Rivers, Mountains, and Hellcountry

The ranks of great alt.country bands without a label just got bigger. Blue Mountain is no longer with Roadrunner Records. They are also without longtime drummer Frank Coutch and bass player George Sheldon, who joined the band on the Tales of a Traveler CD. The parting seems to be amicable, and the word from their management is that the band will be playing as a trio from now on. They will release an album of traditional music this fall sometime on the Glitterhouse label (the one that originally released Kenny Roby’s Mercury’s Blues) in Europe, and then look for American distribution. Fans at recent concerts say that Cary Hudson and Laurie Stirratt seem to be enjoying themselves as much as ever, though sets have been a bit shorter as they work in a new substitute drummer. They are still looking for a permanent addition to the drummer’s throne. There had been buzz about a live album, but I’m not sure where that stands now.

For the sake of alt.country fans everywhere, I hope Blue Mountain gets a new, supportive label, and finds a drummer who can fill Frank’s shoes. I got to see the band play at TT the Bear’s in Cambridge, and it was a truly fun show. George sang his “From One Son of a Bitch to Another”, and openers Marah joined a massive jam to close the show, crowding nine or ten people on TT’s usually adequate stage. At that point, all of those bios you’ve read and all of those liners notes about how the band is just happy to be playing music, in their kitchen or at a club, all rang true. It’s a shame that George and Frank left, though, because the sound they created on record and on the road for Tales of a Traveler was wonderfully plush and fully realized. But I’m sure whatever Hudson and Stirratt come up with next, it will be great.

There’s a little bar in sleepy Davis Square in Somerville, Massachusetts, a little further out from Cambridge, called The Burren. The Tarbox Ramblers play there on Saturday nights, and there is always a group of musicians playing traditional Irish music in the front room. This bar is also host to the best singer/songwriter series in Boston, hosted by Melissa Morris (www.melissamorris.com ). One Sunday in September, the series featured two great alt.country bands – Say Zuzu and The Rivergods. Say Zuzu (http://www.nh.ultranet.com/~sayzuzu/) stripped down for an acoustic set, plucking at banjos and acoustic guitars, and supported by a full kit of drums and upright bass. The band is usually a bit louder, channeling a bit of Crazy Horse, on their albums. But they sounded great in this format, playing to what was a fairly wide-eyed group for a Sunday night. Say Zuzu put all of the energy of their electric performance into their acoustic set. Guitarists Jon Nolan and Cliff Murphy tag-teamed vocal duties, and sounded particularly sweet singing country harmony.

The Rivergods (www.therivergods.com) were back playing out after singer/guitarist Ben Parent and singer/pedal steel player Nancy Brossard’s wedding, at which the band played. They were breaking in new guitarist Jim Carpenter, who was playing his first gig with the band. That meant six people crammed onto the Burren’s stage, which is usually a bit crowded with four or five. But the band persevered and sounded great. Parent and Brossard’s voices mixed beautifully on “Ten Mile Yearning” and “Chasing Manhattan” from their debut album, Capsule. They also did a couple of new tunes, which the band has been stockpiling for another album. The opening tune even had a little bit of a Sun record sound. While nothing is official yet, the band is looking forward to their next project, and they’re tinkering with their sound a bit to bring the guitar to the forefront a bit more. If you’re ever in New London, CT, or out near Boston, look up the Rivergods. And if you’re out near Newmarket, NH, say hello to Say Zuzu.

Peter Mulvey (www.petermulvey.com) played what has become a rare full band gig at Johnny D’s, just down the street from the Burren, on September 14th. Mulvey had played a lot of gigs by himself or with guitarist David “Goody” Goodrich, but was joined at Johnny D’s by bass player Lou Ulrich and drummer Mike Piehl. It was a loose, relaxed atmosphere, complete with Mulvey’s trademark storytelling in between songs. But the band sounded tight and forceful, driving home tunes from Mulvey’s Deep Blue and The Trouble With Poets. Opener Erin McKeown (www.erinmckeown) was also quite a find, combining a penchant for bucolic jazz with smoky vocals and nimble guitar picking.

Ryan Adams played two nights as part of the Hellcountry series at the Kendall Café in Cambridge, MA (see review). The series has featured The Damnations, TX, The Ray Mason Band, The Willard Grant Conspiracy, ex-Blood Oranges vocalist Cheri Knight, Star Huslter, Say Zuzu, The Rivergods, and a host of other great twang scene bands. The two folks who opened up for Adams on successive nights proved impressive. Terry Radigan, who just released he debut CD on Vanguard records (http://www.vanguardrecords.com/Radigan/home.html), played a bluesy set, cut short by a sore throat. Pete Fitzpatrick delivered an unconventional set that veered from Pete Seeger to They Might Be Giants, hopping from banjo to guitar, bass, and to a small, hand-held keyboard for “Chinese Star in Metal Shop”. Fitzpatrick usually plays that as a guitar-based tune with his band, Pee Wee Fist (http://www.wobblymusic.com/tpwf/index.html) . Solo, he played it as a staccato keyboard tune, encouraging the crowd to sing along. A couple of folks in the crowd weren’t convinced, but frankly, they seemed like obnoxious assholes anyway.

Robbie Fulks (www.robbiefulks.com) must love Boston, because I caught up with him for the second time in a couple of months at the Kendall Café on Sunday, October 22. He played a solo acoustic gig, conversing with the audience and stripping down tunes like “Let’s Kill Saturday Night”, “Sleepin’ On the Job of Love”, and “I Told Her Lies”. Fulks was in fine form, flat picking at amazing speeds and singing with fire and power in his voice. “That Bangle Girl” prompted a conversation with someone in the audience who had just seen the Bangles’ reunion tour. Fulks also covered not one but TWO Michael Jackson tunes, hitting both the Jackson 5’s “I’ll Be There” and Jackson’s patriarchal denial classic, “Billy Jean”.

Fulks also covered a tune he wrote with Dallas Wayne (http://www.dallaswayne.com/) called “If That’s Country”, which he called a kind of follow-up to South Mouth’s “Fuck This Town”, his anti-Nashville screed. He was selling the Wayne record after the show, which turns out to be a great, classic country kind of album. Wayne has a country baritone that will shake the mud off of your tires, and a deep, abiding respect for folks like Merle Haggard. Pick it up if you find it. It’s on Hightone Records.

Down the road a patch at the Middle East, I caught Bloodshot Recording artists (www.bloodshotrecords.com) Neko Case and Kelly Hogan. Neko, Kelly, and the boys got there a little late, forcing Kelly to wash in the public sink before her set. She sounded no worse for the wear, but did a short set full of what she called the “Loretta Lynn” ratio of covers to originals, singing only a couple of her songs in favor of material by Magnetic Fields and King Floyd. Neko’s set was a bit longer, and Kelly joined her for much of it, singing harmony. She did a bunch of songs from her past two albums, and also sprinkled in covers from folks like Aretha Franklin. Neko and Kelly make a great combo. Look for them next time they tour together.

This is a great time for country music. Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash, and Willie Nelson all have new albums out. Haggard’s If I Could Only Fly is out on Anti Records, a division of punk mainstay Epitaph, and he sounds right at home. Haggard looks back on a past that would make most punks blush, including his addictions and time in San Quentin. Cash’s American III: Solitary Man is the third in a series of collaborations with Rick Rubin, and proof that the man in black is still firmly among the living. If nothing else, catch his version of Nick Cave’s “The Mercy Seat”. It’s stunning, chilling. That voice always belonged with that song, somehow.