Throwback Thursday – Terry Allen/John Hiatt – “I’m Not That Kat Anymore”
Posted on | November 5, 2009 | 1 Comment
1. Doug Sahm had his own way with the blues. Filtering it through his own blend of British Invasion pop and the Tex-Mex he grew up with in San Antonio (a combination mythologized by Bruce Robison’s It Came From San Antonio), the blues became something else entirely. I covered Sahm’s Doug Sahm and Band on an earlier Throwback Thursday, but today, I would like to check out two versions of “I’m Not That Kat Anymore” filtered through a few near-legends, John Hiatt and Terry Allen. The song describes to a man with an identity crisis, who loudly claims not to be his flaky older self, but whose actions show that not a whole lot has changed.
2. Hiatt’s version, from the fantastic Heard it on the X, is closer to Doug’s original style, with the hard charging, Vox organ-fueled rock that Sahm built his name on. His growling voice delivers an earnestness for the listener to believe him, yet the song’s tempo and swirling sound show that life is going by too fast for the narrator to change his wild ways. A fuzzed out baritone guitar pays tribute to the border blaster Mexican radio stations of the early 60’s that broadcast rock and roll into the United States, presumably where Sahm first heard his British heroes.
3. Terry Allen’s version from this year’s Keep Your Soul has his typical (as of late) lurching, David Byrne via west Texas style. More of a recitation than a vocal performance, Allen’s rendition gives the narrator a little more swagger, only revealing a little bit of vulnerability when he admits that after getting his pleasure from “making the pretty girls hot”, he felt “lowdown”. Of course, immediately after, he offers to be on call for a presumed pretty girl, finishing up with the now-ironic declaration that he ain’t who he used to be. Allen’s delivery highlights the more unrepentant side of the narrator
4. Sahm’s original track showed a two-faced man, conflicted about who he wanted to be versus who others thought he should be. While Sahm was noted for his groove, his wry songs were too often overlooked. John Hiatt and Terry Allen show two sides of the same song, showing how much power of interpretation to paint two pictures of the same scene.
John Hiatt – I’m Not That Kat Anymore
Terry Allen – I’m Not That Kat Anymore
Dexateens – “Spark”
Posted on | November 3, 2009 | No Comments
1. Counting off time with a thumping muted guitar strum, the Dexateens immediately reference Johnny Cash’s Sun Records sound, though considering the conditions under which “Spark”, from their latest record Singlewide was recorded, John Hiatt might be a better comparison. Hiatt’s landmark Crossing Muddy Waters (one of Ed Jurdi’s favorites) was the first record I remember to be recorded on a porch, and this record from the Dexateens makes two. I heard of their second record, Hardwide Healing, through its producer, Patterson Hood of the Drive-By Truckers. The stripped down sound of Singlewide is not as much a departure from their early roots-rock sound as it is a focused effort to highlight the songs rather than the music. “Spark” is a prime example, with the bare instrumentation laying plain Elliott McPherson’s optimistic words.
2. McPherson’s pitched tenor is immediately reminiscent of Gary Louris from the Jayhawks, a comparison reinforced when John Smith enters singing in unison. McPherson’s lyrics speak of hopeful wishing for a “faraway life” without “so much darkness drawn down to ya”, dismissing the negative with “can’t be a shadow or a spark don’t shine”. The rest of the band shuffles in on the chorus, warming McPherson and Smith’s duet that jumps past future glory to reminisce “that I knew you when”, and assuring that the “time will come around again/ If you stick around and see.” The second verse is more endearing encouragement to “wait all night, the sun is gonna find us”, before moving into an understated solo and ending as it began.
3. McPherson doesn’t have a lot to say in this song other than a few hopeful suggestions to a struggling friend. Luckily, he doesn’t try to hide the simplicity of his song with a lot of instrumentation or extra verses. Some of my favorite songs, like Big Star’s “Thirteen” follow this concept. Lyle Lovett said that in songwriting, “having something to say is the hard part. If you get an idea for a song, then it pulls you along.” The Dexateens succeed by not letting a lot get in the way of a simple, good idea.
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.”