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Contemporary Rootsy Americana-y Type Stuff


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Haven't been this way for a while but have been really enjoying it of late.

Alvin Youngblood Hart, Uncle Earl, Carolina Chocolate Drops, Corey Harris, Tim O'Brien, Otis Taylor etc.

Anything from the last few years that you've really enjoyed?

[Please resist the temptation to explain how you only listen to this sort of music from West Tennessee before 1952...lots of other threads for that).

Good, recent stuff please, if it interests you.

Edited by Bev Stapleton
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Joe Fields' blues label, Fedora, has recorded quite a lot of interesting stuff. One or two I like a lot are

Johnnie Bassett - Bassett hound (with Bill Heid on piano - Detroit blues)

Jimmy Dawkins - West Side guitar hero (Chicago blues lives!)

Jimmy Dawkins - Tell me baby

Big Al Dupree - Positive thinking (KC R&B)

MG

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Thanks so far...Seasick Steve I've heard but not listened to. Alela Diane is a complete unknown - looking on Amazon she might be what I'm seeking.

I listened to a lot of this sort of music in the 90s - grew out of the CSN&Y, Joni Mitchell, The Band, Little Feet etc interests of my youth. It took a back seat in the the Noughties but I've recently found it fresh again.

Generally I like the acoustic type sounds - mandolins, banjos etc - though I'm also partial to the rock'n rolly, electric bluesy side. There's a point where it drifts into something too lush for me (for example, I love Alison Krauss with Union Station but don't care for her solo records which seem aimed at a more romantic market); I've also found most of the alt.country stuff I've heard a bit to abrasive and punky.

Buddy Miller, Crooked Still, Mindy Smith, Peter Rowan, Eric Bibb, Iris Dement...that's the sort of area I'm attracted to.

Having listened to very little that has appeared in the last ten years, I'm just wondering if there are any wonderful discs I've missed along the way.

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I saw on another thread you already have some Alison Krauss, besides that have you checked out Alela Diane.

Check out Alison's brother, Viktor. He has a couple of albums out that are OUTstanding. Not sure what "genre" you would put them in - they're mostly instrumental and certainly leaning towards "roots" - but there's much more there. His first one, "Far from Enough" is a little better than "II", but both are worth picking up.

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Mindy Smith has a lovely voice, as you've noted.

Have you heard Nickel Creek? Their album "This Side" is pretty good; produced by Alison Krause.

Mindy Smith is another of those who sits on the cusp of the rootsy and the commercial. She's got the voice of an angel - the first song on her first album - 'Come to Jesus' - floors me every time. Sounds like all the cliches about 'high lonesome sound'. Wish she'd get rid of all the high production of late. I suspect its the usual thing of trying to break her into the highly lucrative pop-country market.

I have a couple of Nickel Creek records but haven't played them for a while - I think they were riding high about the time I drifted away.

Kim Richey is another one I really enjoyed - two great first albums and then the focus got lost as quality song-writing got replaced by experimenting with drum machines etc.

I lost interest in Lucinda Williams for other reasons - the rootsy sound is there but there's a plainess to the song writing that doesn't hold my interest - melody lines repeated instead of being developed.

Edited by Bev Stapleton
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I've been enjoying the Flatlanders recordings over the past couple of years. The group is comprised of Joe Ely, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, and Butch Hancock, all west-Texas singer-songwriters. It's in an alt-country vein, but perhaps not quite as "punkish" as you mentioned previously. Though Joe Ely definitely has some occasional punk leanings, with some of his earlier recordings and his Clash connection.

I've enjoyed all of Joe's solo recordings that I've heard - the most recent being the live 1987 recording with Bobby Keyes and David Grisham. That's more rock than country.

And I want to check out Jimmie's solo material as well - he'll be forever cool for his role as Smokey in The Big Lebowski.

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Will check out that Mindy link a little later (I've Van the Man on at present and don't dare interrupt him! He might shout out me and bring Keith Jarrett along to help!)

Never really clicked with Ely or the Flatlanders, but I do like Jimmie Dale Gilmore. A good ten years ago I went to an absolutely awful 'Americana' festival not far from here - mainly Brit acts pretending to be cowboys. The audience was dressed in stetsons and carrying six guns. At 5.00 pm the women who'd been dressed in jeans and check shirts all day returned made up in florid dresses out of 'The Best Little Whorehouse ion Texas'.

What redeemed the whole event (even compensated for George Hamilton IV doing a 'sacred' concert on Sunday morning!!!!) was the Saturday night performance of Jimmie Dale Gilmore with a line-up that included two lead electric guitars. One of the best performances I've ever seen.

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Mindy Smith is another of those who sits on the cusp of the rootsy and the commercial. She's got the voice of an angel - the first song on her first album - 'Come to Jesus' - floors me every time.

Have you seen the video? Really quite eerie:

YouTube

Just watched it! Never associated it with vacuuming before!

Believe me, there is absolutely nothing in the Church of England (or the English/Irish Catholic Church that I was raised in) that has anything like that mix of redemption and naked sexuality!

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I gotta admit I try constantly to listen - the problem with most of these groups, to me, is that they play too clean - it's like roots music for people who haven't really listened to roots music. Too slick, the articulation is wrong, the language is wrong - the best of it sounds to me like they listened about as far back as The Band - and I love The Band, but the Band was already The Band, if you know what I mean. Time to go back to Fiddlin' John Carson, Kelly Harrell, Clarence Ashley, B.F. Shelton.....

And ironically or not, the techniques of post '60s free jazz will get you there faster than slicked-out bluegrass.

Mindy sounds ok, but like about 12 other singers I've heard.

All this is, of course, just my opinion. And one guy I like a lot is Eric Royer, from Boston, but that's about it.

Edited by AllenLowe
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They're Canadian, and tend toward the poppish side of country, but Blue Rodeo are good, and I've heard some good things about The Sadies too.

I love the Sadies but they don't fit in the mold of what Bev is looking for. They have more of a rock attitude

Think of it Neko Case could be your thing, Eleni Mandell could be another one to explore

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