit!

But - yeah, Dement freaks some people out and I've heard her called "country" more than once (although I tend to think her voice is perfectly suited for Appalachian Mt Folk - this is what it *should* sound like), but I think she is fascinating and warm and her voice adds interest. I grew up listening to Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs and Bill Monroe and the like and Jimmie Dale Gilmore is fabulous.

[carenejeans.livejournal.com]

I was on country, folk and bluegrass lists (BGRASS-L was my introduction to both mailing lists and the internet, back in the gopher/usenet days!) and then later, when "alt-country" got going, on an alt-country/Americana list (plus a few rockabilly lists and an old time list -- this was my old "fandom," you understand). Anyway, as Ron in Dry Branch Fire Squad says, I only told you that to tell you this. 8-) There was a lot of crossover on these lists, and whenever someone on the folk lists would complain about DeMent's voice being "too twangy," people on the bluegrass list would take umbrage. *g*

I grew up listening to Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard and Glen Campbell, so I kind of got the more... smooth-and-low end of things! But in the late 80s I fell for bluegrass.

I had a huge crush on Jimmie Dale Gilmore for a while. *g*

Aaaand, speaking of Dry Branch Fire Squad, their Long Journey CD, back when Suzanne Thomason was in the band, is great. "Long Journey" is a version of "Lone Journey" which brings us to: Doc and Merle Watson. 8-)

Get back to work! 8-)

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

I had a huge crush on Jimmie Dale Gilmore for a while.

It's the hair, isn't it?

Aaaand, speaking of Dry Branch Fire Squad, their Long Journey CD, back when Suzanne Thomason was in the band, is great. "Long Journey" is a version of "Lone Journey" which brings us to: Doc and Merle Watson. 8-)

Rec!! I must get this CD!!