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Pick CDs of 2013 — by Lauren Gonzalez

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Lauren Gonzalez

Lauren Gonzalez

Thanks to Lauren Gonzalez, and please go to her Website, HurricaneHighway, and like her Facebook page, Hurricane Highway. It’s always a treat to have guest writers on Scene In Town with views from other camps.

With this year quickly coming to a close, it is time that we reflect on the old and look forward to the new.  While 2013 wasn’t a year I care to go back through again personally, the music of 2013 gave me plenty to be happy and excited about.  So with out further ado lets reflect.  Below is (insert drumroll)  Hurricane Highway’s Official Top Ten Albums of 2013.

1.  Courtney Patton – Triggering A Flood   Women in songwriting don’t often get the credit they deserve.  Most are compared to Miranda or Taylor, as if that is ok.  This disk is on neither side of those.  What Courtney did in this cd was bring vulnerability and strength from heartbreak in her lyric in way that seems natural and compelling.

2.  Jason Isbell – Southeastern  There was not a single flaw in this record.  I am still as moved by his lyrics today as I was the first day I heard it.  Jason is poised to be the greatest songwriter of our generation.  I don’t know that there is a song as  truthful as Elephant out there.  It spoke to anyone who has lost a love one and had to witness that process of death.  The line “One thing that is clear to me, no one dies with dignity, we just try to ignore the elephant somehow,”  was one the most heartfelt and honest lyrics I have ever heard.

3.  Javi  Garcia – The Great Controversy   This is the most unapologetic rock record to come out this year.  I also believe one of the most underappreciated. One of the great characteristics of Javi and his band is the ability to do things their own way and not fit in to the traditional mode of “Texas Music”. If you have the chance to see him live I strongly recommend it.

4.  Shane Smith & The Saints – The Coast  This release is one of the ones I am most excited to talk about. This is another one that was good from start to finish.  Shane and his band have been touring constantly since the release.  Really looking forward to seeing them take off in 2014.   The guys have been having some regional success on Texas Radio.  They have also had some opening spots in Gruene Hall and Floore’s.

5.  Holly Williams – The Highway Showcasing her awesome vocals, Holly is making her mark in 2013 with great writing as well as production.  This girl proved that she was way more than a pretty face to come along in 2013.  She is touring with Jason Isbell in 2014.  What made the Highway so great was the noticeable change in production from her first disk.  The more paired down arrangements really allowed her writing and vocals to shine.

6.  Drew Kennedy – Wide Listener   Wide Listener represented a more mature and confident sound for D rew.  As a songwriter he is at his best with this disk.  The imagery combined with his voice made each song feel like a movie vignette.

7.  John Moreland – In The Throes This is a lyrical Gem.  Simply done and understated.  John is a brilliant writer.  Jason Isbell recently took him out on tour.   Throes is excellently crafted.  This disk was produced in a way to take nothing away from the words.

8.  Will Arrington – Miles Left To Go  Making a name for himself amongst the Cheatham Street Circle Miles comes out strong straight out of the gate with the lead track Coming Back Around.  It pulls no punches quickly moving into the next song Final Stand.  Other standouts on this cd are Just Another, Rain, Stay With Me Tonight, and My Old Friends.

9.  Dylan Stewart and The Johnny Strangers – A grit and groovy album.  This guy is making a name for himself in Oklahoma.  Look for him to become a contender in the must see list of 2014.

10.  Thieving Birds – Gold Coast – Good ole fashioned southern rock at its finest.  This was a wonderful follow up to their first release.  Check out Graveyard Love for a soulful bluesy track. This is also a must see band to hit the stage in 2014.  Much in the same way Uncle Lucius made waves in the last two years.

Honorable Mentions

  • Devil By The Tail – Cole Porter Band
  • Reckless Ways – Southern Strangers
  • William Clark Green – Rose Queen
  • Brandy Zdan – Lone Hunter

So there you have it.  Do you agree, Disagree?  Feel free to voice your thoughts.  It is going to be hard to top this year’s music movement,but I think it can be done.  I am looking forward to the release from Jason Eady, James Pardo, Folk Family Revival, and Chad Sullins.  I also plan on looking forward to what happens career wise for Aaron Stephens, Shane Smith, Steve Roloff, and Brett Hauser.  One thing is for certain —I am going to be out as much as I can listening to new bands while catching my favorites.  I hope to also run into some of you readers in Steamboat.

Catch you on the flip side of 2014.

Two new music projects being released

Cover artwork for Ronnie Fauss' "Everybody Deserves A Merry Christmas"

Ronnie Fauss is releasing an original Christmas song, on Normaltown Records, in time to be enjoyed throughout the Christmas holidays. He wrote and recorded “Everybody Deserves A Merry Christmas,” which is available for download on both iTunes and Amazon.

Fauss said, “It’s a honky-tonk number, not quite “Silent Night,” but not quite not, either. So if you have a dollar left in your music budget, please go get it!” Fauss added that he’s grateful for the support he’s been given in his music, and “Here’s hoping you have a meaningful holiday season.”
Gus Samuelson is about to release an acoustic CD, called “American Soul,” with all original songs. This comes less than a year after his band, Big Gus & Swampadelic, released its first CD, also of songs written by the prolific Big Gus.
Samuelson said of this project, which he is hopeful will be released before Christmas, “It’s a collection of 10 original songs, never  before released, that hopefully reflect the musical influences that inspire me. Recorded live in Austin, with only acoustic guitar and

Gus Samuelson CD Cover for "American Soul"

Gus Samuelson CD Cover for “American Soul”

percussion, these songs range from soul, gospel, jazz, and a few surprises…my reflection of the “Sounds of the South.”

As soon as it is released, it will be available at all his gigs, and by download from the usual sites, including iTunes.

CD Review: Kenny Rogers “You Can’t Make Old Friends”

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Remember, please, CD Reviews are always always always just one person’s opinion! This one is my opinion of this CD, which has already become a classic keeper at my house — Mary Jane
Kenny Rogers "You Can't Make Old Friends" CD cover

Kenny Rogers
“You Can’t Make Old Friends” CD cover

Kenny Rogers: “You Can’t Make Old Friends,” Warner Brothers Music

This new CD, released only weeks before the half-century-of-music legend was (finally) inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, is the legend’s 65th recording project. The songs are as diverse as Kenny Rogers’ career; his voice is as pure as it was in the beginning; and production, harmonies, voice all emote what the lyrics are saying about love, anger, desperation — the realisms of life on life’s terms.

When I first plugged this into my CD player, I kept wanting to rewind the song just heard and listen again, but then realized I’d miss the next one if I did that. When I heard the next one, I wanted to rewind it and listen again. And so it went.

Talking about diversity? OK, let’s talk…

Love songs — “When You Love Someone” and “Look At You” are passion personified. Pride and hope — “’Merica,” packed with unique, down-home meanings of the U.S.A.’s red, white and blue; and “Turn This World Around” should become an anthem. Anger and regret — “You Had To Be There” is a conversation between a young con and his pop, spoken through the glass window of a visiting room. Arrangement — Blackwheat Zydeco’s joining with Rogers on “Don’t Leave Me In The Night Time.”

The title cut, “You Can’t Make Old Friends,” a duet with his old friend Dolly Parton, is perhaps a weaker song on the CD project. That doesn’t mean it’s bad. The lyrics run true, but it has a fluffy feel to it. And ”Neon Horses” requires quite a few listens to quite get it.

Kenny Rogers has never claimed to be a songwriter, and all of these songs are written by others, including such giants as Don Schultz, Paul Overstreet, and and Dan Seals. Several have been previously released by such artists as Tim McGraw, Linda Rondstadt, Moe Bandy, and Bryan Adams. Others are first-cuts.

“You Can’t Make Old Friends” shows the true grit that Kenny Rogers and so many artists of the true country era possessed and still do, as they push themselves to balance between roots, romance, and rock.  But, then, we don’t expect less from our Texas musicians.

Kenny Rogers is still the pop/country/folk maestro he’s always been.

 

 

 

 

 

CD Review: Tony Ramey, “Throwback”

Tony Ramey, “Throwback” Dig It Deep Records

Tony Ramey "Throwback" Dig It Deep Records

Tony Ramey
“Throwback”
Dig It Deep Records

Remember this name, Tony Ramey. This songwriter —one of those who wasn’t born in Texas, but got here just as soon as he could, he said — just released his first acoustic CD, aptly called “Throwback.” The title cut makes it clear what his music, on this CD or any of the other 2,300 (more or less) songs he’s written, is all about, and that is keeping the country in country music.

“…every night I go back to the days when songs were pure and the truth was something strong enough to move me…”

And, on this 12-song CD, being acoustic and thus not overwhelmed with over production, Ramey’s pitch-perfect voice clarifies just how his songs are meant to be sung.

“Dig It Deep” talks about family and values; “Matthew, Mark, and Luke,” ditto. Tony talked about “Shine On,” saying it was a handicapped friend who inspired it.  The quick-paced “When I’m Gone” has some incredible acoustic licks and harmonies behind Tony’s voice.

“Fly Away” just cries for in-car harmonies.

The production on this project is clean, pure, easy to listen to. The backgrounds discretely deepen what the voice and the lyrics say, without pretense. Tony Ramey’s voice is soulfully strong; his writing is lesson, value, and emotion surrounded by music.

Can’t always be said of music recordings, but this CD, “Throwback,” is one that can be played by and with the whole family.

Co-writers with Ramey on these 12 songs are Kevin Mason, Kurtis Marozas, Donny Kees, Jeff Silvey, Roger Springer, and Chris Wymer.

They aren’t on this CD, but there’s a couple of songs of Tony Ramey’s that you might recognize. He wrote the Aaron Watson hit “Summertime Girl,” and his earlier “That’s How I Was Raised” is being featured on Alabama’s newest CD. He wrote “The Last Ride,” used in the independent movie of the same name about Hank Williams. And there’s dozens more that you’ve heard, by national artists, and that could be another story.

Don’t get me wrong here… yes, this is Tony’s first acoustic CD, but no, it’s not his first recording. He’s got several previous ones, recorded with his full band, under his belt.

Ramey is such a prolific songwriter that he is already back in the studio, recording some at his home studio, and more in Nashville, including work on a new CD with Johnny Lee. We haven’t heard the last of this new-Texan.

TonyRamey.com

CD Review — Randy Travis, “Influences Vol. 1: The Man I Am”

Randy TravisBy Mary Jane Farmer · (This could also appear in the Best of North Texas magazine and Buddy Magazine in the near future.)

Several years ago, country music superstar Randy Travis made his home in Tioga (Texas), already on the music map as the birthplace of Gene Autry, and since then he has become “one of us.”

The seven-time Grammy award-winning icon released his 21st studio album “Influences Vol. 1: The Man I Am,” last week, this one unique in several ways. The first is that it is the first studio-recorded CD in which his touring band provides the music, rather than studio musicians. Also, it is covers, strictly previously-recorded cover songs, and that is because he is honoring those country legends who have, as the title of the CD states, made him “The man I am.” Although now Travis is himself an icon, he still considers those who paved the way for him as his personal idols, as those who were instrumental in his formative years and in the way he crafts his own music, even to this day.

The songs cover nine decades, beginning with the first-release date of 1924, Thelma La Vizzo’s blues/country song, “Trouble In Mind,” which Merle Haggard re-released in 1996. This song has an amazing mix of fiddle, guitar, and steel guitar licks, accented with a rinky-tink piano break.

The last, or 13th song, on the CD is a new release, a tribute to his longtime friend, the late George Jones. Travis cut a duet with Joe Nichols on this one, “Tonight I’m Playin’ Possum,” written by Keith Gattis. He debuted this song at the 2013 Country Music Association festival in June.

Other songs on the record were made great by Ernest Tubb, Lefty Frizzell, Louis Armstrong in 1926 and then Haggard in 1985 (“Big Butter & Egg Man”); Waylon Jennings (“Because You Asked Me To” co-written by Jennings and Willie Nelson in the 1970s); and the great George Jones himself.

Randy Travis was among those hopefuls hanging out in Nashville in the mid 1980s, making open mics and slinging burgers in a club, which now might be labeled a ‘bar and grill.’ His first CD was “Storms of Life” in 1986, and that’s the one that rocketed him into the limelight.

“When I think of my musical heroes of yesteryear, or the younger stars of this year, I am reminded that it is true we learn from the ones ahead of us, and teach the ones that follow. They are the reason I chose to make this album,” Travis said in a press release.

Somehow, in all the mix and variety of styles and musicians that Travis chose to honor and emulate with this project, he still manages in this new CD to keep his own style completely intact. The voice, the style, is unmistakably Randy Travis; the arrangements are mixes of the original musicians and of Travis’ own band.

The remaining songs on this CD include: “Someday We’ll Look Back” (Haggard, 1971); “What Have You Got Planned Tonight, Diana?” (Haggard, 1976); “Ever Changing Woman” (Haggard, 1980); “Pennies From Heaven” (Bing Crosby 1936, Haggard, 1986); “Thanks A Lot” (Ernest Tubb, 1964); “My Mary” (Haggard and Nelson, 1983); “Saginaw Michigan” (Frizzell, 1964); “Always On A Mountain When I Fall” (Haggard, 1978); “Why Baby Why?” (Jones, 1955). They are all Warner Brothers Records songs, and it was Warner Brothers that first signed Travis after many others passed on him.

Travis suffered critical health problems earlier this year, and those around him only comment now that he has been allowed to return to his home and is working hard on his recovery. He had this project in the can before those bad times hit him.

Luxurious classic country, “Influences Vol. 1: The Man I Am” is available in stores and on Internet purchase sites, including ITunes. A must for the country music lover in all of us!