OK, so we were over a
day late this week. Shoot us. Better still, pledge us.
To clarify: The reason we ran behind is STRR's
Winter Pledge Drive, the station's first, which got
underway Monday. It's a time-consuming project, but it's likewise
the most important step we've ever taken, as we need your help big
time if we're to continue rolling our stone at Sisyphus Tracks.
With your tangible support we can do more than that. We can grow
more fully into the vision that's conquered our minds, like
Dylan's Johanna, from the beginning.
All information about our Winter pledge/membership drive is
available by clicking here,
and you'll find a secure form there as well for pledging your
support. Remember this - you really are the power to
keep our stone rolling.
Featured
Albums
NEW RELEASE (March 12):
Bruce Molsky, Michael Doucet, Darol Anger and Rushad Eggleston,
Fiddler's 4; Larry Mitchell, The Bridge
Riffs
Michael Nesmith, Terry
Allen, Kelly Joe Phelps, Old Dogs, more.
featured
albums this week
Michael
Doucet, Darol Anger, Bruce Molsky and Rushad
Eggleston,
Fiddlers
4
(Compass, March 12, 2002).
As we have our pre-release copy from
Compass, we figured we'd get right to it. We'll give you some of
their press release, and to continue, simply click where
indicated: Master fiddlers Michael
Doucet, Darol Anger, Bruce Molsky and Rushad Eggleston, some of
today's most celebrated players, will make their Compass debut on
March 12th with the release of the cross-cultural extravaganza
'Fiddlers 4.' Doucet is well loved for his work as the leader of
Cajun super-group BeauSoleil. Anger, the leading exponent of
jazz-hued newgrass and Molsky, internationally revered as a
leading old time fiddler, come together with newcomer Eggleston
(Anger calls him the Chris Thile of the Cello...((whoa!)) to
offerthis collection of tunes with stops in the Louisiana bayou,
the Appalachian mountains and the Marin foothills.
read entire
release, including tour schedule
Larry
Mitchell, The Bridge, TexPatriate, 2001.
Last year, we played several of the tracks from this terrific
debut album by the Selma-born, ex-Californian and now Nashvillian
Mitchell. Each time one would come on, I recall paying attention
and thinking, "Who is this guy? I like this." Each time
I would forget about it, as I was preoccupied with other
things. The CD jumped out at me again not too long ago, I put it
on the player as I worked, and damned if I didn't get that
very same distracted feeling again. My apologies to Larry for
missing that earlier opportunity to give this record the attention
it deserves.
Mitchell - a genuine Good Guy who besides music has been a
draftsman, piano technician, pastor of a small urban church, and
volunteer disaster relief and prison worker - has been heavily
influenced by the "Cosmic American Music" of Gram Parsons, among
other things, and his songwriting chops are as strong as his
compelling singing and overall performance. From the ballads to
the honkytonkers, this is a solid, well-produced record that
covers a lot of territory lyrically and musically, and you may
find yourself feeling as I was earlier when you hear something off
the album and don't yet know from where or whom it comes. You can
purchase the CD directly from Texpatriate (linked
above), or you can find it at http://www.cdbaby.com/
or http://www.texasmusicroundup.com/.
riffs
A
Brit buddy across the pond chided me for STRR not paying
enough attention to the multi-talented Michael Nesmith, and
he was right. The ex-Monkee-whose-mom-invented-Liquid-Paper has
had an excellent solo career (besides being a novelist, as well)
even as too few know about it. He began doing folky, experimental,
country-rock hybrids around the same time Gram was doing it, it's
never stopped, and his songwriting has often been brilliant. Thus,
we're featuring tracks over the next month far too numerous to
mention off all of Nez's released albums. His website, by the way,
is Videoranch
- personally, it crashed my IE5 shortly after opening, but you may
have better luck.
We'll continue with more about Nez's music
next week, including a discography.
You
are likely to hear a lot from Texas legend Terry Allen this
week, as well as Kelly Joe Phelps. The latter's latest
album was featured in January, but we're going back further to
better show off his slide and overall performing songwriter chops.
. . Since we never include a headshot of an artist with the album
comments, this is a good place to include one of Larry
Mitchell (right), whose The Bridge is one of our albums
of the week.. . . Happy birthday, Johnny Cash . . . a get
well fast to Billy Joe Shaver, whose heart has him
seriously under the weather. . . finally, our Van Ronk and
Waylon tributes are still going - this week you'll hear
tracks from a very funny, Shel Silverstein-penned album
from 1998 - Old Dogs - that teamed Waylon up with
Mel Tillis, Bobby Bare, and Jerry Reed.
Notes by Michael Westerfield
unless otherwise indicated.
CD
LINKS NOTE: When highlighted in
gold,
click on artist name for associated website or album name (or
cover) for more information and/or to purchase if desired. Album
links are generally to Amazon or CDNOW, or when appropriate to an
independent artist's website. You also may use the searches below
to Amazon and CDNOW if you prefer one over the other or want to
compare price for an item; note that your purchases help support
our community radio-style programming, and we thank you in
advance.
