Roxor Blog

In 1975, The Charlie Daniels Band performed the second of their legendary Volunteer Jams at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, TN.

This annual event featured a number of special guests, including the Marshall Trucker Band, Dickey Betts and Chuck Leavell from the Allman Brothers Band, Jimmy Hall, Dru Lombar, Bill Hart & Gary Peacemaker.

Originally released as a feature movie in 1976, this is the first time that Volunteer Jam is available on DVD.

Check out Charlie Daniels - No Place to Go

Seems that Universal Music Group has done a deal with youtube, and while there is a lot of dreck up there from them, there are some gems too, like this great performance video of Robery Cray doing don’t be afraid of the dark.

Long lost artice - this was written some time ago, but never posted, so I am posting it now.

Call it roots rock, alt country, cowpunk, what have you, we all know that I am talking about the genre of music that has claimed Lucinda Williams as its poster woman ( and with good reason ). As excellent as Ms. Williams is, there are more out there, and most likely you are not going to hear them on the radio.

With that in mind I would like to introduce you to a couple of ladies that, if there were any justice, would be radio staples. They deserve a much larger audience then all of those “Nashville-New Country” chicks that look good on T.V. but can’t make a decent record.

Amy Rigby -

If there we any justice in the world Ms. Rigby would be huge. Her latest recording from KOCH Records - The Sugar Tree - is as funny, sexy, and enjoyable as any CD released this year. From the straight ahead rocking of “Balls” to the inspired, laugh out loud hilarious “Cynically Yours” she explores relationships in a unique style that is both introspective and at the same time universal.

Amy served a stint with Last Roundup and folk pop trio The Shams honing her clever writing style featured on her first solo album Diary Of A Mod Housewife. Housewife portends of the brilliance to follow with cuts like “That tone of Voice” and “Time for me to Come Down”. In between these to CD’s Amy released the underrated “Middlescence”.

If your tastes tend towards singer-songwriters and/or alt country, do yourself a favor and pick up all three of Amy Rigby’s releases. You won’t be disappointed.

Sue Foley -

More towards the blues side of the roots rock camp - singer, songwriter, and guitarist Sue Foley is, imho, one of the most underrated forces in contemporary roots music today.

“Where the action is” on Shanachie Records is unquestionably one of the best CD’s to come out this year. The title track is a celebration of the genre, and her cover of the Stones B-Side “Stupid Girl” is sublime.

The Canadian born Foley did the whole Austin Texas thing in the mid-nineties, and while you can here that influence she does not let it define her. Her vocal delivery, as well as her guitar playing, evoke a emotional response missing in so much of contemporary blues.

In addition to “Where the Action Is” I suggest you pick up “Love Comin’ Down” and “Ten Days In November “. While not quite as definitive as her newest release, definitely better then most of what else is out there.

Welcome to cowpunk week at RoxorBlog - I would have never guessed that I would be writing about Old 97’s and Willie Nelson in the same week - but - another great new release from Rhino makes it necessary.

Hit by a Train features 18 of the Old 97’s Best Songs From the Band’s First Five Studio Albums, Plus Singles, and Live Tracks released between 1994 and 2001.

Included: “Timebomb,” “Jagged,” “Murder (Or A Heart Attack),” “Rollerskate Skinny,” “Four Leaf Clover” (with former X singer Exene Cervenkova) and “Valentine,” an acoustic track featuring Hammond taking a rare turn on lead vocals.

The Listening Party is Here, I’ll do a review if they’ll send me a copy

This 3-CD boxed set is the first to spotlight Willie’s historic Atlantic output in its entirety. Disc one presents 1973’s David Briggs/Arif Mardin-produced debut Shotgun Willie, remastered and expanded with 12 bonus tracks. Disc two presents Willie’s first concept album, 1974’s Jerry Wexler-produced Phases And Stages, remastered and expanded with ten bonus tracks. Disc three presents the Wexler-produced in-concert classic Live At The Texas Opry House, expanded with five bonus tracks.

I am not a “Country” Fan by any means, but I like roots music and Willie is one of a kind and this set is from when he began fusing folk and roots-rock with a rebellious “outlaw” country flavor, inventing an authentic, stripped-down sound that remains vastly influential.

If you want to know what I am talking about, check out the listening party.

Well I heard ‘ole Neil put him down….

While it is sad that it takes someone from that other quagmire’s generation to release the first protest album for our current debackle of choice, at least we get a real album from one of the most important voices in the history of Rock n Roll.

Neil Young released “Living With War” — a 10-song collection that the artist describes as a “metal folk protest” — as a digital download album.

“This album is about exchanging ideas,” Young told CNN in a live interview last week on the steps of Warner Bros./Reprise Records in Burbank. “It’s about getting a message out. It’s about empowering people by giving them a voice. I know not everyone believes what I say is what they think, but red and blue is not black and white. We’re all together. It’s a record about unification.”

You can listen to Living With War Here.

Neil Young on CNN - A Video Discussing Living With War

“Living With War” has already set fans and the media abuzz over the Internet due to its reflections on the Iraqi war and the turmoil in this country.

It was written and recorded in two weeks with Young on electric guitar, vocals and harmonica, Chad Cromwell on drums, Rick Rosas on bass, and Tommy Bray on trumpet, along with a 100-member choir. One choir member, speaking to a British newspaper, said the recording session was “like being at a 12-hour peace rally.”

The Living With War Blog

While to my ears this does not stack up to the best of Neil Young, not much really does, it is far and away the best album I have heard from a 69 year old in quite some time. The third track is vintage Young - Don’t Need rails against the lies of Bish Co. as well as other things in the modern world that we clearly don’t need.

And it seems to me that the point of this record is not to try and rival Tonight’s the Night, Neil has got something on his mind ( and before you reject him as some long hair pinko fag you might want to do some research…) that he needs to share, and something that we need to hear.

This track, recorded with Steve Conn on accordion and harmony vocals live at KBCO FM, is a fun, sort of Cajun/zydeco. Sonny Landreth is a major talent that deserves more recognition.

Download: Common Law Love - Sonny Landreth