What the hell just happened – or
February 2021
So February started out with great optimism as the first dose
of the Moderna vaccine went in my arm on the 4th (second dose
scheduled for this Thursday) but then we had winter in Texas. Like literally
WINTER. We’ve never had power out for 55
hours and water out for days anywhere we have lived. As I learned a long time
ago in manufacturing, if you don’t take care of your equipment, your equipment
won’t take care of you. All those years of “cheap” electric rates came back and
bit us big time. It’s been reported we were within minutes of the entire grid
coming down and it would have taken weeks or months to restore. Think about that
one kids. All of Texas without power for weeks. We were fortunate that Brittany
never lost power or heat so we had grandkid week. Hey, it wasn’t Cancun but we
got a lot of time with the 4 and 6 year old grandkids. But no mariachi bands
playing outside our house when we did come home. Well on to the albums added to
the collection this month – 7 in the 28 days of the month.
New releases – four new releases were added in February.
The Staves – Good
Woman That Friday morning New Releases playlist on Spotify always has a hidden gem
or two. That is where I found The Staves.
Three sisters from England that I had never heard of. This is their first new album in 4
years. It’s just an album of beautiful
songs opening with the title track Good Woman into Best Friend. Its early but this album has a great chance
to stick near the top of the best of 2021 list.
Nothing’s Gonna Happen is another of my favorites. Check this album out especially when you are
looking for a relaxing sound at the end of another quarantine day. I am going to explore the back catalog as
well.
Langhorne Slim –
Strawberry Mansion We saw Slim a few years ago when he opened foe Lucero at the
Ryman. This month his new release is the
album of the month from Magnolia Record Club.
The title comes from the neighborhood in Philly where Slim’s grandpa’s
grew up. These are all songs he has
written since COVID hit and you definitely get your money’s worth with 18 songs
on the LP. The songs Colors and
High-Class are the highlights to me. I
need to listen a few more times to this album to get the whole story – it’s a
fine album and may need me paying some more attention.
Moon Taxi –
Silver Dream One of the cool things about the Magnolia Record Club is that each
month they have an “Artist Discovery” album where for an extra $20 you get the
new album of an up and coming band. It’s
how I found Brian Dunne last year. This
Moon Taxi album is the discovery artist for February. I have to say it’s a nice find that I may
have never heard. My two fabvorite songs
are “Palm of Your Hand” and “Hometown Heroes”.
A good sounding album that will definitely be back on the turntable
throughout the year.
The Hold Steady –
ODP (Open Door Policy) These guys have been on my must listen list for a few
years. Our nephew Mike shared some CD’s
of theirs’ back around 2007 or 8. The album “Boys and Girls in America”
was an immediate love and is still on my Top 15 of all time list. They are involved in one of my favorite SXSW
stories from 2009. It’s the year before
Rachael Ray’s SXSW party blew up and it was still under control at Maggie Mae’s
in Austin. After lunch on a Thursday we
were taking a break and THS walked by as they were the stars of the afternoon.
They were doing some media / photos right across from us and Jo asked me “who
is the accountant in the Twins hat” and my response was “that’s Craig Finn who
writes and is the lead singer”. A few
hours during their set I went to grab some more food for us and I came back and
Jo was gone. A few minutes later I saw
here in the front row with Rachael dancing to the music. Guess we see where I rate at the show! Their follow up album Stay Positive is
another great album and you could argue it’s as strong as Boys and Girls. But then after that some albums that didn’t
really do much for me. Their keyboard
guy Franz Nicolay left the band for awhile and Craig spent a lot of time on
solo work that is similar in lyrics but not in music. And so I wasn’t sure what to expect with the
new album from quarantine. Well the
answer is clear to me – it’s a winner.
Currently sitting at #1 on the Best Albums of 2021 after two
months. There are some strong
challengers coming (Amy Speace and Michaela Anne and who knows what Bruce has
in store for us) but for now it’s easily the best of the 2021 releases. The album opens with a couple of songs that
could have been on Craig’s solo album but then the rock and roll kicks in on “Lanyards”,
“Family Farm” and “Unpleasant Breakfast”.
The next song was the first “single” – “Heavy Covenants”. Not sure this is related to the Wells Fargo
covenants I deal with at the office! I
look forward to seeing these songs live one of these days – maybe Q3. Take a listen and make sure you stick it out
until you get into the meat of the album!
Waylon Payne – Blue Eyes, The Harlot, The Queer, The Pusher
and Me You all know Waylon Payne but it may not be from his music. He played Jerry Lee Lewis in the Cash movie
“Walk the Line.” Son of Jody Payne who played in Willie’s band and Sammi Smith of
“Help Me Make it Through the Night” fame.
Pretty good lineage but with both mom and dad on the road Waylon grew up
(and yes he is named after that Waylon) with his aunt and uncle in
Oklahoma. He put out an album in 2003
and then nothing until this album in 2020.
He talks in the liner notes (which are excellent) about issues with meth
and cocaine and drinking problems as well.
But he finally got clean. Have to
say I did not hear of this album until late in 2020 from the Indigo playlist on
Spotify when “Santa Ana Winds” played. After
getting this album and playing it a lot in February, if I had got it in 2020 it
would have been a contender for a Top 5 spot.
Not sure who it would have pushed out but it would have been in the
discussion. It’s a great country album. As
noted music afficionado Jeff Callaway texted me this weekend – “Waylon seems to
be who people think Eric Church is. This
is good stuff”. From the opening song
“Sins of the Father”, “What a High Horse”, “All the Trouble” and then
“Dangerous Criminal” this could be a Hank Williams (the original) album. And then “Santa Ana Winds” is a great song as
well and got me into the album. Do
yourself a favor and go back and listen to this album if you missed it in
2020. And it’s always great to read the
redemption story – lots of YouTube video with Waylon to check out.
Black Pumas – Black Pumas I read about this Austin band a
lot last year and Magnolia repressed their vinyl this year. It just arrived on Friday and I’ve only spun
it once. It’s a classic rock / bluesy
sound. I need to listen more but it’s
definitely a classic Austin rock band sound.
Maybe I can comment more next month!
Filling in Holes in the Collection – always looking
to get vinyl I love and either don’t have or have it on that dying medium –
Compact Discs. This month I added the
reissue of Emmylou Harris’ Red Dirt Girl from 2000. I know Emmylou is held in the highest regard
by the Americana / Nashville gang – hell her Twitter handle is Emmylousongbird. I have read where a couple of the youngsters
have been in awe when they were able to get her to sing backing vocals on their
album. I just have never got her to be
honest. Don’t shoot me – we can’t all
like the same thing or we’d never get a ticket or a copy of an album. I got an email in the fall about this reissue
so I ordered it and it came as a beautiful red vinyl. The album sounds beautiful. The liner notes say Mr. and Mrs. Springsteen
sing backup on one of the songs. Buddy
Miller is all over it musically. I will
listen more but still not resonating with me.
Time will tell!
Coming in March – still waiting on the Steep Canyon Rangers
2020 releases – and the new Amy Speace album as well as new releases from Joe Pug
and Lake Street Dive. I’m sure there
will be a few more. I’ve been on a Joni
Mitchell kick lately and I need to add some of her albums to the collection –
if you have any favorites please share. Also, highly recommend the new Bill
Gates book on the Climate Crisis. It
will scare the heck out of you but we all need to be in this together to make
it so my grandkids get to listen to my vinyl!
