Podcast, Episode 1: Greg Klyma
May 28, 2010 Podcasts
Finally finished and posted, episode 1 of the Broken Jukebox Podcast with guest, Greg Klyma. Greg stopped by about two weeks ago to discuss his past recordings and upcoming album, Piano Mando Nation as well as many other topics. In addition to the interviews Klyma treated us to four live tracks including a yet to be released song, “Tongue”.
Be sure to check out Klyma at www.klyma.com. Also tell all of your friends about the podcast and look for episode 2 coming soon, with Peter Cooper and Eric Brace.
Tags: greg klyma, Podcasts
Youtube Clip : Peter Cooper and Eric Brace
May 27, 2010 Youtube Clip
In honor of the fact that they will be coming to town next weekend to record the second episode of the Broken Jukebox podcast (I know the first episode has not been published yet), Here is a clip of Peter Cooper and Eric Brace playing at a house concert in Virginia.
Great country harmonies and a great song, can’t wait to see these guys together live.
Tags: eric brace, peter cooper, Youtube Clip
Lists : Five Debut Albums That I Love
May 24, 2010 Lists
This list is in no way comprehensive nor is it in any order. These may not be the best debut albums of all time or even my favorite ones if I gave it a lot more thought. They are however five debuts that blow me away every time I hear them. Sometimes an artist or band just gets it right the first time around.
1. Steve Earle : Guitar Town (1986
)
Earle comes out of the gate with an instant classic, Guitar Town, what’s crazy is that he was already 31 when this record was released. This record was over ten years in the making as Earle honed his songwriting chops hanging out with Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark.
Before this album, Earle worked in Nashville writing songs for other as so many writers do and had recorded another album that was not released. However, when it finally hit the shelves it helped make Steve the next big thing as it rose to number one on the country album charts.
Within its ten tracks are so many great songs. Highlights for me are the title track, “My Old Friend The Blues”, and “Daddy’s Little Rock n Roller”.
2. Todd Snider : Songs From the Daily Planet (1994)
I am so conflicted with this album. I love every song on this record, even the songs that have become the cliche Snider songs to like. While some of the album versions of the songs are great a lot of them leave something to be desired. I think the record company people tried to make Todd sound entirely too pretty and that would be a theme on a few of his albums and they don’t capture the raw energy of Todd with his then band the Wrecks or the emotion he plays with solo.
Having said all of that, this is still a great record to listen to. The songs that are nailed here are phenomenal and the ones that could have been recorded differently are still great songs. Snider is one of the best writers working today in my opinion and he let that shine through right from the beginning.
Of the songs that are great on the record, my favorites are “Turn it Up” (because sometimes you just have to rock out), “Somebody’s Coming”, and “Spoke Like a Child”.
3. John Prine : John Prine (1971)
Got to love when one of the “Next Bob Dylans” becomes the first John Prine. I’m not sure if there is another debut album that contains so many classic songs. With his unconventional delivery, Prine released what I feel are some of his best songs on the first go round. Many of these songs would go on to be covered by everyone under the moon and to me the best versions can still be found on this gem of an album.
As for favorites on the album, how can you go wrong when you have “Angel From Montgomery”, “Sam Stone”, “Far From Me”, “Illegal Smile” and “Paradise” and that only makes up half the record?
4. The Counting Crows : August and Everything After (1993)
This record may not seem to fit among the others, but I love it just as much. Ever since its release I have been listening to it on a regular basis and it never gets old. Unfortunately they have never released a record as good as this one again. I have liked just about all of their albums, but they seemed to get progressively worse the farther away from August they got. Their newest release however did break that pattern slightly.
Back to August and Everything After though. From top to bottom the songs on this release are pretty depressing but, extremely well written and they sound incredible. It’s one of those records where I never skip a single song while listening and that is rare even from good ones.
My favorite tracks follow each other back to back in the middle of the album. “Perfect Blue Buildings”, “Anna Begins”, and “Time and Time Again” make for a great three song run.
5. Adam Carroll : South of Town (1998)
The most recent release of this list, South of Town is the first look into what is becoming a great career for Adam Carroll. I love this guy’s writing and his style. He has a way of writing things that sound really poetic and at the same time common. The way he strings words together is beautiful and then he delivers the songs with an aw shucks sound that is often times behind the beat and just comes off sounding amazing.
There is definitely a reason that he is becoming one of the most covered artists to come out of the Texas music scene recently and that reason is prominently displayed on this record. A lot of these songs appear again on his live records as well, but you get a great feeling from the down home recordings found on the studio versions.
Listening to this again last night, I decided my favorite tracks on it were “Smokey Mountain Taxi”, “Cane River Blues”, and “Home Again”. If you are not familiar with Carroll go and buy this and all of his other records immediately.
That’s it for this list, while most of you probably own these records or at least know of them, hopefully you will revisit them after reading this. This list was fun, I think I will continue it some other time, feel free to comment with some of you favorite debuts if you feel the urge.
On another note, look for the first edition of the Broken Jukebox podcast early this week. It has been recorded and will be up soon.
Tags: adam carroll, counting crows, john prine, Lists, Steve Earle, todd snider
Album Review : Josh Ritter : So Runs The World Away
May 23, 2010 Album Reviews
Every time Josh Ritter releases an album I buy it and think the same thing. I am not as enamored as many are with him and I listen to the record and it’s never bad but, I am so-so on most of it. Then somewhere on the record a song or two completely blows me away and I am pleased with the purchase. So Runs The World Away is no exception to this rule.
This record showcases Ritter’s ability to write a good song and incorporate some different sounds along the way. A few of the songs have a creepy sound especially, “Another New World” which is the story of a failed explorer who is convinced that the arctic can be settled. The hero of this story uses his beloved ship to survive the cold and outlives his crew before being brought back to civilization. A strange story to go with the strange ambient sound.
Like I said, most of the album is not exciting to me, but then comes two songs in a row in the middle of the record. “Rattling Locks” is a scorned lover’s lament that sounds like a Bone Machine era Tom Waits song with Ritter showing off different vocal styles throughout the track. “All along I thought I was giving you my love, but you were just stealing it, Now I want back every single thing that you took” sings Ritter before claiming he’d rather be spending his time in hell than standing here rattling this woman’s locks.
The second killer track on this record is a reworking of two Mississippi John Hurt songs into a new story. Ritter takes the characters from Stack-O-Lee and Louis Collins and rearranges their relationships and creates his own story. In true folk ballad fashion all of the main players in this story find themselves “Six feet under the clay” in this new song that Ritter named “Folk Bloodbath”.
All in all Ritter has done what he always does, release a completely likable album with two really great songs. I would suggest buying it if you are a Ritter fan, and if you happen to be unfamiliar with him go ahead and get it after getting Hello Starling.
R.I.P. Matt Scott
May 15, 2010 Rant
You may be asking yourself, who the hell is Matt Scott ? Matt Scott was an uncle of mine that I was very close to for years and he’s been on my mind a lot lately.
To fully understand why this is relevant and why I have been thinking of him recently, I must give you the short version of the back story of our relationship. I grew up pretty close to him and my aunt; my mother and I even lived with them for a short time when I was too young to remember it. For most of my youth he was just my uncle. When I was 18 or 19 we were all at a family gathering and he asked me if I knew who Keb’ Mo’ was out of the blue. Well, I was absolutely floored, never having thought about what it was my Uncle Matt listened to much less figuring he was into Keb’ Mo’.
This new discovery led to us spending the entire evening discussing different blues guys and finding out that we shared an obsession with not only blues, but all kinds of music. Over the next few years he became one of if not my best friend. We shared many a night with good smoke and better music. He was the only person in my family that not only understood my need to own more music than one person could ever need, but he had the same affliction.
At least once a week we would get together and play the game of “have you heard… (insert artist name) and copying the other’s cd’s. He turned me on to Steve Earle and Billy Joe Shaver. In turn I got him into Gov’t Mule and the Drive-by Truckers. We would go on to discover a plethora of new artists together. I remember the first time I heard Todd Snider. I had traded for a Snider show and was listening to it in my car, three songs in my plans had changed, I was going to Matt’s because he had to hear this guy.
All of this has been filling my mind lately because Fred Eaglesmith has released a new album and I am eagerly awaiting it’s arrival in my mailbox. Fred was one of Matt and my best discoveries. I had just arrived home late one evening from work and I got a phone call. On the other end of the phone was an excited Uncle Matt, “you have to come over now and hear what I just downloaded”. I had no choice, I changed clothes and headed over.
When I walked in the door there was a song playing on his computer that immediately had me intrigued after only hearing the chorus…
Time to get a gun
That’s what I’m thinkin’
I could afford one
If I did a little less drinkin’
Time to put something
Between me and the sun
When the talkin’ is over
It’s time to get a gun
What the hell was this and more importantly why had I never heard it before. Matt goes on to tell me, this is Fred Eaglesmith, an artist he had stumbled onto and found a few tracks of on limewire or something. He proceeded to play me, “Alcohol and Pills”, “Spookin’ the Horses”, “He’s a Good Dog”, and “Wilder Than Me” . Man, was this stuff good.
The next day, he and I went to the locally owned record store (remember when those existed) and had the proprietor order us up some Eaglesmtih albums. (Side note: There is a lesson here record companies…we downloaded, liked, and immediately bought everything available) . Over the next couple of weeks we digested as much Fred as we could possibly stand.
To this day anytime I hear anything by Fred, I immediately think of Matt. There are so many songs that were just perfect for my uncle. He was a car guy (“Pontiac”, “Mighty Big Car”) who drove fast (“105″) and who loved his dogs more than most humans (“He’s a Dog”, “I Shot Your Dog”) . He was also not a perfect man and Fred had songs that addressed that as well (“Drinkin’ Too Much”).
My Uncle Matt passed away very unexpectedly at a fairly young age. He had given up drinking and was getting all of his health problems under control so it came as a total shock when I got the call saying he had died. It’s been going on three years now that he has been gone. I was two days away from leaving for my wedding when he died and I thought he would not have wanted me to dwell on his passing. I don’t think I ever have really come to terms with his death, but I do so a little at a time. My aunt has since married again to a great guy, who takes care of her, but sometimes it’s hard for me to see her without Matt and I’m not sure that will ever go away.
As they were cleaning out his things, my father called asked me if there was anything that I wanted of his to remember him. I thought long and hard and decided that no, none of his material possessions could ever give me the memories of my Uncle that the music we shared would, so I didn’t need anything. So now whenever I am looking through a cd case of mine I will come across an album or a mixed disc with his writing on it and I have to listen to it. They inevitably make me sad and happy at the same time.
So in a week or so my copy of Cha, Cha, Cha will arrive via the postal service and I will spend a couple of hours listening to it and assuredly Matt’s memory will come up. I know everyone has a person in their past that leaps into their minds when a certain song, album, or artists comes out of the speakers. I’m not talking about the annoying ex-girlfriend who played the shit out of Janis Joplin, but rather someone who you have shared a positive musical experience with. I’m asking you to join me in remembering those people this week and break out that old tune, have a drink, laugh, cry a little and just remember.
In Matt’s Memory here a couple of Youtube clips, the first is Fred Eaglesmith “Time to Get a Gun” and the second his personal theme song, “Mustang Sally” performed by Buddy Guy.
Tags: Billy Joe Shaver, Drive-by Truckers, Family, Fred Eaglesmith, Gov't Mule, Steve Earle, todd snider, Youtube Clip
Rediscovering The Dead
May 7, 2010 Rant
I’m sure like me, many of you have been burnt out a band for one reason or another. For me that band was the Grateful Dead. During my teens and early twenties everyone I hung out with were Deadheads. Subsequently all we ever listened to was the Dead or some band closely related to them. Like many a youth I was hooked.
I listened non-stop, collected a treasure trove of live shows, and immersed myself into the music. The Dead opened so many doors for me musically, not just in what they played. So often I’d hear a song and find out that it was a cover and begin looking into where it came from. While my tastes have always been very eclectic, there were many times that a specific song or artist they covered was something I was not already familiar with.
Over time I begin to tire of constantly hearing the same ol’ stuff wherever I went and more and more I found myself not wanting to listen to them at all if I was alone or the one in control of what was playing. With the passing years I always considered the Dead one of my favorite bands, but rarely did I listen to them. I listened to a lot of their various side projects when I felt the urge and when they came on shuffle I often go ahead and skip to the next track.
Within the last week I have begun the daunting task of compiling all of my live shows on my computer from cd. When I started I thought, what the hell, I’ll start with the largest quantity which happened to be the 700 or so Dead shows I have gathered. As I was making my way through the decades of material I started to listen to random things.
The more I listened the more I remembered why I like them in the first place… they were really fucking good. Here was a band with some serious live chops, that included a great lead guitar player, bass player, two killer drummers, and a plethora of keyboard players. Along with fine musicianship was the fact that at any given time one of three very good vocalists (four if you count Phil Lesh’s Ben Steinlike monotonous drawl) would take the mic and a show or album could take on a whole different feeling.
To top it all off, the songs are great. Obviously like any artist there are gonna be some bad albums (Go to Heaven, anyone? ) and some songs or performances that aren’t going to be your cup of tea (90% percent of anything that Donna Jean could be found screaching on) but with a catalog that spans thirty years and countless available live shows it’s easy to pick through the rare downers and find the gems.
I’ve really been listening to these live shows a lot. I now immediately skip all versions of Space or Drums (because let’s face it those were for times when mind altering substances weren’t limited to only sleep deprivation), I’m not really one for most instrumental music in the first place. I do however still marvel at their ability to seemingly slide into any genre whether it be rock, country, bluegrassy, blues and do it well.
Some of the stuff I am really getting sucked back into right now are any of the Pigpen era shows because he has always been my favorite member of the Dead and I’m a fiend for some dirty blues. I am also really digging the shows from 1970 and 1980 that included the acoustic sets which were just laced with Jerry and Bobby singing country and traditional folk covers as well as songs that fit that bill from their own songbook. Finally I am loving the shows where Brent Mydland came into his own and began singing more, think 1982.
Also worth noting, I have been obsessed with downloading Phil and Friends shows now. I never really was a fan of Phil singing but I love Warren Haynes who was the singer/guitar with Phil for like three years.Also as I believe I’ve mentioned before, I am obsessed with Jackie Greene who for the last two or three years has been handling a lot of the vocals for Phil as well as playing guitar and keyboards. Interestingly enough, Greene was not a Dead fan prior to being asked by Lesh to join him and was discovering these great songs as he was learning to play them.
At the end of the day I guess the lesson for me is that some of the things we write off or forget about really are worth remembering and experiencing again. I am having a great time dancing in my mind to all these songs and once again I know why it is that it takes me ten scrolls to get through The Grateful Dead section of Itunes.
Tags: bob weir, bootlegs, brent mydland, grateful dead, Jackie Greene, jerry garcia, phil lesh, pigpen, warren haynes
Artist of the Month, May 2010: Greg Klyma
May 1, 2010 Artist of the Month
Coming later this month Greg Klyma will be the first guest in our podcast series. To honor that I have decided to also make him our first Artist of the Month.
Greg is from Buffalo, NY and for the last dozen or so years has been traveling the country in his van, playing shows, and recording great records. His music touches in all the areas that encompass Americana drawing from very eclectic influences. His live shows are some of the most entertaining you will ever get to see, a perfect blend of humor and serious songwriting that many people attempt and very few actually achieve. He has 6 releases to his name as a solo act, 5 studio and a recently unleashed live disc, and is currently working on putting together a live DVD as well as beginning to break ground on a new studio effort.
I first came across Greg as an opener for Todd Snider about 5 years ago and was completely taken in. He came on stage and immediately launched into a version of Subterranean Homesick Blues fused with Gloria, so right off the bat Dylan and Morrison. Midway through the song he breaks a string and doesn’t miss a beat, finishes out the song and makes jokes about having to change it. As an opener he has just lost precious time to win over the audience in a short set but, he went on to deliver a half dozen well crafted originals and walked off the stage with the crowd in his hand. Since then I have purchased all of his records and seen him numerous times here in Central Ohio.
I’d could spend time breaking down all of his releases, but that would get a bit long winded so I will focus on his last two releases which really capture what Klyma is all about.
2008′s Rust Belt Vagabond is Greg’s finest song writing achievement. It is not uncommon for someone to continue to grow as a songwriter, but this record almost renders all of hi
s previous releases irrelevant. That is not to say that the rest are not good, but rather to say how great Vagabond is.
Often times musicians adopt new home cities and become affiliated with that new place, whether it is Nashville, Austin, New York or any other music city. In Greg’s case he is firmly entrenched in his Buffalo heritage although it has been over a decade since he officially lived there. Throughout the album the listener experiences Buffalo both in general and in a way that is personal to the storyteller. You can tell Klyma is both proud of Buffalo and saddened that like so many cities in the Rustbelt has seen better days and he is not going to let us forget it.
The crown jewel of the album is “Two Degrees in Buffalo” which really makes you feel like you are from there or need to visit. The 7:32 epic makes great use of the title in wonderful plays on the words. The narrator wants us to remember Buffalo for all of the good things it has brought to the country as a whole and to its inhabitants. The song is Klyma’s masterpiece at this point in his career and if I were anyone of import in the city of Buffalo I would be fighting to make this the official anthem of the city.”Father Baker” is the story of local hero from an orphanage that by Klyma’s time had become part of a cautionary tale for parents to tell their children. “Helen Rose” chronicles a the struggle to find common ground between a mother and her daughter in-law. For good measure Greg includes a version of the legendary folk song, “Erie Canal” to end the album.
Vagabond is not entirely about Buffalo, another city that has fallen in recent memory albeit due to a much different cause makes an appearance in two songs. Shortly after Katrina, Greg visited the ruins of New Orleans which like many before and after him gave him inspiration for song. “Roll Me Away” tells of a man that is not going to leave his land even when faced with a certain catastrophe. “Parish of St. Benard” is the story of a neighborhood hellbent on rebuilding after the tragedy, but having trouble finding the means to do so. It’s easy to see that this trip deeply affected Klyma in the emotion which these songs are delivered.
Overall this album is absolutely a must have. Klyma is showcasing his ability as a songwriter in an amazing way on this one. While the overall mood of the record may feel a little somber at times there are glimmers of hope all along the way. The production is right on and there are a good number of phenomenal musicians make an appearance including, Jonathan Byrd (guitars and vocals), Sick (fiddle and backing vocals) and Tom Bianchi (electric and upright bass).
That now brings me to his newly released live record, KlymaLive in Buffalo. Recorded fittingly at Sportsman’s Tavern in Buffalo in early 2009, this was a long time coming. As a fan I have been waiting for this since I really began to get familiar with his songs. The album calls up songs from all of his previous releases except Rustbelt Vagabond and some previously unreleased material and is currently only available at shows. What really sticks out in the live set is his story telling and between song banter, something you can never get from a studio release. When you see Klyma, you really see a show not just a guy playing music. Throughout the evening he has the ability to take you through the entire range of emotions and never leaves you bored. On this release you also get to hear him play both the guitar and the mandolin showcasing his musical abilities in addition to his song writing chops, and crowd drawing personality.
Highlights on this record include “New Clothes”, from the album of the same title, and the story of how the song which was about him wanting to leave his band and set off on his own took on a completely different meaning when a fan tells him of what she took from it. What have become Klyma classics, “Bean Bag Chair” and “One Foot in the Grave”, from Not a Complicated Guy, both of which are humorous tunes. A narration from a washed up actor in “Bad B Western” off of In The Meantime. He Closes the set with a play off of Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues” which along with its back story is one of the funniest things I have ever heard live and a real crowd killer, “I-40, Roland, OK”.
The live record is a complete and total success for Klyma. I know it was something that people were clamoring about for years and that he waited until he felt he could do it justice. If you go and see him and want a reminder of what you heard, this is the perfect buy. So often live records are so produced and planned out they don’t represent what the artist normally delivers live and this is not the case with KlymaLive in Buffalo. Every time I have seen him live, Greg has been this good or better which is really what makes this release special.
Well that was still long-winded but you have to love writing on the internet where there are no word counts. Be sure to look for the podcast as it becomes available and go look up Mr. Klyma if you aren’t familiar with him and if you are drop him a line and tell him you want a copy of those discs, or go see a show. You can find Greg at these places online
Official Site: www.klyma.com
Myspace: www.myspace.com/gregklyma
Reverb Nation: www.reverbnation.com/gregklyma
Tags: Artist of the Month, greg klyma, Podcasts
