Two Williams to headline 2013 Rhythm & Roots: Lucinda and Keller

As if I needed more incentive to attend the 2013 Rhythm & Roots festival, the came out this week with another stellar lineup.  From September 20^th-22^nd, the streets of Bristol Tennessee and Virginia will be packed with fans listening to the top names in Americana, Country, Bluegrass, Blues Indie-rock, and even celtic-punk courtesy of Enter the Haggis. Besides the obvious headliners, we will be targeting Chris Smither, Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen, Elephant Revival, Paul Thorn, The Apache Relay, Della Mae, Nora Jane Struthers & The Party Line, The New Familiars, Ed Snodderly, Woody Pines, Roger Rasnake, Scotty Melton, James McMurtry - as well as any other of the following acts the we stumble upon.


Lucinda Williams
Keller Williams
Masters of Bluegrass
Deer Tick
Blitzen Trapper
Colin Hay
Iris Dement
Hayes Carll
JD McPherson
James McMurtry
Paul Thorn
Scythian
The Apache Relay
The David Mayfield Parade
Travelin' McCourys, The
The Black Lillies
Shovels and Rope
Russell Moore and IIIrd Tyme Out
Hey Rosetta
Della Mae
Pokey Lafarge and The South City Three
The Claire Lynch Band
Chatham County Line
Spirit Family Reunion
Levon Helm Tribute Show
Marty Raybon and Full Circle
Balsam Range
Elephant Revival
Enter the Haggis
Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen
Chris Smither
Folk Soul Revival
The Quebe Sisters
Red Molly
Bronze Radio Return
Whitey Morgan and the 78's
Sol Driven Train
Uncle Lucius
American Aquarium
Rayland Baxter
Breaking Grass
Carolina Road
Dave Eggar & Deoro with Hammerstep
Field Report
Detour
The Kenny and Amanda Smith Band
Nora Jane Struthers & The Party Line
Hurray for the Riff Raff
Revelers, The
Whiskey Gentry
Burning Bridget Cleary
Donna Ulissee
Frank Fairfield
Delta Reign
Bawn in the Mash
Erick Baker
Brothers Comatose, The
Caitlin Rose
Cactus Blossoms, The
Chicago Farmer
The New Familiars
Hey Marseilles
James Justin & Co.
Old Man Luedecke
Two Man Gentlemen Band
River Whyless
St Paul & The Broken Bones
Cumberland River
Defibulators, The
Ed Snodderly
Nightflyer
Virginia Luthiers, The
Cumberland Gap Connection
Blair Crimmins & The Hookers
Dale Jett
Dirty Bourbon River Show
This Mountain
Woody Pines
Duty Free
Harlow Experience, The
Miss Tess and the Talkbacks
Lizzy Ross Band
L Shape Lot
Old Line Skiffle Combo
Paul Burch
Tillers, The
Successful Failures, The
Annabelle's Curse
Hermit Kings, The
Leah Gardner
Corduroy Road, The
Barlow Gin & The Hatchetmen
Amber Rubarth Trio feat. Dave Eggar
Breaking Tradition
Bryan Elijah Smith & The Wild Hearts
If Birds Could Fly
Jon Stickley Trio
A Great Disaster
Wise Old River
Black Iron Gathering, The
ETSU Old Time Pride Band
ETSU Bluegrass Band
Sheets Family Band
Black Twig Pickers, The
Republik Steel
Cutthroat Shamrock
Dori Freeman
Honey Badgers, The
High Jump Heart, The
These Undowners
Scotty Melton
Earth by Train
Jack and the Bear
Ron Short and The Possum Playboys
JP Parsons
Mis'ry Creek
Still House
Al Scorch
Lore
Mountain Park Old Time Band
Nikki Talley
Roger Rasnake
Scratch River Telegraph Company
Amythyst Kiah
Annie Robinette
Beth Snapp
Craig Street Ramblers
Empty Bottle String Band
Jess Nunley
Kim Lyons
Rickshaw Roadshow
Rose Sisters, The
Wayne Graham
Whiskey Incident, The
Alli Epperson
Amazed by Grace
Dave Haney & Lisa Baldwin
Hart Creek
Honaker FFA Bluegrass Band
Mischief in the Meadow
Rex Montgomery

New Music

We've received a lot of new music recently and there are a few we'd like to share. First, we finally got our hands on Steve Earle's latest CD, Townes, songs by Townes Van Zandt. The first two tracks (Pancho And Lefty and White Freightliner Blues) are worth the price of the CD by themselves, let alone our other two favorites: Delta Momma Blues and No Place To Fall. The second CD, is Stockholm Syndrome from singer-songwriter Derek Webb. This CD is the first we've heard from the artist, although he gave 80,000 free downloads of his previous CD Mockingbird in 2006. Initially his music was a little too electronic for my tastes - but I found myself listening to the CD over and over again. Its a nice CD to have playing around the house or with the head phones at work. I particularly liked the latter tracks, Heaven and American Flag Umbrella, where I think he more strongly weaves story lines into the lyrics. I look forward to seeing him in one of two shows at Jammin' Java in late September.

We were very fortunate to receive a copy of Not That Lucky, the latest release form one of our favorite Texan bands: Two Tons of Steel. And this CD did not disappoint; not surprising since it was produced by legendary Lloyd Maines, who also contributes background vocals on a couple tracks. The best part of the CD is that that no two songs are quite the same. "Hold Over Me" has a punk flavor; "Long Road to Heaven" more rock-ish. The title track has a great guitar solo as does "Wanna Dance". I really liked their version of "Run To You", but I'm a little fatigued listening to "Alcohol and Pills" - considering it was recorded in a recent release by Todd Snider and arecent live performance by Fred Eaglesmith. Farther down the line, "Bad Attitude" may be my favorite song: "Trouble knows all about me". The CD ends with a western swing - "Bottom of the Bottle" - a nice bookend with the rockabilly Cry'n Eyes. I really love this band and would like to finally see them live - in a more raw setting, Texas style.

The biggest surprise came from listening to Colin Hay and American Sunshine. Since his days fronting Men at Work, Hay has lived in this country for the past 20 years in this CD contains some aspects from his adopted California as well as some influences from Nashville. The first track, "Oh, California" really sets the tone. It has a reggae - surf flavor - nice maracas and the vocals have a Randy Newman quality. Actually most of the vocals reminded me of Mr. Newman. The reggae beat continues for the next two tracks - but I really liked "Broken Love" - with its more rootsy feel. The same holds for "I Can't Get Up out of this Bed". Make sure you listen to the end. The last three are really good, particularly "Baby, Can I see You Tonight?". For us, this was a surprisingly good CD - basically because Colin Hay has been absent from our record collection for the past two decades. This won't happen again during the next two.