Welcome to the summer months of 2009 as AUK ploughs on, delivering a comprehensive overview of what’s new – albums, gigs and news – all of which we’d happily share here, but there’s a fly in the spanner of the works (if we’re allowed to mix metaphors). Our usual informant, The Way Back Machine, despite threats and emoluments, stubbornly refuses to regurgitate anything from the four months in question here. The cupboard is bare. There’s a bit of a workaround as some snippets are to be found when we dial forward to 2010 on the Way Back website, which does allow access to some archived nuggets which are pertinent here.
Hence, it appears that from May to August 2009, we reviewed gigs by Gurf Morlix, the Handsome Family, the Stairwell Sisters, Mark Olson and Gary Louris, Solas, The Duke & The King, Steve Forbert, Christy Moore, Genticorum, Drew Nelson, the Dead Weather, and Jason Lytle. CSN, James Taylor, White Denim, Le Vent Du Nord, The Flatlanders with Rodney Crowell, Pokey LaFarge, and Chuck Prophet are reviewed, while Neil Young, The Wilders, Lucinda Williams, and Roger McGuinn are reviewed twice. One review that is archived is a two-night celebration of WitchSeason, the Joe Boyd production company which, via Island Records, was instrumental in the new wave of folk rock of the 1960s. Our reviewer isn’t named, although I’m willing to bet it was Jonathan Aird; he’s always been keen for this sort of thing. Anyhow, over the two nights, the headliners were Fairport Convention and The Incredible String Band, while the likes of Robyn Hitchcock and Abigail Washburn joined in. You can read the review here.
Also archived is Phil Edwards’ review of the second Maverick festival (including mentions of Otis Gibb, Rachel Harrington and the legendary Al Perkins) alongside Jeremy Searle’s visit to The Cambridge Folk Festival. For some reason, Jeremy doesn’t actually review the festival in the usual manner. Instead, he hands out a series of awards (including worst festival food and best prima donna), but he does eventually offer a list of his favourite acts. Read it here to find out who that prima donna was.
It’s incredibly frustrating to see the roster of folks that AUK interviewed only for those interviews to be unavailable. Here’s a list: Justin Townes Earle, Dave Alvin, Slaid Cleaves, Gurf Morlix, Simone Felice, Bob Harris, JD Souther, Willy Vlautin, Bap Kennedy and Larry Campbell. Not too shabby, you have to admit, and of course, several of these turn up on the monthly compilation CDs which were sent to our paid-up followers/friends. So, let’s have a look at what was happening in the middle of 2009, the last year of a Labour government for 14 years.
Steve Earle opens the proceedings in May with his (somewhat heavy-handed) version of Townes Van Zandt’s ‘Lungs’, taken from the first of Earle’s occasional tribute albums. Accompanying him on the disc are Cracker, Ryan Bingham, and Dave Alvin & The Guilty Women, while the following months feature The Tragically Hip, The Minus 5, Nanci Griffith, Bap Kennedy, Pokey LaFarge, Richmond Fontaine, and Simone Felice under the guise of The Duke & The King. Snuggled inside the June CD, The Lemonheads offer a superlative version of Van Zandt’s ‘Waiting Around To Die’ taken from their covers album “Varshons”, a disc I’m not familiar with but that’s soon to be rectified. A deeper delve into the lesser-known acts brings up, in the first instance, Sam Lewis (not the Nashville-based artist of the same name), who roams around in swampy southern waters, while Magnolia Summer wallows in Uncle Tupelo territory with a heavy attitude. Not so little known, Leeroy Stagger swaggers with a Petty-like song on ‘Petrified World’ and the Deadstring Brothers offer up a murky ‘Can’t Make It Through The Night’, a song which sounds like an outtake from The Stones’ “Exile On Main St”.
As we all know by now, each CD has a “hidden” track at the end, chosen by our editor, Mark. May’s contribution is a fine ramshackle rendition of ‘On Our Way’ by The Guthries, a Canadian band who had Ruth Minnikin in their line-up, but it’s old school all the way on the June disc as it closes with George Jones wallowing in his ‘Cup Of Loneliness‘. July throws up a total unknown (at least to me) as Jude Cole goes all Springsteen on ‘Just Another Night’ while the August offering is even more obscure as Mark settles on a Dutch band, Lazy Sunday Dream, who, on the evidence of their song ‘Slow Day’ seem to have been fans of the late Ronnie Lane.
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 2009. All details here.
Vintage screenshots grabbed via The Wayback Machine.
and just because it’s such a cool song…
You’re not wrong – that Witchseason Weekender was me. Great nights. There’s a celebration of ISB coming up this Autumn at the South Bank in London – sadly, again, Robin isn’t taking part.
I think I may have also done Solas, Steve Forbert, CSN, Le Vent Du Nord, Chuck Prophet (maybe) and Roger McGuinn, and, umm, maybe twice. It was Radio 3’s Late Junction that got me to Le Vent Du Nord, pretty rock and roll! (as I’m sure I commented at the time).