Category: Music

New Music from Ryan Adams and The Jayhawks

When I read that the Americana Music Association recently gave the Artist of the Year Award to Buddy Miller, I had mixed feelings. On the one hand, I love Buddy Miller’s work as well as his new CD, so I am always glad to see him get the recognition he deserves. On the other hand, I did not even know there were Americana Music Association Awards, and I wondered what is the status of Americana music — or alt-country — two decades after writers started using the terminology to describe a type of music. There is a lot that may be said, and Chimesfreedom may revisit the topic in the future. For now, one answer is provided in new releases by two giants of the field, Ryan Adams and The Jayhawks.

Jayhawks Mockingbird Time Mockingbird Time (2011) by The Jayhawks: The new CD by the Jayhawks created much excitement with the return of Mark Olson to the band for the first recording since the classic Tomorrow the Green Grass (1995). I was excited too, but in looking through my CD collection, I was surprised to learn that I had not missed a CD from the band’s catalog, and that I do love all of the albums, including the ones without Olson where Gary Louris continued to lead the band in interesting directions.

I have been listening to the new CD for several weeks because it often takes many listens before I know how much I like a new album. The new CD does capture some of the magic of Tomorrow the Green Grass, although I have yet to fall in love with the new music as much as I did with some of the songs on the 1995 album. For me, the new album does not exceed the Olson-less Smile and Sound Of Lies, but I realize that many fans prefer this version of the band. Give it a chance. “Closer to Your Side” is one of the highlights of the new album:

Ashes & Fire by Ryan Adams: Like The Jayhawks CD, a new Ryan Adams CD has to compete with a back catalog of great albums and music. When I first heard Heartbreaker (2000) and Gold (2001), I immediately fell in love with the albums and could not stop hitting the replay button. I had a similar reaction to his work with Whiskeytown. Ashes & Fire, Adams’s latest effort, did not immediately grab me like those albums, but it is a solid effort with some great (“Lucky Now”) and almost-great (“Ashes & Fire”) songs.

Ryan Adams Ashes & Fire The opening lines of the first song on Ashes & Fire, “Dirty Rain” (““Last time I was here it was raining / It isn’t raining anymore”) even evoke the opening cadence of the superior classic “Oh My Sweet Carolina” from Heartbreaker. I have always been more of a fan of Adams’s country-ish and upbeat songs over his contemplative slow songs (or his digressions into other genres). This new album stays close to alt-country but delves into his slower folk side too. But it continues to grow on me like some of his other albums that started out okay for me but that I later came to love, like Jacksonville City Nights (2005). So I am reserving judgment and plan to enjoy the CD many more times.

Conclusion? Many of the great “alt-country” artists of the last few decades continue to record great work (even if one may classify the music in different categories). If you are a fan of Ryan Adams and/or The Jayhawks, you will like the return to form on their new CDs, which are both solid enjoyable efforts. If you are not familiar with their work, though, you might want to start with some of their other albums. But either way, these new CDs are a fine addition to already fantastic catalogs. For Ryan Adams, who was diagnosed with Ménière’s disease five years ago, the return is especially triumphant.

Bonus Reviews, Because Why Should You Trust Me?: For a detailed mixed review of Ryan Adams’s Ashes & Fire, check out Pitchfork. For a positive review, check out Popmatters. By contrast, Popmatters gave a mixed review to Mockingbird Time by The Jayhawks. Consequence of Sound argues that The Jayhawks almost get it right.

What do you think of the new music from Ryan Adams and The Jayhawks? Leave a comment.

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    Alaska Bought Today: Anchored in Anchorage

    alaska compared to u.s.
    “But you know you’re in the largest state in the Union / When you’re anchored down in Anchorage”

    On October 18 in 1867, just a little more than two years after the nation ended a Civil War, the United States took control of Alaska. The U.S. had bought the land for 2 cents an acre for a total of $7.2 million.

    Seward’s Folly

    Secretary of State William Henry Seward pushed for the controversial purchase, so critics dubbed the purchase “Seward’s Folly.” Seward and President Andrew Johnson, who would be impeached a year later, were eventually vindicated in the Alaska deal.

    Gold was discovered in Alaska in 1896.  And today, after the territory became a state in 1959, the state is a treasure of oil and other natural resources. One other benefit is my favorite song about the state, Michelle Shocked’s “Anchorage,” off her debut album Short Sharp Shocked (1988).

    Michelle Shocked’s “Anchorage”

    In the song “Anchorage,” a singer who lives in New York City describes how she wrote a letter to her friend in Dallas, but the reply came back from Anchorage, Alaska. The rest of the song recites the letter from Alaska.

    In the letter, the friend does not complain about her life in Alaska.  Butut in her description, you sense some longing for the life of her big city singer friend.

    Leroy got a better job so we moved;
    Kevin lost a tooth, he’s started school;
    I’ve got a brand new eight month old baby girl;
    I sound like a housewife;
    Hey ‘Shelle, I think I’m a housewife.

    “Anchorage” is a beautiful song about friends and how we end up in places with our lives where we may not have planned. One senses the singer also may think the grass looks greener on the other side of the fence.

    Yet, the words and the way the song is sung reflect affection, not envy. If Michelle Shocked, who grew up in East Texas, wrote another song in the form of a letter from New York City back to her old friend in Anchorage, I wonder what she would say.

    Michelle Shocked

    Shocked’s song gives a voice to someone you might not think about. In the history-book version about adding all that beautiful land to the United States, we often hear about the later gold rush and the building of a new state.  But one should not forget the role of all of the regular people, especially including the overlooked women and natives, just getting by day-to-day.

    As we have been reminded with events around the world, society is not just the Andrew Johnsons and other politicians.  It is also made up of the rockers and the anchored-down folks.

    Map illustration via Eric Gaba.

  • “The Grey” Is Not the Movie You Thought It Was (Missed Movies)

    • The Head and the Heart: Sounds Like Hallelujah

    head and the heart At the recent Emmy Awards, someone came up with the idea to sing Leonard Cohen’s song “Hallelujah” while they showed images of the stars who died during the past year. It was an odd choice, showing that the producers had only listened to the single word of the title without listening to the words of the lyrics. People often comment that Cohen’s song is overplayed. While I have yet to grow tired of it, if you are looking for another outstanding song with “Hallelujah” in the title — or if you are just looking for a great catchy pop song — check out “Sounds Like Hallelujah” by The Head and the Heart.

    “Sounds Like Hallelujah” has been on my iPod repeat playlist for more than a year, but I recently noticed that a local station, WFUV, has been playing it fairly often lately. It is a great song, and I cannot get it out of my head. So if your local radio station has not yet played it, give the song a listen.

    Like the Leonard Cohen song, “Sounds Like Hallelujah” is not open to simple straightforward interpretation. While the sound is joyous, the lyrics reveal something more complex. One commentator has argued that the song is best understood in the context of the themes of the entire CD, providing an epiphany toward the end of the album.

    Momma don’t put no gun in my hand
    I don’t wanna end up like these men

    I’m not walking away
    I’m just hearing what you’re saying
    For the first time
    Sounds like hallelujah for the first time

    “Sounds Like Hallelujah” is off of the band’s self-titled self-released first CD. The band re-recorded the song for a remastered release of the CD this year, which partly explains the increase in airplay. Josiah Johnson and Jonathan Russell formed The Head and the Heart in 2009. The band, which is based in Seattle, includes Charity Rose Thielen, Chris Zasche, Kenny Hensley, and Tyler Williams.

    What do you think of The Head and the Heart and “Sounds Like Hallelujah”? What do you think it means? Leave a comment.

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    • Buy from Amazon

    October Pop Culture Roundup

    In case you might have missed some of the recent stories in popular culture, check out the following links from around the Internet:

    In TV-related news . . .

    – Conan O’Brien returned to NBC to pick up Triumph the Insult Comic Dog on Jimmy Fallon’s show.

    Homer Simpson Halloween Mask

    – “Woo Hoo! I outlasted Andy Rooney!” — Homer Simpson, in Fox statement announcing The Simpsons has been renewed.

    – Sorry Homer, the #1 choice for Halloween costume is. . . Charlie Sheen.

    In Music news. . .

    – Bids may go “high.” Willie Nelson’s tour bus is for sale.

    – Coldplay will stream a live concert on YouTube on Oct. 26 (4 p.m. ET).

    In Movie news. . .

    – “I hear it’s happening. I think it’s got a ways to go.” — Laura Dern on Jurassic Park 4 sequel.

    – A new book recounts the story of Rin Tin Tin in the context of Hollywood and U.S. culture.

    – Arnold Schwarzenegger attended the opening of an Austrian museum dedicated to . . . Arnold Schwarzenegger.

    – Are the “Toy Story” writers working on a Farmville movie?

    – The popularity of this Audrey Hepburn classic film, which turned 50 years old this month, prompted a run on ginger tomcats when the film was released.

    – After eighteen years in prison, The West Memphis 3 reunited this week for a screening of the films that helped secure their release.

    . . . To keep up with events, check back here on Chimesfreedom and follow us on Twitter @Pophistory and on Facebook.

    Any thoughts on the pop culture events of this month? Leave a comment.

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    Taxi Driver Music: Late for the Sky

    This week was Jackson Browne’s birthday on October 9, so this post celebrates his birthday and wraps up our series on Taxi Driver music. Previous posts have touched on music from Van Morrison and Kris Kristofferson that influenced Martin Scorsese in the making of Taxi Driver. In this final post on our “Taxi Driver Music” series, we consider a song that the director actually used in the film, Jackson Browne’s “Late for the Sky.”

    In a scene in Taxi Driver after Travis Bickle has shot a man who was robbing a store, he sits at home, alone with his gun, watching American Bandstand. The scene reflects his loneliness and isolation, emphasized by the contrast between Bickle and the scenes on the television screen where young men and women embrace each other as they dance. It is the dance of life, and Bickle has isolated himself in a way that excludes him from the simple joys of life. And that isolation is leading him into a spiral of madness.

    Interestingly, in watching the dancing on the television, it does not appear to me that the dancers actually are dancing to “Late for the Sky.” Their movements do not seem to match the song, so maybe Scorsese wanted to use the song “Late for the Sky,” so he found an American Bandstand clip that most closely matched the song. Or I may be wrong and the dance is to “Late for the Sky.” Watch the clip for yourself and decide.

    “Late for the Sky” is the opening and the title track from Jackson Browne’s album, Late For The Sky (1974). Even without the visual of the lonely insane man with a gun watching lovers dance, it is a sad song. Browne sings about the end of a relationship: “Awake again, I can’t pretend / That I know I’m alone, / And close to the end / Of the feeling we’ve known.”

    Jackson Browne Late for the Sky Relationships may end in different ways, but often instead of a sudden explosion, they end after a time of drifting apart. Then, one wakes up one morning and wonders what happened “in the bed where we both lie,” which is a great line that may be read with at least three different meanings because of the different definitions of “lie” (including the old expression about sleeping in the bed one makes).

    Finally, in the song, Browne asks, “How long have I been sleeping? / How long have I been drifting along through the night? / How long have I been running for that morning flight / Through the whispered promises, and the changing light / Of the bed where we both lie,/ Late for the sky.” It is a beautiful song of loss, and its overall tone perfectly fits the loss Scorsese wanted to convey in Taxi Driver.

    So ends our third and final post about the relationship between music and what Martin Scorsese called “a movie about a man who hates music.” If you missed the previous posts, check out the post on how Van Morrison’s album Astral Weeks influenced Taxi Driver and the post on the role played by Kris Kristofferson’s “The Pilgrim, Chapter 33.”

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