Americana Gazette February/March 2011 Issue

decjan2011:Layout 1

12/1/10

10:59 AM

Page 1

MERICANA GAZETT E A December 2010 / January 2011 Holiday Issue

Feature Story: Phil Lee Deone Jahnke Mauro Magellan Sid Griffin Good Intentions Dave Gonzalez Tom T. & Ms. Dixie Hall George Hamiltin IV Donna Beasley Chalet Landhaus

decjan2011:Layout 1

12/1/10

10:59 AM

Page 2

AMERICANA GAZETTE HAPPY HOLIDAYS! Andy and I took a trip this Fall to Gays Mills to check out the apple orchards. What a great time, the Autumn colors were beautiful and the delightful smells of apple pie, strudel and apple cider donuts were in the air. As we stopped at one orchard, they had just taken the apple fritters from the oven. I scarfed my warm apple fritter

PUBLISHER Joyce Ziehli jziehli@advisorymgt.com SENIOR EDITOR Andy Ziehli aziehli@advisorymgt.com STAFF WRITERS/PHOTOS Rob Kosmeder

down practically before we got out of the parking lot.

Litt Dubay We filled the truck with bags of Cortlands, McIntosh, jams, and jellies, donuts and of course an apple pie. I

Robert Hoffman

did have

Jim Smith

an apple

Rosemary Ziehli

on

Joe Lowery

the

d r i v e

Andrew Pulver

back, but

Frye Gaillard

I left the pie

and

CREATIVE DIRECTOR Ric Genthe rgenthe@charter.net

donuts alone!

Once we got home and I started unloading the truck, I set the pie which was in a cardboard box on the cement driveway as I continued gathering my other items.

The Americana Gazette is printed by: The Print Center Brodhead, Wi. 53520

My excited

Springer Spaniel, Duncan, came running to greet me and stepped right on the cardboard box with the pie.

The pie no longer looked pretty, but it still tasted darn good. Oh well, it made a nice well to put the ice cream in...

I can’t believe that another year is coming to an end.

AMERICANA GAZETTE % ANDY & JOYCE ZIEHLI P.O. BOX 208 BELLEVILLE, WI. 53508 OFFICE: 608-424-6300 Andy Cell: 608-558-8131 Joyce Cell: 608-558-8132

Americana Gazette Advertising Rates Business Card Ad $30.00 a year Classified b/w 3.25” w x 2” h $20.00 an issue Small b/w 3.25” w x 4.25” h $50.00 an issue 1/6 Page vertical, b/w 3.25w x 6.5”h $75.00 an issue $45.00 an issue for 3 issues $35.00 an issue for 6 issues 1/3 Page vertical, b/w 3.25” w x 12.75” h $150.00 an issue $70.00 an issue for 3 issues $65.00 an issue for 6 issues 1/3 Page horizontal, b/w, 10.25” w x 4” h $150.00 an issue $140.00 an issue for 3 issues $130.00 an issue for 6 issues ½ Page horizontal, b/w, 10.25” w x 6.5” h $175.00 an issue $140.00 an issue for 3 issues $130.00 an issue for 6 issues Full Page b/w, 10.75”w x 12.75” h $300.00 an issue $285.00 an issue for 3 issues $270.00 an issue for 6 issues Back Cover color 10.75”w x 12.75” h $375.00 an issue $360.00 an issue for 3 issues $345.00 an issue for 6 issues Sponsorship Artist/Band Page Border Ad $350.00 an issue $330.00 an issue for 3 issues $300.00 an issue for 6 issues

2010 has been quite eventful, but I am looking forward to 2011. I hope all of you have a very Happy Holiday season, be sure to make your New Year’s Resolutions and enjoy the holidays!

Till next year, Joyce Ziehli Publisher

2

w w w. a m e r i c a n a g a z e t t e . n e t

decjan2011:Layout 1

12/1/10

10:59 AM

Page 3

Welcome to

Americana Gazette TABLE OF CONTENTS FEATURE STORY 8 Phil Lee

WHERE TO LOOK: 3

1/2 Notes

4

Litt DuBay’s Slant

5

Women In The Round Deone Jahnke

7

Dixie and Tom T. Hall Top of the Charts

8

Phil Lee

10 CD Reviews 11 Chalet Landhaus 12 A Pet Note 13 Variety of Music 14 Mauro Magellan 16 Sid Griffin 15 Ways...

18 3 for 1 19 Rudolph 20 George Hamilton IV 22 History Repeating

ERIC BRACE & PETER COOPER'S NEW RELEASE: • MASTER SESSIONS

1/2 Notes

Thinking about your Top Ten list for 2010?

Madison's very own blues rock band Soul Shaker is currently in pre production working on songs for their upcoming album. Legendary Cheap Trick drummer Bun E. Carlos is taking on a producer’s role and helping with pre production for the songs that will be recorded this winter at Madison's DNA Studios with Owner/Producer Mark Whitcomb. Log into www.shakemysoul.com for upcoming news, shows, and studio updates.

Master Sessions should be on it.

Eric Brace contacted us to tell all of you that he was typing this from the East Nashville HQ of Red Beet Records as fall heads toward winter.He wanted to make sure that all of you (or "all y'all," as we say in Tennessee) get the news about two new records that just came out on Red Beet and which he is really, really proud of. We're grateful for the positive reviews and all the radio play (Master Sessions is climbing the Americana chart, is Top Ten on the Folk DJ chart, and #4 on the Freeform American Roots chart; Peter Cooper's Lloyd Green Album is #1 on the RMR Folk chart), and want to make sure everyone hears about it.

Buy them know at redbeetrecords.com!!! The Americana Gazette rated the Master Sessions # 2 for 2010 Album of the year and The Lloyd Green Sessions # 6 on the list of top CD’s.

Amber Skies will be at Flannery's in New Glarus on Saturday January 22, 2011 from 8:00 – 12:00. New Songs More Fun!

Local Singer Songwriter Kia Fowler got some fun news yesterday! One of her songs was accepted to be included on a "Just Songs" Web site that features songs for social justice. Check it out at the link below. Scroll down to the section on "Questions,Answers and Statements" and look for "Who Are You?" There is a chance it will be included on a compilation CD at some point - a CD that will benefit charities. Here is the link to the "Just Songs" site: http://www.just-songs.com/music.cfm.

Local indie rocker and 2010 Madison Area Music Award "Female Vocalist of the Year," Beth Kille, will release her first full length, full-production solo album at The Majestic Theater on December 3rd as part of the Cadillac Joe Memorial Winter Fest.After parting ways with acclaimed Madison rock band, Clear Blue Betty in 2008, Kille embarked upon her solo career. She began recording her latest release with Jake Johnson at Paradyme Productions in Madison this past spring, shortly after she learned she was pregnant with her first child.The new album, is appropriately entitled "Ready" and features her husband,Tony Kille, on drums as well as many other talented local artists including Chris Wagoner and Mary Gaines of the Stellanovas, Scott Lamps, Jaye Barbeau, Brian Schiro and Aaron Williams.

15% DISCOUNT

On your first recording project!

313 East Church Street • Belleville, WI 53508

608-424-6300

Other acts performing that night include an up-andcoming 15 year old pop-rocker from Verona, Kati May, The Jimmy’s and Aaron Williams & the Hoodoo (2010 Madison Area Music Award "Entertainer of the Year").

Doors open at 8pm, tickets are $10 and are available at the door as well as online at www.majesticmadison.com.

23 Back Again...

24 Good Intentions 25 Robert’s Ramblings 26 Dave Gonzalez 27 Pregnant Rocker 28 Donna Beasley 31 Sugar and Spice

AMERICANA GAZETTE SUBSCRIPTION The Americana Gazette is a free bimonthly publication and may be picked up at area locations.

However if you would like a copy mailed to you, please fill out the following information and submit a check for $15.00 to:Americana Gazette, P.O. Box 208, Belleville,Wi. 53508 ______________________________________________________________________ First Name Last Name ______________________________________________________________________ Address ______________________________________________________________________ City State Zip Code 1 Year Subscription - $15.00

w w w. a m e r i c a n a g a z e t t e . n e t

Date:______________________________________ 3

decjan2011:Layout 1

12/1/10

10:59 AM

Page 4

Litt DuBay’s

Rant!

Don’t read the paper while you are driving and run the red lights on a bus. Please stop texting while you are driving and running the red lights on a school bus, and don’t give the driver the finger because you had to stop while the kids crossed the road while the red lights and stop sign is out! Finally if you are hauling ladders or lumber in a pickup truck, face them back to front in the truck box not side to side so they hang out and slam into vehicles in the other lane!

by Litt DuBay

Ole Litt Dubay here with a bunch of words of wisdom, complaints, and just plain straight talk to end your year with.

Let’s talk about the election. What the @#*%!!!! I have not seen a shellacking like that since Custer took on the whole Sioux Nation at the Little Big Horn!

Republicans have got to be the meanest nastiest people on the face of the earth. They got a hold of Congress because of the non-work of the Democrats and the first thing out of their mouths is that they are not going to work with the President. Hey you meatballs especially the one from Kentucky that’s how the last guys lost their jobs! Wake up and play ball! Let’s get this Country back on its feet and producing jobs again. Stop the bickering and work to make the USA strong again!!!

I’ve got to tell you about an evening out I had with the Mrs. We went to see an old friend play some music in a bar. We got there about 15 minutes before he started and found a table in the middle of the room. Our friend started playing and then a whole bunch of assholes came in the door. There was a Chicken Lady dressed like a game show host from East German television from the early 1990’s, a Barbie Doll,A kind of a mutt with a Predator hair cut (like in the movie Predator), a very smelly old guy who kept farting at the table behind us, a bunch of 40 year old plus women dressed like 16 year olds in clothes that would not fit a 16 year old showing off things I have only had nightmares about, and a lady’s man skinny assed vampire white skinned beer swilling guy whose back of his head looked like the South end of a North bound Springer Spaniel!!! Talk about rude. They never shut up or sat down. We had to leave after 40 minutes because we could no longer hear the music. Needless to say ole Litt and the Mrs.did not have a good night.

So let’s talk music etiquette. If you go to a bar to talk when there is live music, don’t go to the bar with live music. Stay home and Facebook all the other losers instead of talking to and Face booking them at the bar.

Leave your cell phone, IPad, IPhone, Blackberry off!!! If you go to a bar to see live music and it is an acoustic show, don’t talk!!! Shut Up!!! Acoustic shows are supposed to be quiet so you can hear the music. And another thing, clapping is what you do when a performer finishes his or hers songs. It’s not something you get from sleeping with your cousin, so let’s see more of it at shows!

Andy wanted me to pass this next bit of information on to you. It seems all theses things happen to him in one week driving bus. If you see the red lights on a school bus, stop! Don’t hurry up to see if you can beat them.

It’s officially Fudge Season and John Miller is thinking about giving out free coffee at the Fat Cat the whole month of December. Okay I lied about the free coffee, but it is Fudge Season.

We are a regional advocacy, technical assistance and networking program for all types of creative entrepreneurs – including visual artists, composers, musicians, writers, actors, dancers, and choreographers. We connect artists and arts leaders throughout southwest Wisconsin.

Lastly I wish each and everyone one of you a wonderful holiday season. May 2011 be better than 2010 was for all of us. Take care of your love ones. Remember to do something nice for someone everyday, and make time for yourself to recharge in 2011 cause in 2012 the world will end, the Maya’s will comeback, UFO’s will run rampart, there will be a Law & Order Madison TV show, the crystal skulls will get together and start Armageddon,and lastly the Packers won’t win the Super Bowl because Brett Favre caused the end of the world by not retiring again!!!!

Merry New Year Litt Dubay

:H DGYRFDWH IRU WKH DUWV :H GHOLYHU ZRUNVKRSV DQG HGXFDWLRQDO offerings on entrepreneurial skill topics :H IRVWHU FRPPXQLFDWLRQ DPRQJ artists and arts groups via email updates containing information about grants, workshops, and opportunities.

2XU RQ OLQH GLUHFWRU\ RI DUWLVWV KHOSV creative entrepreneurs increase their visibility. $UWV%XLOG LV FRPSOHWHO\ IUHH WR MRLQ

Carol Spelic 608.342.1314 spelicc@uwplatt.edu

Hello Joyce and Andy: Picked up a copy of Americana Gazette while passing through Monroe last week. Enjoyed the whole issue and was especially happy to learn that there are others like me who prefer Americana music to other formats out there.

I was thinking that you might want to share with readers where they can find Americana programming on the radio (if they don't subscribe to Sirius-XM satellite.) One source if you're on the road to Kansas City or Omaha is KXCV (90.5 FM) in Maryville, MO. This station carries " Rhythm and Roots " featuring rhythm and roots music from 9 a.m. to noon Monday through Friday. Here;s a link to the website:http://www.kxcv.org/index.htm Thanks again for Americana Gazette and keep up the good work!

Paul Holley

4

w w w. a m e r i c a n a g a z e t t e . n e t

decjan2011:Layout 1

12/1/10

10:59 AM

Page 5

Deone: Well, yes I majored in Fine Art in college. I took some photography classes. I did end up dropping out of the Fine Art photography school my Junior year and going to work,mainly as I wasn’t even smart enough to be bored, I was sort of directionless. I started working at a camera store. I met some real photographers and starting assisting them and started reading about photography and looking at light and practicing making pictures.

That was really my education, watching other photographers work and not just seeing the technical aspects, but seeing how they handled themselves, how they worked with clients, and how they dealt with difficult situations. All across the board, that was really my education, assisting other photographers.

SMILE PRETTY FOR DEONE JAHNKE PHER...

...PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER It was a couple of years ago when Peter Cooper and Eric Brace came to play for one of our parties that I had the distinct pleasure of meeting this fascinating woman, Deone Jahnke. Deone was friends with these two guys as well as she had photographed them. Deone found out they were playing in New Glarus so she came down to hear them. This is the first time I met this amazing lady. Since then Andy and I have been to her studio in Milwaukee where we were mesmerized by an intimate concert with Fats Kaplin and Kristi Rose. I met up with Deone again in Nashville this past September at the Americana Music Conference. Deone was having her photography showing at the Bluebird Café, where Eric Brace, Peter Cooper, Phil Lee, Tom Mason and other’s gathered to perform a special concert. How exquisite it was to have these guys performing, while viewing Deone's beautiful works of art in the background. But we will talk more about that in a minute. As Deone and I talked while enjoying a great meal with Phil Lee and his wife at J. Alexander’s, we decided I should do an interview and story on her. And that is exactly what we did.

Please read on about my new friend, photographer, and overall nice person – Deone Jahnke!!!

Joyce: Let’s start right off with how you got interested in photography?

Deone: Well, I’ve always been an artist and as a child, I painted and drew and I wrote. I played music, not very well, I played piano. I always had that in my life and never had a specific direction for it. I studied art and made pictures, etc. I’ve always loved music and the two sort of collided in my later teens. I went to see a lot of concerts. This is a long story, do you want to hear it?

Joyce: Absolutely, go right ahead.

Deone: I was really very passionate about music and I had a couple of friends who had more sophisticated musical tastes than I did. They had older brothers or cousins that were listening to Blind Faith, Led Zeppelin and bands like that when I was still graduating out of

Joyce: You have studios in Milwaukee and Nashville? When did you open your studios?

Deone Jahnke

The Monkees, Grass Roots, and Paul Revere & The Raiders. I was very into music and a teenager and I loved the New York Dolls. The New York Dolls came to Milwaukee and played a night club. I snuck in with a friend of mine. We went to great lengths to sneak in and found out we could of walked right in the door because they weren’t even carding. At the time, we had just graduated from high school, she was in a trade school college, and she was taking a photography class, so she brought her camera along with her to the show and she shot pictures of the New York Dolls. The next morning I went into the dark room at her trade school and she developed the film and made a print. It was like that Ah Ha moment. Which is sort of interesting in retrospect because it was actually the dark room that hooked me.

Deone: Let’s back pedal a little bit. At the moment I don’t have either one. I took a Nashville space last summer for 6 months. I don’t think I actually have bad luck,I think I’m very blessed, but I managed to pick the worst 6 months in our economic history since the depression to open up a studio in another city.

At the time, it wasn’t financially viable so I let that place go. I kind of stepped back and regrouped. I have a space here in Milwaukee that I share with other people. When I work in Nashville I work the way I love to work the best, on location. In the recording studio, outside, at the rehearsal space, stage, house, front porch, back porch, wherever they want. Then I’m not just getting only them, I’m getting the environment as well. This is where they feel comfortable and happy. I think this contributes to really great pictures.

Joyce: When did you open the Milwaukee studio?

Deone: In 1986.

Joyce: How exactly does photographing a music artist go? Walk me through the procedure.

Deone: If we have enough time, I like to get together with them in advance to talk about what are these pictures primarily going to be used for? Let’s make some pictures that make sense for this purpose. That’s the commercial photographer in me. I’m thinking about the market and the fact you Eric Brace and Peter Cooper, Shelby Walking Bridge, Nashville. have seconds to make an impression on people. You want to create a compelling image, create something that immediately speaks to the viewer. You Joyce: You saw the light in the dark room……….(we want it to be fresh enough to get people’s attention. We both laugh) also usually do some tight head shots for something like Face Book also. We talk about what we want the picDeone: You are so right. I thought, Oh My God, this is tures to say, budget is also considered. We discuss if we what I have to do with the rest of my life. That’s how the need dollars for rent, permits to work, etc. We like to two pieces of it came together. I started photographing work in the artist’s environment as it brings out a certain concerts, I worked for a college newspaper, and I went aspect of them, even when their not so conscience of it. to shows, reviewed them and shot the pictures. I For instance, on my website, my dear friend Heidi worked for the equivalent of like “The Nashville Scene”, Spencer made a film when I first worked with Robert called “The Alternative Weekly” and I shot pictures for Reynolds. We first worked at a creek which is close to this. The bands I started photographing started seeing his home in Hendersonville,then we went into his home my pictures, and asked if we could do some pictures off to do some inside pictures. We shot upstairs in a room stage. One thing lead to another and I started doing porthat he and his wife use for a“catch all room”. This is just traits of them opposed to just doing live shots. an extra bedroom,but the bed in it is more of an antique bed; the whole room is full of old posters, a patchwork Joyce: Any professional training for this profession? continued on page 6

w w w. a m e r i c a n a g a z e t t e . n e t

5

decjan2011:Layout 1

12/1/10

10:59 AM

Page 6

I wonder who we can get to buy Phil Lee’s photo so Tom’s can go up, then people will think Phil is not in the show anymore. We like to push his buttons. (we both laugh as we both know Phil Lee really well.)

quilt on the bed, beautiful sculptures, probably even a Grammy stuffed in a corner somewhere. The whole place is all about Robert’s life so he is very comfortable here. He could be himself.

So I’m looking for a place where people can be themselves and nobody else. I am specifically looking for the place they can be the best them they can be.

Joyce: Tell me about your“music concerts”that you have hosted?

Deone: I have done a lot of them. I love doing them,but now I’m kind of on a hiatus from doing them for a number of reasons. I do intend to do them again. I started doing them 8 or 9 years ago. The first one was done with John Kruse, my dear friend who now lives in New York. Next I was contacted by a character named Kevin Montgomery who is based in Nashville, but lives in England. He talked me into having a house concert for him.

He brought along Robert Reynolds with him and Robert and I hit it off and have become great friends.

Others came in and it kind of snowballed with Phil Lee doing a couple of shows, Kevin Gordon, Greg Trooper, Amelia White, Shawn Camp and the list goes on. Creatively they were great. I received so much more than I gave; it was magical!

Joyce: What are your future goals? Open more studios, etc?

Deone: Besides photographing Bruce Springsteen. (laughs) I will be shooting Farm Aide coming up soon.

The pictures will be available through the Cash Agency if Dave Alvin takes a break during sound check at the exquisite Americana/rockabilly artist James Intveld, wearing his original anyone would be in- Manuel Turner Hall Ballroom in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on a blustery Dejacket. We made these pictures at Jim “Senor” McGuire’s terested.

I want to cember day. He’s all bundled up because the big ballroom temstudio, in Nashville, Tennessee, February 2009. McGuire let us perature was still chilly. Later during a set with the Knitters, continue to do what use his spectacular workspace for this Sunday afternoon shoot, things really warmed up! This image is featured on the splash I am doing. Work and it was a thrill to work in the same studio where virtually page of Dave’s website — DaveAlvin.net. ©2007 Deone Jahnke every important country music artist of the past thirty years posed with artists with la- for pictures. © 2009 Deone Jahnke. bels and hopefully deeper pockets. I’m Joyce: Whom would you like for hire. If you come to me with a bunch of money, I’ll take your picture within reato photograph if you had the chance? son that is. (she laughs) Deone: Springsteen for sure, the Dixie Chicks. In Joyce: What advice would you give to young women wanting to get in this field of fact,I bought a beautiful antique dresser to furnish Jim Lauderdale on the front porch of his Nashville work? my short lived but to rise again Nashville Studio. It home. © 2006 Deone Jahnke is kind of distressed, but has beautiful 3 panel mirDeone: My advice to women only, not men? I think women make better photograrors, just gorgeous and when I saw it I said to myphers than men. I could give my speech about men. self, I want to photograph the Dixie Chicks with this. There’s 3 panels and I want to capture their reflections with this. That’s my Dixie Chicks dresser. I would also like Joyce: No men bashing. We have lots of men readers. to photograph Dave Gonzales of the Stone River Boys.

Deone: Yea, that would be great.

Deone: Seriously I would tell women to don’t give your work away. Never do photos without getting some type of compensation in some form. You need to establish a value for your work. Just follow your passion and make it be about what you love!!!!

Take classes and find yourself a peer network. That’s my words of wisdom.

Joyce: You just did a showing at the Bluebird Café in Nashville. Tell me what this was like for you.

Joyce: Thank you Deone for your time. I’m happy to have you as a new friend!!! I’m so glad Peter Cooper introduced us.

Deone: Oh My God!!!! Oh My God!!!! I got the email from Elliot Duke asking if I would like to do a show. I thought you must have the wrong number. I have to thank my Attorney Stacy Schlitz for this as she recommended me and that’s how this all came about. I have been very involved with the Americana Music Association and they do a lot with the Bluebird Café. I was just over the moon with this.

Deone: Me too.

Joyce: Dave’s story that Andy did will be in this issue so maybe he’ll read this and get a hold of you. Maybe you will get some business from this article?

Joyce: How long does the show run?

Deone: The show runs through January 2011. It concludes before Folk Alliant.

On the day of the opening, I had kind of an inspiration. I ran it past Helen, my licensing agent. As most of the artists were performing at the opening, or stopping in due to the Americana Music Conference, I had an idea that we should have all of them sign their photos. This makes the piece one of a kind.

These pieces are now up for sale at a very affordable price. One half of the sales goes directly to the artist to do as they please, he/she can give it to a charity that is dear to their heart.

When I was in Nashville I finally had the opportunity to do a photo shoot with Tom Mason. When a photo sells at the Bluebird, I will replace it with another person. Tom Mason is next to go up on the wall. We just need to find someone now to buy one of the photos. Tom and

6

For further information and to check out Deane’s work click on her website at: www.deonejahnke.com.

Or please email Deone at deone@deonejahnke.com for more information about any of the things she does or to discover how you could work together.

Note from Deone: All of the photographs I create are copyrighted works. Please enjoy them.While many are available for licensing for additional uses, none may be ‘borrowed’ or ‘saved’ for any reason without my express permission and a negotiated use fee. Remember to respect the value of personal creativity and to honor the artist’s copyright, in this and every context.

Story by: Joyce Ziehli Photos supplied by Deone Jahnke.

The Sparrow Quartet, photographed at the Big Top Chautauqua Theatre in Bayfield, Wisconsin, before their sound check. This image appeared on the cover of No Depression Magazine’s first bookazine. L to R: Ben Sollee, Casey Driessen, Bela Fleck, Abigail Washburn. © 2008 Deone Jahnke.

w w w. a m e r i c a n a g a z e t t e . n e t

decjan2011:Layout 1

12/1/10

10:59 AM

Page 7

The top of the charts 2010 One of the coolest things about owning a magazine/paper is that you get all kinds of CD’s sent to you to review. Then you also get to buy a bunch for business purpose to review. It’s a win win situation. The down side is that at the end of the year you have to put together yourTop 10 lists. This year it has been incredibly hard to do so, because the quality of the music this year was top notch. I don’t think I had a “bad” CD sent to me to review; in fact 99% were excellent. That makes coming up with a Top 10 list very very difficult, so I did a Top 15 because all of those listed deserved to be in a top 10 list.

What I did this year was to compile three different lists for year end. A Top 15 CD list nationally and internationally released a local (Wisconsin) Top 5, and my Top 20 songs. There was no science, statistics, or magic in choosing them. I just picked the ones I enjoyed and played the most this past year. I hope you take the time to look them up on the web and search out the artist’s websites and myspace pages and give them all a listen.

Then buy the music that you love from the lists. Hats off to all the artists who wrote and recorded in late 2009 and 2010. The music you made was spectacular. Let’s hope that 2011 is just as good.

Here you go - my Top picks for 2010.

Wisconsin Based Artists Top 5 1. Sean Michael Dargen Snap your fingers & Stomp your feet 2. Beth Kille This Beautiful Beast 3. Derek Pritzl Drifter 4. Kia Fowler Seams of my Heart 5.The Dirty Shirts Two Dollar Turpentine Top 15 CD’s 1. Jason & The Scorchers Halcyon Times 2. Eric Brace & Peter Cooper The Master Sessions 3. Kevin Welch Patch of Blue Sky 4.Amelia Curran Hunter Hunter 5.Tom Mason Alchemy 6. Peter Cooper The Lloyd Green Album 7. Sleepy Driver Steady Now 8. Donna Beasley Under the Rushes 9.The Beauties The Beauties 10.Truth & Salvage Co. Truth & Salvage Company 11. Marley’s Ghost Ghost Town 12. Susan Cowsill Lighthouse 13.WPA Works Progress Administration 14. Nora Jane Struthers Nora Jane Struthers 15.Anne McQue Broken Promised Land Top 20 Songs of 2010 1. Patch of Blue Sky Kevin Welch 2. Big Steve Eric Brace & Peter Cooper 3. Like a Weapon Sleepy Driver 4. Gospel Song Peter Cooper 5.Always have my love WPA 6. Chano Pozo’s Shoes Tom Mason 7. Phil Lee Neon Tombstone 8. River of Love Susan Cowsill 9. Can I get a ride Donna Beasley 10. Fashion Blues The Beauties 11. I don’t work that cheap Bill Kirchen 12. Beat the Mountain Jason & the Scorchers 13. Missoula Tonight Eric Brace & Peter Cooper 14. I can’t love you anymore Beth Kille 15.When I go away Levon Helms 16. Babylon Phil Lee 17.Welcome to LA Truth & Salvage Co. 18. Long Black Vail Rosanne Cash 19. My love will not change Marley’s Ghost 20. Branded Marty Stuart

w w w. a m e r i c a n a g a z e t t e . n e t

7

decjan2011:Layout 1

12/1/10

10:59 AM

Page 8

Phil Lee, Mysterious Musician, King of Love, or the Best Unknown Americana Songwriter in America!

P

hil Lee is not your usual singer/songwriter. He’s not young, a wanna be hippie, he does not quote Ginsburg, and he does not surf! What he does do and do it well is write fantastic songs about his and his friend’s lives, and oh what lives these friends have lived!

Lee is an enigma in today’s world of music. Though a musician all his life he did not pursue Nashville fame and fortune until he was 47 when he recorded his first CD, The Mighty King of Love. Richard Bennett got a copy of a tape of Phil’s and liked what he heard. Bennett told Phil that he liked his music but not to come to Nashville because Nashville was not in tune with the kind of music Lee was writing. As Lee recounted “Richard said stay in

8

w w w. a m e r i c a n a g a z e t t e . n e t

decjan2011:Layout 1

12/1/10

10:59 AM

Page 9

California and we could record there. Being Phil Lee I said “nope and moved to Nashville to try my luck. After a while I got a job writing for a publisher on Music Row. It was the worst year of my life. I have never been that miserable. I decided then and there that I was going to write for me and if people liked it fine. If they did not that was fine too.”

Moody was in the band. He was an original member of Bill Monroe’s Bluegrass Boys. I would get up and go play music for an hour and then go off to school. Folks like Eddy Arnold would stop buy and appear on the show. I did that until 1969 and I graduated from High School.

I moved to New York and played music fulltime from 1971 to 1974.

It was a great time to make music in New York. You didn’t need much money and there was plenty of work. I played with Beverly De Angelo, Rob Stoner, and Larry Packer. Larry and Rob are still playing. I don’t know what happened to Beverly (Vacation, Every which way but loose, etc.) I think she did some stuff but I don’t know what. I’ve only seen her once since New York and that was out in California. Somebody broke into her house and she thought I did it.'

She doesn’t call. She doesn’t write.

Being the eternal optimist that he is, Phil set forth on a solo career that has taken him all over North America and Europe. It’s a great thing that Phil followed his muse and has stayed true to himself and his music. His last three CD’s are wonderful collections of characters and songs. Some are very pointed (25 Mexicans) and others autobiographical (You should have known me then), and others just honest to goodness Phil Lee (Night in the box).

A recent story in Nashville’s, The Scene Magazine by Jim Ridley said that “He writes songs full of them: character studies that sidle up to folks we'd normally shy away from, pretty ballads that turn staggeringly bleak, ambiguous odes to rough living too!

I have known Phil for about three years and every time I talk to him I end up doubled over from laughter. He is a true Americana Icon and character. He swears all his songs are true (except the part about the Dalai Lama hitting him with a hammer. It just rhymed).

He played in a band with Beverly De Angelo, worked for Neil Young, is a knife thrower, he is a grandpa, drove a semi, jams with Crazy Horse, and is one of the nicest folks in the music business. I talked with Phil about his life and his music. He was open and did not let me down on the stories. Phil was staying in a Tree house hotel in Georgia when I caught up to him. He was explaining the scene to me with dream catchers hanging from the trees and he was yet to spy any naked hippies running around.

AG: So you were out in California jamming with Crazy Horse. How cool was that?

Lee: Yea about a month ago I went out for a long weekend. I’ve known Billy Talbot and Ralph Molina for a long time. The jammin was great!

Billy has his own band and still makes records and plays jobs. They are playing more than ever.

Ralph still plays with Neil Young every once in a while. Once he gets wind that I’m trying to steal his band he’ll come out of retirement again. You just watch! He's always been jealous! (We both laugh). We are just trying to see what happens.

Every day is a hurdle and today it’s the money hurdle. That’s where you come in Andy.

AG: If I had the money I’d give it to you, but you know how Joyce is with money.

Lee: Yea she’s pretty tight with the funds! I guess I’m wasting my time talking to you I should be sweet talking Joyce?

AG: That’s right! w w w. a m e r i c a n a g a z e t t e . n e t

After that I moved to California and that’s where I become Phil Lee. I lived there for about ten years. I lived in Hollywood.

AG: That’s where you became Phil Lee? Lee: Yea. I redefined myself and played in bands around L.A. We would play against bands like the Knack, Talking Heads, and 20/20. i did everything that everybody else was doing except in a cowboy hat. I’m still doing the same thing today. Just playing jobs.

(At this point the phone gets cutoff. Phil soon calls back.)

AG: You’ve been a musician all your life. Take me back to the beginning. Where does Phil Lee’s musical adventure begin?

Lee: Well, if you want to go way back it begins with our babysitter when I was a kid Her name was Faye Womack and she would come over with her record player and play all the top 45’s of the day like Elvis, Buddy Holly, etc. She would get us kids dancing to the music. She was a Rock’n Roll fanatic and still is.

AG: How did you get the bug to start playing?

You played drums first?

Lee: The Beatles on Ed Sullivan. I knew that Rock’n Roll was a wonderful thing. The minute I saw them on TV I was doomed to be a musician.

I played on a tennis racket, you know air guitared it. I don’t know when the drums really kicked in. I played in a lot of little bands and we just kept getting better. We won the state battle of the bands twice in North Carolina. That was the Bondsmen. I played all through High School on the local TV station on the AG hour. It was Homer Briarhopper and the Daybreak Gang. We played all the Country hits of the day. That was before Country Music went completely to hell.

You know we played Ernest Tubb, Johnny Cash, and Buck Owens. We played Folk songs. Clyde

Lee: I told you I’m out in the woods, man. I think a satellite flew behind a tree or something. Anyway we were in California. My set list has not really changed that much. We played with the Talking Heads at the Roxy a couple of times.

AG: Were you playing drums then?

Lee: No I had switched to guitar and was writing songs. As soon as I learned a couple of chords I was off writing. I stumbled into management and people started to hand me money.

AG: How did you get to working for Neil Young?

Lee: Larry Johnson, who was always like a big brother to me, worked for Neil, filming and later on production in general, he got me in on a few projects. Larry worked on the movie Woodstock and had gotten an Academy Award nomination for his work in the film. He always looked out for me and would find me work both musically and side jobs. It was in the Rockabilly stage of Neil’s career.

I was a prop man / driver and just did what needed to be done on video shoots and tours.

Larry passed on last year. He was a great friend and mentor to me.

AG: You told me one time that all your songs are 100% truthful, that they really all happened. continued on page 31

9

decjan2011:Layout 1

12/1/10

10:59 AM

Page 10

CD Review

Kathleen Scheldt ♪♪♪ Southern Wind Style: Americana/Country Lamon Records Kathryn Scheldt is a singer songwriter from Southern Alabama. She is a published author and holds a Master’s Degree in Music. This is her fourth CD. Southern Wind is a trip through the back roads and bi-ways of the white sand beaches of the South. Songs about Shrimp fisherman, wild eyed southern kids and life in general on the Gulf Coast.

The CD is filled with great songs that range from folky story songs to mid-tempo Country songs. Though she does not have a lot of range in her voice her singing is pleasant and not tiring to listen to. I was not convinced in her voice or styling on some of the cuts here. Her voice is more suited for L. A. style country ala Every which way but loose soundtrack than this style of Americana. It’s not that she is not a good singer; it’s just that the songs don’t always fit her vocal style.

Scheldt co wrote or wrote all the songs here. I would like to hear her sing others songs and maybe other styles. The CD is recorded well. More harmonies would have helped some of the songs too.

Review by:Andy Ziehli

It’s somber stuff overall, celebrating the heroism of simple perseverance, and the occasional triumphs that come at the end. In her liner notes for the album, the great Americana singer Kathy Mattea concludes:“Si has done a difficult thing here: with ease and grace, he’s told a heroic story by looking through small windows into the lives of everyday people.” Mattea, as only she can do it, offers harmony vocals on many of the cuts, blending exquisitely with the musicianship of Jens Kruger to produce one of the finest folk albums of the year.

Review by: Frye Gaillard

The Coal Porters ♪♪♪♪♪ Durango Style: Bluegrass/Folky Prima Records The Coal Porters were one of the top Country Rock Bands in England. The Coal Porters are now the top Bluegrass Band in England. Led by Sid Griffin this combo plays fantastically good Bluegrass music with authority. This CD is a wonderful collection of Bluegrass music. The harmonies are pure as mountain water and the picking is second to none.

The thirteen songs on Durango are well written and well played. Bluegrass music is a first cousin of Celtic Music, so finding players that have that background in England was a given for Griffin. He has always been able to find quality players to make music with which is a testament to his talent and musical skills.

Durango is a little more folky than your standard US Bluegrass CD, but that’s okay. I liked the different instrumentation played throughout the CD, especially the harmonica which is not used much any more in Bluegrass Music in the US. Standout cuts on the CD are One is way too many,The Squeaky wheel gets the oil, Pretty Polly, Road kill Breakdown,and Lookin for a soft place to fall.

Pretty Polly and Closing time genius are my favorites. Pretty Polly is an old song that the Byrds recorded on Sweetheart of the Rodeo, Griffin a huge Byrds fan like me and the Coal Porters play the song with reference. Closing Time Genius is a great song. The message is clear.

This is a Bluegrass CD for people who don’t really like that high and lonesome sound of Bluegrass like we tend to hear in America. Durango rocks, it swings, and pulls at your heart strings, and flows like a mountain stream. If you like good ole story songs that will put a smile on your face and enlighten your trip you won’t be sorry buying Durango and giving the Coal Porters a listen.

Review by:Andy Ziehli

Si Kahn ♪♪♪♪♪ Courage Style: Folk/Americana Strictly Country Records Si Kahn has been making fine records for more than 30 years, adding his powerful voice to the American folk music tradition.This summer, his song“Peace Will Rise,” made it to number 1 on some of the international folk music charts, and deservedly so.The song is one of 16 on Kahn’s latest album, recently released on the European label, Strictly Country Records.

My favorite cut is the last one,“Abe Lincoln Walks Tonight,” in which Kahn reflects on what America’s greatest president might be thinking if he could see the darker side of the country he saved.The song, like the others on this CD, is both edgy and reflective, and puts a human face on the social commentary that is Kahn’s trademark.

As a singer-songwriter, Kahn came of age in the 1960s and he was deeply influenced by his friend and mentor,Pete Seeger,whose musical critique of American society never gave in to cynicism or despair. Kahn, a rabbi’s son from Pennsylvania who became a southerner by choice, was also influenced over the years by the traditional folk ballads of Appalachia, and the blues coming out of the Mississippi delta, and the iconic country singers of Nashville. He marveled, for example, at the ability of Johnny Cash – the Man in Black – to speak for“the poor and the beaten down, livin’ on the hopeless, hungry side of town,” while maintaining the allegiance of the country mainstream. But Kahn has that same kind of gift, the ability to tell the stories of ordinary people, generating empathy among his listeners without trying to tell them exactly what to think.

In this latest CD, he sings, for example, of a lonely grandmother in a mining town, an Iraqi war veteran dreaming of hunting trips with his father, and children growing up in a family detention center in Texas.

The Good Intentions ♪♪♪♪♪ Poor Boy Style: Folk/Americana/Country Boronda Records The Good Intentions are a fantastic English group of Americana/Country Musicians who write and play real Country Music with steel guitars, auto harp, and real Country vocals. I got to hear R. Peter Davis and Gabi Monk at the Red Beet Records Party in Nashville in September and I was blown away. In England, the three members of the Good Intentions are; R. Peter Davies – vocal, guitar, Gabrielle Monk– vocal and Frank Roskell– vocal, electric guitar. They recorded the CD in California with Rick Shea – guitar, dobro, pedal steel, mandolin, Rob Douglas – bass and Mike Stinson – drums.

This CD reminds me of how Country CD’s used to sound when I was growing up. Davis and Monk harmonize like nobody’s business. The playing on this CD is top notch! The songwriting is top notch,almost a no-depression style. If you like Gillian Welch/ David Rawlings, Johnny Iirons & Sara Guthrie, Gram Parsons & Emmylou Harris, or Buddy & Julie Miller you’ll love this CD. Standout cuts include Poor Boy, Bonjour La Tristesse,You Can’t Call It Country, and You Had to Know. Davis’s voice is clear, and ever present on all the cuts.

Monk is a fantastic harmony singer; you could say the English Emmylou Harris.

Roskell’s guitar playing is fluid and precise.

I really like this CD! It is not trying to listen to, nor is it over the top in production. Charlie McGovern did an excellent job capturing the true essence of the Good Intentions. It is a real treat listening to good songs sung by great continued on page 28

10

w w w. a m e r i c a n a g a z e t t e . n e t

decjan2011:Layout 1

12/1/10

10:59 AM

Page 11

Looking for a Nice Getaway with a Little Swiss Atmosphere?

Plan to Stay at the Chalet Landhaus in New Glarus!

Located right off of Highway 69, Chalet Landhaus is very easy to find.Whenever we have guests from out of town or musicians from Nashville coming to perform, we always put them up at the Chalet Landhaus.We have never heard any complaints from our guests! Downtown is between 6th and 4th Avenues, and the Chalet Landhaus is on the corner of Highway 69 and 6th.All you have to do is walk out the front door and cross the parking lot over to 6th Street, and you can wander through the quaint little shops downtown.The building is made from three adjoining chalets.The chalet in the center is the tallest and has four floors.The chalet on the left houses a few rooms, but also has the new pool, hot tub, sauna, and workout room.

Amenities: Whirlpool Suites, Family Suites, Standard Rooms Indoor Pool, Sauna, Hot Tub, steam room Conference & Meeting Rooms Fitness Room Business Center with free high-speed DSL Alpine Restaurant serving - Swiss and American Cuisine Breakfast Daily, Brunch Sundays, Gourmet Dining Evenings Outdoor Patio and Dining Ride in - Ride out On the Sugar River State Trail Bicycling Group Tours Welcome - Special Rates - Group Menu Special Summer & Winter Packages & Getaway Packages Shops,Attractions, Biking, Golf, Skiing, Museums Guest rooms are spacious and inviting with custom made furniture, and other European touches. All rooms have telephone, air conditioning, and cable TV. Some rooms are available with private balconies, knotty pine beamed ceilings, whirlpool baths and sitting areas. Our larger rooms are perfect for families, and comfortable enough for an extended stay in New Glarus. All Rooms Include: Breakfast Buffet Daily in our Restaurant, Coffee Maker, Telephone with Voice Mail and Dataport CHECK -IN: 3:00pm CHECK-OUT: 11:00am Chalet Landhaus is known for its restaurant. In the evening, many visitors and locals head here for a nice dinner.A breakfast buffet is included in the price of the room and it is held in the main restaurant.You are handed tickets at check-in to be used at breakfast,since the brunch is open to the public.They served delicious scrambled eggs, hash browns with Swiss cheese, ham, and sausage as hot foods.There is also a full spread of Swiss pastries and breads. Dry cereal is also available, along with orange juice and milk.They serve coffee and tea directly at the table.

Furnished in a comfortable Swiss chalet style, the restaurant has proven equally popular with guests, and local residents too. Start your day with a Continental breakfast, on Sundays enjoy our delicious breakfast buffet. Evenings,our accomplished chef will treat you to the best of Swiss and American cuisine, accompanied, if you choose, by a fine bottle of wine. And be sure to save room for one of our fabulous Swiss desserts.

For more information check out the Chalet Landhaus at: www.newglarushotel.com or phone 608-527-5234 Reservations 800-944-1716 801 Hwy 69, PO Box 878, New Glarus,WI 53574 Story by: Joyce Ziehli Information and photos provided by website.

w w w. a m e r i c a n a g a z e t t e . n e t

11

A PET NOTE

decjan2011:Layout 1

12/1/10

10:59 AM

Page 12

The King Biscuit TAKE A GOOD CLOSE LOOK AT THIS LITTLE FELLOW….

SEE ANY SIMILARITIES BETWEEN HIM AND HIS OWNER? THE ALMIGHTY KING OF LOVE – PHIL LEE

While enjoying a tasty meal and some great conversation with Phil Lee and his wife, Maggie at J.Alexander’s Restaurant in Nashville,I asked them if they had any pets. Of course, they do. I inquired since Phil was going to be on the cover of this issue of the Americana Gazette and he was going to be the feature story, why not feature his four-legged little friend. Through my exquisite talent of being able to understand dog talk, here is the “tail” Phil and Maggie’s dog, King Biscuit told me: My name is King Biscuit. I’m pretty handsome don’t you think? I kind of look like my owner Phil in a way, but the truth is I’m adopted. Phil and Maggie rescued me from a shelter a little over a year ago. I’m the ripe old age of 4 and I am what you call a Mexican Hairless or Xoloitzcuintli, or Xolo for short. My breed comes in three different sizes, small, medium and large. I top out at a mere 13 pounds so I guess I would be what you call a small Xolo. I have a standard sized Xolo sibling, named Goof.

While living in the shelter, I went by the name of Gene Simmons. Phil and Maggie thought this was an odd name and wondered how that ever came about until the day I tossed out my ginormous tongue to lick up some peanut butter off the counter. They changed my name to King Biscuit. Now the“King”part comes from me being the ruler of the house, obviously, and the “Biscuit” part comes from me being as brown in color as a biscuit and having a loaf of bread shaped little body. This name suits me just fine.

I also respond to some other cute names like, Beakins or just plain old B. My typical day starts when I scramble up to the top of the bed from under the covers and give Phil a little nudge to let him know it’s time to wake up and sing our favorite song. Every morning we start our day off with a chorus of“The B went over the Mountain”. This gets the hair on my hairless body standing up and now I’m awake enough to run outside to find my favorite bush and do a little sprinkle. Breakfast is served up, a light kibble, then off to the other room to find Goof and snuggle up on the couch for a little morning nap. Sometimes I dream of playing outside, chasing balls, and other times I dream of listening to my favorite artist/songwriter, Phil Lee of course. Sometimes I like to listen to that Tom Mason guy, or even a tune by East Nashville’s Peter Cooper or that Eric Brace fellow. But overall the Almighty King of Love – Phil Lee is my all time favorite.

ride in the dog pouch. Those walks aren’t all their cracked up to be.

After the fresh outside air, I’m ready for my evening vittles. I am quite fond of a wide variety of goodies such as Boiled chicken, which is my very, very favorite. Corn (cut and on the cob),potatoes,sweet potatoes, squash, steak, fish, yogurt and cheese are a few of my other favorite entrees. I may top off this fabulous meal with a little rawhide chew before bedtime.

The long day is done, outside one more time to take care of unfinished business, then off to bed. Bedtime consists of me jumping into bed, and growling and glaring at Daddy Phil as he tries to get in bed.This always makes Mom Maggie laugh, although I don’t think Phil finds it as amusing. For a little guy, he sure takes up a lot of room in the bed. When Phil is out on the road performing, I really take advantage of his side of the bed, although I do miss his scrawny little legs next to me!

Maybe someday this Joyce lady will write about my sibling Goof, or she might write about Tom Mason’s critters. She already wrote about Russell and Loretta Cooper. That Loretta Cooper, miniature dachshund is kind of hot, I just may have to give her a call…

Story by: Joyce Ziehli Photos supplied by: Phil Lee

The highlight of the day comes when everyone gets home from their busy day and it is time for my walkie. You might call it the humans and the big dogs walk, as I usually

12

w w w. a m e r i c a n a g a z e t t e . n e t

decjan2011:Layout 1

12/1/10

10:59 AM

Page 13

EnjoyA Variety In Your Music

YOU AIN'T GONNA BELIEVE THIS... MEL TILLIS CRACKS BILLBOARD COMEDY CHART AT #4 There seems to be no stopping Country Music Hall of Famer Mel Tillis, as he continues his ascent up the nation’s Billboard Comedy Chart, barreling in this week at #4, and claiming bragging rights as the chart’s ‘Greatest Gain.’ Three weeks ago,Tillis entered the chart, debuting his first-ever comedy album You Ain’t Gonna Believe This…

(Show Dog – Universal Music), at #11 and in turn, becoming one of the few country musicians to successfully cross over into comedic territory. Tillis currently sits high atop the comedy chart, alongside some of the nation’s funniest comics, including Rodney Carrington, Dane Cook, Robin Williams,Aziz Ansari and “Weird Al” Yankovic.

“I’m lovin’ every minute of this ride,”laughs Tillis. “Having a hit country record is one thing, but this is something else. I’m right up there with guys who have been doing this for years, so I guess I must be doin’ something right!” One could say that country music legend Mel Tillis has just about done it all during his 50+ years in the entertainment business.

CHELSEA FIELD TACKLES PEOPLE MAGAZINE Nashville, TN (October 12, 2010)– Moxy Records recording artist Chelsea Field is quickly proving her credibility in the country music industry, as the Ohio-reared songbird continues to climb the ladder of success, most recently landing in the glossy pages of People Magazine (Country Special). Field’s current single,“Things I Should've Said,” can be found in the free download playlist section of the November 2010 country edition of People Magazine, now available on newsstands nationwide.“Being featured in People Magazine really is a dream come true,” says Field. “National prominence, alongside artists like Charlie Daniels, Jerrod Niemann and Joey and Rory… what an honor, I’m so blessed!” Field’s video to “Things I Should've Said” is currently featured on CMT Pure’s 12 Pack, in the running with Trace Adkins, Dierks Bentley, Kenny Chesney, Miranda Lambert, and Chris Young, among others.

Info supplied by: Don Murry Grubbs, Publicist • Absolute Publicity Inc. don@absolutepublicity.com OVER THE RHINE’S FORTHCOMING ALBUM, THE LONG SURRENDER, Due out January 11, 2011, the album they call “a record we couldn’t imagine in advance” marks the duo’s 20th year. Lucinda Williams makes a vocal appearance.

The Long Surrender, the new studio album from the southern Ohio-based husbandand-wife team of multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Linford Detweiler and vocalist/multiinstrumentalist Karin Bergquist, otherwise known as Over the Rhine, is something rare and wondrous — an intimate epic.The fan-funded record, to be released January 11, 2011 on OtR’s own Great Speckled Dog label (named for the couple’s Great Dane, Elroy), marks 20 years since their 1991 debut. It’s the bountiful result of collaboration between the couple and Joe Henry, whose songs they’ve long admired.

U.S. POSTAL SERVICE® AND CONCORD MUSIC GROUP REUNITE FOR SECOND HOLIDAY-THEMED COMPACT DISC, LET IT SNOW CD includes holiday classics featuring Paul McCartney, Jason Mraz, Frank Sinatra, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Ray Charles duet with Betty Carter and more!

Following up on the success of Letters to Santa during the 2009 holiday season, Concord Music Group is once again partnering with the U.S.Postal Service (USPS) to release their second holiday-themed collection, Let It Snow, on November 1, 2010.The compilation will be displayed — alongside a DVD of the perennial holidayTV classic,Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer — at select USPS outlets throughout the season. continued on page 29

w w w. a m e r i c a n a g a z e t t e . n e t

13

decjan2011:Layout 1

12/1/10

10:59 AM

Page 14

Mauro Magellan

14

w w w. a m e r i c a n a g a z e t t e . n e t

decjan2011:Layout 1

12/1/10

10:59 AM

Page 15

It is great to be blessed with an artistic side to one’s life. It is even greater to be able to turn that talent into an occupation. It’s even greater that one can have two fantastic artistic talents, but when one is triple blessed that’s one lucky dude! Mauro Magellan is one lucky dude! If he was a baseball player you’d call him a triple threat!

Magellan is an award winning artist and designer, an author of children’s books, a songwriter, and a world class drummer who has played all over the world with the Georgia Satellites and Dan Baird and Homemade Sin. He is the drummer locally for the Jimmy’s and in the past was the drummer for the Crashers. He is President of Magellan Art & Design which does graphic design work for a multitude of companies and organizations world wide.

books. I have illustrated about 200 books. Everything from children’s books to medical journals and books. I have done wine, tree, bed & breakfast books, magazines, science books and the popular children’s book Pet Bugs.

Magellan, born in Brazil, spent his early years living in Florida growing up in a Cuban neighborhood. His talent for drawing got him in trouble at an early age. He would use all his notebook paper for school to draw monsters, and super heroes on instead of using it for his homework. His mother would ration the amount of paper she would give him so he had only enough for his schoolwork. It got to the point where she forbade him to draw at all. His family then moved back to Brazil for about 4 years where his mother gave in and bought him a drum set to keep him quiet. She tried to stop that too but he would not quit playing the drums. At age 16 he moved back to the states and started playing in bands in Florida. After High School Magellan moved to Atlanta to pursue music full-time which he did for over 20 years. It was at this time that he took up art again having abandoned it for so many years. “I did not have a camera and I wanted to capture what was going on around me so I started drawing and painting”, said Magellan. Music was to be his bread and butter and he soon joined the Satellites who released Keep your hands to yourself, a song written by Dan Baird and the rest is Rock & Roll history.

I lost a lot of my contacts by going on the road. I thought “I don’t need you anymore I’m on a hit record”. That worked for a couple years than reality set back in! (We both laugh) I got back into illustrating a little more. I now mainly do graphic design work.

I have a lot of customers in the Artisan Cheese industry. Which is really great because I’m learning so much about cheese.

AG: How did you get into that?

MM: I had an agent at the time. I was getting all kinds of work. My agent then got very ill and things slowed down. I would go to publishers and just sell what I could.

Back then there were no computers and illustrating was much more valuable. Today you can do clip art and such.

AG: Do they give you free samples?

MM: All the time! I love cheese and I get to sample the best cheese in the world daily!

I just can’t believe it.

AG: How long did you live in Atlanta?

MM: Fifteen years.

AG: Did you just play music and freelance your artwork?

Magellan met his wife at this time and followed her up to Wisconsin where they have been married for 23 years and raised two daughters, who are also very good artists.

Magellan owns and operates his own graphic design company creating logos, advertising and marketing literature, trademarks, etc. His customer base is very interesting from local businesses to international firms. His specialty is designing labels and logos for the artisan cheese industry. He gives drum lessons weekly to a wide variety of students, plays in the Jimmy’s, records in his studio, writes wonderfully delightful children’s books, is a busy grandfather, and still tours the world playing with Dan Baird, Keith Christopher, and Warner Hodges in Dan Baird and Homemade Sin. I got to steal an hour of Magellan’s busy schedule to talk to him about his many artistic endeavors two days before he left for Europe on a tour in October. Magellan is a very soft spoken man who lets his many accomplishments speak for him. It was a

MM: I mainly played. I did my art for the fun of it. I love oil paints. I really got into them when I lived there.

AG: You moved to Wisconsin after Atlanta then?

MM: I took my wife down there for a visit in July and she couldn’t take the heat and humidity. I did not want to take here away from her family, who are fanatically great people so we moved here. She took my name but I took her family! I love Wisconsin!

wonderful interview where we concentrated on his art and writing achievements.

I read in the last issue of the Americana Gazette how someone told you in Nashville that Wisconsin is just like Nashville only 25 years behind. I think that’s a good thing! I love the fact that you can trust people here and you don’t have to worry about your safety like in a big city.

My sister came to visit from Miami and when she parked in our driveway she put the Claw on her steering wheel. I told her she would not need that here! I do not miss Miami,Rio,or Atlanta. Wisconsin is by far the best place I have lived.

AG: How did you get into art after your childhood?

AG: How do you feel about Nashville and the music scene?

MM: I moved to Atlanta and I really liked the scenery there. The pines and the hills were beautiful. I wanted to buy a camera but being a musician I had no money so I bought a paint set and reconnected to art. I started drawing again and started selling some of my work and it became my backup income to music.

MM: The one thing that bothers me about the Nashville is their interpretation of Wisconsin life and that they underestimate the musicians and talent here. The players here are just as good as the South. People here play with just as much or more passion as the folks I’ve played with down there. It’s too bad we can’t get more notoriety for our Wisconsin musicians and songwriters.

Artist, Author, Musician AG: Have you had any formal education in art or design?

AG: So what’s in the future of you?

MM: I did later but not in my youth. That’s probably why I’m not as good as I should be. I can draw, but I’m not schooled well on the proper techniques you can learn in school.

AG: You have written some books. How did you start doing that?

MM: Several! I loved poetry and rhymes as a child. I also loved to read, so I used my imagination at an early age. We lived in a rough neighborhood where there was this family of Redneck Crackers who picked on us. One whole summer I spent inside trying not to get beat up by them.

AG: Are they all children’s books?

MM: Well I’m writing a new book now called “I’ll be you, and you be me” which is about philonius cats and a cool rat. The rat wants to trade places because he feels disrespected. They are Jazz Musicians. The Cat is Mister Cool and the Rat can’t get any gigs because he has a bad rap so he wants to be someone different. I’m going to record a children’s CD about this book too. I hope to expand my business so that I can get my daughter to work with me when she’s finished with college. Grow my business, eat more cheese, play more music, and live life to its fullest!

Story by:Andy Ziehli Photo supplied.

MM: Yes.The first was called Cambio Chameleon which was a book about a Chameleon that loses the ability to change colors and with the help of her friends learns a valuable life lesson. Max the apartment cat is about the adventures of Max the cat when he escapes from his apartment and begins to explore the city. Home at last is about Lego the worm who searches for a new home and eventually finds one with the help of some animal friends.

I don’t know if they are any good but they were a blast to illustrate. I love illustrating w w w. a m e r i c a n a g a z e t t e . n e t

15

decjan2011:Layout 1

12/1/10

10:59 AM

Page 16

Sid Griffin is a multi-faceted musician, author, and broadcaster.An eighth-generation native Kentuckian (on both sides) who currently resides in England. Sid has popped up in literary circles due to the success of his Million Dollar Bash book on Bob Dylan’s Basement Tapes as well as the follow up Shelter From The Storm. Griffin has already won a Lifetime Achievement Award in Italy in 2003, and Sid’s old band the Long Ryders, the legendary founders of alt-country, have released via Prima Records Ltd. a CD entitled Live 2004: State Of Our Reunion and followed it up with a live DVD release from the same tour.

As a documentary scriptwriter for BBC Radio Two, Sid Griffin had two of his scripts broadcast in 2006, the first on Gram Parsons and the second on the Carter Family, this latter narrated by Dolly Parton. He contributed to several others and completed a Buddy Holly script for the 50th anniversary of Buddy Holly’s tragic death which the BBC is currently thinking of expanding into more than a radio documentary.

As a freelance journalist Griffin is a regular contributor to Mojo, Fritz Lang Review, Gaslight, Rock ‘n’ Reel, Baseball Maniac, Skyway and Country Music International. He has been published in The Guardian, Music Week,Variety, Cash Box, New Musical Express, the L.A.Weekly, BAM and Melody Maker.

Sid’s second book, Bluegrass Guitar: Know The Players, Know The Music, was published by BackBeat Books with an accompanying CD which features Sid’s bluegrass Coal Porters performing songs alongside ex- Jerry Garcia sideman, guitar whiz Eric Thompson.

An acknowledged expert on the musical career of Gram Parsons, Sid’s first book Gram Parsons – A Music Biography (Sierra Books) is still in print. He has contributed sleeve notes to a great many CD reissues by Gram Parsons and The Flying Burrito Bros,The Byrds and Gene Clark. Sid has also compiled and written sleeve notes for reissues by Long John Baldry, Mike Nesmith,Arthur Lee’s Love, Joe Ely, Dolly Parton, the International Submarine Band, Steve Young,Tim Hardin,The Everly Brothers, Phil Ochs, Iggy Pop, Nils Lofgren, his heroes Bill Monroe & the Bluegrass Boys, his friend the late Ronnie Lane, Hank Williams, Glen Campbell and for various compilations including Beating Up The Campus, Fallen Angels:An AltCountry Sampler and Okay, So We Lost: Songs Of The Confederacy,Vol. Five.

Sid Griffin

Currently Griffin plays with The Coal Porters who are an exciting and dynamic bluegrass combo featuring Carly Frey – fine fiddle and vocals; Dick Smith - ace banjo and vocals; Sid Griffin - vocals, mandolin, harmonica and autoharp; Andrew Stafford, doghouse bass, Neil Robert Herd guitar, sporran and vocals.

I talked to Sid at the Americana Music Conference in September. We met in the coffee shop where we were joined by Joyce and the Hammon Brothers, friends from Sid’s youth in Kentucky for a lively conversation.

AG: Why the switch to Bluegrass?

SG: Because playing electric music was in a cul-de-sac. We had been playing electric music to the same 50 to 350 people every night. We were just not going anywhere. I had started playing electric music in 1970 with the Hammon’s in Louisville at age 14. The electric music was not getting us anywhere. I realized that I was rewriting Long Ryder’s music. I thought about it and realized that if you want to be an artist you have to grow and step out of the box that you are familiar with. I had friends in LA 30 years ago that were making the same kind of music that they are now. They are refining it, but not growing it. I did not want to end up that way. I would have died if I had stayed doing the same thing.

So Neil, the guitar player in the Coal Porters, and I put together a band playing more experimental music like Wilco does, called Western Electric.

The drummer at the time was in a terrible car accident and was in a coma for 35 days, and could not play for months. We had already taken the leap from the 2/4 time Country Rock music which was good. The trouble was that we had already recorded this great CD and could not go out and tour because the drummer was laid up. So we evolved into an acoustic band which was a very wise thing to do. Our audience changed quite a bit when we did so. For the better I may ad.

AG: In England is there a large number of Bluegrass musicians?

SG: There is a large devoted crowd like in the US that just want to hear Bluegrass from 1947 Monroe style. We don’t really play that way. I have a friend who is a promoter in Japan and he listened to our CD and commented that“I finally get it. You guys are Bluegrass for people who don’t like Bluegrass!” I call our music Alt-Bluegrass. We want to be the world’s first Alt-Bluegrass band so nobody can say we weren’t any good at because we set the style!

AG: One of my favorite CD’s is the Coal Porters live CD of the Gram Parsons tribute concert. Did you start the festival?

SG: Somebody called us up and asked us to put something together because that was the 25th anniversary of Gram’s death. It started at ten in the morning and went to ten at night. It was one of the first tribute concerts to Gram in Europe, maybe the world.

AG: When you record in England as a Bluegrass band do you have to educate the engineers on how you want to sound?

SG: People practically people in Europe have never recorded a band like us. There are kids working in the studios who have never recorded a band without a drum kit. Some even have not recorded real drums only synth drums so it is a learning curve for them. Neil Herd our guitar player was an engineer for the BBC so we are lucky to have him there to walk them through it. Let me make it clear that it is not the engineers fault in any way, they are just not used to recording live acoustic bands.

I can tell you that the Celtic people get Bluegrass. It is like Celtic music. The Anglo-Saxons don’t quite get it yet, but we are working on them. In Scotland, Ireland, and Wales the crowds and studio people are really into it. The rest of Great Britain is more into Hayseed Dixie style of Bluegrass.

We have found that playing the festival circuit is better for us. They have ready made crowds and they want to hear our style of music. Even in Galicia in North Western Spain is a great place for us to play too. They are Celtic people who love acoustic music.

AG: Why did you move to England?

16

w w w. a m e r i c a n a g a z e t t e . n e t

decjan2011:Layout 1

12/1/10

10:59 AM

Page 17

SG: At the time I was married to an English lady, I still am but to a different one (we all laugh)! It was just a lot more practical. She was in a band doing very well so it just made since.

tell all author. It’s not important to me. I don’t feel comfortable asking those types of questions.

AG: Looking back at what you have accomplished with your music and writing,are you happy and what are you most proud of?

AG: You are a noted journalist.

SG: And Author!

AG: I have your first book on Gram Parsons and it was wonderful.

SG: Thank you. The last three have been more intense and harder reads. I’m very proud of all my books. Tomorrow there is a book signing. I hope no one throws a shoe or an egg at me like Tony Blair (we all laugh again)!

SG: That’s a good question. I’m very proud of my kids. I have been around the world twice and shook hands with everyone. I have sold records and stayed in the black. I don’t think that the Long Ryder’s is my best yet. The albums are hit or miss. Durango by the Coal Porters and The Western Electric CD’s I think are my best albums to date.

I was extremely proud of the Long Ryder’s live shows. It’s too bad that they did not transfer to the studio and recording. I’m proud of my books. The coolest thing I’ve ever done was headline a concert in Spain for Barcelona 800th anniversary. We played by a show on the side of hill in front of 100,000 people. That was cool!

AG: AS long as you don’t wear a BP tshirt I think you’ll be fine!

AG: Do you play music full-time yet?

SG: If I did not write I could not make a living. I’d say it’s about 50/50. We are approaching that point of how much time we all want to put into it, but we are not quite there yet.

AG: Do you still have contact with the guys in the Long Ryder’s yet?

SG: I do. I email Tom Stevens about every 36 hours. Steven does not read his email very much, and Greg is a publishing guy at Warner Chappell in LA and has done very well.

AG: How did you start playing music?

SG: I started out playing with my buddies here playing CCR songs. My first guitar the strings were literally half an inch off the neck. It was so hard to play. I got it in 1965 for by birthday. It was a Stella.

At a Long Ryder’s photo shoot in the 80’s Steven came in and said that there was a guy selling a Silvertone guitar and amp in case package for $150.00 down on the street corner. I went to the tyme machine and took out $75.00 which was all I had in my account and the guy took it. I used it for years and in the early 90’s sold it to Joe Strummer of the Clash.

AG: What is your approach to writing and recording?

SG: Well an idea comes first and I let it marinate in the brain for a while. It is very seldom I would rush to a guitar with a quick thought. Sugar Sugar for the Archie’s was written by Jeff Barry in 15 minutes and look how much money that made. I wish I could write that quickly but it just does not work that way for me. I wish I could have one of those eureka moments. Maybe that’s why I haven’t written any world wide hits yet.

(Joyce offered Sid and his buddies Cheese Curds) My friend Billy Bragg had me over to his house when he lived in London and brought out a cheese head hat; he said he was in Wisconsin and went to a Packer game and everyone was wearing them. He asked me what it meant. I told him that means you are a cheese head. Billy told me he was afraid to ask why everyone was wearing them.

AG: When you write books is it the same process as songwriting?

SG: No it’s latterly headache inducing. I get migraines. I was writing a documentary on Gram Parsons and got them really bad. When I started the Dylan/Band book they came back. My doctor said it was stress. In America they would give you a pill for that, but it is usually the same pill you would take for depression. The trouble is that they make you a little light headed and it’s harder for me to be creative and focused.

When you write books the publisher gives you an advance. The more you turn in the faster you get paid, so the stress is always there to meet a deadline, and it’s hard to be creative under that kind of stress. My last book Shelter from the Storm was very stressful because I was moving to a new house when the book was due. As the movers were taking things out of the house I was sitting on the floor cross legged with the keyboard in my lap finishing the book.

AG: Do you find it hard to get information form people to write your books?

SG: No I’m pretty good at getting people to talk to me. I don’t write about or ask them about their private lives. Just their music. People always want to know that kind of stuff and I’m not interested in that unless it’s directly part of the music. I’m not a w w w. a m e r i c a n a g a z e t t e . n e t

Written by:Andy Ziehli Photos by: Joyce Ziehli

Top 15 ways to tell if you are a true Wisconsinite!

15. You remember Bart Starr’s and Brett Farve’s stats but not your kid’s birthdays.

14. You know what exactly what you were doing and where you were at the day the Packers won the Ice Bowl.

13. You learned to fish before you could walk.

12. Knotty pine on a wall is considered fine woodwork.

11. You or someone you know has hit a deer with a car or truck.

10. You find nothing wrong with eating cheerios and drinking beer at the same time for breakfast.

9. When it stays above 40 degrees shorts are consider perfectly acceptable attire to wear outside.

8. Opening day of deer season is a holy day of obligation.

7. Krausening was a religious experience.

6. Fried Bluegills and Walleye are considered a delicacy.

5. Dancing with the stars meant dancing with Big John Shermahorn on Dairlyland Jubilee.

4. You hated the smell of cigarette smell on your cloths from a bar, but love the smell of a fish fry in the air.

3. A twelver is considered an appetizer when going out to eat.

2. You are closely related to at least one person who has OWI convection.

1. You have more deer horns on your walls than art.

17

decjan2011:Layout 1

12/1/10

10:59 AM

Page 18

Jon Byrd

Anne McQue

3 for 1 The Beauties

The Beauties are a roots/country band from Toronto, Canada.They formed at the Dakota Tavern in 2006. A Sunday night residency (which was initially intended as an informal jam) soon blossomed into sold out shows, week after week. Darin McConnell and Shawn Creamer share guitar and vocal duties, Jud Ruhl streams the lead guitar while Paul Phisterer and Derek Downham keep time as the unapologetically stoic rhythm section.A foursong, self-titled EP quickly established The Beauties as a band to watch out for; earning them coveted support slots with acts such as Broken Social Scene and Alejandro Escovedo.They have also backed up such noteworthy songwriters as Ron Sexsmith, Jim Cuddy, and Serena Ryder. Three years later, they continue to remind the crowds of the tightly-knit seams that stem from rock and roll, as well as confirming the often overlooked truth that there isn’t a single person who will love us like the devil does.

Playing at SXSW this past year the Beuties stole the show.

Touted by many as Toronto's best bar band the Beuties didn’t disappoint, playing a rollicking set full of energy and fire. The Beauties' whiskey-soaked brand of country rock and fantastically suited vocals rocked the crowd to the wee hours of the morning.

The Beauties have opened for Sky Diggers, Broken Social Scene, Justin Rutledge and Jason Collett, and have backed up songwriters including Ron Sexsmith, Jim Cuddy and Serena Ryder. They signed to Six Shooter Records in 2009.That same year, NOW Magazine named the Beauties as the best roots/country band in Toronto.

On June 1, 2010 they released their first full length selftitled album on Six Shooter Records. They have also recorded an EP with Serena Ryder, but so far only one song from those sessions has been released; a cover of "Funeral" by Band of Horses.

Check out their website, myspace page, and videos on you tube. The Beuties made the top 15 CD list of the Americana Gazette in 2010 coming in at number nine.

Jon Byrd lived his formative years in a small town in the piney woods of South Alabama one county over from the birthplace of legendary country artist Hank Williams.

When Jon was eight years old his dad was diagnosed with TB. He began singing Jimmie Rogers' "TB Blues" around the house. Later that same year Jon saw the Beatles on Ed Sullivan and his obsession with the musical tension between country and rock was born. The very next year he was conscripted into the drum corps of his tiny school's marching band and played Booker T. and the MG's "Green Onions" while the majorettes held the cymbals and danced. There was no turning back.

In the 1990s Byrd became a central figure in Atlanta's infamous Redneck Underground movement as lead guitarist for the seminal and storied country band Slim Chance and the Convicts (Letters to Mama, 1993, and Twang Peaks, 1996). He also formed the hard country band the Ratchet Set as a musical outlet for his love of old trucking songs and two chord honky-tonk gems. In 1998, Byrd helped country traditionalist Greta Lee record her first full-length CD This Ain't Over Yet. In 2001 he co-produced and handled lead guitar duties on her follow-up You Must Be Present to Win. In 2001 Byrd relocated to Nashville,Tennessee where he continues to work with the Greta Lee Band. He has also quickly made a name for himself in Music City as a talented country singer and Telecaster slinger recording with such fine country and alternative country artists as the dangerously soulful Davis Raines and his Faders, Texas country singer Buck Jones,extraordinary folk-rock songwriter Stephen Simmons, and the rockabilly whirlwind Suzette and her Neon Angels. Byrd has found a musical kinship performing with other fine writers and performers such as Carissa Lee Broadwater, Suzanna Spring, and Ben Blankenship.

In late 2004 Byrd eased into his own musical project "BYRD'S AUTO PARTS" to showcase his songwriting and singing while providing an opportunity to play with his friends, some of the finest young musicians in Nashville.

In 2006 the AUTO PARTS crew ventured into the studio to produce a recording many feel is long over due! The result is a new CD BYRD’S AUTO PARTS, which was released in the spring to press and friends. It was officially released to Americana Radio later in the summer. The recording reflects Byrd's eclectic tastes in music and his fun-loving performance style. Jon Byrd brings music lovers of all stripes out to hear great country songs sung and played with heart and soul.

Story and Photo by: Andy Ziehli

Story by: Andy Ziehli Photo supplied.

18

Anne McCue is a transplant to East Nashville via Australia where she was and is still a noted singer and guitar player. McCue grew up in Campbelltown, an area southwest of Sydney, Australia. McCue’s love for music was instilled early in her life. She grew up in a house filled with music. Her father played a variety of instruments, and her mother sang in the church choir. All of her seven older siblings were heavily into music too.

McCue played guitar growing up, although she wasn’t encouraged to be a musician. She was a longtime film buff, and she got a degree in film studies at Sydney’s University of Technology. Her cinema studies are an influence in her music.“To me, my songs are like short films,” she reveals,“I try to be very visual and cinematic with my music and now I am making videos for the songs too.” She is a Singer, Songwriter, Guitarist, Multi-Instrumentalist, Producer, Engineer and Video Director.

McCue's first band was based in Sydney and was called Vertigo after the Alfred Hitchcock film. In 1988, McCue moved to Melbourne, Australia and took guitar lessons from Bruce Clarke. Answering an ad in the local press, she joined all-female rock band Girl Monstar as lead guitarist (1988–1993). The band eventually received an ARIA nomination for best independent act.

Following her stint with Girl Monstar,she played acoustically around Melbourne, later performing in Vietnam for a year before returning to Melbourne to record her Laughing EP (1996). She then joined Australian female trio Eden AKA, who signed to Columbia Records in the USA.They released a self-titled album and performed in Canada and the USA at the Lilith Fair in 1998 and 1999.

McCue's first solo album,Amazing Ordinary Things, was released in 1999 in Canada and Japan, and she toured with a number of well-known musicians, including an international tour with Lucinda Williams, who would often introduce McCue as "my new favorite artist... and an amazing guitarist".Williams later included McCue on an 'Artist's Choice' compilation alongside Paul Westerberg and Leonard Cohen.

McCue is a fantastic guitar player and killer rock singer.

She released a new CD in 2010 titled Broken Promised Land which is out now, and made the Top 15 CD list of the Americana Gazette this year. Critics and fans alike love this CD! Her past CD’s are all well worth while hunting up and buying. She continues to tour all over the world and bring hear music to the masses. Check out her music and videos on You Tube!!!

Story by: Andy Ziehli Photo supplied.

w w w. a m e r i c a n a g a z e t t e . n e t

What Has Become Of The Real Rudolph?

decjan2011:Layout 1

12/1/10

10:59 AM

Page 19

Every year at Christmas time young ones gather around the TV set eager to watch the adventures of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. It is a magical story of a young deer that becomes the laughing stock of his playmates in Christmas Town because he is different. His disability is his nose. His nose was twice as big and twice as bright as the other deer. In the end this proves to be an asset instead of a liability for he saves the day for Santa by leading his sleigh through the foggy night.Thus he saves Christmas as we know it.

Many characters come to light in the TV version.There is Hermy the Elf that would rather be a dentist than a toy making elf, a prospector named Yukon Cornelius who saves Hermy and Rudolph from the abominable snowman.There is even a love interest for Rudolph named Clarice. None of these are mentioned in the original story.

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer has been around since the holiday season of 1939.

It is the creation of a copywriter for the department store chain of Montgomery Ward.

Each year Montgomery Ward bought and gave away color books to children at Christmas time as a promotional gimmick. In order to save money they decided they should create their own book. Robert May was the copywriter for Montgomery Ward and he was asked to come up with a Christmas story they could give away to shoppers.

May, as a child, was often poked fun of because of his small stature and being shy, settled on a reindeer that was also teased and looked down upon because of his appearance. He wrote the story in rhyme much like The Night before Christmas. He also wrote it for his daughter who was delighted by the story.

In the original Rudolph story the reindeer do make fun of Rudolph because of his nose.Rudolph comes from a loving family who lived in an ordinary reindeer village,not at the North Pole with Santa’s reindeer. Rudolph goes to sleep on Christmas Eve and hopes that Santa would bring him gifts that would please him.Santa discovers Rudolph quite by accident when he sees Rudolph’s nose shining in the dark as he passes Rudolph’s room.The night was terribly foggy and Santa did not know if he could see all the places he was to deliver gifts. He woke Rudolph up and asked if he would help him. Of course Rudy was excited and eager to help. He helps Santa complete his rounds. He becomes a hero and is asked by Santa to be the “commander in chief” whenever there is a foggy Christmas Eve. w w w. a m e r i c a n a g a z e t t e . n e t

Robert May’s story was a success for Montgomery Wards.They distributed 2.4 million copies of the Rudolph story in 1939.Even though there were wartime paper shortages during the next several years, a total of six million copies of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer were distributed and given away by the end of 1946.

All this time Robert May received nothing for his work since the copyright was owned

by Montgomery Ward and he was only an employee. In 1947 he persuaded the corporate president of Montgomery Ward to give him the copyright and his financial security was assured.

Johnny Marks,Robert May’s brother-in-law wrote a song about Rudolph and Gene Autry recorded it in 1949. His recording of the song hit the charts as number one of week of Christmas 1949. It sold two million copies the first year. The song is one of the best selling songs of all times and is rated as second only to White Christmas.

Robert May quit his copywriting job in 1951 and spent seven years in managing his Rudolph creation. He went back to work for Montgomery Ward and retired from there in 1971. He died in 1976.

I recently found a copy of the original story by Robert May at our public library. It was a delight to read it again. It is so different from the TV production. But then the book is always better than the movie.

I can recall going to the Montgomery Ward store at Christmas time in 1946 or 1947 and seeing the display of Rudolph. I may have even received a copy of the story.

The story of Rudolph has been translated in 25 languages.

Even though the TV production and the original story differ in storyline the thought is the same, and that is that Rudolph saved Christmas. Quoting from the ending of the book – Santa says of Rudolph“By YOU last night’s journey was actually bossed.Without you I’m certain we’d all have been lost” Way to go Rudolph!

Story by: Rosemary Ziehli

19

decjan2011:Layout 1

12/1/10

10:59 AM

Page 20

The Musical Odyssey of George Hamilton IV George Hamilton IV was Americana before Americana was cool. A fifty-year member of the Grand Ole Opry,Hamilton recently released a new CD called“George Hamilton IV and Friends,” a collection of gospel songs performed in country and bluegrass arrangements with such musical compatriots as Charley Pride, Ricky Skaggs, Gail Davies, and Tommy Cash.“It’s possibly the most star-studded collection you’re ever likely to hear,” declared British reviewer Jim Marshall.

The double-CD set is just the latest step on a remarkable journey for Hamilton, who began his recording career in 1956 with a million-selling single called “A Rose and a Baby Ruth.” He was only 19 when this sentimental ballad of teenaged love launched him on tour with the rockabilly greats of the 1950s – Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, the Everly Brothers, and Sam Cooke. In a time of segregation in the South, Hamilton, a native North Carolinian, saw that music could be the great leveler, a cultural heritage that

20

crossed racial lines.“One of my fondest memories,” he says,“is of Sam Cooke, the great soul singer, sitting on the tour bus, playing Hank Williams on the Everly Brothers’ guitar.”

Still, the divisions in the country were real, and Hamilton also remembers the bitterness in Chuck Berry’s voice when he talked about listening to the Grand Ole Opry from the alley outside – barred, because of the color of his skin, from passing through the doors of the Ryman Auditorium.“It was a reminder to me,”says Hamilton today,“that there were still some problems in this great country, and I thought music could be a healing force.”

In 1960, Hamilton joined the cast of the Grand Ole Opry, and in 1963 his single,“Abilene,” reached number one on the country charts and became the biggest in a long w w w. a m e r i c a n a g a z e t t e . n e t

decjan2011:Layout 1

12/1/10

10:59 AM

Page 21

string of hits. But Hamilton never quite fit the country mainstream. He didn’t look the part for one thing. Instead of cowboy hats and rhinestone suits, he wore preppy blazers with a monogrammed “IV” on the pocket, and in addition to his love of Hank Williams, Ernest Tubb, and Patsy Cline, he was drawn to the folk singers coming out of Canada.

In 1966, he cut a whole album of Gordon Lightfoot songs (on which Lightfoot played guitar), and the following year he became the first artist in any genre to have a top ten hit with a Joni Mitchell song. He followed Mitchell’s “Urge for Going” with a country recording of Leonard Cohen’s “Suzanne,” and in 1968 he stepped onto the stage of the Newport Folk Festival, joining Johnny Cash and Earl Scruggs on the short list of artists who have played both Newport and the Grand Ole Opry.

At the time it was a controversial appearance.The Vietnam War was raging, and in an era of polarization and protest, country singers like Merle Haggard were stirring the patriotism of their fans.And there was Hamilton sharing the Newport stage with Joan Baez, who had cast her lot with the protest marchers.

“Not long after that,”Hamilton remembers,“Marty Robbins,one of the great performers on the Opry and a pretty conservative guy politically, cornered me backstage and began to question my patriotism. He was none too subtle about it, either.”

Hamilton did his best to explain that he shared Marty Robbins’ love of their country, but he also believed that music – especially in the Americana tradition – touched something deeper than the swirling political division of the times.That became his article of faith, and he carried it with him wherever he went – not only to venues all across America,but also to audiences overseas.

In 1969, he headlined the first country music festival in Great Britain, and soon had his own TV show on the BBC. Syndicated shows quickly followed in Canada and New Zealand, and Hamilton soon became known as “the International Ambassador of Country Music.” In 1974, he became the first country performer to tour behind the Iron Curtain, and the experience was one that he never forgot. At Moscow State University, he delivered a lecture-concert, offering an hour-long history of country music, punctuated by songs to illustrate his points. When he had finished,one of the students asked – in perfect English – if he and his friends could sing a song for Hamilton.Telling the story recently in a History of Country Music class at Vanderbilt University (taught by Americana artist Peter Cooper), Hamilton said the Russian students began to sing “Down by the Riverside,” with their own improvised words: Gonna lay down our atom bombs Down by the riverside “It was a powerful moment,” Hamilton told the Vanderbilt students,“a reminder of the best that music can be. It’s such a universal language, such a reminder of our common humanity.”

Through the 1970s and beyond, Hamilton continued to tour overseas – Africa, Europe, Australia, even a State Department tour of the Middle East.

But as his popularity soared in other places, his hits became less frequent in the United States. His last top five single,“She’s a Little Bit Country,”came in 1970, and his last appearance on the U.S. charts, w w w. a m e r i c a n a g a z e t t e . n e t

“Only the Best,” barely cracked the top one hundred in 1978. But Hamilton continued to record, and many critics said he made his best album in 1979. “Forever Young,”with the title cut written by Bob Dylan, was produced by Allen Reynolds,“the gentle giant of Music Row,” says Hamilton, best known for his work with Garth Brooks, Don Williams, and Emmylou Harris. Hamilton and Reynolds picked the songs together, including“Wild MountainThyme,”an old Scottish folk ballad that they heard on an album

by Joan Baez;“Mose Rankin,” a gospel-flavored lament from Appalachia, written by North Carolinian Billy Edd Wheeler; and Townes Van Zandt’s “I’ll Be Here in the Morning.” The album went gold in the United Kingdom, and the “Forever Young” single made the country charts in Canada. But Hamilton understood even then that he was entering a new phase of his career. Like many performers past their radio prime, he began to diversify his activities. He remained a regular on the Grand Ole Opry, where he still mixed folk and Americana songs with his country standards like “Abilene,” and he also began a modest acting career.

In the 1990s, he narrated and co-starred in the musical, Patsy, a play about his close friend Patsy Cline, which enjoyed a long run in the West End theater district of London, the British equivalent of Broadway.

But more and more, Hamilton’s great love in the past twenty years has been gospel music. In the 1980s and ‘90s, he became a frequent guest at Billy Graham crusades, joining Johnny Cash and Kris Kristofferson in their admiration of the American evangelist. He won a Dove Award in the 1980s – gospel music’s equivalent of a Grammy – and has been a five-time Dove nominee in the years since then.

All of which brought him to his latest Lamon Records CD. Co-produced by Irish gospel singer Colin Elliott and former Grammy nominee Dave Moody, the album has a deliberately old-fashioned feel.“It’s sure not slick,” Hamilton explains. “Dave and Colin wanted it to be kind of front porch music, or something you might hear around the living room at night.”

For the most part,“George Hamilton IV and Friends”achieves that kind of authenticity. Hamilton’s duet with Charley Pride on“Family Bible”is one of the most memorable, down-home cuts, as is “Sail Away,” done with bluegrass artists Barry and Holly Tashian and Hamilton’s songwriter son, George Hamilton V. But despite the memories such songs can evoke, and the faith they inspire among the people who love them, there is a limitation to the old gospel songs – a preoccupation with the world still to come. Hamilton is fine with that as far as it goes. He loves the traditional songs of salvation. But he also believes that Christianity – like many of the world’s other great religions – is also concerned with the here and now, with the proclamations of brotherhood and justice that came from Jesus and the Old Testament prophets.“Love your neighbor as yourself,” Hamilton explains. “It’s there in the book.” And that is why at the age of 73, as he continues a rigorous concert schedule, he often includes songs like “Immigrant Eyes,” Guy Clark’s Americana classic.The lyrics recall the hardships of an earlier time, when immigrants are herded through Ellis Island“like cattle.”Some were one desk away from sweet freedom. Some were torn from someone they love. But all of them were, as Clark writes in his song,“on fire with the hope of it all.”

To Hamilton the song seems relevant today,when the issue of immigration is dividing the country, and often brings out the worst in political debate. In his own gentle way, Hamilton offers Clark’s song as a reminder that“almost all of us are descended from immigrants” – and perhaps should look with a little more empathy toward those who look to America with hope. “Don’t take it for granted,” Hamilton sings in his strong tenor voice,“say grandfather’s immigrant eyes.”Such is the musical faith that defines his career, a belief in the power of Americana music to bring out the best in the people who listen. He saw it in the power of Hank Williams’ blues to cut across the racial lines of the ‘50s; in the ability of folk and country music to go deeper than the political divisions of the ‘60s; and perhaps most of all, in the declarations of peace by a group of musical students in Moscow. “It’s what it’s all about,”says Hamilton today.“The kind of music we all love is a whole lot more than entertainment or escape.”

Story written by: Frye Gaillard Photos by: Ronny Perry Frye Gaillard is the author of Watermelon Wine: Remembering the Golden Years of Country Music.

21

decjan2011:Layout 1

12/1/10

10:59 AM

Page 22

History Repeating Itself The phrase“history repeats itself”is rather well known in our current culture. I seem to witness it all around me. Patterns in the day-to-day experience of my life and the lives of those around me can often have direct links to past events. I often will be transported back to a feeling from my young life when I overhear a conversation between a parent and a child. I am not even involved, and yet, if I stop for a moment, I can really “plug in” to the overheard exchange using my own thoughts and feelings.

Does history really repeat itself or am I simply dragging past events into future possibilities for myself again and again thus setting a familiar stage for a yet to be experienced event?

I believe it is a rather natural process to try to make sense of something new by comparing it to something in my history. It seems logical to need something to bump up against as the only way to get some idea of the width and breath of this new thing, be it a thought or something in the physical world.

This can be a helpful process some of the time. If I, on some run someday, turn a corner and am confronted by a lion, it’s good to know that “here kitty kitty kitty” might not be the best first action I consider. I have no idea what I would do, but I do know that I would be running the data base in my head about lions and what to do in this situation. I will then realize that my impulse to bring that pouch of cat-nip on this run, no matter how crazy it seemed at the time,might have been a good idea!

History is repeating itself here as well. I can still see myself sitting in my Grandpa’s old rocking chair in my parent’s basement. On a table is my small record player playing through speakers I made myself. The crate on the floor next to that table held the most important things in my life, my records.

So I now head upstairs and if Bob is home I close the door. I find myself considering what I will put on that turntable as I fire up the amp and clean the stylus. Turning around I stand in front of this mass of alphabetized slabs of black petroleum and make my choice. After cleaning the record, yes each and every time, I move the needle over and place it on the entry groove. I make it back to my ugly chair and settle in.

Before I know it I am transported. I don’t know where I will go but am assured that a journey of feelings and visions is just ahead of me.

The rocket I ride is the song being played. Sometimes I know my selected choice very well as it will be a long time favorite. Sometimes it is something new to me, and my reaction to the music and lyrics is something yet to be discovered.

Recently I have become aware of something I never really considered before:recorded music is very permanent.

I bring this consideration of history repeating itself to the songwriters of the world.

Being an avid music lover, music is probably the thing that moves me on the most levels. If a sunrise had music that I could hear along with it I would come apart every morning. Seeing the sunrise is amazing. For me being able to hear it would be “holy cow!, amazing. (What is it with me and cows these days..)

When I enter into the Native American sacred experience of a sweat lodge there are a series of events that take place (each leader will do this differently), but at the start of the experience a prayer pipe will be presented. The leader of the sweat will explain that the smoke that rises from the pipe in this lodge will be our prayers (thoughts, considerations, hopes, dreams, etc.) heading out to be attended to. It is also said that every prayer (thought, consideration etc.) that has ever been spoken in the presence of the pipe is again offered in this new lodge on this new day, a form of history repeating itself.

If you have read my offerings over the past year here in the GAZETTE you will know that I have established a listening room here in my home. The spare bedroom has every Beach Boy LP framed and hung in order of release and my audio gear along one wall and a very ugly green chair is my throne. I have a new Linn turntable and a nice NAD CD player and a pair of tower PSB speakers - the physical things necessary to create the invisible thing that I love so much, music.

As I sat and took in the music the other day, a song came on that jarred me. The lyric was a man singing about his break up experience in a very angry way. The music was pleasant enough, but the 4 minutes of story was filled with revenge and ill will. I found myself paying attention to how I felt more than anything else while I sat there.

It seemed I had three choices. 1.Allow my vibration to join his and experience the song being almost inside his body. 2. Shut out the feeling and not really listen to the lyric continued on page 30

22

w w w. a m e r i c a n a g a z e t t e . n e t

decjan2011:Layout 1

12/1/10

10:59 AM

Page 23

BACK AGAIN...

12 YEARS LATER

It was a hot August morning when I pulled into the parking lot in front of the large old brick school building. Memories flooded me as I got out of the car and stood in front of what I recalled had three levels of classrooms. I remembered that below those three floors was another level that contained bathrooms and a furnace room. It was just twelve years earlier that I had first entered that structure. I had gone to a country school for the first six years of my education, but after the sixth year the school was closed. We were to be bus riders come that fall. All spring long we heard rumors of how our school lives would be different;some rumors talked of the“dangers”lurking for us on those bus rides and lurking for us when we entered that brick fortress. Luckily the rumors were all false.

The bus rides and our entrance into town school went well; in fact, it was on those bus rides that I met my life time good friend Jack. He and I sat together on the bus talking about our future. We both loved movies and we dreamed of owning our own theaters some day,and we both dreamed of becoming teachers. The last dream did come true for both of us.

That August morning I closed my car door and strode across the parking lot to those large front doors. Once inside I glanced to the left and to the right of the steep stairs. It was as I remembered: stairs to the left and right took you to the bathrooms and furnace room. I bounded up the stairs and turned a bit to the left. My feet knew the way. I knew there were classrooms on each side of the stairwell.

I knew another set of stairs took you to the second floor, and once there another set took you to the third floor.

But my mission was to walk a few steps and then turn down the hall to my right.

Once I turned I was even with the principal’s office to my right. The secretary was there at her desk awaiting me.

She welcomed me and gave me a key“to my room”.“My room”was down the hall from her desk on the west side of the building. I stood in front of the classroom key in hand.

It was a large wooden door with the top half all glass. I looked into the room. It was just as I had remembered from my first time there twelve years earlier. The west wall was all high windows. The windows had two sets of shades. One set was the black darkening shades for movies and filmstrips. The other set of shades were brown pull down shades to block out the sun. The front wall contained a large chalk board which also ran down a third of the eastern wall. Six or seven rows of individual student desks filled the front two-thirds of the room. There were two tables with chairs in the last third of the room.

The back wall contained cupboards and storage spaces with bulletin boards above the lower shelves which contained library books.

As I entered the room the smell of the sweeping compound and new books brought back more memories. I had always liked the beginning of school because of those smells.

Suddenly I could see once again that room twelve years earlier. The seventh graders were on the window side of the room and the eighth graders on the eastern side. I was able to visualize my classmates seated in alphabetical order. Lonnie sat in front of me,and Leroy was right behind me. Other names and faces came to mind: Jimmy, Mary June, Lloyd,Annetta, Gary, Betty, Kay, and Alton were among the first to come to mind. I had my first male teacher that year, and I think I worked harder for him than I had done prew w w. a m e r i c a n a g a z e t t e . n e t

viously. Somehow he gave me more confidence. He was my teacher for both my seventh and eighth grade years, and now these twelve years later I was to be the teacher of the seventh and eighth grade in the Brooklyn,Wisconsin School. Those two teaching years became very special to me.

The rest of that morning was spent in putting up my bulletin boards and counting out textbooks. I would have two sets of textbooks to study so I could keep a head of my scholars. It would be a busy schedule with the duel set of classes of math,social studies, science, reading, language arts, and health. Art and phy ed would be combined classes.

A music teacher would roll in a piano twice a week for music classes. That would give me the only opportunity to be away from the room or teaching duties. That would be a luxury to me. During my five years teaching in a rural school I had no time away. I was everything there including being the school janitor. But now these dozen years later I had colleagues! I had adult company!

In no time I had settled into my role as the 7th and 8th grade room teacher. I was so blessed those two beginning years to have in my room a wonderful group of young people. It was a great time challenging those young minds and sharing their hopes and dreams. Discipline was built on trust and respect, and I rarely had to use sharp words or my famous teacher stare. I tried to make their time in those grades special,and with the help of wonderful supporting parents we took them bowling on Saturday afternoons, we held parties in the Brooklyn Community Building, I would take them to the community building for physical education classes, and in good weather we would walk to the park for a long afternoon recess. I had taken a special summer school class on physical education activities which broke the lesson into parts and was designed for warm up and special motor skill activities. At the end of the year we had an 8th grade graduation and party with punch and snacks.

Everyone dressed up.

I brought my 45 rpm record player to provide music, and I brought my 45s and students brought their favorite hit records of the time. I can picture to this very day the scene at those dances. At the start of the dance the boys were on one side of the room,and the girls were on the other side.

At first it was only the girls dancing,and then after a time I would initiate a dance mixer.

One couple would be brave enough to start dancing, and after a few bars another couple would be brave enough to join them,and in a short time almost everyone was on the floor.

The curriculum was supposedly enhanced by movies and film strips,but I often felt they were a bit of a dull reprieve from the usual. We had parent teacher conferences twice a year, and the other two times the reports were sent home with the students to give to their parents. Recess time was a special break for me. I would go outside with the students and mill around with them. If the boys were involved in a sport,I would take part, too.In spring both sexes played softball during recess. I would on some occasions pitch for both sides.

The janitor was the father of one of my classmates those twelve years earlier, and the cooks were so much fun to be around. They made special treats for us teachers, and we shared many laughs together. I soon learned that a key of happiness in a school was to continued on page 31

23

decjan2011:Layout 1

12/1/10

10:59 AM

Page 24

The Good Intentions, Americana Music British style!

The Good Intentions are a British Americana duo from Liverpool. I had the pleasure of hearing them live at the Red Beat Records Party in September in Nashville and was blown away by their songs and tight harmonies. I really liked the instrumentation of Peter’s guitar and Gabi’s autoharp. Their sound is a combination No Depression/Folk. They are marvelous performers and people. Do to logistics we had to do this interview through email. The Good Intentions plan to be in the states next summer to promote their new CD. We hope to bring them to Wisconsin so you can enjoy their music live.

AG:How did you guys get together to make music?

Peter: We’re married, so we’re together in the bigger sense! Not long after we met Gabi joined the band I was playing in at the time.That band didn’t last much longer,but that’s coincidence! We continued to play and sing songs together even when our kids were young and it was harder to be away and perform.

We moved back to Liverpool where I’m from, and not long after we started playing as The Good Intentions. We initially played around the Merseyside area,but then further a field. We got some good feedback from audiences and recorded a demo at a local studio.That picked up some airplay, and eventually the interest of Boronda Records, a small label based in LA run by Charlie McGovern. Charlie had recorded with people like Mark Olson,Victoria Williams, and Tony Gilkyson so it was a thrill for us when he offered to produce a record.

“Poor Boy”came out in 2008 to some good reviews and airplay in both the US and Europe.

Gabi: In Europe we’re often joined by three other great musicians;Frank Roskell,Scott Poley and BrynWilliams.Scott,Bryn and Frank have filled out the live sound,but I’d say that Peter and I remain the core of TGI. The two of us began work on the next record this past sum-

mer. Rick Shea, a long-time member of Dave Alvin’s band is producing.We also managed to take some time out from recording in LA to play a few shows in California with Rick,and to visit Nashville where our friends Eric Brace and Mary Ann Werner kindly had us on the Red Beet Records showcase for the AMA conference – which is how we came to meet you guys,on a great Friday night at the Crossroads on Broadway!

AG: How old were you when you first started playing?

Peter:I got my first guitar when I was 15.It was a cheap acoustic model from a catalogue.I just thought it would be the coolest thing in the world to play guitar and that it would get interest from girls.What I hadn’t thought about was actually learning to play the thing, or even tuning it.After a few months of sore fingertips I learned a few chords from a manual,and I went on from there.

A lot of people I knew back then played. We all passed on tips to each other.After that I started forming bands with friends.We just played covers. No one thought about writing their own songs. I didn’t sing until I started writing. I must have written my first song when I was about 19 or 20.

Gabi: I came into music from a different route. It was church choir and piano lessons for me!

AG:Who were the first artists you tried to emulate when you started, or were you always making original music?

Peter:The original music came later.I think most writers start by playing covers,and in that continued on page 30

24

w w w. a m e r i c a n a g a z e t t e . n e t

decjan2011:Layout 1

12/1/10

10:59 AM

Page 25

ROBERT’S RAMBLINGS How about the fall of 2010? Do you think people will be saying that in future years? Our weather was at times the best we could imagine throughout most of October and at least a week into November. We could complain about fall colors that were not the best for this part of the state, but while in Door County for most of a week early in October, we experienced the best most vivid colors that we have seen there. A few years ago we experienced the very best colors possible on a trip from Hurley to Bayfield.

Those colors were perfection,and the ones this year in Door County were close to perfection. But for whatever reason we did not experience much color in our Sugar River Land,but those clear sunny warm days were still a delight for us. All that should help us through our winter no matter how long it becomes.

Do you watch the television program called CBS SUNDAY MORNING? If you do not,you are missing one of the most interesting shows available. This program features real life stories about things you seldom hear about or read about anywhere else. One of their strengths is in-depth interviews of extremely fascinating people both famous and not so famous. They usually start with an in-depth study of some issue facing Americans. They seem to balance all sides of the issue, and you as a viewer can educate yourself on that topic. They often feature an unusual event or someone’s unusual collection, and they often take you to a very different kind of community festival or celebration. At different times of the year a music critic or movie critic or television critic will talk about their area of specific interest and introduce you to things in those areas that might trigger an interest on your part. These days I rarely watch any show“live”. Instead I record them,and I can therefore watch on my own terms which may mean fast forwarding all commercials or stories of little interest to me. Actually I also record sporting events to view them on my own time.

On this very week-end that finds me finishing these ramblings, I am finishing a short easy and fast reading book. Are you ready for the title? The book is called SH*T MY DAD SAYS. The author is Justin Halpern, and his father is a very brilliant good man who just happens to say whatever comes to his mind,and he just happens to pepper his comments with lots of colorful words,and,yes,most are what we call swear words. I will list a few of his quotes keeping in mind this paper is not in the business of articles with swear words playing a vital part. His dad has said these things: “The worst thing you can be is a liar…..Okay, fine, yes, the worst thing you can be is a Nazi, but then number two is liar. Nazi one, liar two.” “Listen, I know you hate playing with that chubby kid because his mom’s a loudmouth,but it’s not that kid’s fault his mom’s a b****. Try to be nice to him.” “You are four years old. You have to use the toilet on your own. This is not one of those negotiations where we go back and forth and find a middle ground. This ends with you going to the toilet on your own.”“I don’t want it….I understand what internet does…..Yes, I do. And I don’t give a **** if all your friends have it. All of your friends have dopey haircuts,too,but you don’t see me running to my barber.” By the way, Justin has a Twitter page of things his father has said. You decide if this book or hisTwitter page is in your interest. I have had some good laughs reading the book, and I have “learned”some interesting ways to express one’s self.

So Happy Holidays to anyone reading this. Don’t forget to include in your holiday times things that make you feel really good about the season.

Don’t get trapped into the whole hype and forget to have some fun of your own.So that is why I made a pumpkin pie two weeks beforeThanksgiving. I love pumpkin pie, and I know I will enjoy it this time before the holiday more than at the meal onThanksgiving when I am too stuffed to enjoy it.And isn’t that why the leftovers from Thanksgiving are even better than the Turkey Day meal itself? This same advice applies to Christmas, too. If you fondly remember lying under the Christmas tree looking up at the branches and lights,do so again. It feels just as good now as it did back then. You don’t have to have a group around you to enjoy a cup of hot chocolate or a holiday Tom and Jerry.

Make yourself one and enjoy it in the company of a very important person,YOU. Happy Holidays!

Story by: Bob Hoffman

Now that paragraph forces me to make a big confession: If you were ever outside my den at a given time Monday through Friday, you will probably hear me yelling at the television screen. One of the shows that I record is one that I have been taping on a daily schedule for over 25 years is JEOPARDY. I love that show, but you will be hearing me screaming at the screen when I am frustrated by what I see is an easy question go unanswered or answered incorrectly by the contestants on the show that day. Sometimes I become frustrated with a ruling made about an answer or I scream at the screen when I feel the question is poorly written. I do not like the special weeks the show has as well as I like the plain ordinary shows of most weeks. The college week is fine, and the end-of-the year champion week is great,but I am not fond of the celebrity weeks. And I have to admit the“kid’s week” is not particularly fun to me. So walking by you just might hear something like,“Hey, how can you be so dumb and get on JEOPARDY!” Jim will be a willing witness to my JEOPARDY watching behavior.

25

decjan2011:Layout 1

12/1/10

10:59 AM

Page 26

Dave Gonzalez After three albums Dave Gonzalez of the Hacienda Brothers was left with the unfortunate task of promoting the new release without his partner Chris Gaffney who died unexpectedly from liver cancer. Gaffney a fixture in the Roots Rock/Americana music scene for many years left a huge void to fill. So Gonzalez put together an Austin Texas all-star band to hit some ofThe Hacienda Brothers favorite venues, and it was Gonzalez himself who took over the onstage vocal duties for all of Gaffney’s songs.

Gonzalez was the Hacienda Brother’s primary songwriter and powerhouse guitarist,who in 2007 was named one of Guitar Player Magazine’s“Top 101 Unsung Guitar Heroes.”

Gonzalez soon found a new musical soul mate in Mike Barfield. Barfield has fronted his own band,The Hollister’s and spent the last few years creating his own brand of country-soul,recently releasing two CDs of largely original material. After a trip or two to Lincoln Nebraska to record a new album, Love on the dial and a new name The Stone River Boys,Gonzalez and Barfield put together a new band and have hit the road.

I got the opportunity to meet and chat with Dave Gonzalez at the Americana Music Conference in September.

Joyce was amazed to find out that there was“two”of me in this world. Gonzalez and I talked for three hours about albums, guitars, and guitar pickers we both idolized and worshiped. We actually have almost identical record collections! We both knew what an Antigua finish was, thought that the twangier the music the better, and that the Flying Burrito Brothers ruled the world!

Gonzalez told me the story of his input and development of a new prototype Baritone Guitar for Fender.With this guitar he is a pioneer of sorts, exploring new dimensions in guitar tones that only a baritone can produce. I drooled over the pictures of this fine instrument, and no Joyce would not let me buy one!

So below is a shortened version of a wonderfully spent afternoon talking with Dave Gonzalez onThe Hacienda Brothers,guitars,and his new band,The Stone River Boys. I hope you enjoy this interview. Dave Gonzalez is one of the nicest folks I have ever met and interviewed.

AG: Why Lincoln Nebraska to record an album?

Gonzalez: Hey it’s the heartland! We would go up and play shows in Lincoln, Kansas City, Omaha, Iowa, and Wisconsin. The heartland always hung in there with us. We would play this great club in Lincoln called the Zoo Bar. I played there for years and years. One of the sound men at the Zoo Bar Charlie Johnson owned a studio Fuce in Lincoln. When we first hit the road with the Stone River Boys Mike Barfield and I were playing a job at the Zoo Bar and Charlie said he had some open time at his studio and if we wanted to come over and cut some tracks we could. At the time I had been working in the studio for a long time. Mike had a couple of really cool tunes so I said to him lets go cut these at Charlie’s. He’s got a great studio and we've got a day or two to spare, so we cut two songs. They came out so good we booked a couple more days at the Zoo Bar later that month and cut some more tunes at Charlie’s. We did that four times and we ended up with enough songs for the album. At the time we were putting the band together,getting the right guys on the bandstand too. It just all worked out so well.

26

AG: How long have you been playing and making music?

Gonzalez: I was just talking to a friend of mine who I grew up with in Central California about this.

The first show I ever played was in 1972.

At a very young age (13) I got the chance to play with some older Cats (20-30 years old) that taught me a lot about playing and stage presence. They showed me how to put on a show.

In 1978 I moved to San Diego and hooked up with a couple of guys and we became the Paladins. We toured the world and made a lot of records. After the Paladins did 12 albums I moved out to Tucson. I really wanted to do more Country Music. In the late 80’s I hooked up with Jeb Schoonover and he became my manager. He gave me my first chance to be a record producer too, with a singer named Candy Cane. After that Jeb told me I needed to make some Country records myself and I agreed. He told me about a singer/accordion player named Chris Gaffney. I had met him before on the Candy Cane CD project when he played on a couple of tunes. We got together and wrote some great tunes and did some recording of demo inTucson. Dan Penn a great producer from Nashville got together with us and we cut our first album. We made four albums in five years with the Hacienda Brothers and then Chris came down with Liver Cancer. I moved to Austin and met Mike Barfield and we put together The Stone River Boys. We played some benefits and such to help Chris out with his medical bills.

Sadly Chris passed away soon afterwards.

AG: The Stone River Boys album is filled with lots of emotion and feeling almost gut level.

Was that the intention or did it just come out that way?

Gonzalez: Well besides loosing Chris we lost our friend Steve Bruton (Kris Kristofferson’s guitar player/record producer) to cancer too. We had always played Stevens song Blue Bonnet Blues live so we wanted to cut it before he passed on,but Steven lost his fight to cancer too before we got it recorded (it is the lead song on the new CD). Mike lost his best friend and another friend’s wife to illness at the some time. We were broke,tired,and just plain beat up form all this tragedy so the album reflects and chronicles that. We were just trying to crawl out of the ashes.

Mike had written some great songs. He is a deep hearted Cat and it comes out in his music.

You can hear the pain in his voice. Charlie gave us a break on the studio,and the guys that played on the album really put their hearts into it. I always feel that our departed friends w w w. a m e r i c a n a g a z e t t e . n e t

decjan2011:Layout 1

12/1/10

10:59 AM

Page 27

were looking down and smiling at us for recording it.

I had known Mike for years, since the 80’s. I have always been a fan of his. I was very happy to find out that he wanted to work with me. That musical partnership and respect shows on this album. I made a conscience choice to be a better sideman after I left the Paladins. I wanted to be more of a producer too. That’s why working with Chris at first and Mike now has worked so well for everyone. Don’t get me wrong. Being the lead singer and guitar player is great, but working with people like Chris and Mike and letting them do what they do best has really helped me become a better musician and writer.

Pregnant Indie Rocker to Release Solo Album at The Majestic Theater December 3, 2010

AG: I have to ask you where you found that guitar on the CD sleeve.

Gonzalez: That’s a Baritone.

AG: Wow I thought it was just a Jazzmaster with a cool Antigua finish!

Gonzalez: You’re the only guy besides me that knows what that finish is called! The Tele Mike is mine too. It is on of the last Buck OwensTele’s Fender made. Fender gave me that Tele. I was sooo happy to get it! I did all the Hacienda Brothers stuff on that guitar.

The Baritone was pieced together at Fender.

I had the neck from a 1967 Fender Bassman XII guitar. I bought that neck from Charlie Weers in Texas. I gave that neck to Fender to make a new Baritone for me. Ten years later I still had not gotten the guitar finished. Fender still had the neck. I had a Jazzmaster years ago that I loved the tone from but had some issues on how they are put together. This time I told Fender what I wanted as far as controls and no whammy bar and they built it for me.

When I asked them to paint it Antigua they told me it would be difficult to do. I said that was what I wanted and they found a guy to do it and here it is. It is a wonderful guitar, and I love it. It has fantastic tone,and plays great. It is a one of a kind!

AG: You are a somewhat “twangy” sounding band, like old Honky Tonk music. How did that come about?

Gonzalez: Well that one style we do. I have always loved that style of music. The Bakersfield sound. Southern California Country music.

I had an Uncle that was a really good guitar picker and he played Buck Owens and Merle Haggard music at family get togethers. I grew up listening to it. It’s just natural that my music is influenced by it.

I also love Duane Eddy music especially the stuff he recorded on the Janie label. There was lots of Baritone Guitar on them. Lee Hazelwood produced them and did a fantastic job getting the sound up front. Hazelwood was a fantastic producer who never really got the credit he deserved.

I’ve got Jukeboxes at my house, boxes of old 45’s, and a huge record collection. I buy old guitars and amps, along with old recording gear. I’m in love with that sound and technology. That’s what I strive for on my music. I drew from so many of the old records I have for the Stone River Boys album. Just the way they EQed those old records is fantastic. I also love soul music. You can hear that influence in our music too. Steve Cropper’s playing and production just blows me away. Those Stax records are so cool.

AG: So what’s next?

Gonzalez: Just keep playing music,collecting vintage analog gear,buying records,and spreading the word ofThe Stone River Boys!

Story by: Andy Ziehli Some Photos supplied and by: Joyce Ziehli

w w w. a m e r i c a n a g a z e t t e . n e t

Local indie rocker and 2010 Madison Area Music Award "Female Vocalist of the Year," Beth Kille, will release her first full length, full-production solo album at The Majestic Theater on December 3rd as part of the Cadillac Joe Memorial Winter Fest.After parting ways with acclaimed Madison rock band, Clear Blue Betty in 2008, Kille embarked upon her solo career. She began recording her latest release with Jake Johnson at Paradyme Productions in Madison this past Spring, shortly after she learned she was pregnant with her first child.The new album, is appropriately entitled "Ready" and features her husband,Tony Kille, on drums as well as many other talented local artists including Chris Wagoner and Mary Gaines of the Stellanovas, Scott Lamps, Jaye Barbeau, Brian Schiro and Aaron Williams.

"The making of this album was a whole new experience for me" says Kille, "It was really empowering to be able to hand pick musicians for each song. It was also pretty incredible to know there was a baby growing in my belly throughout the entire experience." Kille and her husband are expecting a baby boy on February 18th.

Other acts performing that night include an up-and-coming 15 year old pop-rocker from Verona, Kati May,The Jimmys and Aaron Williams & the Hoodoo (2010 Madison Area Music Award "Entertainer of theYear").Doors open at 8pm,tickets are $10 and are available at the door as well as online at www.majesticmadison.com.

CONTACT Beth Kille • PO Box 45587 • Madison WI 53744 608-206-6813 • bethkille@hotmail.com • www.bethkille.com

27

decjan2011:Layout 1

12/1/10

10:59 AM

Page 28

Donna Beasley East Tennessee Song Stylist

cd review... continued from page 10

people. The Good Intentions did an excellent job on this CD. I can’t wait for their next release.

Reviewed by:Andy Ziehli

Luke Doucet & The White Falcon ♪♪♪♪♪ Steel City Trawler Rock/Americana Six Shooter Records Luke Doucet & The White Falcon is one of Canada’s premier Rock & Roll outfits. It’s a shame that they are not as well known here in the states,because they sure do deserve to be. Doucet is a hot shot guitar player and writer. His ability and style is fantastic.

I popped this CD in at the first opportunity of doing so because the album artwork alone had me more than interested about what I was going to find. At first I wasn’t sure what to think about it,but I was only in to the first 30 seconds of the entire album.

It was soon clear that there was no niche genre to put this music into.There was only one broad category that came to mind, and as Allen Freed once said,“This is rock ‘n’ roll!”There was everything from“Magpie”, with its great harmonies and simplicity like that of early Crosby, Stills, & Nash or Simon and Garfunkel to “Thinking People”which captures the more modern intensity and overall tone of nowadays rock.

Luke Doucet and Andrew Scott collaborate on this album to make what truly is a great piece of art.Their lyrics and overall address really brings you in and makes you think.

Along with the backing vocals of Melissa McClelland on songs like “Hey Now”, you’ll be sure to want to listen closely. Lastly I wanted to make note of the great job they did on covering Gordon Lightfoot’s “Sundown”. In my mind they couldn’t have picked a better song to put their spin on, yet the overall tone pays homage to Lightfoot himself.

This is a great way to get to know Doucet and the White Falcons. Then you can check out his other work at the Six Shooter Record website. There’s more than snow and ice above the border, and Luke Doucet shows us that with this great CD. Go out and buy it!

Review by: Andrew Pulver

Growing up in the EasternTennessee Mountains in a small town (the same town Dolly Parton is from) Donna Beasley knew early that she wanted to be a singer. Her bio tells it all: I have been a door-to-door evangelist;an AIDS worker;a Magna cum Laude graduate;trailer trash;a magician’s assistant;a maid.I’ve been on Prozac.I’ve had whiplash.I’ve rappelled faceforward from 35 feet.My high school was inside a Baptist Church that preached it was a sin to go to movies,listen to rock and roll music,and wear pants if you’re a woman.I had a graduating class of three.I attended every Sunday morning/Sunday night worship service,every Wednesday night prayer meeting,every Saturday morning visitation,every weeklong revival service. Rebellion came in the form of a pair of jeans and a Doobie Brothers album I purchased at age 17.

My dad worked in the same textile factory 36 years where the penalty for showing up drunk to work was the loss of two fingers.My mom’s a heck of a guitar player.I come from Dolly Parton’s hometown in EastTennessee.But I don’t own no theme park.

The first time I ever sang in public was in a 6th grade beauty pageant. I sang “When Will I Be Loved” as my teacher played autoharp. I won a talent trophy. I sang the Lord’s music. I played a Thursday night gig in the “moonshine capital of the world” where people carry knives in their boots and will kill you deader than four o’clock if you happen upon their marijuana stash. It took the right combination of oppression, heartache, depressive episodes, and suicidal ideations before I began writing songs at age 30. I pawned some old wedding rings to buy my first guitar.

Beasley just released her new CD “Under the Rushes” which made my top 15 list of CD’s released this year at number eight. Beasley describes her music as “Appalachian Fusion Music.” The CD is a wonderful collection of 11 songs,eight which she wrote by herself and three she co-wrote with her producer/guitarist/husband,Tom Spaulding a Madison Native).

There are guest performances by some of Beasley's East Nashville neighbors:Americana artist Elizabeth Cook,roots rockerTim Carroll,and Chuck Mead of BR-549 fame.

The idea for the title track came when she was a teenager.Beasley heard of news stories involving young girls and secret pregnancies,something about shame and fear,and trash cans and school lockers as repositories for the ill conceived.For some it was hard to fathom,she understood.

Article by: Andy Ziehli

28

Old Crow Medicine Show ♪♪♪♪♪ O.C.M.S Blue Grass Records Close your eyes and imagine yourself back in the rural south, or southwest at an old fashion medicine show.

The man in the top hat peddles his elixir and claims that the foul smell is just the proof of his potency,while in the background music plays softly. Forget the medicine man, forget his cure-all, and forget your troubles that brought you here and go listen to the music. On yonder stage plays the group Old Crow Medicine Show, a modern band with its heart in times long past.

Just recently, I attended a Mumford & Sons concert, and for one of the encore songs the group played a song called“Wagon Wheel”. The song was sung along with by everyone in the venue and was quite an eye opening few minutes for me. Once I got home and did some research I found it was originally done by Old Crow Medicine Show.

Now I sit,listening to the 2004 debut album,O.C.M.S and I can’t help but be taken back to an old school medicine show, but one where the music is the main attraction. Take a seat man in the top hat.

The album opens up with a classic anti-cocaine song from the days when it was legal and not understood. “Tell it to me, tell it to me, drink your corn liquor, let the cocaine be, cocaine gonna kill my honey dead”, and is there any better way to start the album other than an old time traditional to set the vibes right? This album is made up of half traditional covers and half originals,but the mix together effortlessly and fluidly. Things pick up and the dust picks up as well when the track Tear it Down starts. It’s definitely one of those boot stomping and hand clapping songs that almost always gets people up and moving. Things calm back down with OCMS’ version of C.C. Rider, which was originally recorded in 1924 by“Ma”Rainey”. It is presented here with some sort of strange sadness in the singer’s voice.The tempo isn’t a slow sad one, but that is what the voices convey. The vocals in general are awesome with their Appalachian sound and tone and I can’t help picture the band in the mountains of Appalachia as well as the dusty Southwest. They seem to fit anywhere that old-timey music thrives or creeps. Take Em’ Away, grabbed me with its simplicity and honesty,“My heart is continued on page 29

w w w. a m e r i c a n a g a z e t t e . n e t

decjan2011:Layout 1

12/1/10

10:59 AM

Page 29

enjoy music... continued from page 13

Let It Snow Track Listing 1. Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! – Ella Fitzgerald 2. Santa Claus Is Coming to Town – Frank Sinatra 3. Baby, It’s Cold Outside – Ray Charles and Betty Carter 4. Winter Wonderland – Jason Mraz 5. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas – Mary Chapin Carpenter 6. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer – Chris Isaak 7. The Christmas Song – Mel Tormé 8. It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year – Rosemary Clooney 9. Linus and Lucy (from A Charlie Brown Christmas) – Vince Guaraldi 10.Wonderful Christmastime – Paul McCartney 11. I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus – Jackson 5 Info supplied by: Conqueroo: Cary Baker • 1271 Ventura Blvd. #522 • Studio City, CA 91604 • cary@conqueroo.com GOV. MIKE HUCKABEE, AARON TIPPIN AND JAMES STROUD CREATE MUSIC COMPILATION ALBUM IN SUPPORT OF MUSIC EDUCATION Former Arkansas Governor, current political talk show host and part-time bass guitar player, Mike Huckabee, called on his musical friends to aid the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) Foundation’s Wanna Play Fund* with a CD project entitled I Wanna Play!:An Album To Put Musical Instruments Into The Hands Of Every Child In America**. The brand new, full-length album was set for release on October 26, 2010. Joining Huckabee in the collaborative effort from its inception are personal friend, platinum recording artist and songwriter Aaron Tippin, and renowned music industry executive and producer James Stroud. The three came together at the start to orchestrate the compilation (featuring performances by George Jones, Ronnie Milsap, Neil Sedaka and more) with a varied tapestry of creative influences to highlight the importance of making music.

I Wanna Play!:An Album To Put Musical Instruments Into The Hands Of Every Child In America will be available via all major retail and digital outlets including iTunes and Amazon. For more information about the I Wanna Play!: An Album To Put Musical Instruments Into The Hands Of Every Child In America CD and the NAMM Foundation’s Wanna Play Fund, visit www.wannaplaycd.org.

The NAMM Foundation’s Wanna Play Fund stems from a national public awareness campaign called Wanna Play?, created by NAMM to educate people of all ages about the many social and wellness benefits of making music.

Wanna Play? endorsers include actors, authors, musicians, sports figures, executives, politicians and personalities who play a musical instrument. In company with Huckabee,Tippin and Stroud, more than 100 celebrities currently support the campaign, including Gary Sinise, Isaac Slade, Sara Bareilles, Robert Downey, Jr., and John Legend.The NAMM Foundation’s Wanna Play Fund provides instruments to less fortunate children who might not otherwise be able to afford a musical instrument and learn to play.

Info supplied by: Music City News Media & Marketing Kat Atwood • Nashville,TN KATwood@musiccitynews.com Abigail Washburn Teams with Rounder Records & Confirms New Release Date for Bold New Album 'City of Refuge' (1/11/11) Originally intended as a self-released record for late Summer 2010, 'City of Refuge' won the hearts of Rounder Records and has been rescheduled for January 11, 2011. w w w. a m e r i c a n a g a z e t t e . n e t

“Rounder has been wanting to work with Abigail again,” says Rounder president John Virant, whose label released Washburn’s former band, Uncle Earl. “When we heard this beautiful new solo project,we know this was the one.”

An impressive group of musicians and friends joined Abigail in the making of 'City of Refuge,' including songwriting collaborator Kai Welch, guitarist Bill Frisell, fiddler Rayna Gellert,guzheng (the ancient Chinese zither) master Wu Fei, with string arrangements by Jeremy Kittel of the Turtle Island String Quartet. Chris Funk from the Decemberists and Carl Broemel of My Morning Jacket also appear on the record.

This past summer,Abigail opened a West Coast run for Steve Martin & the Steep Canyon Rangers before heading to China (her “second home”) where she represented the USA at the World Expo in Shanghai as well as performing in Beijing and other cities in China. www.abigailwashburn.com

variety... continued from page 27

broken cause my spirits not free, Lord, take away these chains from me.” The final song, Wagon Wheel, holds something special for me. I would hate to go on and on about it, but I think it is worth a listen or two. Keep in mind, the chorus was written by Bob Dylan in the seventies and the OCMS fiddler, Ketch Secor, composed the verses for this album and they flow beautifully like they were written all at the same time.This album is so strong and vibrant and while at some points it’s sad and vulnerable. It covers it all, and without having to give into modern time temptations. It stands on its own.

This CD is a fantastic collection of songs and artistry.

Please take the time to check Old Crow Medicine Show out.

Review by: Rob Kosmeder

Beth Kille ♪♪♪♪♪ Ready Style: Rock/Indie

Info provided by: Carla Parisi at Kid Logic kidlogicmedia@gmail.com Soulful Sensation Mike Farris Assembles the “All Star” Cumberland Saints For a New Release to Benefit Nashville Homeless and Flood Relief Acclaimed Americana/Gospel artist Mike Farris releases The Night The Cumberland Came Alive today on Entertainment One Music.The 6-song EP commemorates and celebrates the rebirth of Nashville, a city and its surrounding communities devastated by a "1,000 year" flood on May 1, 2010.

The project was recorded just weeks after the flood, as the people of middle Tennessee regained their civic pride and rallied to help their neighbors and rebuild.

The Night The Cumberland Came Alive features an allstar cast of musicians including: Sam Bush, Kenny Vaughan (Marty Stuart), Ketch Secor and Gill Landry from Old Crow Medicine Show, Byron House (Robert Plant), as well as Ann, Regina and Alfreda McCrary (The McCrary Sisters),Derrek Phillips and Eric Holt from Farris' own Roseland Rhythm Revue.

The Night The Cumberland Came Alive - the first of Farris' Rose Memorial Fund projects, an ongoing charitable outreach in memory of his long time manager and friend Rose McGathy - rolls out a decidedly pre-war Americana sound while delivering a hopeful message of restoration.

Info supplied by: Kissy Black • Elaine Erteschik Lotos Nile Media • P.O.Box 90245 • Nashville,TN 37209 Texas Legend Joe Ely Satisfied At Last Iconic Texas Roadhouse Rocker Joe Ely recently released new tracks on iTunes. The upload signals the near arrival of his forthcoming album Satisfied At Last, his first studio release in almost four years. Set for release in early 2011, Satisfied At Last (Rack ‘Em Records), will include the two newly release tracks,“Mockingbird Hill” and “You Can Bet I’m Gone.”

Ely’s last studio album, Happy Songs From Rattlesnake Gulch, was released on Rack ‘Em Records in 2007. In the meantime, Ely has quietly released several catalog works, including, Silver City ( 2007) and Live Chicago 1987, (2008), a live bootleg recording of his noted 1980s’ era band featuring Bobby Keys (Rolling Stones), Jimmy Pettit, Davis McLarty and guitar player, David Grissom.He also released his acclaimed live album,LIVE Cactus!, with accordion maestro Joel Guzman in early 2008.A year later, along with his legendary bandmates, Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Butch Hancock, The Flatlanders released, Hills and Valleys.

I have to admit that I love Beth Kille! There I said it.

Beth is one of the most talented singer songwriters we have in Wisconsin.

From her days with Clear Blue Betty to her solo work she never ceases to continually amaze me!

With her latest release Ready Kille comes out swinging for the stands and nailing a homerun. This CD is different than her past work. It is different because Kille gave herself permission to stretch her boundaries and it worked out wonderfully. From the soulful bluesy Cricket in the Kitchen to the fantastically written Little Bit Drunk (not what you think) this CD rocks!!! This CD is full of fantastic lyrically thought provoking songs, along with some of the best musicianship this area has to offer. Drummer Tony Kille, Guitarist Doug Boduch, Bassist Brian Shiro, and super keyboardist Jaye Barbeau make up the core band here. These talented guys sound like they have been playing together for years. Each brings his own touch to Kille’s songs. Chris Wagoner, Mary Gaines,Aaron Williams, and Jake Johnson also lend a hand here with wonderful results.

This CD is a masterpiece in content and production.

Recorded at Paradyme Studios in Madison it is world class. Jake Johnson who Kille has worked with in the past shows here why he is one of the top producers in Wisconsin. Never over producing or layering songs with unneeded tracks, Johnson has helped Kille create a masterpiece. Outstanding tracks include Breath Easy, Cricket in the Kitchen, Little Bit Drunk, New Vice, and the beautifully written Lovebird.

Beth Kille is a force to be recorded with in Wisconsin Music. Heck in Midwestern Music. I hope that this CD really takes off for her. It is a wonderful collection of well written songs that needs to be heard and played outside of Southern Wisconsin!!! Kille deserves a greater following and hopefully Ready will gather her that.

Beth my hats off to you!!! Like I said 10 years ago“if this solo thing does not work out for you, you can always come back and play with us again.” I don’t think that will be happening any time soon! Go buy this CD! Hell, buy two of them!!! It’s the best from the best!!!

Andy Ziehli

Info supplied by: LC Media • Lance Cowan lcmedia@comcast.net

29

decjan2011:Layout 1

12/1/10

10:59 AM

Page 30

good intentions... continued from page 24

way learn about the structure of songs.You have to follow your own ideas, but you need to have a grounding in the tradition in which you write and perform.I grew up in Liverpool but the Beatles were never an inspiration.When I was first in bands they felt like an earlier generation, although I guess there must have been a subconscious influence in that I’ve always been keen on strong melodies. I wasn’t a good enough guitarist to emulate the classic guitar bands. I think I was casting round for some sort of identity when punk rock broke. I loved the ethos of learning three chords and getting out there and doing it. I realized that great songs could be simple. I learned that a kid didn’t have to be able to play an Eric Clapton break to write them.So I suppose it was bands likeThe Clash,and then the early cow punk bands,that I wanted to be like.

Gabi: For me it was the harmonies which always drew me in. Emmylou Harris, Linda Ronstandt, and folk singers like Judy Collins, and Fairport Convention was what I really loved. The more music I listen to the further back I go.

AG: Do you play music full-time and if so how long have you been a full time musician?

Gabi: Well, we play pretty much all the time, but we have day jobs as well to pay the bills. We’re not full-time like many other musicians playing this type of music.I think the genre –Alt-country,Americana,Neo-traditional,whatever you want to call it – is too far off the mainstream to make a lot of money out of it.

Peter:That said although a lot of us out here are stuck with day jobs to pay the bills we’re doing what we believe in,and that’s much more important to an artist of any worth. I’m not going to turn downWillie Nelson if he comes after one of my songs for his next record,but when you do things on your own terms and people say how much they like your work that’s hard to beat.

AG:Describe your music,style,generally?

Peter:I try not to think too much about what label or category our music would fall into. LikeTownes van Zandt said, there are only two types of music – the blues and zippedy doo-dah! I have an idea of whereTGI are headed musically and I’m constantly focusing on that so that we have a clearly identifiable sound, but generally I’d sooner leave the labeling to other people.If you’re pressing me then we clearly do come within the whole Americana/Alt-country scene, and I’m fine with that. Old-time country,Appalachian folk and Bluegrass all spring to an extent from the traditional music of the British Isles which was taken to America by the emigrants this music resonates very strongly with us as well as with you guys.In the end the really great music is the music that touches people at a fundamental level, that speaks to them about the things we all face in our lives – love, loss, joy, pain, death – and that transcends time and place. I like to think we’re a small part of that tradition.

AG:How did you start writing songs?

Peter:In the end I didn’t just want to be playing other people’s stuff.It sounds so pretentious,but it’s true to say that I just felt called.There were idea,both lyrical and melodic,inside me, and I began to work on giving them life. I think those are still the two elements to writing a song.You have to put yourself out there and follow your heart and soul,or you just end up sounding fake and manufactured. You also need to work hard at the craft,and you need to write everything.A lot of what I have written will never see the light of day.The more you do it the better you become. It’s about getting the balance right between inspiration and perspiration.

AG:How many different instruments do you play?

Gabi:I learned the piano first although I rarely play it inThe Good Intentions. I play autoharp and a little accordion, but principally its vocals I bring to our music.

Peter: I am a guitar player to the extent of accompanying myself as a singer-songwriter, but I am no virtuoso. I have three acoustics including a tenor guitar,and also a mandolin, and several harmonicas.I guess if anything I play in the Maybelle Carter style,or at least I try to with those melodic runs between chords.My prized guitar is my Gibson SJ200.After our recent trip to the US it eventually arrived home two days after I did! I may have a rethink before our next trip.

AG:What do you like better writing or performing and why?

Peter: I have to sit on the fence on this one.They are both fulfilling,in different ways. I guess it depends on the mood I’m in.The writing by its nature is a more solitary activity.

Writing can lead you into some dark places,but the thrill of coming up with an idea you just know is going to work is amazing.The performing is another discipline entirely – I always think that that’s when you finally get the applause for that long night’s work you put in on a song a few months or years earlier! I find it works better for me to have a period concentrating on one to the exclusion of the other.You can’t always decide when you’re going to have an idea for a song.

I couldn’t sit in a hotel room between shows with pen, paper and recorder.When we were touring round North California this last summer any free time was given over to looking round some wonderful towns and country. I just put the new songs and recent recordings to the back of my mind and concentrated on preparing to give good shows.

Back here in the UK we’ve taken a break from performing.

I’ve been concentrating on writing and on shaping the mixes for the new record.I’m lucky to be able to say that I love doing both things.

AG:What are your plans for the next year?

Gabi: Right now we’re working on the new record, provisionally called “Someone Else’s Time” – there’s a scoop for Americana Gazette and your readers! The way it’s panning out this should be released in the spring. We then plan to tour relentlessly in the UK, mainland Europe, and the US. We want to spend our every waking moment in promoting and selling it.So far we’re really pleased with the recordings.

We’ve got a good collection of songs and some great musicians working with us, not to mention the unstinting faith and support of Rick Shea.We aim to be back in the States during the late summer/early fall,possibly earlier.There are a lot of places we want to go back to and a lot of wonderful people we want to see again.

AG:Who would you love to write and or perform with?

Peter:We’ve already played with some great artists.Gabi has mentioned Rick, and also on the record are Dave Raven, David Jackson and a brilliant fiddle player called Brantley Kearns,who is straight out of theAppalachian tradition and who lights up some of the tracks.We played a show in LA with Brantley, and it was a privilege to have him up there with us playing on our songs.We have shared stages and with Eric Brace and Peter Cooper the leading lights of the cool East Nashville scene. I could think of any number of musicians it would be great to work with in the future – David Rawlings taking the lead on a song, Nanci Griffith singing harmony – but I’m not going to put a wish list together. I believe you have to stick to your guns and stand by your music, and have faith that. If it’s good enough it’ll get through to people, and that maybe those people will want to put you on their wish list! As far as writing goes I only did my first ever co-write this year with Rick Shea. If I’m going to do more of that I think I have to learn more discipline about the process. I could see it being beneficial in that sense,especially working with a great writer.The names that easily come to mind are Kristofferson and the awesome Gillian Welch.They both have the priceless ability to make a song sound like it’s always been there and always will be.

If I can achieve that with any of my work,then I’ll die happy.

Thanks so much to Peter and Gabi for taking time to tell us at theAmericana Gazette about their music and lives. Please check out the Good Intentions at www.borondarecords.com and buy their records!

history... continued from page 22

even if the music was okay. 3. Get out of the ugly chair and move the tone arm to the next track.

I stayed put and thought back to the sweat lodge. It seemed I understood the power of songs in a new way.

I began to think about why this young man wrote this song in the way he did. I appreciated the probability that it was a cathartic moment for him, and he just needed to get it out. I respect that. I have had those moments too. I have written the proverbial letter to someone“letting them have it”if you will. Same thing. I could have chosen to simply toss the letter when I was through and the experience of relief would have been mine. I mailed it and it to this day I can still feel the regret of doing so. I considered this man’s song in a very similar way. He could have just written it, sung it to himself and experience the letting go of the emotion. He like me, recorded it, and now it’s out there forever. As I heard the song the vibration of energy that is captured in the grooves came alive once again. He has perhaps moved on, but that song is still him singing it in a very visceral way.

My challenge here is to all of the very talented songwriters out there: consider that your songs are exactly the same as the pipe in the smoke lodge. Perhaps every time your recorded song gets played the energy and the intention with which you wrote it, is ‘alive”again. If you write an angry song,every time you sing it at a show you will be revisiting that vibration even if it’s years in your history. In a way, it’s history repeating itself. It’s like being stuck in a loop.

I am not suggesting that all songs be of sunshine, lollipops and roses. I don’t like lollipops much, so I would probably not buy your LP. What I hope you might consider is what will happen in the world of vibration after your song is complete. Think of floating over a calm body of water and dropping your song into it. Watch the ripples begin to head in all directions far beyond what you can see. How does that feel? Are you happy that those ripples will go on long after you have changed and grown and are now in a new place? Those ripples eventually come out of my speakers and into my ears and have an effect on me. Like a boat quietly sitting there, those waves move me.

My inspirational friends Abraham-Hicks have offered a thought along these lines that spoke to me. They were considering the idea that if we don’t pay attention to history, revisit it, talk about it, or examine it, that it is bound to repeat itself. Then they reminded me that the exact opposite is more likely to be true. They suggested that when we “beat the drum of history” we also stand a pretty good chance of recreating the vibration of the event. Made sense to me. Usually when I witness someone recalling something in their history, they also ramp up to the emotion that they felt then.Your songs have the same effect when they come out of my speakers.

They contain your energy when you recorded it.

You, dear songwriter, have a chance to assist all of us in our ongoing evolution. I would love it if your songs could still satisfy your creative spirit in all its glory, and I would also love it if you could find a way to say what you wish to say in a way that does not trap you in your own or the collective experience of history.

Put your pen to paper and have at it. Pick up your guitar or sit at your keyboard (or grab that tuba) and let it all out. But, do me a favor will you? Before you record your version of this moment in time, please close your eyes and visualize me sitting in my ugly green chair waiting for the wave of your song to wash over me. Think a moment about how you will feel singing this song 10 years from now. Just take a moment to realize that you are putting energy in a‘bottle”that will be opened every time that song is sung or listened to. Your craft is so beautiful and so mysterious. I am in awe of your abilities.

And I deeply thank you for your efforts. You have made many of my days unforgettable.

Written by: Jim Smith

Andy Ziehli

30

w w w. a m e r i c a n a g a z e t t e . n e t

decjan2011:Layout 1

12/1/10

10:59 AM

Page 31

lee... continued from page 9

Lee: That’s true. They are all truthful events except the Dalai Lama thing.

AG: Nashville. How did that happen?

Lee: Richard Bennett got me there. Steve Hunter, who played with Lou Reed and was Alice Cooper’s lead guitar player; he was a friend of mine from Hollywood and told me that Richard would love my stuff. He said to contact him, so I did. Richard was very upfront about it and told me that a guy like me did not need to move to Nashville because there was no work here for me. Being Phil Lee I ignored the advice and moved to Nashville. I stayed at his house and bugged the hell out of him. He was right Nashville did not have any work for me and still does not have any work for me or guys like me! I was lucky enough to create a little world to exist in and make some money here. Nashville you can live like a human being and it’s a great town filled with great people. You can make a record here and all kinds of celebrities pop in and help you out! It is and has been good here.

AG: I first saw you on the Billy Block Show.

Lee: Billy Block made me a star then!

AG: I instantly liked the stuff you were doing. I would hear about you from people and they would say things about Phil Lee. I picked up a book about the characters of Lower Broadway and your picture was in it.

Lee: Wow! I didn’t know that.

AG: When you came to Nashville did you play with others as a sideman?

Lee: No I just always did my thing pretty much.

I did play drums with Duane Jarvis and played on one of Richards Records. I went to Europe with Duane and had a blast. The best musical marriage I ever had was playing in Duane’s band. It was magical and we really all played well together.

AG: Do you ever write with others?

Lee: Not usually. I have my own style and format in writing that suits me fine. Most people don’t relate to my subject manner or style, so I have written by myself most of the time. Taylor Swift or Kelly Pickler never call so what's the use!

AG: What’s your family like?

Lee: I am married to Maggie and its great! I’m gone a lot and she’s happy! I have a daughter from a previous marriage and two grand kids that seem to like ole grampy Phil. My siblings never became musicians. My father harbored a love of music—he played the banjo until my mom yelled at him and he threw it in the trash. There was music in our house but I was the only one that pursued it. They all became professional people and lost their money in the stock crashes, so I look pretty smart right now!

AG: What’s in the future for Phil Lee? Lee: Keep plugging along playing as much as I can. In January start working on a new album.

I’ve been writing songs and demoing them. Back to Europe I’m sure in the summer. Playing in New Glarus in December, and hopefully again next summer too.

Just being Phil Lee is a full-time job. The mighty King of Love gets little rest you know! I just really like performing and traveling. I’ve always done it and will continue to do it as long as I can.

I’ve out lasted a lot of my friends and contemporaries both career wise and I’ve outlived a lot of them. I’m very lucky to be living the life I have.

Making music is what I do! That and aggravating the hell out of people.

You can check out Phil’s music and tour schedule at his website at HYPERLINK "http://www.phillee1.com" www.phillee1.com, and his myspace page at mighty king of love.myspace. You can buy his CD’s on his website and from amazon.com. They are all fantastic and you should own them!

Story by: Andy Ziehli Some photos supplied, others by Joyce Ziehli

cd review... continued from page 28

make the cooks, the janitors, and the office staff your friend. Life was so much better once you learned that, and if you ever needed a favor, they would be there to grant that favor for you. Because the high school was also in the building, I shared extra duties with those teachers.

I would ride buses to away games,and on some occasions a car pool of the teachers would drive to support our“students” in away games.

Supervision of the teachers came from the principal. He would come unannounced into your classroom two or three times a year. You would get a written evaluation at a meeting with him a few days after his visit. One time he came into my room while we were out on recess. Luckily we had not overstayed our time outside,but we arrived back in time for the next class. However, I soon discovered a slight problem. During recess the girls in the class had pinned small bells onto their clothing,and whenever they made a movement those bells would cling. It was the holiday season, and they meant nothing more than a gesture to celebrate the season. I stood in front of the class for a moment, and then I calmly explained to the girls that clinging bells were not in the best interest of a classroom setting. So I suggested they all leave and go to the hallway or bathroom and remove their bells. They did as I suggested, and within a few minutes the math class began. My evaluation that day included comments on how well I had handled the situation and on how wonderful it was to see us stick to our scheduled recess time and be back in class exactly on time. He also further added that the classroom looked and felt so inviting, and that I had somehow managed the perfect temperature in the classroom. If you ever sat in a classroom, I am sure that it was often either too hot or too cold in that room.

At this moment I am not sure just how I got the exact right temperature as he called it. Maybe he meant more than a temperature on a thermometer.

Thus I went full circle in that large room with the tall ceilings and wooden floors that made much noise as you stepped upon it. I was a happy student and later became a happy teacher in that same environment. In the name of progress school consolidation occurred during the next few years and progress declared the building old and too expensive, and so it was torn down and things in the building collapsed into the heap. But my memories did not collapse into any pile other than in the back of my mind. I could to this day name off my students from those years,but because I might miss one or two of them,I shall not do so in this story. As the song goes,“Those were the days”.

Story by: Bob Hoffman

Sugar and Spice and All That Is Nice... and FISH?!

Yes, that’s what little girls are made of!

Need some fishing tips? Who says fishing is just for little boys?

Check out this string of beauties caught by Kayden and Steffi Dopp. These two proud little ladies caught these three walleyes on a Lake in Northern Wisconsin. If you happen to see one of these gals, they might just share a fishing story with you!!!!!

Kayden and Steffi Dopp

w w w. a m e r i c a n a g a z e t t e . n e t

31

decjan2011:Layout 1

12/1/10

10:59 AM

Page 32

Established 1893

Owners - Chuck & Lessia Bigler

Phone: (608) 527-2045

NASHVILLE MUSICIAN PHIL LEE TO PLAY FREE CONCERT DEC. 11 AT PUEMPEL'S, NEW GLARUS

Puempel’s Olde Tavern – New Glarus

Phil Lee

Phil Lee will play his own mix of roots and Americana music in concert at 8 p.m., Saturday, December 11, at Puempel's Olde Tavern, 18 - 6th Ave., New Glarus. Admission is free. Americana Gazette magazine is sponsoring the show. Milwaukee guitarist and vocalist John Sieger will accompany Lee. Matt Belknap from New Glarus will open the show at 7:30 p.m

Lee lives in Nashville and is touring in support of his third CD, So Long, It's Been Good to Know You (Steady Boy Records), hitting #1 on Euro-Americana radio chart and #4 on FAR (freeform American Roots) radio chart. A Woody Guthrie song, the title track – CD's only cover tune – offers insight into Lee's versatility.

Writing about So Long in Nashville Scene, music journalist Jim Ridley said if Nashville had a Mount Rushmore, with John Prine, Lucinda Williams and Guy Clark, Lee would be the "fourth head." And Ridley asked, "Could this man [Lee] be the best songwriter in Nashville?"

When Lee played three weeks ago in Lexington, KY. Walter Tunis -- music critic for Lexington daily newspaper -- wrote Lee was kind of "cross between Merle Haggard and Mark Twain." Associated Press describes Lee as “combining the

social consciousness of Woody Guthrie with the twisted fury of Jerry Lee Lewis.”

“I didn't write 'Great Balls of Fire,' but I could have if I'd gotten here in time,” Lee said.

Lee's song ”25 Mexicans” will be on soundtrack of This Is America documentary. Lee expects to go into studio soon to record new CD with Crazy Horse, well-known as Neil Young's back-up band.

So who is this roots rocker whose music is “irreverent, ragged and beautiful in its simplicity” and who crafts songs that are home to a cast of social misfits, outcasts, petty criminals and people living on the fringe? Truly, Lee has lived much of the colorful life about which he writes and sings. .

Born in Durham, N.C., Lee later lived in Los Angeles, where he was briefly a member of the Flying Burrito Brothers, and New York, before landing in Nashville. In-between, he lived on the road, not as a musician, but as a long-haul trucker. Lee's musicianship includes mastering vocals, guitar, drums and harmonica. And, oh yes, he is a talented knife thrower!

To learn more about Phil Lee, visit www.phillee1.com `

Puempel's Olde Tavern ~ 18 6th Avenue ~ New Glarus, WI 53574