On the Eastern rim of the Adirondacks, the scenic gem of Saratoga Performing Arts Center was sold out and loaded with the dedicated fans of two nationally respected touring acts; neither of which has released an album of new material in over 3 years.
When Nickel Creek mandolinist/vocalist Chris Thile entered the studio to record the band’s third album, Why Should the Fire Die?, due August 9th, he did as he always does: took a shot of Jameson’s and lit a candle.
“The studio needs to be dark,” Thile says. “I don’t want to be reminded by my surroundings that what I’m singing about isn’t happening right then. I like to really dissolve into the story. But the Jameson’s I use more for keeping my vocal cords relaxed and clear.”
Recording in Los Angeles with producers Eric Valentine (Third Eye Blind, Smash Mouth) and Tony Berg (Aimee Mann, Michael Penn), the California bluegrass trio — Thile, guitarist Sean Watkins and violinist and younger sis Sara Watkins — approached the sessions with a newfound confidence after winning a Grammy for 2002’s This Side. “As a band we have started to come to terms with what we have to offer,” Thile says. “On our first two albums, we were concerned about the perceptions of what we could do as a bluegrass band or a country band. This time, we felt completely at ease with those perceptions.”
The result is an incisive collection of traditional bluegrass and alt-country rock that Thile says was inspired by relationships, both intimate and removed. “The title alludes to dissolution,” he says. “The deeper you get in with anyone, certainly the darker and more complex it becomes. It seems like most relationships, particularly romantic, inevitably deteriorate . . . including, recently, my marriage.”
Among the new songs are the Celtic-infused “Scotch & Chocolate” and a delicate cover of Bob Dylan’s “Tomorrow Is a Long Time.” But it’s the storytelling and swirling instrumentation of “Helena” that Thile considers “the ultimate climax” of the record. “All moments in the album point to that second when the drums begin to swell,” Thile says. “As a songwriter, I was happy with the development of the character and how he deteriorates before your eyes and exposes himself to be the desperate, conniving asshole that he is.”
Despite Nickel Creek’s success, Thile doesn’t feel any outside pressure. “All the pressure is self-imposed,” he says. “We feel incredibly confident that we can beat what we did last. And we have. We obliterated the last one.”
The trio will head to Europe before kicking off a North American tour on September 30th in Burlington, Vermont.
Nickel Creek tour dates:
9/30: Burlington, VT, Higher Ground
10/1: Burlington, VT, Higher Ground
10/2: Portland, ME, Merrill Auditorium
10/4: Philadelphia, Electric Factory
10/6: Boston, Orpheum Theatre
10/7: New York, Nokia Theatre Times Square
10/8: Charlottesville, VA, Charlottesville Pavillion
10/9: Washington, DC, 9:30 Club
10/11: Baltimore, Rams Head Live
10/13: Charlotte, NC, Ovens Auditorium
10/14: Atlanta, Fox Theatre
10/15: Nashville, War Memorial Auditorium
10/16: Nashville, War Memorial Auditorium
10/17: Lexington, KY, Singletary Center for the Arts
10/20: Columbus, OH, Newport Music Hall
10/21: Cleveland, House of Blues
10/22: Ypsilanti, MI, Pease Auditorium
10/23: Indianapolis, Egyptian Room
10/25: St. Louis, The Pageant
10/26: Chicago, Vic Theater
10/28: Milwaukee, WI, Pabst Theater
10/29: St. Paul, MN, Fitzgerald Theatre
10/29: Minneapolis, State Theatre
10/30: Madison, WI, Orpheum Theatre
11/1: Kansas City, MO, Uptown Theatre
11/3: Dallas, Gypsy Ballroom
11/4: Austin, Stubbs Bar-B-Q
11/5: Helotes, TX, Floores Country Store
11/6: Tulsa, OK, Cain’s Ballroom
11/8: New Orleans, House of Blues
11/10: Louisville, KY, Brown Theatre
11/11: Birmingham, AL, Alabama Theater
11/12: Greensboro, NC, War Memorial Auditorium
11/13: Norfolk, VA, Norva Theatre
11/15: Charleston, SC, Charleston Music Hall
11/16: Knoxville, TN, Tennessee Theater
11/18: Orlando, FL, Hard Rock Live
11/19: Tampa, FL, Tampa Theater
11/20: Jacksonville, FL, Florida Theater
12/1: Denver, Fillmore Auditorium
12/2: Park City, UT, Eccles Center
12/3: Spokane, WA The Big Easy Concert House
12/4: Seattle, Paramount Theatre
12/6: Portland, OR, Roseland Theater
12/7: Portland, OR, Roseland Theater
12/10: San Francisco, Warfield Theatre
12/11: Reno, NV, Reno Hilton Theatre
12/14: Tempe, AZ, Marquee Theater
12/15: San Diego, House of Blues
12/16: San Diego, House of Blues
12/17: Los Angeles, The Wiltern LG
Source rollingstone.com.
Hot Karl is a bonafide MC, with a delivery that’s fluid and old school.
Ater what was such a fun and successful tour in April, Jimmy Herring has decided to join The CodeTalkers once again this time for the complete month of August. Jimmy has many connections with The CodeTalkers: for years he played with Col. Bruce Hampton, who, after parting ways with Herring and others, formed The CodeTalkers five years ago with Bobby Lee Rodgers. After sitting in with the band during this year’s Magnolia Festival, it was obvious a new connection had been made. Rodgers and Herring hit it off musically, and just such a project has been brewing now for a while.
For more information, please visit the CodeTalker’s website
CBGB, the club Hilly Kristal opened in 1973, which would eventually become known as the birthplace of punk, is facing it’s possible last days. In conflict with the Bowery Residents Committee over back rent and impending rate hikes, the club’s lease expires on August 31st. And while efforts are made to save the historic venue, the future of the seminal club remains unknown.
Blues singer, songwriter and guitarist “Little” Milton Campbell, whose gritty vocals and songwriting recalled B.B. King’s rough-edged style, died today (Aug. 4) from a stroke, his record company said.
The 71-year-old Grammy-nominated guitarist and singer known for writing and recording the blues anthem “The Blues Is Alright” never awoke from a coma following a stroke he suffered on July 27 in Memphis, said Valarie Kashimura of The Malaco Music Group.
Born to sharecropping farmers near the Mississippi Delta town of Inverness — his father, “Big” Milton Campbell, was a local blues musician — “Little” Milton picked up a guitar at age 12 and recorded his first hit for Sam Phillips’ Sun Records at age 18.
Discovered by blues-rock pioneer Ike Turner, Campbell went on to score dozens of rhythm and blues hits and was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1988.
Though acclaimed in blues circles, Campbell never achieved the fame of King and some other American bluesmen. Nevertheless, his nearly constant touring took him all over the world.
After signing with Bobbin Records in East St. Louis, Illinois, Campbell recorded “I’m a Lonely Man” and “That Will Never Do.” A long association with Chicago’s Chess Records produced the 1965 hit “We’re Gonna Make It,” which coincided with the civil rights movement. Other hits included “Baby I Love You,” “If Walls Could Talk,” “Feel So Bad,” “Who’s Cheating Who?” and “Grits Ain’t Groceries.”
“Annie Mae’s Cafe” and “Little Bluebird” were hits he recorded with Memphis’ Stax Records, which he joined in 1971 before the label’s demise.
Source billboard.com.
You can expect more horns and more Canadians on Broken Social Scene’s highly anticipated new album, which was originally dubbed “Windsurfing Nation” but will now be a self-titled affair. The set is due Oct. 4 via the group’s own Toronto-based label Arts & Crafts.
It’s the follow-up to 2002’s breakthrough “You Forgot It in People,” which has sold more than 77,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The set also won a Juno Award for best alternative album.
Despite Broken Social Scene’s success, no one is quite sure just how many people make up the group. Fellow Arts & Crafts labelmates like Apostle Of Hustle’s Andrew Whitemen, Stars members Amy Milan and Evan Cranley and songstress Leslie Feist are revolving members. The new self-titled effort also features rapper K-OS, the Weakerthans’ Jason Tate and the Dears’ Murray Lightburn.
To read more visit billboard.com.
The Pixies’ triumphant 2004 reunion tour will be chronicled on a DVD due Oct. 4 via Rhino. The bulk of “Pixies Sell Out” is drawn from a July 3, 2004, show in Belfort, France, featuring such favorites as “Gigantic,” “Bone Machine,” “Monkey Gone to Heaven” and “Here Comes Your Man.”
Sixteen additional songs will be included as bonus tracks, including “Caribou,” “Gigantic” and “Into the White” from the Pixies’ 2004 appearance at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival. Other cuts were shot at such festivals as Austin City Limits, Fuji Rock, Voodoo, Move and T in the Park.
The Pixies have continued to draw big box-office numbers during their 2005 tour, which plays Albany, N.Y., tonight (Aug. 4) and will find the group playing its first full-length acoustic set Saturday at the Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island.
Afterward, 12 international dates are on tap, beginning Aug. 17 in Porto, Portugal. As previously reported, the Pixies will then join Beck, Oasis and the Killers at the inaugural Across the Pond Festival, which will be held Oct. 1-2 simultaneously at Brooklyn’s Key Span Park and Staten Island
Here is the track list for “Pixies Sell Out”:
“Bone Machine”
“Wave of Mutilation”
“In Heaven”
“Something Against You”
“River Euphrates”
“U-Mass”
“Bone Machine”
“Cactus”
“Ed Is Dead”
“I Bleed”
“Monkey Gone to Heaven”
“Hey”
“Levitate Me”
“Subbacultcha”
“Dead”
“Gouge Away”
“Velouria”
“Mr. Grieves”
“Crackity Jones”
“Broken Face”
“Isla De Encanta”
“Tame”
“Here Comes Your Man”
“The Holiday Song”
“Where Is My Mind?”
“Vamos”
“Wave of Mutilation”
“Gigantic”
Bonus performances:
“Caribou” (Coachella)
“Here Comes Your Man” (Move)
“Debaser” (T in the Park)
“Gigantic” (Coachella)
“U-Mass” (Lowell, Mass.)
“Crackity Jones” (Fuji Rock)
“Nimrod’s Son” (Fuji Rock)
“The Holiday Song” (Fuji Rock)
“Subbacultcha” (Austin, Texas)
“Vamos” (Austin, Texas)
“No. 13 Baby” (Lowell, Mass.)
“Planet of Sound” (Voodoo Music Experience)
“Is She Weird?” (Lowell, Mass.)
“Into the White” (Coachella)
“Where Is My Mind?” (Move)
“Monkey Gone to Heaven” (Move)
Source billboard.com .
Rolling Stones fans will get a little heavy metal with their classic rock during the group’s Nov. 13 and 15 shows at San Francisco’s SBC Park. Metallica has been drafted as the opening act for those performances, joining the ranks of previously announced support bands as Pearl Jam, Maroon 5, John Mayer Trio, Beck and the Black Eyed Peas.
“These two shows are about nothing more than having fun and playing music — nothing to sell, nothing to promote, nothing to talk about, no f***in’ agenda at all,” Metallica writes on its official Web site. “Simply put, this is the reason we started a band 25 or so years ago, and we are psyched and appreciative of this awesome opportunity to get cracking again.”
Source billboard.com.
Neil Young will be joined at his upcoming stand at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium by Emmylou Harris, Wayne Jackson of the Memphis Horns, the Fisk University Jubilee Singers and Carl Gorodetsky and the Nashville String Machine. As previously reported, the Aug. 18-19 shows will be taped for a concert film by director Jonathan Demme.
Sources say the shows are expected to encompass a complete performance of Young’s new album, “Prairie Wind,” due Sept. 27 via Reprise. As on the record, the artist will be backed at the Ryman by keyboardist Spooner Oldham, pedal steel guitarist Ben Keith, drummer Chad Cromwell, percussionist Karl Himmel and bassist Rick Rosas.
A small amount of tickets will likely be available to the general public closer to the date of the event. Paramount Pictures will release the film in theaters and on DVD, but no schedule has yet been announced.
At deadline, the only other shows on Young’s schedule are a Sept. 18 appearance at Farm Aid outside Chicago and Oct. 29-30 at his annual Bridge School Benefit outside San Francisco. However, sources say the artist is mulling a handful of other dates in the fall.
Source billboard.cpm.
