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RARWRITER.COM™ "'When people are free to do as they please, they usually imitate each other" - Eric Hoffer (1902-1983)
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NASHVILLE
LINKS
Bonnie Bramlett - Beautiful As Always
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For the vast majority of musicians and songwriters, success is all about figuring out what the successful are doing and emulating it. The record companies like that and it is part of why pop music tends to run in waves of sameness, cycling from one "sound" to the next. You get the avatar and the hordes of sound-alikes (which are even categorized and made available under many music services, like Musicmatch). That is why when you hear someone doing signature work it tends to stop you in your tracks, particularly when it is delivered with clarity and self assurance; authenticity. So it is with MINTON SPARKS, the brilliant spoken word artist out of Nashville. Minton, whose name is an amalgam of family names ("Minton is my grandmother's maiden name, Sparks is her married name"), has been adjunct Professor of Psychology at Tennessee State University for the past 15 years. She has also taught Women's Psychology at Middle Tennessee State University. In 1991 she was awarded a "Leonard Bernstein Fellowship" and used the funding to teach poetry within the Tennessee high school system. She has a degree in Psychology along with a Master's of Education in Human Development Counseling. This background shines a fascinating light on Minton's songwriting and performance style. Imagine if Raymond Carver were born in the Mississippi delta, married Eudora Welty, gave birth to Flannery O'Connor and had her grafted to Lucinda Williams. There you have Minton Sparks, a poet/performance artist who naturally portrays the sound, even the soul of the underbelly South. She is an observer who understands the subtext of each of her subjects' actions, and she is an "empath," fly-on-the-wall in narrative but fixed-to-the-heart in feel. Her carefully crafted language is selected for its "music," which coming through her rustic filter has rending powers of sorrow, sadness and violent banality. When she off-handedly references some indiscretion it at first lights on the ear as mere information, then dawns like a smart bomb. Minton connects on a deep, deep level that is more than a little scary. You really need to want to explore humanity and its nature when you sidle next to her, because that's where she's going. And you've got to love that about her - that she is going someplace of her own volition and in her own way. |
From her website - " In 2006, Sparks unique brand of poetry and music was featured nationally on the NPR's All Things Considered and internationally on the BBC's Bob Harris Show, along with the syndicated Woodsongs' Old Time Radio Hour. Sparks was thrilled to open for John Prine this year. She performed at the 2006 Americana music festival MerleFest, receiving a thunderous reception. This spring she wrapped up a four part Tennessee Performing Arts Series, Minton Sparks and Friends featuring Jessi Colter and Rodney Crowell, and played to sold-out houses and rave reviews each night." |
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MINTON SPARKs MP3S: Minton Sparks has several MP3 clips on her site. Listen to them and hear one of the most uniquely powerful artist on the music scene today. You can also listen to a couple tracks from her MySpace site at www.myspace.com/mintonsparks.
Minton released Middlin' Sisters in 2001, This Dress in 2003 (and there is something about the way this woman wears a dress-RAR), and, in 2006, sin sick. "Sin Sick Soul" features the piano work of Links friend Steve Conn, who has been a collaborator of Minton's. They played recently at TPAC, "Nashville's primary venue for theatrical and musical productions." |
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–Minton Sparks, from her liner notes to sin sick |
RAR NOTE: Minton has done an interesting thing with her EPK. She has included the camera ready version of her jacket for her sin sick CD, and it is wonderfully revealing, as artists liner notes occasionally are. Minton is married and has two children, referenced in the following. As you might expect, her word choices say much about who she is. It's cool, just like her. Her liner notes:
FOR WHEN WE INEVITABLY STUMBLE AND FALL…HERE’S TO THAT WHICH IS BOTH SIN-SICK AND REDEEMED AMONG US AND WITHIN US. Again, I thank my family, especially John, Jonas, and Liza. May you always wind up wandering home into your very own Promise-land. Thanks so much to my live foil—fabulous guitarist, John Jackson. For the brilliant landscapes you painted here, thanks a million to Steve Conn, and to mandolin-ist extraordinaire, Chris Thile, who can play outside time and space…thanks to each of you for catapulting the musical conversations with these poems to places I only hoped existed. Special thanks to manager, Kristin, and friends Nikki, Kelly, and George for helping me hear the undersong of these stories, those that I didn’t hear by myself—couldn’t have done it otherwise. Extra special thanks to Gary Paczosa for lending his ears, hands, heart and precious time to this project. Engineered and mixed by: Gary Paczosa. Recorded at: Minutiae Sound Studio, House of David, and Omni Studio in Nashville, TN. Produced by: Minton Sparks and Gary Paczosa. Assistant engineering, Brandon “Heber” Bell. Mastered by Don and Eric at Independent Mastering. Photography, Mary Beth Cysewski. Graphic design by the wonderful Christa Schoenbrodt. *Chris Thile appears courtesy of Sugar Hill Records, a Welk Music Group Company. |
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Goofing With the Stars
Cowboy Jack Clement's Home Movie Release
BLESSED ARE THE GOOFY:
In 2005, the "home
movies" of "Nashville's legendary Cowboy Jack Clement" were
packaged into a film titled "Shakespeare Was A Big George Jones
Fan," which was screened at the Tribeca Film Festival and in
Nashville. In what Elvis Costello calls "one of the funniest and most
touching music films that I've ever seen...” Clements featured such
friends Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings,
George Jones, Dolly Parton, Charley Pride, and Bono performing
skits.
Now Austin-based Sin
City Social Club is promoting the DVD of the film, which will be available
for popular consumption September 4, and their press release quotes Kris
Kristofferson as explaining - “Jack would like to make a circus out of
life.” Kristofferson also appears in the film. The Grammy-nominated
filmmaking team of Robert Gordon and Morgan Neville spliced together the
film in which Shakespeare romps through private rehearsals and rowdy sound
stages, stands next to John Prine and Waylon Jennings as they create
songs, and captures unlikely stars 
goofing around in unlikely roles. In
his ode to Jack, Johnny Cash hearkens, “Come along and ride this brain.”
Some have likened the film to "riding
the trail between Monty Python and Blazing Saddles."
Producer/performer/artist Cowboy Jack is noted for many accomplishment in the music industry, including recording Elvis Presley and U2. He was Sam Phillips’ right-hand man and is credited with discovering Jerry Lee Lewis, Charley Pride and Townes Van Zandt.
Cowboy Jack is still around as the host of “The Cowboy Jack Clement Show” on Sirius Outlaw Country (Saturdays from 2 pm – 6 pm EST). He was a recent artist in residence at the Country Music Hall of Fame, and he received the Americana Music Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004. Writes Sin City's Shilah Morrow of Jack - "His home, The Cowboy Arms Hotel And Recording Spa, is always open to his friends, who drop by at all hours. With all his rooms wired for recording and filming, and a swimming pool in the yard, visitors know that the coffee’s always on and a good time is ready to be had." The photo (left) was taken when Cowboy Jack played with The Sin City All Stars during the AMA conference of 2004!
| MINDY
SMITH www.mindysmith.net
The adopted daughter of a preacher, Mindy's residence on the Nashville Links is circumstantial. She was raised on Long Island in New York but in 1998 relocated to Tennessee, with her father, following the death of her musically talented mother. Still trying to figure out who she was to be, she attended college in Cincinnati for a time before electing to move to Nashville and give songwriting her all. A reception was waiting, as it turned out. She took first prize in the 2000 Tin Pan South songwriting competition, which helped land her a writing staff position with Yellow Dog Music. Mindy released One Moment More in 2004, which included her version of "Jolene" and yielded her first hit in "Come to Jesus." That tune, which sounds more "evangelical Christian" than it really is, received airplay on country, Christian, AAA rock and adult contemporary radio, climbing to #32 on Billboard's Adult Top 40 chart. Even with those successes, one gets the feeling the still evolving Mindy didn't feel satisfied with that freshman effort. Her 2006 release, Long Island Shores, feels more individual and assured. Mindy has a voice that is smooth and easy to listen to, and a polished radio-friendly sound. Long Island Shores has been |
well received by critics. It hasn't yielded a big hit, though the single "Out Loud" has gotten airplay on AAA radio and CMT. Mindy has been back on national television of late, playing the Tonight Show again in January. |
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| MINDY
SMITH MP3S:
Mindy Smith's MP3s can be heard at www.myspace.com/mindysmith.
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Long Island Shores (2006) |
One Moment MOre (2004) |
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"Prozac
Made Me Stay" 
Antsy McClain and The Trailer Park Troubadours
Weird things happen along the road to American modernity. Yesterday's "dream catchers" morph into today's standard appliances. So it is now with the mobile phone, which 40 years ago represented the achievement of an elite class and today are as common as dirt. So it has also been with that most powerful artifact of American mobility, the "trailer" or "mobile home" (the "caravan" in the U.K.).
When the Airstream, the little silver art deco trailer designed to be pulled behind one's car, was introduced in America in 1931, it was one of the more portent-laden moments in American manufacturing history. Coming out of the economic expansions of the 1920s, Americans were flexing "new" muscle in machinery, factories and the revolution of standardized mass production. The term "conspicuous consumption," coined in an 1898 treatise (The Theory of the Leisure Class) by economist Thorstein Veblen, became commonly known and understood. Previously unimagined wonders such as radio became a part of this new world, and motion picture theaters proliferated. Electric appliances started to become available, and the automobile became more generally affordable. The stock market crash of 1929 seemed a blip in 1930, as Wall Street rebounded to pre-"crash" levels, but the world economy had been staggering since 1928 and the U.S. wouldn't realize the bottom until 1933. When the Airstream arrived in 1931, a great number of Americans could still imagine open roadways of opportunity stretching on forever.
For most it was a chimera, and by the 1950s fewer people were pulling vacation trailers around the country behind their cars, and more and more were living in them, permanently on blocks. The more spacious "mobile home" started to be manufactured in greater number, then came "double-wides" and finally today's "manufactured housing." In 1980, about 5 percent of all households in America were situated in what could broadly be defined as "mobile home parks." By 1990, that number had climbed to 7 percent. In their 75 year history, "trailers" have gone from being an early entry in high-end consumer high-tech luxury and convenience to becoming ironic symbols of economic immobility, their residents often derided as "trash."
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Click on the link below to hear Antsy McClain and The Trailer Park Troubadours at MySpace:
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Antsy McClain and The Trailer Park Troubadours: Antsy McClain grew up in trailer parks around Kentucky and knows those communities well. Now a Nashville resident, Antsy has fashioned a multi-veined career out of exploring the subculture of his childhood. Written in his "folkabilly" style, Antsy and his crew have produced seven Trailor Park Troubadour albums. The most recent of which, Trailercana, features tracks by such notables as Lindsey Buckingham (Fleetwood Mac), Bobby Cochran (Steppenwolf), comedian/folk musician Tommy Smothers, and the legendary vocalist Bonnie Bramlett (Delaney & Bonnie).
Antsy's show, samples of which can be seen on YouTube (click here), is a musical theater romp in the form of a tight rockabilly band. Antsy uses his rich baritone to deliver a steady stream of anecdotal insights into the under class in all their eccentric ways. What makes a concept that seems so fraught with pitfalls (the possibility of mean-spirited political incorrectness, not to mention cliché) come across so well is that Antsy is sincerely funny, upbeat and clever, and wry without being cynical. He doesn't disrespect his subjects, and he writes good songs. That last part can be lost amid all the clever image and wordplay: Antsy's melodies represent a strong body of professional work.
National Public Radio's "All Things Considered" did an interview with Antsy that can be heard by clicking here. RAR would encourage everyone to have a listen. The segment includes several entertaining song clips, plus Antsy comes across as a thoughtful, seriously silly guy.
What the NPR spot did not go into is Antsy McClain's other talents, which include a solo career - he produced a well-received album (Time-Sweetened Lies), the publication of three humor books (most recently It Takes A Trailer Park), and his work as a visual artist "whose drawings and paintings have appeared nationally in magazines and books..." (from his MySpace site). Click here to see Antsy's work as a visual artist.
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Jemina Pearl is the band's front person, and she reminds many of Kathleen Hanna of Bikini Kill, while the band as a whole trends more toward the sound of The Buzzcocks. They are, in short, your standard issue 21st Century punk rockers, not to be confused with their more authentic predecessors, but not to be dismissed either. Be Your Own Pet is a "mature" act in terms of execution. They take pride in their professionalism and have earned the respect of some of the music business toughest critics. (See the note to the right on the Sasha Frere-Jones review of the band in The New Yorker.) Guitarist Jonas Stein provides the thrash metal sound, but the engine of the band is really bassist Nathan Vasquez and drummer Jamin Orrall. Be Your Own Pet started out playing low profile gigs around Nashville under the name the "Night Shift Nurses." Drummer Orrall's brother was playing bass in the band at first, before giving way to Vasquez, the tall guy with the Afro in the picture on the right. He turned out to have the concept they needed. The band produced some MP3s, one of which ("Damn Damn Leash") caught the attention of Zane Lowe of BBC Radio One, and off they went. London-based XL Recordings released the track, gaining further distribution for the band, who made strong appearances at the CMJ showcase in NYC and at the South by Southwest festival in 2004. Those exposures led to recording of an LP, produced by Steve McDonald of Redd Kross. The result was titled damn dman leash. |
The New Yorker's Sasha Frere-Jones
reviewed Be Your Own Pet in a July 2006 issue (Pop Notes in the Goings On
About Town section), which can be read at http://www.newyorker.com/goingson/recordings/articles/060710gore_ |
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YOUR OWN PET MP3S:
Be Your Own Pet MP3s can be heard from their MySpace site at www.myspace.com/beyourownpetmusic.
RIGHT: From garages and pizza parlors to NYC limos in the course of a few years. Be Your Own Pet may have trouble surviving for much longer without a hit. They have recorded with Infinity Cat Recordings, an indie label managed by drummer Jamin Orrall's family. Jamin has recently turned his attention to another band, "Jeff," which he has formed with his bassist brother Jake. He hasn't completely abandoned BYOP, who just played NYC last month. |
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Like the kids in Be Your Own Pet, profiled above, the Pink Spiders surfaced out of Nashville as a wild counterinsurgency that seemed in spirit to be more coastal than Bible Belt. They arrived with a concept derived from some gauche European sensibilities informed by the French New Wave cinema of their parents' (maybe even grandparents) generation. Posers? Well, if they are they are doing it right. Their posted response to that ridiculous MySpace "Sounds Like" category is "the Pink Fucking Spiders." The Pink Fucking Spiders are still very "new," having only surfaced in 2004 with the release of their EP The Pink Spiders are Taking Over! There first LP, Hot Pink, was released a year later. Geffen Records signed them in 2005 and in 2006 they were named one of the "100 Bands You Need to Know" by Alternative Press. Teenage Graffiti, their first Geffen release, was produced by Cars' front man Ric Ocasek.
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The Pink Spiders are singer/guitarist Matt Friction, drummer Bob Ferrari, and bassist Jon Decious. So who's the kid on the Squier strat?
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| PINK SPIDERS
MP3S:
The Pink Spiders have MP3s on their MySpace site at www.myspace.com/thepinkspiders |
| Vickisue
and the Dissonance
www.myspace.com/vickisueandthedissonance "Pulling influence from everything between Bjork and Jeff Buckley, Vickisue and the Dissonance will challenge your ears and your views, all while making you feel welcome in their world. Vickisue and the Dissonance's debut release, Everyone is Welcome is now available at their shows, as well as for Internet purchase at the link below. It will also be available for download from iTunes, Napster, Real Rhapsody, eMusic.com, etc., and special order through your local record store, within the next couple of months."-from their website Vickisue and the Dissonance is: Vickisue Gunderson - Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, Shane Minter - Cello, Jeremy Graham - Drums, Percussion, Noise, Piano and Keyboard, Electric Guitar. Interesting to see a couple other big-time L.A. acts featured among Vickisue's MySpace friends: award-winning folkie Elke Robitaille and the outrageous country-punk artist Jason Punkneck. See the L.A. Links for information on them. |
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| VICKISUE
AND THE DISSONANCE MP3s:
Vickisue and the Dissonance MP3s can be heard on their MySpace site.
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Vickisue and the Dissonance released their CD Everyone is Welcome in 2006. |
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See the KBCO Songwriting Competition story in the Archives for more information on Gretchen's background as a songwriter. |
WINE, WOMEN & SONG: (Left to Right) Matraca Berg, Gretchen Peters and Suzy Bogguss perform in Glasgow, Scotland, 2007. |
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GRETCHEN PETERs MP3: Independence Day - Gretchen's breakthrough hit - a modern country classic about breaking through The Aviator's Song - a beautiful exploration of turning points in life and how choices made impact those who love, and need to be loved by, the sojourner On A Bus to St. Cloud - live performance of the song Gretchen lists as her favorite among all the songs she has written - the search for the familiar Copyright © Gretchen Peters, all rights reserved |
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ABOVE (From
left): Gretchen Peters releases - Trio (2005), the European
released Halcyon (2004), and the re-release of The Secret of
Life (2001) that included the bonus track "Independence
Day."
LEFT: Gretchen Peters (2000) and the original release of The Secret of Life (1996). |
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Fans Select Nashville Songwriter...
Gretchen Peters FolkWax Artist of 2007
Reprinted
from March 2008 Artist News page
FolkWax Magazine, the largest subscribed weekly in the singer-songwriter genre, announced today that their readers have selected Links favorite Gretchen Peters as FolkWax Artist of the Year 2007 and her album Burnt Toast & Offerings as FolkWax Album of the Year 2007.
Through the month of December, Folkwax readers and contributors nominated artists and albums for a final ballot of five artists and five albums. The final ballot for FolkWax Artist of the Year was: Patty Griffin Matt & Shannon Heaton, Gretchen Peters, Josh Ritter and Eric Taylor,
Write the editors of FolkWax - "What a stellar group of some of the best singer-songwriters in the world! We congratulate each one for being nominated. With record voting in both categories again this year, you have selected Gretchen Peters as FolkWax Artist of the Year. Peters has continued to impress with her heartfelt songwriting and performing. We tracked down Gretchen Peters via email and she had this to say: 'I just walked offstage from the last date of our latest U.K. tour and am getting ready to come home tomorrow. I am simply overwhelmed. This is the first award I have ever won as an artist and it is such a full-circle moment for me; to have received the honor from fans of a genre, which really ignited my passion for music from the very beginning. This has been an amazing year for me and this is the icing on the cake."
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Gretchen Peters - 2008 Summer Tours
NASHVILLE,
TENNESSEE - Links favorite and FolkWax Artist of 2007 Gretchen
Peters has announced dates beyond her scheduled Midwestern Tour.
Writes Gretchen - "We are on our way, thrilled to be playing 'On A
Bus To St. Cloud' in its natural habitat, and excited to return to
Columbus Maennerchor for our fourth visit." Gretchen is on her way to
Minnesota to play: April 16 - Bo Diddley's
Deli, St. Cloud, MN; April 17 - Cedar
Cultural Center, Minneapolis, MN; April 18 -
Nisswa Community Center, Nisswa, MN; April 19
- Columbus Maennerchor, Columbus, OH (tickets 614-462-2636).
"I will be playing a few dates with
the fabulous Eliza Gilkyson in May. Talk about powerful women.
Eliza is a brilliant singer-songwriter and I'm really looking forward to
sharing a stage with her. Among these dates is a four day workshop called
'Powerful Women, Powerful Voices' at the famous Kripalu Center for Yoga
& Health, with The Nields and Val Denn. It promises to be inspiring,
exhilarating and relaxing all at the same time. May Schedule: May
2 - New Haven Folk with Eliza Gilkyson, New Haven, CT; May
3 - Roaring Brook with Eliza Gilkyson, Canton, CT; May
4-7 - "Powerful Women, Powerful Voices with Eliza Gilkyson,
The Nields and Val Denn, Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health, Lenox, MA'
May 8 - Outpost In The Burbs with Eliza Gilkyson, Montclair, NJ.
"Suzy Bogguss, Matraca Berg and I will be bringing the controlled chaos that is 'Wine, Women & Song' to Franklin, TN for ONE SHOW ONLY on June 11. If you are within striking range of Nashville you don't want to miss this one. A benefit for Happy Tales Humane, a no-kill shelter in Franklin.
Perfect Earth - "This one is really special. Every once in awhile an opportunity comes along that makes you want to pinch yourself, and this is one of those times. Perfect Earth Tours bills itself as a 'luxury eco-spa and resort', but it's also a chance to experience the pristine beauty of the Canadian Yukon without leaving so much as a footprint after you go. From August 8-13 we will be there to sing, play (sans electricity, so expect a lot of accordion from Barry) and marvel at the beauty of our Perfect Earth along with eight other lucky guests."
FESTIVAL DATES
- May 18 - Spring Gulch Folk Festival, New
Holland, PA; July 25-26 - Great Waters Folk
Festival, Wolfeboro, NH; August 1 - Stokes
Bay Festival, Stokes Bay, Hampshire, UK ;
August 2-3 - UTV Country Fest, Dungannon,
Country Tyrone, Northern Ireland (UK); August 16
- Mount Sequoyah Unplugged, Fayetteville, AR.
| CACTUS
MOSER
This Links page contains a lot of talk about the Boulder, Colorado music community of the 1970's and early '80s and about the amount of optimism that existed there. One of the people for whom that optimism was founded was Cactus Moser, who for the last 20 years has been at the heart of the revolutionary Nashville country-rocker band Highway 101. Cactus had star quality as a member of Michael Woody and the Too High Band. (You can hear a track of the Too Highs below.) Tall, blond, handsome, athletic, and not lacking any in personality, he was a force behind the kit and at the mic - Cactus can sing. And he can also write songs. Highway 101 was a "Nashville" sensation, though they were formed in Los Angeles, primarily as a unit to back charismatic vocalist Paulette Carlson. Cactus was recruited by manager Chuck Morris when the band had only a development deal to release singles. That stage didn't last long. The band's 1986 release of "The Bed You Made For Me” earned an album deal with Warner Brothers and their "eponymously" titled 1987 album paved the way for the modern country revolution of the '90s that created crossover superstars like Garth Brooks. Highway 101 scored two #1s on the country charts ("Somewhere Tonight" and "Cry, Cry, Cry"), and two other top five hits. That year they played the Country Music Association awards show with Hank Williams, Jr. Their 1988 release Highway 101, Vol. 2 scored them another #1 hit with "(Do You Love Me) Just Say Yes," and the Top Ten hits "All the Reasons Why," "Setting Me Up," and "Honky Tonk Heart." Highway 101 soared to #1 again in 1989 with "Who's Lonely Now." Since then the band has gone through personnel changes, losing and then regaining Paulette Carlson, and has been unable to duplicate the hurricane waves of success they had in that late-80s period. They remain on the boards, though, and continue to be one of Nashville's big music machines. |
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| ABOVE: Cactus Moser, October 2005, looking very much like a guy who would hit you with a stick. |
| TIM
O'BRIEN
Just before this update of the Links Tim O'Brien made news winning two 2006 IBMA Awards: Male Vocalist of the Year and Song of the Year ("Look Down That Lonesome Road"). Tim, of course, was/is a member of the contemporary bluegrass legend Hot Rize, which just about bottom lines it for you when it comes to talking about musical talent. Formed in 1978, Hot Rize was a super group engineered in reverse - Tim, Pete "Dr. Banjo" Wernick, guitarist Charles Sawtelle and multi-instrumentalist Nick Forster hadn't come together from previous super groups, they were all just heavy dudes right out of the box - and then they started innovating. They were smokin' traditional bluegrass and they were western and comic as Red Knuckles and the Trailblazers. Hot Rize was the International Bluegrass Music Association's first Entertainer of the Year in 1990, and in 1993, O'Brien took his first IBMA Male Vocalist of the Year honor. Since moving to Nashville, Tim has branched out still further to become a hit songwriter, having charted a couple Hot Rize tunes - "Walk the Way the Wind Blows" and "Untold Stories" - with Kathy Mattea performing. Tim then established himself as a collaborative songwriter, working with Darrell Scott to write "When No One's Around," the title cut of Garth Brooks' critically acclaimed 1997 album. |
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| ABOVE: Photos from Tim's CD releases Fiddler's Green (left) and Cornbread Nation | ||
Tim just keeps expanding his musical realm. Back in the '80s he worked with his sister Mollie doing antique country tunes, cowboy songs and western swing. More recently he has gone back to his Irish roots to record well-received LPs recorded with Ireland's top musicians. I would encourage you to visit his website for more information. Tim continues to perform with Hot Rize, who played the recent IBMA awards but don't work together regularly any longer. |
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| DAN
MCCORISON
I used to know a guy in Boulder whose favorite thing to do socially was get all his redneck friends and their wives together and go see The Dan McCorison Band. This was one top-flight professional country unit, which featured Junior Brown (see profile in the Austin section) on steel guitar. I used to join this rowdy crew occasionally, but it was typically more intense of a country experience than I really wanted. There were a lot of good bands around Boulder in those days, but McCorison's unit was way at the top end of the spectrum - pretty serious business, musically. They tended to attract some pretty serious country folk. I tended to think of them as the serious country side of Dusty Drapes and the Dusters. Dan McCorison is a Denver native who teamed with Steve Swenson to front Dusty Drapes and the Dusters, the heralded western swing band whose theatrical premise skewed toward the high, more than the country life. Big McCorison fan Peter Rodman remembers Dan and the Dusters this way - "Dan sang lead in the Dusters, sharing the spotlight with Dusty (Swenson). While Dan's deep baritone skewed towards trucker romance, Dusty's 'howdy' demeanor and song selections were determinedly 'Western Swing.' Where they intersected was in the jazz core of the music." And there it is - Dan McCorison is a really sophisticated musical entree. Continues Rodman - "To this day, Dan McCorison uses jazz chords as creatively as anyone I've ever seen. He's as likely to toss off a complete Larry Carlton arrangement as he is Gordon Lightfoot's 'Cold On The Shoulder.'" Dan McCorison first appeared on the national music scene in 1974 with two Hot 100 single releases - "I Carry Your Smile" and "Diamond From Your Heart." He co-wrote "Playing the Fool" with Chris Hillman for Hillman's Clear Sailin LP, which was produced by Jim Mason, also in 1974. Then in 1977 MCA released his Bernie Leadon/Chris Hillman-produced LP titled Dan McCorison, off which came two more singles - "Don't Forget the Man" and "That's the Way My Woman Loves Me." As Dan recalls it - "...I was 'discovered' by Chris Hillman who took me to LA and got me signed to MCA. I did an album for them (self titled) that Chris produced. It was a critical success but suffered from lack of support from Nashville and management issues. We had great players on it including James Burton, Al Perkins and even Steve Cropper among others." Dan moved to Nashville many years ago and has continued to have success as a songwriter. He co-wrote "Don't Come Back" with former Nitty Gritty Dirt Band singer Chris Darrow for Darrow's Slide On In LP. He has also contributed to several country gospel LPs (see Christian Nation below). |
"If maple syrup itself sat next to a fireplace with a suede-fringe jacket on, it could not sound more cozy or romantic than Dan McCorison - a true Boulder classic" - Peter Rodman in his other role as Journalist |
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When I listen to Dan McCorison's songs (hear the MP3s below) I am taken by two things - first, how traditional country they are. They harken back to the golden period of country music in their gentlemanly manner and their respect for song craft. They put me to mind of early Willie Nelson compositions. The other thing that I am taken by is just what a wonderful singer Dan McCorison is. I'm with Rodman on McCorison. - RAR |
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Working out of Davlen Studios - another "link" in that Jim Mason (see the "At Large" section) and Poco recorded in that L.A. facility - Dan charted two singles in the Billboard Hot 100 in 1974. In 1977 MCA released the Dan McCorison (left) LP. Two country singles were released - "Don't Forget the Man" and "That's The Way My Woman Loves Me." The LP is now a sought after collector's item. | |
| Dan McCorison operates McCorison Homes home-construction business in Nashville. If you want to see some nice homes, take a look at his company site at www.mccorisonhomes.com. | ||
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DAN MCCORISON MP3:
I Carry Your Smile - originally titled "Hackensack"
Copyright © Dan McCorison 2007. All rights reserved. |
Dan's Notes: "A couple of years ago I did a project here in Nashville A Diamond for Your Heart which is where "El Norte" came from. I wrote all the material and I produced it along with my buddy Scott Neubert. That was me on guitar on the basic track for El Norte with Scott playing the beautiful lead stuff. Scott is a local session player and producer and a very good friend. Whenever I play out I drag him along. We had some other great people on that cd including Cactus Moser on percussion and Andy Leftwich on fiddle and mandolin. Andy's currently playing in Ricky Skaggs' band, Kentucky Thunder and just released a solo album. I also had Bryan Grassmeyer on bass who played recently with Michael Woody at the Too High Band reunion." | |
| CHRISTIAN
NATION
Lest those of us who don't live in Nashville forget, Music City is near the geographic center of the Bible Belt and gospel music has always been central to the region's life style, culture and spiritual nature. As long as there has been a country music industry there has been a branch devoted to worship LPs (think Elvis). There is some irony, at least to my mind, that some of the baby boomers whose music was at the center of the '60s revolution(s) are in truth profoundly "conservative" people who have been very active in gospel. Former Byrd-Flying Burrito Brothers Chris Hillman is a case in point. He produced a series of gospel LPs in the early '80s, working primarily with his core group of Bernie Leadon, Al Perkins, David Mansfield and Jerry Scheff. Richie Furay, of the seminal band Buffalo Springfield and later with Souther-Hillman-Furay, is another. Dan McCorison has co-written and contributed tracks to various of these releases. Dan is something of a Chris Hillman protege, Hillman having taken Dan to L.A. to record his first album. Their music relationship, and Dan's relationship with the Leadon-Perkins consortium, extended on in to the gospel arena. Here are examples:
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The Woodys are another example of the Christian influence in the country music community. They have both become licensed ministers of Religious Science International.
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Michael Woody and the former Dyann Brown were prominent on the Boulder scene when I lived there. Michael won local songwriting competitions and both fronted happening bands. They are now husband-wife and a major force in Nashville traditional country. There is an interesting account, on The Woody's website, of how Michael and Dyann's vocal compatibility resonated with big-time country producer Brian Ahern. He is a big Everley Brothers fan and had long been looking for a duo with that kind of chemistry. Dyann took a tape and Michael and her singing together and Ahern heard what he'd be listening for. The Woodys have an interesting, creative website, and I would encourage you to take a look. Michael penned a hit for
Chris Hillman
and the Desert Rose Band a few years ago in "He's Back and I'm
Blue.
See the KBCO Songwriting Competition story on the Colorado Links for more on Michael Woody. |
The Woody's performing in 2005 at The Sutler in Nashville
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The Woodys MP3:
Copyright © The Woodys, rights reserved |
THE WOODYS MINISTRY: The Woodys are licensed ministers in Religious Science International, which as their website explains "... is a metaphysical, spiritual teaching that studies the truth found in all major religions, the wisdom of great philosophical thinkers like Ralph Waldo Emerson, and the laws of science as applied to human needs and aspirations. Religious Science does not tell people what to think, but rather it teaches people how to think. Dr. Ernest Holmes, the founder of Religious Science and author of the textbook 'Science of Mind' influenced such notables as Norman Vincent Peale." Go to http://www.SpiritualLivingCenterOfFranklin.com for more information on this new calling. |
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Dyann Woody MP3:
Copyright © Dyann Woody, rights reserved |
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Dyann Woody's solo release Softer Side features 11 songs she either wrote or co-wrote, plus well-chosen covers. Ranging from soft jazz to blues to folk-rock it has received strong reviews and demonstrates the fine range of this "country" chanteuse. Michael Woody co-produced and played trumpet on the CD. |
| MICHAEL
WOODY AND THE TOO HIGH BAND
Michael recently (June 2006) held a reunion of his Too High Band, which featured such luminaries as drummer Cactus Moser (Highway 101), guitarist Randy Barker, and bassist Bryan Grassmeyer.
The Too High Band's LP has been re-released and is available through The Woodys website |
The Too Highs playing a 25 year reunion show at the Taos Solar Fest |
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Copyright © Michael Woody and the Too High Band, rights reserved |
THE BEVERLY HILLS BROTHERS*: It is interesting the way this Everley Brothers theme resides within the Michael Woody story (see The Woodys profile above). Michael used to work in a duo called "The Beverly Hills Brothers" with another singer/songwriter, Robert Anderson. They sang Everley Brothers and Buddy Holly songs. See more on Robert Anderson in the Catseye story on the Colorado Links. |
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THE BLUE CHIP RADIO REPORT http://www.clubnashville.com/rr093002.htm The Blue Chip guys provide links to a wide range of resources of relevance to Nashville and Austin-based music people, including information on agents, manager, publishers, record companies, lawyers and lists of chart topping songs and their writers, among many other links. |
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http://members.aol.com/Peterodman/ After being a fixture on Boulder, Colorado radio for many years, Peter took his "Sunday Night with Peter Rodman" show, originally developed at KBCO in Colorado, to Nashville's Lighting 100 radio station. He continues to rub shoulders with the stars and travel internationally. Peter is also a musician/singer/songwriter and we are awaiting Peter's CD release, which features an impressive roster of music celebrities (follow the link above to his website to learn all about that). Peter is working on a book about his career as a rock/talk radio pioneer.
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Peter Rodman with The Ramones |
Peter Rodman with Sheryl Crow |
ABOVE: Peter Rodman with Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart. RIGHT: Peter and a really young Shawn Colvin. |
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JACK INGRAM Texas transplant JACK INGRAM sold 30,000 CDs on his own label before moving to Nashville. Jack's music is raucous country along the lines of early Gram Parsons. He is bold and testosterone-laden, a little prone to reach in wordplay, but he's got a double-lead guitar sound that rocks. He also has an interesting promotions team. They are enlisting local advocates to do media outreach and get the word out about young Jack.
Jack Ingram has a number of full-length songs you can hear on his website, plus MP3s for download. Worth checking out. Jack is a lot of young buck up-tempo country rock fun. |
| ANDY
PEAKE
http://home.earthlink.net/~peakester Andy Peake was a top drummer on the Boulde |
It’s
been none other than the stories of my friends and relatives that have
convinced me of the validity of relativism. Determining what’s right and
what’s wrong oftentimes “depends”. “Thou shalt not kill”…well…unless
it’s a “just” war. My prayer in recording “Sin Sick” is that we
will never let the idea of absolute truth strong arm us back into dark
ages of feeling powerless to question, individually and collectively, the
rules and regulations that some are always trying to mount on stone
tablets. Be ye a questioner. Break open rigid rules and holding them in
the hand of experience discover a guideline. 
One
could hardly have hit the ground running any faster than MINDY SMITH
did back in 2004. Before releasing her debut album, she got a booking on
"The Tonight Show" and appeared on the Lifetime Network’s
"Women Rock" special. She had a video in top rotation on CMT.
And she had the lead-off single on the acclaimed Dolly Parton tribute
album, Just Because I’m a Woman, putting her in the company of
Norah Jones, Sinéad O ’Connor, Melissa Etheridge, Alison Krauss and
others. Her rendition of the Parton classic "Jolene" got special
notice from Dolly, who tagged her an artist to watch.
Growing
up in Nashville doesn't necessarily restrict a kid's vision to the country
music the city is famous for. Witness 
The
Pink Spiders Hot Pink release was decidedly retro graphically, with
a cover that, for people of a certain age, will bring to mind Dino, Desi
and Billy. Pop as they are, The Pink Spiders don't profile that middle of
the road. They enjoy taunting their audiences, spewing beer on them and
flipping them the bird, and they get a lot of practice, touring
extensively behind their debut LP. Teenage Graffiti includes songs
from Hot Pink, but with the Ocasek touch. Some have found that
touch a little heavy, Ocasek accused by some of having ripped the edge
from the sound the band had on Hot Pink. The Pink Spiders aren't
really a musically edgy band. In fact, they are all ages in that regard.
Various Artists:
God Loves Country Music -
Original release: 1981. This is a
Leadon-Perkins effort. Richie Furay and Bob Bennett
contributed "Search Me, O God," Furay "Psalm 5," Chris
Hillman "Create In Me A Clean Heart" and Dan
McCorison "Freely, Freely."
Various Artists:
Gospel Cannonball - Original release: 1984.
Leadon-Perkins again. Dan McCorison sang the title track as
well as "Our God Reigns." Richay Furay's "Search
Me, O God" showed up again. You also get a vocal from Steve
Hill, who would later become Chris Hillman's hit making writing
partner with the Desert Rose Band. 
