Help, Lassie! Rock and Roll is Trapped in the Well!

The Strokes have been splashed all over the place as the band that’s going to “save rock and roll”. Actually, it has been posed more as a question, “Can the Strokes Save Rock and Roll?” Last I checked, rock and roll was just fine. It was still being played by a million different bands, downloaded on the net, and consumed voraciously by music geeks and demographic blocks at a healthy pace. So I guess we’re left with the assumption that rock needs another revolution, like the one Springsteen fought in the seventies against the supposed disco invasion. But if Springsteen gave a voice to folks who weren’t all that down with Wild Cherry, who are those folks now? The best piece of wisdom I saw about this was actually posted on Amazon, of all places, with a review of the Neckbones’ Souls on Fire. So allow me to quote Aaron Semer, who said. “Everyone is proclaiming lately that the Strokes have saved Rock and Roll - The Neckbones already did it but no one was listening. And if you pitted the two against one another in a steel cage death match, the Neckbones would kick the hell out of the Strokes.”

The Strokes seem like a tight band with some good hooks. Let’s hope they don’t believe the hype.

Speaking of the Neckbones, Laurie Stirratt sends word that the new Tyler Keith and the Preacher’s Kids album is in the works. They are in the process of recording, and will be shopping to labels soon. The Preacher’s Kids were, of course, Blue Mountain, backing up former Neckbones leader Tyler Keith on his debut album Romeo Hood (www.romeohood.com). Since Blue Mountain broke up, Stirratt and drummer Frank Coutch have stuck with the Preacher’s Kids. Stirratt is also working with her brother John on the latest Autumn Defense record, which is also in the recording stages. Stirratt also reports that she is listening to some master tape now for a possible Blue Mountain live album to be released by the Digital Club Network. Check out www.bluemountainmusic.com for updates, or try the DCN site (www.dcn.com).

Rodeo Boy was a happy little find over the holidays. I listened to their new album The Pine and the Promise, a few dozen times trying to figure out whether they sounded too much like Superchunk or Built to Spill, then finally decided that if I could figure that out after that many listens, I should shut the hell up and just enjoy a great rock record with a lot of energy. I caught up with them at TT the Bears in Cambridge, Ma, and took a few pictures. They work well together live, though the album has some interesting electronic touches and textures that are missed a bit in performance. But the songs did just fine standing on their own. Swell bunch of guys. And you know a band is working hard when their bass player breaks not one but two bass strings in a forty-five minute set.

I’m still waiting for Chris Stamey to produce a shitty album. It hasn’t happened yet. Over the course of the last year or so, he’s produced Alejandro Escovedo’s A Man Under the Influence, Thad Cockrell’s Stack of Dreams, Greg Hawk and the Trembler’s “Fool’s Paradise”, and a slew of others, in addition to ex-Whiskeytowner Caitlin Cary’s new disc While You Weren’t Looking, released in March. Yep Roc just snagged him to release his first solo album in more than ten years, Travels in the South. The album will feature a cast of artists Stamey has produced in the past, including Superchunk’s Jon Wurster, ex-Jayhawk Jen Gunderman, Greg Readling (Tift Merritt), Brian Dennis, and ex-Backslider and Trembler Danny Kurtz.

The Hank Dogs have a new album slated for release this May. The Hank Dogs have a lot more in common with pop bands like The Sundays than they do with the outlaw Williams family, so don’t pick it up on your way to the honky tonk. But do pick it up. It’s a finely produced, delicate album with fluttering mandolins and breezy harmonies - a great find for pop fans looking to start summer a little early.

Richmond Fontaine finally released Winnemucca, the more acoustic flavored album they’ve been threatening to release for more than a year now. The album doesn’t feature a new sound from the band as much as it does lean on a few of their more subtle strengths. With a more laid back approach instrumentally, Willy Vlautin’s stories come to the forefront a bit more. The band also gets to show off its chops in a couple of instrumentals they have usually left for the live show. With the band’s need to jam satisfied by the instrumentals, the other songs tighten up a bit more. Don’t expect a full out thrash like Lost Son’s “Pinkerton” on this one. Oddly enough, Vlautin’s softer material is just as disturbing and provocative. Catch the louder stuff on the road.

What could be more disturbing, though, than a bluegrass band covering ABBA’s “S.O.S” and Ratt’s “Round and Round”? And on the same album no less. Throw in Nick Lowe’s “Without Love” and Ralph Stanley’s “Love Me Darling”, add some originals about domestic abuse and trucker’s speed, and you’ve got the Meat Purveyors album, “All Relationships are Doomed to Fail”. I’ll leave you with that to think about until next month.

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