Willie, Johnny and the sounds of 2006

by POLLY COUFOS

HERE is an indulgent trip through my musicaljourney of the past year. Freed from reviewing albums every week for the first time in many, many years, 2006 was a time of listening to music for pleasure. I bought almost exclusively country and caught up with artists I had always meant to buy (like Floyd Tillman, Hylo Brown, Lee Moore), artists I needed more of (like Spade Cooley, Bob Wills, Tommy Duncan, John McEuen) lots of pickers and steel/dobro players (like Lloyd Green, Speedy West, Norman Blake , Pete Drake, Dale Miller) and some new finds (like Butch Martin, Phil Lee, Billy Don Burns, Pete Anderson) that should make for life long relationships.

As well as that I decided to get as many Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash albums as I could lay my hands on to fill the gaps in my collection. Following the success of 'Walk The Line' and 'American V' there has been a rush on Cash product. Bring it on I say, leave it to me to say when. It won't be happening any time soon. At least not until all his albums are back in print.

The new San Quentin issue is something to behold. For a start there's the BBC doco of the show as well as the almost complete concert (we now have all they have tapes of). I'd bet money that the single most thrilling moment in live recorded music history happens after San Quentin is premiered in front of a crowd of San Quentin inmates and they go so wild the band plays it again. And it is even more intense. I've lived with this album for nearly three decades and it never fails to thrill and chill at this point. From there Cash heads straight into Dylan's then brand new 'Wanted Man'. A little boy living in the middle of the goldfields of Western Australia had a new thing to put on his things to do list: go the wrong way in Juarez with Juanita on my lap. Never got there, but there's still time.

Willie, in particular has been the soundtrack to my year. I am firm in the opinion that he has never made a bad album. I've bought over two dozen in the last couple of months - some I didn't have on CD, but most are ones I had never heard of or bothered to get around to buying and that still holds firm. The lazy slop that is his misfire with Ryan Adams - 'Songbird' - is disappointing but still very listenable. There have been extreme delights like the four tracks he sings on a Jimmy (the king of polka apparently) Schurr album. First polka album I've ever bought. Won't be the last. Willie, as-ever, sounds right at home taking 'On The Road Again' in this direction. (Willie's first paying gig was in his home town of Abbott, Texas, in a polka band).

His album of duets with Don Cherry - 'Augusta' - is a definite rush job, but the stars sing so well that if the producers had been able to afford real strings and stuff it could have rung the bell. The title song, an ode to golf and the US Open/US Masters? (sports fans fill me in here. I've never hated my life enough to take an interest in this dull past time) is proof that the great man really can sing about anything. I just rattled those two albums off at random, but could have made reasons to buy/borrow/download all of them. At present I'm approaching the 60 album mark for Willie and there's dozens to go.

Anyway preamble over, here's a look at my top 10 albums of the year. For me it can be characterised as a year when established and veteran acts delivered the goods. The couple who didn't have been named and shamed at the bottom.

Alan Jackson - 'Like Red On A Rose'. Sensual, tender, and ballad heavy, Jackson uses his lower register to great effect. I am very fond of him and am drawn to the casual nature of his albums. All before this are excellent, but carry the air that he couldn't be quite arsed enough to work on the last three songs to make it as great as possible. This time I'm guessing producer Alison Krauss wasn't going to let him get away with being so lazy. (Not just because of the above point, but AJ has always made me think of a next generation Jimmy Buffett, and hates work as much as the rest of us, even when he has the best job in the world. Something to admire eh?) The addition of Pretty Purdie on drums really adds some grit to that gravy.

Bob Dylan - 'Modern Times'. An easily accessible album with Dylan's best singing in decades and a fistful of great tunes . One where you don't need to point to the legacy to get a grasp on what hes achieving with his slinky road band. Think 'Basement Tapes', but in a bar with a couple of hotties in the audience that Bob is trying to impress and you'll get a feel for how hard they are working.

Kasey Chambers - 'Carnival'. Much underrated as a melodist, as ever I think KC could use a co-writer to straighten up the storyline of many of her songs, but fear that maybe in fact another pair of hands may destroy the magic. I could listen to her wail all night long. Unschooled, raw hillbilly soul singing. And I back her all the way.

The Handsome Family - 'Last Days Of Wonder'. If all alt country was all this good I wouldn't be spending my time trying to track down old fashioned and real country genius like Butch Martin's 'Whittler's Corner' (it didn't come out this year, but thanks to the lord eBay it entered my life this year and has probably been the album I played most). Real songs, not moods set to music. Lots of death and despair and you can't have too much of that can you?

Albert Lee - 'Roadrunner'. Flawed, as all his albums are, but the highlights... well, they always make it worth your time. Very probably the best version I've ever heard of Jimmy Webb's genius song 'The Moon's A Harsh Mistress'. And of course there can never be enough lashings of that guitar. His take on Jr Walker's 'Roadrunner' is a revelation too. Probably too late in the day, but he shows he could have grown into quite a singer too if his energies hadn't been directed elsewhere.

Johnny Cash - 'American V'. One last time, with love. If his truly was the voice of God you could mark me down as a believer.

Willie Nelson - 'You Don't Know Me: The Songs Of Cindy Walker'. The album that began my current challenge to get all of Willie's albums. Cindy Walker, what a writer. Willie, what a singer. An album that won't be put in the shade by any of his albums from any point in his career. Coming up for 74 next birthday, that's got to say something.

Arctic Monkeys - 'Whatever You Say etc...'. Hated it when I first played it. Stuck with it and saw beyond the laddisms. A great little band packed with humour and a handful of great pop tunes. Some times the NME still gets it right.

Bruce Springsteen - 'The Seeger Sessions'. At last Bruce sounds like he is having as much fun in the studio as he has on stage. As a long time Sprinsgteen tragic, there is a little pain in the realisation that he never achieved it with the E Street Band. The new American Land version contains some live footage from The Seeger Sessions tour that shows the fun didn't stop in his home studio.

Drive By Truckers - 'Blessing And a Curse'. Great music for when I want to feel nostalgic AND listen to something new.

Disappointments

Elvis Costello & Alan Toussaint - 'The River In Reverse' - Where the old master shows up Mr Krall big time. I have been drawn back to Elvis' early material a lot this year. Two songs continually draw me in; not surprisingly his greatest ever, 'Alison' but the other is 'Stranger In The House'. It is so direct. He speaks to me more in those three minutes than he has in his last several albums. I felt badly let down by 'Delivery Man' too, and don't start me on 'North'. Maturity, I shit it. Still a card carrying fan, but patience is being tested.

Outkast - 'Idlewild'. Hey Ya, where's the tunes fuckers?

Van Morrison - 'Pay The Devil'. Belfast Cowboy my arse. I reckon Michael Bolton could have got further inside this collection of country classics. Could not believe the good reviews this album received. All I could think was that they were by people who aren't country fans and were coming across these songs for the first time. In which case, welcome to the club, but step over the old Irish hobo sleeping in the doorway and we'll find someone to really show you really how it's done.

21 December 2006

australianrules.com.au

A little Krauss discipline and AJ hits the jackpot

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