Amazon.com customers voted the Dixie Chicks’ Taking the Long Way their favorite album of the year, while editors chose Neko Case’s Fox Confessor Brings the Flood, an alt-country effort by the New Pornographers front-woman. Rounding out female country artists’ dominance was Emmylou Harris’s collaboration with Mark Knopfler which placed third in the customers’ list.
Andrew Bird has announced some upcoming tour dates. This Northwestern graduate with a degree in violin performance also plays the guitar and whistles. His music is influence by American and European folk as well as jazz and blues. Check him out!
Dates of note to the readership of CGCG:
January 13 Chicago @ The Hideout Tix
January 14 Indianapolis @ The Music Mill Tix
January 17 New York City @ The Bowery Balloom Tix
Coney Island’s Astroland will close following the 2007 summer season. The land of the future will become thing of the past after completion of its sale to the intimidatingly-named Thor industries.
Condos are planned for the site but, fear not, the famous wooden roller-coaster, the Cyclone, will be spared, for now. Americana fans in New York will have to work harder for their fix.
Los Angeles radio will once again cater to country fans, but only on the AM dial. XSUR-AM and KKGO-AM now air nationally syndicated programs but will play a mix of local and national acts in 2007. Southern California has consistently been the #1 or #2 market for country album retail sales in the United States (like, remember on Saved by the Bell when they had that Country & Western-themed prom? No? Me neither…).
The crew at Top 40 Music Sucks! listed the top 25 music-related Internet searches (not just Google) for 2006. Blond chicks and rap stars dominate the list (Paris Hilton, Jessica Simpson, Akon, 50 Cent, etc). Top 40 Music Sucks! is ready to throw in the towel over this but I suspect many of these were image searches and not really “Stars are Blind” fans (maybe that’s worse, I’m not sure). No country artist made the list confirming my emerging theories about the disconnect between country music and new media (new media being like, FM radio). Frankly, since Weird Al made the list, I can’t feel too bad about humanity.
Yes folks, it’s Tennessean of the Year season once again and two country divas are among the finalists. You can vote for either Wynonna Judd or Dolly Parton or the first black chief justice of the Tennessee Supreme Court or some doctor trying to prevent the spread of AIDS (whatevs).
No, Wy and Dolly aren’t being nominated only for their contributions to the female-impersonation world: Judd is being recognized for work with the Oasis Center for which she raised more than $250,000 for the center to assist Nashville young people in crisis by performing a charity concert with friend Faith Hill (no word on Hill’s reaction upon not even being nominated for Tennessean of the Year); Dolly’s getting props for establishing the Imagination Library — which provides a free book monthly to all youngsters 5 and under — in all of the state’s 95 counties.
The winner will be announced on December 31. They’re all Tennesseans of the Year to me.
The Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival, the usual haunt for such indie acts as Animal Collective, Bloc Party and Devendra Banhart, will expand in 2007 to include an entire week of country music following the traditional indie rock fest. Headliners George Strait, Willie Nelson, Lucinda Williams and Kenny Chesney (ug) are already slated to perform on May 5 & 6. Alt-country and bluegrass acts will also get their due on the Outlaw Stage (seriously). In case you haven’t called Ticketmaster yet, there will also be an entire tent devoted to cowboy poetry. Actually, tickets don’t go on sale until January so put down the phone.
The announcement of Coachella’s country week comes at the heels of the closing of Los Angeles’s last FM country station, KZLA-FM. For those keeping track, that means the United States’ two largest markets, NYC and LA, will not have access to country FM radio while at the same time, at least in LA, Rascal Flatts will have the best selling album of 2006.
Imagine my surprise when I discovered that current media darling Joanna Newsom (just pick up this month edition of any magazine — et tu Marie Claire?) would be performing in Louisville, KY, a stone’s throw from my hometown while I was home for Thanksgiving. Newsom graced Headliner’s Music Hall in Louisville with support from label-mate Richard Alistair.
Headliner’s is what one might call “no frills.” With a consistent line-up of up-and-coming musicians (if not actual headliners), the venue relies more on substance than style. It’s a general admissions hall with few seats at scattered tables; those in the know seem to come early to grab a seat in the balcony. The decor is limited to four murals on the wall which have little to do with the venue or each other. One, for instance, portrays a pair of 1930s dancers and a radio microphone, another, a pastoral Kentucky scene. We were greeted by a bouncer who didn’t ask “Are you 21?” but “You drinkin?” Ah, home.
Anyway, the opening act Richard Alistair took the stage around 9:10 (nearly on time) and seemed to please the crowd and enjoy himself. The Scottish singer-songwriter promised “to get this party started for real” and at one point claimed he would be performing his version of “I Will Survive” — “but not really so don’t get excited.” He also had a local lackey take the stage and pretend to be a leprechaun. You know, all the usual stuff. Alistair played until about 9:50. And then Newsom took the stage.
Oh wait, that’s false. Though her harp glimmered on stage, Newsom failed to appear on stage for almost another hour. The crowd only felt Newsom’s presence through her request that patrons stop smoking which was delivered over the PA 
by some unknown A/V guy. (I am one of the most virulent anti-smokers and, hey, she was only asking that the audience comply with the law but, looking back, this was a bad sign.)
Though Alistair performed his “warming up” duties adequately, the effort was most likely for naught since the audience was sufficiently cold when Newsom came out at 10:50. Newsom greeted the audience with a quick “hello” and no explaination for her tardiness. She jumped into the music and performed two solos. The audience had a hard time holding a grudge against the harpist as the sound of this little woman and her instrument was truly amazing. Then the complaining began.
Newsom apparently was having trouble hearing herself in the monitor. She complained about this. A lot. Now, granted, the audio sophistication of Headliner’s is probably sub-standard but one wonders if that warrants the comment “it sounds like I’m singing into the lid of a trash can.” Even if the monitor “was the weirdest monitor in the history of monitors” perhaps one might remember the mantra “the show must go on.” In fact, this show could have used a lot of hackneyed sayings like “Great to be here,” “You guys are awesome,” “Louisville rocks,” etc etc. Newsom grew more agitated as the performance went on, despite the assurances of the audience that she sounded great. (Remarkably, Newsom’s live tracks sounded almost exactly like her recorded tracks.) Newsom’s criticisms were not limited to the audio, she also didn’t like the light effects which “rendered the harp strings invisible.” M’kay.
Newsom abruptly left the stage after about 50 minutes in what seemed like an unplanned early exit. The crowd responded to Newsom amazingly considering her antics. The music was extremely well-received and afterward everyone seemed in a good humor about the lousy performance. (I saw a group of guys taking their picture together with their thumbs down — but they were smiling.) Some seem non-plussed because it was only $7. I say use the money toward buying her CD and skip the live antics.
Happy Thanksgiving! Thanks to all my loyal readers!
Country legend and all-around bad-ass Willie Nelson releases his new anti-war single “Whatever Happened to Peace on Earth? featuring Ben Harper, Jack Johnson, Michael McDonald and Patrick Simmons today, Tuesday, November 21. The single, released on Lost Highway Records, will benefit the National Veterans Foundation, and is available only from on-line music stores (iTunes, Urge, etc).
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