Charles Christian’s Americana

Charles Christian’sCharles Christian’s Charles Christian’s AmericanaAmericana Americana

WHERE DO WE GO NOW?

Last month I was having a little, OK quite a big, rant, about the tedious mimsywhimsy nature of a lot of modern so-called Americana music. But where do we go now (as Guns ‘n’ Roses once sang) about taking the genre forward and avoiding it becoming just another bland form of pop music? Whole in My Bottle and At the Club on the two albums. Half of My Hometown is another stand out track.

Fortunately there’s no shortage of initiatives – and intriguingly it’s mainly women who are leading the charge at the moment.

Kelsea Ballerini

The album liner notes, written by Kelsea herself, describe the big concept “kelsea is glitter. She’s bold, effervescent. Her dreams are boundless. She’s who I want to be. But ballerini – she’s emotional, The Chicks vulnerable, soft. She’s who I am.” It sounds pretentious and could be a car crash but he We’re seeing several acts becoming emotional effect is similar to Neil Young’s more poppier and rockier, drifting away from original version of Like A Hurricane the narrower constraints of Nashville-style (released on his Stars ‘n Bars album in 1977) country. In other words they are doing a and the version he did for the MTV UnTaylor Swift. A good example of this are the plugged series in 1993 which was rescored Chicks, previously the Dixie Chicks, who on for harmonica and pump organ harmonium. their current album Gaslighter have transThe first is a celebration of freedom and formed into an act willing to get both wildness, while the second (performed almost personal and political with their lyrics. Check 20 years after the original was written) is out the tracks March March, Sleep at Night more of a lament for the lost liberty of youth. and of course the title track Gaslighter. Next up Elizabeth Cook who until this Then there’s Kelsea Ballerini (not year was just another blonde on the Nashville Chelsea Ballerina as my auto-correct insists country music scene, singing wholesome on calling her) who has released what might country songs about apple pie while simultabe described as an uncut version of her most neously having major personal problems and recent album kelsea. Called ballerini it having to go into rehab. This year she is back presents the same songs in a rawer, less glitzy with a new album Aftermath. The title was and more personal style that actually harks deliberately chosen to echo The Rolling back to a simpler, rootsier musical era when it Stones 1966 album of the same name, which wasn’t necessary for everything to have a is widely rated as their breakthrough album in dance time signature. Compare and contrast terms of original compositions and musical Kelsea’s two different versions of There’s a experimentation*. 36 Rock and Blues International • October 2020

Elizabeth Cook

For me, the stand-out track on Elizabeth’s album is Thick Georgia Woman with its driving guitar riff – and you really should check out the bat-shit crazy video, and not just for Elizabeth dancing in a clinging green sequinned jumpsuit reminiscent of 1970s David Bowie and Roxy Music. (*As for the Stones’ Aftermath, I increasingly find myself singing the chorus from Mother’s Little Helper, you know, the line that goes “What a drag it is getting older”.)

My final pick this month for an act pushing the boundaries and fighting against being pigeon-holed as just another country act is Margo Price with her new album That’s How Rumors Get Started. A change of label and a change of location – recording in Los Angeles rather than Nashville – sees Margo taking her music in a new and exciting direction. In fact the title track is a homage to the Rumours era Fleetwood Mac.

She describes the recording as a “fork in the road” situation that involved some bridges being burned. Musically she says she wanted a new sound and did not want to be

Margo Price

trying for the “returning-to-the-roots thing” but drawing instead on the classic Tom Petty and Bruce Springsteen vibe. (In fact her backing band on the album includes Benmont Tench of The Heartbreakers.)

For me the highlight track is Letting Me Down – there’s also an alternative “Downer Version” edit of the track that’s worth catching, the latter echoes Neil Young’s different treatments of Like A Hurricane. Strong material stands up to reinterpretation.

I also like the fact Margo Price is getting stroppier: she’s not afraid of talking about things that matter to her, including Black Lives Matter, anti-abortion legislation, Donald Trump, mask-wearing (her husband Jeremy Ivey almost died from Covid-19 earlier this year), gun control, feminism, and the pay gap. In a recent interview in Rolling Stone magazine, she is quoted as saying “There’s countless things I’ve said that definitely cost me record sales. But you have to stand up for what you believe. When people say, ‘You’re not going to be the Dixie Chicks’ – I hate the analogy. I never was trying to be the Dixie Chicks. I’m trying to be Neil Young, motherfuckers.”

Here are video links for some of the tracks mentioned in this column plus those I’m playing on my own sound system this month:

Margo Price – Letting Me Down (Downer Version) https://youtu.be/ cnwSUCpCtqA Ray Wylie Hubbard - Tell the Devil I’m Getting’ there as Fast as I Can https:// youtu.be/NRFr9DlBu5o

Elizabeth Cook – Thick Georgia Woman https://youtu.be/gaOI5djV36k

Jeremy Ivey – Somebody Else’s Problem https://youtu.be/Z5U68aIWfNA Elle King – The Let Go https:// youtu.be/RcnUJTIyjXs

The Chicks – March March https:// youtu.be/xwBjF_VVFvE

Rachel Price & Chris Thile – Can’t Find Mt Way Home https://youtu.be/ 1xZxxVlu7BM