Chatham County Line - 30+ minute 'live' session/interview

Mooching around the web to see how the press has received their new album, Wildwood, I chanced across this 35-minute video session & interview with the wonderful Chatham County Line.



I'm starting to realise that this is their most accomplished album yet. At first, yes, I still missed the bluegrass stylings of earlier releases (felt the same about IV on first listen), but there's so much more going on in these songs that flashy, hundred-note solos (though John and Chandler get to bust out a few of those too!). Listen to Crop Comes In played here: more to the point, *watch* them perform it - there are more parts than a Meccano set, and no nuts left over at the end! The banjo at the start of Alone In New York already sounds like a classic intro a la Mcguinn on Mr Tambourine Man.



SEVEN songs performed in this session - that's almost two-thirds of the new album! I don't remember the last time I saw a band afforded that luxury in any press engagement. Respect to MyNC.com for give them the time - and to the boys for having the chops to take the challenge. Enjoy this and see them 'live' in a couple of weeks (European dates below)...

... Chatham County Line – European Tour, September 2010
17th - De Roma, Antwerp (BE)
18th – Take Root Festival, Groningen (NL) - 2 shows
19th – Paradiso., Amsterdam (NL)
20th - Tunnels, Bristol
21st – Garage, London
22nd - The Cluny, Newcastle
23rd – Errigle Inn, Belfast
24th – Cleeres, Kilkenny
25th – Crawdaddy, Dublin
26th – Brudenell Social Club, Leeds

Gilded Palace Radio Show: September 3rd 2010

Another (tardy) edition of The Gilded Palace Radio Show has just gone 'live' at www.totallyradio.com. A one-hour show, for one week only: time was tight (just back from tour, kids back to school, etc.) so another one-hour show will follow next week... that equals two hours for the fortnight. All good. Playlist below... link to show at the end of this post.

1) Caitlin Rose - Fetzer's Blues (Spare Me) - Names
2) Ginny Hawker - Wall Of Bottles - Rounder
3) Carrie Rodriguez - Steal Your Love - Ninth Street Opus
4) Eilen Jewell - You Ain't Woman Enough To Take My Man - Signature
Sounds/ Continental Record Service
5) Barton Carroll - The Poor Boy Can't Dance - Skybucket
6) Chatham County Line - The Ghost of Woody Guthrie - Yep Roc
7) Michael Weston King - Cops Of The World - Valve
8) Dios - Epileptic Tunnel Visions - Buddyhead
9) The Sadies - Another Day Again - Yep Roc
10) Water Tower Bucket Boys - Fromage - watertowerbucketboys.com
11) Danny & The Champions Of The World - Henry The Van - Loose
12) Elliott Brood - Second Son - Sixshooter

The Caitlin Rose album is very good: a couple of killer tracks and growing on me every play. Ginny Hawker really deserves to get the same kind of attention afforded Diana Jones (deserved though it is: both are exceptional). Finally, if you're reading this any time before Sunday afternoon and you're in the south-east of England, there's still time to get over to Winchester for this unmissable line-up... Danny and Bruntnell on the same bill? God, I hope Elliott Brood and Pete get together for a version of Powderfinger :-D More info at SXSC's Myspace

Peter Bruntnell: False Start:



Danny & The Champions Of The World: These Days:

Gilded Palace Radio Show: August 10th 2010

The new edition of the Gilded Palace Radio show is now up at Totally Radio. Playlist below.

You can listen any time over the next two weeks (next show should go up on 27th August). New releases from Mark Olson (touring in December!), Chatham County Line (touring in September!) and covers of Neil Young, Sam Cooke (yes, Sam Cooke) and Prince (yes, Prince).

Also airing recent tracks from Kris Kristofferson and Natalie Merchant, both of whom were ace at Cambridge Folk Festival. No Youtube videos (not that kind of crowd, I guess: no phones in the air... they get het-up about people using high-backed chairs!) so here's another performance from Ms. Merchant:



While I did get Kristofferson to sign an album, I'm afraid I 'bottled' approaching Natalie. Ooooh... ahem, anyway; that playlist...


1. Natalie Merchant - Calico Pie (Nonesuch)
2. STFU - No Work Today (Johnny Rocks)
3. Deer Tick - Choir Of Angels (Partisan/Fargo)
4. Yarn - I Wanted To Get High (Yarn Music)
5. Mark Erelli & Jeffrey Foucault - Powderfinger (Continental Song City)
6. Kris Kristofferson - The Wonder (New West)
7. Abner Jay - I'm So Depressed (Mississippi)
8. Drag The River - Having a Party (Suburban Home)
9. David Celia - I'm Not Texan (XXI)
10. Tom Clelland - I Wish That I Could Write Like Old Guy Clark (Spit & Polish)
11. John Grant - Where Dreams Go To Die (Bella Union)
12. Salter Cane - The Angel Choir (saltercane.com)
13. Mark Wynn - Factory Girls (Little Num Num)
14. Mark Olson - Many Colored Kite (Rykodisc)
15. The Jayhawks - Old Woman From Red Clay (American)
16. Zoe Muth - Wasting My Time (www.myspace.com/zoemuth)
17. Patty Larkin (feat. Roseanne Cash) - The Closest Thing (Signature Sounds)
18. Emil Frijs - Everything's Ruined (Emil Frijs)
19. Hayward Williams - This Bed Ain't Mine (Continental Song City)
20. Chatham County Line - Out Of The Running (Yep Roc)
21. Hillbilly Voodoo - Straight To The Sun (Stone House Records)
22. The Bowmans - Far From Home (Continental Song City)
23. Anders Parker - Tell It To The Dust (Baryon)
24. Will Johnson - Catherine Dupree (Munich Records)
25. Jonas Shandel - Drinking The Water (Nowhere Town)
26. Danny Schmidt - Serpentine Cycle of Money (Red House)
27. Okra Allstars - Purple Rain (Okra)

I Can Lick Any SOB... calm down, calm down!

It's a band-name - one of the great ones. I Can Lick Any Sonofabitch In The House. They're from Portland, which of course gives them a headstart in my book (what is it in the water in that place?), and I thought they were long gone. But, no, the mighty Suburban Home Records announced recently that then would be releasing brand new SOB in 2010.

I first happened upon them in 2004 when the CDBaby site was burning a hole in my pocket. I couldn't hit 'Buy' fast enough after previewing their (then) only two releases: Creepy Little Noises and Put Here To Bleed. If you ever hankered for a heavier Truckers, if you think every band should have a (dedicated) harmonica player, if you wished the 'red' in (so-called) redneck music meant politically 'red'... look here:

I Can Lick Any Sonofabitch In The House: F*** Fred Phelps And The) Westboro Baptist Church:


(You may have heard of Westboro Baptist Church - featured on UK television too: they are some of the sickest people I've ever come across and this song channels the anger every right-thinking person must feel when confronted by such bigotry).

And this may be an easier target, but Mike Damron was writing this back in 2002, when the majority of Americans (so we're led to believe) supported troops in Iraq... i.e. before the body-bags started coming home...

I Can Lick Any Sonofabitch In The House: American F***machine (sorry, not all SOB songs have the F word in the title!)


There was a third SOB album: Menace in 2004 (belter too) and then in 2006, after five years they decided that maybe after all *they* were licked and the band folded. It's better to burn out than fade away, but sometimes it's worth rekindling the flame (damn, that was almost poetic!) and earlier this year word started to get out that SOB were back - and on Suburban Home Records: perfect.

As Suburban Home has been a catalyst in recent UK/European tours by the likes of Drag The River, Ninja Gun and Two Cow Garage, it may not be too much to hope for that SOB make it over here too. I'll be down the front: face melted, fist pumping...
to this...



You can pick up the earlier SOB albums at CD Baby and pre-order the new one from Suburban Home now. If you've never bought Sub Home before, you should also know that they like to throw in the odd treat... buy the CD (instant download) and you get a free beer coozie (and my Two Cow Garage coozie has never let me down yet :-D). Disappointingly, there's no vinyl pre-order yet... anyone else liking the vinyl w. download option becoming the trend lately? After all, if I'm sitting down to listen to physical media I'm usually at the turntable (to my ears, by comparison, CD might as well be good-quality MP3 by comparison). C'mon Virgil: if you're going to release the vinyl anyway (coming soon, apparently) give those of us willing to wait for wax a chance to hear the record now... pretty please :-)

Last one: Mike D and boys take aim at people who may not make such a good job of being a musician, y'know once it goes to their head...

I Can Lick Any Sonofabitch In The House: The Ballad Of Courtney Taylor:


http://www.icanlickanysob.com/
Oh lord...

Gilded Palace Radio Show Playlist - 9th July 2010

New releases from Bon Iver (covering John Prine!), The Books, Chatham County Line, Fred Eaglesmith, the death-defying Peter Case and our very own Salter Cane – as well as an EXCLUSIVE airing for the brand new Dolorean album.
http://www.totallyradio.com/show_pages/shows.php?show=66

Bon Iver - Bruised Orange (Chain Of Sorrow) - Oh Boy!
Zoe Muth - You Only Believe Me When I'm Lying - self-released
Peter Case - Dig What You're Putting Down - Yep Roc
Hillbilly Voodoo - Hats Off To Pleasant Valley Coal - Stonehouse Records
Old Man Luedecke - Foreign Tongue - Black Hen Music
David Olney - Train Wreck - Continental Song City
Tony McLoughlin - Treelines - tonymcloughlin.com
Malcolm Holcombe - Evelyn - Echo Mountain
Salter Cane - The Truth Is Nothing - www.saltercane.com
Point Quiet - Long May You Hide - Continental
Hayward Williams - Cotton Bell - Continental
Southern Tenant Folk Union - Working Never Stays The Same - Johnny Rock
Michael Weston King - I Didn't Raise My Boy To Be A Soldier - Valve
Otis Gibbs - Outdated Frustrated And Blue - Wanamaker Recording Co.
Califone - Mean Seed - Thrill Jockey
The Books - Free Translator - Temporary Residence
Jenny Whiteley - Truth And The Eyes Of The Road - Continental/Black Hen
Larkin Poe - Burglary - Edvins
Fred Eaglesmith - I Would - Lonesome Day
Chatham County Line - Wildwood - Yep Roc
Dolorean - The Unfazed - Fargo (UK/EU)/Partisan(USA)
TMGS - John - tmgs.be
JBM - July On The Sound - Partisan
Sally Spring - Summer's End - Sniffinpup
Sara Watkins - The Late John Garfield Blues - Oh Boy!

The Gilded Palace Radio Show - listen anytime at Totally Radio

Time to get excited - more than usual...

I'm aware that a lot of music gets hyped to the heavens, not all of it deserving such high praise; I'm honestly bewildered about how frequently people are telling me about this-or-that 'incredible new album' (they don't come along any more frequently than they used to, do they...?) but here's my two-pennorth for a record that already has my juices flowing, even though it won't be out until September.

Al James' Dolorean have been among the Gilded Palace Hall-of-Famers since we heard Violence in The Snowy Fields in 2004. They broke the mould with the stunning You Can't Win in 2008, a sumptuous feast of an album - which all but disappeared without a trace, signalling the end of his tenure with Yep Roc. (James' own comments on the album are an insightful accompaniment)

At last (and after a break during which You Can't Win became something of a word-of-mouth winner) Dolorean ready their next release. The Unfazed is more than a title, it's an affirmation: we can win.

Two new tracks 'The Unfazed' and Hard Working Dogs' feature in this streaming player, alongside choice back-catalogue numbers - download 'The Unfazed' from the new Dolorean website and look out for the album and tour in the autumn.

The Gilded Palace of Sin is dead: long live the Gilded Palace of Sin!

So, it seemed silly to be paying for a website we weren't using; with no shows to promote and neither the skills nor the time to turn that site to some other use (an archive of shows/posters etc would be nice... one day). Thus we pitch up here - at a (free) blog long neglected, but clearly the perfect home for a retired promotion still pumping out great radio shows (ahem).

If you're here looking for a gig, you've missed the boat. If you're here to listen to some great music, come on in! The Gilded Palace radio show is available 24/7, and updated fortnightly on Friday evening. Click the image below...