James Hyland -- Celestial Navigation [Buy This Now]

I've had James Hyland's Celestial Navigation on my iPhone since before it was released earlier this week but finally found time to give it a listen. I will say that I am glad I didn't let it go any longer and that I love this fucking album. I just started my third listen all the way through.

Hyland, formerly of the South Austin Jug Band, spent a good, long time crafting this record, honing the songs and the sound at places like Momo's, the Saxon Pub and the Mean Eyed Cat over the last two years in front of dozens of people (literally). The resulting record is nothing short of incredible. Cohorts Warren Hood, Willie Pipkin, Kim Deschamps, Robb Kidd, Chris Maresh and Dennis Ludiker lend their tremendous talents to Hyland's vision-brought-to-life very skillfully by producer Steven Doster.

Having seen Hyland live year after year in the various forms of the South Austin Jug Band and solo, I've seen these songs evolve and evolve (Come To Me, 2008.04.01) and I can say with some modicum of authority that the result is nothing short of perfection. The ten tracks on this record flow seamlessly from one to another and yet each is able to stand firmly on its own. There is not a low point on the record. IMO, that speaks to the strength of Hyland's songwriting and collective vision and execution between him and Doster and the players, known here as the Joint Chiefs.

"American Son", "21 Days 21 Towns", "Paint A Girl" and "Girls From Lake Ponchartrain" are my early favorites after three listens.

Please, please, please, do yourself a favor and go download this record from bandcamp:
http://jameshyland.bandcamp.com/

Hyland is employing the name your-own-price pricing tier which includes FREE. Whatever you can afford, it will be worth your hard earned greenbacks or silver to pick up this record. What the hell are you waiting for? Go. Buy. Download. Listen.

If you're interested, you can find some recent Hyland live performances over at the LMA:
http://www.archive.org/details/jameshyland2010-08-27.fm.flac [solo, radio show]





http://www.archive.org/details/jameshyland2010-07-10.matrix.flac [Joint Chiefs (band) show]

Alt-512's Monthly Album Reviews & Recommendations [Condensed Version]

We said a while ago that Kevin Russell of the Gourds has long been one of our favorite ENTERTAINERS. That hasn't changed, of course and we'd like to take this opportunity to plug his latest record, under the moniker Shinyribs, called Well After Awhile [out May 18th on Nine Mile Records].

In addition to always keeping the arrangements interesting [remember the tubas on "Sam Morgan"???], Shinyribs manages to walk that fine line as only Kev Russell can between potent spirituality/soul that springs from the lyrics/phrasing and the wit/humor found on the likes of "Country Cool" and "Poor People's Store".

From "Country Cool":

I don't like giving my dollars to China for this plastic paradigm

But I'll give 'em all to Mexico and Milwaukee twelve aluminum cans at a time

Our favorites on this record include the aforementioned "Poor People's Store" and "Country Cool", "Fisherman's Friend", "Who Built The Moon", "(If You Need The) 442" and "East Tx Rust" which to us feels a little like Elvis' funky version of Chuck Berry's "Promised Land" and even features a verse from perennial alt-512 favorite Ray Wylie Hubbard.

Some other notes:

-Anytime anyone can work the phrase "sexy funeral" into a song [as Kev Russell does on "(If You Need The) 442"], we are in. No questions asked.

-"Poor People's Store" gets a lot of Roger Miller-esque mileage out of a ukuele + (bongos?) + tambourine + bass + vox arrangement on a very cleverly crafted succinct, statement of a song.

-We have no idea who did the art on Well After Awhile nor do we have any idea who did the artwork on Jon Snodgrass and Cory Branan's S/T but there are similarities. Thats all we're saying. 'Nuff said? Let's move on.

With nary a weak spot on this record, Well After Awhile is definitely going to find a spot in our favorite records of 2010.

East Tx Rust:

Alt-512's Monthly Album Reviews & Recommendations

In sharp contrast to the speed that seemed to rush February and March, April has been been moving by a nice leisurely pace and we're just now getting around to writing up James Keyes' Ruminations which we've been listening to for a good chunk of the month.

The first thing that strikes us is Keyes' voice which immediately conjurs recollections of the rasp inherent to the likes of Otis Gibbs and Ryan Bingham coupled with the low wash of fellow New Englanders Slaid Cleaves and/or Rod Picott. The songs themselves fall somewhere in the Ray Wylie Hubbard and Gurf Morlix realm in terms of the sense of spiritualism and stripped down honesty. Sometimes, less is more. And that is definitely the case with Keyes' Ruminations.

Our notes:

-"Chapter Six" is interesting in its use of overdubbed clips from a reading of Genesis Chapter Six. Having spent a lot time in church and Sunday schools studying the bible in a former life, we dig this song. The coolness factor on "Chapter Six" is off the charts - but probably only for us.

-On "Where Have You Been", when Keyes says "the weeds", we swear we can almost definitely hear Tom Waits saying "Louise, Louise."

-None of the songs are really pretentious or full of themselves or, hell, even indulgent really. They all get to the point, make the point and clear the way for the next. Impressive, really. A lesser artist might have strung these songs into something beyond Keyes' easy succinctness but the 44 minutes of Ruminations' 15 songs speed by with effortless ease keeping the listener fully engaged and entertained.

-Our other favorites from this record are the intro "Hardliner", "Work Song", "Black Ceiling", "When Will I Be Free", "Little Lamb" and "SSG".

-All in all seven or eight tracks made it onto the iPod and that's quite a shot better that most.

We're hoping Keyes makes his way to Austin very soon. Until then, we'll be digging this record that's equal parts of a whole lot of the things we love.

Hardliner:

Black Ceiling:

SSG:

Alt-512's Monthly Album Reviews & Recommendations [Condensed Version]

March sped by and we even though missed the bulk of the SXSW craziness between traveling and (real, bill-paying) work, we have hardly had time to listen to the submissions from our friends at ReviewShine. When the month started, we had downloaded a bunch of records but only one caught our ear this month and that one ended up in continuous rotation on the alt512 iPhone. The record we're pumping this month is Sara Petite's Doghouse Rose.

Sara Petite's voice is classic country. The songs themselves, all written by Petite except for one co-write and a Harlan Howard cover, remind us of the best of the best stuff that Chip Taylor wrote for his collaborations with Carrie Rodriguez a few years back. But it's more than that. The songs themselves run the gamut from bluegrass ("Bootleggers") to singer/songwriter ("Souvenirs", not the Prine/Goodman song) to straight country/honky-tonk ("Doghouse Rose", "Baby Let Me In") and even a little pop.

"Crazy" embodies the element of Doghouse Rose that we identify with most: honesty. We find all too often that artists tend to veil emotion or action at the risk of offending god-knows-who or in the interest of art or poetry (not that there's anything wrong with that). We kinda like things frank sometimes and Sara Petite delivers on the bad-decison-making-romp of "Crazy":

We made love in the church, we made love on the bar

The hotel, the motel, the love in the car

And we were crazy, oh so crazy

He had me swinging from the tables to the chandeliers

And whiskey was a-grinnin' from ear to ear

After the first few listens something really struck us: that this sounded like a Nashville record. Of course, we're not the biggest Nashville fans but what we came to find after a few more listens was that these songs, the things that can make or break a record before it's even recorded, were SPECTACULAR, regardless of the arrangement and Nashville-y production. Like the Tim Harwill record we latched onto back in January, we're definitely going to be buying the rest of the Sara Petite catalog as soon as humanly or digitally possible.

Between this and Harwill's The Wander Man Revisited, we have our early front-runners for the album of the year. [Yeah, I know Doghouse Rose was released in 2009 but I didn't get a heads up about it until this year, so there you go.]

We cannot recommend this record strongly enough.

Alt-512's Monthly Album Reviews & Recommendations [Condensed Version]

February, in addition to being intolerably short, has been really busy for us here at the alt512. Thanks to the fine folks over at ReviewShine, we recently listened to a record we wanted to pass along. This gem comes from The Shivering Denizens. Sometimes, it's hard to put into words what you like about a new band but there is no mystery with the Shivering Denizens. In the long line of punks-gone-honkytonk that includes Mike Ness (of Social D) and Mike Herrera (of MxPx). The songs on The Shivering Denizens' self-titled debut would fit well on any punk release. Clocking in at just under thirty minutes, this record is jam packed with brilliant punk sensibilities, not our least favorite of which is their in-your-face vulgarity and explicit material, rocked up (or honky tonked-up, in this case) in true rockabilly style.

With scarcely a weak spot on the record, we're giving this record our highest recommendation. You can buy the record here.

Looks like these guys will be in town for SXSW and we'll be sure to go check them out. We recommend you do the same if they come to a town or dive bar or rehab clinic near you.

A CD Recommendation

Reckless Kelly (site, myspace) has a new record coming June 24th called Bulletproof. I caught an advance listen today and let me just say it's a really great sounding record. Great new songs and just a fantastic record.

Buy the record. Go out and catch a show. They're in Austin on the 24th of June for the cd release show at Antone's. The Gougers (site, myspace) open up. Don't miss out.

Two New Records You Need

Read reviews of these two records on any Americana or Country music site. But I'm not reviewing them. I'm endorsing them. I wouldn't steer you wrong. Just finished one listen to each and I can say with some certainty that I'm going to have them on my iTunes all day long. And probably all day tomorrow too. What records, you ask?

James McMurtry's Just Us Kids (site, myspace, order the record)
Eleven Hundred Springs' Country Jam (site, myspace, order the record)

You won't regret it.