Monthly Archives: January 2014

Episode #12 featuring Morgan Geer of Drunken Prayer

Posted on by

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

maxresdefault

Morgan Geer with Christa and Leon

Episode #12 with Morgan Geer/Drunken Prayer

Holy moly, what a week we’ve had here at the Podcast. We celebrated the launch of the new website by hitting the shows hard in Portland, among them: American Aquarium, Patterson Hood, Jayke Orvis and James Hunicutt and, of course, the usual smattering of top-notch local acts that we love to support.

The weekend wrapped with an incredible evening at Root Jack’s CD Release. The band was in top form, as was the crowd. Great stuff. Needed all of Sunday to recover from that one. Mercy.

This week on the podcast we’re airing for the first time a performance and interview that Eric recorded in The Helm with Morgan Geer of Drunken Prayer. Morgan returned to his former hometown to play some shows celebrating the release of his new record, House of Morgan, out now on Fluff & Gravy Records. He’s joined here by his lovely bride Christa, who shares some sweet backing vocals on a couple of very nice tunes. We think you’re gonna dig it, naturally.

The show also features plenty of brand new music from some of our favorites. We have a new songs from soon-to-be-released records by Lydia Loveless, Scott H Biram and The Low Bones. Also, a song from local boys The Resolectics, who will be featured at our next Podcast showcase show on Feb. 13 at the Alberta Street Pub.

So thanks for dialing in!

Here’s this week’s playlist:

That Much Further West (Demo, show theme), Lucero
Dead Man’s Hand, Root Jack
Really Wanna See You, Lydia Loveless
High Water, The Resolectrics
Slow & Easy, Scott H Biram
Jerry Was a Race Car Driver, Les Claypool’s Duo De Twang
Hard-Core Troubadour, Steve Earle
Your Mistake, Emily Herring
And So It Ends, James Hunnicutt
Broken Bottles, Sons Of Bill
The Jealous Kind, Chris Knight
Bound To Ride, Jayke Orvis and the Broken Band
Bring The Noise, The Unholy Trio
On Mobile Bay (Live from The Helm), Drunken Prayer
Interview with Morgan Geer
The Selfishness Of Man (Live from The Helm), Drunken Prayer
Frenchy, Drunken Prayer
Waiting For The Dawn, The Low Bones
O, Jolene!, The Hooten Hallers
Lonesome Down And Out, Jason Eady
Made To Break, Otis Gibbs
Knock Out Roses (For Levon), Tim Easton
Factory Girls, Flogging Molly (featuring Lucinda Williams)
Far From Any Road, The Handsome Family
Whiskey Angel, The Black Lillies
I Dreams I Saw Jesse James Last Night, Charlie Parr
Lift My Jug, William Elliott Whitmore
Fuck Oh Dear, Jackass
Skid Row, Chris Shiflett & The Dead Peasants
Gone, I Can Lick Any Sonofabitch In The House
Oval Room, Blaze Foley

 

Episode #11 featuring Sarah Gwen

Posted on by

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

890_sarah_portrait_large

Sarah Gwen

 

Episode #11 with Sarah Gwen

Woo-hoo! We’re up and running with the new website! And psyched to share Episode #11 featuring the great Portland singer-songwriter Sarah Gwen live from The Helm. Fresh off her brilliant performance at the That Much Further West Podcast Showcase at Alberta Street Pub, Sarah stopped by our podcast taping for an interview and to perform a couple of a beautiful original songs.

Turns out Sarah’s as lovely and fun to be around as she is talented, and we all had a blast hanging around The Helm, drinking beer and whiskey and sharing stories. Really a fun time for the TMFWP crew.

And if you local Portlanders like what you hear from Sarah, check her out with her band tonight (Jan. 23) at Dante’s.

We also put together a great songlist of some more of our favorite songs from 2013. We think you’ll enjoy the listen. Here’s the playlist:

Righteous, Ragged Songs, Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires
Let Me In, Austin Lucas
Wichita Skyline, Drag The River
Greedy (Live in The Helm), Sarah Gwen
Interview with Sarah Gwen
Miss Her (Live In The Helm), Sarah Gwen
Boy Crazy, Lydia Loveless
Songs We Used To Sing, Possessed By Paul James
Done With You, Jack Rabbit
Nobody Gives A Damn About Songs Anymore, John Moreland
Stars & Gutters, Two Cow Garage
Different Days, Jason Isbell
Mayberrry, I Can Lick Any Sonofabitch In The House
The GB Shuffle, Arliss Nancy
Long I Ride, Robbie Fulks
Paradise, Jamestown Revival
The Whole Damn Bottle, Copper & Coal
Wasted Life, Lauderdale
Family Home, Great Peacock
Deadman’s Blues, Matt Woods
Six Bottles Of Wine, The Ganges River Band
One More Thing I Wished I’d Said, Amber Digby
Cut Em Loose, Leroy Powell & The Messengers
Dancing and Vodka, David Ramirez
Drink You Back Again, Ocean Carolina

 

 

Review of Ron Rogers and the Wailing Wind

Posted on by

ronrogers

Ron Rogers And The Wailing Wind (2013, Civil Defense; www.civildefensemusic.com)

Like any great bar band, Ron Rogers and The Wailing Wind are groove merchants. They never fail to deliver that special, sneaky musical something that gets toes tapping and backsides wiggling.

And on their new, self-titled CD, they prove equally adept at capturing the groove in the recording studio. Right from the start of the first song, “Hard Working Hands,” the band settles into that fluid place where rhythm, tempo and tone melt together and begin to seep into the listener’s bloodstream.

Credit Rogers — the Portland band’s lead vocalist and guitar player — for his ability to ingrain the groove in the varied, soul-soaked Americana music he writes. There’s a swampy, gravelly, back roads quality that runs throughout his work. It’s all over this new CD, just like it was on the band’s previous release, 2011’s stunning Country & Eastern (2011).

Four songs into the new disc, it’s hard not to get lost in the hypnotic groove and excellent, southern-fried storytelling that are the hallmarks of Rogers’ work. Just then, during the later moments of “Kid Stormy Weather,” the song takes a left turn down a dream-like path paved in tremolo and delay.

From there, the listener travels into a revival world of saints, sinners, preachers and anti-heroes, where salvation awaits the wanting but where Satan is always lurking around the corner, waiting for another shot at the soul.

While the songs feature enough curious characters and musical quirks to keep listeners on their toes, the band doesn’t stray much from its signature sound, with the pedal steel guitar and Rogers’ electric holding the spotlight. On “Rad Johnny,” Rogers and steel player Dave Grafe trade licks with playful ease. All the while, drummer Chris Bond and bassist Don Campbell hold down the groove with a smart, uncluttered approach.

Several of the songs on Ron Rogers And The Wailing Wind rank among Rogers’ best. Tunes like “When My Baby Gets Down,” “Haywire” and “Soul Salvation” are instantly recognizable after just one listen and demonstrate best how a great bar band operates: lay down the groove, load up the dance floor, then burn the place down.

— Phil Favorite
That Much Further West Podcast

Review of Drag The River

Posted on by

CD_F2-1

I’m not a music critic. I’m not a musician. I am just one lucky SOB who has been working in venues and with bands for better part of my adult life.

— Mike Lee
That Much Further West Podcast

Drag The River (2013, Last Chance Records)

I first head Drag The River in the summer of 2001. I was managing the Bluebird Theatre in Denver, Colorado and we were hosting a 30th birthday party for Luke Schmaltz (lead singer of the seminal Denver punk band, King Rat). The band tapped to play was Drag The River. I had not heard the band yet and judging by the cast of characters assembled on stage and in the crowd I was ready for a punk rock show. I mean, for Christ sake, I had seen every single member over the previous year in their separate punk bands.

I was too busy to notice the pedal steel sitting on stage. I suppose from the first note plucked I was definitely intrigued. I am not sure if it took a full song to be all in and wanting to leave my post at the bar and set up in front of the stage with a large glass of bourbon and a smile.  The show was epic. The party was an epic adventure with many stories still told to this day.

I bought the Hobo Demo’s cd the band had at the show and it was in heavy rotation over the next couple of months (or the past dozen years). Listening to that album made me feel like I had suddenly been given a road map following a lifetime of roads traveled listening to old country with my step dad and the punk rock I ingested later in life.

Here I sit over a dozen years later and once again I am wearing out the newest release from Drag The River. A 10 song, self-titled recording released on Last Chance Records. The EP is everything I have come to expect from a Drag The River record. The songs rock. They twang. They are punk. They are country. The lyrics will make you slam whiskey; hug a friend and drunk dial an ex in less than 30 minutes.

In my life, the punk rock heroes picked up acoustic guitars and slowed it down with charged songs about living, family, addiction, the road and so much more. The gentlemen in Drag The River (Jon Snodgrass and Chad Price) can hold their own with anybody in that group while bringing their own humor, stories and the ability to rip out a scorching rock tune with plenty of twang. They are steady. They are part of home base. I suspect 12 years from now I will find as much solace in this new EP, Drag The River as I do in the original recording.

Interested in learning more about Drag The River? Go to www.dragtheriver.com for show dates, merch and music information. They will be on tour this winter with Cory Branan.

The music can also be purchased at Last Chance Records www.lastchancerecords.com

For more info about their other projects look up:

Jon Snodgrass: Armchair Martian / Jon Snodgrass / Scorpios

Chad Price: All / Chad Price

JJ Nobody: The Nobodys

Review of Copper & Coal

Posted on by

copper&coalcover

Copper & Coal (2013, self released)

The women of Copper & Coal present a striking vision on stage. With their beautifully detailed evening gowns and towering presence, they demand your attention even before the first note of music is played.

Their voices, though, prove even more arresting.

Check out “Kentucky Blue” (www.reverbnation.com/copperandcoal/song/18224686-kentucky-blue) from their new self-titled debut. A short line of steel guitar opens the ears to the signature sound of Leslie Beia and Carra Stasney harmonizing in a pitch-perfect union that recalls the best of old Nashville.

No auto-tune needed here, folks. These ladies can really belt it out, which they demonstrate throughout this 10-song collection produced by local country legend Caleb Klauder.

Having common roots growing up in their native state of Michigan, and a shared love of country music, the vocal duo came together at Beia’s regular Monday night gig at the Landmark Saloon in Portland. Almost instantly, they found they were on to something special and drew the attention of some of the finest local players — all standing at the ready to back them up.

Branching out, Beia and Stasney were determined to produce a recording to share with a growing audience. Klauder answered the call and along with engineer Jordan Leff helped create this collection of classic-style tunes that would have sounded great on country radio in the 1950s and every era since.

Copper & Coal also gave Stasney and Beia a chance to flex their formidable songwriting chops. The disc features just one cover song, Dolly Parton’s “Dagger Through The Heart,” which fits nicely among the nine others (included seven written by Stasney specifically for the project).

And they hit all the right classic-country notes with songs of longing, drinking, honky -tonking, heartbreak and cheating. Buoyed by terrific performances on fiddle (Luke Price), steel (Gary Newcomb, Russ Blake) and mandolin (Klauder), the music takes the listener back to a time when content mattered and talent trumped all.

An impressive debut, Copper & Coal is sure to draw in new fans to a classic stye of country music, and also bodes well for an act just starting to take off.

— Phil Favorite
That Much Further West Podcast