Random Reflections

Reflecting on: John Prine’s Self-Titled Debut

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Yes, many of you know that John Prine, one of the most beloved songwriters of our time, is currently on his ninth day in the ICU, critically ill and being treated for COVID-19. It is true that like so many, during the past week, I have been compelled to offer my love and support to him by playing his music, and that has sent me on a journey through his entire discography, to rediscover old gems and find new ones yet unexplored. But it’s more than that which keeps me replaying Prine records these days; there’s a hope in his songs that brings an unparalleled comfort and which has helped me greatly through this uncertain period. John Prine gives us reasons to smile when we have so few, and so with that in mind, this post goes out to my dear friend Ché Martin and all the others like us who find their smiles in a John Prine song.

Release Date: 1971

Style: folk

People Who Might Like This Album: fans of Jason Isbell, fans of Bob Dylan, fans of Ian Noe, those who value songwriting and clever turns of phrase

Standout Tracks: “Illegal Smile,” “Spanish Pipedream,” “Angel From Montgomery,” “Far From Me,” “Hello in There”

Reflections: It’s a good time to be listening to and writing about new music. Certainly, despite the number of albums being pushed back lately, there have been quite a few notable releases, especially in the past two weeks. Most of us are stuck at home with nowhere to go and no sports to watch and nothing to look forward to, and new music is one of the few remaining bright spots in our lives. AS a reviewer, I’ve got plenty of time on my hands to explore all of it, and yet, the general uncertainty and hopelessness of this strange time in history is often counterproductive; it’s difficult to empty an anxious mind to focus on a piece of art well enough to think critically about that art and lose myself in the analysis. A reflection is an easier task right now because we designed these to be personal accounts of our own musical experience rather than the broader evaluation necessary in a review. This isn’t to say there aren’t some new albums that have captured my attention as a writer and as a music fan, but it’s older, familiar songs that I find myself gravitating toward of late, beacons of certainty in a world where things are changing by the minute. And over and over, especially in the past week since we have learned of his diagnosis, I have found strength and comfort in the music of John Prine. I may do more of these reflections as I wander through his albums, but for now, I’ll start at the beginning with his debut.

It was “Angel from Montgomery” which first drew me to Prine’s music years ago and which remains one of my favorite songs of all time. As a disclaimer, I will say that I actually prefer Bonnie Raitt’s version, as she took this excellent showcase of songwriting and then made it into a soulful vocal masterpiece. But this song made me fall in love with John Prine because of his ability to capture this character, her desperation and regret as she looks back on her life as an old woman. He’s almost painfully perceptive, seeing into the hearts and minds of all of us so thoroughly that there’s peace in the sorrow because it’s so obvious that he understands. WE see that perception here in “Hello in There,” as he explains that “old people just grow lonesome” and allows us all a glimpse into the hearts of so many elderly people who just feel forgotten and ignored by the world. He makes us hurt for the veterans who come home wounded, broken, and forever changed in “Sam Stone,” and gives us insight into the hearts of the Appalachian people whose land has been ravaged by coal mining in the song “Paradise.” It seems that John Prine has a heart for all the disenfranchised, forgotten souls in this world, and there’s something especially comforting about that in a time like this when we’re all hurting together.

And yet somehow, Prine still manages to make us smile with his whimsical lyrics and clever turns of phrase. There is no other songwriter quite like him and may never be after. It’s the poetry of Bob Dylan and the relatability of Merle Haggard with a dose of the magic of Dr. Seuss sprinkled in for good measure. He says in the opener, “Illegal Smile,” when describing his lonely, boring morning, ” a bowl of oatmeal tried to stare me down and won, and it was 12:00 before I realized I was having no fun.” And yes, in case you were wondering, his illegal smile that allows him to go on is indeed marijuana, so there’s that. There’s also some cheeky wisdom in “Spanish Pipedream,” as he advises us all to “blow up your TV, throw away your paper, go to the country, build you a home. Plant a little garden, eat a lot of peaches, try and find Jesus on your own.” Blowing up the TV and throwing away the paper sounds like excellent advice right now, and it’s lyrics like these that put a smile on your face despite everything else. And if you had any doubt about the DR. Seuss part of my analysis, try and unravel this verse from “Quiet Man: “Last Monday night I saw a fight between Wednesday and Thursday over Saturday night. Tuesday asked me what was going on, I said Sunday’s in the meadow, and Friday’s in the corn.”

I’d encourage any of you anytime to check out the music of John Prine, but now is an especially perfect opportunity. He can empathize with the struggle and provide a moment of levity in almost the same breath, and we need both more than ever these days. If you’re new to Prine, send him your love and support by playing his records, and I promise that you’ll find love and support of your own coming from his timeless words.

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Reviews

Album Review: Aubrie Sellers–Far From Home

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Rating: 6.5/10

“I beat my own damn drum, stick out like a sore thumb,” Aubrie Sellers declares on the closing song of her latest album, called “One Town’s Trash.” Truer words were never spoken, as sellers embraces a sound she calls “garage country,” a blending of traditional country themes and sensibilities with garage rock instrumentation. 2016’s New City Blues was an excellent showcase of this style and of Sellers. But it’s a stretch to call most of this new record garage country at all; it’s basically garage rock with a twangy singer and some country textures. In and of itself, this is not a bad thing, and Far From Home is certainly not a bad record, but the style can be overwrought, and it’s a little disappointing after the stellar New City Blues.

However, there’s quite a lot that this album gets exactly right. The garage country approach really enhances some of these tracks, and where it works, it’s excellent to see Aubrie Sellers confidently leaning into her own sound and writing songs that best capture it. “Worried Mind” is the best example of this, where sellers sings of depression and anxiety, and the restless, moody guitars accentuating the song add something darker to the track and further illustrate the turmoil in Sellers’ mind. “Drag you Down” is just simply a jam, and the hard-charging guitars really add to this one also, as Aubrie sings of dragging some poor soul down with her into the depths of misery and despair. This is an extremely catchy track and one that would probably do well on radio if there was any semblance of justice in the format. “Going Places” provides a spacey moment where the style paints a nice picture of the endless rambling described in the song. These three tracks are sequenced together in the heart of the album and collectively provide the strongest showcase of garage country and what makes Aubrie Sellers stick out proudly like a sore thumb.

But too often, the style is just simply overdone. “Lucky Charm” is another catchy number with a smart hook, but it’s unnecessarily weighed down by overproduction. “Glad” has a similar issue; it’s got a great premise, as Sellers sings of being happy that her ex broke her heart because she doesn’t have to go on loving him blindly while he’s being unfaithful, but it’s just too messy to really work. “Drag You Down” works so much better with its tighter arrangement, and “Glad” would have been a standout if they weren’t trying to throw everything and the kitchen sink into the mix. “Troublemaker” would have also packed more of a punch if the band didn’t just totally disintegrate into a chaotic mess as the song comes to a close. That was probably the intended point, given the title of the song, but the fact is that it just makes the track sound cluttered. But the biggest problem with the garage country approach is not really with one song; rather, it’s that by the end of the record, the sound is a little stale, and you feel a bit exhausted after the continuous assault on your ears by all this distortion and grit. They went all in with this sound, and credit to Aubrie Sellers for knowing who she is and sticking to that, and to Frank Liddell for helping her vision come to life, but too often, it’s at the expense of Sellers herself. Inasmuch as this works so well on certain tracks to make Sellers stand out from the crowd, just as often it works against her and distracts from her talent as a vocalist and as a songwriter.

This is made even more apparent by the few times where this record holds back. Some of the best songs of Far From Home come when the production is restrained, and Aubrie’s voice soars to the forefront. The title track opens the album with a fairly sparse, atmospheric approach and makes this simple song about feeling lost and out of place in this world the crown jewel of the whole record. “Run,” although it could have perhaps been helped by another verse to tie everything together, sees sellers in a vulnerable moment of self-reflection, and scaling the production back was the right call here also. “Haven’t Even Kissed me Yet” does go for an extended guitar solo to close the song, but it comes naturally after building throughout, and the vocals are kept front and center, allowing Aubrie sellers to deliver a heartfelt, beautiful vocal performance. But it’s moments like these that serve to make the cluttered, overproduced material all the more frustrating; it feels like this would have been a great record if it were handled with a little more care.

This album is a case where many of the individual songs are better than the sum of their parts. AS a 46-minute exhibition of garage country, it can just be tiring. But when the best moments are isolated, there are some fine tracks here. Aubrie Sellers is an incredible vocalist, and it’s a shame that some of this is ignored on her sophomore effort in lieu of elevating her sound. It’s not a bad album, but it feels like a missed opportunity to be a great one. And it’s not the garage country style itself that makes it disappointing; indeed, tracks like “Worried Mind” prove that this style can be really interesting and unique. It’s the pursuit of being different at the expense of everything else which ultimately makes this record fall short of what it could be. Hopefully, Aubrie sellers can find the right balance on her next project, a balance between the style that makes her unique and the voice that makes her special. When she achieves that balance, as she does in flashes on this record, she achieves something original and exciting and fresh, both inside the country space and for music in general.

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Reviews

Album Review: The SteelDrivers–Bad For You

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Rating: 8.5/10

So let’s talk about the elephant in the room here, the obvious comparisons of the SteelDrivers’ new lead singer, Kelvin Damrell, to their former frontman Chris Stapleton. Personally, I thought I could listen to this record without that elephant being an issue, as I had only heard one song by this band with Stapleton–and none with their last frontman, Gary Nichols, for that matter. Then I put on this record and heard the voice of Kelvin Damrell belting out with grit and soul and untamed passion on the opener and title track, and from the first notes, I knew ignoring the Stapleton comparisons would in fact be a sheer impossibility; it sounds as if this guy, who was discovered by a happy accident on YouTube, was sent to the SteelDrivers from some sort of secret Chris Stapleton cloning factory where they’re working to mass produce one of the greatest voices in modern country music.

The band simply will not escape this comparison, and indeed, it’s hard to say if they even want to escape it. But for this listener, the Stapleton resemblance soon became secondary to the album itself because by the third track, I had to admit the inevitable truth, that with all love and respect to Chris Stapleton, Kelvin Damrell is better, especially for this band, with more passion and inflection and a little more sensitivity to the lyrics, providing the same soulful tones that we all love about his predecessor but somehow having a bit more of a sense about when to hold back that vocal power in exchange for raw expressions of emotion. It will be a matter of personal taste as to whether you prefer Damrell or Stapleton, but Kelvin Damrell has proven that he should at least be evaluated on his own merits, and that however similar to Stapleton he may sound in tone, his vocal choices and delivery set him apart–and besides, being compared vocally to Chris Stapleton is one of the highest praises any singer, country or otherwise, can hope to receive these days. So let’s move on from the elephant and discuss the album itself.

And this album is just so good for the soul. It’s great to hear the country genre being carried forward respectfully in more modern ways, and you certainly don’t always need banjo and fiddle to make a country song, but damn it, sometimes it’s just comforting to hear these instruments proudly in the mix, and the picking of Richard Bailey and fiddling of Tammy Rodgers serve as a nice cure for the drum machines and electronic sounds ailing country music in 2020. And although this is bluegrass music and respectful to the roots of that genre, it’s imbibed with soul and blues and instilled with a youth and energy which sets the SteelDrivers apart from so many other bluegrass bands. It’s also more lyrically focused than most bluegrass, making it much closer to its country music cousin. No disrespect to other cool bluegrass bands like the Infamous Stringdusters, whose every record is a statement of pure instrumental impressiveness, but the SteelDrivers are more concerned with the mood of these songs and with framing the instrumentation to fit the lyrics; they’re just being themselves, but consequently, this is an album perhaps more accessible than many in this subgenre and a good introduction for your country detractor friends into the world of bluegrass.

AS for the lyrics themselves, self-condemnation and sorrow run heavily through this record. These themes are present in the opener and title track, as the narrator calmly warns a woman to stay far away from him, reflecting ruefully, “ain’t it kind of me to tell you the truth.” There’s the bartender attempting to justify himself in the track of the same name by declaring, “Some may call me a sinner, but when it’s all said and done, I don’t pull the trigger, i just load the gun.” There’s unbridled heartache in “Falling Man,” brought to life by the raw emotion of Kelvin Damrell’s vocals and set off expertly by the sorrowful licks of the fiddle and banjo. It all seems to culminate in the brooding “Innocent Man,” set in a haunting minor key and seeing the narrator ruminating on the crime he committed. He’ll never get caught, but he’ll have to live with the decision for the rest of his life, and that’s almost worse than prison. There are a few lightweight tracks lyrically, but overall, the songwriting is a strength. There could be a bit more depth in places, but these lighter moments are generally lively and infectious and serve to brighten up the somber atmosphere a little.

This is a fine album and a welcome return for the SteelDrivers. It’s a great mix of beautiful bluegrass instrumentation and heartfelt songwriting, all infused with the blues and soul of Kelvin Damrell to create something really unique. On a personal note, it’s been quite awhile since i have had the motivation or inspiration to write about anything, and it’s wonderful to have such a great record to start all this anew. The year is young, but Bad for You has the kind of replay value that will give it staying power, and it may well be in the conversation when the endless 2020 lists start pouring in come December. Go give it a listen, and if you’re new to bluegrass, you may find this record a warm, wonderful welcome into another beautiful corner of our beloved country music.

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Concerts

The Biggest Takeaways From the 7th Annual Medicine Stone

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It has been a privilege to cover the Medicine Stone festival in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, for the past four years. It’s more than just a celebration of Red Dirt music; it’s also about the atmosphere and the fellowship and the way that the artists and fans come together for a weekend to just have fun and enjoy live music.

But there was an obvious difference this year. How would a festival founded by Jason Boland and the Turnpike Troubadours work without the Troubadours themselves?

Overall, this was the most solid lineup Medicine stone has put together in the years Country Exclusive has been in attendance. Wade Bowen and Flatland Cavalry, two of the main stage highlights from 2018, both returned and delivered excellent sets. Wade Bowen has killed it both times I’ve seen him at this festival, and it would be exciting to see him get a headlining slot. As for Flatland Cavalry, they’ve been improving each year, and sonically, they may be the closest thing we’ll ever have again to the Turnpike Troubadours sound. Shinyribs put on a good show in 2017, and it was great to see them come back and perform even better. Theirs was one of the most entertaining sets of the entire weekend. Red Shahan has been a highlight each year, and 2019 was no exception; in fact, it was a little disappointing that he only got forty-five minutes onstage. And Jason Boland & the stragglers are always great live, but this has been their best Medicine Stone performance yet. There’s a reason the straggler’s live albums are some of their best material.

I was impressed with the new incarnation of American Aquarium; I wrote during my very first year covering this festival that they didn’t quite seem to fit with the Red dirt artists, as their music leaned more toward Americana. Then, after the implosion and rebuilding of the band, their 2018 album really impressed me, and their live show has greatly improved as well. It is wonderful to see that what could have killed them has only made them stronger, and much like Flatland Cavalry, it’s encouraging to watch them getting better every year.

One of the cooler aspects of the festival is the smaller, more intimate stages where artists play each day before the main stage opens. These are a nice place to hear smaller artists, as well as those that thrive more in a quieter setting. Courtney Patton’s acoustic show on Friday (9/20), at the gravel bar was the crown jewel of these quieter sets. This was her first time at Medicine stone, and I would love to see her there again, (and can we please get Jason eady as well?) It was also our first time seeing Bri Bagwell, who turned in a more upbeat set at the river stage on Saturday (9/21). I would like to see her return to the festival as well, and I think she would do well as a main stage performer. She put on an energetic show, and she was also one of the most engaging artists with the crowd. Incidentally, I also need her to record “Seven Spanish Angels” ASAP, she sang that song excellently.

Medicine Stone has had some issues in recent years booking women, and this has been a common concern from attendees. In 2018, only Jamie Lin Wilson and Kaitlin Butts were booked. This year saw a concentrated effort to include more women, with the aforementioned Patton and Bagwell as well as the returning Wilson and Butts and the “Queen of Oklahoma,” Carter Sampson. Wilson, Patton, and Butts also did a Dixie Chicks tribute Friday evening for one of the “after-party” sets that takes place on the small stages after the headliners each night. All these women were standouts of the whole weekend, proud representations of the women of Texas and Red dirt music. It was also encouraging to see them being brought up onstage by so many of the men. Kaitlin Butts sang with Flatland Cavalry and American Aquarium, Bri Bagwell joined William Clark Green, and Butts, Wilson, and Patton all came onstage to accompany Wade Bowen. AT Medicine Stone, these artists often come onstage to sing with each other, but it definitely seemed like the focus in 2019 was on including and appreciating the women of the subgenre.

But the absence of Turnpike was certainly felt. This was both a positive and a negative thing. It was cool to see Kaitlin butts singing “Gin, Smoke, Lies” and to hear R.C. Edwards singing “Fall out of Love” when R.C. and the Ambers opened on the main stage the first night. But Jamie Lin Wilson’s “Oklahoma Stars” took on a whole new meaning when someone pointed out to me that now the star which burns bright and disappears could also be Evan Felker. Although the lineup as a whole was incredibly strong, there didn’t seem to be a closer who could quite fill the hole created by the Troubadours, and only Saturday night, when Jason boland headlined, saw the same kind of crowds which have become customary to us over the years. There’s also a sense that the more things change, the more they stay the same, and to have Turnpike’s own festival going on without them right there in their hometown was bittersweet.

Still, as always, this was a great experience and one that I would recommend to any fan of live music. You don’t have to like country because not every band sounds country; Cody Canada & the departed are a full-on rock band, and Shinyribs rings much closer to Louisiana than Texas or Oklahoma. You don’t even have to love music itself, for this is more than just music, it’s family and fellowship and one weekend where we’re not divided by anything but rather all here together to enjoy this. This is the power and the joy of live music, to bring us all together for three days until we have to return to our separate realities. May that power and joy continue to live through Medicine Stone for years to come.

Best Live Performers: Jason Boland & the Stragglers, Shinyribs, Wade Bowen, Bri Bagwell, Courtney Patton, Flatland Cavalry, Jamie Lin Wilson

Reviews

Song Review: “White River” by Kaitlin butts

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Rating: 9/10

Oklahoma singer/songwriter Kaitlin Butts has been on Country exclusive’s radar since her incredible 2016 Medicine Stone set. She’s been killing it live there each year since, but we haven’t gotten much new music from her since her 2015 debut album, Same Hell, Different Devil. We finally have a new single from her in the form of “White river,” and this is Kaitlin Butts putting all the raw energy she injects into her live performances into a studio recording, creating the best song she’s yet released.

The song itself fits into a category we’ve seen become nearly cliché over the past decade, the subgenre of tracks about women killing abusers. These songs can be great, but they need something to make them stand out as unique, and Butts sets “White river” apart by not being the victim seeking revenge, but rather the loved one, most likely the daughter, of the victim, who finally seeks justice in order to rescue the one she loves from the violence. The hook is also smart, as the murder occurs on the White river; “that was the night the White river turned red.”

Kaitlin Butts does an excellent job here writing a song to fit her incredible range. Her vocal ability is often showcased in her live performances, but until now, no studio recording has really shown off her voice, and that’s a strength she should display more in her songwriting. This song does a nice job of balancing smart writing with chilling vocal delivery, and the production works well also, sparse in the beginning to highlight the vocals but building in intensity throughout the song to support the darkness of the narrative. The instrumentation features a nice mix of steel and electric guitar to complete what is simply a fine piece of music.

Kaitlin Butts is a name you should keep your eye on, and “White river” is the most promising single she has released so far. Hopefully, we’ll be getting some more new music from her very soon.

Written by: Kaitlin Butts, Oran Thornton, Jared Hicks

The Most Destructive Criticism is Indifference