The Alternate Root - Serving the online Roots Americana music community since 2007. We are an interactive music magazine featuring all genres of traditional American roots music including, Americana, Alt-country, Blues, Rockabilly, Folk, Bluegrass, Roots Rock, traditional country, music video, interviews, reviews, feature stories, online store and everything Roots Americana music.
Gordie Tentrees hails from the cold north. The Yukon. I stay away from winter, in general, so I can only guess about what it would take to keep warm in the Yukon Territory. One thing that Gordie has to generate heat is his voice. Whether the narrator is propelling words like a punch of buckshot (“No Integrity Man”), sending audio love letter (“Carpenter Girl”) or describing wall color and mood (“Blue Motel Room”), there is natural high temperature coming from his vocal delivery. The tracks on ‘Mercy or Sin’, Gordie Tentrees third album, are graduates of the John Prine/Townes Van Zandt school of songwriting. Gordie makes the sound his own and delivers each of these tracks as the children with his blood. The lineage is clear and their heritage proud. Rambling is well done subject matter in Gordie’s brand of Americana. His words offer such a telescopic view of their narrators that the topics stay fresh and the tales interesting. The young man heading out of the Northwest in “Ross River” becomes flesh and blood. The story acts as a template of the current state of affairs in the rural Yukon between the First Nation communities and the government. The title track blends pen and voice. The tale is sung, and co-written, with Jenny Sosnowski. According to Gordie, the pair had a conversation followed by him stalking her with his cell phone for two months. Once they landed in one spot, the track was the quickest that he had ever written. True life blends with art on “Hey Mama”, a tender, acoustically driven love open love letter to his Mom, a single parent with four kids. ‘Mercy or Sin’ will not only expand on Gordie Tentrees sonically. He and his band will add the Southwest and Texas to their two hundred dates per year calendar that has previously covered Canada and Europe.
Chip Taylor
Yonkers, NY
(Train Wreck Records)
First the facts, Chip Taylor was born in Yonkers, N.Y. in 1944 with the name James Wesley Voight. He began his roots upbringing at eight years old when he convinced his parents to let him stay up late and catch the signal of a country station coming out of West Virginia. He wrote songs in the 1960’s that have become part of our DNA, “Wild Thing” and “Angel of the Morning” as well as a Janis Joplin fave “Try (Just A Little Bit Harder)”. He produced albums by James Taylor and The Flying Machine, Evie Sands and Neil Diamond. He continued recording as well as becoming a professional gambler. A small paragraph about an amazing life. For more on the times, travels and hurdles of Chip Taylor, we have his most recent work ‘Yonkers, NY’. The album sets to story the life of Chip and brothers, Jon and Barry. Not only does Chip let the stories speak for themselves on ‘Yonkers, NY’, the album is a two disc set, one disc offering songs only, the second providing the songs and their back story. On each song of the second disc, Chip provides a detailed account of how the songs came to be and, as he says in ‘Bastard Brothers’, “unlocking some family secrets”. The track traces Chip’s early starts from fiddle to guitar, signing contracts to write “songs for others”. The tale takes a playful swipe at Barry and Jon for taking Chip’s fiddle away before he achieved virtuoso status on the instrument. These songs offer a glimpse into the past, armed with a master songwriters pen and country and roots rhythms. Early rock‘n’roll gets its time in the sun via ‘Hey Johnny (Did You Feel That Movie”), his gambling days become real (“Gin Rummy Rules”), life decisions and time with Janis Joplin, real and imagined, (“Piece of the Sky”) and his Dad’s time as a professional golfer (“Without Horses”). The title track closes out the set with a tale out of Chip’s past in his hometown, when heroes are created and destroyed. ‘Yonkers, NY’ takes a lifetime and puts it to words and music, courtesy of a master of both forms.
The Little Death
The Little Death
(Genuine Sound Records)
Classic Rock is a term that brings to mind what has been before. It tends to wrap around music and artists that have created music that doesn’t quite fit in the songs that are made for the now, not then. The Little Death have taken the classic rock handle, made it their own, and crafted music on a self-titled debut that gives props to the past with an eye towards the future. Sonically, there is rock and blues that in a different time and place would have called the Deep South home. Singer, Laura Dawn, can claim Genya Ravan and Dusty Springfield as peers. Great big riffs and the whiskey-soaked blues/rock vocals are supported by a powerful rhythm section that pushes the beat into your face. Don’t bother tapping your toe, these songs demand handclaps and foot stomping. If this is bar band music, the venue had better have earthquake insurance. Opener ‘Gather Round’ is ushered in by a spoken intro that owes its existence to gospel tents and rock arenas. Think Janis Joplin in the role of an evangelist minister. Daron Murphy’s chords playfully underscore Dawn’s words and puts out a call to raised hands for anyone who as ever made an “alcohol soaked call” at 3AM. After getting your attention, ‘Gather Round’ tells a street tale that stitches love into dope deals and strip clubs and bad decisions into the pleas of “raise your hands if you’ve ever known love”. The voice and guitar work on these tracks move between smoky sways and full throttle, both allowed those roles by the confident rhythm base provided by Moby on bass and Aaron A. Brooks on drums. ‘Won’t Ever Let You Down Again’ comforts with its soft promises and equally tender playing. ‘Mean Woman’ never moves far away from the fuzzed out riff that brings it to life and Dawn’s narrators describes the title character: “I’m a mean, mean woman, I like to argue, fuck and fight”. Whether these tracks rely on their force (‘Why Baby Why’, ‘Hurricane’), their shuffle (‘Love or A Gun’, ‘Shake and Tremble’), their bended knee crawls (‘I Know You’, ‘If Forever’s Too Far’) or the mixture of all of the above (‘That Bone’), the grounding point of the voice. Each emotion, every squall and the hush of all the whispers, are given undivided attention via Laura Dawn’s dedication to her art.
Joe Louis Walker
Between A Rock and The Blues
(Stony Plain)
The Blues Foundation may have already stated by its actions everything that I need to say about Joe Louis Walker. His most recent album, ‘Between A Rock and The Blues’, and Joe, have been nominated for Album, Contemporary Blues Male Artist, Song (“I’m Tide”), Instrumental and Contemporary Blues Album of the year for 2009. The award nominations join previous nods and wins in Grammy and WC Handy categories.
Joe Louis Walker, is an Americana treasure, a bluesman who is a powerhouse guitarist, vocalist and songwriter. He has recorded with household names, BB King, James Cotton, Bonnie Raitt, Taj Mahal, Huey Lewis, Branford Marsalis, Steve Cropper, Shemekia Copeland & Ike Turner and recorded nineteen solo albums. ‘Between A Rock and The Blues’ smokes. It touches on everything good about the blues. It honors on the genre and expands on its potential. Joe Louis Walker began playing in the Bay Area while still in his teens. He became good friends with Mike Bloomfield, whose death at a young age helped Joe make the choice to change his ways. He furthered his studies and received degrees in music and english performing during the period of his studies with the Spiritual Corinthians gospel group. He came back to the blues in 1985, forming The Bosstalkers, recording and touring. Joe Louis Walker and his band will tour extensively behind the Duke Robillard produced ‘Between A Rock and The Blues’ in both the United States and Europe.
Kasey Anderson
Nowhere Nights
(Red River Records)
Kasey Anderson describes the title for his most recent release, ‘Nowhere Nights’, as “shorthand for whatever it is people get lost in, or sink into”........”equal part charge, benediction, apology and indictment”. That sums the album up nicely. The songs are looks into the life of the author. A personal account of life, a coming of age both for his art and his time on earth. Going against his catalog collective grain’s ‘Nowhere Nights’, Kasey’s fourth album looks inward. Produced by Eric ‘Roscoe’ Ambel (again) the album result is sturdy musically and clear lyrically. The words that Kasey savors and spits all fall in line with opener ‘Bellingham Washington’. The song tells the tale of Kasey’s fifteen year existence in the town when he simply woke up one day and knew it was time to go. The words continue to describe the scenes with honesty and heart. “Darling, some things are bound to happen, sooner or later we’re gonna fall in love” (“Sooner/Later”), “she wasn’t perfect but she wore a perfect disguise”. (“Real Gone”), “he turned around and walked straight into the sun, took one last look back, laughed and struck a match and burned everything he’d done” (‘Home”) all sneak a peek into a real life, brought out with the accuracy of experience and the emotion of feeling as well as telling the tales. The introspection takes a break on “I Was A Photograph”, a story that talks of Lance Corporal James Blake Miller, an Iraq war image as he travels to a life where there is no privacy into sleepless nights alone. The guitar snarls and cradles, the voice bites and buffers the hurt. ‘Nowhere Nights” bears its heart and speaks from the soul.
Mike Zito Pearl River (Eclectro-Groove Records)
It’s difficult to argue with success. Mike Zito hit hard last year with his national debut, Today, revealing himself as a capable songwriter, outstanding guitarist, and passionate, soulful vocalist. It didn’t hurt to have top notch players like Benmont Tench, Tony Braunagel, and Hutch Hutchinson accompanying him in the studio. Producer David Z. handled production along with Braunagel. Now Zito quickly returns with David Z. and top shelf guests like Cyril Neville, Anders Osborne, Jumpin’ Johnnny Sansone and Reese Wynans for the New Orleans infused Pearl River, recorded at the famed Piety Street Studios.
Fittingly, it’s a gumbo of blues, rock, soul, and Americana not unlike that of Eric Lindell or loosely speaking, J.J. Grey and Mofro. Zito does carve out plenty of space for his cutting, adventurous guitar solos but throughout maintains a funky, greasy groove that is evident just a bit more than on his fine debut. Zito shares vocals with Cyril Neville on the title track as they paint a searing portrait of Pearl River as a place of escape and torment during the slavery era. Zito collaborates with New Orleans stalwart Anders Osborne on the latter’s “One Step at a Time”, as rootsy a tune as you’ll find anywhere. Susan Cowsill adds to Zito’s own funky “Shoe’s Blues”, his ferocious slide fuels “Natural Born Lover”, and his closer, “C’mon Baby” offers top notch soul and R&B. There’s no sophomore jinx here. In fact, Zito shows all indications of being a strong fixture in roots-blues for years to come.
By permission from Elmore Magazine
David Hidalgo and Taj Mahal w/ Los Cenzontles
American Dream
(Los Cenzontles Mexican Arts Center)
This is a lengthy, jaw-dropping mixture of traditional Mexican, blues, cumbia, and rock punctuated by versatile, bi-lingual Taj Mahal and talented multi-instrumentalist David Hidalgo, co-frontman of Los Lobos. Taj Mahal, as you know, is now regarded almost equally as a world music icon as a blues artist. Hidalgo, has also played as a sideman on numerous projects, recently backing Dylan on accordion on Bob’s most recent album. Here Taj and David are clearly having fun; sometimes jamming on guitars, notably on Hidalgo’s “Best of Me”, and at other times playing instruments you don’t often associate with either one. David plays a remarkable violin solo on “Suenos”, a bluesy tune that Taj sings in Spanish. Taj pounds the piano to David’s pulsing guitar on the down home blues “One Hot Mama”.
Los Centzontles (The Mockingbirds) are a group intent on amplifying the roots of Mexican culture and especially folk music. In their live shows, they feature dancing as well. They do incorporate other styles into their mix and have worked with Hidalgo before as well as the Chieftains, Ry Cooder, and Linda Ronstadt. Gorgeous harmonies abound as the album moves from a rhymic Latin feel into bluesy and even psychedelic stretches. While it’s not completely seamless, it melds together really well due to the stellar musicianship, production qualities, and overall album concept of those reaching for the elusive American Dream. Whether listening to it entirely or going directly to the blues inflected tracks, it’s completely appealing and irresistible.
By permission from Elmore Magaine
Cliff Eberhardt
500 Miles: The Blue Rock Sessions
(Red House)
Cliff Eberhardt’s resonant, soulful voice cuts right to the bone, drenching each word in emotion. After a few years away from recording while recovering from a car accident, Eberhardt is having a major resurgence on Red House. Unlike his previous release, The High Above and the Down Below, this album doesn’t immediately grab you from the opening track, but upon closer listening, its sonic clarity, solid songwriting and, mostly, Eberhardt’s voice command repeated attention.
The setting for the recording is the famed Blue Rock Studio in Wimberley, Texas, in the heart of the Texas Hill Country. Eberhardt calls on some of nearby Austin’s best musicians, who have backed many premier Americana artists. Aboard are Mike Hardwick, Glenn Fukunaga and Rick Richards as well as Colin Brooks from the Band of Heathens and noted accordionist Joel Guzman. They add mellow, understated Tex-Mex and rootsy riffs to Eberhardt’s well-crafted personal tunes. The intimacy of the recording is consistent throughout. Of particular note are the melodic “I Want to Take You Home,” the metaphoric breakup “Break a Train,” his interpretation of John Hiatt’s “Back of My Mind” and a reworking of his own anthemic “The Long Road” which originally appeared as a duet with Richie Havens on Eberhardt’s first release 20 years ago. Don’t quickly dismiss what may seem subtle at first. This is deep and just so damn pure and heartfelt that it gets better with each listen.
By permission from Elmore Magazine
Arthur Adams
Stomp the Floor
(Delta Groove)
The title suggests a raucous juke joint romp but instead you get a mix of smooth blues as well as sweet R&B and soul. This won’t be a surprise to West Coasters who know that Adams has been a pivotal figure on the L.A. blues scene for years and is the house band leader at B.B. King’s club in Universal City. Adams played and contributed two songs to King’s There is Always One More Time and his guitar style owes much to his long time friend and mentor. .
The rhythmic clapping on the opening title track signals an R&B groove which holds throughout but Adams delivers horn-drenched blues on the next couple of tracks before settling into a fluid set of soulful ballads and funky guitar driven instrumentals. Few vocalists are as sleek and even pitched as Adams. He’s just so damn good a singer that I’m reminded of Marvin Gaye, especially on “I Know What You Mean” where Arthur even invokes a couple of Gaye’s lines from “Save the Children”. Adams’ rich legacy of playing with Jimmy Smith, Nina Simone, and Quincy Jones to name just a few shapes his classy signature style best evidenced by “Callin’ Heaven” and “You Are Invited”. The dozen tunes are all penned by Adams. Settle in and enjoy this superbly produced disc for an artist that hopefully earns some well deserved and hard earned recognition.
Moreland and Arbuckle
Flood
(Telarc)
If you missed Moreland and Arbuckle’s 2008 major label debut, 1861, check it out and then go here to find even more raging energy. Unlike other well- known guitar-harmonica duos like Terry & McGhee, Cephas & Wiggins, or Siegel & Schwall, these two Kansans are not locked into a particular style. They’re forging their own evolving heartland amalgam of traditional Delta , North Mississippi Hill Country, and Chicago blues, as well as country and rock. While this is mostly relentlessly hard-driving, there’s an eerie sound to some of the songs as they mix originals with covers and play in both electric and acoustic settings.
Anchored by Brad Horner on drums, Arbuckle sings and plays harp while Moreland plays assorted guitars. The most interesting is the fretless four string cigar box guitar, heard to full effect on the live version of “Legend of John Henry”. One string is plugged into the bass amp and the other three into the guitar amp to create a fuzzy sound and give a bottom to the sound. Arbuckle comments on the album: “We’ve never made a record before that has the earthy, spooky vibe that this one has. It creates an atmosphere that’s ripe for storytelling. There’s something about this music that makes want to settle in and listen.” Don’t be deceived into thinking this is quiet listen. That’s only part of it as these two take no prisoners and hold nothing back.
Reckless Kelly
Somewhere in Time
(Yep Roc)
This new effort from Reckless Kelly (RK), their seventh, is just a bit more country than some of their previous outings but don’t fear. They haven’t lost their rocking edge. . The album has all the essential elements of solid country music with stories, rich character portrayals, and top notch picking. Pedal steel is on seven of the twelve tracks along with fiddles, mandolin, and crunching electric guitars.
Although RK has made their home in Austin for the past decade, they group hails from Idaho where they were deeply influenced by the music of Pinto Bennett, who with his band, the Famous Motel Cowboys, became a mentor to RK leaders Willy and Cody Braun. Having attained some strong Billboard chart status and major Americana Music Association nominations in 2009, the group is leveraging their strong momentum as they nod to their mentor, Bennett, interpreting a dozen of his songs, much in the way Waylon Jennings did for Billy Joe Shaver on Honky Tonk Heroes.
Drummer Jay Nazz comments, “….but to go back to playing real country music turned out to be extremely rewarding for us as a band”. Willy Braun adds,”… it reminds me of the old days when we were playing four sets a night, doing a lot more honky-tonk stuff, playing the real dance halls”. Dust off your boots and try “You Cared Enough to Lie’ or “I Hold the Bottle, You Hold the Wheel”. By all means, catch Reckless Kelly live. Few bands rock harder while maintaining the integrity on good songs.
