06.29.06
Posted in hot live action - June 29th, 2006 at 1:03 pm by Cricket
We need to start cataloging conversations with cab drivers here, since sometimes they are better than the shows we see. Nashvegas has some strange birds. So the other night my driver is a late 50s/early 60s-ish black guy, listening to Republican talk radio and periodically turning down the sound to discuss what they are saying with me and rail on about how those guys in Washington are no better than the mafia. Okaaaaaaaay. The radio switches to discussion of the new Superman movie and the following conversation ensues:
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06.28.06
Posted in back catalogue, lyle lovett, some albums we done liked others we ain't, steve earle, townes van zandt, waylon - June 28th, 2006 at 2:52 pm by Cricket & Mimi
We each chose five albums that you should absolutely own, listen to, learn and love. “Back catalogue” albums will be a regular deal here, as we explore not only new music, but music you may have missed because you were too busy watching Beverly Hills, 90210.
Mimi’s albums
Step Inside This House - Lyle Lovett
This was a hard one for me. I guess I’ll get around to waxing on and on about all of his records eventually, but let’s start here.
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06.27.06
Posted in back catalogue, random, some albums we done liked others we ain't - June 27th, 2006 at 1:41 pm by Cricket & Mimi
Six songs by three artists that you should download from iTunes rather than bothering with the entire album right off.
Mimi’s:
Josh Ritter
“Letter From Omaha”–This song is as country as Josh gets. It’s from his first album, which I think I like more than the newer stuff–which isn’t a shock since I have serious prejudices about production (and the overuse thereof). “Tonight, the sugar cane smells like calico, the color of your hair.” This is has a Dylanesque sound.
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06.25.06
Posted in back catalogue, cricket spazzes, lucero - June 25th, 2006 at 7:55 pm by Cricket
I wrote this whole review of the new Allison Moorer album, Getting Somewhere and just scrapped it. I’m not happy with album and I just can’t get behind writing a bad review for someone I generally love. And since we’re all about the love here at HCT headquarters I guess I’ll just move on to something else. [Yeah, that was a rough call, I agree. Maybe next time, Allison, we'll pimp you out then.—Mimi]
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Posted in hank iii, hot live action - June 25th, 2006 at 7:39 pm by Cricket
[This was written by our own esteemed Miss Daisy, herein lie her (mis)adventures in seeing Hank Williams III for the first time—Cricket]
On the way to the Hank III show, me and my roommate, Luke, had a conversation on the merits of assembling a team that included a pirate, a ninja, a cowboy, and an Amazon. (Originally, Luke tried to tell me that with the pirate and the ninja we didn’t need a cowboy, but whatever. That one is for me.) [That one is for all of us. Where would we be without cowboys?—Cricket] Luke said we need one more guy. A sort of leader/figurehead, if you will. Someone like Mr. T. I suggested MacGyver, what with him being, you know, MacGyver and all. [What is this team for? Mutual destruction?--Mimi]
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Posted in corb lund, talk to us - June 25th, 2006 at 5:11 pm by Mimi
Vindication is one of the best feelings in life. I have a history of liking artists who later turn out to be Scientologists or who do things like insult their fans while black-out drunk. So the fact that Corb Lund is dryly hysterical, not full of himself, and an actual, honest-to-God cowboy makes my month.
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06.24.06
Posted in mimi hates on pop country - June 24th, 2006 at 12:03 pm by Mimi
Oh, Hallelujah, just what the industry needs!
This is one of those stories that creates extreme conflict for us. On the one hand, labels merging just makes the Beast that much worse and will lead to a juggernaut, creating a stalemate between two Big Players that is really about profit rather than making music (wait, check, that’s already happened). On the other hand, this means that, maybe, hopefully, artists will shift their focus from getting a deal with the purveyors of pap and crack and cast their eyes towards minor and independent labels who will let them retain artistic control and make decent music that means something. [Maybe this is when the country bands and not just the punk and 'indie' bands will start taking Hank III's advice: You don't have to go spend $200,000 on a studio and be in debt for the next four or five years. It's a $500 machine. Being in a studio isn’t going to make people like your stuff better. Do it yourself. It ain't that hard. It's just songwriters and a jam room. It's the ultimate songwriting tool. (from here).—Cricket]
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06.23.06
Posted in random - June 23rd, 2006 at 8:51 pm by Cricket
Mimi: *looks at my feet as I’m complaining about sweating into the soles of my flip-flops* Did you cut your toenails when you’d been drinking?
Me: What? Uh, yes?
Mimi: Hahahahaha! You mocked that Bobby Pinson guy’s song about doing that and look at you!
*both collapse into laughter*
That, my friends? The high point of our night.
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06.22.06
Posted in avett brothers, cricket spazzes, hot live action - June 22nd, 2006 at 7:44 pm by Cricket
MySpace is like sticking your hand in a murky pond and pulling it out all covered in slime and dead bugs and yet I can’t stop going there. It’s insidious crack. Please let’s talk about anything else.
I know! What’s hilarious, cute as a bug on a leaf and has six legs? The Avett Brothers live! Yeah, I’m fairly sure I should be fired for that joke, but since I’m not willing to fire myself, I think I’m pretty safe. [WTF is that comment? Wow. Lame.--Mimi]
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06.21.06
Posted in cricket spazzes - June 21st, 2006 at 11:39 pm by Cricket
So we randomly find people here in Nashville, mostly doing our beloved country (and sometimes the country we hate). Sometimes people doing other things. Like Joshua Scott Jones. You’ve already read about him, now you can hear him (zipped file, please right click to download and save file as). Listen, then tell us how much you love it, then go tell him how much you love it.
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Posted in dale watson, hot live action - June 21st, 2006 at 5:05 pm by Mimi
They moved the Grand Ole Opry. It was once walking distance to the Broadway bars now it’s in the suburbs and situated facing a sprawling shopping mall–a mall where none of the stores even sell cigarettes. I could draw red circles around this and a huge black arrow pointing to it so people will ponder the symbolism of that, but instead I’ll just bitch about the Sameness of the South nowadays.
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06.16.06
Posted in cricket spazzes, dale watson, some albums we done liked others we ain't - June 16th, 2006 at 11:12 am by Cricket
Are you reading this site and you don’t already love Dale Watson? Let’s fix that. His most recent release is Whiskey or God, and it’s as fine as his huge back catalog of previous releases (all of which you can find listed here).
Dale’s been around for a while, consistently making good music–good country music. He sings the mainstay themes: drinking, women–good and bad–heartache, and hard work. His voice is an incredible baritone that just reaches in and pulls at something behind your bellybutton.
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Posted in random - June 16th, 2006 at 10:58 am by Mimi
Is there some point of pride in Nashville to have the worst website possible? Why is it that fourteen year olds could make–for free–better websites than festival organizers can seem to pay for? Why does every artist’s myspace copy burn my eyes out with lack of apostrophes or misspellings?
There is a market here for motivated, net-savvy fangirls. Please apply at MySpace, we will point the way.
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Posted in CDBaby, cricket spazzes - June 16th, 2006 at 1:17 am by Cricket
In an attempt to distract myself from all the bug bites, I will ramble on about the things on my mind right now. Pass the calamine and we’ll get started.
So we have a MySpace page for the site now. I’m ambivalent about it. On the one hand we’re already finding bands we wouldn’t have otherwise. On the other, GAH! MySpace. I hated it on principle before and now even more. Half the time it doesn’t work. And I loathe it so much that I can’t help but hate myself a little when I find myself obsessively checking it. I love technology and I’m lost without the internets and yet MySpace just doesn’t make that much sense to me. In a way it’s just nothing, just people linking endlessly to each other. Not really hooking up or anything (though, yeah, there’s that) but mostly it’s like being in the hall at junior high and trying to walk by all the popular kids. I hate junior high. MySpace is ugly.
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06.15.06
Posted in mimi hates on pop country, some albums we done liked others we ain't - June 15th, 2006 at 11:37 pm by Mimi
Huh. Ok. So I just told Cricket that I think she might need to start checking me on a regular basis to make sure I haven’t lost all objectivity or ability to think critically. [Yeah, I think I need to check you for a lot things, but then I'm not sure I'm a good judge of anything either. Certainly not responsibility.--Cricket]
I got this album off of iTunes for various reasons, but the most important being that I felt like I should give it a listen considering the write-ups I read about it being “real country” and “old fashioned” and suchlike.
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Posted in a little bit rock and roll - June 15th, 2006 at 11:15 pm by Mimi
We met up with a recently relocated singer/songwriter named Joshua Scott Jones the other night. He gave us his demo. We were (naturally) dubious and not looking for much.
Considering the recent success of acts like Josh Ritter and Joe Purdy and the “rediscovering” of Jeff Buckley, Joshua has a great shot to ride the up-beat, romantic-voiced, pop-folk wave that seems to have no crest in sight.
His voice is somewhere in between Adam Levine and Julian Casablanca, and for a lot of folks (read: chicks and guys into guys) the rest of his sound or song construction will be set-dressing. The thing is, Joshua isn’t just some lame-ass guy who thinks maybe playing music might be fun until he finishes his MBA.
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Posted in fan fair, hot live action, mimi hates on pop country - June 15th, 2006 at 2:20 pm by Mimi
What more needs to be said about a show where Billy Ray Cyrus was the best act?
That quip is actually mean to Billy Ray, because he was surprisingly charismatic, charming, and willing to mock himself for the pleasure of the crowd. Yes, I am a giant hater, but, hell, trust me, you’d enjoy seeing him live, too. [The Bon Jovi hair was a little frightening, but the set was surprisingly enjoyable.--Cricket]
But to start from the start.
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Posted in fan fair, hot live action, mimi hates on pop country - June 15th, 2006 at 1:46 pm by Mimi
Fan Fair is full of yahoos, which is a surprise to exactly no one but the yahoos themselves. If you’ve never been to Branson, Missouri, or Stone Mountain, Georgia, or Asheville, North Carolina, I’ll give you a rundown of the sorts of people we’re talking about here:
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Posted in fan fair, hot live action, mimi hates on pop country - June 15th, 2006 at 1:45 pm by Mimi
After I saw Jerrod Niemann, I realized Cricket had called me about fifty-six times while I was getting a sunburn on the part in my hair and sweating to death (three bottles of water, two of cups of coffee, and a bottle of Gatorade, and I didn’t have to pee once, that’s how hot it was). We then engaged in the sort of retarded-ass phone tag only possible between two idiots with cell phones in a crowd. The details of us not being to find each other in an area about the size of a football field is boring even to me, so I’ll spare you. [Too bad we didn't think about text messaging until the next day. Apparently heavy drinking does make you stupid. Who knew?--Cricket]
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Posted in corb lund, hot live action, jerrod niemann, kane - June 15th, 2006 at 9:04 am by Mimi
It just dawned on me when I was standing in the kitchen searching for the can opener we don’t own that I still haven’t posted the review of Fan Fair. That isn’t because it’s not (mostly) written but because I’m waiting on some pertinent information from someone. Not that you even care about Fan Fair if you’re reading this anyway. But, you know, I can ramble on as much as I want here.
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06.14.06
Posted in cory branan, hot live action - June 14th, 2006 at 12:32 pm by Mimi
Dear lord. On so many levels.
Before I launch into this review, I’m gonna complain about something totally unrelated. Then I’ll complain about reviewers, fangirls, and the internets.
I grind my coffee in the morning in one of those little Mr. Coffee grinders with the press-down button on the top. I don’t do this because I’m hip or from Seattle (unlike someone around here who doesn’t even barely drink coffee), but because my family are hillbillies and have always bought coffee beans. Why that is, I have no idea, other than they didn’t know they could buy it preground? When I was younger, before the whole movement for “freshness” and crapola like that, they were the only people I knew who bought coffee beans. Anyway, so they still do and therefore I do. I guess that’s sort of like how I’m a Baptist I guess.
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06.12.06
Posted in kane, some albums we done liked others we ain't - June 12th, 2006 at 11:55 pm by Mimi
Warning: This review is free of actual critical content.
You know how there are those things you’re completely aware of liking in a way that is totally irrational and bubbly and maybe a little psychotic?
Welcome to my house, buckle up tight, everybody sings and drinks and laughs and gets high. (– “House Rules”)
G-D it, I frickin’ hate MySpace! Why is it such a piece of crap? ARG! Ok, panic in the disco averted there, I found it: http://www.myspace.com/kanecountry
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Posted in fan fair, hot live action, jerrod niemann, kane - June 12th, 2006 at 10:07 pm by Cricket
The air conditioning is broken. Hopefully the storm rattling around outside will cool it off a little until the central air is fixed and we can live like civilized people again. Until then I’ll just swelter over my computer with my heat-swollen fingers and tell y’all more about Fan Fair.
Friday began as one of those days. You know, where you just miss everything, can’t catch a break to save your life, you’re late for work, and your car won’t start.
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06.09.06
Posted in cricket spazzes, some albums we done liked others we ain't, two gallants - June 9th, 2006 at 6:52 pm by Cricket
This is Americana. The band has been called a “reinvention of Americana,” a “folk duo,” “blues-based,” and a myriad of other things, including indie rock, that just don’t sum it up for me. Sure, I can agree with “blues-based” in the sense that much of American roots music stems from roughly the same handful of sources and styles, and that necessarily includes blues. But one can say that the Rolling Stones and the White Stripes are blues-based and simply saying that tells you very little about the music.
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06.08.06
Posted in cricket hates on pop country - June 8th, 2006 at 1:10 am by Cricket
Rascal Flatts, man, I can not turn on CMT for more than 7.3 minutes (I did too time it, you don’t know, shut it — and yes I watch CMT, it’s good to know what you’re up against) without seeing this band in videos or commercials or just there, doing nothing, taking up space, wasting minutes of my life. I hate them on principle. They aren’t country music. They have the appearance of a crappy manufactured adult contemporary boy band that couldn’t even get anyone attractive to show up for the audition, but are perhaps crappier than that appearance. Even Amazon.com, in their generally bland and inoffensive reviews, calls Rascal Flatts “soft rock masquerading as country.” Which really is my whole damn problem with Rascal Flatts and mainstream pop radio country. It’s without soul, without real twang, without heart, without substance.
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06.05.06
Posted in corb lund, some albums we done liked others we ain't - June 5th, 2006 at 8:23 pm by Mimi
I pause in my Brad Paisley obsession to introduce you to the best damned Albertan cowboy singer around. [How many Albertan cowboy singers are there? -- Cricket] [Clearly you never been to Canada, Cric. Which is odd since you're a Yankee, isn't that next to Canada? -- Mimi]
If you’re not Canadian, there’s a good chance you’ve never heard of Corb Lund, which is sad for your sorry ass.
Corb Lund is another gateway drug country band that a lot of non-country-listening friends of mine like in spite of themselves. I think that’s probably because, being Canadian, he doesn’t twang. He also, unlike a lot of non-Southerners (looking at you, Keith Urban), doesn’t put on a fake accent when he sings.
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06.02.06
Posted in some albums we done liked others we ain't - June 2nd, 2006 at 8:21 pm by Mimi
Gonna be honest. I expected the absolute worst from this album because they appeared in One Tree Hill, and how I know that, well, we shall never discuss. [Please, if only you'd stop discussing it. -- Cricket]
I think what’s happening to me here (aside from being confused) is that this is one of those albums that is a lynchpin in some marketing extravaganza (not unlike the cross-marketed Rascal Flats album) and so it’s not going to suck, because it can’t (unless it’s Toby Keith, in which case it doesn’t matter who produces tracks — well, you know the drill).
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