Steve Earle on Mountain Stage June 7th

Mountain Stage will be in Princeton WV on June 7th, and Steve Earle is on the lineup. There are a couple of Mountain Stage's between now and then; check out the website for the line ups and locations. www.mountainstage.org

Todd Snider's new release on Yep Roc

Todd Snider's new release, Excitement Plan will be out June 9th on Yep Roc records. There was an advance limited edition release, (500 copies) that sold out in less than 48 hours. There is a lot of buzz about the Dock Ellis song, with some previews and interviews etc along with the opening of the baseball season. Todd is also working with this thing called the Brite Revolution, which you should check out, I don't know quite what this entails, but I will find out. Let me know if you do first!!! Todd is "close by' in Kentucky, and then the Virginia DC area's coming up!!!

Emerson Sports Grill Wednesday Open Mike

Bill's got a rollicking open mike night tonight at the Emerson Sports Grill- he's got a solid line up with half hour time slots all mapped out ahead of time, starting at 9 pm and running up till 11:30 pm- so go on out and support this great new live music opportunity here in the 'Burg. He's got his Elvis cohort's son, Chase Sams starting things off; and a very familiar and quality line up past that.

May 3rd Pete Seeger's 90th birthday

I got an announcement from Clay Eals, the biographer of Steve Goodman, who does great "linking and connecting" people around Steve's music, and subsequently many wider good circles of music, about an event he is involved in in Seattle related to Pete Seeger's 90th birthday. And then an update about an event in Kankakee Illinois. Visit his website: www.clayeals.com for some good info about these and other Steve Goodman/ Pete Seeger connected things coming up. The big event in New York will be great to hear about. I think we will do a belated version this summer, in connection with some sort of on-going Woody Guthrie music event. Stay tuned on that one, its a step behind in the planning, getting the Bob Dylan tribute lined up first.

Fred Eaglesmith last night at Stuart's Opera House

Stuart's Opera House was alive last night with Fred Eaglesmith fans from far and wide. Stuart's (as always) was a great venue for Fred's fantastic show. JD Hutchinson was a perfect opening act- with the revived Realbilly Jive band, paved the way for Fred's portion of the show. JD led the band through a spirited and diverse song list in all sorts of swing, gospel-y and all kinds of originality. He's got a lot of friends and admirers in this Athens area neck of the woods.
Fred had some different band mates for this show, other than his drummer/ Merchandise gal- who is great to watch perform, singing along with the songs, smiling and enjoying herself, and really invested in Fred's songs. The two (younger) side men were very solid in their contribution instrumentally and harmonies. Fred was in great form with his story telling and wacky observations on the human condition between songs, and wove through a fabulous set list of songs including working in requests (despite his teasing of the audience about the requests shouted out). With this new unit of musicians, he really can rock out, and then can switch back to some of his acoustic/ roots stuff: the great ones about trucks, farms, small towns, etc. We'll be remembering some of the hilarious stuff he said for weeks/ months. He is a must see when he is traveling through. A look at his tour schedule is exhausting, and they must have some love for the road and the crazy stories and observations they make with each new trip. His story about the Kentucky fan who is growing Bonzai trees was a classic.
Stuart's is gearing up for the folk festival in a couple of weeks, with Willie Nelson headlining a great weekend, and a great festival, that is building every year- the Avett Brothers last year were a great memory. Iris DeMent, Greg Brown, Todd Snider, Fred Eaglesmith have all been great memories for these outdoor Nelsonville events.

Emerson Sports Grill- an open mike tonight

Bill Poole sent around an announcement about an open mike tonight at the Emerson Sports Grill starting at 9 pm. This is a new effort, so we wish him luck. Probably based on the run of Friday night unplugged shows he has been doing, some folks encouraged him to get back into the open mike arena.

Fred Eaglesmith this Saturday at Stuart's Opera House

I am eagerly awaiting Fred Eaglesmith's show at Stuart's this Saturday. Fred is on that list of "must see's" when they are in a radius of 2-3 hours. He has great songs, is a great storyteller, always has good musicians supporting him. Coming off the fine Chris Smither show last week, I am in a good stretch of going to see great music. Sorry to have missed the unusual mid-week Mountain Stage last night in Charleston, Neko Case and Greg Brown were on the bill. Normally I would say Greg Brown is on that "must see" list; but I didn't find out about this till too late, and a work night is rough to break away for.

No Depression blog about National Record Store Day

Record Store Day and the new music industry
View Kim Ruehl's blog
When I was in college, I was half of a singer-songwriter duo. People called what we did "folk music," and I'd never considered that phrase before. It was 1995 - incidentally the same year No Depression printed its first issue. There was an internet and a Yahoo! search function, but it wasn't where you went to find information. The internet, at the time, to me, was essentially a tool for chatting with strangers and emailing the couple of people I knew who regularly checked email.There was no music online, as far as I knew. That came later.I probably could have typed "folk music" into Yahoo! and found a few random articles from reference journals, or something, but it didn't even occur to me. Instead, I went to the place where music was kept, collected, categorized by genre: the local record store.There were a few I frequented back in the day. The main one was Specs Music. I had been shopping at Specs my entire life. I knew the people that worked there. They sold me tickets to concerts, helped me find the best seats. They had seen my musical tastes evolve from Billy Joel to Debbie Gibson to Babes in Toyland to Ani DiFranco and beyond. They had suggested up-and-coming, unknown artists all along. They didn't have much of a folk music section, though. For that, I had to go to Daytona Beach. I don't remember the name of the store, but they sold mostly used CDs.It was from that store that I discovered and purchased albums by everyone from Concrete Blonde to the Pixies, Greg Brown and Danielle Howle. It was the kind of store into which you could walk with ten bucks and the staff would turn you onto something you never would've considered on your own.Record stores like these two shaped me in my formative music-consuming years. They took me by the ears and stretched my tastes in new and exciting, unexpected directions. By extension, they inspired me and motivated my songwriting engine - that very thing that drove me for years from city to city, opening my eyes to regional styles and songwriting traditions, giving me stories to tell and more words to write. It's the same thing that has brought me here today to recall those influences.On Saturday evening, after a long day of watching music critics talk about criticism at the annual EMP Pop Conference, I wandered a few blocks away to Easy Street Records - a mainstay of the Seattle music scene. (Everyone has a story of the artist they discovered while perusing Easy Street's voluminous shelves, or the band they saw just as they were about to break onto the national scene, performing for a small group of locals on the Easy Street stage.)I beelined for the listening station and typed in a random assortment of numbers. I listened to the new Marianne Faithful disc, songs one through five. Then I switched to Lady Sovereign. I pulled up Animal Collective just to see what that's all about. I could have done all of this online, but I didn't. It felt good to be in a space among music fans, all of us searching for essentially the same thing - a song, an album, an artist who could change our minds. You don't get that experience online, you can't feel that energy. Searching for music online is a solitary, intimate act.For a moment, standing in the telephone booth (another antiquated item) that had been converted into a listening station, I felt sad that I - a person whose life has, for 32 years, revolved around my musical tastes - can't recall the last time I purchased an album in a record store. I stood there enveloped in my giant headphones - the kind that go over your ears, not in them - listening to throwback beats on Lady Sovereign's new album, thinking there were only three or four songs I loved on it. I couldn't stomach spending the special Record Store Day sale price of $8.99 when I could get those songs online for $0.99 a pop.I left Record Store Day with zero purchases and a sorry feeling in my stomach.Later the same night, I went to the Tractor Tavern to watch a celebration of recorded music. Star Anna and the Laughing Dogs - one of the best bands emerging from the incredible roots music scene we have here in Seattle - just released their second album. I'd been listening to Star's record all week long, trying to determine how to fill 400 words worth of space in a magazine with my opinion on the disc, which could be more adequately summed up with a single three-word phrase, "I love it." By Saturday night, I was intimately familiar with these songs, but it still felt good to see them come to life.I stood there watching this incredibly tight band weave their way through a set of songs that lay lifelessly on plastic-wrapped discs stacked on a table in the back of the room, waiting to be inserted into someone's stereo and, by extension, their life. I thought about my experience at Record Store Day. I thought about the panel discussions through which I'd sat at the Pop Conference - one panelist talked about how the emergence of record-making brought the listener intimately close to the musician, and another about how the relationship between music reporter and laptop has changed the way we listen to, interpret, and report about music. I thought about how I received Star Anna's new disc - via digital download in an email from the Laughing Dogs' drummer - and wondered about how all these things could exist in concert with one another.But this is our world. Times have changed and this is the way the music industry operates now. Where my musical tastes were built, shaped, and fed years ago by strangers behind a counter in a room full of shelves and discs, they are now ignited by typed conversations with strangers I may never meet - but whose opinions still matter simply because they choose to share them - in Australia and the UK. They are ignited by emails from friends, friends-of-friends in bands, artists I've met at photo shoots, colleagues who post links to MySpace pages via Twitter messages that go out to hundreds of anonymous strangers. And still, even more often, despite all of these digital means that seem to exist to pull me further and further from the people behind the music, I find what I'm looking for in a packed bar where people with instruments stand on a crowded stage, close their eyes, step to the mic, and let go.

I went to record store day....avoided the listening stations at all cost because they lie to you. Sometimes you gotta let the music lay on you for awhile. 45 seconds of listening to some tracks and you move on? There's often layers on things that hide the center of what you're looking for and you're not going to find it standing in a store too often.I left national record day with some records, hopped on my bike and went home and man o man they sounded good.
I hit two shops on Record Store Day and I'm planning on hitting two more this week on-line. (One has a respective brick and mortar halfway across America and the other is on-line only, but all four have mailing list, fortunately for me.)I hear you about accessing new music. I'm still as hungry for new bands as I always was. (I feel very fortunate that my favorite records of all time do not solely consist of records I heard as a youngster.) Yet, I've been turned onto exactly one new band in the last year or so. (The Airborne Toxic Event)I don't hear as many new bands as I once did. The radio doesn't play them, and lacking a good record store, I'm not hearing "incidental" music in the background that suddenly makes my ears perk up.I still long for that moment when you suddenly realise that the music in the background is F**CKING AMAZING and you HAVE to walk out with that album. The list of bands that hit me like that comes off like an all star roster of albums for me. The Rain Parade, The Hangdogs and Radiohead are all "accidental" finds. I got turned onto Whiskeytown at a record store when one of the clerks there who knew me, and knew my tastes told me, "There is this new 45 by this band that you really will love. It's perfect for you." I walked away with the first Whiskeytown 45 that day.Having access to youtube is great. Being able to preview music over the web is a wonderful source, but there is NOTHING like hearing a tune for the first time and feeling that bolt of lightning. I miss having a great local store and I feel like music is lesser for it.

Since we're up in the not-so-high desert, it takes a drive of at least 45 minutes to get to Lou's Records in Encinitas or twice as long to Amoeba in Hollywood. Since we had other plans on Saturday, the kids and I played hooky last Monday and cruised to Sunset Blvd. in order to show our support to indie record stores.If you've seen past posts of mine you may know I'm an exiled music industry weasel, who lost his livelihood to the changing technology but embrace's the accessibility and possibilities of it. And on the other hand, I also miss the record store experience I grew up with and mourn the passing of an era that we'll never see again.The indie stores that are still left these days are barely hanging on. They do it less for the love of money and more for the love of music and a sense that once they go away, we'll never be able to get back to where we once were before. And although I have seen many things come and go through my decades, independent record and book stores are those that I truly cherish and miss the most.Like Kim, I find it hard to afford (and justify) spending ten bucks or more for a CD these days, when I'm able to access more for less via the internet. I'd rather have twenty-five tracks from ten artists than two CD's from two artists. That aside, I picked up a couple new CD's at the full price (like $13-15.99 each) to support the artists. And then I bought 23 CD's off the clearance racks of artists I'd never listened to before because the store makes more profit on those than the new CD's and after all, it was in support of the store that we were there.This might seem like a left hand turn, but in the weeks leading up to Record Store Day I've been thinking a lot lately about Angela Easterling and the new release that she's been working on. She's a ND and Facebook friend, and I've been reading her daily (and sometimes hourly) posts about the problems with her her album graphics, trying to pick out a name for her band and booking gigs during the summer. Aside from being talented and very energetic, she's an artist who is completely immersed in her project from top to bottom. Because the old model is clearly dead, and the new model is still evolving and not quite there yet...it's the personal connections she's cultivating that makes me think she will be more successful than most.Kim senses it's the emails and posts and blogs and communities [and the live performances] that are the drum beaters for new music these days, and I would agree with that. I don't suspect any of it will ever replace the feeling I get when I walk into a music store full of passionate people who mark their success not from the money they make, but the thrill of taking something they have discovered and passing it on. So before it all goes away...if you pass an indie record store and it's not Record Store Day: stop, go in and buy something.But damn, I sure do miss having a local indie store to walk into where the clerk knows me and what I like, and turns me on to new stuff.

Marty's working on the Greens to Louisville

Marty reports that he is working on getting the Greens a gig in Louisville- Yeah! Marty also is going to be seeing Todd Snider there (soon, I think). And I was wondering what sort of celebration Ear-xstacy (spelling?) might have had for National Record Store Day last Saturday. That is always on the list as one of the top music stores in the Country, and its close by where Marty lives!!!

Greens booked a show in Asheville NC

I haven't talked to Andy, but I see on their my space site, that the Greens have a show at the College Street Pub in Asheville in August. This is the place we visited when we went to the John Prine concert down there last month. So this is a good sign hopefully that that paid off. I hope some of the Greens fans down in NC can make that trek over to see them as well as some of the other shows booked in NC these next few months.

Hank Williams Tribute show report

We worked our tails off putting on the Cajun Cook Off and 3rd annual Whole Lotta Hank tribute show Friday night. There will be several posts worth of reflections I am sure. Thanks to all the hard working people who made it go; this was a great team effort, and everybody hopefully knows how much I appreciate the pitching in, and enthusiasm. We have to say we were disappointed with the turnout/ crowd, but we had a great time, and think we have something to build on. There will be "second guessing" about the venue, I am sure, but we gotta try somethings don't we? The music as always was fantastic, The Queens and their band, Steve Peck and Jonny Nutter, and our mystery final performer, all did a great job of a good mix of Hank songs. They are the backbone of these tributes, with their fine music and performances, and working hard on their set lists, and stories. JT and Corey did great setting up the Dils Center stage for the show, and it went smooth. All the folks who worked on the Cajun Cookoff did a great job putting that part on for the first time, and we gained some valuable experience. I think the participants felt "treated" appreciatively, and will feel it was a good event for them. We gave out a huge amount of prizes, mostly thanks to Ashlie's scrambling around these last few weeks. I am pooling the fund raising from the vinyl record sale and the Hank Tribute to go to support the foster care program here at CHS, and we are looking at right around $1000 to support that work in the community.

Vinyl Record Sale yesterday

I had the first vinyl record sale of the year yesterday; capitalizing on it being National Record Store day, to set up in front of the Sound Exchange, in an gesture of symbolic support for their being the bastion of independent music store, and used music sales in the community. Thanks to Shelley and Kim for helping lug the boxes of records, that was a HUGE morale boost, as that gets to be a tedious part of the event. There was a great flurry of activity at the beginning of the sale, and lots of eager browsers. It was great to have Tim Peacock from Stuart's over in Nelsonville make the trip over to browse, along with Matt. It was heartening to have them find alot of stuff; knowing they are true music lovers and have great collections themselves already. Tim wants to come back and look at the "big collection" in the basement of Latrobe St. so that will be fun. Several other "regulars" were fun to re-connect to; and some good conversations among music lovers as always is the highlight for me. Hearing about Jerry's Music store in Pittsburgh is always fun. With some advance sales here at the office, the sale made $268. So that's alot of records sold. Hopefully some happy buyers and future connections, too. Adam Phillips had been over to Haifa's in Athens, and they were celebrating National Record Store day in a bigger way over there, as well as a store down in his town of Charlotte North Carolina. Well, someday we may be better connected to those national efforts to honor music stores. I think NPR was having a story about Billy Bob Thornton talking about the record store of his youth on the news yesterday.

Chris Smither show last night in Charleston

Chris Smither performed last night at the Walker Theater of the Clay Center as part of the Woody Hawley series. Barebones (the acapella group from WV) opened. This was a great night of music, very enjoyable in all ways. Chris is evolving into one of my most respected songwriters and performers with the more times I see him. He has a great lyric touch, his guitar playing is impressive and enjoyable, he tells a great story and is a masterful observer of the human condition. It is fun to hear familiar songs, and then have him work in new ones, and see the growing body of work become familiar. Barebones can add to any show, because of the uniqueness of the acapella sound- great harmonies and song selection, and audience connection. Ron Sowell's got a great thing going with this series.

National Record Store Day

This Saturday is National Record Store Day (visit the website for some fun browsing). Some folks have declared this day to remember the positive impact music stores have had in people's lives, and to support the independent stores in these crazy economic times; and the crazy world of the music business. I don't do nearly enough to promote this, crazily timing it right when I am organizing a tribute benefit the night before, but I keep something going by having a used vinyl record sale this day, April 18th in front of the Sound Exchange, 3417 Murdoch Ave., Parkersburg from 10 am to 2 pm. I lug some boxes of records that I have received through generous donors in the community and sell them for $1 a piece. The proceeds benefit the work of Children's Home Society of WV in the Parkersburg area. I have collected over $1000 each of the last few years with these sales, that goes to support the work we do, such as our neighborhood drop in center in the McKinley school district, our foster care program, our emergency shelter, and our early childhood programs.
I will have the pretty typical mix of classic rock, country, comedy, show tunes and soundtracks, some pretty eclectic novelty stuff. There is much of it that is in good shape, and then some risky buys, that might be best for nostalgia and the album covers!!!! I've been trying to limit the new donations I get in, if they are mostly "easy listening stuff" from the 50's and 60's because most of that doesn't sell well. I have added a feature this year, where I can convert a vinyl record LP to a CD for a donor; if you are hanging on to the records because you just can't part with the memories of the music, you can get a CD version when you donate if you want!!!
Come on out, and browse the stacks of records, and help our cause of serving area children and families.

Hank Williams Tribute / benefit this coming Friday night

I hope you'll come on out to the 3rd Annual Hank Williams Tribute this Friday, April 17th at the Dils Center in downtown Parkersburg. The Cajun Cook off will begin at 6 pm and the music will start at 8 pm. $5 for the Cookoff and $5 for the music are donations to the work of Children's Home Society of WV here in the Parkersburg area. The Cook off is a new twist to these benefits, and I hope folks will support it. The staff of the agency in the foster care program are the ones working on this part of the event, and will appreciate any help anyone feels inclined to give. Give us a shout during the week if you can help out.
The music will consist of sets by Jerry and Lisa Queen and the Neon Moon Band, and Stephen Peck, and Jonny Nutter. Jerry and Lisa have been with the Hank Tributes since they began 3 years ago, and Stephen and Jonny are "regulars" on the Americana tribute stages for our benefits. Last year, Jerry and LIsa brought a "crack" band, including a steel guitar that impressed everyone! Stephen is hoping Arthur Berg can join him again, they wow-ed the audience last year with a solid set, as well as their set at the Johnny Cash tribute earlier this year. Jonny has been working feverishly on his Hank tunes, and will put on a guaranteed great set.
We're going to have plenty of prizes and contests throughout, so come out an enjoy the fun. We've got CD's and such, and a few extra door prizes from the community, and some vinyl records I have dug out of the donations.
After two years at the Boreman Wheelhouse, this is our first venture to the Dils Center for a tribute / benefit, so we'll see how folks like this venue. Please pass the word around town, and come on out for a fine evening of music and Cajun food.

Greens show last night at 6 Pence Pub

The Greens re-united with an enthusiastic fan-base in the Parkersburg area last night at 6 Pence Pub on 7th St. in Parkersburg. It was great to see so many "old" Greens fans out enjoying the music and some dancing and some comraderie. The Greens put on yet another fantastic high energy show, totally geared towards making the audience get engrossed in the music and the enjoyment of a night of dancing and togetherness. The Greens were in fine unified form; working on all cylinders throughout the nearly 4 hours of music.
I was very glad to hear Cars and Horses as the second song (after Tuck's Riff led off the evening). Bookending the night, I was glad that Thunderwear was the closer (except for a couple of encore-type "winding down songs.") This was classic Greens responsiveness to their audience, with many requests satisfied throughout the evening; taking the musical journey in different directions and then in typical amazing Greens fashion going in a whole other direction just as quickly. Their versatility and diversity were on display this night. A goodly number of Greens fans got their weekly allotment of exercise out on the dance floor for sure. It was good to see Drissen back out on the dance floor! The Greens, being that their appearance in the Parkersburg area is limited these days (with all the bookings everywhere else!!) worked in a number of new songs later in the second set, to pique folks curiosity and leave one wanting to hear them again. The Greens played a live music radio show in Morgantown this week, and played a lot of new songs, so they would begin to have them down and recorded. Check out the upcoming Greens show schedule on their my space site; because its a dizzying array.
Beekeeper has a new sound these days; and I like the working in of a lot of vocal harmonizing on newer songs by Ben and Nate. The bar/ server staff at 6 Pence are great Greens fans; obviously enthusiastic about the music and are always sharp with a good request from the Greens song list rather than a cover request.

Greens tomorrow night at 6 Pence Pub

In what is becoming a rare event, the Greens will be in Parkersburg tomorrow night for a show at 6 Pence Pub. Come on out and see the fellahs, and hear about their upcoming travels and exploits. I don't know if the bus will be rolling in to Parkersburg (if you haven't seen it yet)- or if they are driving cars to go to various families for Easter weekend.

been a slacker on the blog posts this week

I traveled earlier in the week; thus making me a slacker on the blog posting. Here it is Friday 'n' all. This is a jumble of stuff: I listened to Tommy Womack, Robert Earl Keen, Lucinda Williams, and the GREENS- on my travels to the Eastern Panhandle and Washington DC area. I stopped to see where the Greens are playing May 15th in Shepherdstown- at a place called the Blue Moon- a very classy place, sure to be a nice venue for the Greens. Chris Smither is playing there around the time he is in WV (Charleston, the 18th)!!!
I hope people can help spread the word about the upcoming vinyl record sale- also APRIL 18- I haven't done much of a job of that. It will be at the Sound Exchange from 10 am to 2 pm. I have a pretty eclectic mix of records to browse through.
Whole Lotta Hank is within one week, and I would love to have help spreading the word down this home stretch. Grab some flyers and post 'em up, or just tell your friends and relations and acquaintances of the event and the guaranteed fun they will have.

Greens play at the Lawn and Garden show at Mineral Wells

It was a beautiful (if still a little brisk!) spring day out at Mineral Wells, where the Lawn and Garden Fair was going on. The Greens had a nice set as the musical entertainment for this event. They played "acoustic" with Andy playing acoustic guitar miked, and Ben playing a 3/4 size upright, acoustic bass. Nate, of course, had drums the "usual way"- their song selection was geared towards a mixed appreciative crowd of traditional music, with plenty of Greens originals in a diverse "all ages" mix. Lots of good friends there; using the day time/ festival time atmosphere to bring young children, and see the Greens in a unique setting. This was my first chance to see the BUS also; so I had a little peek in the door tour of their new means of travel to their ever widening circle of venues. They were on to Huntington for a show this evening. More later!