Our Top Six Releases Aug 21
Top Six Releases
August 2021
Our Top Six Releases
By Rob Dickens
The Flatlanders
Treasure Of Love
Rack’em Records/Thirty Tigers/Cooking Vinyl Australia
9 July 2021
It’s been over twelve years since we have heard new music from this heavyweight trio of experienced Texas originals Butch Hancock, Joe Ely and Jimmie Dale Gilmore. All successful artists on their own over give-or-take fifty-year careers, when they join forces the resultant blend of country, honky tonk and locally-spun ballads is a joy. And so it is here with Treasure of Love.
Completed during COVID-19 lockdowns with the help of long-time friend and collaborator Lloyd Maines, The Flatlanders started recording raw, short and sharp takes of songs they enjoyed playing from the early days while each of the members had free time between live shows and recording obligations. Before long they realised that the collaborations were worthy and they had an album of their hands.
The fifteen tracks on Treasure of Love include some originals, carefully-selected covers, songs that have worked well in a live setting and others that go all the way back to the trio’s earliest performances in honky tonks in Lubbock TX. The themes resonate here – heartbreak, rambling, isolation and, of course, the unique Texas landscape. Welcome back.
Via Jo Corbett Publicity
Hiss Golden Messenger
Quietly Blowing It
Merge Records
25 June 2021
Quietly Blowing It was written and arranged by Hiss Golden Messenger (aka M.C. Taylor) in his small home studio, taking an enforced break from a ten-year cycle of touring and insulated against a perceived a world of chaos. This solitude was mixed with an ability to enjoy an extended connectivity with his family and this seems to have provided Taylor with a lyrical refresh.
Taylor wrote and recorded over twenty songs, playing all the instruments himself, before filtering some songs out and taking the remaining collection to the HGM band. The musicians, with Taylor in the production seat, went into Overdub Lane in Durham, North Carolina, for a week, where they recorded the album using all their tautness and inspiration from years playing together on the road. Other collaborators include Buddy Miller, Gregory Alan Isakov, Anaïs Mitchell, Josh Kaufman, Taylor and Griffin Goldsmith (Dawes) and Scott Hirsch.
Quietly Blowing It is a lot of things – brooding and bold, soulful and pointed, revelatory and precise.
Via Jo Corbett Publicity
Malcolm Holcombe
Tricks Of The Trade
Need To Know
20 August 2021
Malcolm Holcombe‘s visage might be described as a little gruff, weather-worn and honest, but somehow compelling. So too are his musical abilities and it’s easy to convince ourselves that we should listen to the many colourful stories contained within Tricks Of The Trade.
Just days before the world went COVID-haywire, Holcombe spent a week recording what would be his next album. Tracked at Seven Deadly Sins studio just outside Nashville, the album is replete with fascinating narratives and sharp phrasing. The first single is “Money Train”, the video of which was made by gifted songwriter Emma Swift, follows and is an ideal example of what to expect here.
Produced by the team of Brian Brinkerhoff, Dave Roe and Jared Tyler, Tricks of the Trade contains a wonderful studio band that includes Roe on bass and longtime musical cohort, Tyler on electric guitar, dobro and background vocals, with guest vocalists Mary Gauthier and Jaimee Harris.
Be prepared for many insights on this insightful and gritty collection.
Via Broken Jukebox Media
Rodney Crowell
Triage
RC1 Records
23 July 2021
Question to start if I may? Rodney Crowell has had a brilliant career, a profound and lengthy trajectory that shows no hint of stopping any time soon. Here’s the query. Are there that many covers of his songs that have been recorded over the years? I’m sure there have been a reasonable number but it appears to be well below his other Texas songwriting cohort – Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark to name two.
If you accept this premise (I know I could well be proven wrong here, but bear with me), is it because his songs are so entrenched in his own persona, that there’s an intimacy and an opinionated boldness that does not translate to other interpretations?
Anyway, enough of that. What we have with Triage is another Crowell tour de force, a powerful work of beauty and cutting observations.
The narrative range is impressive – songs of the politic, songs of the spirit, love, endurance and tenacity. Genre-wise, we have rock, blues and country and a special nod to the guitar work of Joe Robinson which shines throughout. Rodney Crowell – synonymous with passion, depth and another glorious record.
Tim Easton
You Don’t Really Know Me
Black Mesa Records
27 August 2021
Troubadour Tim Easton has always moved easily between folkie singer/songwriter, purveyor of blues-tinged ballads and pretty raucous rock ‘n’ roll. He has absorbed many influences and experiences over the journey, busking his way around Europe, eventually settling in the musically hip East Nashville but always appearing to be a little nomadic.
On this, his tenth album You Don’t Really Know Me, he has plenty to say while penning these songs during the pandemic. His life has had some wrong turns and this record is about redemption, or at least putting the record straight – a document on his downs and ups – reflecting on intensely personal matters/mistakes – a divorce, a vice and the ultimate perils of excessive self-gratification. This record is a revolution of sorts, and (hopefully) a therapeutic step to a better state of mind.
The album was produced by Brad Jones and Robin Eaton, both of whom also helmed his 1998 debut album Special 20. The feel here is a very fresh one, like the songs were captured quickly so none of their essence could escape. According to Easton: “I’ve learned that you can do what you want for a living and enjoy the work. It doesn’t have to be a struggle. For me, it used to be — but it’s not anymore”.
That’s good news for the auteur. Those are glad tidings for us. Win win.
Via Lucky Bird Media
Vincent Neil Emerson
Vincent Neil Emerson
La Honda Records/Thirty Tigers/Cooking Vinyl Australia
25 June 2021
Like John Prine? Attracted to Hayes Carll? OK, you’re in the right place.
The name Vincent Neil Emerson was new to this writer. No longer.
Produced by Rodney Crowell (see above), the album features ten tracks, all written solely by Emerson
at his home in Fort Worth, Texas. Why listen to me when you can take heed of Crowell:
“I got drawn into this project as a producer because I was immediately drawn to the poetry of the songs that Vincent writes. When I heard Vincent’s songs, I said, ‘I get this. I understand it. I want to be a part of this.’ It’s really
Rodney Crowell
exciting to me that there’s another generation coming up with the sensibilities of really good,
strong language and a respect for the tradition of poetic folk-singing and songwriting.”
There’s a wonderous collage of styles, perhaps beyond a lot of Texas artists. Sure, there’s Western Swing, country and western but also Irish balladry, laconic folk, bluegrass and country blues (all the good stuff). I love his ability to meld humour, tragedy and wonder. Vincent Neil Emerson follows 2019’s Fried Chicken and Evil Women released on La Honda Records, co-founded by Emerson.
Via Jo Corbett Publicity
ADVERTISE WITH LISTENING THROUGH THE LENS
More Music Adventures Await!
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Our Top Six Releases Aug 21
Our Top Six Releases Aug 21
Our Top Six Releases Aug 21
