New Toy
Wednesday, May 27, 2009

I know I shouldn't have done it but there I was in Midtown Manhattan just killing a half-hour before an assignment. I checked out Manny's Music, the famous store where everybody from Brown to Bowie to U2 and ZZ Top have shopped and discovered that after 74 years the place is CLOSING!

You wouldn't believe the discount! Plus I've been fantasizing for a while now about getting one of these babies. I practically got it for a song! Actually I got it for a whole bunch of songs...

(I dug that it's a Washburn, like my other acoustic guitar, which over the past 12 years has proved time and again that it can take the beatings I give it and still sound OK)

You'll notice there's twelve...

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Rundown
Sunday, May 24, 2009

Things of note this past week: Played an open mic in Washington DC on Tuesday night and my rendition of Lawyers, Guns & Money (accompanied by Tom Holl of the Road Sodas) prompted a conversation with a guy in the bar who knew Warren Zevon. "Hell of a nice guy," he told me.

Wednesday I sang "It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry," at a Bob Dylan birthday bash in Hell's Kitchen accompanied by Gordon Gano of the Violent Femmes on fiddle.

Thursday Butch did a gig with his new band Buck Up Butch and the Dregs.

Saturday went briefly to a party at Banjo Lisa's house with a whole bunch of cool musicians including Boo & Elena from the Demolition String Band, Drina Seay, Lil' Mo and others. Had to split early to blow harp in Williamsburg with my favorite NYC band, The Izzys.

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Who's 'Yer Daddy?
Friday, May 15, 2009

(Shooter puts the "W" in "Who's 'Yer Daddy?")

Oh mercy, I didn’t want to ever use this blog to take people down but it finally happened.

I got this months’ issue of American Songwriter in the mail today and there in the reviews section were three and a half stars for The Best of Shooter Jennings.

Wait a minute. How can Shooter put out a "Best Of" album? He put out his first album in 2005 and since then has released only two other studio records and a live album. Is this enough to cull material for a greatest hits album?

And because he took it there, now we’re gonna’ have to take a hard look at this so-called “career” of Shooters’.

I admit that I fell in love with his first single, the bona-fide hit “4th of July.” Around that time I caught a free show he did at CBGB. His mom, Jessi Colter, came out and sang with him. Brandy Wood, who I hadn’t yet met but would go on to play with, was in the audience. The show was brilliant. Shooter rocked.

About a year later I saw him again at Irving Plaza. This was where I noticed how many times he name-checked his father, such as in "Let's Put The O Back in Country" when he sings he'd like to hear "a whole lotta' Waylon." Many of Shooters other tunes, like “Busted in Baylor County” and “Little White Lines” were poorly written attempts to sound tough by singing about problems with drugs and cops. Shooter then tried to convince us he’s an outlaw by mixing hard rock AND country. He inserted a metal riff into the middle of “Ain’t Livin’ Long Like This,” which might have been cool, except his dad made that song famous. So the only statement Shooter made was "I don't have anything of my own to offer you, so I'll just dress up my dad's stuff in rock clothes and re-serve it."

Were we supposed to think he’s a badass because he likes white powder and Guns ‘N’ Roses and has a famous rock 'n' roll dad? Didn’t Kelly Osbourne already do this?

The last time I saw Shooter sealed it. He came down to play a Waylon Jennings tribute at the Living Room in early 2008. His TV star wife Drea De Matteo was there. So was her posse. Shooter took the stage by himself to play three of his dad’s greatest hits.

And he couldn’t remember the chords OR the words.

It was embarrassing, but more so it was insulting. Here’s a kid who rode the dad train to moneytown, and he didn’t even respect the material enough to know it. Even though it made his dad, and by extension him, famous.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve blown PLENTY of chords and lyrics. But I’m not famous. And my dad sure as hell ain’t a famous musician.

I respect a kid like Justin Townes Earle. Kid’s dad, Steve Earle, is a great songwriter, and kid’s middle name comes from one of the greatest songwriters, Townes Van Zandt.

I ain’t never heard Justin sing a Steve Earle song or a Townes Van Zandt song.

Justin’s worked hard to hone great songs of his own, and he's outdone his dad a time or two. Justin did so, in part, by doing his research and his woodshedding, digging deep down into roots American music, like ragtime.

I was happy to see Justin got the interview on the last page of the magazine, nine pages behind Shooter’s review.

Somebody like Justin I could look forward to a greatest hits record from. Because as a music fan, I care more about the "great" than I do about the "hit."

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Brother, Can You Spare A Guitar?
Tuesday, May 12, 2009

I'm all for guitar charity. Thinking about it, I've loaned my six strings to most everybody who's ever asked. Not even the drifter in Montana who borrowed it and pawned it dissuaded me (they say no guitar can play the blues unless it's been in a pawn shop at least once, so that counts right?)

When my buddy Abe called me up saying that a favorite band of his from Sweeden couldn't get their instruments through customs for some New York gigs, I hooked 'em up.

Discovered a rockin' new band too. MOA rock like a bastard child of Tina Turner and Bjork in fronting Dick Dale's band. (Note: that's my guitar on the right, in its sparkliest company since I abandoned my glam ambitions.)


Also caught a beautiful set by Marylee Kortes at the National Underground. On my way to see MOA at the Lit Lounge, I got a kick out of this Don't Walk sign, East Village style.

(Don't walk, but here's what you can do...)

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Trout Drought Ends!
Monday, May 11, 2009

OK trout, it's ON! This is me with trout numero uno of the year. Hmmm...looking at this picture I think maybe I made a mistake when I asked the kid walking by to snap a picture with my cell phone. Obviously the kid goofed and made the trout look SMALL, and me WAY TOO HAPPY for SUCH A SMALL TROUT. Stupid kids today. Probably too used to sexting with a cell phone to know how to make a trout look big and an angler look cool.

(Yeah, next time I WON'T photograph the trout, then I can lie to y'all about how big it was!)
Here's a little stocked rainbow trout that I caught. I love flyfishing and I love catching any trout, but sometimes I get a little down on these eastern streams with their dull-colored, stubby-finned hatchery trout. I'm gonna' visit Montana in three weeks, and I can't wait to hook some brilliantly colored, sharp-finned wild rainbows.

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Gone to Blazes

Can't say enough great things about the Demolition String Band and how lucky NYC is to have 'em in the scene. Boo and Elena are the best folks at bringing eclectic musicians together to celebrate eclectic musicians. They did it again about a month ago, with a wonderful tribute to Blaze Foley at Banjo Jim's.

Here's a clip of me singing Clay Pigeons off YouTube.

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More Raleigh Pix
Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Photos courtesy of The Fox...

This is us at our Saturday afternoon gig at Sadlack's Heroes, "A Raleigh Institution."

With Charlene, who is the coolest and most fun duet partner.

Chip also came up to help us sing one.

I heard this dancing dude is infamous around Raleigh. He sure made the gig more fun. Particularly when he did the splits.

Spanking Charlene tore it up too, par normal.

One of the things I love about being a freelance reporter is the ability to turn anyplace, even a Spanking Charlene gig, into a satellite office.

That night we got to watch a special Yayhoos show, commemorating the 10th anniversary of Slim's (Slim's motto: "Where Bad Things Happen to Good People.") The Yayhoos are so good and fun it's scary. Here's Roscoe and Terry Anderson.

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Master of Disaster
Sunday, May 3, 2009

Rock and roll news for the week: Mastered the record on Tuesday. I never knew what mastering was until I made a record, so in case you're like me I'll explain. Mastering makes sure that every song on the CD is the same volume. Mixing, which we did a couple weeks ago, makes sure each instrument has the right volume and blends with all the others.

Mastering is also where you decide what order the songs will go in on the record. Seems like a tiny detail, right, especially in this iPod shuffle age? Nope. Big fights ensued.

Ain't being in a band fun?

Any band for that matter. Last night I was off to do a gig in Hell's Kitchen when the guitarist called an hour before showtime to say he couldn't make it because his dog was sick. That meant I had to pinch-hit on guitar. I often joke that my guitar playing isn't suitable for public consumption, but there it was center stage last night.

And it wasn't that bad. In fact, it's actually kinda' fun to play loud, electric guitar all night.

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