in
memorium: harlan howard
Right at deadline time for this issue, I
learned the news that Harlan Howard 
passed
away Sunday. Details still are not available, but it does indeed
appear that we have lost one of the greatest Country tunesmiths of
all time at age 74.
We are deeply saddened by this awful news, and our sympathies
and prayers go out to Mr. Howard's family and close friends. Not
being the NY Times, we have no prepared obituaries or
tributes ready when someone unexpectedly passes to the other side.
On a personal level, however, what I can say
without hesitation is that Harlan was one helluva guy. His
publishing offices were just down the street from my old Nashville
watering hole (several blocks from music row, incidentally) and he
sometimes wandered in for refreshment. I truly have never met a
nicer, less affected person in the music business or outside of
it. It wasn't a pose. He was as down-to-earth as you can get, and
his generosity towards unknown and struggling songwriters was
legendary.
Over
his remarkably long career - which included many early struggles
of his own - Howard wrote over 4,000 songs, among which was "I
Fall to Pieces," a huge crossover hit for Patsy Cline. Of
his craft, Howard has said, "I like to give artists a song they
have to sing the rest of their lives. Songwriting is both my
living and my pleasure, so I’m a happy man.”
As the week moves on, we will post additional information, and
you will, at some point, begin to hear some of the great tunes for
which Harlan Howard was responsible.
featured
albums this week
David
Olney, Women Across the River,
SCR (Netherlands) 2002. This is the second album Olney has
recorded live in Holland and released on SCR. Recorded over the
last five years in several intimate venues, Women Across the
River captures this most versatile of artists at the height of
his abilities. . . In "1917," he conjures up the horrors of
Europe's self-destruction in the trenches of World War I with both
eerie precision and epic grandeur. The ironic nostalgia of
"Barrymore Remembers," Olney's bittersweet portrait of the Roaring
Twenties, comes across far better here than it does on the
previous studio versions. The same holds true for his achingly
beautiful love songs, in particular "I'll Fall In Love Again", in
which Olney's superbly economical use of language is perfectly
matched by the understated yet spellbinding intensity of the
performance. The highlight of this truly excellent album, it
should convince every listener that, in Olney's case, even the
most flattering comparisons with fellow singer-songwriters of his
generation are ultimately misleading. This man is in a league of
his own. (Edited from mysongwriters.com; click on pic or title for
full text of comments, and information on how to order this album
both in Europe and in the US).
Gurf
Morlix, Fishin' in the Muddy,
Catamount, Feb 2002. If anybody is still looking for a
candidate to replace Robbie Robertson in the Band, look no
further. Morlix can write, sing, produce, and play nearly every
instrument (mostly stringed) and has a bottomless (albeit muddy)
range of American musical idioms from which to draw. Though Morlix
is most often associated with Lucinda Williams and he's played
with and produced for an amazing number of artists, he's overdue
to be recognized for his own work, including his 1999 debut CD,
Toad of Titicaca, and now Fishin' in the Muddy. He doesn't quite
escape a certain built-in goofiness as he chants nonsense songs
and bellows and barks his way through one-mantra tunes, but he
still manages to get serious every now and then on this eclectic
but rooted album. Morlix has yet to paint his masterpiece, but
getting there will be half the fun. (Henry Cabot Beck, Amazon)
Josh
Ritter, The Golden Age of Radio,
Signature, Jan 2002. This
scruffy, well-traveled, literate Rhode Islander recalls the
desultory whispers of Nick Drake, the ragged tunefulness of Ryan
Adams, and the natural wit of a young John Prine. He may come off
as a slacker, painting his name on water towers and jamming to
Townes Van Zandt on the porch, but his lyrical skills,
unpretentiously poetic and refreshingly concise, suggest a
purposefulness that's deeper than just folksy charm. Within the
sparest musical framework--fingerpicked guitar, whirling organ,
lo-fi drums, some bass--Ritter evokes a delicately dense
romanticism that's more on edge than earnest. "This world must be
frightening," he sings, "everybody's on the run/but I can't leave
this world behind." There's quiet wisdom in Ritter's world; fans
of post-Dylan singer-songwriters will want to listen close.
(Roy Kasten)
Michael
Doucet, Darol Anger, Bruce Molsky and Rushad
Eggleston,
Fiddlers
4
(Compass, March 12, 2002).
We began featuring this electic,
virtuoso-laden gathering of fiddlers (and a cellist) last week,
and will continue to do so through it's release next week. The
press release from Compass is informative, so we'll give you a
piece of the story straight from them; 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 offer this collection of tunes with stops in
the Louisiana bayou, the Appalachian mountains and the Marin
foothills. read
entire release, including tour schedule
riffs
Thursday
is the birthday of the late, great Townes
Van Zandt. Besides the
Pushing Uphill special to be aired on his birthday
at 2 PM, expect even more Townes (himself and covers) than usual
on SIsyphus Rolls as we get closer. Also, we
continue featuring heavy doses of Michael Nesmith, Terry Allen,
and Kelly Joe Phelps.
In
Nez, we have yet another case of an Americana pioneer who
has been underappreciated, at least commercially, in his own
country. Most of his albums are now available in the US only as
imports. You
can find his discography (on Amazon) by clicking
here. His website is
Videoranch.
Texas legend Allen and slidemeister
performing songwriter Phelps are likewise being featured
prominently for a second straight week.
Selections from all
the albums we've featured over the past
month will still be heard as
well, along with our endless stream of rolling Sisyphus Tracks.
Notes by Michael Westerfield
unless otherwise indicated.
CD
LINKS NOTE: When highlighted in
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