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“The Story of the Day That I Died” by Junior Sisk & Ramblers Choice

Junior Sisk & Ramblers Choice
The Story of the Day That I Died
Rebel Records
4 stars (out of 5)

By Aaron Keith Harris

There’s something about Junior Sisk’s voice that makes it perfect for bluegrass. It’s got the ragged edge of a Blue Ridge mountain top, and he balances emotion and restraint like few of his fellows in country or bluegrass.

That means that he kicks the heck out of straight-up, hard-driving numbers like the McCoury-esqe “High in the Mountains” (with banjo man Jason Davis giving Rob a run for his money), the whimsically sadistic “Old Bicycle Chain,” the nostalgic “Good to See the Home Place Once Again” (check out Billy Hawks’ greasy fiddle break), and “Drinking at the Water Hole,” an anthem for those of us in southwest Ohio with roots in the Commonwealth across the river.

There’s plenty more packed into this 12-track, 36-minute project, most notably the title track, which Sisk puts across with the pain and humor required for a tale of a creative way to get back at your cheating wife. “The Story of the Day That I Died,” written by Ashby Frank, could easily pass for a long lost Tom T. Hall track and is a sure contender for song of the year at the various bluegrass awards.

One of the best vocals of Sisk’s career is “If the Bottle Was a Bible,” his wounded vocal getting every drop of meaning from the rich lyrics co-written by Ronnie Bowman. There’s more hard emotion on “A House Where a Home Used to Be,” which favorably recalls both George Jones’ “The Grand Tour” and Longview’s “Lonesome Old Home.” And speaking of Longview, Joe Mullins brings his incomparable banjo picking and tenor voice to an old-school duet of “Lover’s Quarrel.”

Mandolinist Chris Davis leads on the contemporary gospel of “Prayers Go Up,” and bassist Josh Tomlin steps out front on “Another Lonely Day,” adding a slightly more mainstream tinge to a well-produced album that’s puntcuated by a kickin’ run through the traditional banjo instrumental “Jesse James” and “Walking in Good Company,” a gospel co-write between Sisk and his father, Harry Sr. that could have been written 50 years ago.

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“Kiss My Doublewide” by Bobby Dean

Bobby Dean
Kiss My Doublewide
Lamon Records
2.5 stars (out of 5)

By Larry Stephens

As the title track kicks off I begin to envision the video: a smoky bar, lots of young, ruggedly handsome guys and young, beautiful women in tight jeans, all crowding forward with waving arms and looks of adulation. Then reality sets in. I’ve played those smoky bars and clubs and most of the men were not young, nor rugged, nor handsome, and the women …

But I digress. That’s what music should do—take you to another place. “Kiss My Doublewide” is a good honky-tonk song and Dean carries it off well. The unnamed band is competent, but it’s hard to say more about them because country music rarely features the band except as a backup to the singer and a few turnaround licks. Dean’s (not to be confused with Bobby Dean and his Timeless Country Band) voice is on the unusual side, described as “twang” in his press release. Think of Jim Nabors singing a country song in his Gomer Pyle voice and you won’t be far off (that’s descriptive, folks, not poking fun at anyone).

The CD follows a pattern of cover songs and an occasional original, all originals attributed to McGee/Schnyder. The CD could stand more original music and fewer covers because Dean doesn’t hold up well on ballads, especially when you make a mental comparison to the original artist. There’s too much twang to do a heartbreaker.

“Country Country” (give it a second and you’ll get the title) is a play on what, in the writer’s opinion, makes country folks country folks (now I’m doing it) but I confess the only time I drink from a mason jar is iced tea at Nick’s in my hometown. It makes a good country song but it also underlines another issue with this CD. Being indie and recording using your own wallet forces some decisions about economy, but he recycles a few too many numbers here. “Country Country” was the title song of his previous album, and he also recycles “Me and George Strait,” a well written love song, and “The Grand Tour.” Dean’s twang is too pronounced to grab your heartstrings the way George Jones did with this song.

“Little Sister,” an Elvis hit, is hot enough that Dean carries it off but “Don’t Cry Momma,” his version of Presley’s “Don’t Cry Daddy,” just doesn’t capture the mood because of the twang.

“Tonight I Climbed the Wall” (Alan Jackson) doesn’t fare well but “Brokenheartsville” (Joe Nichols) is a better song for him though the twang is strong.

There’s a niche in the country music field for Dean, but his honky tonk is better than his broken hearts.

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“It’s Just a Road” by the Boxcars

The Boxcars
It’s Just A Road
Mountain Home Records
5 stars (out of 5)

By Larry Stephens

Have you read and heard the arguments about what is bluegrass (or country, or southern gospel, or whatever) and what isn’t? Despite all attempts at definition (including “it ain’t bluegrass without a banjo”) the most persuasive argument is sometimes, “I know it when I hear it.” Some CDs and some bands may leave you scratching your head because the music is enjoyable but it has to be hammered just a bit to fit into the bluegrass niche you’ve formed in your mind.

If you’re comfortable with the likes of Flatt & Scruggs, Bill Monroe, Larry Sparks, and Jimmy Martin, to just name four, in the “yeah, that’s bluegrass” category, then you’ll not be disappointed (or prompted to disturb your hair follicles) when you listen to the Boxcars. They have just a little experience in the music: Ron Stewart is a multi-instrumentalist who has played with many stars, including JD Crowe; John Bowman started with Doyle Lawson then played with Alison Krauss and the Isaacs; Adam Steffey also played with Krauss and the Isaacs, and has recorded and performed with a long list of country and bluegrass stars plus being named mandolin player of the year nine times by the IBMA; Harold Nixon was part of Crowe’s New South for six years and plays a fantastic bass (watch this break!); and Keith Garrett was part of Blue Moon Rising. He is a singing definition of bluegrass and is making his mark as a composer.

Even great pickers and singers like this band can go astray without good material. That’s not an issue on this CD. The title cut is from the pen of Garrett as well as “Cornelia,” a blues-infused, swinging number about a heartbreaker that should be sung around campfires at every festival. Nixon takes a break on the doghouse bass that will have audiences applauding everywhere they play. Garrett also co-wrote “Caryville.” Bluegrass lovers love dark songs and one line from this song should be enough for you to buy this CD: “I don’t think God lives in Caryville.”

According to the band’s website, they went into the studio with no plan for the recording. Plan or not, they managed to reach back through the years for some great songs. When the Carter Family recorded “I’m Leaving You This Lonesome Song” (listen to a bit of it) it moved along at a good pace, but The Boxcars shred the landscape with it, leaving no doubt about their instrumental prowess. Another from the Carter Family is the “Coal Miner’s Blues” and they take a Hank Williams’ ballad, “Never Again (Will I Knock On Your Door),” and supercharge it.

Ron Stewart’s no slouch as a songwriter, either. “The Devil Held The Gun” is a dark song about love gone wrong while “Skillet Head Derailed” (wouldn’t you love to know where that title came from) is an instrumental that will be copied by many regional bands.

From the happy “You Took All The Ramblin’ Out Of Me” to “Trouble In Mind,” an oft-recorded (Eddy Arnold to Janis Joplin, Tennessee Ernie Ford to Jerry Lee Lewis/Willie Nelson/Merle Haggard/Keith Richards) blues standard from 1924, recorded here as uptempo swing, they take you on a bluegrass roller coaster. Your only question when it’s over is, can I ride again?

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“They Called It Music” by the Gibson Brothers

The Gibson Brothers
They Called It Music
Compass Records
5 stars (out of 5)

By Donald Teplyske

At a time when select Americana labels seldom release a bluegrass album, Compass Records is coming to the fore as a consistent source of good bluegrass: the Special Consensus, Dale Ann Bradley and Larry Stephenson, of course, but also Peter Rowan, Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen, Rebecca Frazier, the Bankesters, and Claire Lynch… the new releases keep coming.

The Gibson Brothers joined the Compass fold a couple albums back, and since that time have rapidly built upon the foundation they established recording with Hay Holler and Sugar Hill. Each of the album’s I’ve heard from the Gibson Brothers has had much to recommend it, but there comes the time where a new album from almost any superior bluegrass band is met with a bit of a shrug. We tend to take our “stars” a bit for granted, expecting every album to be “great,” whatever that means.

Maybe I’m only speaking for myself, but I suspect I’m not.

By near any measure, the Gibson Brothers are at the pinnacle of the bluegrass world. They are the reigning International Bluegrass Music Association Entertainers of the Year, and have picked up a handful of awards from that organization the past three years. At various times, they have topped the most significant bluegrass charts- Bluegrass Unlimited, Bluegrass Today, and Bluegrass Music Profiles.

They Called It Music is pretty darned fabulous. One cannot accuse the Gibsons of resting on their laurels; they continue to push themselves toward producing stronger, more varied music, recording songs that they have spent time uncovering, as well as more than a few they’ve written themselves. The gentler, songwriter-type songs are adroitly mixed with catchier radio numbers, a pair of which—”Buy A Ring, Find a Preacher” and the title track—are frontloaded.

No two songs can be confused, and the album’s closing number, an Eric Gibson composition entitled “Songbird’s Song” is incomparable; transcending bluegrass while strengthening its definition, this one may prove timeless.

There is no mistaking the vocal intensity of the Gibson Brothers, and on They Called It Music the emphasis on harmony is as palatable as ever. Leigh Gibson, the younger brother, has a smooth, pleasing voice while the Eric’s is higher, more piercing and Del-like: lovely, that.

No matter which is singing, it sounds real good. Leigh’s finest of many lead turns may be on a terrific new song from Joe Newberry, “The Darker the Night, the Better I See;” this barstool anthem is pitiful and blue—absolutely beautiful. I was gobsmacked from the moment he sang, “I’ve honky tonked most all my life,  my day begins at the edge of night.”  Leigh also takes the lead on his brother’s “Dusty Old World,” a song that contains the album’s cleverest line: “My heart’s a loyal hound and when love it’s found, it won’t leave your side once its tracked you down.”

Meanwhile, Eric shines when singing Mark Knopfler’s “Daddy’s Gone to Knoxville” and the title track, a song that emphasizes artificial labels are less important than the music itself. Reno & Smiley’s (and the Paisleys’, and Cowboy Copas’)  “Sundown and Sorrow” serves as a fine snippet of what the Gibson Brother’s sound is all about—yesterday’s classic lines within a sleek outfit designed for today.

The duo return to Shawn Camp on this album. Written with Loretta Lynn, “Dying For Someone to Live For” flat out stops time; this one could go on repeat for an hour without bother. As well, with Camp the brothers wrote the reflectively sentimental “Something Comin’ to Me”, a song made more personal to the co-writers with the addition of lyrics in honour of their passed father.

Their band had been stable until the recent departure of Joe Walsh, who plays mandolin throughout this album. Walsh’s contributions to the album are obvious, and I appreciated his playing several times, including on “Dying For Someone To Live For” and his gentle kick-off to “Home On The River.” Fiddler Clayton Campbell lays out sweetness at every opportunity (as on the album’s lead song) while co-producer and bassist Mike Barber appears to be in for life considering how long he’s been part of the family; his exploration of deep tones is much appreciated within “Something Comin’ to Me” and “Home On The River.”

A masterful recording, this eleventh one from The Gibson Brothers. If it ever did, it should no longer matter from which state they originate, or whether their family roots are entwined with Kentucky grass. The Gibson Brothers know bluegrass like few others, and they perform it as enthusiastically and professionally as the finest in the business. Indeed, an argument could be made that, with this album, they demonstrate that they are the finest in the business.

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“Old Sock” by Eric Clapton & “Electric” by Richard Thompson

Eric Clapton
Old Sock
Surfdog Records
1 star (out of 5)

Richard Thompson
Electric
New West Records
5 stars (out of 5)

By Aaron Keith Harris

Eric Clapton’s place as the godfather of rock guitarists is undisputed—of course because of his brilliant early work, but also because he seems like a nice guy who has outlived greater talents like Hendrix and Duane Allman—but as a solo artist his work has been erratic, reaching a new low with the fittingly—and frighteningly—named Old Sock. All of the adjectives it brings to mind apply to this 12-track, 53-minute set that nearly put me to sleep on a recent road trip.

There are only two new songs here—more about them later—and the remaining 10 are don’t seem to have been chosen for any other reason that the minimal effort they required. A folksy “Goodnight, Irene” and a syrupy “Born to Lose” (from Ray Charles’ country and western phase) would be bad enough, but tossing in three chestnuts from the so-called Great American Songbook in as well, all with shimmering strings and Roy Conniff-style backing vocals, is just painful, surpassing even the dreck that Rod Stewart has been shoveling for the last decade or so.

“Further on Down the Road” (Jesse Davis/Taj Mahal), “Till Your Well Runs Dry” (Peter Tosh), and “Your One and Only Man” (Otis Redding) sound like faux-reggae rejects from the 461 Ocean Boulevard sessions, while the late British blue guitarist Gary Moore’s “Still Got the Blues” is most assuredly devoid of any trace of the purported blues. A soft arrangement, a lazy vocal, and a brief guitar solo that could have been pieced together from three or four other solos from different songs just doesn’t cut it.

Neither of the new songs did Clapton write. “Gotta Get Over” almost comes to life, but not quite. It’s a decent song, with a decent vocal and lots of those familiar guitar fills that Clapton does better than anyone, but which have been done to death. The other original is “Every Little Thing,” which may have already wrapped up the award for worst track of 2013. Not only is it another of the faux-reggae lot, complete with a faux-Marley title, but its chorus halfway in assaults the listener with the worst sound that can be captured by a recording engineer: a children’s chorus. After this debacle, I’d be surprised if we ever got a good new track out of Clapton again.

However, the constant stream of great work from Richard Thompson continues. Electric was recorded in Nashville with Buddy Miller producing, with Thompson including, for the most part, just Taras Prodaniuk on bass, Michael Jerome on drums, and, occasionally, Siobhan Maher Kennedy on backing vocal. Without anything to hide behind, Thompson’s strengths as a singer, songwriter, and guitarist—both electric and acoustic—continue to amaze.

“Stony Ground,” “Sally B,” and especially “Stuck on the Treadmill” have the thump and heft of the sort of rock songs that aren’t getting made much these days: a cranky guy belting out pointed lyrics and driving the point home with guitar solos that sound like the gleam on a shiny new barbed-wire fence you glimpse as you’re about to hit it face-first after being thrown over the handlebars.

“Salford Sunday” and “Where’s Home?” have the folk tinge that Thompson’s work has had since his days with Fairport Convention, the latter featuring the incomparable Stuart Duncan on fiddle and some of the Buddy Miller sound that one might have expected on the rest of the disc. (I also wanted a Thompson/Miller guitar duel, but I guess Buddy knew better). “Straight and Narrow” is another rocker that Thompson does well—a grungy look at an unattainable, frustrating vamp—but I’ve never cared for the Farfisa organ sound.

Another Nashville luminary—Alison Krauss—lends her translucent voice to “The Snow Goose.” Though it’s only for a couple of slight passages, the two voices together are as as gorgeous as a summer sunset sliding through the clouds.

Thompson has always been able to write about the bitter and the sweet of mature relationships as well as anyone, and “Another Small Thing in Her Favour” and “Saving the Good Stuff for You” are two more that resonate more deeply than anything new I’ve heard lately.

“My Enemy” and “Good Things Happen to Bad People” are aptly situated near the middle of Electric, and they amount to 11 devastating minutes of haunting melody, harrowing guitar work, and a vocal/lyric meditation on self-hatred and contempt for the world that holds everyone to account. The effect is not quite cathartic, leaving the listener to deal with the scab that’s just been scraped off.

Electric is my frontrunner for this year’s best album, and it’s going to take something remarkable to change that.

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“Born Bad” by the Tina Adair Band

Tina Adair Band
Born Bad
TAB Music
4 stars (out of 5)

By Larry Stephens

If you’ve been around bluegrass awhile you may remember Tina Adair. She is a multi-instrumentalist and an excellent singer. Her first release, Just You Wait & See, was released in 1997 and climbed to the top ten in the charts. She released another album in 2000 but then disappeared from the national bluegrass scene.

But she’s back, joined by husband Tim Dishman (Special Consensus) playing guitar and singing harmony (plus bass on the CD), Sim Daley, hailing from the bluegrass mecca of Cornwall, England (but now in Nashville) on banjo, and Forrest Goodman playing bass (in the band but not on the CD). She wrote six of the songs on the CD and proves to be an adept songwriter.

She touches country music with a duet with Billy Dean, “Tomorrow & For Always,” featuring some fine Dobro work by Randy Kohrs. This is a love song with a modern country music sound. “Don’t Grieve” is a love song, too, but with a different twist: one of them has gone on to Heaven and this is a message back to the one left behind. Written by Adair, it will tug at your heartstrings.

She doesn’t forget bluegrass’s gospel roots. Included is the old hymn, “Farther Along,” sung as a choir and with a piano. It has a nice touch but the choir sounds like they’re singing in a coliseum and you’re at the wrong end. I wish they had mixed that one differently. “Go And Tell Jesus” is done at a fast pace, driven by the banjo and bass with a good guitar break, a contrast to the Primitive Quartet’s earlier recording. She also does a nice touch with a gospel quartet favorite, “Just a Little Talk With Jesus.”

“Snaker Dan” was composed by banjoist Daley and lets the band show off their instrumental chops. Bluegrass is chock full of great instrumentalists and the members of this band don’t need to take a backseat to any of them.

The title song starts out with a biblical reference but it’s more about the child who was told she was born bad. Another Adair composition, this should be a big hit for her. Good lyrics, good arrangement; this is a track you’ll play over and over.

From a bluegrass rocker like “Now Forever’s Gone” to “Heart I Had To Break,” a slow song that pulls the emotions from your heart, she shows here she can do it all. It’s a shame she’s been gone for so long. Let’s hope she’s back on the scene for a long time.

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“Captains & Cowboys” by Mike Aiken

Mike Aiken
Captains & Cowboys
Northwind Records
4 stars (out of 5)

By Larry Stephens

I don’t care much for today’s “country” music. It’s become a blur of lookalike, soundalike singers doing pop songs – at least that’s my take on it. Give me “classic” country. But Americana and other sounds labeled as “roots music” are closely related, and, like classic country, seem to be genres without a home. That’s where Mike Aiken puts his music, and why we do what we do here at the Lonesome Road Review.

This is Aiken’s sixth album but I confess I didn’t recognize his name or music until I checked his website, then one song popped out: “Jagger & Jones.” Listening to Captains & Cowboys other names began popping into my mind: Waylon, Hank Jr., Toby, Adkins (really, “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk” isn’t the highlight of his career). Aiken’s music is too country to be likely to hit the charts and that’s a shame, because it is great listening.

“Take the Boy Fishin’” has a great hook (pun intended), something my son might say in a few years when my granddaughters start dating. The singer is meeting his girlfriend’s father, a fisherman, for the first time.

What’ya say we go fishin’, just you and me

A whole lot can happen when you’re out at sea

You might calm the deep waters or make the sea roll

Ride back in the captain’s seat or swim back to shore

Alrighty, nothing like a challenge for the girl you love. “Your Memory Wins,” on the other hand is the other end of the trip. “When the whiskey wears off, you’re still gone …” while “Bring Out the Bourbon” is a story about two people, potential lovers or not, sharing their lives over a drink or three.

His songs are about life, whether a lament about how we are selling the Appalachians to the Chinese “one coal train at a time” (“Coal Train”) or the hunt for and destruction of our world’s whale populations, built on the lilting sounds of an old-country fiddle tune intro (“Save The Whales”).

Aiken’s a good singer, whether it’s a sensitive lament like “Whales” or trying to explain the inexplicable, why someone would give up love and a comfortable life to be a cowboy (“Night Rider’s Lament”). He’s backed by borrowed musicians who know their craft, including Michael Webb (Poco) and Tammy Rogers (fiddle and mandolin; SteelDrivers).

He ends the albums with a description of his life. In “Captains & Cowboys” he’ll “save the babies and kiss the ladies,” while living life his way. Aiken has lived on a sailboat for twenty years and sailed the seas. He’s also raised horses and been a farrier. That’s a person who is hard to pin down and his music reflects that.

If you like country music that tells stories of life and isn’t just a riff and a soundbite, you need to have some Aiken in your life.

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