New discs by June Carter Cash, Chris Knight, Lyle Lovett and Neil Young are highlighted.
By: Hank Kalet
This week’s installment of Monday Music brings nothing but recommendations.
1. June Carter Cash, "Wildwood Flower" (Dualtone Records). The grand old dame of country music’s final testament is a powerful disc that allowed Carter Cash to bring her career full circle.
Daughter of the legendary Maybelle Carter, a member of the pioneering Carter Family, Carter Cash started singing with her two sisters and her mother in their own band, The Carter Sisters and Mother Maybelle.
Much of "Wildwood Flower" is devoted to loving interpretations of Carter Family classics, with husband Johnny Cash and other family members chipping in on backing vocals. The production of the disc by son, John Carter Cash is first-rate, mixing vintage recordings of the original Carter Family with the updated versions. (It features the wonderful "Anchored in Love," on which Carter Cash’s first cousins Janette and Joe Carter and Janette’s son Dale Jett join in a Carter clan reunion.)
The album grew out of a trip Carter Cash made back to her parents’ home in Maces Springs, Va., in 2002. While there, according to country music writer Robert K. Oermann, "she sat in the yard to sing and play country classics with Johnny and her cousins Janette and Joe Carter. Afterward, she told her son that she wanted to record in that inspiring environment."
The result is a remarkable disc that captures a sense both of the past and of the present, a disc that, as I said earlier, brought Carter Cash’s career full circle, paying homage to her roots while also pointing the direction that best of country music is taking these days.
There is not a bad track on this disc, but for me the highlight is the title cut, "Wildwood Flower," which closes the disc and Carter Cash’s remarkable career. The great lady of country died in May as she was finishing the "Wildwood Flower."
2. Chris Knight, "The Jealous Kind" (Dualtone). Chris Knight is one of the reasons that musical labels are a waste of time.
Ostensibly a country singer, Mr. Knight bears only the slightest resemblance to slick musicians like Kenny Chesney who populate the country charts.
Some might call him alt-country a more recent umbrella term designed to cover the more recent country-rock hybrids like Whiskeytown, the Jayhawks or the Old 97s. And while that maybe better describe his music, it still doesn’t do him justice.
Chris Knight, when all is said and done, is just a great singer and songwriter, a man who tells stories with the best of them, who puts his stamp on the songs he sings and rocks pretty hard when he wants to.
There is a lot of Steve Earle in Mr. Knight’s presentation and a lot of Bruce Springsteen and Johnny Cash in his writing. His voice, with its cracks and fissures, reeks of life lived, granting his tales of hard luck, bad times and bad dudes a real emotional honesty that is lacking on so much of what gets airplay on country stations these days.
3. Lyle Lovett, "My Baby Don’t Tolerate" (Lost Highway). Lyle Lovett’s new disc, "My Baby Don’t Tolerate," is the kind of thing the Texas singer does best. It is a collection of songs (due in stores Tuesday) that blur genre lines, moving seamlessly from country to folk, from blues to gospel to rhythm and blues and back to country. Lyrically, it lacks some of the punch of earlier efforts and it certainly breaks no new ground. But it doesn’t have to. Mr. Lovett’s quirky voice and the cross-genre pollination make that irrelevant and make this disc a joy to listen to.
4. Neil Young & Crazy Horse, "Greendale" (Reprise). "Greendale" offers the story of an idyllic small town that has succumbed to the modern world and is suffering for it. There are drugs and violence and never-ending change and it is change that bothers Mr. Young the most. It is a typically cranky and nostalgic effort from Mr. Young, whose vision of the American past does not always mesh with the real narrative. Mr. Young posits this straw horse America of peaceful small towns where everyone gets along, where the pace is manageable and livable, so he can knock it down and he does it with humor, with anger and with regretful longing that creates some wonderful songs.
And, unlike some of his other Crazy Horse projects, Mr. Young does not allow them to be overwhelmed by the feedback and volume. The band is necessarily restrained, but not to the point where boredom sinks in. This record still rocks.
Some other notes: I was planning to offer some thoughts on Elvis Costello’s "North," which came out last week, but instead will wait another week so I can get a better handle on it. Tune in next week for that and for a review of Emmylou Harris’ wonderful new disc, "Stumble Into Grace."
Let me know what music is keeping your boat afloat these days (click on "Respond to Story" below or e-mail me here.