Americana

 

Cory Chisel – Home In The Woods

The EP I have here is called Cabin Ghosts,
and it’s listed simply as “Cory Chisel”, but I believe the full, and
correct, name should be listed as “Cory Chisel & The Wandering
Sons”.

There is
also no cover art with the EP, so please note that the art that I used
to represent them here is not the final CD cover. I tried looking up
when the CD will be release, but I couldn’t find any details of the
details. I am assuming it will be release sometime in 2008 and/or only
sold on tour.

Listening to the EP, it sounds to me to be very Springsteenesque, especially when Chisel sings out, “The thunder roll, its angry heart, across my shoulders in the dark, maybe I’m losing ground” on “See It My Way”.

I am also
guessing that the EP was recorded live as there’s clapping from the
audience inbetween the songs, but on some songs, the audio sounds too
perfect (you can clearly hear everything, from backup singers to the
quiet acoustic guitar).

The song I
was asked to use is “Home In The Woods”, which I can understand as its
lyrics and theme is about wanting to escape from the city and live in
an isolated cabin in the woods – perfect for an EP called Cabin Ghosts.

They are currently on tour with Joshua James. See tour information below.

 

Sammy Walker – Another Sad Song About You

is
a folk/country singer/songwriter from Georgia (but I think currently in
North Carolina?), was briefly popular from 1975 to 1977, with two of the
albums on major label, Warner Brothers.

It would seem he went into early retirement until 1994 with Old Time Southern Dream. Now, after 14 years since that release, he is back now with Misfit Scarecrow to be released on July 22^nd on Ramseur Records.

Walker has a
very distinctive, southern, and clear, but aging, voice. Some of the
melodies and lyrics really made me think of Bob Dylan. Since I don’t
have Walker’s earlier works, I can only imagine what his earlier works
might sound just like early Dylan.

Walker’s
songs all tells little timeless stories, all told through the eyes of
the protagonist. Sometime that person might be a corpse (“Will You Miss
Me When I’m Gone”) or a scarecrow (“Misfit Scarecrow”) or a farmer
(“Proud and Poor”), but they all tell epic tales.

I really
enjoyed “Another Sad Song About You”, a song about running into someone
from the past. It goes into great detail describing someone leaning on
a lamp post: “a blue scarf around your neck, and a silver charm across your heart“. Despite a timeless feel to the song, I did enjoy the modern references, in such lines like: “I heard about your brother, when the Twin Towers came crashing down.”

The
country/blues song, “Someday I’m Gonna Rock and Roll”, ends the album
with a humourous tone. I get the impression that the song is really
about Walker, himself. He must get a lot of people telling him he
should do rock and roll, but he scoffs at it.

If you want to make it today,
You’re gonna have to rock and roll
If you want the big money
You’re gonna have to rock and roll
I guess even old Jimmie Rodgers
Would’ve even had to sell a piece of his soul
Had to sell a piece of his soul.

In case you were wondering why that line is so funny, it’s because Rodgers is often considered as the father of country music.

 

Fiskum – Tom Wait’s Bar and Grill

Fiskum is actually from Minneapolis, and his album, Darkness/Fire/Dancing was released late last year.

The first time I heard “Tom Waits’ Bar And Grill”, I thought of Harry Chapin’s “Taxi”, especially when he sings “and she says ‘hi, how’d you been? I saw your call, I stopped on in’“.
With the title, you can tell that he is giving a little nod to Tom
Waits, and, like Waits, paints a story about a chance encounter with an
old close friend at a bar & grill. I later read Fiskum got the idea
for the song from a short conversation with someone trying to “explain
to his new girlfriend why he was seen hanging with his old flame.”

He wrote notes for each of his song on his music page, and this is for “Tom Waits’ Bar & Grill”:

Northeast Minneapolis has
dozens of neighborhood taverns where locals gather after work for a
beer, for burgers, and maybe a game of billiards or darts. Places where
softball teams hang out after the game. I used to frequent these bars
often, and I visualize one of them – Tommy’s Bar–as the setting for
this song. Its about a man who is torn between his old flame and his
new girlfriend.

There is a
surprise at the end of the album, it’s another version of “Winter
Moon”. The song looks like a live recording, and it’s sung entirely in
Welsh by an uncredited woman.

You can find Darkness/Fire/Dancing at your usual location on
Amazon and
iTunes.

 

Joseph Arthur – Slow Me Down

Peter Gabriel
saw something in Joseph Arthur, because he signed Arthur on his record
label, Real World. Although he’s no longer on Real World, he’s
releasing a ton of material on his own record label, Lonely
Astronaught. Already this year alone these are the EPs that’s already
released: Could We Survive (Mar 2008), Crazy Rain (Apr 2008), Vagabond Skies (Jun 2008), and Foreign Girls (July 2008). At the rate he’s going, he’ll probably have three or four EPs released before his album, Temporary People comes out September 16^th, 2008.

I actually have only two of the EPs, Could We Survive, which seems to have a (anti?) war theme, and his latest, Vagabond Skies.
There’s something perfectly folk and pop on the lead song, “Slow Me
Down”, that you should check out. As you can hear on that song, it’s
not completely traditional folk. Such beat/loop machine can be found in
the background of “Pretty Good Company” and “Second Sight”.

It’s also
nice to hear Joan Wasser (violins) doing some backup vocals on some
songs, I hope she participate more in the upcoming album.

I like what
he’s doing, bundling his limited art prints if you buy two EPs ($20).
This is good for hardcore fans to collect his art, while at the same
time give the second EP as a gift of music to their friends and family.