New Riders of the Purple Sage, 17 Pine Avenue

The New Riders of the Purple Sage started out, most will know, as a kind of country-flavored Dead offshoot, Jerry himself on pedal steel, with an ambiance that had something in common with the more countrified aspects of the Dead in those days.

They made a bunch of albums, garnered a following of their own and more and more became respected and liked for what they were actually doing as opposed to fame-by-association.

Well they are back. A new album came out this spring, 17 Pine Avenue (Woodstock 0037) and it should satisfy the country rock hippie still lurking inside you.

Not every song is a total gem. But the band is strong and tight, and many of the songs get right to it.

It's good country rock.

Nils Lofgren, Old School: The Guitarist Returns

Rock vet Nils Lofgren returns with a new album that stays on the mind. I speak of his Old School (Vision Music 1016). The emphasis is on songs, possibly commercial potential things, and they are generally catchy and memorable with a roots-country rock directness. Vocally and guitar-ally Nils is in fine form.

He delivers twelve songs and after a listen or two you feel convinced of his sincerity. There is a little Bruce Springstein parallelism here: story-telling songs, a little gruffness.

This may not be a guitar showcase per se, but his artistry is there and it's good music.

Hypnotic Clambake for the Shell-Shocked

Today, a look at another jamband and a free legal download from www.archive.org. I must admit I checked out Hypnotic Clambake because I liked the name. They have been together apparently since at least the mid-90s. The show I listen to was from an appearance at the Sunshine Daydream Festival in Terra Alta, West Virginia on July 21, 2000.

They are a curious mixture of country fiddle two-steps played with electricity, some klezmer influences, novelty tunes, and some more rock-oriented items. As for jams there aren’t all that many, with perhaps the fiddle spots the strongest. There are some arranged moments that have some finesse. Their stoner and novelty tunes left me a little flat. The group didn’t strike me as having strong enough material to carry them, although their musicianship is good. Hypnotic Clambake, or at least this particular show, didn't send me through the roof, I’m afraid.

Originally posted on March 31, 2009 at www.gapplegate.com/musicalblog.html.

Zac Brown Band Plays Solid Country Rock

Originally posted on December 23/27, 2008

This is a time of year when denial is not exactly the norm. Think of the Ghost of Christmas Present in Dickens. Whatever vices one has are probably being indulged. A few weeks from now it will be just the opposite, and that’s when fitness centers and diet people make their money. In fact they have already started, from what commercials I saw on TV Friday night. Fear of the economy makes businesses start their harangue ever earlier, until we will be buying our Christmas stuff in July, autumn cloths in April, our coffins at birth and such...

Funny but the first week after the New Year used to be the number one time for direct mail advertising deliveries. (Maybe it still is, even if there's less volume.) People feel sorry for themselves and disappointed with their holiday gifts, so the reasoning goes, and want something for their own gratification. Combine that with the New Year’s resolutions of denial and you have a hodgepodge of conflicting emotions. But of course nowadays vices are uncool, déclassé, and with the economy on the fritz, some people may be getting even less material and emotional satisfaction from their holiday goody fests. That this is not really supposed to be the spirit of the season is a truism. A truism that nevertheless bears repeating. One would hope that the joy of giving would be an even higher priority when things are tough. It’s a nice idea anyway. I do believe it myself, though I don't see much of it around me. And still, denial and disappointment may creep into people’s consciousnesses shortly, my own included. After the new year some of us will feel inadequate and need to get more stuff to feel better, if we can afford it. We are human, and most of us can't live up to the demands of the season, that we become perfect people for a few weeks. Perfectly happy, perfectly generous. Perfect. With perfect lives. Those that are perfect, I am happy for you. The rest of us bumble through.

Anyway into this world wanders today’s CD The Foundation (Home Grown) by the Zac Brown Band, a country-rock outfit where the songs talk about beer, blue jeans, mom, chicken fried steak, with the nation’s military making such “freedoms” possible. A band like this needs a hit single above all, and "Chicken Fried" seems the logical item. Who knows, it may already be one. In my Yankee household no one ever heard of chicken fried steak, let alone ate it. That came later for me. The beer, mom, the blue jeans and the military-industrial complex that allowed for it all we knew directly and intensely, though we may not have understood how it all worked together. But I guess my lifestyle does not have alot to do with the lyrics on this disk, so I cannot tell you if they will strike a nerve with enough people to make a hit. My concern is with guitars right now, and today’s band relates to that (duh).

Zac Brown plays a mean acoustic and same with the electric. He is a Chet Atkins for today, though the vocals and the songs themselves are more central to the general presentation. Now this is very good music. Anyone who prefers their Country shaded by some Rock sensibilities will probably like it. And there is some hell raising guitar going on here.