Levon Helm

Electric Dirt

Dirt Farmer/Vanguard

Grateful Dead covers are always fun — remember the 1991 tribute album, “Deadicated”? And “Tennessee Jed” is a great song no matter how you slice it. So when Helm begins the followup to his comeback disc, “Dirt Farmer,” by singing “Cold iron shackles and a ball and chain” against a wall of sound made up of resonator guitar, piano, organ and horns (including the ubiquitous Howard Johnson on tuba), one can’t help but grin from ear to ear.

Then again, Helm’s voice in itself elicits a Cheshire Cat smile, especially in light of the throat cancer that nearly silenced his golden Arkansas twang forever. ”Electric Dirt” expands on the Grammy-winning acoustic folk of 2007’s “Dirt Farmer,” with electrified blues and gospel numbers by Muddy Waters, the Staple Singers and Nina Simone, alongside rustic material such as Carter Stanley’s “White Dove” and Happy Traum’s “Golden Bird.” Thrown in for good measure are Randy Newman’s “Kingfish” (from 1974’s “Good Old Boys”); the album’s two originals, ”Growin’ Trade” and “When I Go Away” (the former a co-write with producer Larry Campbell and the latter a song written by Campbell for the Dixie Hummingbirds); and “Heaven’s Pearls” (a song by daughter Amy Helm’s band, Ollabelle).

“Move Along Train” is a late-’60s composition by Roebuck “Pops” Staples that only appears as a bonus track on the CD reissue of the Staple Singers’ church concert album, “Freedom Highway.” The harmony vocals by Amy Helm and Campbell’s wife, Teresa Williams, are knockout.

The pair of Muddy Waters tunes (some may notice the disc’s title is a play on Waters’ “Electric Mud” album) was cut during the “Dirt Farmer” sessions: “Stuff You Gotta Watch” has some funky accordion by Brian Mitchell and mandolin by Helm; “You Can’t Lose What You Ain’t Never Had” is all drums, bass and guitar, with Byron Isaacs on bass and Campbell on resonator and acoustic guitars and mandolin.

Four songs on the album feature the Levon Helm Band’s horn section. ”Tennessee Jed” and “Heaven’s Pearls” benefit from arrangements by trumpet-playing band member Steven Bernstein. ”Kingfish” and ”I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free,” a 1954 Billy Taylor composition popularized by Simone in 1967, feature charts by Allen Toussaint.

Kudos to Campbell, the string wizard and sideman extraordinaire (Phil & Friends, Bob Dylan) who produced “Dirt Farmer” and “Electric Dirt,” using basically the same crew of musicians for both. In Campbell, The Band’s legendary drummer/singer could not have found a better partner.

Tracks

1. Tennessee Jed
2. Move Along Train
3. Growing Trade
4. Golden Bird
5. Stuff You Gotta Watch
6. White Dove
7. Kingfish
8. You Can’t Lose What You Ain’t Never Had
9. When I Go Away
10. Heaven’s Pearls
11. I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free

Total time: 43:03

External links

artist’s website
amazon.com
iTunes Store

Tags: blues, country, folk, gospel, rock

Joe Price

Rain or Shine

Blues Acres

Unpretentious, heartfelt, modern country blues played on classic resonator guitars just doesn’t get any better than this. A member of the Iowa Blues Hall of Fame and the Iowa Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Price’s blues are infused with the residual rock inclinations of his ’70s group, the progressive Mother Blues Band (which spawned another amazing musician, Bo Ramsey).

This is all fingerpicking slide, all the time — except for the addition of drums and trumpet on the final track. Price plays a National ResoRocket on six songs, a Greg Bennett Avion Samick on three and a ‘58 Stella 12-string on one. His wife, Vicki, also a National player, joins in on three numbers. All songs are originals.

Not since the late, great Jerry Reed’s “Pickin’ ” 10 years ago has an album alternated between vocal and instrumental tracks so expertly, presenting the music in perfect compare-and-contrast sequence. Kickin’ it off is “Hornet’s Nest,” a ResoRocket showcase and testament to old-school country blues that serves as a reference point for the album, with Price’s down-home vocals leaving no doubt about the artist’s dirt-road cred.

Next up is “Joe’s Guitar Stomp” on the Samick Avion. As the title indicates, Price’s foot plays a prominent part, but the instrumental obviously was written for this incredibly awesome-sounding electric guitar and must be heard to be believed. On this cut and the other two featuring the instrument (”Too Little Too Late” and “Rock Slide”), the guitarist’s attack and sustain are mind-blowing.

“Nellie Bell” is a beauty to behold and the best of the instrumentals. Acoustic and ultrapretty, its gently rolling slide interweaved with intricate fingerstyle picking comes across like Ry Cooder fused with Duane Allman — “Cherry Ball Blues” meets “Little Martha.”

“Blues on 12,” another instrumental, is the sole selection played on the Stella, and at first doesn’t appear to even be a slide number until almost the end when the slow blues breaks out into a few slippery riffs.

influenced by Earl Hooker at an early age as well as by his mother’s blues records (which, according to the Waterloo Courier, she saved her lunch money all week to buy starting in 1935), Price is as legit as they come. He and his wife also had the honor of performing  on the ”Artists in Resonance, Vol. II” portion of the National Reso-Phonic catalog; they play his original tune, “There’s Good Rockin’ on a Steel Guitar,” on their twin National Resolectrics.

Tracks
1. Hornet’s Nest
2. Joe’s Guitar Stomp
3. Too Little Too Late
4. Nellie Bell
5. Steel Guitar
6. Lu Lu
7. Last Stop Now
8. Blues on 12
9. Beer Tent Boogie Woogie
10. Rock Slide

Total time: 33:33

External links
artist’s website
CD Baby
iTunes Store

Tags: blues, folk

Leo Rondeau

Down at the End of the Bar

self-released

Up-and-coming, Austin-based singer-songwriter Rondeau’s sophomore effort is a real beaut. His brand of “I did it my way” country is at once original and traditional; mainstream and avant garde; foreign yet familiar.

Comparisons are elusive, but not since Gram Parsons/Poco/New Riders/Marshall Tucker has the genre been melded properly with the intangible “it” to create something new and exciting. His high, lonesome and twangy voice nearly floats atop a bed of not quite country rock and sometimes slightly cosmic American music.

Others have attempted this feat: the short-lived Southern California band Beachwood Sparks or “Cold Roses”-era Ryan Adams. But Rondeau has them beat because he not only makes good use of fiddles, banjos, mandolins, dobros and steel guitars, he’s a storyteller as well.

Much of his subject matter involves women who’ve done their men wrong in one way or another, but he also regales with tales of ramblers, barflies, middle-aged women with small-town blues, and siblings coming of age in the Old West.

Check out some of this wordplay:

(from “You Ain’t for Me”)

No tears obstructed her vision
In her voice there was no quivering
No trembling in her lips
No turning back in her hips

No goodbye would grace her tongue
A solemn look then she was gone
From lovers to nothing
Why I just never saw it coming

(and from “Rhinestones”)

They were all wanting handouts
And I was passing around beats
The shufflers wanted four
And the waltzers wanted three
And I’ve barely got it together
Please allow me to explain
I’m not going to be the one
To drive this boogie woogie choo choo train

One last observation to make a case for Rondeau’s music: He’s such a maverick that, on a couple of songs, he dares to mix horns with country — something only Marty Robbins, the Kinks (circa “Muswell Hillbillies”) and the Hacienda Brothers have ever done well.

Tracks
1. No Friend To Louisiann
2. Down At The End Of The Bar
3. You Ain’t For Me
4. Weary Owls
5. She’ll Get The Advantage
6. Rapture
7. Blues Came Today
8. Rhinestones
9. Elephant In This Room
10. Had I Known
11. Better Place For You

Total time:  40:03

External links
artist’s website
My Texas Music
CD Baby

Tags: country, folk, rock

Johnny Hawthorn

Death & Taxes

Abe’s

L.A.-based hired gun Hawthorn did well enough playing for local artists and supplying music for TV and movies to release a self-titled solo album in 2006 under the Johnny Hawthorn Band moniker. Encouraged by the response, he’s back as just Johnny Hawthorn with “Death & Taxes.”

Again assisted in production and engineering by Todd Nichols (Toad the Wet Sprocket, Hawthorn’s high-profile touring gig since 2002), the blues-rock-with-a-country-twist guitarist turns out another solid, varied set featuring plenty of exemplary slide. The CD was recorded at Nichol’s Studio City house, Hawthorn’s apartment in Venice and Abe’s Studio in North Hollywood.

In addition to the usual electric/acoustic guitar and slide guitar, a mid-’50s Supro lap steel is featured on more than half the cuts, the most prominent of which is the closing instrumental, “St. Stephan’s Green.” On it, Hawthorn plays the Supro through a Marshall half stack and uses an Eventide delay patch to great effect.

The disc’s other instrumental is “Bamboozled,” a Stevie Ray Vaughan-style blues-rocker in the vein of “Stang’s Thang” or “Boilermaker” but with an oh-so-small hint of rockabilly.

Other highlights include the title track, with its “death” verses and “taxes” chorus; the more pop-oriented Internet single “Punk in the Street,” which won several awards at GarageBand.com; the Blind Willie Johnson classic “In My Time of Dying,” in which he quotes toward the end from Led Zeppelin’s “Friends” off “Led Zeppelin III”; and “Traveling Roadside Blues,” featuring a 12-string Taylor acoustic tuned open and played with a slide for that country blues feel.

Tracks
1. Punk In The Street
2. Death & Taxes
3. Bamboozled
4. Lover’s Game
5. In My Time Of Dying
6. When I Kiss You
7. Cold Hearted Woman
8. Traveling Roadside Blues
9. St. Stephan’s Green

Total time: 29:16

External links
artist’s website
amazon.com
iTunes Store

Tags: blues, rock

Johnny Roth

Vu Jah De’

self-released

Fans of Allman Brothers Band instrumentals are guaranteed to love this tastefully executed instrumental electric guitar album with plenty of slide. But besides the southern-rock vibe, Pennsylvania-based Roth impressively channels jazz masters such as Larry Carlton and Lee Ritenour and, to a lesser extent but just as effectively, funk greats like Steve Cropper and Leo Nocentelli.

Southern rock is foremost among Roth’s influences, as evidenced on kick-off track “Lakota,” a blues-jazz number featuring interplay between guitar and keyboards along the lines of Dickey Betts and Chuck Leavell circa “Brothers and Sisters.”

On the jazzier side, the title track fuses smooth-jazz sounds with reggae for an effect akin to Steely Dan’s “Haitian Divorce.” “Funki Taki” is all the name implies, with more Leavell-sounding piano and some nice Takamine EF261s acoustic/electric fretwork (Roth uses a 1956 Les Paul on the rest of the CD), recalling both Sea Level and SD.

The rocking “Machu Picchu” and bluesy “Slow Burn” contain that Hammond B-3 sound Gregg Allman is so famous for. On the former, it’s paired note for note with guitar, like on the classic ABB instrumental “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed” but with a rolling bass line added. ”North Delta Heat” also is a highlight, with nods to multiple ABB songs including “Revival,” “Dreams” and “Jessica.”

For his sophomore effort, Roth again produces, engineers and mixes and plays all the instruments — with the exception of drums on the title track and “North Delta Heat,” which are provided by his brother Barry.

Tracks
1. Lakota
2. Blue Funk Con-Fusion
3. Vu Jah De’
4. Machu Picchu
5. Funki Taki
6. Double Talk
7. Slow Burn
8. North Delta Heat

Total time: 34:41

External links
artist’s website
amazon.com
iTunes Store

Tags: blues, instrumental, jazz, rock