The Songs of Jimmie Rodgers - A Tribute

So I get this disc I'd wanted to get for awhile (three years is awhile still ain't it?) and get kinda sorta excited because it's this tribute thingy to Jimmie Rodgers and I'd always pegged Rodgers as the greatest rockroll songster in history, or at least the best damn fine songwriter this country has ever produced and...aww fuck it, he's the greatest r'n'r songwriter period. Anyhow, some pretty good talent assembled to put a spin on Rodgers tunes (David Ball, Willie, Dylan, Iris Dement, etc.) and the thing doesn't disappoint fer one second. The Songs of Jimmie Rodgers - A Tribute is a four year old real humdinger with fine, fine work by some folks who have always had the know how. That said, the first cut off this thing is a staggering wallop of beauty. Bono, you know the U2 guy, does a Costello-ian version of "Dreaming with Tears in My Eyes" that bests his own bands work and becomes one king-hell of a eye-drip. A great rendition of an even greater song. Can't miss can ya?

Now, I know you cats and cat-ettes are popster of the highest persuasion, and occasionally I get my hands on something that I want to pass along even though I am not as fresh driven snow pure (oh god the snow...the snow, the snow, the snow) a pop meister as most of my cohorts, but I heard this advance advance of and advance from the Bigger Lovers that caught my tired ears and soothed them a bit. The whole thing hinges on a queer and fantastic production that gives a loose-and-falling-apart feel to what is obviously well structured. These mod-heads funnel the whole (in alphabetical order) BadfingercumBeatlesviaBigStar schtick into a warm fuzzy feeling that has me re-thinking the seemingly stagnant possibilities of this music you call pop. I'll have to drink on that one, but this Bigger Lovers thing is a listen and a half and has turned my callous ears sympathetic. I don't know what it's called, let me see...Oh, here ya go How I Learned to Stop Worrying. That's all I have for details. Like I said, this is the super advance version so...

Poor Bigger Lovers, the new Dumptruck disc showed a day later and pretty much nudged the thing into oblivion. Now I am biased as hell, and probably (clearly) can't make any reasonable judgements on Dumptruck's Lemmings Travel to the Sea, but I can calmly, take a deep breath, put away my sway, and tell you that this may be THE GREATEST ROCK AND ROLL RECORD OF ALL TIME. Hehehehe... I certainly feel that way when I listen (every subsequent release reorganizes the top ten in some way), but you're dealing with an irrational and savagely ill man. The darkness has consumed my life and Seth Tiven and Dumptruck are the only crack in the drapes. Just get it and remember who told ya so. You can thank me later.

I gotta go shovel the drive now.

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