Brad Paisley: American Saturday Night (Album Reviews)

Brad Paisley: Anythin Like Me (not video)

“Read the song titles before you play the record, and prepare to be surprised. “Anything Like Me”: what does that imply? Well, you might think, it could be a song in which a guy interviews an ex-girlfriend about her current boyfriend, moving through stages of emotion: jealous, combative, pathetic, resigned. Not bad. Well, you lose; it’s so much smarter than that. It’s a about a man at the obstetrician’s office. First lines:

I remember saying, I don’t care either way
Just as long as he or she is healthy, I’m O.K.
Then the doctor pointed to the corner of the screen
And said, you see that thing right there? You know what that means.

It’s an acoustic ballad, with fiddle and mandolin, and the vulnerable daydream goes pretty far. It allows that his future son might hate him; it anticipates nostalgia and anxiety about time lost and, on a basic level, appreciates life. The last word, “me,” is sung by Mr. Paisley’s actual son, Huck. Thanks, and enjoy your day. Next!” JON PARELES, NY Times

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The new album again blends his respect for country tradition with unexpected sonic touches (such as the ’80s-sounding Moog synthesizer on “Welcome to the Future”). He’s audibly proud when he talks about using his touring band in the studio rather than session players who create the majority of music that comes out of Nashville.

“American Saturday Night” leads off the collection with the feel of an instant concert centerpiece, an upbeat singalong outlining the myriad threads in the fabric of the nation.

There’s a big toga party tonight down at Delta Chi

They got Canadian bacon on their pizza pie

They’ve got a cooler full of cold Coronas and Amstel Light

It’s like we’re all living’ in a big ol’ cup

Just fire up the blender, mix it all up”

Randy Lewis, LA Times

Maxwell: BLACKsummers’ Night

Maxwell at Press Conference 4/2009

“Maxwell describes “BLACKsummers’night” as the first of three albums, one a year, and the next two have already been written and largely recorded — though he expects to revisit them as his tour band tightens up. “BlackSUMMERS’night,” he said, will be “full-blown gospel, but gospel turned on its head a little bit.” And the final one, “Blacksummers’NIGHT,” is intended to be “the slow jam record of all time, hopefully of all time ever,” he said, chuckling, “like you might have to include condoms in it.”

Three albums in three years would be more prolific than he has ever been. “Hip-hop has marred people’s perspective on music because it comes out so fast,” he said. “Soul music is not like that. It’s not 16 bars. It’s not about the latest sneaker. I’m not here to talk about things that you can specifically go, ‘This is this moment.’ I’m supposed to say something that can be said all the time, no matter when. And that takes a lot of time.”” Jon Pareles, New York Times

Gretchen Wilson: If I Could Do It Again

Gretchen Wilson: If I Could Do It Again

““If I Could Do It All Again,” the new single from her forthcoming fourth album, is not a bad song by any means, just uninspired and misread–not to mention a bit predictable in its rock-ballad arrangement. It touches on the usual sentiments: She wouldn’t blame others for her own problems, she’d pray more, sing in the shower more, that sort of thing. The lyrics contain very few details specific to Wilson’s life, but instead of sounding universal, the song comes across as slightly anonymous, as if any other country singer could be performing it.

But the kicker comes right before the bridge, when Wilson sings that she would, “Concentrate on who I am/Not who I might have been/If I could do it all again.” It’s unclear whether the songwriters intended those lines to be ironic commentary on this type of navelgazing, but the important thing is that Wilson either doesn’t grasp that game-changing contradiction or can’t convey that she does. Which is too bad: Wilson isn’t the most subtle or nuanced singer, but her voice has real grit and power. She’s better than this song.” Stephen M. Deusner, the 9513

Naomi Shelton and the Gospel Queens

Naomi Shelton & the Gospel Queens

“Naomi Shelton is no ordinary gospel singer. Though she, like many others, grew up singing with her sisters in their Alabama church, she has also spent much of her life in the soul clubs around New York, and her 45s, “41st St. Breakdown” and “Wind Your Clock” b/w “Talking ‘Bout a Good Thing,” have long been revered and prized by funk DJs around the globe. Now, with her first official full-length release coming this May, it’s clear that her singing is equally influenced by both facets of her life. This is soul music – informed by the church, perhaps, but soul music nonetheless, relatable to all. Which means that What Have You Done, My Brother?, an uplifting record that conveys Naomi’s energy, her excitement, her love of music, her compassion, is no ordinary album.

This humility, this generosity of spirit, is also on display at her live shows. From her weekly Friday-night gigs at New York’s Fat Cat, where former James-Brown bassist Fred Thomas helps to fill out the Driver-led ensemble, to special performances at Daptone Revue’s, great care is taken to make sure everyone in the audience feels connected to the music, and in turn, to Naomi herself.

What Have You Done, My Brother? is an extraordinary album by a woman who sings directly from her soul, whose experience cannot be duplicated, whose authenticity cannot be disputed. It’s an album whose positivity, no matter your beliefs, is immediately felt. An album that exudes a happiness, and a hopefulness, that is necessary now more than ever.

Cliff Driver is the musical director of the group, and leads the band with his inimitable honky-tonk piano style. Jimmy Hill, the organist on the record, leads his own blues and R&B band and has a pedigree rivaling Driver himself, including a stint in the late sixties backing Wilson Pickett. The record also features guitarist Tommy “TNT” Brenneck and Bosco Mann, both of Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings and each a producer in their own right. Brenneck is also part of The Budos Band, The Menahan Street Band, and heads his own imprint, Dunham Records. His country approach to rhythm-and-blues guitar handily won him a place at the table with Driver, who often features Tommy’s twangy guitar figures in his arrangements. The drums on the record were played by Brian Floody, a fixture on the bluesier end of the New York jazz scene who beats an indispensable if understated pulse.” Daptone Records, Press Release

Chris Gaffney Tribute – The Manof Somebody’s Dreams

Hacienda Brothers with Dan Penn: What’s Wrong With Right (Live)

“A founding member of the Hacienda Brothers and a renowned west coast country-soul singer/songwriter, Chris Gaffney moved people as much with his smile as with his trademark croon. Gaffney passed away in 2008 after a courageous battle with liver cancer and is survived by his family and the litany of musical heroes he called friends and collaborators.

…

The track list reads like a who’s who of country, rock and americana, with heavyweight friends like Alvin, Joe Ely, Los Lobos, Calexico, Alejandro Escovedo, Tom Russell, James McMurtry, fellow Hacienda Brother Dave Gonzalez and more, all weighing in with their versions of Gaffney’s classic country tunes.” Yep Roc Records

Holly Williams loves stripped-down music

Holly Williams: Without Jesus Here With Me (only song, not video)

““I don’t want to reject country music because obviously that is what made my family,” she says. “But I was not raised on country. We listened to everything. I love stripped-down music like Nick Drake and Leonard Cohen. But I have to be careful in interviews in Nashville because if I say I don’t listen to country radio, I sound like I am being snobbish. It is a very political world. I love Dolly Parton because she is a great songwriter but I also love Radiohead. But in Nashville they have never heard of those people. Even Bob Dylan is considered way out there.” Bernadette McNulty, Telegraph

Sarah Darling: Jack Of Hearts

Sarah Darling: Jack Of Hearts

“From the moment Black River first saw 25-year-old Sarah in a showcase, the label knew it had discovered someone special.” That Nashville Sound

“While Darling has a similar voice to Swift, she really has a stronger and ‘more country’ vocal that is never more evident than on “Stop The Bleeding” and first single “Jack of Hearts.” Matt Bjorke, Roughstock

Tracy Lawrence: The Rock

Tracy Lawrence: The Rock (no video, the song only)

““Up To Him,” the lead single from the album, was written by David Kent and Tim Johnson and while it’s struggling to find a large radio audience at the release of “The Rock,” the song is worthy of any spins it gets.  The lyric finds Tracy in the person of a hard-working man who “hopes for the best, plans for the worst and works like it’s all up to me and pray that it’s all up to him.”   It’s the kind of song that’s ripe for our times but that may just be why the song is struggling at radio. “ Matt Bjorke, Roughstock

“The Rock is a gospel record that offers a spiritual journey of hope, inspiration, and uplifting messages that will brighten the day of anyone who is feeling down, having second thoughts about themselves, or even someone who feels that they have lost their way at some point or another. This record is so strong that is can be listened to over and over or simply at times when things are rough.” Scott Sexton, About.com

George Strait: Living For The Night

George Strait: Living For The Night (New Single from his upcoming album “Twang”)

“This single is different than all of George’s previous singles because he co-wrote it with his son Bubba (George Strait, Jr.) and Dean Dillon. “Living For The Night” sounds like a classic after one listen with classic guitar leads and steel guitar moans leading the way as strings lay softly behind George’s vocal about the loss of someone that he loved.” Matt Bjorke, Roughstock

Diana Jones: Better Time Will Come

Diana Jones: Better Time Will Come

“The music on the record is built around the familiar fiddles, mandolins and harmonies of rural Appalachia, and yet there’s no regionalism to speak of in Ms. Jones’s supple, loamy alto. She sings of the hard times, murderous urges and chilling loneliness that haunt the old Anglo-Celtic ballads but, with one exception, sets her plain-spoken narratives resolutely in the present. She approaches the mountain-ballad tradition not as a curiosity or antique but as a renewable vernacular that’s just as capable of speaking to the human condition now as it was 80 years ago.” BILL FRISKICS-WARREN, New York Times