songs:illinois

Seriously how can I not write about Horatio Lee Jenkins and his drinking song “Drunker Than Satan”? The song is a tale of how our brave narrator accepts a drinking duel from Satan. The song is not rocket science (hell, even Sarah Palin could follow it) so I won’t say anything more about the plot. But do listen it’s pretty clever. Then check out “It’s OK To Be Gay” - proof positive that not all rednecks are conservative m’fers.

Drunker Than Satan

Plus

It’s OK To Be Gay

A super crappy video of “It’s OK To Be Gay”

GET “DRUNKER THAN SATAN” BECAUSE IT IS AMAZING!

One of my randomnest discoveries of earlier this year was the really rough and lofi honky-tonk of Tony Wain And The Payne (here). Their early demos were some of the least produced, most boozy, ramshackle gorgeous things I’ve ever heard. They’ve tightened things up just a bit and say they are going to release something this fall.

The band is the toast and pride of Ashville, NC. The band’s next show is at something called the Mellow Mushroom Halloween Blowout on Oct. 31. If you live within 200 miles I’d suggest you check it out. Here’s two new whiskey and beer drenched songs from the band.

Bullets And Beer
We Can Take My Car

(Exhibit A - bad cover art)

The new Wasco Brothers record Jackknife is proof positive that you don’t need a good press packet, band photo, cd artwork or even a good band name (I can’t not read that as Waco Brothers!) to create lasting music. The band’s new cd is a stretch for Honky-Tonk Friday as it’s said to incorporate elements of pub rock, British invasion and even a bit of psychedelia.

But the song “What You Doing…” has just the right combination of twangy telecasters and heartbreak to qualify as honky-tonk. Order Jackknife here through Miles Of Music (It’s A Cracker - 100% Guaranteed).

What You Doing In Abilene?

I’m staying in my own backyard for this week’s “Honky-Tonk Friday”. The Gin Palace Jesters are a Chicago based group of honky-tonk hillbillys. They’ve got a couple fine records out that by and large feature their own original songs about drinking, hillbilly love, and broken hearts. I’m impressed with the band’s ability to navigate between 50’s rockibilly, western swing, and hardcore country.

The band opens up for Dale Watson at Fitzgerald’s on Sept 5. Buy their new record Roadhouse Riot…And Other Songs With Words here.

Losing Her Memory
Goody Glumdrops

Bonus songs:

Lover Not a Fighter
Pomade On My Pillow

Here I am to fulfill my contractually mandated 1 post a day. Plus it’s honky-tonk Friday so I didn’t want to leave you high and dry on that front.

This song from the Dedringers is more of a combination Big Star meets Wilco than say the true honky-tonk of Waylon, Merle or Johnny. But with lines like these it’s clear where these young Texan’s hearts reside:

Woke up in a van sleeping down by the river
Goddamn my liver, how long have I been here?
Knocked out loaded since the trailer exploded
I aint seen the sun since the last time I voted
in ‘88

The band’s new release came out in July, but is just now starting to tear up the americana charts and sympathetic radio stations like MMM in Madison. Buy Sweetheart of the Neighborhood here via Waterloo Records.

Institution

Some of my all time favorite records over the last decade or five have been gospel influenced, which is strange because I’m actually indifferent about the traditional genre known as “Gospel Music”. Whether it’s Johnny Cash singing gospel hymns or Gordon Gano hashing through his religious beliefs or even Iris Dement’s small little gospel record she released five years back, these albums with their celebration of life complete with all it’s ups and downs are very attractive to me.

One of the new era gospel records I have been looking forward to is the one being put out by Signature Sounds this August by The Sacred Shakers featuring Eilen Jewell. In fact this record has more in common with early Sun Records period Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley than any of the schlock that passes for contemporary Christian music today. It’s rooted in the blues/folk and hard country of the Southern states with a healthy dose of Texas two step mixed in for good measure. It doesn’t hurt that Eilen Jewell is the lead singer on a number of these tracks, her voice is as suited to gospel as is the the alt-country she’s become known for on her solo releases. This is some of the most uplifting, heart healthy music you’re likely to hear and this is coming from a life long agnostic who’s verging toward atheism with every new calamity and moral collapse.

Pre-order this August 12 release here or here (it’s a much better deal here).

Twelve Gates to The City

I sat on this disc for about a week and half. Repeated visits to Elbo.ws confirmed that no one else was touching it. It’s a stretch to put Lewi Longmire in honky-tonk Friday; not that he can’t honky and tonk with the best of them; it’s just that he’s got a more subtle style than that. So please don’t typecast Lewi on the basis of this one bawdy, drunken, heartbroken country tune. The whole record is much more varied than this one song.

Lewi’s being presented as the ultimate sideman by his publicist. He’s played with countless bands including Michael Hurley, Victoria Williams and Tara Jane Oneil. In his new hometown of Portland, Oregon he is the go-to guitarist for just about every americana tinged band. But soon it’ll be his solo work that hopefully will put him on the map, starting with the new record fire `neath the still.

You can buy the new record fire `neath the still here via CD Baby.

Baby Would You Take Me Home

How can you go wrong on “Honky-Tonk Friday” with a band named Ruby Dee and the Snakehandlers? This duo adds a bit of rockabilly and sass to the mix making them a unique example of this peculiarly American genre.

The band’s new record was released this past Tuesday and is titled Miles From Home. “Don’t Need A Man” joins that long list of songs that eschews men completely while comping some of the attitude and swagger of Elvis Presley (the consummate man’s man!).

Buy the new record here.

Don’t Need A Man

It’s been so long that I’m not sure I trust my memories. But how great was the movie “Convoy”? From what I remember it was Oscar material, at least for a small kid with an infatuation for trucks and truckers. The only thing better than a movie about trucks is an entire CD and that’s where Chris Sprague’s new record Diesel Made For Two comes into play. It may rate up with some of the all time great “trucker” albums.

Like all honky-tonk posts this one should really reside over at Big Rock Candy Mountain (in fact you should really scroll down a post or two for his excellent train mix). I’m just an amateur honky-tonker compared to Big Rock but nonetheless here’s some great truck drivin’ country music from Chris Sprague.

Buy it here now.

What’s Your 20
Diesel Made For Two

Usually I’m totally above board here on S:I. All the songs are cleared and free and legal with an occasional exception. Heybale is one of these exceptions, they’re a country supergroup of sorts from Austin, Texas. I haven’t exactly been given permission to post this but as soon as several dozen of you crash their website with cd orders I think they’ll come around.

Look, I’m generally a humble guy but where else are you going to be able to find out about honky tonk with this much dirt and grit attached. These guys are nearly of the living legend status especially Redd Volkaert but the whole band has played with folks like Johnny Cash, Buck Owens, Dale Watson, Junior Brown and Merle Haggard. Help me prove to the band that free mp3’s sell music and visit their website and buy their new cd, The Last Country Album, here (they’ve got it in all the standard formats) if you like what you hear.

Honky Tonk Mood

(Sorry about the free hosting company but .Mac is upgrading to MobileMe at the moment)

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Teddy Thompson is an S:I approved artist and he would be regardless of who his famous parents are. He simply has a knack for making polished pop that is neither here nor there.

The new record is called A Piece Of What You Need and it’s out June 17 on Verve Forecast.

In My Arms

This new record from Rancho Deluxe should go a long way in separating the band from their Californian alt-country brethren. True Freedom is the band’s second album and features a sterling cast of supporting characters including Don Heffington on drums and Skip Edwards on piano.

“Maintenance Man” may be the first time in song that the lonely janitor get his due. It’s an odd litle ode to the working man but it works due in part to the layers of guitar, mandolin, pedal steel, bass and drums.

You can order this July release a little early here now.

Maintenance Man

Eleven hundred Springs are a Texas based country band. They’ve been around in one form or another for a decade or so. The songs I’ve heard don’t stray too far what the band knows best and that’s Texas, trucks, Hank Williams, drinkin’ and broken hearts. The song “Texas Afternoon” has most of those bases covered and is the first song off their upcoming Lloyd Maines produced record Country Jam.

Pre-order the new record here (ships 05/06)

Texas Afternoon

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P.S. It seems Jon Jackson tried to slip a new song past us. The song is called “Great Big” and is not on the new record Green Apples. If you haven’t picked up Green Apples what are you waiting for; order it here through CdBaby. Jon’s going to be coming up to do a Songs:Illinois house concert with Michael Fracasso from Austin on June 6. So save the date!

Great Big

P.P.S.

The Bloomington, IL based band Backyard Tire Fire was invited into Sun Studios to record a session for their new video series. It came out pretty great. Here’s the video for the song “Honey To A Bee”. The band opens up for Nashville Pussy and Reverend Horton Heat at the Metro tonight.

(David Serby with his biological father Peter Canton)

David Serby’s had quite a week but it’s no match for the life he’s already lived. See, Serby’s life story became page one news in the L.A. Times this week and then the story was syndicated throughout the country as well ( I read it in the Chicago Tribune). It’s a story that will bring a tear to your eye about a son in search of his biological parents and long lost brother. To sum up: David’s parents gave him and his brother up for adoption. Although his parents were not married at the time, they eventually did marry. David began his quest to find his parents when his adopted father passed away. During the quest to find his parents he learned for the first time that he had a brother. He eventually found his brother and his biological parents and the reunion happened. Click on the link to read the story in greater detail and by a writer with actual skill.

The twist, and how it relates to Songs:Illinois, is that David Serby is an acclaimed singer-songwriter of the California school of alt-country (heavily influenced by the Bakersfield sound)(he’s got friends like Mike Stinson and Dave Gleason). Turns out that he’s always been musically inclined, despite his adoptive parents lack of musical talent. Stranger still, once he found his father he learned that he’d been playing country music in juke joints and VFW halls for decades.

I’m thrilled to be the first to share with you this new song from David Serby which will appear on a forthcoming record due out in July. The song is called “Permanent Position” and basically describes Norm Peterson’s character (played by George Wendt) in the 80’s comedy Cheers and Norm’s attitude on life. Which in a nutshell is: if only you could get paid to sit on a barstool, drink beer, and shoot the shit.

You can purchase either of David Serby’s available records here or here through Miles Of Music.

Permanent Position

“The Grass Is Always Bluer”

The British are coming! The British are coming!

As a proponent of Swedish music (here) I expect you might think I’d say that the Swedes will make a mark this year at SXSW. But I think that this is the year of the British band.

Kitty Daisy and Lewis are the Pipettes; if they were emulating the cool kids from the 50’s instead of the squares. They’re the Pipettes, if the Pipettes drank whiskey and listened to Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley. They’re the Pipettes, if the Pipettes weren’t an artificial media creation. They’re the Pipettes, if the Pipettes had any soul.

“Mean Son Of a Gun” is an amazing cover, but the question is can these gals write and record their own material. There are rumors of a debut full length on Sunday Best this spring, so we’ll have our answer then.

They’re playing three times so far at SXSW: March 12 for Fatfox, March 14 for British dj Rob Da Bank and March 15 for Mojo.

Mean Son Of A Gun

We Dreamed America - A Twisted Tale of British Roots and American Music is a documentary film about the British roots scene. The thesis behind the film is that good country music can exist in the UK and that one band is going to break out of that scene soon. Lay your money on Kitty Daisy and Lewis or The Broken Family Band.

So I’ve got this Friday feature thingy on Songs:Illinois called Honky-Tonk Friday. I know it seems like it’s been honky-tonk week here but I couldn’t resist posting on this Chicago band’s new disc. I’m always excited to include Chicago bands on S:I, but it’s an infrequent occurrence at best.

There’s not more than a handful of great honky-tonk bands in Chicago. Separate those out that write their own material and those that don’t and you’re down to even fewer. Sift out the bands that can write a country love song as pretty as “(Our Love’s A) Bar Room At Closing Time” and you’re left with just one - The Blue Line Riders. The band that’s been a fixture over at the California Clipper has just released it’s solo debut.

They’ll be appearing next, at where else, but The California Clipper on Friday, February 22.

Buy the new self-titled debut record here.

(Our Love’s A) Bar Room At Closing Time

Bonus

Drinkin’ and Drivin’

Editor’s Note: I have this little Friday feature called Honky-Tonk Friday that this week will take place on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Any complaints: you can kiss my ass (said with a Southern drawl)!

Dave Insley’s new record, West Texas Wine, is a confident 10 track slab of honky tonk, Willie Nelson Texas country and americana flavored rock. There’s songs about dear old mom, drinking and carousing, truck driving and everything else you’d expect from a real country record. The songs, like most good country songs, all have a bit of a twist though.

For example “Exit 93″ uses a “chuga chuga chuga” rhythm and a bit of talk-singing to tell the tale of a family shattered by a crash near Exit 93. However, the dad who dies in the crash, lives on in heaven driving trucks for Jesus! On the whole, the songs on West Texas Wine are a jovial mix performed amid a perfect concoction of guitar, pedal steel and occasional flourishes of violin. Purchase the new record by contacting Dave through his site here.

Exit 93

I’ve written a couple times about the new Chuck Prophet record but was unaware of the tour-only CD he’s been selling on the road. The record is a re-recording of the entire Waylon Jennings album Dreaming My Dreams With You and comes with a funny story. Apparently Chuck and friends got locked in Tim Mooney’s (Red House Painters) studio with a jar of peanut butter, some stale beer and that album. They listened to it a couple of times and having nothing better to do decided to re-record it. The whole story can be found here.

What’s interesting about the Chuck Prophet version is that it sounds just like Chuck Prophet (surprise, surprise!). The ringing guitars, the ever present reverb and Chuck’s unusual phrasing and cadence are all there. Also it’s interesting to note how the song “You Sure Hank done It This Way”, with it’s feeling of despair and tales of too many one nighters on the road with the band, could easily have been written by and applies so well to Chuck Prophet. More info here at Evangeline Records. This record is a limited edition and there are only so many copies left.

Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way

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Well not exactly honky tonk, I know, but it was the nearest thing I could find. Peter Cooper is a music journalist and collaborator extraordinaire (he’s worked with Todd Snider, Emmylou Harris and Nanci Griffith). His new record is called Cautionary Tales and is out now on Corazong Records. It’s clever alt-country in the same vein as Todd Snider with just a bit more twang added to the mix.

Boy Genius

Peter Cooper “Boy Genius”

Peter Cooper “Thin Wild Mercury”

Jesse Dayton is one of Austin’s hep honky-tonk cats. I wrote about his song “Hey Nashvegas” a couple of years back and at least according to that failed Nashville “reality show” things have only gotten worse down there. Jesse’s back with a new record called Holdin’ Our Own; it’s being billed as a collection of duets with Brennen Leigh. Sounds like classic Bakersfield country to me.

Pre-order Holdin’ Our Own here.

Let’s Run Away

Bonus:

Hey NashVegas

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