While My Morning Jacket continue their extended hiatus, they did manage an animated reunion. The Southern Rockers will be featured prominently in an upcoming episode of Fox’s American Dad entitled
Kevn Kinney’s an easygoing, disarmingly funny kind of guy, but when he gets down to brass tacks — singing and wailing away on guitar, that is — he packs quite a wallop of soul, R&B, power pop, rock, folk, country, blues and more than a little grit.
That’s long been the secret sauce for the music he’s made with Drivin’ n’ Cryin’ and solo: easy to get into, often lighthearted and even funny, but let it get to you, and you realize it’s loaded with heartbreak, wrenching drama and deep soul. The phrase “Drivin’ and Cryin'” — the band itself’s name taken from one of Kinney’s own songs — pretty much covers it. So does Straight to Hell, perhaps Kinney’s best-known song and something of an anthem in southern rock circles.
The band first formed in 1985, and why it never blew up much beyond its southeast U.S. fan stronghold is one of those music industry curiosities that just never made any logical sense. The present lineup, in place more or less since 2001, includes Kinney and co-founding bassist/mandolinist Tim Nielsen, along with drummer/percussionist Dave V. Johnson and guitarist Mac Carter.
This year yielded Drivin’ and Cryin’s first full-length studio album in 12 years, Whatever Happened to The Great American Bubble Factory.
Kinney lives in Brooklyn these days and often makes the rounds at his favorite New York country and roots haunts (his wife, Shayni Rae, runs the ongoing Shayni Rae’s Truckstop jam, now on occasional Wednesdays at the Bowery Electric). But this month is momentous for another reason: Drivin’ n’ Cryin’ itself has several gigs coming up that represent the band’s first northeast tour dates in more than a decade. HT checked in with the man to find out, well, what took so long.
HIDDEN TRACK: We don’t get to see Drivin’ n’ Cryin’ in the northeast too often. What gives, man?
KEVN KINNEY: Ha, yeah, Drivin’ hasn’t played up here — no, hasn’t played north of the Mason Dixon since we were on tour with The Who in, I want to say, 1997. I’ve been back and forth for seven or eight years — New York and Georgia — since 2001, and i’ve been up here full time for three years. We’ve been doing Shayni Rae’s Truckstop. It was me and Anton Fier and Catherine Popper and the Madison Square Gardens and others. What a great scene that was. READ ON for more of Chad’s chat with Kevn Kinney…
I caught an amazing Bruce Springsteen show this past Saturday night that was so good I was inspired to seek out some Boss bootlegs to add to my collection. Luckily,
We’ve been singing the praises of Van Ghost for over a year at this point and we were excited to come across the band’s first webisode featuring footage of the
Originally, the purpose for The Midnight Rambles at Levon Helm’s Woodstock home-recording studio – otherwise referred to as The Barn – was to serve as a way for the legendary drummer of The Band to recoup money from his mounting medical bills after battling and overcoming throat cancer. Helm’s iconic and unmistakable voice was down to barely a raspy whisper after radiation treatments which forced him into resting his vocal chords.
While he had to rely on his capable band to provide the vocals, Helm was able to return to his signature perch behind his drum kit for what must have provided a cathartic release till he was ultimately able to sing again. Over the years the legend of the Rambles have grown, with everyone from Elvis Costello to Dr. John to Donald Fagen to former bandmate Garth Hudson showing up and sitting in with Levon.
When an invite was extended to head upstate to take in a night at The Barn, as a monster fan of The Band I was salivating at the opportunity to see Levon in such an intimate and undeniably unique setting. Since I couldn’t make it out to Indio for Festival 8, a Halloween Midnight Ramble was the next logical choice. Pulling into the sleepy town of Woodstock in the late afternoon on an overcast and rainy late fall day, we were greeted to a full-on Halloween parade by the locals in the streets of the small downtown area that helped to set the tone and atmosphere for the rest of the evening.
READ ON for more of Jeff’s All Hallow’s Eve experience…
As action-packed as the spring was for God Street Wine, it’s been incredibly slow for GSW news ever since. Today, I wanted to post a video of one of my
As another top-flight year with his Railroad Earth mates winds to a close, Todd Sheaffer will take a trip down memory lane before it ends.
[All photos by Adam Kaufman]
Last month came word that Sheaffer and the other former members of From Good Homes — the eclectic, cult-beloved New Jersey group that didn’t quite escape the 1990s — would reunite for the first time in a decade to play two shows, scheduled for December 18 and 19 at the Wellmont Theatre in Montclair, NJ.
Hidden Track caught up with Sheaffer recently to hear a little about the long-awaited Homes reunion and what Railroad Earth has in store for the new year, too.
HIDDEN TRACK: Railroad Earth seems well. You guys have been staying busy.
TODD SHEAFFER: We’re good, really good. We’ve got some big shows coming up. and we’re going to be doing a big New Year’s run out in San Francisco and Portland. It’s awesome — we’re doing a couple nights at the Fillmore, which is one of the great venues of all time of course and one we obviously love to play at, and we’ll be in Portland for the new year again, like last year. READ ON for more of Chad’s chat with Todd Sheaffer…
Last Week’s Sauce is a recurring column featuring recordings of shows from the previous week. Thanks to tye for this week’s photo.
Artist & Title: Bela Fleck & The Flecktones – Blu-Bop
Date & Venue: 2009-11-04 Vicar Street, Dubline Ireland
Taper & Show Download: Taper Unknown
There are interesting things going on over at the Bela Fleck camp. With saxophonist Jeff Coffin gigging full-time with Dave Matthews Band, the Flecktones have reverted to their 1992 lineup that features Howard Levy on keyboards and harmonica. This track was off the 1991 Grammy nominee album Flight Of The Cosmic Hippo. The Flecktones play tonight at The Melkweg in Amsterdam and are back in the USA starting November 18th at the Strathmore in Bethesda Maryland.
[audio:https://glidemag.wpengine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/flecktonesauce.mp3]Some video from four nights later in Prague:
READ ON for tracks from Club D’Elf, Guster, The Meat Puppets & WSP…
Umphrey’s, the little band that could from the Midwest, is still out 100 plus days a year throwing rock shows peppered with excellent covers and chops galore. This is how its always been. But this fall when the band traveled to the Mishawaka Amphitheater something special happened underneath that Colorado moon and it has kept on happening all over the country.
The band has been more focused as of late with more patient, momentum building grooves that emphasize the whole rather than the sum of its parts. Don’t get me wrong, Umph is still umph, and the threat of metal is always around the corner, but there are some must hear musical moments that show a definite turning point in Umphrey’s improvisational language. The groof has found them and we here at Hidden Track want you to hear it.
[Photo by Jennifer Kirk]
This installment starts in Las Vegas, NV. Vegas has always been a big vibe location for Umphrey’s. This particular night, Brendan told the story of the first time the band played in Vegas and put all the money they earned on black, urging the opening band, Iration, to do the same. This Professor Wormbog will be the first of many highlighted “Profs” in this ongoing series, and seems to be the anthem of “Team Umphrey’s”. Kris allows the groove to develop slowly and the jam results in some funky exploration.
[audio:https://glidemag.wpengine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/wormbog.mp3]READ ON for the ITK > #5 > ITK from Salt Lake City…
The last person you would’ve expected to show up at a Joe Perry Project concert was off-again/on-again Aerosmith singer Steven Tyler. Tyler and Perry have been at war through the
