12.27.05 (MusicPortal.com) "The Gun Album," the latest studio release from Indie Pop/Rockers THE MINUS 5, will be released on February 7th via Yep Roc Records. The seventh full-length album from the band, it features the McCaughey/Buck/Ramberg/Rieflin line-up, as well as two tracks recorded in Chicago with WILCO, plus guest appearances from John Wesley Harding, Kelly Hogan, Morgan Fisher (Mott), Sean Nelson (Harvey Danger/Long Winters), and Colin Meloy and John Moen (The Decemberists). However, make no mistake that Scott McCaughey represents the heart and soul of THE MINUS FIVE, who have existed in one form or another since 1993. Songwriter/singer/instrumentalist for YOUNG FRESH FELLOWS (1983 to present), instrumentalist for R.E.M. (1994 to present) as well as instrumentalist/songwriter for TUATARA alongside R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck, McCaughey has actually made many recordings and played many shows with a number of other artists since 1972. THE MINUS FIVE itself started when McCaughey realized he had a dumptruck-load of songs that YOUNG FRESH FELLOWS would either never get around to, or would wisely choose not to. His friends and fellow Seattleites Peter Buck, Ken Stringfellow and Jon Auer were quick to volunteer to help him capture his vision, with those early sessions producing "The Hello EP" and "Old Liquidator." Many other luminants have since joined the ranks of THE MINUS FIVE over the years. A little historical background: UNCLE TUPELO opened for the popular YOUNG FRESH FELLOWS once at the Off Broadway in St. Louis, MO, circa 1988. There was an undeniable musical kinship struck between the bands, while years later other things would happen. For instance, Peter Buck produced UNCLE TUPELO's "March 16-20, 1992" album. Every so often, Scott McCaughey and Jeff Tweedy would find themselves at their wives' house in Chicago, playing each other records and new stuff their bands had recorded. On a night off on R.E.M.'s 1995 world tour, Tweedy learned a bunch of the songs off of "Old Liquidator," and played a set with McCaughey and Buck at the fabled and much-missed Lounge Ax. Somewhere along the line, Tweedy and McCaughey started talking about the desire to record together, and they kept talking about it over the years. After a GOLDEN SMOG show in Seattle, Tweedy, McCaughey and Barrett Martin recorded a new Minus 5 song entitled 'Childhood Lament,' which to this day resides carelessly on the unreleased "Let The War Against Music Begin Vol. 2" album. Tweedy's WILCO would later tour with R.E.M. in 1999, while McCaughey regularly contributed moogerfooger banjo to 'Misunderstood.' Then backstage in Munich, Germany came the Tweedy/McCaughey/Buck anthem, 'Lyrical Stance (I've Got A).' Later, in Toronto, Canada, Scott McCaughey and Jeff Tweedy penned 'The Family Gardener' and recorded a rough version of the song with Brian Paulson in a Raleigh, North Carolina Holiday Inn. In January of 2000, a two-week celebration of Lounge Ax (finally being evicted from its longtime home) brought McCaughey to Chicago to perform a set of new material with no rehearsal, featuring WILCO as THE MINUS 5. That set has since been widely bootlegged.
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12.20.05 (AP) One of Country's hardest Rock bands will open for one of Rock's hardest Country bands in Omaha, Nebraska on January 29th, when BROOKS & DUNN will warm up for THE ROLLING STONES there. "We've thrown around the concept of opening for the Stones forever," singer Ronnie Dunn said Tuesday. "I can't believe we're doing it." When the duo got word of the invitation from their manager, they were told not to call or tell anyone until it was final. "Of course, we started calling our friends as fast as we could as soon as we walked out of the room," he said. Though billed as "The World's Greatest Rock And Roll Band," THE ROLLING STONES have drawn from Country music over much of their storied career. Their early 1970s albums "Sticky Fingers" and "Exile On Main Street," in particular both had strong Country influences often attributed to Keith Richards' friendship with Gram Parsons of THE FLYING BURRITO BROTHERS and previously of THE BYRDS. Over the years, Richards has also worked with George Jones and Willie Nelson, while THE ROLLING STONES -- individually or collectively -- have covered songs by Buddy Holly, Johnny Cash, THE EVERLY BROTHERS and others. Country artists in turn recorded a tribute to THE ROLLING STONES in 1997 called "Stone Country," which had artists like Tracy Lawrence covering 'Paint It Black,' Sammy Kershaw singing 'Angie' and Colin Raye doing 'Brown Sugar.' Like many Country performers, Kix Brooks said he and Ronnie Dunn grew up listening to THE ROLLING STONES and performing their songs. Between them, they've seen the group in concert nearly a dozen times. "We were influenced by classic country acts like Merle Haggard and George Jones and Hank Williams, but also by Clapton and the Stones and all the rock acts like that," Brooks said. "I mean, what guitar player didn't start out with 'Satisfaction'?" The roots Rock influence is also apparent in BROOKS & DUNN's music, especially their recent albums. The songs are soulful, with slide guitar, horns, organ and soaring Gospel choruses. Alongside straight-ahead Country numbers are songs that echo artists like Leon Russell, Tom Petty, LYNYRD SKYNYRD, and vintage Stones. "I'm sure we've gotten as close to their licks as we can without ripping them off," joked Brooks. The nod to '70s Rock and Soul is deliberate. After studying theology at Abilene Christian College in Texas, Dunn moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma, where Russell's Shelter Records was based, and artists such as J.J. Cale, THE GAP BAND, and, occasionally, Eric Clapton visited or recorded. "I soaked up all that stuff," Dunn said. By opening for THE ROLLING STONES, BROOKS & DUNN become an instant trivia question for obsessive Stones fans. The group's opening act announcements can be as anticipated as their set lists, with everyone from METALLICA to the BLACK EYED PEAS to Beck warming up the crowd in recent years. Other than shortening their act to fit the opening slot, Brooks said the duo won't change much on January 29th. "I don't think we should try to do what the Stones do," Brooks added. "Hopefully, it will be the best of what we do."
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12.19.05 (AP) Folk singer Arlo Guthrie was joined by WILLIE NELSON in New Orleans this past weekend to give a sold-out crowd something they've needed since Hurricane Katrina - good music, a good time and a reminder of what they love most about the city. Guthrie welcomed the crowd late Saturday at legendary Tipitina's, his last performance in a two-week railroad tour to raise money for musicians left homeless and without a place to work by the September hurricane. "I'm so happy to be here," Guthrie said, drawing hollers and applause. Crystal Gross was among the roughly 800 people at the benefit concert. She said her apartment in the city survived, but she wanted to do her part to help people who were less fortunate. "Besides, when else do you get to see Willie Nelson at Tip's?" said Gross, who had just moved back to New Orleans in July, about a month before Hurricane Katrina struck. Gross said the city has been glum since the storm, but Guthrie and Nelson have changed that, at least for the moment. "It's so good to see people out again. It's good to see people with smiles on their faces," she said. Inspired by television coverage of the hurricane's aftermath and by learning that Amtrak had resumed its "City Of New Orleans" service to the city, Guthrie hopped a train in Illinois two weeks ago and scheduled performances along the route with other musicians. His 1972 hit, 'The City Of New Orleans,' recounts life on the train, with the chorus: "Good morning America, how are you? Don't you know me, I'm your native son, I'm the train they call the City Of New Orleans, I'll be gone five hundred miles when the day is done." Guthrie arrived in New Orleans on Thursday and performed at Tipitina's on Friday with Ramblin' Jack Elliott and others. He added that show after finding out that Saturday night's grand finale performance with Nelson was sold out. "We are thrilled that we have been able to make some small dent in all that is wrong down here," Guthrie said. In an interview before the show, WILLIE NELSON said he hoped his visit would encourage musicians to return and get the New Orleans music scene back on its feet. "We want to see them come back," he said, "but I want them to have a place to come back to, a place to live." Nelson took the stage after 11 p.m. and, following his set, he joined Guthrie with a stirring rendition of the Steve Goodman-penned 'City Of New Orleans' that Guthrie made popular in 1972. The song was based on a train operated by Illinois Central before the creation of Amtrak. The "City Of New Orleans" name was ironically discontinued in 1971 before the song came out, but Amtrak christened an overnight train that runs much of the same route in 1981. Money and equipment from the "Arlo Guthrie & Friends" benefit tour will be donated to performers and to churches and schools that have music programs. Tour spokeswoman Cash Edwards did not have definitive figures on how much the tour has raised. The tour is one of several efforts to help New Orleans' musicians. Singer Harry Connick Jr. and saxophonist Branford Marsalis are working with Habitat For Humanity to create a "village" for musicians who lost their homes to Hurricane Katrina.

12.12.05 (MusicPortal.com) ROSANNE CASH's "Black Cadillac," set to be released January 24th via Capitol Records, may be the most compelling work of her distinguished career. She wrote the twelve-song musical memoir over roughly two years in which she lost her father Johnny Cash, her stepmother June Carter Cash, and her mother Vivian Liberto Cash Distin. Yet "Black Cadillac" is unique not just for the context in which it was created, but for the defining achievement it represents in the scope of ROSANNE CASH's own artistry and life. She describes the album as "a personal history and an overview of my ancestry," and also as "a fusion of songs, musicians, and producers that was a dream and a dream fulfilled at the same time." With "Black Cadillac," Cash confronts her family legacy as never before while simultaneously pursuing her own bold creative path with renewed commitment. Though she is heir to such a rich lineage, ROSANNE CASH has always been an artist of her own time, following a thoroughly independent vision from the outset of her career. She has earned continued critical praise, Grammy awards and nominations, and eleven #1 singles relying on her own singular voice and sound, songwriting style and life experience. On "Black Cadillac," Cash presents herself in her totality, seamlessly integrating all of this with echoes of her forebearers' music and an explicit acknowledgment of her place in the family line. This balance extends to the recording and innovative production of the album, which incorporates her signature approach to Folk/Rock and homegrown harmonies that recall her more distant family heritage. For half of the album's tracks, ROSANNE CASH traveled to her childhood hometown of Los Angeles and worked with a new producer, Bill Bottrell (Sheryl Crow, Shelby Lynne). She recorded the other half with her husband and long-time producer, John Leventhal (Shawn Colvin, Joan Osborne) in New York City, where they live. Keyboardist Benmont Tench (Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers), a long-time Cash collaborator, contributes throughout. Arguably, the strongest resemblance ROSANNE CASH bears to her father lies in her willingness to face complex emotional challenges head-on and her ability to translate them into universally accessible art - a talent tested in the extreme by the circumstances underpinning "Black Cadillac." Over the course of the album, Cash wrestles with the complexities of mortality, loss, reminiscence and redemption. The overall result is a well-rounded, life-affirming, and hopeful set of songs full of concrete narrative details and ROSANNE CASH's emotionally charged meditations on these topics. "I've always found that songs can be postcards from your future," says Cash of the album's opening and title track, which was written six weeks before her stepmother, June Carter Cash, fell ill. 'The Good Intent' takes its name from the ship that carried the first American Cash from Scotland to New England in 1653, while 'House On The Lake' is set in Johnny and June's Nashville home. Prior to the release of "Black Cadillac," Sony/Legacy Recordings is issuing expanded editions of ROSANNE CASH's landmark "Seven Year Ache" (1981), "King's Record Shop" (1987) and "Interiors" (1990). The reissues will also include a new collection, "The Very Best Of Rosanne Cash." "Black Cadillac" follows the Grammy-nominated "Rules Of Travel" (Capitol, 2003), which features Johnny Cash's final duet with her, 'September When It Comes.'
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12.09.05 (MusicPortal.com) LINDA RONSTADT's four seminal Capitol Records solo albums that were originally released between 1969 to 1974 have been compiled for the first time in a new 2-disc package entitled "The Best Of Linda Ronstadt: The Capitol Years." Due for release on January 24th, the 47-track collection includes the albums "Hand Sown... Home Grown," "Silk Purse," "Linda Ronstadt" and "Heart Like A Wheel" in their entirety, as well as five previously unreleased studio recordings and concert performances. A leading figure in California's Country/Folk movement of the late 1960s, LINDA RONSTADT began her musical career with THE STONE PONEYS, releasing three Capitol albums with that group before striking out on her own with the 1969 release of her "Hand Sown... Home Grown" solo debut. Eager to invoke her abilities as a Country singer, she tore passionately into Nashville-spawned songs like 'Break My Mind' and 'The Only Mama That'll Walk The Line.' "Silk Purse followed in 1970," still showcasing Ronstadt's Country and Honky-Tonk prowess, while also stepping into new territory with the gracefully-arranged Pop ballad, 'Long Long Time,' earning her first Grammy nomination. She tapped Elliot Mazer to produce "Silk Purse," recommended by Janis Joplin, who'd worked with him on her "Cheap Thrills" album. Disc 1 of "The Best Of Linda Ronstadt: The Capitol Years" is comprised of these first two solo albums and three previously unreleased bonus tracks in 'It Won't Be Easy,' an outtake from the "Hand Sown... Home Grown" sessions, 'He Darked The Sun (Nashville Version),' an outtake from the "Silk Purse" sessions, and 'Orange Blossom Special,' which was recorded live at the Troubadour in Los Angeles, California in 1971. LINDA RONSTADT's convivial associations within the then-thriving Los Angeles Folk/Rock music scene often resulted in collaborative gold. For her 1971 self-titled album, Ronstadt enlisted producer John Boylan and some Rock-leaning session musicians from the L.A. scene in Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Bernie Leadon and Randy Meisner, who would later form THE EAGLES. They collaborated on an eclectic selection of Country and Pop/Rock songs, including tracks written by Eric Anderson, Jackson Browne and Neil Young, illuminating Ronstadt's versatility as a vocalist and a performer. The self-titled "Linda Ronstadt" peaked at #35 on Billboard's Country Albums chart, with Browne's 'Rock Me On The Water' cracking Billboard's Top 100 Pop Singles chart. 1974's "Heart Like A Wheel" was LINDA RONSTADT's breakout smash, which made it to #1 on both the Pop and Country Albums charts. She also topped the Pop Singles chart with the #1 hit 'You're No Good,' doling out a powerful vocal and lyrical lashing. For "Heart Like A Wheel," she partnered with producer Peter Asher and recorded a variety of standards and contemporary hits in creative new arrangements with several Los Angeles session musicians. Ronstadt won her first of seven Grammy Awards for Best Female Country Vocal Performance with 'I Can't Help It (If I'm Still In Love With You),' which also reached #2 on the Country Singles chart. 'When Will I Be Loved' hit #1 on the Country Singles chart, and also reached #2 on the Pop Singles chart and #3 on the Adult Contemporary Singles chart, further cementing LINDA RONSTADT's enduring and widespread appeal. Disc 2 of "The Best Of Linda Ronstadt: The Capitol Years" pairs "Linda Ronstadt" with "Heart Like A Wheel," and adds three bonus tracks, including two previously unreleased live recordings in 'Kate' and 'Long Long Time.' Also making its CD debut is 'Can It Be True,' the original b-side to 'I Fall To Pieces.'

[Country News: November 2005]
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