TOMORROW ON OUTQ: SOME GREAT OUTLAW COUNTRY ARTISTS

Tomorrow morning on The Morning Jolt With Larry Flick on SiriusXM OutQ, I'll discuss some great artists who you can hear on the SiriusXM channel Outlaw Country. Full disclosure: I work at SiriusXM.  But I'll also point out that I was a SIRIUS subscriber before I worked there. Little Steven Van Zandt's Underground Garage was the main reason, but Outlaw Country was the next reason. By the way, Little Steven produces Outlaw Country as well as Underground Garage.

The Drive-By Truckers, as most No Expiration readers know, is one of my favorite bands.  I can honestly say I wouldn't be a fan without Outlaw Country.  Tomorrow I'll talk about their latest album, Go-Go Boots. Steve Earle isn't just one of the channel's biggest artists, he also hosts an excellent weekly show, Hardcore Troubadour Radio, hear it Saturday nights at 9 pm (full schedule of rebroadcasts here). I really dig Steve's new album, I'll Never Get Out Of This World Alive. Lucinda Williams is another of the biggest artists on the channel, and she's just released a great album, Blessed. Buddy Miller is not as well known, but he's played with both of them, along with Robert Plant, Patty Griffin, Solomon Burke and John Fogerty. I also like his own music, and his latest album, Majestic Silver Strings, is his most ambitious yet.

I'll also preview upcoming albums by Emmylou Harris and Alison Krauss & Union Station, and play a few tracks from Hayes Carll's new one, KMAG YOYO.  Carll is a great semi-up-and-coming artist, and another one I'd never have heard of without Outlaw Country.  So check out this video, I recently got to film them at SiriusXM doing the title track from the new album. (P.S. don't have a SiriusXM subscription? Go here to get a free online trial).

BUDDY MILLER'S "THE MAJESTIC SILVER STRINGS"

This is actually a group, led by Buddy Miller, one of my favorite artists of the '00s. Buddy has made great records on his own and with his wife, Julie Miller.  He produced two of my favorite albums of 2010, Robert Plant's Band Of Joy and Patty Griffin's Downtown Church. I actually discovered Buddy as a member of Emmylou Harris' band during her Spyboy era (I saw him open for her and play guitar in her band about a decade ago).

Bill Frisell, a kind of art-jazz guy who has played a lot with John Zorn and also Vernon Reid, is also in the band. So is Marc Ribot, another guy who has played with Zorn, but he's played a lot with Tom Waits as well. And finally, Greg Leisz, who I know mainly as the steel guitarist who plays with Matthew Sweet, but he's played for tons of other artists as well.

This album features mostly traditional country songs re-interpreted in interesting ways with lots of guest vocalists, including Patty, Emmylou, Julie, Lee Ann Womack and Mark Anthony Thompson (aka Chocolate Genius, a solo artist who played with Bruce Springsteen's Seeger Sessions Band). It doesn't come off as a gimmicky record-label contrived production, it's quite good.  I like Buddy's simpler stuff, and I'd also like to hear more of Buddy singing (he mostly stays back and lets other people sing), but it is a really cool album, very ambitious. It reminds me in some ways of Don Was' Orquestra Was project, just in how it takes country to a very different place.  A lot of this album makes me feel like I am at a beach party in Hawaii as the sun is coming up.

The highlights: the most rocking song on the album is Roger Miller's "Dang Me" (given a different twist by Chocolate Genius, singing "they oughta take a rope and hang me!") and Emmylou's take on '50s country singer Stonewall Jackson's "Why I'm Walkin'." Buddy and Marc take the vocals on George Jones' "Why Baby Why" which is excellent and Julie sings "God's Wing'ed House," which she wrote the lyrics to (Marc wrote the music).

If you've heard of Buddy Miller and want to check him out, this is NOT where to start. For that, I'd go with Buddy & Julie's The Best Of The Hightone Years.  But give this one a few listens, it's rewarding.

LUCINDA WILLIAMS - "BLESSED"

A good friend of mine, who is a big Lucinda Williams fan, was worried about her new album, Blessed. "She writes so well about broken relationships," my friend said.  Now that's she's (hopefully) happily married, will she be as good as she was?

I pointed out that "Passionate Kisses" is one of her classic songs, and it seems to deal with being in a relationship that has lasted a while.  Car Wheels On A Gravel Road, her greatest album (and the one against all of her others will always be measured, at least in my mind) has a lot more than just breakup/heartbreak songs. I'm always optimistic anyway.

But it was like Lucinda heard my friend, because the opening track/first single, "Buttercup," is a kiss off to an ex-. But Lu is in a different place right now, and it takes courage to try and write about being happy. I think that's where she got the album title, Blessed. I love the artwork int he album - there's a series of people, who look like they are of varying economic circumstances, holding a sign that says "blessed." (You can see video testimonials by regular people who talk about what it means to be "blessed" at Lucinda's YouTube page.)

Like most of Lucinda's recent albums, there's definitely some weepers, but also some flat out rockers.  I totally dig "Seeing Black" (fair enough, another breakup song... by the way, both this song and "Buttercup" feature Elvis Costello on electric guitar). The soul of the album lies with the title track, where Lucinda sees the beauty in everyday life. I don't think she could have written this one 15 years ago. It comes right after "Soldier's Song," which compares a soldier's day with that of his wife and child back home.

Another great song is "Kiss Like Your Kiss," which Lu originally recorded with Elvis Costello for True Blood. Here, it is a solo version.

Don Was produced this album, and I think he did a great job. He's done some cool Outlaw Country type albums over the years, working with Willie Nelson and Elizabeth Cook, and he really stays out of the way here and lets Lu make another really solid album. Well done!

Interesting to see that for the second album in a row, Matthew Sweet sings backing vocals.  Lu, bring him out on the road!

As I mentioned, all of Lucinda's albums (at least to me) will be compared to Car Wheels. I don't think that Blessed is as good as that album, but it is really good and I'd be psyched to hear most of these songs in concert.

P.S. I'll also mention that the "deluxe" version of this album is worth getting: it features a second disc with Lucinda doing solo acoustic versions of all the songs, recorded live at her kitchen table!

STEVE EARLE "I'LL NEVER GET OUT OF THIS WORLD ALIVE"

Interesting album title for a left-wing country singer who has endured drug addiction, the slammer and seven marriages.  I was starting to think that Steve Earle might just be a durable as Keith Richards!

I'm a huge Steve Earle fan (he was one of my favorite artists of the '00s), and I was excited to get an advance copy of his new album, I'll Never Get Out Of This World Alive, which is a reference to a Hank Williams lyric (and also the title of Steve's upcoming novel, about Hank's doctor, who is haunted by Hank's ghost). I did not get the advance from the label by the way, and I have also pre-ordered the album. I am happy to pay for a Steve Earle album.  Steve's albums always have cool artwork, which is part of the whole package.  Anyway, you know me: I like to have the "official" version.

This album is produced by T-Bone Burnett (or as I sometimes call him, "Him Again!"), and features Steve reunited with his band The Dukes, and also features his wife Allison Moorer. That's a lot of stuff going on, but everyone works well together.  Not all of the songs are "new," per se: "This City" is from the HBO show Treme (which features Steve as an actor), and "God Is God" and "I Am A Wanderer" are songs that Steve wrote for Joan Baez's 2008 album Day After Tomorrow, which he produced.

So those are the details: the album is a really rootsy affair. I always figured if Steve and the Dukes got together again, it would be a rocking affair... maybe next time.  I don't mean to say that I don't like the album, though, I do.  I love it, it's one of my favorites of the year. It sounds like The Dukes went back in time a few decades... which is what I guess you hire T-Bone for. (By the way, I'm not putting him down, he's one of my favorite producers!)

I love the opening track, "Waitin' On The Sky," if I didn't know Steve wrote it, I would have thought it was an obscure traditional piece.  It's that timeless.  Both of the Baez songs are great - I prefer Steve's versions (disclaimer: although I love Joan's politics, and I think she seems like a really cool lady, I've never enjoyed her music).  I think Steve was really inspired when he had the opportunity to write for such a legend (although I think it's funny that they recorded the album in Nashville, it's not exactly where you'd think they'd be welcomed!).  "Heaven Or Hell" is also great - it's a duet with Allison Moorer.  I don't ever really get into the personal lives of artists, but I'll just say that I think this relationship will last.  I've seen them perform on stage, they have such a chemistry when they sing together, you can see the love and respect.  You can hear it on the record.

I've said it before - Steve Earle seems to be more "relevant" and important with each passing year.  He has an incredible catalog of music to live up to, and he pretty much always comes through (I didn't love his last album, Townes, but I would recommend all of his other albums). I'm looking forward to seeing Steve's tour, which will feature The Dukes with Allison on keyboards.  If you have a chance to catch this tour, do so.

DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS - "GO-GO BOOTS"

I write a hell of a lot about The Drive-By Truckers, they are one of my favorite groups in the world. I might go so far as to say that they are the best band in the world right now.  So, it's kind of a surprise that it's taken me a few weeks to review their latest album, Go-Go Boots.

The thing is, it usually takes me a few listens, a few days, maybe even a few weeks, to fully digest a new DBT album. Their albums are full on experiences, like Skynyrd's or Springsteen's were, or even The Replacements.  Those are the bands I most often compare The Drive-By Truckers to.

At first, I wasn't sure I loved this album as much as last year's The Big To-Do, which was my favorite album of 2010. But when I first heard that one, I wasn't sure I liked it as much as 2008's Brighter Than Creation's Dark.

So let me just say that Go-Go Boots is (yet) another incredible album. I understand that it was recorded at the same time as Big To-Do, but it definitely has a different vibe. It is a bit quieter, but also a bit darker. That said, my favorite song is a cover of Eddie Hinton's "Everybody Needs Love," which isn't so dark. I'd never heard that song - and I'm not sure I'd even heard of Eddie Hinton - before the Truckers released   a double A-sided 7" single, volume 2 in a series of tribute singles to Hinton.  Both songs ("Everybody Needs Love," sung by Patterson Hood, and "Where's Eddie," sung by Shonna Tucker) are on Boots. Sometimes I don't like when an album is built around a cover, but in this case, they aren't banking on the song's familiarity, it's the opposite: both songs are so great, and yet so obscure, that by bringing them to a bigger audience, everybody wins.

"Everybody Needs Love" is my favorite song on the album.  But it's all good, another one that stands out is "I Used To Be A Cop." If it were an acoustic song, it would belong on Springsteen's Nebraska. But I'll say it may belong on side four of The River instead. It's that good.

Patterson Hood often gets more attention than the rest of the band, and fair enough, he's often the one doing the interviews and communicating with fans online and via liner notes. But Mike Cooley is an equally good writer, and on this album, he seems to be heading in more of a classic country direction.  "Cartoon Gold" is a great song. In my mind, I could hear Willie Nelson covering it.  "The Weakest Man" could be a hit for one of country music's elder statesmen, like George Strait or Alan Jackson.

I've heard rumblings that the band may take an extended break after this album's tour wraps up. Fair enough, they've been touring and recording incessantly for the past few years. It's a bummer, I feel like I just started with the band, but these guys have been working hard for a long time. I do believe (ahem) that the world will catch up to them, and when they come back, they will be bigger than ever (hey, it happened with Primus). When I go to concerts today, I often wonder if the artist who I'm seeing will still be around in ten years.  I say that I'll be seeing DBT in twenty.

(by the way, let me take this moment to point out that without SiriusXM's Outlaw Country, I might not have become the big Drive-By Truckers fan that I am.  Yes, I work at SiriusXM, but Outlaw Country was one of the reasons I subscribed before I worked there - Underground Garage was another compelling reason.)  Also, let me give a little shout to Alabama Ass Whuppin', a great blog that covers the band way more comprehensively than I do.

TOMORROW ON OUTQ: NEXT YEAR'S ROCK HALL INDUCTEES (?)

Tomorrow morning on The Morning Jolt with Larry Flick on SiriusXM OutQ, I'll be in the studio talking about who *I* think should get into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame next year, and who actually has a chance of being inducted. I've written a lot about this lately (just check my last ten or so posts), and it is always an interesting conversation topic. Tune in!  If you don't have SiriusXM, you can get a free online trial here.

THE ARGUMENT - 5 MORE FOR THE HALL OF FAME

Well, it's been over a week since this year's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, congratulations to Tom Waits, Alice Cooper, Dr. John, Darlene Love, Neil Diamond and Leon Russell.  In the past few days, I've written "arguments" for who I think I deserves to be inducted in 2012 (and soon afterwards): KISS, The New York Dolls, Public Enemy, Bill Withers, Rush, Joy Division and Randy Rhoads. I'm about to wrap this theme up.  But there's five more artists I'd suggest for induction in the next few years.

The Cure. Some people may say that they haven't aged well, but I disagree.  I'd argue that they are sort of timeless. No matter what is the "in" thing, there's always going to be kids dressed in all black playing songs that reflect their feelings of alienation. But most of those songs won't be as good as the ones that Robert Smith has written. Sometimes The Cure is "in," and other times they aren't, but Smith has never seemed to care what's going on in the music scene. It's funny that a lot of people don't even know what they're about. I remember in the mid-90s going to see The Cure - a metal friend of mine was at the same show.  The next day he remarked that the show was really close to being a metal show. Everyone wearing black, really intense band, loud guitars.  I mean, "Fascination Street" is loud guitar rock.  I've read that Hendrix is one of Smith's biggest influences. This isn't the kind of the music that Hall of Fame voters generally gravitate towards, and they've never gotten much support from Rolling Stone, but they represent rock music that lives outside of the mainstream, and maybe occasionally visits. That's an important part of rock music though.

The Beastie Boys. Has any band ever had a more unlikely career arc? Starting out as an average hardcore punk band (nowhere near as good as say, Bad Brains, Black Flag or Minor Threat), they transformed themselves into the biggest hip-hop group ever (at the time) in the mid '80s with Licensed To Ill, using Run-D.M.C.'s template of Rick Rubin production, spare beats, loud guitars and cool samples. They then created a mind blowing album of hundreds of layers of samples on Paul's Boutique. For Check Your Head, the put everything together - hip-hop jams, hard rock anthems, hardcore punk rants, and even added some really funky instrumental tracks. They became one of the few bands who could unite hipster, suburban jocks, punks and hip-hoppers, not to mention the Lollapalooza crowd. Along the way, they created the template for The Jerky Boys and a million morning radio shows (for better or worse) with "Cookie Puss," made fake country music as Country Mike, shot some iconic music videos, and went from being drunken brats to global activists, without losing any of their cool. They made it cool to care about a tiny country that many Americans never heard of on the other side of the world. And an unbelievable catalog of incredible songs.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers, one of my favorite bands ever. Like The Beastie Boys, influenced by hardcore punk, hip-hop and funk, but coming from an entirely different place (the Hollywood Hills). Also like the B-Boys, they started out as pranksters who weren't necessarily a band you'd take too seriously, but they grew up over the years, and their writing got deeper. Everything came together on Bloodsugarsexmagik, as perfect of an album as anyone's ever done. I can't wait to hear their new album, which will hopefully come out later this year.

No one works in the service of the music like Emmylou Harris. She always seems to know the right thing to do, the right inflection, to make a song hit the exact right note. She's a great writer, but if she doesn't have anything, she has no problem using other people's materials. It's not about her ego. She's a great collaborator: of course she came up with country-rock legend Gram Parsons, and then went on to become a legend in her own right. But still, it seems that she doesn't mind singing backup if she likes the song or the artist enough. And talk about aging gracefully, she seems to get better with each year. I think her older friends prefer her '70s or '80s albums, but my favorite is the one where I discovered her: Wrecking Ball.

Motorhead. I think the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame should be, above all else, about influence. Few bands have influenced more groups than Motorhead. Heavy metal would be a different genre without Motorhead. Check out their documentary, it's a big "exhibit A" for why they should be inducted.

Of course, there are lots of other artists who I think should get in, including Black Flag, Warren Zevon, LL Cool J, Willie Nelson, Loretta Lynn, The MC5, The Replacements, X, Cheap Trick and Peter Gabriel to name a few. So, tune in next year for more discussions on this topic!