5 Let Me Dream If I Want To (Mink DeVille)

8 Ride On Baby (The Rolling Stones)

7 Guilding Light (Television)

10 Nighttime (Big Star)

11 Out Of The Blue (Roxy Music)


TOMMY KEENE TURNS TO UNOBVIOUS COVERS 
FOR HIS TENTH ALBUM, EXCITEMENT AT YOUR FEET

On his new release, out September 17 on Second Motion Records,
Keene curates a selection of covers that you and your friends know . . .
but your neighbors probably don’t. 

LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Tommy Keene delved deep into his record collection in planning Excitement at Your Feet ( Second Motion Records), his 10th studio effort and first LP of cover songs, due for release Sept. 17. Those who have followed Tommy’s career know his definitive versions of Alex Chilton’s “Hey Little Child” and Lou Reed’s “Kill Your Sons.” But what to expect from an entire Keene covers album? The order of the day is deep album tracks rather than top hits. He takes on some heavy hitters — the Rolling Stones, the Who, the Bee Gees — but apart from Donovan’s “Catch the Wind,” none of Excitement’s 11 tracks ever troubled the U.S. singles chart.

So Excitement is largely about the artist’s personal musical inspiration. Tommy pays tribute to his aforementioned British Invasion heroes, but also his East Coast punk/new wave roots with covers of Television and Mink Deville. On a more contemporary note, he also tips his hat to Keene Brothers partner Robert Pollard with a cover of Guided By Voices’ “Choking Tara.” Get ready to dig into this idiosyncratic survey of great rock and roll from the past half century.

(Excitement is not Tommy’s only covers record to be released this year. His version of Slim Dunlap’s “Nowheres Near” was released as the flip side of Lucinda Williams’ take on Dunlap’s “Partners in Crime.” The very limited 7-inch singles were auctioned to raise money for the ailing former Replacements guitarist. Other “Songs for Slim” participants are the Replacements (in the ’90s, Tommy was part of ex-Replacement Paul Westerberg’s touring band), Jakob Dylan, Steve Earle and others. And in yet other release news, Tommy’s extremely rare first LP, Strange Alliance, has been reissued on vinyl by the Austin-based label 12XU, which also reissued Tommy’s first 7-inch single, “Back to Zero” b/w “Mr. Roland.”)

Although a covers LP is something of a departure for Tommy, it continues his string of formidable albums starting with 2006’s Crashing the Ether. But for the rest of the story, you have to go back to 1984, when a six-song platter of pop perfection titled Places That Are Gone (Dolphin) put Tommy Keene onto the CMJ charts and atop the Village Voice Pazz & Jop EP of the Year poll. Blatantly romantic, unapologetically melodic, bittersweet but absolutely invigorating, it still stands as a powerful statement, not only establishing him as a unique singer-songwriter, but also as a guitarist with a sound as distinctive as Pete Townshend or Johnny Marr.

02 2 The Puppet (Echo & The Bunnymen)

03 3 Much Too Fun (The Who)

01 North

02 South

03 Gotta Stay Young

04 I'd Have To Be A Stone

Johnette Napolitano - "Nashville"

January 31, 2012 – Ruthie Foster – Let It Burn (Blue Corn Music) — Those who have followed Ruthie Foster’s eclectic musical history know that she can burn down any stage with her combustible blend of soul, blues, rock, folk and gospel. And when Grammy Award-winning producer John Chelew suggested she record an album in New Orleans — with support handpicked from the Crescent City’s overflowing pool of talent — it was an opportunity for Ruthie to infuse fresh spices into her already rich sonic gumbo. The result is Let It Burn — slated for January 31, 2012 release on Blue Corn Music — a recording that smolders, sizzles and ignites with an intensity born from her vibrant voice and indelible presence. The ingredients for Let It Burn, recorded at New Orleans’ Piety Street Studios, start with some of that city’s most respected players: The Funky Meters’ rhythm section of bassist George Porter Jr. and drummer Russell Batiste, guitarist Dave Easley, and renowned saxophonist James Rivers collectively infuse the tracks with the groove-based, in-the-pocket vibe that comes naturally to New Orleans-bred musicians. The addition of Hammond B3 wizard Ike Stubblefield, who has toured and recorded with everyone from Curtis Mayfield to Eric Clapton, gives the album a jazzy organ-combo feel. Finally, legendary gospel singers the Blind Boys of Alabama and soul icon William Bell add extra depth to the project’s surprisingly eclectic collection of cover songs and fresh originals.
http://www.conqueroo.com/ruthiefoster.html

08 Baby Don't Stop Cryin'

MARSHALL CHAPMAN’S NEW ALBUM, BLAZE OF GLORY,
  DUE OUT MAY 28
 
Todd Snider among special guests. Co-produced with Michael Utley,
accompanists include Will Kimbrough, Casey Wood, and Jim Mayer. 
 
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Marshall Chapman has been making records for longer than most of today’s indie rockers have been alive. Blaze of Glory is her 13th release, her seventh on Tallgirl Records.
 
At age 64, Chapman is, as author Peter Guralnick put it, “a force of nature.” Some might argue she’s even picking up steam. In the last two and a half years, she’s had a book published (They Came To Nashville), seen her musical Good Ol’ Girls (adapted from the fiction of Lee Smith and Jill McCorkle, featuring songs by Chapman and Matraca Berg) open off-Broadway, acted in a movie (playing Gwyneth Paltrow’s road manager in Country Strong), and recorded two albums — Big Lonesome (named “Best Country/Roots Album of 2010” by the Philadelphia Inquirer), and the soon-to-be-released Blaze of Glory.
 
"I felt, at the time, like Big Lonesome was my best,” Chapman says. “So it was a no-brainer bringing in the same crew — Mike Utley, Will Kimbrough, Jim Mayer and Casey Wood — for Blaze of Glory.” The album kicks off with “Love in the Wind,” a duet with Todd Snider, a longtime friend for whom Chapman opened many shows while promoting her previous album.
 
“Everyone, myself included, just seemed to pick up and soar from where we left off,” Chapman continues. “I have never felt so focused making a record. Everybody just brought it. It was magic.”
 
Many are hailing Blaze of Glory as Marshall’s masterpiece. Singer/songwriter Tom Russell says it’s “her best yet,” and Rodney Crowell concurs, calling it “the most satisfying record yet from the Goddess of Tall.”
 
Marshall attributes time spent in Mexico as the inspiration for many of the songs. “I had myself convinced my muse lived down there,” she says. “To dig deep, you have to live deep. That’s great for songwriting, but it can be hell on a marriage. I had to pull back, which was painful. For a while, all I could see was my own mortality staring me in the face.”
 
Chapman has perhaps her strongest slate of songs here, most of which she wrote. “I didn’t think I could go any deeper. But I was in free fall, and the songs just kept coming.”
 
Lucinda Williams, who recently listened to Blaze of Glory, had this to say: “[Marshall’s] voice sounds warm with a certain soulful, cool edge that really stands out. The production, up close and real. (F—king great band!) The songs give a nod to the past in a very hip way. I found myself singing along with ‘I Don’t Want Nobody.’ Love the duet with Todd Snider. You done good, Marshall!”
 
And this unexpected quote from Scotty Moore, the man whose guitar lit Chapman’s rock ’n’ roll fuse when she was but a tow-headed seven-year-old, sitting in the colored balcony of the Carolina Theater in Spartanburg, S.C., with her family’s maid, as Moore, bassist Bill Black and a youthful Elvis Presley performed below:
 
“I have loved Marshall for years, but Blaze of Glory is a real work of art. The band is small; you can hear every note from every instrument (thanks Mr. Mixer); the voice is enough on top to hear every emotion in the words but not overpowering. In addition to the mechanics of the CD, which sounds much more like we did at Sun Studio in 1955 than something from Nashville in 2013, the songs are just as good as I expect from Ms. Chapman. I especially like the Bo Diddley-type opener, but every song sounds good. This is one to put on and listen all the way through, not just put one or two cuts on your iPod.”
 
Chapman has been labeled many things over the years: No-Shame Dame, the female Mick Jagger, outlaw woman, country punk, rock ’n’ roll authoress, etc. These days she’s often called a survivor. But as she wrote years ago in one of her songs: “Survival is easy / It’s living that’s hard / It takes lots of courage / Just to be who you are.”
 
As her friend, the three-time Grammy-nominated songwriter Matraca Berg puts it: “Marshall Chapman IS a blaze of glory. She’s brave and smart and wise and . . . WILD!”
 
“I never intended to make it this far,” Chapman sings on the title track. “I never had a fallback plan / I always thought I’d go in a blaze of glory.”
 
Marshall Chapman is still “burning like a comet across the night sky.”
 
And that’s good news for the rest of us.
 
About Marshall Chapman:

Marshall Chapman is an American singer-songwriter-author who was born and raised in Spartanburg, S.C. For the past 40 years, she's mostly lived in Nashville. To date she has released 12 critically acclaimed albums, and Emmylou Harris, Joe Cocker, Irma Thomas and John Hiatt are just a few who’ve recorded her songs. Over the years, she’s toured extensively on her own and opened for everybody from the Ramones to John Prine. This summer she’ll be inducted into the Spartanburg Music Trail, the town’s open-air hall of fame (http://spartanburgmusictrail.com/), along with David Ball, the Sparkletones and Buck Trent. Chapman is a contributing editor to Garden & Gun and Nashville Arts Magazine. She has also written for The Oxford American, Southern Living, W, Performing Songwriter, and The Bob Edwards Show (Sirius/XM). But “music,” she says, “is my first and last love.”
 
# # # 

01 Love In The Wind

02 I Don't Want Nobody

Cary Baker / conqueroo

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