SLP #23: Tales With Southern Accents

[Romanelli]

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Tales With Southern Accents

1. Used To Be A Cop (Drive-By Truckers)
2. Lone Pine Hill (Justin Townes Earle)
3. We Can't Make It Here (James McMurtry)
4. Down The River (Chris Knight)
5. Tecumseh Valley (Nanci Griffith)
6. Shades Of Gray (Robert Earl Keen)
7. Breakfast In Hell (Slaid Cleaves)
8. Choctaw Bingo (Ray Wylie Hubbard)
9. Decoration Day (Live) (Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit)
10. The Calm And The Crying Wind (Trampled By Turtles)

"Don't worry about losing your accent...a Southern man tells better jokes". That line from Jason Isbell ("Outfit") applies to storytelling as well. I have a special place in my heart for some good old Southern storytelling. I also believe that, when done without trying so hard to be popular, country music is a fine thing. I love alt-country Americana Lost Highway Southern rock No Depression music. This is the stuff I play as an artist myself the most. These are some of the artists and songs that I admire the most. These are some of my favorite stories. Stories about day to day life, death, murder, war, sadness, etc. Told with a Southern accent. I hope you enjoy this little playlist. I hope you enjoy these tales.

Play them in this order. Play them with sufficient volume. Play them with an open mind.
_________________
May we all get to heaven
'Fore the devil knows we're dead...

[Kool Keith Sweat]

It's a shame this hasn't gotten any responses yet. Personally, I was looking forward to this playlist because (1) Romanelli hasn't done an SLP yet and (2) I knew it would expose at least me to some names I'm unfamiliar with. It actually turns out that I already recognized the James McMurtry (he plays out almost weekly in Austin), Nanci Griffith, Robert Earl Keen, and Jason Isbell(/Drive-by Truckers) tracks. Like with Gowi's playlist, this one was refreshing as I've mostly been listening to instrumental stuff lately. I wouldn't say country is a genre I often turn to, because it tends to be vocal and often neglects interesting instrumentation in exchange for focus on the lyrics (moreso than other lyrical genres, I would say), but I didn't find it a problem here; many of the stories here are engaging enough to allow that. Instead of your dime-a-dozen pop country anthems about trucks, women, small town culture, and beer, you get the darker stories about death, loss, and self-degeneracy, which is what I believe some people call "real country." Instrumentally, I actually did enjoy the banjo and fiddle accents in the Chris Knight track. Among the tracks I wasn't familiar with, I think I most enjoyed the stories from Drive-by Truckers and Ray Wylie Hubbard; I liked the story in Slaid Cleaves song a lot too, but I hated that it was so dependent on choruses. Nearly all the tracks were at least clever. On a side note, just wondering what you think of Calexico, Freakwater, Bela Fleck and/or Eugene Chadbourne (or American primitivism too), Romanelli. Thanks for putting this together.

[Romanelli]

Keith...I'm glad you took a listen to this. This music is big for me right now...I'm playing a lot of these songs learning more each day. I love the storytelling aspect of alt country, and so I thought I'd take the opportunity to show some of what these artists are talking about with their music.

If I lived in Austin, I'd probably be living at McMurtry and Griffith shows. And Keen. He's become a big favorite of mine as well. I did sacrifice a lot of the instrumental prowess that exists with a lot of these artists in favor of storytelling, but there's still some good instrumental things going on. The groove on the Trucker's song is very cool to me. The three guitarists are all playing distinctive yet small parts, and Shonna Tucker's bassline is fine. And there are brief flashes of what Trampled By Turtles can do on the last track. But more than anything, this is music that I right now am just really into. That, and there are some great stories here.

Also...I did do an SLP in the first round...it kind of slipped away. It's here if you're interested...

The Art Of Losering by Romanelli


[EDIT]: Oh...and as for your recommendations (which are always great for me!) ...I do know Calexico well and dig it. I'm familiar with the other three...but haven't paid as much attention to them as I would like. Thanks for reminding me to get these artists more squarely into my sights.
_________________
May we all get to heaven
'Fore the devil knows we're dead...

[Kool Keith Sweat]

Ah, I just missed your first SLP; I'll have to go back and give that a listen. I think you'll like Freakwater a lot; Bela Fleck is like the Ornette Coleman of banjo; and Eugene Chadbourne can be out there, but if you're interested in how someone can really open the banjo up and give it a new vocabulary then he's worth checking out (he's also a guitarist though so you'll just have to pay attention to what he's playing banjo on).

[SquishypuffDave]

This playlist is exactly the kind of sardonic nihilism I was in the mood for today.

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