Music in the Morning
Dec 14, 2009 Abstract Theory, Muscle Shoals Sound, Music in the Morning
An Abstract Theory: Courage to Mend performed at Old Town Tavern in Sheffield, AL.
Did I mention that the musical talent of the Muscle Shoals area is incredibly diverse? And that Jack cooks up mighty fine hot wings at the tavern? And that you can come hear ALL of it over the length of a week in August every year?
Morning Truckers
Jul 23, 2009 Muscle Shoals Sound, The Drive-By Truckers
Much to my surprise — and delight — I have tickets to see these guys tonight.
Lyrics to We Ain’t Never Gonna Change by The Drive By Truckers
Let this be a lesson to you girl: Don’t come around where you know you don’t belong.
They’re riding on the avenue and probably coming after you and they all look mean and strong.
Mean and strong like liquor.
Mean and strong like fear.
Strong like the people from South Alabama and mean like the people from here.
Take it from me… We ain’t never gonna change.Daddy used to empty out his shotgun shells and fill ‘em full of black-eyed peas.
He’d aim real low and tear out your ankles or rip right through your knees.
There ain’t much traffic on the highway. There ain’t much traffic on the lake.
The ATF and the ABI got everything they could take.
Take it from me… They didn’t take it from me.We ain’t never gonna change.
We ain’t doin’ nothin’ wrong.
We ain’t never gonna change
so shut your mouth and play along.I thought about going in the army. I thought about going overseas.
I wouldn’t have trouble with a piss test; only problem is my bad left knee.
My brother got picked up at Parker’s, got him a ride in a new Crown Vic.
They said that he was movin’ on a federal level but they couldn’t really make it stick.
Take it from me…We ain’t never gonna change.
We ain’t doin’ nothin’ wrong.
We ain’t never gonna change
so shut your mouth and play along.You can throw me in the Colbert County jailhouse.
You can throw me off the Wilson Dam
but there ain’t much difference in the man I wanna be and the man I really am.
Music in the Morning: Handy Fest
Jul 21, 2009 Muscle Shoals Sound, Music in the Morning, W.C. Handy Festival
My town goes music-crazy for nine days a year. The W.C. Handy Festival is named for our native son. Handy invented the Blues, from which American derived jazz, rock, and country. Here’s Bing Crosby singing Handy’s best-known hit, St. Louis Blues:
Here’s a completely different take:
I hate to see that evening sun go down,
I hate to see that evening sun go down,
‘Cause my lovin’ baby done left this town.If I feel tomorrow, like I feel today,
If I feel tomorrow, like I feel today,
I’m gonna pack my trunk and make my getaway.Oh, that St. Louis woman, with her diamond rings,
She pulls my man around by her apron strings.
And if it wasn’t for powder and her store-bought hair,
Oh, that man of mine wouldn’t go nowhere.I got those St. Louis blues, just as blue as I can be,
Oh, my man’s got a heart like a rock cast in the sea,
Or else he wouldn’t have gone so far from me.I love my man like a schoolboy loves his pie,
Like a Kentucky colonel loves his rocker and rye
I’ll love my man until the day I die, Lord, Lord.I got the St. Louis blues, just as blue as I can be, Lord, Lord!
That man’s got a heart like a rock cast in the sea,
Or else he wouldn’t have gone so far from me.I got those St. Louis blues, I got the blues, I got the blues, I got the blues,
My man’s got a heart like a rock cast in the sea,
Or else he wouldn’t have gone so far from me, Lord, Lord!
Music in the Morning
Jun 26, 2009 Muscle Shoals Sound, Music in the Morning, The Drive-By Truckers
Someone commented on this video at YouTube saying it had a right-wing message. How incredibly stupid: The Drive By Truckers are known for their very left-wing lyrics; “Righteous Path” is no exception.
Lyrics to Righteous Path, from the album Brighter Than Creation’s Dark
I got a brand new car that drinks a bunch of gas
I got a house in a neighborhood that’s fading fast
I got a dog and a cat that don’t fight too much
I got a few hundred channels to keep me in touch
I got a beautiful wife and three tow-headed kids
I got a couple of big secrets I’d kill to keep hid
I don’t know God but I fear his wrath
I’m trying to stay focused on the righteous path
I got a couple of opinions that I hold dear
A whole lot of debt and a whole lot of fear
I got an itch that needs scratching but it feels alright
I got the need to blow it out on Saturday night
I got a grill in the backyard and a case of beers
I got a boat that ain’t seen the water in years
More bills than money, I can do the math
I’m trying to keep focused on the righteous path
I’m trying to keep focused as I drive down the road
On the ditches and the curves and the heavy load
Ain’t bitching bout things that aren’t in my grasp
Just trying to hold steady on the righteous path
There’s this friend of mine I’ve known all my life
Who can’t get it right no matter how hard he tries
He’s got kids he don’t see and several ex-wives
And a list of bad decisions bout eight miles wide
Trouble with the law and the IRS
And where he’ll get the money’s anybody’s guess
He’s a long way off but if you was to ask
He’d say he’s trying to stay focused on the righteous path
Trying to keep focused as we drive down the road
Like we did back in High School before the world turned cold
Now the brakes are thin and the curves are fast
We’re trying to hold steady on the righteous path
We’re hanging out and we’re hanging on
We’re trying the best we can to keep keeping on
We got messed up minds for these messed up times
And it’s a thin thin line separating his from mine
Trying to hold steady on the righteous path
80 miles and hour with a worn out map
No time for self-pity or self-righteous crap
Trying to stay focused on the righteous path
Music in the Morning
Jun 22, 2009 Jason Isbell and the 400-Unit, Muscle Shoals Sound, Music in the Morning
My favorite track from the self-titled record, Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, taped at the Shoals Theatre in Florence, Alabama on Valentine’s Day this year:
Lyrics to Soldiers Get Strange:
You want her to try new things
She reminds you she wears your ring
and after a couple drinks she’s a little scared of you
A good friend is hard to find
You wish you could spend more time
towing civilian lines, but they’re all scared of you
It’s not the time that makes it go bad
It’s not the thought of what you could’ve had
It’s not the way that her figure has changed
It’s just that a soldier gets strange
You know she’s a real good girl
She reminds you that every curl
that whips in the wind of the world
is watched by the eyes of God
But lately your mane’s gone white
You itch in your veins in the night
Before you “came home alright”
you wielded the lightning rod
It ain’t the time that makes it go South
It ain’t the liquor that burns in your mouth
Nearly nothing around here’s changed
It’s just that a soldier gets strange
She turns off the lights so you can’t see her body
You can’t make her fight when you know that you’re wrong
They call you a hero, so many still fighting
This ain’t where you belong
Maybe you’ll re-enlist
It couldn’t be worse than this
But think of the things you’ll miss
If you’re inside the wire again
It’s not the dreams that keep you up late
It’s not the world you saw incinerate
It’s not the way that her figure has changed
It’s just that a soldier gets strange
Most of all you got strange
Music in the Morning
Jun 19, 2009 Muscle Shoals Sound, Music in the Morning, Pine Hill Haints
Today is the last day I’ll obsess over the Haints, I swear…
A little about the band: that guy in the snare drum is Ben Rhyne, who is among the most manic drummers I’ve ever seen. That cute blonde with the washboard is Katy Barrier, Jamie Barrier’s wife. The two of them own The Black Owl, a tiny screenprinting business where this video was shot. They perform there a few times a year and the place is always packed. They invite other artists from across the underground scene; occasionally, you can stand five feet from someone you would never expect to perform in Alabama. I’ll drop one name: Joe Jack Talcum.
The song itself is not traditional; it’s Barrier’s creation. But it actually sounds traditional, which is a testament to the band’s talent.
By the way: I’ve received a couple of emails asking if I’ve been compensated by the band for plugging their music here, so a disclaimer is in order: I do not own the rights to any PHH music and am not posting videos under any kind of authorization. They’re cool enough to enable embedding on their vids, and I’m a big enough fan to post them.
Music in the Morning
Jun 18, 2009 Muscle Shoals Sound, Music in the Morning, Pine Hill Haints
The Pine Hill Haints reinvent a very traditional style in this video; apologies for the sound quality.
Wayfaring Stranger is at least a hundred years old; its authorship is lost in the mists of time. It has been covered by dozens of artists…but never quite like this. Lyrics differ, so these are only provisional (h/t to BellaOnline)
I am a poor, wayfaring stranger
Wandering o’er this world of woe
And there’s no sickness, toil or danger
In that bright land to which I go
I’m going home to see my father
I’m going home, no more to roam
I’m only going over Jordan
I’m only going over home
I know dark clouds will gather round me
I know my way is rough and steep
But beauteous fields lie just before me
Where men redeemed their vigil’s keep
I’m going home to see my mother
I’m going there, no more to roam
I’m only going over Jordan
I’m only going over home
Music in the Morning
Jun 17, 2009 Muscle Shoals Sound, Music in the Morning, Pine Hill Haints
You have to see a Pine Hill Haints show to really appreciate the genius of their music. Theirs is truly an ‘all-ages’ show: blue-haired grandparents, parents with very small children, tweens, college students, and every description of teenager can actually rock out together — because the music is clean, but cool.
Bakula’s washtub bass becomes the ‘track noise’ of a ghostly train; Barrier’s effects mike becomes the whistle; the feedback from his hybrid guitar and Katy Barrier’s wailing saw are spooky as heck. Jamie Barrier’s brother Joey is also in this vid playing banjo.
Watch out for the crazy shirtless old man:
Death of a Lyric
Jun 16, 2009 Muscle Shoals Sound, Obituaries
It’s the end of a lyric. Barry Beckett, founding member of the session band The Swampers, died last Thursday. Millions of people have loved his music for four decades without ever knowing who he was, even when Lynrd Skynrd sang about them:
Now Muscle Shoals has got The Swampers
And they’ve been known to pick a song or two
Lord they get me off so much
They pick me up when I’m feeling blue
Now, how about you?
Beckett is survived by the sound he helped create: a unique crossroads of blues, rock, country, and soul known as “southern rock.” Muscle Shoals remains a complete secret to most music fans despite the incredible number of hits still coming from its studios today.
