Engine 145 - A Roots Music Publication

• Peter Cooper wrote a fine obituary for Doug Dillard.

• On July 17, Old Crow Medicine Show will release new album Carry Me Back, their first studio album since 2008’s Tennessee Pusher. They’ve also announced new summer tour dates.

• Country Universe’s Kevin Coyne takes a look at Donna Summer’s country connections.

• Gloriana will perform on Monday night’s episode of The Bachelorette.

• Davis Inman of American Songwriter wrote a piece on Gram Parsons’ legacy. An excerpt: Maybe part of what attracts us to Gram today is his mysteriousness. There’s very little video footage of him. In one clip, from the Maysles Brothers’ film Gimme Shelter, he’s on stage with The Flying Burrito Brothers at the infamous Altamont concert singing the trucker anthem, “Six Days On The Road.” In another video, a promo shot by A&M Records in 1969 for the Burritos’ first single “Christine’s Tune,” he’s strumming a Telecaster and wearing his famous Nudie suit, looking waifish and feminine. An enigmatic but dedicated artist, Parsons was on a mission to share a new type of music with the world. “It’s hard to describe how deeply Gram loved his music,” writes Keith Richards in his autobiography, Life. “He had one foot in country and one in rock and roll,” says Emmylou Harris. “I think they were both very real for him because of his upbringing and his generation.”

• Watch the trailer for Jonathan Demme’s new documentary, Neil Young Journeys, scheduled for release June 29.

• Chet Flippo’s newest Nashville Skyline column, inspired by the Tupac hologram at Coachella, discusses musicians who have been “summoned from the grave” to appear on duets and other recordings and performances: “In zombie state, dead artists are the perfect workers. They demand nothing, they have no expenses, they expect no payment and they deliver exactly the same performance onstage every night. And, importantly, they cause no trouble for their masters. Elvis can’t shoot the TVs in his hotel rooms anymore. Hank doesn’t OD anymore.” 

• Justin Townes Earle was on WNYC’s Soundcheck yesterday. While there, he recorded a disc for The 78 Project.

• Lady Antebellum helped raise over $285,000 to benefit the tornado-ravaged community of Henryville, Indiana.

• Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert are featured in the newest issue of In Touch.

• Shuffle through your iPod and tell Country California all about it.

• Tracy Lawrence made a guest appearance at a recent Jason Aldean show.

• Tim Carter pays tribute to Earl Scruggs with “A Waltz for Earl.” 

Luke Bryan recently taught us, in deep and insightful lyrics, that when a girl makes your “speakers go boom boom,” it means that she makes your heart go a-flutter. It must be love. Evidently, if your significant other has had no effect on your personal stereo system, it could possibly mean that you’re doing it all wrong. That “boom boom” reference shouldn’t be mixed up with Johnny Cash’s famous “boom chicka boom” sound made famous by Luther Perkins. Nor should it be confused with the love of Pebbles Flintstone’s life, Bamm-Bamm. Those nuances can be easily missed.

On today’s Friday Five, we celebrate mini lyrical explosions throughout music history.

5. Billy “Crash” Craddock – “Boom Boom Baby”

With virtually no airplay back when this song came out in 1959 here in the United States, Craddock arrived in Australia on a tour with the Everly Brothers completely oblivious that this was a Number One hit Down Under.

 

4. Highway 101 – “Bing Bang Boom”

This little number was a top 15 hit back in 1991.

 

3. Bellamy Brothers – “Kids of the Baby Boom” 

This 1987 single was the last of the Bellamy Brothers ten hits to reach Number One. Written 25 years ago, it’s still pretty darned relevant today. “As our lives become a capsule they send to the stars/And our children look at us like we came from Mars/As the farms disappear and the sky turns black/We’re a nation full of takers, never giving back/We never stop to think what we consume/Kids of the baby boom.”

 

2. Leon McCauliffe and His Western Swing Band – “Sh-Boom (Life Could Be a Dream)”

As Bob Wills said hundreds of times, “Take it away,Leon…”

 

1. John Lee Hooker – “Boom Boom”

Even though The Oak Ridge Boys did a cover on their recent album, The Boys Are Back, there’s nothing quite like the original.

• Banjo genius Doug Dillard passed away. He was 75.

• Taylor Swift came in at #11 on Forbes’ list of the world’s 100 most powerful celebrities. She’s in between Steven Spielberg and Tiger Woods.

• In other Swift news, she donated $4 million to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum to fund an education center, which is slated to open in 2014: Swift’s education center will have its own exterior entrance and is 7,500 square feet-plus spread over two stories. It will include three classrooms and exhibit space and will allow the museum to add to its youth education programs. The new space will house interactive activities such as a musical petting zoo and a “wet” classroom space to make concert posters and other art projects. The expansion also would allow the museum to start new programs and workshops and for teens and senior citizens as well as continuing workshops.

• Keith Whitley’s Sad Songs & Waltzes is Album of the Week at Bluegrass Today.

• The newest Tennessean music podcast features “Tropical Country” singer Courtney Jaye.

• Bluegrassers Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen performed their version of “July, You’re a Woman” with the help of some kids from Washington Middle School in Seattle.

• Lydia Hutchinson of Performing Songwriter caught Bonnie Raitt’s recent Ryman show: After strolling onto the stage with her Fender strat slung across her chest, Bonnie sprinkled her funky, bluesy, soulful fairy dust all over the new batch of songs, never failing to give a shout-out to the writer before the first note was played. She tore into Randall Bramblett’s “Used to Rule the World,” then sent the album’s single, “Right Down the Line” up to the late, great Gerry Rafferty.  Hit songwriter “Big Al” Anderson, a cult icon from his NRBQ days, weaves in and out of Slipstream with his guitar-playing and songs co-written with Gary Nicholson (“Split Decision”), Bonnie Bramlett (“Ain’t Gonna Let You Go”) and newcomer Bonnie Bishop, to whom Raitt gave a shout-out before delivering the gorgeous “Not ‘Cause I Wanted To.”

• Singer-songwriter Sara Jean Kelley is American Songwriter’s Daily Discovery.

• This October, North Carolina-based label Yep Roc will celebrate its 15^th anniversary with a “three-night concert blowout” featuring Dave Alvin, Chatham County Line, John Doe, and more.

• On Sunday, the Oprah Winfrey Network will air an interview with Carrie Underwood and Mike Fisher.

• Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires’ There is a Bomb in Gilead is Farce the Music’s frontrunner for album of the year.

• American Songwriter has live video of folk duo Madison Violet’s “Come As You Are.”

• Edens Edge revealed the tracklisting of their self-titled debut, due out June 12.

Like Hank Williams III and Whitey Morgan & The 78s? Check out Bob Wayne’s “Lost Vegas” from upcoming album, Till the Wheels Fall Off, which is due out next week and includes a duet with Hank III. Here’s what Wayne says about the story behind the song: “I usually don’t pay $$$ for songs, but “Lost Vegas” costed me 3000 bucks. I lost my ass last time I was in Vegas and wrote that song in the Circus Circus hotel!”

Give a listen and let us know what you think.

• No Depression crowd-sourced questions for a Marty Stuart interview.

• Lucinda Williams, Steve Earle, and John Hiatt will headline the 51st Philadelphia Folk Festival, which will be held August 17-19. Wanda Jackson, Pokey LaFarge, Mary Chapin Carpenter, and others are also slated to perform.

• Eddy Arnold’s grandson, Shannon Pollard, along with Don Cusic and Cheetah Chrome, has formed Plowboy Records, a label with a mission is “to celebrate and nurture the legacy of the original Tennessee Plowboy and provide a home for recorded projects that focus on American music regardless of genre.” The label’s first release is a new Bobby Bare album which is currently being recorded; an Eddy Arnold tribute record featuring bands from multiple genres is also in the works.

• Watch footage from Willie Nelson’s visit to Late Night with Jimmy Fallon here.

• Yesterday, Ricky Skaggs celebrated thirty years as an Opry member.

• Loretta Lynn will be on NBC’s Today Show May 21.

• On May 29, The Mavericks will release the five-song EP Suited Up and Ready. You can stream the first single, “Born to Be Blue,” on the band’s Facebook page.

• Ray Wylie Hubbard announced a string of tour dates.

• On June 16, The Country Music Hall of Fame will honor guitarist Jimmy Capps as part of their series Nashville Cats: A Celebration of Music City Musicians.

• Rascal Flatts’ Changed has been certified gold.

• Ryan Adams has been covering Danzig’s “Mother” during his European shows; Paste has video.

• On June 5, John Rich, Kellie Pickler, and Darius Rucker will perform at a benefit concert for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

• American Songwriter is offering a free download of Andre Williams & The Sadies’ “I’ll Do Most Anything for Your Love.”

• IBMA’s World of Bluegrass is moving to Raleigh, N.C. in 2013.

• Singer Amber Hayes is in the upcoming movie Cowgirls N’ Angels, which opens May 25. According to the press release, Lonestar’s Richie McDonald appears as her character’s father, and the two sing a duet together.

• Here’s the trailer for the upcoming television show Nashville, starring Connie Britton.

Few artists have changed the landscape of music like Earl Scruggs, whose three-fingered banjo technique has become an integral element of bluegrass. In a few weeks, an album featuring just a few of the myriad  musicians he influenced will finally see the light of day.

In the works since 2006, Foggy Mountain Special: A Bluegrass Tribute to Earl Scruggs will be released June 5 on Rounder Records. Some of bluegrass music’s most masterful banjo players – J.D. Crowe, Tony Trischka, Charlie Cushman, Jim Mills, and several others – can be found on the project, which was finally finished this winter. It’s a celebration of Scruggs’ sound as well as a fine memorial in wake of his passing.

“Foggy Mountain Special,” the third track on the album, was recorded back in 2008 and features Ron Block on banjo, Dan Tyminski, Adam Steffey, Ron Stewart, and Barry Bales. We’ve got an exclusive stream of the song below; give a listen and let us know what you think.

• Stream Willie Nelson’s new album, Heroes and the collection Jail House Bound: John Lomax’s First Southern Prison Recordings, 1933.

• The Infamous Stringdusters have announced the lineup for their shindig, The Festy. This year’s performers will include Trampled By Turtles, Della Mae, Tony Trischka Territory, The Steel Wheels, and more. Tickets for The Festy, which will be held October 5-7 in Nelson County, VA, go on sale Wednesday, May 16.

• Here’s a nifty world map of digital music sales.

• Check out the markers, written by Barry Mazor, on the Mississippi Country Music Trail.

• Rosanne Cash narrated the BBC radio program “Whatever Happened to Bobbie Gentry?” Listen here.

• C.M. Wilcox has a new edition of Quotable Country posted.

• NoiseTrade is offering a four-song Mindy Smith sampler.

• Little Big Town, Zac Brown Band, Brad Paisley, Carrie Underwood, and Kenny Chesney have been announced as performers on this year’s CMT Awards, which will be held June 6 in Nashville.

• Kenny Rogers enchanted a capacity crowd at his final Hall of Fame show last week.

• The Allman Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Band, Neil Young, and others made Paste’s list of the 70 best albums of the 1970s. I’m a little disappointed that the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s Will the Circle Be Unbroken didn’t make the list. What are your favorite ‘70s country records?

• NPR’s All Things Considered remembers the late “Duck” Dunn.

• Steve Earle once saved singer-songwriter Joe Pug from a beatdown in Ireland.

• The Hot Nights at the Hall Concert Series will return to the Country Music Hall of Fame on June 5. David Nail, Jana Kramer, and Love & Theft will headline the three concerts.

• Peter Cooper wrote a feature for the Tennessean on Nashville venue 3^rd & Lindsley.

• On May 18, The Toby Keith Foundation will break ground on the OK Kids Korral, a “home away from home” in Oklahoma City for kids and families being treated at the OU Medical Center’s Children’s Hospital and other facilities.

• Jewly Hight interviewed Justin Moore for American Songwriter. An excerpt: You know what I realized? I’m probably not ever gonna be that artist that has five or six number ones in a row. But I want to keep putting out songs and writing songs that matter to my fans, regardless of where it goes on the chart or whatever. “Bait a Hook” went to 14, 15 something like that. But you couldn’t tell my fans that. They don’t have a clue, and they honestly don’t care. We play that song really late in the set, and other than “Small Town USA,” it probably gets the biggest reaction to any song that we do.

• It’s been a busy year for Trace Adkins as he rebuilds from last June’s devastating house fire. He’s working on a new album, and single “Them Lips” will hit radio sometime this summer.

• Coming August 17-18 to Palermo, Maine: the Family & Friends Bluegrass Festival.

• Herb Pedersen’s new band, Loafers’ Glory, will release their self-titled debut next week.

• Album releases:

Willie Nelson – Heroes

Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires – There is a Bomb in Gilead

Bill Evans – In Good Company

Florida Georgia Line – It’z Just What We Do

Andre Williams & The Sadies – Night & Day

J.P. Harris & The Tough Choices – I’ll Keep Calling

Various Artists – Good People, Take Warning: Ballads Sung by British and Irish Traditional Singers 

Various Artists – Jail House Bound: John Lomax’s First Southern Prison Recordings, 1933

And a book: Lee Greenwood – Does God Still Bless the USA? A Plea for a Better America

• Jack Ingram unveiled new song called “Right for You.” 

• Carrie Underwood and Jimmy Kimmel teamed up to do a mock music video called “Before You Freak.” 

• The Kickstarter campaign for The Winding Stream, a documentary about the Carter Family, is in the home stretch but still needs funds for post-production. The Grammy Museum, the Experience Music Project, and the Country Music Hall of Fame have all expressed interest in the film, which features legends like Johnny Cash and George Jones.

• Bucky Covington’s bus was involved in a serious accident while he was not on board.

• Justin Moore’s tour crew was also involved in an accident: a vehicle crashed into their tour bus, killing the other driver.

• Jimmy Wayne received a plaque from Tennessee State Senator Doug Overbey, Representative Mark White, and State Treasurer David H. Lillard, Jr. at the Grand Ole Opry last week for his advocacy work with foster care services to young adults.

• Aaron Tippin was temporarily thought to have been involved in a fatal crash involving an airplane that, until a few weeks ago, he owned.

• Newsflash: some country songs aren’t family-friendly.

• Charley Pride told the Winnipeg Free Press that Canadian promoters were far less discriminatory than their U.S. counterparts back in the day.

• Some more details are out on Jerry Douglas’ upcoming album, Traveler. I’ve had a sneak listen and the tracks with Marc Cohn and Alison Krauss are terrific.

• Chris Willman on Sara Watkins’ new album: “proceed directly to the superb sophomore effort by Sara Watkins. Not that “Sun Midnight Sun” will only be a balm to suffering Band fans; it might be the finest album of the year so far in any genre.”  In other Sara news, she and Jackson Browne are touring together.

• Reba McEntire’s new comedy pilot, Malibu Country, was picked up by ABC.

• The Farm will be releasing their self-titled debut album on June 17.

• Canadian country music veteran Gord Bamford has released a new single called “Leaning on a Country Song.”

• Eagles guitarist Joe Walsh’s new single “Lucky That Way” leans heavily on “the cry of a steel guitar.”

• Gary Morris talks about his careers in country music and on Broadway as well as his upcoming November album release in this interview.

• Charlie Daniels is heavily involved with a brand new documentary called Behold a Pale Horse that was just unveiled at the Hill County Film Festival in Texas. You can watch the trailer for the film here.

• Billboard interviewed Mark Collie about his newly-released album Alive at Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary: Collie calls the songs “honest and real, and as much about me as the inmates that I’ve talked to. They are about redemption and restoration, God and life.” 

• Check out the EPK for former Bering Strait member Natasha Borzilova’s new album, Out of My Hands.

• More Katy Perry “going country” rumors are spreading.

• Congratulations to the winner of our Brothers Comatose album giveaway: Amy. Check your email, Amy.

• New music videos from the last week or so (with a couple of live performances):

Glen Frey – “Route 66” 

Kellie Pickler – “Mother’s Day” 

Blake Shelton and Lionel Richie – “You Are”

Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out – “Pretty Little Girl From Galax”

Chris Young – “Neon” 

Kristen Kelly – “Ex-Old Man” 

Jack and White – “XYZ”

Carolina Chocolate Drops – “Country Girl”

Chad Warrix – “Rain on the Roof”

Shooter Jennings – “The Deed and the Dollar” (Live for Music Fog) 

Bruce Robison and Kelly Willis – “Border Radio” (Live for Music Fog)

The BoDeans – “All the World” 

Gwen Sebastian – “Met Him in a Motel Room” 

Joy Kills Sorrow – “Jason” 

Amber Hayes – “C’mon” 

Goat Rodeo Sessions – “Here and Heaven” 

Carrie Underwood – “Remember When” (thanks to commenter Redd Dirt for linking to this over the weekend)

Songwriters: James T. Slater and Leslie Satcher

On her third album, 100 Proof, it’s clear that American Idol alum Kellie Pickler has learned a thing or two about making entrances.

The opening line of the record’s title track and second single packs a punch and sets the tone for the sleepy, satisfying tune to come: When Pickler winces at “Ain’t no rain as cold as the look she just gave him/Everyone around us knows a storm has just rolled in,” a spark of a standout storyline lights up.

It’s not the flashiest, or the honky-tonkiest, or even the most romantic song from 100 Proof, which Pickler has rightly claimed as her most traditional-leaning album to date. But “100 Proof” may well be the most well-rounded of all of its tracks, bringing together classic country themes of love, lust and alcohol. Pickler sounds at ease here, in no rush to make it through meandering lyrics such as “We’ll dance all night long/On the edge of can’t-get-enough.” And even when the moonshine metaphor stretches thin, the combination of her restrained vocal performance and Rob McNelley’s steel guitar files away any sharp corners.

But as an advertisement at radio, is it enough to pull fans to the album as a whole? The North Carolina native has faltered on her follow-through on follow-up singles post-Taylor Swift, when the teen queen’s co-write “Best Days of Your Life” boosted Pickler into the top ten at country radio. And while “100 Proof” is a beautiful showcase of the singer’s more mature sound and song selection, as a single it misses the sass of “Where’s Tammy Wynette” or the beautiful bite of “Long As I Never See You Again.”

Radio nay-players aside, “100 Proof” manages to stand on its musical merit alone, remaining filling long after those powerful introductory lines.

Preview or purchase “100 Proof”

• Zooey Deschanel will play Loretta Lynn in a stage adaptation of Coal Miner’s Daughter: Lynn announced the casting and musical during a performance at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville on Thursday, where she was joined onstage by Deschanel. The two then sang the country music singer’s signature song, “Coal Miner’s Daughter.” “It’s a long way from Butcher Holler to Broadway in New York City. I never imagined I’d see ‘Coal Miner’s Daughter’ on a movie screen, and now I can’t believe it’s going to be on a stage for people to see,” Lynn said in a statement. “I’m going to be right there in the front row. And I know Zooey is going to be great — she sings and writes her own songs just like I do, and we even have the same color eyes!”

• Kenny Rogers signed with Warner Bros. Records. He’s working with Dann Huff on an album that will be released later this year.

• The BBC’s Matt Wells visited The 78 Project, an organization that gets contemporary artists like Rosanne Cash and Vandaveer to cut their own 78 rpm disc using ’30s technology.

• Tab Benoit, Ruthie Foster, and the Tedeschi Trucks Band were among the winners at the Blues Music Awards last night.

• On June 13, Elizabeth Cook will perform on The Late Show with David Letterman. (via press release)

• Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out have a new video for their song “Pretty Little Girl from Galax.”

• Ricky Skaggs and Aretha Franklin are among this year’s GMA Gospel Music Hall of Fame inductees. (via press release)

• Martina McBride will sing the national anthem at the Indy 500.

• On his tenth overseas tour to perform for the troops, Darryl Worley went to Afghanistan and Kuwait.

• Watch the video for Ruby Jane’s “Wake Up.”

• On May 25, an hour-long edited version of The Goat Rodeo Sessions Live will air on PBS. In January, the concert was simulcast to movie theaters across the country.

• A judge hearing the Sugarland stage collapse lawsuits declined to release the band’s testimony.

• Check out the “Sounds of Austin” Pandora station.

• Here’s the video for Craig Elkins’ “Tumbleweeds.” 

• Peter Cooper takes a look at the story behind the Mike Reid and Allen Shamblin tune “I Can’t Make You Love Me,” which became Bonnie Raitt’s signature ballad.

• Carrie Underwood’s Blown Away debuted at the top of the charts.

• Jana Kramer, Hunter Hayes, and others made some country music playlists for American Songwriter.

• Lady Antebellum is part of Lipton’s new ad campaign.

• Next February, Della Mae, the Del McCoury Band, Steep Canyon Rangers, Punch Brothers, Tim O’Brien & Bryan Sutton, and more will embark on the bluegrass cruise “Mountain Song at Sea.”

• Tim McGraw joins Dr. Dre in the signature headphone business.