Archive: 2011

The Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Beautiful Loser was from Michigan and he sang about open fields, small town characters, and lonely teenage nights that struck a chord with my own Midwestern home. Just at the onset of my sexuality when I, in my lost cluelessness, needed a manual for approaching, charming, and loving women, I found it in the songs of Bob Seger.

Charlie Louvin, half of the country and gospel music duo the Louvin Brothers, has died at the age of 83 after a battle with pancreatic cancer. The singer had undergone surgery to treat the cancer in July, but his health had been declining steadily in recent weeks. Along with his brother and musical partner Ira, […]

The folks at Superfly have announced the first round of the 2011 Superfly During Jazzfest Concert Series, which includes performances by Galactic, North Mississippi Allstars and The Funky Meters. On April 28th, Galactic will perform on the Riverboat Creole Queen. The next night will find the North Mississippi Allstars playing the Riverboat Creole Queen, while […]

I’ve been to over 50 Umphrey’s McGee concerts in a wide variety of venues. No matter where the band performed, you could always count on hearing the perfect mix thanks to the work of sound caresser Kevin Browning. Today, Browning announced that he will no longer tour with Umphrey’s McGee starting on Feb. 1st, after […]

With plans for their long in the works covers record with Rick Rubin scrapped, CSN members David Crosby and Graham Nash have found themselves with some new spare time on their hands. The two members of the legendary folk-rock group, who have not only parted way with Rubin, but also with Columbia Records, have decided […]

Hey Jude was the B-Side to the 1968 single Revolution by The Beatles. This single was the Beatles first release on the Apple label. Originally titled Hey Jules, the song was written by Paul McCartney in reference to John Lennon’s son Julian. One of my favorite online Beatles resources is Alan W. Pollack’s site, click here to read all the musical (and other) information you would ever want to know about Hey Jude.

The Contestants:

Leading off this week we’ve got The Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi Soul Stew Revival courtesy of a great recording from That Tent at Bonnaroo. Source: 6-15-2008

Video from the Legendary Rhythm and Blues Cruise January 2009:

READ ON for more nine more covers of Hey Jude…

When drugs and getting fucked up are part of a band’s legend, it feels hypocritical to take said band to task for getting too wasted to play at a level anyone would consider adequate. Yet, Aaron Freeman – aka Gene Ween – of Ween’s performances of late have moved well beyond “hey, it’s Ween, of […]

Of all the bands I caught on Jam Cruise 9 that I had never seen prior to the trip, no act impressed me as much as California’s ALO did. This is the rare band that knows how to craft a song with a hook and can then jam the fuck out of it. Everything about ALO’s music screams fun and good times, so you’d stick out like a sore thumb if you didn’t dance or smile at one of their shows.  

For an example of the group’s songwriting prowess, check out the video for I Love Music off their latest release, Man of the World…

ALO – I Love Music

This weekend, the quartet embarks on Tour d’Amour V, which finds ALO touring throughout California to play shows that benefit Music in Schools Today (MuST). ALO will be joined by Blue Street Junction in Arcata on Friday night and Sean Hayes on Saturday at The Fillmore in San Francisco. Starting Wednesday, February 9th, the group finishes the run with nine shows in 12 days along with troubadour Nathan Moore. Be sure to catch these guys if you live near one of the cities on this tour. For more on ALO, read Dennis Cook’s recent feature on JamBase.

READ ON for a full list of Tour d’Amour V dates…

Our new friend Marc Millman joins us once again to finish recapping a special night in New York City. Last Tuesday night, Marc caught Gregg Allman’s album release party at the Bowery Ballroom before heading down to Brooklyn Bowl for the Soul to Soul II benefit. Here’s his take and photos on the second half of the benefit that according to Jambands.com raised over $20,000 for the victims of last year’s earthquake in Haiti…

As I reported last week, Tuesday night was one of those times that you can put aside all the bad things about this dirty old city we live in and relish in the fact that we can go see great music just about anytime and anywhere…and sometimes even more than once in the same night.

[All photos by Marc Millman]

Following an opening set by Brooklyn-based rockers The London Souls, Lettuce welcomed the Night Tripper himself, Dr. John, out for a few songs. We arrived  at Brooklyn Bowl right as Lettuce’s first set ended. Timing is everything, so there was no hesitation in grabbing a booth by the bar and ordering up some of the amazing food prepared by my favorite restaurant in all of NYC, Blue Ribbon. And just as we finished up our late night feast, which featured the amazing fried chicken and the best appetizer on this planet, egg shooters, Lettuce came back out. So somewhere around the stroke of midnight, we were treated to a two-hour set that featured the legendary sax player / band leader / James Brown & P-funk sideman Mr. Maceo Parker.

• Soul to Soul II Videos: Maceo Jam #1 Pt. 1, Maceo Jam #1 Pt. 2, Shake Everything You’ve Got, Hey Pocky Way, Pass The Peas and Sam Huff’s Flying Rage Machine

Lettuce kicked off the set with some of their own funk-heavy material. Around the second or third song, Maceo set things off with some old James Brown jams. And then ?uestlove of The Roots joined in for a few on the second kit before ceding his seat to Nikki Glaspie (Lettuce/Beyonce). Both drummers were laying down some serious funk beats that in combination with Adam Deitch’s work really moved the crowd.

READ ON for more from Marc on Soul to Soul II…

Social D ‘aint changing for nobody.  Rocking the soul country punk since the Carter administration, Mike Ness and the boys return for the first time since 2004 with Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes.  Storming out of the gates with the instrumental “Road Zombie”, the band declares their intention to pick up exactly where they left off – chunky power chords remain front and center and the pounding, punchy drums thrash on.

Steve Earle is set to release I’ll Never Get Out Of This World Alive on April 26th via New West Records.  The album is the anticipated follow up to the Grammy Award winning 2009 release Townes.  The 11-track set was produced by T Bone Burnett and is Earle’s first collection of original material since his […]

2010 was a year of making noise and news for the Band of Heathens. With 200-plus show dates, a fifth anniversary celebration, appearances at Lollapalooza and other top national festivals and a taping of Austin City Limits with Elvis Costello, it is remarkable that the Heathens even found time to write and record a new […]

Not nearly so memorable as his Higher Ground show of 2006 nor anywhere near as spectacular as recent shows with his Allman Brothers, Gregg Allman’s performance in the Green Mountains nevertheless suggested he brought a definite sense of self-renewal with him from his home in the Deep South.

For a nine-piece, groove-based band with no vocals, the Budos Band can sure pack a house. The anticipation for this Daptoe Records-flavored ensemble was certainly at a fever pitch, as the sold-out crowd at the Independent could attest to on Friday night.  There is no question these guys have built a reputation as a no-holds-barred, funk-blast of a band, and this sweaty night was no exception.  With a gritty Staten Island-flavored street swagger, Budos dug deep into their catalog of minor-key grooves and exercised their craft of selfless ensemble playing.

Van Halen have started work on their first album with original frontman David Lee Roth in 26 years. News that the band were set to work with producer John Shanks, who has most recently worked with Bon Jovi and Take That, broke last year, and Shanks has suggested that he’s now gone into the studio […]

The Strokes announce the release date for their highly anticipated fourth album, Angles, on March 22nd via RCA records in the US, and March 21st via Rough Trade Records in the UK. A new single titled "Under Cover of Darkness," will be heard on radio starting in February. The complete track-listing for the album can […]

On April 23, 2011 Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, and Anthrax will be appear in Indio, CA at the Empire Polo Club, where the Coachella Festival takes place the weekend before.  After successful international shows, this is the only scheduled stop in America this go around for the Big Four.  Tickets go on sale this Friday, January […]

Today marks the 50th Anniversary of one of the most important moments of Bob Dylan’s life. On January 24, 1961, Zimmy arrived in New York City after a 24-hour car ride from Minnesota and immediately headed down to Cafe Wha? in Greenwich Village. The rest – as they say – is history. Our friends at […]

When last week’s announcement that Rhino would be putting out a $450 limited edition release featuring all of the Grateful Dead’s legendary Europe ’72 tour came down, there was a question as to whether all 7,200 box sets would sell out. Well, not only was every single Europe ’72: The Complete Recordings box set snatched up […]

Beyond the obvious associations of flux capacitors, 1.21 gigawatts & lightning, there’s a new distinction we need to make regarding the DeLorean. Doc & Marty have inspired a pair of great bands to name themselves after their stylish time machine: the one spelled “Delorean” is the Spanish dance-rock band, and the other, the focus of today’s interview, spelled Dolorean, is a fantastic Americana-folk group led by Al James out of Portland.

[Photo by Sarah Jurado]

After releasing three albums in just five years prior to 2007’s You Can’t Win, Dolorean took the last four years as a reprieve, having come to the realization that they needed to slow it down. The constant studio output and subsequent touring grew exhausting, so they decided to put the music on their own time-line, and in doing so, put forth one of the first great records of 2011 called The Unfazed.

The Unfazed works as a quasi-concept album about acknowledging life’s anxieties without getting too bent out of shape; rolling with the punches. It’s entirely apropos in that the album’s mantra serves as a direct parallel to both the band’s hiatus and the album itself, as a living embodiment of being “unfazed.” By accepting the stresses, regaining control of the process and doing it at their own speed, Dolorean gave the music time to grow around the easy feelings and in essence, created a perpetual spiral, whereby this idea of The Unfazed flowed through into the music and the music in turn now embodies the idea of being Unfazed.

Hidden Track: So, let’s begin with this idea of “The Unfazed” that permeates the new album. I gather that this is saying something to the effect of “The Unfazed” are people who can sort of deal with bullshit and go about their lives without being too affected by the annoying burdens?

Al James: In some ways it’s about not dealing with the bullshit, but the flip side of that. It is accepting it, embracing it and not being surprised by it. It’s about not being caught off guard when things go completely off the rails (because the usually will) and just maintaining perspective. Living unfazed is a position of empathy and understanding.

HT: It’s probably not a great example, but that idea made me think of Bernie Madoff for some reason. The guy never showed an ounce of emotion in the face of blunder that probably caused more stress than any human could normally endure. So, who are some other people that come to mind when you think of The Unfazed?

READ ON for more of Ryan’s chat with Al James…