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Just doing some housekeeping to help out the search engines. My review of Scott Holstein’s Cold Coal Town is at Fervor Coulee Bluegrass here.

As always, I appreciate your interest in Fervor Coulee. Donald

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I rewrote my review of Laurie Lewis’s latest at the request of the Lonesome Road Review; without doubt, an incredible album. http://lonesomeroadreview.com/2012/07/08/skippin-and-flyin-by-laurie-lewis/

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Announced ealier today, and I am pretty excited. If memory serves, I’ve never before helped three albums make the list.

From the Polaris site http://www.polarismusicprize.ca/article/416/the-2012-polaris-music-prize-long-list-is-here/

“The 2012 Polaris Music Prize Long List is (in alphabetical order):

A Tribe Called Red – A Tribe Called Red
Marie-Pierre Arthur – Aux alentours
Rich Aucoin – We’re All Dying To Live
Avec pas d’casque – Astronomie
Azari & III – Azari & III
Bahamas – Barchords
The Barr Brothers – The Barr Brothers
Blackie And The Rodeo Kings – Kings And Queens
Cadence Weapon – Hope In Dirt City
Kathryn Calder – Bright And Vivid
Cannon Bros – Firecracker / Cloudglow
Coeur de pirate – Blonde
Leonard Cohen – Old Ideas
Cold Specks – I Predict A Graceful Expulsion
Rose Cousins – We Have Made A Spark
Mark Davis – Eliminate The Toxins
Drake – Take Care
Kathleen Edwards – Voyageur
Feist – Metals
Fucked Up – David Comes To Life
Great Lake Swimmers – New Wild Everywhere
Grimes – Visions
Handsome Furs – Sound Kapital
Japandroids – Celebration Rock
Dan Mangan – Oh Fortune
Mares Of Thrace – The Pilgrimage
Ariane Moffatt – MA
Lindi Ortega – Little Red Boots
Parlovr – Kook Soul
Sandro Perri – Impossible Spaces
Joel Plaskett Emergency – Scrappy Happiness
PS I Love You – Death Dreams
John K. Samson – Provincial
Shooting Guns – Born To Deal In Magic: 1952-1976
The Slakadeliqs – The Other Side of Tomorrow
Patrick Watson – Adventures In Your Own Backyard
Bry Webb – Provider
The Weeknd – Echoes of Silence
Yamantaka // Sonic Titan – YT//ST
Yukon Blonde – Tiger Talk

The 200+ writers, editors, producers and media figures who make up the Polaris Music Prize jury pool will now go back to the ballot boxes again and submit their Top 5 albums, selecting only from what’s on the Long List.

When those votes are in, the Short List comprised of 10 albums will be announced in Toronto on July 17.

Once that’s done it’s on to the big show, the Polaris Gala, being held in Toronto on September 24, where one of the 10 Short List albums will be declared the best Canadian album of 2012 in a secret jury Hunger Games-style argument to the death.”

My Top 5 ballot had a roots focus, as it should, and was published earlier this month in the Red Deer Advocate. I’m pleased that my number 1, 3, and 4 picks made the Long List, as well as two other albums I championed- Rose Cousins’ and John K. Samson’s. I am surprised that the Mark Davis album made it simply because it is one of those ‘under the radar’ releases. As well, I’m surprised BARK made it as the album didn’t seem to generate much buzz amongst the jury members online. I really thought the Cowboy Junkies would have made it, but…such is democracy.

Mark Davis- Eliminate the Toxins Capturing a selection of sounds even more adventurous than created within his previous releases, Davis retains the intense focus and introspection one has come to expect from the Edmonton singer-songwriter. Eliminate the Toxins stands with his best work, and as such can be appreciated on a poetic level while also serving as impetus to slowly dance. Multi-layered, Eliminate the Toxins is so all-encompassing that listeners will find themselves sinking into its warmth. It will take top spot on my ballot.

Cowboy Junkies- The Wilderness Having celebrated 25 years as one of Canada’s most dynamic recording groups, Cowboy Junkies embarked on an ambitious campaign 18 months ago: release four distinct albums within a year and a half. The Wilderness is certainly the strongest of the four. Closest to the ‘classic’ Cowboy Junkies sound, Margo Timmins’ languid vocals and delicately complex, occasionally trippy backing tracks are immediately recognizable. One tranquil song effortlessly slips into the next with little but contributions of visiting musicians distinguishing one from another. This consistency in sound makes The Wilderness appealing: nothing jars the listener out of the inviting, profound sound-space the band has created.

Blackie & the Rodeo Kings- Kings & Queens As far-reaching as Kings & Queens is, producer Colin Linden and his cohorts never lose perspective while singing with fourteen different ladies, among them Emmylou Harris, Lucinda Williams, Serena Ryder, and Rosanne Cash. Their contributions bring even greater focus to Lindsn’s, Tom Wilson’s and Stephen Fearing’s singing, and it is this ability to maintain balance that serves as Blackie & the Rodeo Kings’ greatest accomplishment.

Great Lake Swimmers- New Wild Everywhere That rare album that is comprised of thirteen songs with each as strong as those surrounding it: every song stands on its own as a memorable and engaging composition while being all the better because of its place within the greater album. New Wild Everywhere is elaborate. Tony Dekker and Great Lake Swimmers have created an album that is lush and rich. Miranda Mulholland’s background vocal contributions are astounding, adding a depth to the songs that is impressive. Similarly, Erik Arnesen’s guitar and banjo sounds create a lovely and complementary backdrop for Dekker’s words and vocals.

Skydiggers- Northern Shore Lovely songs that are fully realized with beautiful production, gorgeous, uplifting vocals, and a seemingly random mix of sounds that keeps one listening, Especially on shuffle, you can’t be sure what is coming next: a stark aching ballad, a mishmash of strangely musical beats and electronic burps, something piano based that slowly evolves,
a bit of bombast, a choice Mickey Newbury cover, or a sweeping piece that- for three or four minutes- makes the darkness that surrounds us disappear. I’m no expert on the Skydiggers- I only have the The Truth About Us compilation on the shelf- but this recently released album sneaks into my top 5, at the expense of John K. Samson’s Provincial, Fred Eaglesmith’s 6 Volts, or Rose Cousins’ We Have Made a Spark, three albums I also really loved.

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The (brief) version of my review of Fred Eaglesmith’s new album 6 Volts has been posted at Country Standard Time. For those of you who are not familiar with Ontarian Fred Eaglesmith, it is high time you become so; in my opinion, no one- not Buddy Miller, not Jim Lauderdale, not Alejandro Escovedo- has produced as solid a string of roots music over the past twenty years. http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=4822 will get you to the review.

Question? Why do American editors/writers so often refer to Canada as if it is one big ol’ mass o’ land without differentiation between our various provinces and territories? A review of any group’s latest album would never be identified as being from an “America-based” band; the descriptor would be localized as Texas-, California-, or Arkansas-based. When I’m writing for a Canadian audience, I will always refer to the outfit’s state, never simply as “an American band.” But for articles published in American publications, Canadian bands, often have their province specific description- such as Fred as an “Ontarian,” that is a person from Ontario- revised to “Canadian.”

I ask all American-based editors to consider beginning to identify Canadian acts with reference to their province or territory of origin. It isn’t really that big of a deal- I think most Americans can understand that a “Saskatchewan-based” band is indeed Canadian. We can trust that, right? It won’t horribly confuse most American readers, will it?

And heck- if it really confuses someone, they can always Google Nova Scotian.

Thanks for visiting Fervor Coulee. Donald

O, forgot- here is the ‘long’ version of my 6 Volts review:

Fred Eaglesmith 6 Volts A Major Label

From the opening notes of “Cemetery Road” it is obvious that the classic Fred Eaglesmith sound we fell for in the mid-90s is back. Absent this time out are the experimental revelations of recent albums, and as enjoyable and appreciated as those were it seems high time that the Fred of lonely gravel roads, lonelier women, frustrated Saturday evenings, roadside artistry and junkyard Americana paid a return visit.

In Ontarian Eaglesmith’s dark world, the “Dangerous” man, living on the corner of Stupidity and Recklessness has as much appeal as the broken hearted, drugged-out long hauler of “Trucker Speed.” Eaglesmith doesn’t attempt to provide answers; he is an observer, a writer of domestic history- through his acute writer’s eye, he captures the stories of the people we pass without notice.

Within his character studies, the details of Eaglesmith’s brilliance is revealed. Describing a multi-faceted breakdown within the title cut, Eaglesmith sings, “My clutches are slipping, the carbon gets in my throat. You get out on the passenger side, I swallow my pride. The radiators raging like a murderer, only God can bend tempered steel.” Is Eaglesmith describing the death of a relationship or a vehicle? Really, it doesn’t matter- those images work no matter the interpretation.

Eaglesmith’s characters are seldom obviously heroic; they are flawed, often lost. One example can be found within the wrong-eyed, farmer justice of “Katie,” in which a landowner holds out under pressure of residential expansion because he buried his unfaithful wife under the hickory tree…and there’s another grave down by the creek. A new classic is born, one waiting for a bluegrass interpretation from James King, James Reams, or Junior Sisk.

Elsewhere, Eaglesmith eviscerates those who ignored Johnny Cash prior to his Rick Rubin-driven comeback. Perhaps most poignant is “Stars” in which Eaglesmith reflects on his own legacy, the one in which “Willie played the mandolin, he jumped around the stage; we thought that it would never end.” Of course, everything fades and now Eaglesmith finds himself admitting, “My hands hurt from playing my guitar. Every night in all those bars, we played like we were stars.”

With a less elaborate sound than his previous Cha Cha Cha- mostly guitars and drums with pedal steel, banjo, and organ mixed in- Eaglesmith is more focused this time out but no less fierce in his determination to capture the sounds of the past within modern songs that will be as relevant in twenty years as they are today.

If Fred Eaglesmith lost you in recent years, it is time to get back on board. 6 Volts is a welcome return for Canada’s premier roots road warrior.

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My recently written reviews of albums from Ohio’s The Missy Werner Band (http://lonesomeroadreview.com/2012/02/16/three-kinds-of-lonesome-by-the-missy-werner-band/) and California’s The Bee Eaters (http://lonesomeroadreview.com/2012/02/16/oddfellows-road-by-the-bee-eaters/) have been posted by Aaron over at the Lonesome Road Review. I appreciate all the bands who service me with albums; I thank you. And, as always- thanks for visiting Fervor Coulee. Donald

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Various Artists This One’s For Him: A Tribute to Guy Clark iTunes download

Some years ago, word of a birthday tape featuring Guy Clark’s Nashville friends performing his songs just for him circulated. I have never been fortunate to locate a dub of that set, but from all accounts it was something quite impressive.

Those of us outside that inner circle will have to satisfy ourselves with this remarkable set featuring 30 songs written (and co-written) by Clark and performed by some of the many performers and fellow writers whose lives he has touched. An incredible undertaking, this tribute to the living poet laureate of Texas songwriters has much to offer both the Clark devotee and the casual Americana appreciator.

Guy Clark has never been the household name that other Nashville-based singers and writers may be. His own albums have seldom charted and it was only with his 16^th and most recent live release Songs and Stories that Clark finally cracked the Country Top 30. His singles fare no better, but others- among them Ricky Skaggs, Bobby Bare, Vince Gill, John Conlee, and Steve Wariner- took his tunes to the top of the charts while many more have used his material for album depth.

Still, Clark’s influence as a mentor to Rodney Crowell and Steve Earle is well-documented and his friendship with Townes Van Zandt is the stuff of legend. He paints with lyric, each word and phrase combining to create lasting images and impressions that cross generations. Frequently overlooked is the quality of his identifiable and memorable melodies. While it is always wonderful to hear Clark perform, it is equally enjoyable to experience interpretations of his songs.

Intended as a celebration of Guy Clark’s 70^th birthday and opening with an unmistakable belly-laugh from the man himself, the compilers of This One’s For Him: A Tribute to Guy Clark waste no time in setting the bar high with frequent Clark collaborators Rodney Crowell (“That Old Time Feeling”) and Lyle Lovett with Emmylou Harris (“Anyhow I Love You”) interpreting two classic songs from his earliest albums.

From there it is two hours of uninterrupted enjoyment. All the expected Clark characters appear: the old man with “brown tobacco stains all down his chin”; the reluctant urban dweller who just wants to “get off this L.A. Freeway without getting killed or caught”; the dreamer who trusts that he can fly; the woman “standing on the gone side of leaving;” the wino who loved a Dallas whore; the Texas six-year old placing a nickel on a train track; and the fellow who recognizes that “there are only two things that money can’t buy, true love and home grown tomatoes.” Clark’s characters are not always right, but much like the man himself they always appear to be true.

Performing are the expected cast of voices, many who have recorded with Clark in the past (Crowell, Harris, Rosanne Cash) or have recorded his songs (Jack Ingram, Willie Nelson, Radney Foster). Not all the participants are on the north side of 50 as relative youngsters Hayes Carll, The Trishas, John Townes Van Zandt II, Ron Sexsmith, and Patty Griffin each take a song for a run, perhaps most remarkably Sexsmith who does  his expected beautiful job with “Broken Hearted People.”

But, most of the featured singers are of that generation that came of age in the sixties and early seventies and who worked and traveled the same roads and shared similar experiences as Clark: Ray Wylie Hubbard, Terry Allen, Robert Earl Keen, Jerry Jeff Walker, Kevin Welch, Suzy Bogguss, John Prine, and Steve Earle.

There isn’t a wrong move throughout the set. The core band- featuring frequent Clark sidemen Shawn Camp, Verlon Thompson, and Kenny Malone, among others- provides consistency, creating a comfortable environment for each singer. Some songs swing with frivolity (Rosie Flores’s “My Baby Took A Limo to Memphis”) while others offer melancholy reflection (Terry Allen’s “Old Friends”). It is this balance that most distinguishes Clark’s writing- he builds around the gems that are life’s moments.

Guy Clark’s greatest song may be “The Randall Knife,” as powerful a song about father-son relations ever recorded. Vince Gill, who played on the song’s original session in 1983, sings here with more personality than anything on his mysteriously celebrated Guitar Slinger set of last year. He approach differs from Clark’s original, but the power of the words is maintained.

Another highlight is Joe Ely’s inspired reading of “Dublin Blues;” Ely gets to the core of this song- the regret, the loneliness, the desolation- as few other singers can. When he sings the opening lines “I wish I was in Austin, in the chilly Parlour Bar, drinking mad dog margaritas and not caring where you are,” you are aware that you are listening to someone who feels a connection to Clark’s legacy.

It is fitting that Jerry Jeff Walker closes this wonderful tribute as it was through Walker’s renditions of “L.A. Freeway” and “Desperadoes Waiting for a Train” that most of us were first exposed to Clark’s masterful approach to song writing. Walker sings a new song, “My Favourite Picture of You.” In it Clark’s description of his wife Susanna- “no beginning, no end,” “you never left but your bags were packed, just in case,” “it’s bent and faded and pinned to my wall,” “a curse on your lips but all I can see is beautiful,” “a stand-up angel who won’t back down,” and “a thousand words in the blink of an eye”- resonates powerfully: these are the moments that account our lives, our relationships.

Whether you are just discovering Guy Clark or have long appreciated his writing expertise, This One’s For Him: A Tribute to Guy Clark impresses.

 A shorter version of this review was published in The Red Deer Advocate January 20, 2012

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For my meta-analysis of year-end bluegrass lists, visit http://www.countrystandardtime.com/blog/FervorCouleeBluegrass/entry.asp?xid=849 The number one album of the year should be no surprise, but it isn’t the Larry Sparks album picture to the left.

Thanks for visiting Fervor Coulee. Donald

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A bit late but understandable being how busy editor Aaron Keith Harris is, today brings the release of the Lonesome Road Review’s top 10 bluegrass albums of the past year. I’m pleased to see that Aaron and my LRR colleague Larry Stephens agreed with me in several places, quite likely more than I expected, and I’ve written positively about each of the albums here or elsewhere with perhaps the exception of the #1 album, another that I really enjoyed and purchased both digitally and on vinyl. My only complaint about the Old Memories album is the rather spartan packaging- no gatefold, no liner notes, and the vinyl itself is not as hefty as other recently produced album offerings; still, a terrific album of music.

Each of my top 5 albums made the list and I hope that these placements help some of you make some purchasing decisions. None of the artists who made the list, with the exception of AKUS, is living the high life; most are folks with extensive experience in the bluegrass world, having spent years on the road and are well deserving of any recognition they receive. Of course, I’m absolutely thrilled to see three particular names on the Lonesome Road Review list: Dale Ann Bradley, John Reischman & the Jaybirds, and James Reams & the Barnstormers. See my Top 10 here http://tinyurl.com/873u42u and visit the LRR to see the complete 2011 Top 10: http://lonesomeroadreview.com/2012/01/21/the-lonesome-road-reviews-list-of-top-10-bluegrass-cds-of-2011/

As always, thanks for visiting Fervor Coulee. Donald

 

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In today’s Red Deer Advocate I reviewed the recent Guy Clark tribute, This One’s For Him. I’ll post that in a few weeks, but for now here is the overview of Alberta releases that ran a couple weeks back.

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Wonderful roots music came out of our province this past year, and today I take a look back on my favourite Alberta roots music albums of 2011.

The rootsy-pop of another era returned this summer with the release of Idyl Tea’s first album in sixteen years. Once a fixture of Edmonton clubs, the Idyl Tea trio surprised with the strength of their double album Song That’s Not Finished Yet- The Unthology. Infectious pop melodies with more than enough country overtones for roots rock- heck, if Mumford and Sons and the Avett Brothers are considered roots, Idyl Tea certainly qualify. On this double album, Idyl Tea combines that which connects country and power pop: bright melodies, devastating confession through lyric, and the breezy ability to convey unmistakable melancholy.  ”A Guitar and A Broken Heart,” “Just a Road”­- an Americana gathering in hell-”Penitent Song,” and “Dark Day in Edmonton” are simply wonderful while the companion collection of outtakes and demos reveal the group’s unrealized, original potential.

Edmonton’s Mark Davis continued his ascension as one of Canada’s critically lauded roots artists. Eliminate the Toxins was even more adventurous than his previous releases but retained the intense focus and introspection one has come to expect from a singer-songwriter whose best works can be appreciated on a poetic level while also serving as impetus to dance, albeit dance slowly. Davis’s music has a cinematic quality that cries out for visual interpretation. In the year we lost Jackie Leven, Mark Davis filled the chasm admirably. Multi-layered, Eliminate the Toxins is so all-encompassing that listeners will find themselves sinking into its warmth.

Captain Tractor’s Famous Last Words was largely ignored at radio but served as a welcome return for the Edmonton collective. Lively stuff, based in tradition (Celtic sing-alongs including “Diamond Joe” “Johnny’s Ghost”) but with no lack of originality and creativity. The songs possesss universal appeal with lots of Alberta references- hockey games, cannibalism (an epic song from Australia sure, but the events described could have just as easily happened on western Canadian prairies), open highways, and local rebellion. This well-played album benefited greatly from the contributions of fiddler Shannon Johnson.

Previously unknown to me, on Valley Home Joe Vickers documented the history of the Drumheller Valley with a focus on the stories and impact of the coal mining experience. Utilizing a variety of approaches, sounds, and tempos, Vickers created a compelling and insightful account of his home community. His music was rustic with acoustic guitar, fiddle, and banjo coming through the neo-traditional mix. More than a history lesson, Valley Home was an engaging set of lively folk-inspired music touching on a broad cross-section of tales: pit ponies, the flooded Red Deer River, Allan Cup champions, ghost towns, miners, and madams.

Collecting 14 seamlessly brilliant offerings, this spring Ben Sures released his most fully-realized recording. Gone to Bolivia opened with a pair of absolutely devastating songs including “American Shantytown” and “High School Steps.” “The Boy Who Walked Backwards Through the Snow” deserves to become a Canadian folk standard. Creating wonderful, fully realized songs of depth with lyrical gems hidden throughout, Sures remains an invigorating voice within the crowded Canadian folk market.

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As I explain in this post, http://www.countrystandardtime.com/blog/FervorCouleeBluegrass/entry.asp?xid=844, I have been suffering from a bluegrass writer’s block. Hopefully, it will now pass. I struggled with this piece and with my reaction to the Larry Cordle song that it is about, but felt I needed to write about it to be able to move on. “America, Where Have You Gone?” is a horrible song, filled with hate and disdain, that breeds intolerance. It is also part of an otherwise outstanding album. I only heard the song and album in late fall, so I realize my reaction isn’t very timely. And Yes, I do now realize I overuse the word ‘hate’. Had I taken another half-hour before posting, I may have realized that, but I didn’t. But the word, and its related ‘hateful’, work just fine for me in this instance.  [My final edit. I hope.] Thanks for visiting Fervor Coulee, and thanks for your patience as I work through the demon-piece this has become. Donald