Would You Like Fries With That? #2

I'm sitting here typing this wondering how much longer I'll have power.  I've already lost it once today for about two hours.  Isaac is bearing down on New Orleans almost exactly seven years since Katrina.  There's no comparing the two hurricanes.  Isaac I'm sitting in my home, intending to ride out the storm.  By this time in Katrina's path I was up in Tennessee staying at my Uncle's house.

It's always a decision on whether to leave for a hurricane.  For those that don't live down here you might be sitting there scratching your head and wondering what there is to think about.  There's a hurricane coming, get out of town.  For those of us that call New Orleans home (and even though I'm not in the city proper but live across the lake on what is called the Northshore I consider myself from New Orleans) hurricanes are part of our lives.  It's not a perverse sense of courting danger, even though it might seem that way with Hurricane Parties and such going on as a storm advances towards the city.  You don't live in this area for long without realizing that more so than in a lot of other cities and states the weather is part of your life here.  You consider the weather to be part of the city and something you have to live with and just learn to accommodate.  I've lived elsewhere and while you talk about the weather somewhere else you live with the weather here.

So when word comes that there's a storm brewing out in the gulf you start wondering if it will come here.  Even when they start out heading towards Florida and are projected to come on land in that state you know that hurricanes never follow the path expected.  Isaac was not supposed to be a problem for us, maybe some rain, but that was the extent.  Now it's bearing down for the mouth of the Mississippi.  Luckily it is a fairly weak hurricane, as far as that goes.  Weak being relative here, any wind that comes through at 100 plus miles and rainfall of perhaps twenty inches is still more than strong enough to cause a lot of damage and destruction.

Right now the wind is whipping through, every now and than you can feel it shake the house.  Looking outside the trees are bending to the strength of the wind.  Still the wind is nowhere where it'll be, maybe at the moment around forty miles an hour, double that coming.  The hurricane is coming ashore and heading towards us.

At first I was going to ride Katrina out.  I went to work that Sunday morning to finish preparing the store where I worked as best as possible for a hurricane and boarding up the last of the windows and doors.  When I went to bed the night before I had resolved to stay.  My parents were going to head towards Tennessee to stay with relatives of my Mom.  That morning the news was reporting that Katrina was likely to be a category 5 and heading right towards the city.  As I worked getting the store prepped I decided that I should head out and not risk it.  I called my Mom and Dad and told them I would be coming with them.

Even though I've decided to stay for Isaac and the strength of this storm will be nothing like Katrina there is always that moment when you stay that you second guess yourself.  I've stayed for most hurricanes, only leaving for a few and there is always that moment you wonder.  You're sitting there, more than likely in the dark because the power is gone, and the walls are rattling from the wind and you can hear the roar of the wind from outside and you think to yourself that maybe this was a mistake.  It goes, but there is always that moment you have to wonder.

After Katrina there was a lot of music made from the storm and the negligence of aid afterwards.  I've written on this site before about Bruce Springsteen's show at the first Jazz Fest after the storm.  Listening to John Boutte take the Randy Newman song "Louisiana 1927" and remake with the truth of Katrina is enough to bring tears to the most hardened of hearts.  But of all the songs I've heard about the storm my favorite is "Washed by the Water" by Will Hoge.



This version of "Louisiana 1927" features Paul Sanchez, John Boutté, John Thomas Griffith, and Sonia Tetlow perform an updated version of Randy Newman's Louisiana 1927 at Schuba's Tavern in Chicago, July 24, 2006. 

Take care.

Would You Like Fries With That?....1

Upfront I’m not going to promise any sort of time table for this.  What this is will be a column that acts as a sort of clearing house of whatever my mind has sitting about.  It may appear once a week, it might not appear for a month or more.  I know the danger of promising a regular schedule and than not being able to fulfill said obligations.  Too many things can happen to get in the way, so no promises upfront but hopefully this will be the start of a regular column.

So what will the column be about?  Whatever I’m thinking of when I sit down to write it, so basically I’m saying it could be about anything or nothing.  What I’m listening to, what new records I’ve received in the mail, what news I’ve heard…heck it might even be what comic book I’ve just read.

Last week two of the best albums of the quickly vanishing year were released.  Alejandro Escovedo’s Big Station is another example of his superb writing and singing.  This man consistently puts out some of the best music.  A few years back I happened to have the privilege of seeing him perform live in a small acoustic setting.  Of all the shows I’ve been to I would count this one in my top ten.  He sat on a stool on the stage and with just one other guitar accompanying him he sang and talked about his life and music. 

The other album is Kelly Hogan’s I Like To Keep Myself In Pain.   Her absence between albums is way too long, so when I saw that she has a new album out I was over joyed.  How good she is is evident by how much time she spends singing with other artists and how much others want her to add her voice to their music.  For the last few years Kelly has been part of Neko Case’s band. 

While writing the above two paragraphs I initially paused when it came time to write Kelly or Alejandro by name.  How do I address an artist when I’m talking about their music?  Do I call them by their first name, as if we’re old buddies or do I go the route of referring to them by their last name and come across more indifferent to them.  Little things like this cause me worry and make me re think my words as I type them.  I’ve decided to err on the side of familiarity and speak of them as if we’re all friends, since that’s how I like to imagine this site filled with friends and lovers of music.

I’ve heard that Will Hoge is working on a new album with the title Modern American Protest Music and let me tell you, just that title alone makes me impatient to hear it.   On Memorial Day he put a song up for the day, “A Folded American Flag” and if this song is any indication of the rest of the album, it may be one of his best.

Recently received here at the sprawling Voices estates was Sam Cooper & The Sleepwalkers newest and it’s went a few spins in the car CD player.   Enjoyable music.

I’m currently reading big day coming by Jesse Jarnow.  The subtitle of the book is “You La Tengo and the Rise of Indie Rock.”   I’m on page 96 and the group just played their first show, so it’s presenting a lot of background information.  The book opens with a brief history of baseball and the field played on in Hoboken New Jersey.  It’s presenting a fascinating history that I was not that familiar with, and definitely did not realize the importance of Hoboken in music circles.  Recently I finished Everybody Loves Our Town by Mark Yarm.  This is an oral history of grunge.  This is the history besides Nirvana.  Of course that group is in the book, but it is so much more than that.  One of the better books I’ve read in a long time.  Also been on a music biography kick lately, reading bios of Ronnie Spector, Greg Allman and Ozzy.  All were interesting and gave me new understandings behind the singers.

I just purchased a new Ipod, one of those new fangled touch screen ones.  My old Ipod is a classic, bought so I could fill it up with as much music as humanly possible.  Unfortunately the touch versions don’t hold as much, still I bought the 64 gig version.  I thought I was going to be smart and use my music from the cloud and I wouldn’t have to download anything, but forgot when I’m not close to a Wifi connection the music stops.  I was driving down the highway yesterday and surprisingly it continued to play for quite awhile, but suddenly stopped and I was in a mini panic, thinking the device had broken until I realized that I was out of Wifi range and was not going to get any more music from any cloud.  So I’ve been taking some of that 64 gig and turning it into music since. 

First up was just about everything I have by Shannon McNally, than some Will Hoge.  Have to have those two in the Ipod.  After that it’s been a cross selection of music that such as Sister Rosetta Tharpe, The Mighty Clouds of Joy and Mahalia Jackson.   As I’ve stated before on this site I’m not a religious person, but this music moves me and I love listening to it.  After the church services I’ve put some Gaslight Anthem, Patty Griffin, Hank Williams, Grace Potter, J Geils, Amanda Shaw, Richard Thompson, Dave Alvin and the list continues to grow.  If you think there’s someone I just have to have in the Ipod let me know.

Last night Elizabeth Cook appeared on Letterman.  (I’ve put a video of part of the show she did with Jason Isbell on The Late Show on the site.)  Elizabeth is an amazing singer and writer, each of her albums just gets better and better.  Her newest is an EP of gospel music.  Besides her music Elizabeth hosts a morning show on Sirius XM radio, that besides some good music she plays is fun to listen to for her comments inbetween the songs.  I’ve read somewhere that after her first appearance on Letterman the host was so taken with her that he has his production team trying to develop a sitcom for her and she’s been spending a lot of her time in Hollywood instead of the music studio.  I’m happy for whatever makes her successful but I’ll miss some of the music she won’t be able to make if she’s doing tv.

I think we’re at the end of this first column.  Like I said at the start there is no format or formal structure to this endeavor so no two columns will read much the same.  Hopefully it’ll be more of a chance for me to talk more directly to all of you out there and feel free to leave comments.  We can turn this into a dialogue and not me just talking at you. 

This is where I need a catchy sign off phrase.  I used to sign my letter peace until peace out became such a catch phrase.  I don’t want to jump on any bandwagon and try to come across as cooler than I am, so I think I’ll just end with a simple statement and hope.  Take care.

A New Will Hoge Song

Thanks to Amy for pointing this one out.

Video Wednesday

Yesterday Will Hoge's new album Number Seven came out and this is the official video from the song "When I Get My Wings" from the album.

Will Hoge Interview

Will Hoge: No Man's Land

Will Hoge Interview

Will Hoge Interview

Will Hoge: Favorite Wast of Time

Will Hoge: The Wreckage

Will Hoge: Baby Girl

Will Hoge Interview

Will Hoge Interview

Will Hoge: Washed By The Water

Will Hoge: Even If It Breaks Your Heart

Video Wednesday

I know, I'm a day late, but I really want to post this video now.  This is Will Hoge's newest song "When I Get My Wings" from his new album Number 7 coming out on Sept 27th.  It is also his debut at the Grand Ole Opry.   You can read what Will had to write about his debut here.  Regular readers of this site will know of our love for Mr. Hoge and this beautiful song makes it that much harder to wait for the new album to come out.

SONG OF THE DAY

Today we feature a song from our Best of the Year.  The song is the title song from Will Hoge's album The Wreckage.

The Best of 2009

I know most Best of the Years are out before the year is even over, but we here at the stately Voices mansion wanted to take our time and make sure that someone didn't slip a great album in at the last minute.  (In other words we're scrambling to try and not be too late in getting this thing up.)

A caveat about this list and best of lists in general.  We can pretend that we think this is the best music of the last year, but what we really mean is that this is the music we liked the most.  Another site or magazine will definitely have a different list, everyone's thoughts are different.  That doesn't mean there wasn't a lot of other good music out there, there was, this was what we found to be the music we listened to the most, that kept finding its way back to our cd players or kept getting hit on our Ipods.

Also we should point out that the point of this site is to highlight those artists that you normally don't see a lot of press for, so our Best of list is going to reflect that.  We run a thin line here between who we think should be featured here and those who appear in the mainstream mags such as Rolling Stone.  We don't want to ignore someone that is making great music just because they had a write up or review in the Stone or Spin, good music is good music.  But you won't see any mention of any acts like Geen Day or U2 who put out music that deserves to be on a Best of list themselves, they will undoubtly find themselves on plenty of such lists for the year.   We want to feature what we consider the Best of that may not get as much attention as we think they deserve.

We'll count down backwards to what we thought the best of the year, just to keep you in suspense.

10.  Some Assembly Required by Assembly of Dust:  A group that has been together for over a decade this roots rock group plays without a lot of flash, but its songs are heartfelt and its emotions sincere.  On this album they gather together a collection of friends and idols such as Bela Fleck, Martin Sexton and Theresa Andersson to help perform the music.

9. Time Stands Still by Chris Smither:  Chris has been performing since the mid-sixties, starting in the New York fold scene with such greats as Eric Von Schmidt.  This is his 13th release and is a stripped down affair, relying on mostly his voice and guitar with quiet help from his bandmates.  This is folk blues at the best.

8.  Middle Cyclone by Neko Case:  This is where the line becomes thin, some people might think Neko has had more than her share of attention.  This album debuted at number three on the charts.  But we love Neko and while she is probably one of the artists here with more recongntion she is still a far cry from being a sure thing.  (We're not sure that makes sense but like we've said before good music is good music and that's the end point of this site.)  Neko has  voice unlike anyone else out there and her writing continues to amaze.  She's moved away from her americana style and is creating her own style.

7.  I and Love and You by Avett Brothers:  This is the major lable debut from the North Carolina brothers.  Rick Rubin produces and while he cleans up their style they still put out a great disc of music.  Pop, bluegrass, punk, whatever the term you want to put to them they put out a great album.

6.  Golden Apples of the Sun by Caroline Herring:  Another singer that's been around for more than a few albums.  She moves away from her country influenced sound to more of a modern feel.  She contributes great original tunes such at "The Dozens" and others about her childhood and upbringing as well as covering songs you wouldn't expect like Cyndi Lauper's "True Colors" but making it her own in doing so.

5. Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit by Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit: In a band of great song writers like the Drive by Truckers Jason still stood out.  This is his release and is better than his solo debut. He writes great story songs and continues the streak here with songs about everday people and their lives.

4. Live at Jazz Fest by John Boutte:  This album is only available through the New Orleans Jazz Fest web page, but is more than worth seeking out.  John has a voice that reminds me of Sam Cooke and is best heard live.  He takes "City of New Orleans" and makes it his song, after hearing his version I can't imagine anyone else doing it as well.  He does a version of Paul Simon's "American Tune" with just Paul Sanchez on guitar that is haunting and beautiful.

3. Written In Chalk by Buddy and Julie Miller:  One of my favorite albums of the year.  Anything this husband and wife does I'm there to listen to.  The song opens with "Ellis County" a song written by Julie about her childhood.  From country to folk to rocking out this song covers it all.

2. Coldwater by Shannon McNally:  This album contains parts of Shannon's unreleased Windswept Moon which we called the best album of the year that it never appeared in but was supposed to.  Like the number one album this is an album made for adult relationships and features her own songs as well as some covers by Bob Dylan and others.  The centerpiece of the album is her own song "Bohemian Wedding Song".  "The battles that you've lost/Are as beautiufl as your victories to me" sums it up for me.

1. The Wreckage by Will Hoge:  Just a little over a year ago Will was seriously injured when a van hit him while driving home from a late night recording session.  Besides just learning how to play again he's had to learn how to walk again.  With the title of this album a lot of people might have assumed it was going to reflect on the accident, but he stays clear of that subject.  What he focuses on here is how two adults can try to live together, love together and what happens when that doesn't happen.  This is most mature work to date and just a remarkable album from the cover to the music itself.

ALBUM REVIEWS

The actual cd version of this album doesn't ship till next month, but I purchased the advance vinyl copy that came out earlier this month. I could write a post about my aversion of switching from vinyl to cd back in the day, but this isn't the place, but suffice to say I am a big fan of the vinyl format.

Before we even talk about the songs I have to comment on the package itself. One of the things that we lost when albums shrunk to the size of a extra large postage stamp cd was the artistry that went into an album cover. An album doesn't have to be Sgt. Pepper's style to be considered artwork, the cover to Will Hoge's The Wreckage is in essence a fairly simple look but it reflects the songs within and in its simpilitcity reflects the artistic choices that go with picking the look of an album's cover.

The album shows a house in slight disrepair, bricks crumbling, paint peeling; but still standing, much like the people Will sings about in the songs within the album. Will stands off to the side, not taking center stage, willing to let the songs speak for themselves. The colors give it an old time feeling, making one think of the best of rock and roll from the past. In the past an album was considered a gatefold, but since so few vinyl albums are made today I think gatefold is fairly standard. Opening the album you find the lyrics on the left and more pictures of Mr. Hoge to the right. I'm glad the lyrics are included, I'm one of those complusive people that always read the linear notes to an album and always reads the lyrics if they're included.

This is an album about grown ups and grown up real world love. The first song "Hard to Hold" summarizes it:

Kisses don't fade like those Hollywood scenes
It gets worse before it turns around

This song lets us know that there aren't going to be easy answers here. Or good guys and bad guys clearly indicated, like so much in life, there are two sides to every story and depending on which side you're on is whether you think you're the good guy or the bad guy.

The next song, "Long Gone" tells of a man in love with a woman that has been hurt too much to trust anyone now and the singer is worried she'll be gone from him before she realizes how much he loves her.

The next song is the title song "The Wreckage" and the music slows from the fast loud sounds that have been playing for the first two songs and the tone gets more confessional. The singer is facing the end of a marriage or love that he should move on from but finds he can't. This is one of my favorite tracks on the album. Will's voice on here has never been better, there is a yearning in his voice that helps carry this song.

The next song the singer "Favorite Waste of Time" cranks the energy back up as the singer sings about a break up.

"Even If It Breaks Your Heart" is my favorite song on the album and fast becoming one of my favorite tracks by Will overall. This is one of those songs Will Hoge does so well. It starts off fairly quiet as it recounts his early fascination with rock and roll and grows in volume as he realizes that the dream he has of rock and roll may never live up to his expectations. Thought the song is about rock and roll it could be about any dream someone has and how tough it is to try and fulfill that dream.

Some dreams stay with you forever
Drag you around and lead you back to where you were
Some dreams keep on getting better
Gotta keep believing if you wanna know for sure

But that no matter how hard it is and how tough the costs you have to keep fighting if you want to capture that dream, it's worth the fight.

The final song on side one (and how strange that sounds nowdays) is "What Could I Do" and it chronicles the betrayal in a marriage. In this song no one is completley innocent. The singer sings about betraying a confindence (you assume it's an affair) that the wife has already committed. Does tit for tat make things right? That's what this song asks and comes up with no easy answers, the singer knows he did wrong, but the hurt from the first betrayal leaves him lost.

Side two opens with "Goodnight/Goodbye" and is about a marriage that has become a shell of two people living together without love or emotion. They are going through the routine, neither willing to admit the truth that it's over and rather they would sink with the ship as the song says.
The details in this song help carry the feeling of truth in the words.

I'm gonna ask about your day
You'll just smile and look away
As you turn the hall light out
You'll ask me how work was
Put on an old t-shirt
As you turn the cover down

"Just Like Me" is the story of a man that changes his habits after his love leaves him. She thinks she knows him and can't understand why he acts the way he is acting now, but he is a different man without her.

"Highway Wings" is the song of a man wanting to get out of a small broken down town.

While "Just Like Me" is told mainly from the man's POV as being in the right, "Where Do We Go From Down" takes that POV and twists it, with the singer admiting that he..."stole from you things no one should steal/And I made in you hurt that no one should feel." From his point there is no hope, he's screwed up too much to be forgiven.

The final song "Too Late Too Soon" is a man's plea to be given a second chance. He knows he has no chance in getting that respite but he still holds out some hope that she might reconsider even though she won't.

In a year with a lot of Big Name album releases, and some great music from these Big Names and even some smaller names, this is one of the best albums of the year. Will has always had a certain sound in his voice, but here it just carries the emotions even more. How much different would this album had been if it had been released a year ago, before his accident we'll never know, but I'm glad to have it here as it is.

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Will Hoge on CBS Good Morning Show

Will appeared on CBS' Good Morning Show this past Saturday. For those that missed it here it is:


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