Friday, 25 January 2013

The Jacket's Americana Jukebox - Show #34



Following my AmericanaUK interview with Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell this show is all about them; yep even tracks six and seven are linked - honest!



First Aid Kit ‘Emmylou’ taken from the 2012 Whichita album ‘The Lions Roar’









Emmylou Harris ‘Bluebird Wine’ taken from the 1974 Reprise album ‘Pieces Of The Sky’










Emmylou Harris ‘Together Again’ taken from the 1975 Warner Bros. album ‘Elite Hotel’










Emmylou Harris ‘Even Cowgirls Get The Blues’ taken from the 1979 Warner Bros. album ‘Blue Kentucky Girl’









Emmylou Harris ‘Red Dirt Girl’ taken from the 2000 Nonesuch album ‘Red Dirt Girl’










David Olney ‘Deeper Well’ taken from the 2011 CoraZong Records album ‘Border Crossing’










Hayes Carll ‘KMAG YOYO’ taken from the 2011 Lost Highway Records album ‘KMAG YOYO’










Rodney Crowell ‘Song For The Life’ taken from the 1978 Warner Bros. album ‘Ain’t Living Long Like This’









Rodney Crowell ‘Till I Gain Control Again’ taken from the 1981 Warner Bros. album ‘Rodney Crowell’









Rodney Crowell ‘I Couldn’t Leave You If I Tried’ taken from the 1998 Columbia Records album ‘Diamonds and Dirt’









Rodney Crowell ‘Fates Right Hand’ taken from the 2003 DMZ/Epic Records album ‘Fates Right Hand’









Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell ‘Hanging Up My Heart’ taken from the 2013 Nonesuch Records album ‘Old Yellow Moon’
Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell ‘Open Season on My Heart’ taken from the 2013 Nonesuch Records album ‘Old Yellow Moon’
Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell ‘Old Yellow Moon’ taken from the 2013 Nonesuch Records album ‘Old Yellow Moon’






Saturday, 19 January 2013

The Jacket's Americana Jukebox - Show #33



It's all top forty chart action this week.  I've not gone all radio one on you this is from the Americana Music Association airplay chart for week ending 14th January 2013.

Mumford & Sons ‘Lover of the Light’ taken from the 2012 Glassnote album ‘Babel’










Jamey Johnson ‘Don’t Touch Me’ taken from the 2012 Mercury album ‘Living For A Song: A Tribute to Hank Cochran’









Iris DeMent ‘Sing The Delta’ taken from the 2012 Flariella album ‘Sing The Delta’










Carrie Rodriguez ‘Love Hurts’ taken from the 2013 Ninth Street Opus / Thirty Tigers album ‘Give Me All You Got’









Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit ‘TVA’ taken from the 2012 Lightning Rod album ‘Live from Alabama’










Tift Merritt ‘Traveling Alone’ taken from the 2012 Yep Rock album ‘Traveling Alone’










The Avett Brothers ‘The Once and Future Carpenter’ taken from the 2012 American album ‘The Carpenter’









Corb Lund ‘Bible on the Dash’ taken from the 2012 New West Roecords album ‘Cabin Fever’









Ryan Bingham ‘Heart of Rhythm’ taken from the 202 Axster Bingham Records album ‘Tomorrowland’










Shovels and Rope ‘Birmingham’ taken from the 2012 Dualtone album ‘O’ Be Joyful’










Dwight Yoakham ‘A Heart Like Mine’ taken from the 2012 Warner Bros album ‘Three Pears’










Kasey Chambers & Shane Nicholson ‘Adam and Eve’ taken from the 2012 Sugar Hill album ‘Wreck and Ruin’









Buddy Miller and Jim Lauderdale   ‘I Lost My Job of Loving You’ taken from the 2012 New West Records album ‘Buddy and Jim’










Tuesday, 15 January 2013

A New Years Resolution

I don't think I've ever made a New Years Resolution before.  Possibly when I was a kid I may have resolved to do the washing up or tidy my bedroom but never a proper starting or stopping something on January 1st.

The closest that I've ever got was quitting dairy on my fortieth birthday with the intention of going fully vegan a year later.  My omnivorous diet didn't last the full twelve months so there was no last meat hurrah for me just sometime in February 2011 I finished a plate of chicken and potatoes and I knew that I wouldn't eat meat again.

However, this year I sort of accidentally made a resolution.  It wasn't actually on January 1st, it was a couple of days later when I was recording the first Jacket's Americana Jukebox of the year.  It was a Hank Williams special; I commemorated the 60th anniversary of his death with a show of tribute songs, covers and originals.

The first couple of tributes - Ray Wylie Hubbard's 'Loco Gringo's Lament' and Todd Snider's 'Alcohol and Pills' came to me instantly but I employed the power of wikipedia for the rest.  In doing so I found out that Snider's version of 'Alcohol and Pills' was written by Fred Eaglesmith.

i had known the name for quite awhile but had always dismissed him as a Nashville Hat Act.  I don't know why, I just did.  It's not that, like many Americana fans, I am adverse to mainstream country it's just I don't actively seek it out.  His name cropped up when I was asked to review Mary Gauthier's album 'Live at Blue Rock'.  Gauthier covered three Eaglesmith songs: 'Your Sister Cried', 'The Rocket' and 'Cigarette Machine', on it, the latter being one of the stand out tracks.

By way of a recommendation on the the Americana UK forum I bought 6 Volts and voted it my third best album of 2012 in the aUK writers poll.  We had to write a sentence about our ten choices; "lo fi genius" was mine.  I thought that description particularly apt for an album recorded with just a single microphone.  As such the album is sparse.  The power of Eaglesmith's lyrics hit hard; 'Betty Oshawa', 'Trucker's Speed' and 'Cigarette Machine' are all tales of folks who didn't get the easy option in life.

The resolution was to listen to a Fred Eaglesmith album a month throughout 2013.  I'm not counting 6 volts as I got it last year so that gives me 12 choices to make from another eighteen releases.  This months is 'Falling Stars and Broken Hearts', another aUk recommendation.  It is one of his 'classics' apparently.  I'll write my thoughts up next month, not an album review - I do those elsewhere- just a few words.  Until then, here's 'Cigarette Machine'.


The Jacket's Americana Jukebox - Show #32

From pubs to clubs to theatres to stadiums it's all live this week.


  • Fred Eaglesmith ‘Alcohol and Pills’ taken from the 2004 A Major Label album ‘The Official Official Bootleg Series Volume 2’

  • John Prine ‘Angel From Montgomery’ taken from the 1988 Oh Boy album ‘John Prine Live’

  • Gretchen Peters ‘On a Bus To St Cloud’ taken from the 2006 Scarlet Letter Records album ‘Gretchen Peters Trio: Recorded Live’

  • The Handsome Family ‘Weightless Again’ taken from the 2000 Digital Club Network album ‘Live at Shuba’s Tavern’

  • The Black Crowes ‘Remedy’ taken from the 1998 American Recordings album ‘Sho’ Nuff Live’

  • The Black Crowes ‘Cursed Diamond’ taken from the 1998 label album ‘Sho’ Nuff Live’

  • Kelly Joe Phelps ‘Wandering Away’ taken from archive.org

  • JD McPherson ‘Firebug’ taken from the 2012 Daytrotter Session

  • Bruce Springsteen ‘Thunder Road’ taken from the 1986 Columbia album ‘Live 1975-85’

  • Neil Young ‘Down by the River’ taken from the 2012 Left Field Media album ‘Cow Palace 1986’

  • ZZ Top ‘La Grange’ taken from the 2008 Eagle Rock album ‘Live from Texas’


 

 I do hope Fred plays this one next month.

Saturday, 5 January 2013

The Jacket's Americana Jukebox - Show #31

It's all about Hank this week with a special show commemorating the 60th anniversary of his death with covers, tributes and originals.


Ray Wylie Hubbard ‘Loco Gringo’s Lament’ taken from the 1999 Misery Love Company album ‘Live at Cibolo Creek’

  






Hank Williams ‘I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry’ taken from the 2012 Valuable Records album ‘The Lost Highway’

Hank Williams ‘Lost Highway’ taken from the 2012 Valuable Records album ‘The Lost Highway’’

Hank Williams ‘I’ll Never Get out of the World Alive’ taken from the 2012 Valuable Records album ‘The Lost Highway’

Todd Snider ‘Alcohol and Pills’ taken from the 2004 Oh Boy album ‘East Nashville Skyline’








Dave Alvin and the Guilty Ones ‘Long White Cadillac’ taken from the 2012 Yep Roc album ‘Eleven Eleven Expanded’






Alan Jackson ‘Midnight in Montgomery’ taken from the 2011 Sony Music album ’34 Number Ones’









Emmylou Harris ‘Rollin’ and Ramblin’ (The Death of Hank Williams)’ taken from the 1990 Reprise album ‘Brand New Dance’








Slaid Cleeves ‘29’ taken from the 2000 Rounder Europe album ‘No Angel Knows’









Jerry Jeff Walker ‘I Feel Like Hank Williams Tonight’ taken from the 1989 Rykodisc album ‘Live From Gruene Hall’








Neko Case ‘Alone and Foresaken’ taken from the 2001 Lady Pilot Records EP ‘Canadian Amp’









Charley Pride ‘Kaw-Liga’ taken from the 2009 NPL album ‘Pride of the Country’









Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan ‘Ramblin’ Man’ taken from the 2006 V2 album ‘Ballad of The Broken Seas’






 


Hank Williams ‘Hey, Good Lookin’’ taken from the 2012 Valuable Records album ‘The Lost Highway’

Hank Williams ‘Jambalaya (on the Bayou)’ taken from the 2009 Smith & Co. album ‘The Legendary Hank Williams, Vol. 1’

Hank Williams ‘I Saw the Light’ taken from the 2008 Prism Leisure album ‘The Legendary Hank Williams’


Sunday, 23 December 2012

The Jacket's Festive Americana Jukebox



  • The Handsome Family ‘So Much Wine’ taken from the 2000 Carrot Top album ‘In the Air’
  • Sufjan Stevens ‘Justice Delivers Its Death’ taken from the 2012 Asthmatic Kitty box-set ‘Silver & Gold’
  • Low ‘Just Like Christmas’ taken from the 1999 Kranky album ‘Christmas’
  • Geva Alon ‘I See The Love’ 2B Vibes Music single release
  • Robert Earl Keen ‘Merry Christmas From The Family’ taken from the 2004 New West Records album ‘Live from Austin TX’
  • Hayes Carll ‘Grateful For Christmas’ taken from the 2011 Lost Highway Records album ‘KMAG YOYO’
  • Tom Waits ‘Christmas Card Form A Hooker In Minneapolis’ taken from the 1978 Asylum album ‘Blue Valentine’
  • Buck Owens ‘Santa Looked A Lot Like Daddy’ taken from Aquarium Drunkard’s ‘Lit Up Like A Christmas Tree – A Vintage Holiday Mixtape’
  • Brenda Lee ‘I’m Gonna Lasso Santa Claus’ taken from Aquarium Drunkard’s ‘Lit Up Like A Christmas Tree – A Vintage Holiday Mixtape’
  • Hank Thompson ‘I’d Like To Have an Elephant For Christmas’ taken from Aquarium Drunkard’s ‘Lit Up Like A Christmas Tree – A Vintage Holiday Mixtape’
  • Loretta Lyn ‘To Heck With Santa Claus’ taken from Aquarium Drunkard’s ‘Lit Up Like A Christmas Tree – A Vintage Holiday Mixtape’
  • The Handsome Family ‘Stupid Bells’ taken from the 2002 Handsome Family Music album ‘Smothered and Covered’
  • Mary Chapin Carpenter ‘Bells are Ringing’ taken from the 2008 Zoe album ‘Come Darkness, Come Light: Twelve Songs of Christmas’
  • John Prine ‘Silver Bells’ taken from the 1993 Oh Boy album ‘A John Prine Christmas’
  • Emmylou Harris ‘Silent Night’ taken from the 1979 Warner Brother / Rhino album ‘Songs From The Stable’
  • Bruce Springsteen ‘Santa Claus is Coming to Town’ 1985 Columbia records single release.