It’s the run-up to jingle bells once more as we explore the last quarter of 2010 via the archives still available and the monthly CDs sent out to our fee-paying Friends of Americana UK. The four CDs here are the final quartet of the year in which AUK moved from “home produced” CDRs (with our editor Mark’s computer and printer working overtime every month) to the more professional business model of having an actual studio producing and printing the CDs, a real step up and belated thanks to Whitby Studios for their sterling work. Unfortunately, this step up cost money, and so, for the first time, the December disc was not accompanied by an end-of-year “best of” disc. Some might consider this “miserly”, but in response, we’d suggest that we were merely ahead of the time in anticipating 14 years of Tory-led austerity.
Regarding the archives, The Wayback Machine is particularly stubborn this time around. Doubly frustrating as October saw a revamp of the AUK website, long promised but now up and running. The revamp is mentioned in the one archived page we’ve been able to access so far and this page allows us to say that, in the run up to December we had live reviews of Josh Ritter, Tom Paxton, Midlake, The Duke & The King and Dar Williams while we interviewed Marty Stuart, Blue Rodeo, Bellowhead, Sons Of Bill, Simone Felice, The Wynntown Marshals, Darrell Scott, Quiet Loner, Mumford & Sons and Ryan Bingham while Oliver Gray reports on September’s End Of The Road Festival although he seems to be more enthralled by the quality of food available than on the bands playing (you can read Oliver’s review here). There are some snippets of news available, and one which took our fancy was a report that a Scottish musician was accusing Nick Cave of plagiarism regarding Cave’s song ‘Palaces of Montezuma’. As Cave says in the news item, “You may have read that some 17-year-old kid in Dundee is trying to sue me and is claiming to have written this song. That’s funny, because I wrote it for my wife.” Whether it ever got to court is not recorded.
Onto the CDs, and while it’s not a bumper quarter for well-known acts, there are some choice selections. Justin Townes Earle turns up on the September disc with a song from “Harlem River Blues”, alongside Ryan Bingham, Lloyd Cole and Justin Rutledge. October has Darrell Scott, The Duke & The King, the Cowboy Junkies and Dar Williams as luminaries, while the Old 97’s, Tony Joe White, Great Lakes and The Autumn Defense are the big hitters as we groove into November. December’s offering is a bit more star-studded, a mix and match of some of the best of the year along with the regular new releases, given that the traditional “Best Of” extra Christmas treat has bit the bullet. Hence, the Christmas treat includes tracks by Giant Sand, Wooden Hand, The Sadies, Phosphorescent and Danny & The Champions Of The World. As ever, a delve into the 80 tracks gathered here throws up some fine songs from lesser-known acts. Austin Collins & The Rainbirds hark back to Uncle Tupelo days on ‘Care’ (produced by Will Johnson of Centro-Matic) while Dreamend, a Chicago crew, are nicely skittish on the fluttering ‘Repent’. As we’re suckers for the slacker, more shambolic end of americana, The Wooden Sky’s ‘My Old Ghosts’ was a bit of a treat, and Heidi Talbot more than fulfilled the folk fan here with her excellent song ‘The Last Star’.
While it might have been a lacklustre quarter regarding new releases, our editor Mark’s hidden songs (always track 21), secreted at the end of each disc, are mightily impressive this time around. No more attempts to find a listenable Chicago number, just four fantastic songs. September’s pick is the mighty Fountains Of Wayne singing ‘Hey Julie’, and Teenage Fanclub continue to wave the banner for top-notch power pop with their ‘Winter Song’ popping up at the end of the November disc. December features The Sadies putting their pedal to the metal with the thrilling ‘Ten More Songs’ (their second appearance on the disc), but October tops all of these with the devastating ‘It’s A Motherfucker’ by Eels. An appropriate song, really, as we were headed into 14 years of Tory misrule.
December’s disc includes a link on the cover for readers to vote for their best of 2010, and we’ll reveal the winners in our next missive as we move onto 2011. 2011 was also Americana UK’s 10th anniversary, so keep tuned in for more on that.
You can still be a friend of Americana UK in this digital age, and amazingly, it’s now cheaper to do so than it was in 2010. All details here.
Vintage screenshots grabbed via The Wayback Machine.
And here’s the late lamented Justin Townes Earle with the song we featured on the September disc…
