Tag Archives: Dori Freeman

The Loneliest Roots Music Festival of 2020

This was published at No Depression: The Journal of Roots Music’s website, on my first day of self-isolation or whatever y’all want to call it. As you’ll see below, my area had 98 cases on March 13 2020, and as of today, sixty-one days later, there are 32,673 cases with 1,313 deaths. Knowing that “One day in April it will just disappear…it’ll be a miracle” was just another lie, I suspected we would all be craving live music. Putting together this video music festival was an idea behind the times, as a week or two later musicians began to livestream on social media. Now, mammoth events are taking place and people are spending a lot of time watching and hearing some great content. In any event, I still like my choices, and thought you might enjoy them as well. What do you have to lose?

As I sit in my apartment a few miles north of New York City, and only a few minutes away from what we’re now calling The Containment Area, I wait for the pandemic to land at my doorstep. In our little corner of Westchester County there are now officially 98 cases of the coronavirus reported, schools are closed, the National Guard has been dispatched, I witnessed a fight over toilet paper at the local Costco this morning, and, God help us, they’ve sold out of frozen pizza at Trader Joe’s.

With millions of people living in the tri-state area you might think that a few hundred confirmed cases doesn’t sound all that threatening, but all the public health officials are warning it’s only the beginning. The World Health Organization‘s Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, announced that “We are deeply concerned both by the alarming levels of spread and severity and by the alarming levels of inaction.” (The Washington Post — or #fakenews as some call it.)

While Tedros could be right, he’s probably not heard that here in America we’ve already developed an antidote to the virus. It seems that a weekend of playing golf at Mar-a-Lago and shaking hands with possibly infected ass-kissing conservative politicians and donors will make you immune to all future illness. And if for some reason that fails, we’ll be arming every doctor and nurse with automatic weapons and orders to shoot the germs on sight while we begin building walls around hospitals.

If you think I’m making light of this human tragedy, it’s only because I’m anxious and nervous, and humor is a form of relief. You see, at my age with an underlying medical condition and being a Democratic Socialist who likely conspired with the Chinese to cause this to happen, my odds of beating this virus if it lands at my doorstep aren’t all that great. And so here I am, acting like a young Brian Wilson: in my room.

Sadly, you’ve likely heard that music festivals and tours are being canceled in rapid succession. Musicians, record labels, and fans have lost money that they probably barely scraped together to attend SXSW in Austin. Marketing and launch plans have turned to dust, and the organization will not be issuing any refunds. To add insult to injury, any national economic relief plan that the DC superstars put together will exclude participants in the arts.

For almost six years up until 2016, Couch By Couchwest was a great way for musicians to share their music. Running concurrently with SXSW, the online video festival let anybody upload a clip to their site and you could tune in whenever you wanted and catch both pros and amateurs. I heard a lot of great music, made lifelong friends, and it beat the inconvenience, heat, and cost of any outdoor festival. If you guys are still out there, this would be a great time for a revival.

Lacking that effort, I’ve put together my own mini-fest of some recent (mostly) live videos for your enjoyment. Please wash your hands for 20 seconds before watching and try not to breathe. And please, stay safe.

For more information on finding sources for online concert streaming, check out this article from the San Francisco Chronicle. And for news on the financial impact the virus is having on the music industry, here’s an overview from Fortune.

Milk Carton Kids and Rose Cousins – “Wild World”

Nathaniel Rateliff – “And It’s Still Alright”

The Reckless Drifters – “Drivin’ Nails in My Coffin”

Dori Freeman – “Walls of Me and You”

The Mastersons – “Eyes Wide Open”

Honey Harper – “Tomorrow Never Comes”

Nora Jane Struthers – “Nice to Be Back Home”

Bonny Light Horseman – “Jane Jane”

John Moreland – “East October”

Tré Burt – “Caught It from the Rye”

Terry Allen & The Panhandle Mystery Band – “Abandonitis”

Charles Wesley Godwin – “Coal Country”

Courtney Barnett – “So Long, Marianne”

This was originally published at No Depression: The Journal of Roots Music’s website, as an Easy Ed’s Broadside column.

Many of my past columns, articles, and essays can be accessed here at my own site, therealeasyed.com. I also aggregate news and videos on both Flipboard and Facebook as The Real Easy Ed: Americana and Roots Music Daily. My Twitter handle is @therealeasyed and my email address is easyed@therealeasyed.com.

Still Listening To Music On Your Radio?

Photo by Alex Loban/Pixabay

Is there anybody else out there that recalls listening to music on your radio? I’m talkin’ late-night listening, twirling the dial and discovering stuff you’ve never heard before? Well, you can’t much variety anymore, especially when it comes to Americana or roots music. I’ve become a sophisticated streamer who zigs and zags through curated playlists, still reads the last of the music blogs, and tries to find good music to share. Hopefully, some of these clips I’ve posted below will turn you on to something new.

The summer music festival season has now come and gone, many of us have watched and discussed ad nauseam Ken Burns’ 16-hour Country Music series, and the annual awards for both Americana and bluegrass music have been handed out. But before you curl up and pretend you’re a hibernating bear, I thought I’d bring your attention to some recent releases that may have slipped past you in the sweltering heat of the summer.

And by the way, I’d like to mention that I think Greta Thunberg is one awesome young woman, and we’re damn lucky to have her and a new generation rising up and challenging the old men with their power grips on our planet. Global warming ain’t a hoax.

Let’s get to the music.

Luther Dickinson and Sisters of the Strawberry Moon – Solstice

The North Mississippi Allstar just wanted a producer credit but the label chose to slap his name on it for whatever reasons labels choose to do such things. The collective of musicians and singers includes Amy Helm, Amy LaVere, Sharde Thomas, Birds of Chicago, and the Como Mamas. Recorded over four days at the Dickinson family’s Zebra Ranch Studio down in Independence, there was no ability to take this project out on the road given everyone’s various commitments. But it’s a helluva record that you might want to check out.

Joan Shelley – Like the River Loves the Sea

I have a particular fondness for the musical genre of “soft-spoken women playing acoustic guitar,” and my favorite Port Royal, Kentucky export has released her latest solo album, traveling to Iceland in order to lay down the tracks. I’ve lost count of how many albums she has out now, but it’s close to a half dozen and if you look hard enough you’ll also find her on several other projects.

Audie Blaylock and Redline – Originalist

As a teenager in the early ’80s, Audie Blaylock played mandolin with Jimmy Martin & The Sunny Mountain Boys and stayed with them for over a decade. After playing in Rhonda Vincent’s band, he formed Redline about 15 years ago. While they play in the traditional bluegrass style, they also add new tunes to keep the music relevant.

Dori Freeman – Every Single Star

Recorded last winter in Brooklyn with Teddy Thompson producing, as he did for her last two albums, this one features 10 new original songs from the pride of Galax, Virginia. As Appalachian music is generally considered a family tradition, Freeman also plays with the Willard Gayheart Family Band, featuring her grandfather, her own father Scott Freeman, and husband Nick Falk.

Ana Egge – Is It the Kiss

I believe this marks Egge’s 12th album in 22 years, and it’s another Brooklyn-recorded project. She is a songwriter, guitarist, and vocalist who defies being pigeonholed into one genre or another, but every project she’s done is its own unique gift for the listener. This one swings into both country and soul territory, and Alec Spiegelman gets kudos for his production and arrangements. Love that Iris DeMent is a guest as well.

The Small Glories – Assinboine & The Red

Based in Winnipeg, this duo features Cara Luft, an original member of the Wailin’ Jennys, on clawhammer banjo and guitarist/singer JD Edwards. Known for their unique stage banter as well as their music, this is their second full album and they have also put out two EPs.

Emily Scott Robinson – Traveling Mercies

If you’re a regular reader of my column you already know about Emily Scott Robinson, as I can’t stop writing about her. Traveling Mercies is my favorite album of the year, and this storyteller and vocalist touches me deeply with her lyrics. This first song is the one that has given her much press, as it speaks in very personal terms of her own sexual assault.

I’ll leave you with one more from Robinson, because I’m in a very sharing mood. And that’s the way it is on a hot day in autumn.

This was originally published as an Easy Ed’s Broadside column at No Depression: The Journal of Roots Music’s website.

Easy Ed’s Favorite Un-Americana Albums of 2016

Last week the Americana Music Association released its year-end list of songs that got the most airplay on Americana radio, and in the next few weeks No Depression and other like-minded music websites and mags will publish their own music polls. If I were a betting man, I’d lay down a few hundred dollar bills that there’ll be little variation or surprises between them. Ever since the term roots music has morphed into a more definable mainstream “Americana” tagline, diversity has seemed to have left the building. While you won’t get much disagreement from me on the quality of music on AMA’s list since virtually all of the artists are located somewhere in my digital jukebox, it seems that lately I find myself taking the road less traveled.

Every year I designate much of my listening time on studying music from the past, and this year I dipped deeply into the catalogs of Norman Blake, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, The Delmore Brothers, Doc Watson, and a lot of jazz: Lucky Millinder, Chick Webb, and several anthologies from the 1920s and ‘30s culled from lost and found 78s. For a few weeks this summer I blasted through the box set This is Reggae Music: Golden Era, which covers only 15 years beginning with 1960, and breaks it down into mento, rocksteady, ska, R&B, early reggae and the birth of roots. Good stuff.

As for albums released in 2016, I’ve come up with a short list of my own favorites that somehow have failed to make the “official” Americana chart, and consequently may be missed in this endless parade of polls and lists that’ll stalk the internet with killer click bait titles. I’m choosing to call it Un-Americana … and that’s a name and a genre descriptor that just might stick.

The Handsome Family – Unseen

“Unseen finds Brett and Rennie Sparks two years after an unexpected spike in popularity due to True Detective fame, while simultaneously finding the duo displaying an outward reverence for the genre and subsequent fan base that has bolstered them to alt-folk antiheroes … one would be hard-pressed to find more true-blue progenitors of the darker side of American music who are still working hard to get you to question a bump in the night.” Jake Tully/Elmore Magazine

Jack and Amanda Palmer – You Got Me Singing

“Amanda Palmer has long been divisive – dedicating poems to bombing suspects, dressing up like a conjoined twin, doing things that make outraged thinkpiece writers jiggle with glee. Her latest album, however, a collection of folk, blues, country, and contemporary covers with her once-estranged 72-year-old dad, Jack, strikes the right chord.” Kate Hutchinson/The Guardian

Marissa Nadler – Strangers

“Marissa Nadler, the galaxy-gazer of American somni-folk, is not of this world. She is an extraterrestrial unloved, a wanderer nonplussed, an inhabitant of a realm that aligns dissonance with wonderment. She is ethereal, moody, and dark like early morning, and with Strangers, Nadler’s seventh full-length album, our indelicate eyes are able to adjust to her clear, clairvoyant lens.” Cassidy McCranney/Slug Magazine

Caleb Klauder and Reeb Willms – Innocent Road

“On their new album Innocent Road, Caleb Klauder and Reeb Willms stake a claim as two of the finest traditional musicians in America. Their sound is a throwback to the heyday of rural American dance-hall music.” Jerad Walker, NPR Music

Tom Brosseau – North Dakota Impressions

“Tom Brosseau’s unique tenor is instantly recognizable, and it imbues his songs with a palpable feeling of loss, regret and nostalgia. His phrasing, the emotional quiver in his voice and the bare-bones production evoke the feeling of a late-night, working-class living room with friends sharing their most intimate secrets.” j. poet/Magnet

Kaia Kater – Nine Pin

“The banjo’s recent return to favor has seen the likes of Otis Taylor and Rhiannon Giddens reclaim the instrument as part of African America’s musical roots. Twenty-three-year-old Kaia Kater from Québec studied mountain music in West Virginia and writes songs from the here and now. Her second album manages to triangulate bluegrass, Nina Simone, and Toni Morrison.” Neil Spencer/The Guardian

Dori Freeman – Self-titled

“For the love of God just let the songs speak out and choose their own path, and that’s what happens in this self-titled release. The sentiments are so naked and pure, and as potent to stirring the spirit as the smell of a baby’s head that it awakens more than just an appreciation for music, it awakens an appreciation for life.” Trigger Coroneos/Saving Country Music

Freakwater – Scheherazade

“The darkly austere alt-country group Freakwater has kept their simple, gothic sound consistent through the years, but on their eighth album they overhaul it almost completely. It’s their most cinematic album yet, with the music functioning almost as a soundtrack to their short, violent songs.” Stephen M. Deusner/Pitchfork

Easy Ed’s Broadside Outtakes #4

Chevy in Air

Easy Ed’s Broadside weekly column is found at No Depression: The Journal of Roots Music. These are odds and ends, random thoughts and fragments never published.

New Music Rising: Brennen Leigh Sings Lefty Frizzell

And when I say ‘new’ I mean new to me. There’s also good chance it might be new to you too. Seems like on any given week there are hundreds of websites all talking about the same three or four titles. I could follow that path, but it seems pointless. Sometimes I’d rather just offer up music that might have slipped through the cracks or is far from the beaten path.

This week I want to talk about an album that was released last November. Brennen Leigh Sings Lefty Frizzell is a project from an Austin-based musician and songwriter whom I admittedly had never had heard of until recently. Check this out.

A founding member of the band High Plains Jamboree, she tours throughout Texas and across America often with her frequent writing and touring partner, guitarist Noel McKay. In her travels and tours in Europe, Scandinavia and South America, she has slid into that cult status zone. Her songs have been recorded by Sunny Sweeney, The Carper Family, Norway’s Liv Marit Wedvik, and Lee Ann Womack. She has also collaborated with Jim Lauderdale, John Scott Sherrill and David Olney.

My friend, writer Terry Roland, did a story on her for No Depression last year, so I’ll let him do the heavy lifting:

Brennen Leigh is not a household name. Her 2009 solo album, The Box, stands as a classic of the form, with original songs that are as close to the bone of traditional country music as you’re likely to find east or west of the Mason-Dixon Line. It is among the best Americana albums of the decade, an overlooked gem.

In 2013, she released the critically successful Before the World Was Made with singer-songwriter Noel McKay. This album was compared by the Chicago Tribune with the duets of John Prine and Iris Dement and George Jones and Melba Montgomery.

Leigh’s new album demonstrates an unbroken line of the influence of Lefty Frizzell on this young, innovative artist. Here’s how she came to his music:

“Before this, I wasn’t that familiar with the bigger part of his work. I got a copy of his box set and I also stumbled onto a compilation on vinyl from the ’60s. I’ve imitated him vocally in a superficial way for years. There is just something in his delivery. He was able to express what was going on in his brain. He must have worked at it for years. It’s not only his voice, but in his approach. He changed the way I sing.”

I’ve dropped in a couple of audio samples here from the album, and below is from a concert she did with Noel. You can find this album to stream or buy from all the major digital platforms, but I’d bet Brennen would appreciate it if you head over to her Bandcamp page and do it there.

Every Picture Tells A Story

Sandy The image at the top of this page was shot by my long-time-we’ve-only-met-online friend Sandy Dyas, who is a visual artist based in Iowa City that I’ve written about often. You can visit her website here and check out her work, books (buy them…really) and blog. And more of her images can be found on this site….including this one originally published back in January 2014 at No Depression dot com.

A Ray Charles Primer: 25 Great Tracks and Photo Gallery

Ray Charles

Martin Chilton, who is the Culture Editor for The Telegraph website, put together a list of his favorite tracks accompanied with really striking images from the collection of Joe Adams, Charles’ long time friend and manager. Taken from the book/DVD collection Ray Charles Yes Indeed! that came out in 2009, it features a forward by Bill Wyman and thoughts from Ray’s closest friends – including Stevie Wonder, Quincy Jones and Willie Nelson.

Here’s the link to Chilton’s list. And here’s Ray with Johnny Cash doing a Harlan Howard song y’all know.

A Few Words About Merle Haggard

As I was getting ready to hit the button and publish this week’s update, I heard the news that Merle had passed on. I recall seeing him at The Spectrum in Philadelphia around 1972, and we long-hairs got hassled first by the police and then jostled a little in the crowd when he broke into ‘Okie from Muskogee’. The Grateful Dead had released a version of ‘Mama Tried’ and that was my on-ramp to his music. Had a chance to meet him in Las Vegas about fifteen years ago give or take, but he was in a foul mood that night. He was struggling with his voice, and I think he just wanted to be anywhere but in the desert.

About a month or two ago, he was interviewed by Rolling Stone Country about politics and Donald Trump. Thought it might be of interest to share his thoughts:

He’s not a politician. I don’t think he understands the way things work in Washington, that’s what worries me about him. I don’t think he realizes he can’t just tell somebody to do something and have it done, you know. I think he’s dealing from a strange deck.

What a great line. I think he’s dealing from a strange deck.

I wanted to include an appropriate song or video of his, and came across this track from an album he did with his band The Strangers, Bonnie Owens and The Carter Family. The Land of Many Churches was released in 1971 as a double lalbum and collects four live performances: two are in churches proper, one at San Quentin’s Garden Chapel inside the prison, and one at Nashville’s Union Rescue Mission. The music offers a mix of country gospel and traditional hymns with preachers introducing some of the songs.

This is a favorite of mine and it sure fits this day.

Dori Freeman Melts My Heart With A Hank Williams’ Song

Last month when the Teddy Thompson-produced debut album from Dori Freeman was released, it was one of those titles that seemed to get picked up and reviewed by every media outlet who covers this type of music. Here’s just a few examples of:

The purity of Dori Freeman’s voice and the directness of her songwriting reflect not only her Appalachian hometown — Galax, Va. — but also a determined classicism, a rejection of the ways modern country punches itself up for radio and arenas. (Jon Pareles, New York Times)

It’s startling to hear such a fully formed singing and songwriting voice come out of nowhere. (NPR‘s ‘Songs We Love’)

A strong contender for Americana debut of the year. (Rolling Stone Country)

This week John over at Free Dirt Records invited me to see Dori at the City Winery NYC, where she opened up for her producer and Kelly Jones…whose new duets’ album I featured in RPM1. As Dori stood on that stage all alone with her guitar, I must admit I wasn’t expecting to hear a voice with such incredible strength and clarity that would soar above the din of the diners and drinkers. The crowd surely responded to her, and it seemed to me that this is a woman exceeds the accolades she’s been receiving and just exudes poise and potential.

Kelly McCartney did an interesting and short ‘Q and A’ with Dori for Folk Alley that ran last week, and you can click here to read it. And here she is doing Hank Williams’ “Cold Cold Heart” wayyyyy back from 2012 at the Henderson Festival in Mt. Royal, Virginia. You should hear how she does it now…it’ll melt your heart too.

Guitar Town (Or You Never Know When You’ll Bump Into Steve Earle)

Just as Teddy Thompson and Kelly Jones stepped out onto the stage for their set, I looked up from my phone to find Steve Earle standing next to me checking out the gear on stage. I’m pretty sure Jones was using a Martin D-15M but I couldn’t recognize Thompson’s guitar, but I suspect it could have been a Lowden which his dad seems to favor. I was about to ask Steve but the lights went down and later in the evening I had to run out to catch a train before the encore was over.

A few days before I was on Bleeker Street and stopped at Matt Umanov’s guitar shop to buy some strings. Several years ago I stood there with Steve and Matt as I considered buying the Martin M-21 that they had designed together. It was one of the last ones for sale, but after counting my pennies I went for the much lower priced 000-15M. I still like playing it a lot, but I sure do regret my decision.

While Steve was touring Australia in March, he did an interview on The Music Shop with Andrew Ford and you can read it here or download the podcast.

Videos You Wouldn’t Know Existed, Unless You Found Them By Mistake.

Folk Alliance International 2016: The Video Sneak Peek

1952tv Wedged between two holidays that celebrate heart and history, this year’s Folk Alliance International conference will be convening in Kansas City with over 2,500 attendees that include those who make the music, those who write about it, those who bring it to you either onstage or through your speakers, and those who simply are fans.

The roots of this organization began 27 years ago in Malibu, when Clark and Elaine Weissman from the California Traditional Music Society hosted 125 people to see if they could unify other regional groups with common interests in music and dance. In attendance were representatives from the Philadelphia Folksong Society, Sing Out!, the Vancouver Folk Festival, Chicago’s Old Town School of Folk Music, Charlotte’s Fiddle and Bow Society, International Bluegrass Music Association, Augusta Heritage Center, Woods Music and Dance Camp, and more. A year later, the North American Folk Music and Dance Alliance was officially born, and in 2008 the name was changed to Folk Alliance International.

While I’ve never made it to any of the annual gatherings, I watch with much interest every year from afar. Through the eyes and ears of friends who attend, as well as both traditional and social media, I’ve come to learn it’s a great week to discover new music and artists. And for the musicians who perform at the private and public showcases, its an opportunity to break out and create a buzz literally around the world.

Looking through this year’s official program, I can tell you that the talent traveling to Kansas City is staggering. As I’ve done in the past, below are a handful of videos I put together of musicians I think you’ll likely be hearing a lot more about in the coming year. If you’re going to KC, catch ’em if you can.

Caitlin Canty
This past year, Canty has been touring almost nonstop in support of her Reckless Skyline album. You may have seen her open for the album’s producer Jeffrey Foucault either as solo, with his band, or as a duo with pedal steel wizard Eric Heywood. Here’s the song that has earned her an FAI Song of the Year nomination, and I chose this intimate version where she collaborates with Jefferson Hamer, one of my favorite guitarists.

Darlingside
The Massachusetts-based Darlingside are longtime college friends of Canty, and they’ve all toured and played together for years. Their new album Birds Say really showcases superb four-part harmony and interesting instrumentation, and the production quality expands their acoustic roots to a new level.

Joe Crookston

Crookston is this year’s Artist in Residence. He’s been making music and touring extensively in the US, Canada, and Ireland since 2004. Born in Ohio and based in Ithaca, New York, Crookston’s official bio offers this description of his work: “Songwriter, singer, guitarist, painter, fiddler, banjo player, eco-village member and believer in all things possible.”

Applewood Road

This is a band of three songwriters with their own solo careers who met a year and a half ago at a cafe in East Nashville and the next day recorded one song that got a lot of attention. Emily Barker, Amber Rubarth, and Amy Speace have now finished and released a complete album and it’s a special collaboration. (Note: Amy had trouble with her voice at FAI and their showcase was postponed, along with solo dates she had planned soon after.)

The Small Glories

Out of Canada comes this new project from Wailin’ Jennys co-founder Cara Luft and singer-songwriter JD Edwards, who has fronted his own band for ten years. Each are certified road warriors who bring two very distinctive vibes that somehow mesh together like tea and honey.

Dori Freeman

It seems that everybody has been talkin’ about Dori Freeman’s new self-titled album and how it came about. This 24-year-old woman from Galax, Virginia, sent a message to Teddy Thompson via social media and it led to him signing up as producer and a release on Free Dirt Records. Her Facebook page features a whole bunch of covers from artists as different as Selena Gomez and the Police, which are a blast to watch.

Lowell “Banana” Levinger

Levinger played guitar and keyboards with the Youngbloods, one of the finest “early Americana” bands to come out of the 1960s. His musical career spans both performing and songwriting, and he’s a vintage musical instrument collector. This past year, he released an album of new arrangements of Youngbloods’ tunes that reunited him with Jesse Colin Young and also featured the late Dan Hicks, Ry Cooder, Maria Muldaur, David Grisman, Darol Anger, Peter Stampfel, Duke Robillard, and Nina Gerber.

This video isn’t from that album. In true folk tradition, I’ve decided to share his arrangement of Richard Thompson’s “1952 Vincent Black Lightning” instead, because it simply knocks me out.

Image credit: Photo from the John Atherton Collection. CC2.0

This was originally published at No Depression dot com, as an Easy Ed’s Broadside column.