bluegrass

A Collection of Moments (Chris Stapleton, From A Room: Volume 2 review)

Posted on by Tim Kuefler

If you could name an up and coming country artist that’s done it all already, who do you think would fit that bill? I’ll give you two guesses for albums that have done that in 2017. But you only need one answer.

 

 

 

Chris Stapleton – From A Room: Volume 2

released December 1, 2017
******** 8/10

Chris Stapleton is an American singer-songwriter, best known for his ability to perform rock, bluegrass, country, and a mixture thereof. He has been active in the music industry for over fifteen years now; he went solo back in 2013, released his debut album The Traveller in 2015, followed by From A Room: Volume 1 in May of 2017. If the velocity of his release schedule seems overwhelming, consider that that this is an artist who has contributed over 150 songs to albums by other popular artists like Adele, Tim McGraw, and Brad Paisley, among others.

Stapleton is a southern boy through and through, raised in Kentucky and active in Nashville since he officially began to focus on music in 2001. His wife Morgane has featured in harmonies on all three of his albums, and he often includes long-time friends in the band he records and travels with, citing the importance of chemistry when crafting a song.

This is incredibly apparent on From A Room: Volume 2. As you listen to the record, it is obvious that these are collection of vignettes, windows into characters that Stapleton has spent a lifetime crafting, and while it goes against my typical expectation for a good album, I appreciate that fact this collection of songs was further proven by the older sister album released not even six months ago – proof that each track can stand on it’s own and that Stapleton is an artist in it for the long haul. I’ll admit that it seemed like a commercial gimmick at first, a way to make cash off of his current success with CMA awards, but these humble albums are both strong, and in my opinion, Volume 2 is even stronger.

Album opener Millionaire is your standard country song about love overcoming financial difficulty, with Hard Livin’ coming shortly after – a song about outlaw living, and an excellent demonstration of Stapleton’s command over his chosen genre.

Scarecrow In The Garden is another notable addition to the queue, choosing to try something new in the form of a narrative about immigrant farmers living in West Virginia. It doesn’t have the typical fairytale ending of most popular country, and this is what separates Stapleton from his contemporaries. A natural evolution of sound.

Comparisons have been made to Tom Petty, and Stapleton even travelled with him on his final tour, but other greats like Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, and Willie Nelson all come to mind. Just listen to the final four songs and you’ll get a better sense for it. A Simple Song has a folk feel, while Midnight Train to Memphis is rockabilly at heart. Drunkard’s Prayer is a somber ballad and album closer Friendship is full of soul and the blues.

 

 

 

Pros: Even though it comes early on in the album, Nobody’s Lonely Tonight is one of the strongest tracks on the record and a personal favourite of mine. An interesting take on overcoming heartbreak. Also, as previously mentioned, the harmonies of Morgane are much stronger on the album overall this time around.

Cons: It has a very short runtime, and while Tryin’ To Untangle My Mind is a thoughtful and catchy track on the ups and downs of drinking, it’s a little bit cliched in it’s structure. But I can’t quite place why this bothers me just yet.

Runtime: 32 minutes

Points of Interest: Millionaire is a cover of Kevin Welch’s and Friendship is a cover of gospel and R7B legend, Pops Staples.

If it hasn’t been made clear yet, this isn’t your garden variety country music, dear readers. It is an excellent mix of both traditional country and soul music that subverts your expectations of what something out of Nashville should sound like. And I like it.

theories Summarized

If I haven’t convinced you to pick up this album yet, I’ll leave you with one more piece of evidence to consider. He is BFF’s with Justin Timberlake and has performed with him at the CMAs once already. Yes, that Justin Timberlake. The one who basically took up the mantle of King of Pop after Michael Jackson died. And his debut album is already a classic. But that’s my theory on the matter.

Tim!

Discover Their Stories (Women’s History Month)

Posted on by Tim Kuefler

Today I wanted to write about some cool cats I know. Well not personally, but nonetheless, individuals who make great art and inspire all of us to be better human beings.

Memes aside, a moment for all of the ladies who make art despite facing incredible challenges every day, is not nearly enough.

I’m doing this in acknowledgement and praise of Women’s History Month. Which is a pretty big deal if you stop to think about it.

This is not going to be a post where I pretend to know the details of women’s history, because quite frankly, I’m not an expert on any kind of history, save maybe art history, and even then I’m not actively thinking about it often enough to claim mastery. No, this is a post for me in which I get to share with you some artists which I think need more attention and why I like them. Not “like” like them, just like them as professionals. Some of them are more known than others, but regardless of stature, these creatives are important and make great art.

Now I should address some hesitations my Canadian readers will likely have first. Yes I live in Canada, and technically that means I should be celebrating this event in October with the rest of my ilk, but quite frankly, I needed something to share this week and we share a border with Americans. And in case you didn’t know they’ve been running this event nationally since 1987, whereas we only picked it up in 1992. Shocking I know.

Insert Privilege Here

It’s a privilege for me to be able to write about these women, primarily because of the internet and a post-secondary education which taught me better. And that is a sad sad thing, so my hope is that you read these little snippets and take some time yourself to learn about these artists.


Marilyn Minter is an American artist who has been active since the 1980s. Her work often features sexuality and erotic imagery. Working in both photography and painting, Minter looks at the various roles of feminism, fashion and celebrity as they relate to idealizations of identity. Having published works in major American magazines and television she is known for being controversial and never loyal to one brand, medium or group. Minter has had exhibitions all over the world including Les Rencontres d’Arles festival in France, shows in Spain and Germany, being showcased in MoMa frequently. She teaches at the MFA department at the School of Visual Arts in New York and recently had a retrospective of her work in 2015. http://www.marilynminter.net/

Hazel Dickens & Alice Gerrard were musical re-pioneers of what was a defunct form of music now popular once more – folk. The genre was given a boost back in the 1950s, and the duo of Dickens & Gerrard were at the forefront making friends and breaking hearts. Dickens, focused on bluegrass and acted as double bass, while Gerrard, also a singer, played both banjo and guitar, making them rather successful as both solo recording artists and as a pair. Their varied singing styles made use of both Dicken’s high-pitch and Gerrard’s love for crooning and shouting. The pair performed late into their lives but Dickens passed on in April of 2011.

 

 

Julie Taymor is an American director of theater, opera and film. She is definitely best known for directing the stage, as she has been responsible for The Lion King musical, which netted her two Tony Awards, a first for a woman at the time. She has also directed broadway musicals for Spider-man and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Taymore has an Emmy Award, a Drama Desk Award and an Oscar nomination, which is how I got to know her work. Directing films like Titus, Frida, and Across The Universe, Taymor has a natural aptitude for theatre which has spread throughout the performance arts.  Taymors work on Frida was substantial and got the film two Academy Awards – one for makeup and the other for costume design.

 

 

This might seem like a small sampling of professional women to showcase for this post dear readers, but my hope here is to demonstrate that women permeate throughout the arts, and that this is merely a drop in the bucket of talented creatives out there. And these are some of my personal favourite artists too, I could’ve listed off Tracy Emin, Cindy Sherman, Sofia Coppola, Sarah Polley, Debra Granik, Taylor Swift, Ellie Goulding, Leslie Fiest, La Roux, Adele, and tons of others, but then I would just be making lists, and this is about celebrating women.

A privilege in and of itself.

theories Summarized

So where’s the wisdom you ask?  Well, I’ll leave you with this quote by Susan B. Anthony and see if you can glean something from it. And I hope for damn sure that it’s absorption rate is quick, thorough and positively altering, and not a wasted theory.

It was we, the people, not we, the white male citizens, nor yet we, the male citizens, but we, the whole people, who formed this Union. And we formed it, not to give the blessings of liberty, but to secure them; not to the half of ourselves and the half of our posterity, but to the whole people — women as well as men.
– Susan B. Anthony
We’re only telling half a story in many cases, but a half does not make us whole.
Tim!

Been There For You For Decades (Alison Krauss, Windy City review)

Posted on by Tim Kuefler

I’m not sure why this myself, is but it’s been proven time and again that familiar music is much more likely to incite positive feelings than anything else.

So if you want to induce a good mood for yourself, listen to something you already love. Whether you’re on the road, cleaning house, at work or in the middle of the creative act. Music we’ve personally identifed as good just breeds positive feelings.

Emotional and slowly simmering over decades, this week’s album review features classic tracks, by a familiar voice.

Alison Krauss – Windy City
released February 17, 2017
******* 7/10

alison-krauss-windy-city-album

Alison Krauss is an American bluegrass-country singer and musician. Having been active in the music industry since ten years old, and now forty five years of age, Krauss has released fourteen studio length albums since 1987, including songs on soundtracks such as Cold Mountain.

When it comes to accolades, Krauss has won a total of twenty seven Grammy Awards, no small feat given that she is one of the top recording artists in the history of the awards; now second only to Hungarian-British conductor Sir Georg Solti, who has thirty one awards.

But truthfully I can say it best when I say nothing at all, and let the music speak for itself.

As you all know, I kind of had to grow up listening to country music, so I’m well versed with Krauss’ ability to break hearts and take names over a three minute interval. And this album is no different. Windy City is the fifth solo album by Alison Krauss and features covers of ten classic country songs originally from Brenda Lee, The Osborne Brothers, Willie Nelson, Roger Miller, Vern Gosdin, Glen Campbell, Bill Monroe and Eddy Arnold.

The question remains the same – is Windy City a fitting tribute or a cold wasteland. Well, I would argue it fits well, but is a bit of a biter.

Krauss is three decades into her career now, and she has an established voice, but unlike so many other artists before her, she has never explored a cover song album previously, and she’s not known for taking the unbeaten path. For instance, I’ve already eluded to her 1995 hit which was a cover of Keith Whitley’s When You Say Nothing At All. She’s always been a staple of the industry, with a touch of refinement, so Windy City doesn’t really bring anything new to the table, though it does sounds amazingly touching throughout. After all, Krauss was particular to record only on days that she felt at her optimal performance levels.

It’s a gentle reminder that there is a reason this lady has twenty seven Grammys; she has talent and intelligence to back it up. Now, I’m not going to spend time digging into each track to justify the existence of each one within the scope of Windy City, but I will write this – Dream of Me, I Never Cared for You, and You Don’t Know Me all made me rather emotional, heck, that last one got me all teary eyed. But that’s probably because ballads are Alison’s bread and butter.

Another point to note, the fire and passion throughout this record are very welcome additions, and something a fan of bluegrass at any age will appreciate. If you’re a fan of classic country, which apparently I am now (thanks for force-feeding me from a young age Dad), Windy City will feel like a well-worn pair of driving gloves, warm, comforting and protective. Also it serves as a bit of an education on what preceded her in the genre.

Krauss’ legacy is well intact and reinforced with Windy City.

 

There’s no way for Alison Krauss to compete with her early successes, people already have decades of time spent with those first few  singles, but playing homage to other well worn tracks is a smart move, and one which plays to her strengths. Windy City might not be the most original offering of the year, but it’s a familiar one, and fun to boot.

Tim!