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Hayes Carll

Farther Down the Line & Beyond
By Lynne Margolis


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Joe Ely

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miranda lambert

PAT GREEN
Songs We Wish We’d Written II

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It’s been three years since Pat Green released his last album, What I’m For — and a fair spell longer than that since he was warmly embraced by stubborn Texas country fans who brushed him off as soon as he set his sights beyond the Lone Star State. Songs We Wish We’d Written II, his debut on indie-label Sugar Hill after leaving the majors, suggests a conscious bid to reclaim his old turf — not via songs about floating the Guadalupe and hitting the dancehalls, but by revisiting the theme and spirit of his hugely popular 2001 covers album collaboration with Cory Morrow.

Like the original Songs We Wish We’d Written, which tossed songs by Blind Faith and Stealers Wheel into the mix with Billy Joe Shaver, Merle Haggard, and John Prine, the track list for this year’s model is a bit all over the place, running the gamut from Joe Ely to ’90s rockers Collective Soul. But unlike the first Songs, Green’s name is the only one on the cover this time — though the “we” in the title isn’t necessarily the “royal we,” given that he’s joined by guest-singer friends on many of the tracks. Morrow’s one of them, trading verses with Green on Lyle Lovett’s “If I Had a Boat”; others include Jack Ingram (on Todd Snider’s “I Am Too”); Monte Montgomery (on Warren Haynes’ “Soulshine”); and Ed Roland (on Collective Soul’s “The World I Know,” which Roland actually did write).

Let’s call a spade a spade, though: Regardless of how many people he shares the mic with here, let alone who wrote the songs, this is a Pat Green album, conceived and recorded to tide fans over until his next record of new material, and aimed at an audience that’s probably going to judge it on his own merits rather than by the guest list or by comparing the covers to the original recordings. No Joe Ely fanatic is likely going to favor Green’s take on “All Just to Get to You” any more so than they’d prefer his version of “Me and Billy the Kid”; but as a potential sing-along anthem at Green’s own concerts for the foreseeable future, it’s pretty much a sure thing. Ditto Jon Randall’s “Austin,” and most certainly Walt Wilkins’ “If It Weren’t for You,” considering Green’s successful track record with Wilkins’ material. He has a harder time putting a convincing stamp on “The World I Know,” which is what happens when you have the original singer of a massive rock radio hit duet with you on a cover of his own song. What really is surprising, though, is how successful Green is in pulling off the most famous song here: Tom Petty’s “Even the Losers.” It’s the kind of the classic rock staple you’d expect him to bash out full-throttle, ham-fisted bar-band style, but he keeps his inner Hearbreaker in check and goes for a more introspective approach. Bruce Hornsby-style piano drives the arrangement, with tasteful strings coming in on the chorus instead of crashing guitars, and Green’s vocal throughout is warm, heartfelt and on the money. Love Green or not, there’s just no getting around the fact that it’s a great recording. Green may still have a ways to go before finding his way back to the top of the Texas music hill, but if he brings even half that much artistic savvy to his next album … well, he just might get lucky. — RICHARD SKANSE

 

Lisa Morales

WILLIE NELSON
Remember Me, Vol. 1

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Even when he’s singing an ordinary song, Willie Nelson delivers the goods with his jazzy phrasing and the understated emotion of his vocals. Give him a classic, be it from the pop, jazz or country songbook, and he’s likely to bring a tear to your eye. The songs on Remember Me, Vol. 1, are all classics and, while some of them (like “Sixteen Tons”) have been covered hundreds of times, Nelson makes them all his own.

Remember Me is also a short history of country music, filled with tunes unfamiliar to anyone without a deep history of the genre. Nelson cut Mac Wiseman’s 1939 hit “Remember Me” on Red Headed Stranger, and delivers another laid-back version here featuring icy pedal steel from Sonny Garish and Aubrey Haynes’ soulful fiddling. “This Old House” was a hit for Stuart Hamblin in 1955, but it’s Rosemary Clooney’s pop smash that’s most familiar. It’s a hard-core country tune with an ironic lyric that likens a man’s body to his ramshackle home, and while Nelson doesn’t sound like he’s going to fall to pieces anytime soon, his age does give the song a bittersweet tang.

Garish’s weeping pedal steel intensifies the hopeless feel of “That Just About Does It,” Vern Gosden’s song about the end of a relationship. Nelson sounds desolate as he delivers the lyric. On the brighter side, Nelson romps through “Why Baby Why,” George Jones’ first honky-tonk hit, Bob Wills’ “Roly Poly,” which features smoking lead guitar work by Brent Mason, and Merle Haggard’s “Ramblin’ Fever,” played with a loping Waylon Jennings-style beat. — j. poet

Todd Snider

THE BETTER HALVES
Tete a Tete

 

Add the Better Halves to that long list of musical couples that make charming music together. On Tete a Tete the Better Halves — that’s the Austin-based husband and wife duo of Jimmy Joe and Chrissie Natoli — give us quirky and precious songs that speak to the odd nature of that truest of love: the often inexplicable, yet not uncommon, attraction of the somewhat opposite. On “Different as Can Be,” they croon the confession that “the things we have in common are very few, cause you like me, but, baby, I like you,” and the back-and-forth gentle teasing banter includes such quips as, “you make sense for a girl with a cute little nose, you stand up for a guy with size 11 toes.” Their “Wedding Vows” playfully note that “you’re allergic to cow dairy, and you don’t eat gluten, so if we order a pizza without cheese or bread, we’ll end up with just a bowl of sauce instead.” Joe flashes his Berklee-honed fretboard facility on an amped-up, high-wire “Flight of the Bumblebee” and the Los Indios Tabajaras composition “Blue Angel.” But it’s the sprightly wordplay and reverent repartee that make Tete a Tete a smile-inducing recommended listen — even if you aren’t a pair of infatuated lovebirds. Co-produced by the couple and Tommy Byrd, the album features vocal contributions from Sara Hickman and Ken Gaines and players such as Warren Hood, Chip Dolan and Mollie Fischer.
— GLEASON BOOTH

 

Todd Snider

DANA FALCONBERRY
Though I Didn’t Call, It Came

 

 

Dana Falconberry was born in Michigan, studied folklore at college in Arkansas, and moved to Austin in 2005. Since then, she’s released a series of luminous EPs marked by her strong sense of melody, lyrics that blend literary and everyday images, and her minimal vocal style. On her current outing, she’s gone for a fuller sound with a band, string quartet, lush backing vocals and inventive pop arrangements, although her melancholy muse seems intact. Toy piano, whistling, and gently strummed guitar make “Maple Leaf Red” sound like a sad children’s song. “Muskegon” is a short tone poem of stark beauty, and “Possum Song” ironically asks “how could I be lonely” with lush female harmonies and a tune that’s achingly desolate. “Petoskey Stone” shows off Falconberry’s uncanny ability to balance light and dark impulses. It’s musically upbeat, with playful percussion accents, brittle harp, clanging piano and a bright vocal, but the lyric is a wistful meditation on mortality. — j. poet

 

jesse dayton

JOHN PRINE
The Singing Mailman Delivers

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John Prine started playing open mics while he was still delivering mail. A rave review in The Chicago Sun Times by Roger Ebert brought him to the attention of Studs Terkel, who asked him to perform on his WFMT radio show. After the interview, the station let Prine record 11 songs, to send them off to the Library of Congress to get copywrited. While cleaning out his garage last year, Prine found those WFMT tapes, along with a live recording of an early concert. The Singing Mailman Delivers is a double CD set that gives us a window into his early career, and includes most of the “hits” that made his self-titled 1971 debut album so stunning, including “Illegal Smile,” “Hello in There,” and “Sam Stone,” which appears here as “Great Society Conflict Veteran’s Blues.”

The studio recordings are just Prine and his guitar, and in this stripped down form, “Hello In There,” and “Sam Stone” are even more powerful than the full band takes on John Prine. Prine’s personality comes out more on the live recordings. He phrases the songs for maximum effect and gets a few laughs with humorous asides, although they sound a bit dated today. But the crowd adores him, and they sing along on “Illegal Smile” and “Your Flag Decal Won’t Get You Into Heaven Anymore.” The one unrecorded song, “A Star, a Jewel, and a Hoax,” shows off his witty wordplay and self-depreciating humor. It’s not bad, but it probably won’t be on his set list the next time you see him live. — j. poet

 

jesse dayton

ROGER CREAGER
Surrender

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After nearly 15 years of constant touring, raising the roof at countless honky-tonks, recording five albums, scoring a handful of regional chart hits and even surviving one (admittedly minor) shark bite, Roger Creager has earned his spurs as a veteran of the Texas country scene. It’s been a few years since his last studio album, though, so his latest, Surrender, has a lot of fan-pleasing and catching up to do. That shouldn’t be a problem. Teamed up once again with producer/guru Lloyd Maines, Creager returns with a “back to basics” approach that recalls the sure-thing charms of his earliest recordings. That’s not to say his last studio album, 2008’s Here It Is, wasn’t up to snuff, but Surrender just hits the spot in a manner that immediately brings to mind the high-energy, crowd-satisfying atmosphere of his best concerts. The aptly titled opening track, “Turn It Up,” kicks the record off with a bang, setting the pace for other rabble-rousing hell-raisers like “Crazy Again.” Creager does just as well with the more reflective songs, too, as shown on both “Bad Friend to a Good Man” (about the interpersonal conflict and the repercussions one faces when making bad decisions) and with his admirable crack at Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song.” In the big picture, Surrender probably isn’t going to conquer a whole lot of new ground for Creager or Texas country music in general, but for fans of the genre looking for an ultra-confident package of well-written, good-time songs delivered with seasoned charisma, it hits the spot. — SHANE JONES

Todd Snider

BEN SCHANE
Old Song

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South Texas native Ben Schane made a stellar debut with his first offering, Antique Noises, and he delivers once again with the equally compelling Old Song. Produced by Adam Odor, Schane’s sophomore release may contain only six tracks, but it definitely feels more like a full-length than a mere EP because of the way each song showcases his impecable sense of crafsmanship. Indeed, it’s apparent that Shane approaches his songwriting with the same meticulous, painstaking attention to detail he puts into his other calling, as a custom boot maker. Every song stands out with a distinct sound and mood of its own, from the inspirational, Martin Luther King-themed “Watch You from the Mountain” to the divorce-influenced “In the Shame Of.” Based on his first two releases, Schane has nothing to be ashamed of.
— SHANE JONES

 

Todd Snider

LINCOLN DURHAM
The Shovel [vs] the Howling Bones

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Lincoln Durham’s full-length debut opens with the ominous, funeral-march thump of Rick Richards’ booming drums, followed by the sinister, rattlesnake sting of a resonator slide guitar and a grim lyric about a wayward soul’s path to destruction and a world “burning down to ashes.” After that, The Shovel [vs.] the Howling Bones gets dark. Durham is only in his early 30s, but he writes, sings and plays primal, death-rattle blues with such frightening conviction, he probably gives even a grissled growler like Ray Wylie Hubbard (who co-produced the album with George Reiff) the willies. Four of the songs on The Shovel (“Living This Hard,” “Reckoning Lament,” “How Does a Crow Fly” and “Georgia Lee”) first appeared on Durham’s excellent 2010 EP, but the remaining six tracks here are every bit as compelling, including the disarmingly tender “Clementine,” which could loosely be defined as a love ballad. Granted, it’s a love ballad sung from the grave, but it’s the thought that counts. — RICHARD SKANSE