Five Records with… Ed Jurdi
Posted on | October 30, 2009 | No Comments
I recently talked to the Ed Jurdi from the Band of Heathens, who recently released One Foot in the Ether, their second studio record and fourth overall. You can read a review of that record’s first single “L.A. County Blues” here. Five Records is an occasional feature of artists talking about the music that inspires them. Read more of these posts here.
“When I was 6 years old, my parents bought me a serious boom box and 2 tapes. Chicago X and Live at Leeds. That record totally blew my mind. It was so heavy and reckless, yet so melodic and dynamic, sometimes all at once. It was pure energy, I could almost put myself at that show and picture the whole scene.”
“He’s just got so many good songs and so many good albums. To do something this soulful and deep at that point in his career was just a wonder.”
“When we were recording One Foot in the Ether, I was listening to this record, Vetiver’s To Find Me Gone, and Roy Harper’s The Passions of Great Fortune Vol 1. Can you tell I have a hard time sticking to 1 album? I was listening to a bunch of folk music at the time, these were just a few of the records that kept getting rotated around.”
“A song I wish I had written – “Picture in a Frame” by Tom Waits from Mule Variations. I mean the guy is just so brilliant, what else can you say?”
“His songs have an emotional and lyric intensity that’s matched with really cool hooky memorable melodies. It’s totally timeless.”
Throwback Thursday – Rodney Crowell – “Bluebird Wine”
Posted on | October 29, 2009 | No Comments
1. I started thinking about Rodney Crowell when writing about his recent collaboration with Bruce Robison. Crowell has had a storied career, running with Guy Clark and Townes Van Zandt in Nashville before heading to L.A. to play in Emmylou Harris’ Hot Band, then finding mainstream country success in the 80’s and reinventing himself in this past decade. Though his style has varied over the years, he has a deep catalog of songs that run the gamut from political rants to unabashed love songs. “Bluebird Wine” came early in his career, and was brought more success when Emmylou covered it on her landmark Pieces of the Sky record, though Rodney’s live take from Heartworn Highways better shows the guts of the song.
2. Riding some surprisingly ace finger picking, he tells a story of a new friend who straightened his life out…so that he could better enjoy his precious Bluebird Wine. The irony is not lost here, as Crowell comes in off the highway, puts his money in the bank, and gets rid of worry so that he can cut loose. When he hits the chorus, the song “hits its stride” just like he sings, with an exuberant swagger that mirrors the effects of the precious drink. Crowell returns to the irony by relating that his new friend has taught him the joys of staying in at night and listening to the radio, while “drinking all the Bluebird we can hold”. This slight twist on the idea of turning over a new leaf gives the song an indelible splash of character.
3. Crowell has turned out some great work in recent years, records which his guitarist Will Kimbrough calls “his best“. Though much of his more recent work deals with his disgust with politics, poverty, and other heavy subjects, he has always maintained the ability to write uptempo songs about letting go and having a great time. Great songs are expected from someone with his songwriting pedigree. With “Bluebird Wine”, Crowell shows that he was cranking classic songs out from the beginning, and that these later years are just the icing on the cake.
Rodney Crowell – Bluebird Wine
Hayes Carll – “Waiting On The Stars To Fall”
Posted on | October 28, 2009 | 1 Comment
1. Hayes Carll’s voice contains an ache that gives even makes his happier songs a bit of a silver lining. Playing the same role of lovable loser that Townes Van Zandt and Jerry Jeff Walker filled decades before him, Carll fits together a rocking roadhouse band with delicately crafted songs that have placed him at the head of his class in the next generation of Texas songwriters. Though “Waiting On The Stars To Fall” was a b-side on the vinyl version of his last record Trouble In Mind, Lost Highway recently released it on a free compilation entitled T For Texas, T From Tennessee, bringing together the best of their artists from the Lone Star State.
2. “Waiting On The Stars To Fall” was produced by Brad Jones, known more for his Nashville pop productions (Josh Rouse, Garrison Starr) than his country engineering work. Jones stretches Carll’s sound a bit on this track, giving him a shimmering bed of keyboards for his voice and gently plucked guitar. Though a baritone guitar and drums enter later, they are subtle enough that they don’t overshadow Carll’s creaking voice, undoubtedly the star of the song.
3. This song finds Hayes wondering what happened to the old version of himself after his lover leaves to “live wild and free”. He finds himself on the other side of forever, not enjoying it within a relationship, but suffering from it, remarking that it is “a long ol’ time”. In the chorus, he repeats that he “want[s] to let go, but [he] can’t.” Carll doesn’t say he doesn’t know how to move on, since knowing how and being able to do something are two entirely different things. He reveals more self-awareness by noting that he used to be “running with the bulls and chasing down stars” instead of “waiting on the stars to fall”. Since she left, though he used to live “like New York City”, he “hardly makes a sound”. Like Tom Waits, Hayes invites the listener to sit down on the curb with him and share in his incredulity at who he used to be and how far he has fallen.
4. “Waiting On The Stars To Fall” is an unfiltered slice of reality, delivered in Carll’s usual steadfast way. Like the outstanding “Take Me Away” from his second record Little Rock, this song lopes along at a slow, shuffling pace that accentuates every drawl in his voice to maximum effect. I think the most promising thing about Hayes Carll is that he gets better with each release. This song isn’t a new one to many, but roars with potential and increases the desire for more from Hayes.
Hayes Carll – Waiting On The Stars To Fall
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