‘Oxyana’ soundtrack features Jonny Fritz, John McCauley

Posted on by wolffkurt

Alt-country artist Jonny Fritz (aka Jonny Corndawg) joined up with Deer Tick’s John McCauley to create a moody soundtrack for the documentary Oxyana, which is about the oxycontin epidemic in Appalachia.

As the New Republic explains, Oxyana “seeks to capture the ravages of prescription drug addiction in Oceana, a town of 1,370 deep in impoverished coal country, not far from the Kentucky border.”

And the film’s stark point of view didn’t go over well with everyone in Oceana. Some felt the depiction didn’t show a fair and full picture of the town.

Still, as the New Republic points out, at a local town hall meeting about the film, “it was plain that local ire over the film was going to be paired with frank acknowledgment of the region’s prescription drug problem. Of all the issues that came up at that meeting, none was the subject of as much concern as drug abuse.”

Watch a trailer for Oxyana (above), or watch the whole thing on Amazon.

And the Oxyana soundtrack is haunting, too. Hear it via a Soundcloud link below.

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Video: Line of Fire

Posted on by wolffkurt

A song that’s been haunting me this year is “Line of Fire” by the Swedish group Junip.

The band features singer/guitarist José González. Mesmerizing — I can’t stop playing it.

The video for the song, is directed by Mikel Cee Karlsson. Watch it below:

(Featured image at top is a video still that initially appeared on Trendland)

John Grant to release followup to ‘Queen of Denmark’

Posted on by wolffkurt

Three years ago I had never heard the name John Grant. But that year, Mojo named his debut solo album Queen of Denmark their favorite of the year. And like a lot of people who read that review, I was at first puzzled. Then I listened, and based on the deeply personal songs, his haunting vocals, and the warm arrangements (he was backed on the album by the band Midlake), I understood. It’s been a favorite album in regular rotation for me ever since.

It’s great news, then, that Grant finally has a followup album. Called Pale Green Ghosts, it’s already out in the U.K. and is due in stores in the U.S. on May 14.

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Classic Songs: Bill Withers, ‘Ain’t No Sunshine’

Posted on by wolffkurt

Bill Withers wrote “Ain’t No Sunshine” and released it back in 1971 on his album Just As I Am. The song was a hit at the time (reaching No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100), but since then, it’s taken on new life and found vast new audiences, thanks to many cover versions.

Here’s a version of Bill and his band performing the song in 1972 that shows just a powerful (and subtle) a performer he was — and how much he owned this song.

This was Withers’ first hit song — it even earned him a GRAMMY in 1971. After this, he went on to reach No. 1 in 1972 with “Lean on Me” and then No. 2 with “Use Me” later that same year.

The Songwriters: Gene Crysler

Posted on by wolffkurt

The other day I posted the album cover for Freddie Hart’s The Neon and the Rain. The title track is credited to Gene Crysler, whom I knew little about.

Doing some digging, though, turns out he wrote some cool and unusual songs. Like this one, “I Didn’t Jump the Fence,” which has been cut by the likes of Red Sovine and Cal Smith:

On the surface it’s an oddball song about a guy who admits to eating the “fruit” from his neighbor’s “tree,” but says he wasn’t “stealing” because it just “fell” into his yard. It’s not hard, of course, to read between the lines of what he’s really talking about.

Another Crysler song was “Don’t Make Me Go To School,” cut by Tammy Wynette.

And I always loved this Crysler song cut by Billie Jo Spears, about a small-town Kansas woman who gets a big-city job as a secretary in New York, but who quickly gets fed up with the old boys’ club.

Spears’ version of the song–the title track from her second album–peaked at No. 4 on the country charts in 1969.

Spears just comes off so damn down-to-earth appealing in this video, the kind of honest country artist we could use more of these days. Sadly, she passed away in 2011.

Vintage Album Covers: Freddie Hart

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Freddie Hart’s deeply dark “The Neon and the Rain”–the title track from his 1967 album–falls into the same homicidal category as Porter Wagoner’s classic “The Cold Hard Facts of Life.” Freddie covers the latter song on this album as well, though it’s hardly necessary. He’s already taken us down the deep hole with these opening lines:

As I sit beneath the steerin’ wheel a gun in my right hand
I watch the girl I married keep a date with another man
The neon sign above her head blinks motel vacancy
And through the rain it’s flashin’ like the storm inside of me

The black leather gloves he’s sporting in the cover image–and what those gloves are holding–add to the menace.

Vintage Album Covers: Porter Wagoner

Posted on by wolffkurt

Porter produced some fantastic album covers during his heyday, and the image on the front of The Cold Hard Facts of Life is one of the all-time greats.

If you don’t know the song, familiarize yourself with it now — it’s a gem:

The website Atlanta Time Machine did a great story a few years back about finding the original location where the cover was shot.

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Billy Strange Has Raised His Hand and Asked to Leave the Room — R.I.P.

Posted on by wolffkurt

“This is the part of the song where Billy Strange raised his hand and asked if he could please leave the room.”
(Lee Hazlewood, from his version of “These Boots Are Made for Walking.”)

Bandleader/arranger/guitarist Billy Strange passed away yesterday (Wed., Feb. 22) at age 81.

While not exactly a household name, in the music world he was a major player. And over the years, on his own and as a member of L.A.’s famed Wrecking Crew, he worked with some of the biggest and best names of mid-20th century pop music, including Elvis Presley, Frank and Nancy Sinatra, Lee Hazlewood, the Beach Boys, Willie Nelson, Dean Martin, and Sammy Davis, Jr.

Watch a clip of Billy in action.

 

More Billy Strange songs

Steely Dan “Aja” Tribute

Posted on by wolffkurt

“Sometimes vanilla just tastes so good.”

A friend of mine (Nate Cavalieri) once said that. He was talking about a Steely Dan video he was sharing. I always remembered it, and thought it made perfect sense in relation to that band’s sort of uber-polished, borderline-bland, radio-friendly pop sound.

Personally I’ve never fully settled on where I stand with Steely Dan. On one hand their sound is ubiquitous radio pop that’s overly crisp, with all the dirt washed off and creases ironed out. The sound can be cloying, and as we all know it’s been impossible to escape for decades.

On the other, man, when you really listen to some of those songs, they’re impressive. In terms of the writing, yes, but especially the production.

And from that perspective alone, an album like Aja deserves its accolades.

Toronto indie-rock band The Darcys today paid tribute to Steely Dan by releasing their own version of Aja–a song-by-song re-creation of the classic 1977 album, though done in their own moody, fuzzy style.

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