Americana Gazette February - March 2012

MERICANA GAZETTEAFebruary / March 2012

Feature Story: Chelsea Crowell

Carell CaseyDoug SiesJoe BlantonMad Toast - Chris Wagoner and Mary GainesBilly DeanFarmer Jason New CDSupe Granda (Ozark Mountain Daredevils)Miktek MicrophonesDolly Parton's New BookLefty - Chelsea Crowell's PetJason and the Scorchers Concert in BloomingtonRemembrance of Dobie GrayBuck Owens Book (Biography)CD Review's + Other Short Stories

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PUBLISHERJoyce Ziehli • [email protected]

SENIOR EDITORAndy Ziehli • [email protected]

STAFF WRITERS/PHOTOSCelia Carr

Travis Cooper

Litt Dubay

Frye Gaillard

Robert Hoffman

Anne Miller

Jim Smith

Bobby Westfall

Rosemary Ziehli

www.amer i canagaze t t e .ne t

MERICANA GAZETTEA

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Greetings!

Well, it looks as if we all survived the holidays. I man-aged to stay on my diet even though it was deep into“fudge season”. Christmas and New Year’s were great.We were able to spend time with our friends and fami-lies.

The week after Christmas I experienced one ofWiscon-sin’s most popular sports – bouncing deer off your ve-hicle! It was 6:40A.M.,pitch dark and I was on my wayback to work after the long holiday weekend. I washalfway to New Glarus and all of a sudden out jumpeda deer, coming from the other side of the road. I got areal close up of it as it passed by my windshield. Ibumped it with my front right end of my car. As the carstopped and the metal and deer fur met, the deer gaveme that look like“what the hell, you just hit me.”

After getting out of the car, checking for damage on thevehicle and watching the deer run off, I calledAndy frommy cell. Now this is where the story gets even better.WhenAndy answered, I said“I just hit a deer.” Now youwould think he might ask if I was OK,but oh no, this ishow the conversation went. Andy:“Buck or Doe?” Joyce:“Doe”.Andy:“Is the deer dead or alive?” Joyce:“Alive.”

Andy: “How much damage to the car?” Joyce: “Notmuch”. I think you see what I’m talking about. I finallysaid,“And by the way, I’m Ok if you are interested.”

He did stop by my work later to look over the vehicleand help me pull deer fur out of the grill. (And he mighthave mentioned he was glad I didn’t get hurt – 4 hoursafter the fact!)

Just another day in the life and times of JoyceZiehli……stay tuned for more exciting adventures!

Joyce ZiehliPublisher

Rob Kosmeder

Anne Sullivan

CREATIVE DIRECTORRic Genthe • [email protected]

www.amer i canagaze t t e .ne t

Welcome toAmericanaGazette

3

TABLE OF CONTENTSWHERE TO LOOK3 Music 2012

4 Litt DuBay’s Slant

5 Women InThe Round -Carell Casey

6 Dobie Gray

6 Jason & the Scorchers

8 Love, Live,Music

9 Joe Blanton

10 CD Reviews

12 A Pet Note -

13 Billy Dean

13 Bob’s Guitar Corner - Golden Slippers

13 Miktek

14 MadToast Live

16 Chelsea Crowell

18 Wisconsin to Florida

19 Women and Crime

19 Celia's Column

20 Lady GaGa

21 Billy Dean

22 Buck Owens - The Biography,Eileen Sisk

23 Robert’s Ramblings

24 Farmer Jason

24 Farmer Jason - Active & Delight

26 Supe Granda

The Americana Gazette is printed by:The Print Center • Brodhead, Wi. 53520

AMERICANA GAZETTE% Andy & Joyce ZiehliP.O. BOX 208 • Belleville, WI. 53508

OFFICE: 608-424-6300Andy Cell: 608-558-8131Joyce Cell: 608-558-8132

• Lincoln Durham - The Shovel Vs.The Howling Bones - Produced by RayWylieHubbard

• Ed Littlefield, Jr. - MyWestern Home - Eight classicWestern songs from Ed, a fa-vorite steel player of legendary Cowboy Jack Clement andThe Dead's BobWeirand Mickey Hart

• In The Life of Jeremy Fink - The soundtrack for the Independent Film, JeremyFink &The Meaning Of Life (starring Mira Sorvino, Joey Pantoliano and MichaelUrie) is getting tremendous response!

• Chris Cook - Remembering Chris is one of the hardest working guys in show-biz, and a heck of a musician. "Chris is good," noted acclaimed bassist for Mother'sFinest,Wyzard. "I like the style.His voice reminds me of Rickie Medlocke.The writ-ing is very good, the songs all take me somewhere.Remembering is well producedand well played.A keeper!"

• Michael Martin Murphey - Tall Grass & CoolWater - Michael just completedhis 19th Cowboy ChristmasTour,with 18 of 20 sellout dates.

Information supplied by: LCMedia – Lance Cowan

• Julie Ingram - Thank God - Julie is a lifetime member of the Songwriter’s Hallof Fame and recently accepted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville.

Information provide by: Music City News Media & Marketing Nashville • TN

• Laurie Lewis - SKIPPIN’AND FLYIN’ -A personal tribute to the Father of Blue-grass, Bill Monroe, on the 100th anniver-sary of his birth, and mixes songs from thebluegrass repertoire and contemporary writers and Lewis’ originals. In turns lively,exciting, deep and heartfelt, the songs feature Lewis’ expressive vocals and instru-mentation by GRAMMYAward-winning bassist Todd Phillips, the legendary CraigSmith on banjo, and mandolinist/vocalist Tom Rozum.

• Carolann Ames - Austin,TX —Texas-born,California-based singer-songwriterCarolannAmes, about whose sound one writer enthused,“pretty doesn’t do thismusic justice,”will release onTuesday, January 17, her latest album,LAURELCANYON ROAD,which features her strong but tender vocals and her countryroots as the artist expands the wide range of Americana.

Information by: McGuckin Entertainment PR, Austin, Texas

•Willie Niles - The ranks ofWillie Nile’s fans include Bruce Springsteen,who hasinvited him to perform with the E Street Band on multiple occasions, including apair of historic shows at NewYork’s Shea Stadium and Giant Stadium, and PeteTownshend,who personally requested him as the opening act onTheWho’s 1980U.S. tour. ”

• Ruthie Foster - A regular nominee at Austin Music Awards,winning Best FolkArtist in 2004-05 and Best Female Vocalist in 2007-08.Broadening her sound byblending blues and soul aspects into her folk roots, Ruthie added a Grammy nomi-nation to her list of achievements (Best Contemporary Blues Album for her last stu-dio release, 2009’sTheTruthAccording to Ruthie Foster ).And, in a nod to herastounding range, she then won seemingly contradictory Blues Music Associationawards for both BestTraditional and Best Contemporary Female Blues Artist inback-to-back years.

Information by: Cary Baker – Conqueroo

• Samantha Crain - A Simple Jungle - The record features two brand new tracksproduced by JohnVanderslice: "It's Simple" and "Cadwell Jungle."

Information by: Ramseur Records

• A "LIGHT" for Lorraine & the "Road" - A LIGHT INTHEWINDOW,AGAINpenned by Ms.Dixie &TomT.Hall is lighting the way up national and internationalcharts for Carolina Road and Lorraine Jordan. "Light" was inspired by GovernorPaul E. Patton's speech at the dedication of Bill Monroe's homeplace at Rosine,KY.

Information provided by: Good Home Grown Music | P.O. Box 680126 |Franklin, TN 37068

NewMusic to be checking out in 2012:

Ed Littlefield, Jr.

Jeremy Fink

Michael Martin Murphey

Julie Ingram

Chris Cook

Carolann Ames

Lincoln Durham

Ruthie Foster

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LittDuBay’sRant!

by Litt DuBay

Snow! Bigfoot! Fat CAt!O’le Litt Dubay here enjoying the very little snow we are having inWisconsin this year so far. I’ve seen more snow in a MiamiVice rerunthan I’ve seen this year around here!

I love that talking dog video. You know the bacon eating one. Thatdog’s funnier than watching Ziehli try to justify giving an orphan gui-tar a new home in his collection to Joyce.

I love to watch shows about weird stuff like UFO’s and Bigfoots. Mynewest obsession is “Finding Bigfoot.” These goofy half-witted inves-tigators search all over the US for Bigfoots. There’s a guy named BoBowho looks like a Bigfoot. I can’t help but yell at theTV“he’s standingright there”every time BoBo comes on. The other night they were inRhode Island searching for Bigfoots. Hell Rhode Island ain’t big enough for a real Bigfoot to turn around in let alonelive! Bigfoots live in wide open spaces with lots of trees and mountains and such. Not in Condo’s and city parks. Theinvestigators are always howling and grunting like Bigfoot to get Bigfoots attention. First how in the hell do theyknow what a Bigfoot sounds like when nobody’s ever caught one? They listen and always say“there’s a squash in the-ses woods”! There might be squash in them there woods, but they’ve never filmed a Bigfoot yet!

They should film a reality show at the Fat Cat in New Glarus. Theonly trouble is there is no one there who is real. They are all figmentsof Miller’s imagination except Ziehli who is more of a permanentblight on the place! The Mensa club is not really up to par becauseif you added all their IQ’s together with their credit scores you wouldnot get a 100 between all of them!

Ziehli went to a party the other night at his friends,Bill and Joan’s. Billasked Ziehli “when was the last time you were out here”. Ziehlireplied“you mean when you were home?” Bill did not think that wasfunny at all! Bill had read a story that said the larger your head cir-cumference was the smarter you were. He then stated that he hada really big head. He got out the tape measure and measured Ziehli’shead and his to see whose was bigger. Ziehli won which really madeBill mad. He then proceeded to measure all the guy’s heads whowere there. He came in dead last, thus proving nothing except thathe needs to get some better party games for future get togethers!

Have you been watching the Republican primary stuff on TV? It’sbetter than midget wrestling! Them boys are meaner to each otherthan Miller is to his regulars! Poor old Newt Gingrich (who wouldname their kid after a lizard); them other Republicans are really meanto him. They told him he was not conservative enough to be a Re-publican. Nitt (or Mitt) Romney the kinda one term Governor of oneof those eastern not really a state states is the front runner. With afront runner like that the democrats could easily start planning forfour more years, I mean that boy Nitt is so conservative that right winged Republicans have to go left just to meet himin the middle! Ron Paul I think he’s dead. I mean he never blinks. Rick Berry has half timers. He can’t rememberhalf the stuff half the time he’s supposed to say, and Rick Sanitarium who is this guy. I never heard of him before twoweeks ago. He’s the pretty boy candidate from the Republicans and they need one. Have you taken a look at the oth-ers? Between Nitt,Newt, Berry, and Paul you couldn’t construct one whole Mr. Potato head. I ain’t saying that themfellows is ugly, but Medusa got more dates than them boys combined!

Now o’le Litt’s not a real church going fellow,but I saw a story in theWisconsin State journal that made me questionmy religious beliefs. It seems that Bishop M.on the hill in Madison banned a song that Catholics (and I’m one so don’tthink I’m dissing Catholics) have been singing in church for years. The song is“All areWelcome”. His royal highness

continued on page 29

And about thesame age, atChristmas timemaking my Momsing Silent Nightwith me over andover and over tillshe would sendme to bed. I al-ways wanted tosing. My family was-

n’t really musical; theywere music fans and Ifound out a few yearsback that my Mom hadplayed accordion.

Joyce:Are you in a bandcurrently?

Carell: Yeah, it’s called“Fire and Love”. It’sbrand new. We’ve onlybeen together about oneand a half months butwe've already written 8songs. We hope to startplaying out in anothermonth or so. The band members are:Anne Strauss ondrums, Evan Sodak on lead guitar, Scott Colson on bassand me,Carell Casey on rhythm guitar and vocals. I alsohave a project where I play drums which is called“dearjohn doe,” with Becca Pozorski on bass, and DennisGlanville singing and playing guitar.

Joyce: Do you do cover songs or originals?

Carell: We are doing all originals. Evan writes the musicin “Fire and Love” and I write the lyrics and vocalmelodies. In“dear john doe”Dennis is writing the songsand Becca and I just write our parts.

Joyce: Do you plan on putting out a CD with thesebands?

Carell: I hope so! We want to start playing shows firstthough. Actually I just started recording another solo CDyesterday. I have one solo CD already and I have madeothers, but those projects broke up and the CD’s werenever released. You can purchase it at: http://www.cd-baby.com/cd/carellcasey (Check out our CD review ofCarell’s CD –“A New Day” in this issue.)

Joyce: Carell do you play any other instruments besidesthe guitar?

Carell: I love the piano. I go tinker on it when I'maround one, and can play some of my songs. I neverstudied it so I am not really a piano player. I recentlypicked up playing the drums. My roommate is a drum-mer so I have a perfect opportunity to practice with a kitin the house. That is one thing I love about Ladies RockCamp. You get the chance to try new instruments in asupportive and encouraging environment, and it is somuch fun! I have been to 2 Ladies Rock Camps already!

Joyce: How do you get your writing inspirations?

Carell:Actually our band name “Fire and Love” is a jokeon me because all the songs that I’ve written for them sofar either talk about fire or love,or both - either directlyor indirectly. I kind of came to music via poetry,so lyricsare very important to me.And it seems that every aspect

5www.amer i canagaze t t e .ne t

It was a beautiful sunny day andAndy and I walked intothe High Noon Saloon in Madison,Wisconsin, where wewere attending a fundraiser for the Girls Rock Camp.First thing I heard was this amazing singer and I lookedup on the stage to see a beautiful young lady singing! Iquickly asked some people around me who this very tal-ented person with this beautiful voice was. “It’s CarellCasey, isn’t she great?” is what they responded.

I waited for Carell to finish her set, then I approachedher and asked if she would be interested in doing a story.Carell and I met one night at Barnes and Noble so that Icould get the scoop on her to share with all you readers.Carell and I had a fun night and even more fun runningaround the store posing for these pictures! You can seeCarell holding a “Heart” CD – she loves “Heart”. Then Imade her (asked her) to climb up on a stool to pose withJoan Baez. (I think people in the store thought weworked there as we were approached a couple of timeswith questions.We didn’t get kicked out though.)

About Carell Casey:

Carell Casey is a Madison,Wisconsin-based independentsinger and songwriter. Her debut CD "A New Day" wasreleased in 2007. "Carell Casey has a talent that speaksfor itself in this collection of emotive and thought pro-voking songs.She shows the listener through her words– love, passion, clarity, and life. Small glimpses into theworld through the eyes of a poet.This album is beauty atits very best." - Sara Hunter

Joyce: Hi Carell. Great to see you. Let’s start out by youtelling our readers a little bit about your background.

Carell:Hello Joyce. It’s nice to see you again. I was bornin Racine,WI. and grew up inWaukesha. After college Igot married and moved to the East coast. I lived inBoston and NewYork City. My ex-husband is a recordingengineer. He was starting up a small studio with hisfriends back then and I got to hang out and watch themusicians work, and even though I had very low selfconfidence, I thought - if they could do it, I could do ittoo! It gave me the courage to pick up a guitar, a chordbook and start playing.

Joyce: When did you start singing?

Carell: Some of my earliest memories are of me singingto my kitten Butterscotch when I was about 4 years old.

of my life winds up inthe songs eventually.Everything I read, everyconversation I have, rela-tionships, dreams, day-dreams, other songs -everything.

Joyce: Is music your onlycareer or do you have an-other job?

Carell: If this was myonly career, I’d be starv-ing. (we laugh) I wouldlove this to be my onlycareer. But for now I doother things that I love aswell. I used to work inthe corporate world andmade a lot of money,butI was miserable so Iwalked away from that.I have built up a little petsitting business for my-self and I do HolisticHealth Counseling. Istudied at the Institutefor Integrative Nutrition.

Joyce: Wow, you are re-ally busy. Here’s a ques-tion for you. If you hadthe opportunity to playwith anyone on stage,who would it be?

Carell: I have had a lifelong celebrity crush on

Neil Finn, the singer for Crowded House. I would loveto work with him.

Joyce: Any hobbies?

Carell: My jobs are actually my hobbies. I am very pas-sionate about natural health, animals and music. I alsolove to read, and do lots of outdoors things, like bikingin the summer and skiing in the winter.

Joyce: Future goals?

Carell: I really love Madison and even if I ever make itbig in the music business, I would love to keep Madisonas my home base. I'm excited to get the bands goingand start playing shows. Maybe even mini tours to Min-neapolis and Chicago. I’m continuing to work on thisnew solo CD and hope to have it out in the next sixmonths. It's going to be called“Fool for Love.”

Joyce: If people want to come out and hear you,whereare you playing next?

Carell: I will be doing a solo acoustic show on March

CarellCasey

New Americana, Singer/Song-writer, Adult Contemporary

Upcoming Jobs:Sunday March 11th, Noon to3:30 pm • Oxfam AmericaInternational Women's Day MusicShow • High Noon Saloon.

Sunday April 22nd, Noon to3:30 pm • Alliance for AnimalsBenefit Show • High Noon Saloon.


6 www.amer i canagaze t t e .ne t

The first time I ever saw Dobie Gray he almost drowned.This would have been 1965and I was a student at Vanderbilt, a freshman working for the campus newspaper. Inwhat I regarded as a very fine assignment, I had gone to a motel on the outskirts ofNashville to interview a group of rock ‘n’ rollers who were to perform that night on apackage show.The headliner was the great Gene Pitney, a future member of the Rockand Roll Hall of Fame, and as he and I were chatting by the motel pool – an easy con-versation on a warm spring day – Dobie Gray emerged from the building, wearingswim trunks with a towel draped casually over his shoulder.

When he saw Gene Pitney by the edge of the pool a smile spread across his brown,handsome face, and he did a cannonball, leaving Pitney and me both drenched.Thismight have been funny except for one thing.Gray had landed in the deep end of thepool and he couldn’t swim. So there we were, Pitney and me both laughing as Graythrashed and flailed in water that was clearly over his head. I suppose it took us ten orfifteen seconds before we realized that he wasn’t kidding,that Dobie Gray – this youngsinger from Texas, whose song,“The In-Crowd,” was soaring toward the top of thecharts – was drowning right before our eyes.“Damn!” said Pitney, and he reached outquickly and pulled Gray in.

It was an odd little episode that ended well enough,with another round of laughter anda suggestion from Pitney that Gray lacked a future in competitive swimming. I proba-bly didn’t think about it again until that day in 1973 when I heard“Drift Away”on theradio.It had that unmistakable Nashville sound (it was recorded at Quadrafonic Studiosand featured ReggieYoung’s iconic guitar opening),and it was the song that helped es-tablish Gray, in the words Nashville guitarist Mike Severs, as “Americana before it hada name.”This was even more true of his follow-up single, theTom Jans ballad,“LovingArms,”released in 1974.This stunning love song had a greater impact on the evolutionof music than it did on the charts,where Gray’s version only reached number 61. Butfor those who listened closely,here was a country singer with anAfro who understoodthe music deep in his soul.There would be other recordings of“LovingArms”– by ElvisPresley,by the Dixie Chicks – but nobody did it with greater purity or beauty or heart.This, I thought,was Nashville at its best.

Dobie Gray died last December 11, leaving a trail of mourning among the people whoknew him.Severs,who backed him often on his records and his shows, summed it upsimply:“Dobie was just a really good guy.” He was also a fine musician.A sharecrop-per’s son from ruralTexas,Gray never thought of music as something you could carveup into categories. He loved it all. He was raised on a mixture of gospel, country,Tex-Mex, and rhythm and blues, and in the course of his long and low-key career he wasclearly at ease with all of those influences and more.He began in southern California,

‘Gimme the Beat, Boys’ –Remembering

DobieGray

where he had moved in the early 1960s hoping to pursue an acting career. He didenjoy modest success on the stage, performing in the LA version of “Hair,” and wassoon discovered by Sonny Bono who told him he needed to be making records.

In California, his first chart single was “Look at Me,” later recorded by the RighteousBrothers, and then came “The ‘In’ Crowd” and Gray’s first taste of musical stardom. Itappeared to be fleeting until the early 1970s, when he finally found his identity inNashville. I saw him there in 1974 in one of the most historic country music shows ofthe decade. On March 15, 1974 the Grand Ole Opry held its last performance at theRyman Auditorium before moving to brand new quarters at Opryland. Johnny Cashwas the host that night and with his sense of musical history, he wanted a black per-former on the show.He knew that the first song ever performed on the Opry – liter-ally the first number on that night in 1926 when the show got its name – was “PanAmerican Blues” by DeFord Bailey. Bailey was a black harmonica player who per-formed on the Opry for sixteen years, until he was summarily, inexplicably droppedfrom the cast.Dobie Gray’s appearance couldn’t right that wrong,but it was a power-ful affirmation – by Johnny Cash and by Gray himself – that music is a language thatknows no color, and the things that people have in common most often go deeperthan the things that divide them.One thing for sure, it was a beautiful night, for therewas Johnny Cash, the Man in Black, looking like a Civil War-vintage U.S. Senator andsinging like what he was, a man who had seen both the bottom and the top and wasprobably right at home in both places. He introduced his special guests, first LarryGatlin and then Gray,who delivered a rollicking, foot-stomping performance that hadthe Opry faithful shouting for more. I found myself thinking of other black performerswho had crossed or blurred that line between country music and other forms.Therewas, of course, the great Ray Charles who began his career in a country band calledThe Florida Playboys,and in the early 1960s began to put his own stamp on great coun-try songs –“Busted,”written by Harlan Howard;“Your Cheatin’Heart,”by HankWilliams;and “I Can’t Stop Loving You” by Don Gibson.“I never missed the Grand Ole Oprywhen I was young,”Ray Charles told me in a later interview.“Hillbilly music is totallyhonest.They don’t sing,‘I sat there and dreamed of you.’They say,‘I missed you and Iwent out and got drunk.’

There have been other black artists –ArthurAlexander,Solomon Burke – who did someof their finest recordings in Nashville. But about the time of his Opry performance,Dobie Gray took it one step further. Not only was he recording country songs – orsongs that were rooted in the country tradition – he also moved to Nashville and tookhis place in its musical community. He found what he called“tranquility” there, a col-legiality with its musicians and songwriters and for the rest of his career he poured

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I can remember it like it was yesterday. The first time I saw Jason andthe Scorchers on TV way, way back in the 80’s. They were doing Ab-solutely Sweet Marie by Bob Dylan, only this wasn’t your Momma’sDylan. This was raw, loud, and had an edge so sharp it would put aJapanese Ginza knife to shame!

These four guys from Nashville were playing music with a Punk edgeand a rock & roll attitude. I immediately went out and bought the album,not a CD,theywere not around yet; the 33 1/3 record album and played until it was wore out! Istared at the cover and these young bucks with their crazy dress and attitude. My bandlearnedAbsolutely Sweet Marie and we then learnedWhite Lies off another Scorchersalbum. We were the only band“up north”playing Scorchers music. Little did I knowback then that I would be attending their 30th anniversary show!

Jason & the Scorchers was a “Cowpunk”band that pushed the boundaries of accept-able country music back in the early 80’s. Jason Ringenberg,Warner Hodges, PerryBaggs, and Jeff Johnson were four young guys who had their own idea how CountryMusic should be played. They were true Rock Stars and played all over the world. Theywere honored in 2009 with the Life Time Achievement Award from the AmericanaMusicAssociation. Today Ringenberg and Hodges are the only two original players left,but that does not mean that the intensity or showmanship is gone,quite to the contrary.Joining Ringenberg and Hodges areAl Collins on Bass and vocals and Pontus Snibb ondrums, two superb musicians who bring new energy to the band.

Playing at the beautiful CastleTheater in Bloomington IL.,The Scorchers took the stageat 8:05 p.m.and played for the next three hours! The showwas wild and spontaneous!Playing old favorites and new songs the Scorchers showed the enthusiastic crowd inBloomington that the“boys”have not lost one ounce of energy,talent,or showmanshipafter thirty years. These guys put most“young”bands to shame. The crowd was on theirfeet the whole show! Ringenberg’s voice sounds more mature and fuller as he sangand played guitar throughout the night. The harmony voices were incredible, some-thing the original Scorchers lacked. Hodges, Snibb, and Collins are great vocalists intheir own rights and provided stunning harmonies throughout the night. Collins onbass set the groove and held the band together as they rocked through the night.Snibb’s drumming is much tighter and fuller than Baggs ever was. He is an incredibledrummer and at times you would have thought that the ghost of John Bonham was onstage playing. Hodges by far is the best guitar player in Rock & Roll today. It’s a shamehe does not get his due outside of Nashville. He spins and twirls his Telecaster nevermissing a note. His playing is off the charts in speed and tone. All four of them togethermake a formable team and one hell of a band.

much of his energy into songwriting.A remarkable array of artists recorded his mate-rial: Ray Charles,George Jones,TammyWynette,Charley Pride, John Denver, John Con-lee, Brook Benton, Etta James, Conway Twitty, Don Williams,Three Dog Night, NinaSimone. It was a long and impressive list. And through it all Gray kept on recording,hitting the country charts twice in the 1980s,but missing, it seemed,as often as he hit,even when he was sure that the music was good.After a long dry spell in the 1990s,he went into the studio again in 2001 and released an album called“Soul Days.”It con-sisted mostly of covers, including“When a Man Loves aWoman”and“If LovingYou IsWrong,” R&B classics delivered in Gray’s unmistakable style. But the highlight of therecord, at least for me,was the title cut, a song that was equal parts country and soulwritten by South Carolinian Jonnie Barnette.With Mike Severs on lead guitar, the songreminded me a lot of “Drift Away,”mellow, up tempo,with lyrics affirming the powerof music.

I woke up feeling the sunshine drift across my faceIt took me back to emotions, another time and placeThose yesterdays, cruising in my ChevroletI held my baby in my armsBut my first love was always a songTalkin’‘bout soul days

Inexplicably, the song was never a hit and it looked as if the dry spell would continue.But then out of nowhere in 2003 the rap artist,Uncle Kracker,decided to record“DriftAway.” Uncle Kracker himself was an interesting story, a Mississippi-born, Michigan-bred white rapper whose career had evolved through rock ‘n’ roll to a country tourwith Kenny Chesnee.He wanted to do a version of“Drift Away,”he said, as a tribute toone of his favorite songs, and he wanted to do it as a duet with Dobie.The combina-tion was magic, the song soared again to number one, and Gray became one of thoserare performers with a song on the charts in four different decades.“He was really ex-cited about that,” remembers Mike Severs,“and I was really happy for him. I can re-member the exact minute when I heard the original version of ‘Drift Away.’And thenaround 1983 I first had the chance to back Dobie in a band.He was a larger than liferock star to me, but he was also this great, friendly guy who seemed to be as respect-ful of us as we were of him. I loved his singing and his view of music. I don’t think hedrew any lines. In his mind, there was just music.And I think he felt the same wayabout people.”There are worse epitaphs for an artist.

Written by: Frye Gallaird

A special surprise was when Stacie Collins joined the band on stage for a couple oftunes. My God can she sing, and play the harmonica!!! She blew me away with herstage presence and voice. Somebody get her a record deal!!! She’s 50 times the singerGretchenWilson ever thought she could be,and has all the stage presence of Mick Jag-ger! The lady can rock!

After two extended encores it was time to call it a night. The Scorchers signed auto-graphs and took pictures with fans for over two hours after the show. It was great tosee musicians connecting with and building the long term relationships that keepartists in the public eye.

The Castle Theater is one of the premier venues in the Midwest. These folks got itright in the layout and acoustics for the place. It’s a shame we don’t have a venue inSouthernWisconsin that measures up to the Castle in every aspect. The staff was in-credibly friendly and helpful, it was the cleanest club/theater I have ever been in,morethan enough seating,no fights, two security guys were great, the friendliest bartenders,and a great stage and sound. Chuck Fudge ran the sound for the house. Let me tell youthis, it was the best sound I have heard in years at a rock club/theater. This guy knowswhat he is doing! With minimal PA speakers (hint for all you sound guys out thereyou don’t need a wall of speakers to sound good) Fudge had the Scorchers soundingas pristine as a CD. The volume was perfect! No ears ringing, you could understandall the vocals, the drums were mixed perfectly, guitars never sounded better, and thebass did not thump your heart out. The castle and fudge are to be commended for theexcellent sound and light show they provide.

It may have been 30 years since the Scorchers first took the stage,but the intensity andmusic have not suffered at all, in fact it has all aged well. Off for a couple of monthsand then to Europe for a month the Scorchers will rock their European fans. The showSaturday night was one I’ll never forget! Now if I could just fit into my size 30 waistpants again like I did in 1981 all would be perfect with the world!

Story by:Andy ZiehliPhoto supplied

Jason & theScorchers30th Anniversary Tourat the Castle TheaterBloomington IL.


To say that a person lives and breathes music seems like a cliché.We are predisposedto think that it’s a musician’s genre or the instrument they play that defines them—orthe very drive to perform. Not so with Doug Sies, arguably south-central Wisconsin’smost prolific and enduring native musical son.

Sies is defined by music. His immersion is evident in his powers of observation—a dis-cerning ear, impeccable timing--and the calm confidence he exudes when experi-menting with a riff, which he nurtures from melody to opus in swift, sure strokes. Aconsummate listener with the acuity to quickly pick up on others’patterns of thought,strengths and vulnerabilities, this modest musician is gifted with the ability to workwell with a wide range of partners. I met Doug in early 2000 when we collaborated aspart of a Belleville-based singer-songwriting group, and was pleased when he agreedto an interview.

Sies’ local legacy is palpable to a large swathe of southernWisconsin, from Madison toMonroe,Baraboo to Blanchardville. He has played many roles in the span of his 45-plusyears as a musician. He anchored Madison’s award-winning Clear Blue Betty as theirbass guitarist; he energized audiences for the long-standing country-rock band Sum-mer Haze on rhythm guitar and as lead vocalist from the 1970s through 90s. More re-cently, accompanying vocalists like Beth Kille and Briana Hardyman on acoustic guitar,Sies easily establishes the critical intimacy between audience and performer.

While music has always been part of his life,Doug didn’t come from a particularly mu-sical family. Sies started his musical career at the tender age of 8,when he serenadedthe family babysitter from the kitchen (she was sitting in the living room) with a songhe learned especially for her. Doug credits his neighbors—as well as his self-confesseddesire for the admiration of pretty girls—for helping to nurture his musical career; theneighbors gave him a guitar they found in their attic when he was 11.

During this time,Doug developed a bond through music with his brother Duane; theyshared the treasured guitar so they could both learn how to play,emulating the soundsof the newly emerging rock and roll.Doug and Duane’s passion for music blossomedwith their high school rock band and they shared stage for most of their musical ca-reers. To this day, Sies says the synergy he feels performing with his brother Duane ishis greatest musical pleasure.

Joined by grade school friend Dale Freidig on the bass and Rick Raught on drums,Dougplayed rhythm and Duane lead guitar. Mastering the fresh rock-and-roll sound of the

ForLoveofLifeandMusic

‘60s and ‘70s, the RedBarons delivered Beatles,Monkees, Ventures andGrassroots hits, lateradding standards fromMerle Haggard andCharley Pride.By the ageof 16, the boys had re-cruited two new talented musicians for their team, replacing Rick on the drums withEvansville’s ScottAllen and Randy Schneeberger on the horn—and renamed their bandSummer Haze. Within a year,Summer Haze became the known as southernWisconsin’spremier prom and homecoming band,expanding their repertoire to include the emerg-ing rockabilly music of Creedence Clearwater Revival and later ZZ Top and LynrdSkynrd.

By the late 70’s, the band had garnered a loyal following and enjoyed widespread namerecognition that remains strong to this day. Mention of the band delivers instant smilesover what many call the Midwest’s best beer tent band. Over time, however, the de-mands of producing Summer Haze’s energetic rock took a toll on Sies’ voice and by1999,he had to give up singing.

In 2002, Sies became the bass player for the Madison-based Clear Blue Betty, a Mid-western rock band led by Madison singer-songwriter Beth Kille,Over the six years Siesperformed with Clear Blue Betty, the band came to dominateWisconsin’s rock-and-rollscene. As always, Sies’ hard work paid off; his partnership with Kille and the otherband members (Rob Koth,Tony Kille, Jim Smith and John Masino) produced 3 award-winning albums, including a Wisconsin Area Music Industry award in 2008 for BestBand of the Southeast Quadrant and 7 Madison Area Music Awards, including RockBand andAlbum of theYear- two years in a row. Of all the successes he’s enjoyed as amusician, Sies says his time with Clear Blue Betty was among the most inspirational.“What I liked most about playing with CBB was getting the chance to write originalrock.”Sies co-wrote 70-plus songs with Kille and CCB over those six years and had theprivilege of playing with Madison’s legendary ax man John Masino.

When Clear Blue Betty disbanded in 2008, Sies saw an opportunity to expand his rap-idly growing recording studio, as well as explore new musical partnerships. For thepast two years, Sies has spent time recording the music of a variety of artists, includ-ing co-writing songs and touring the U.K.with an aspiring country singer,Briana Hardy-



Joe Blanton may not be a household name to our Northern readers,but to the folks inthe South, they know it well. Besides being a world class engineer Blanton is a pro-ducer, videographer,recorded songwriter,and one hell of a vocalist. In fact Blanton hada wonderful career as lead singer ofThe Royal Court of China, a top notch Rock Bandin the late 80’s early 90’s and now is the lead vocalist for The Bluefield’s an up andcoming Rock Band from Nashville. Blanton currently spends his time betweenNashville and Florida where he works as a Media producer/director for the State ofFlorida. He owns and operates his own recording studio“The UndergroundTreehouse,”in Nashville whereThe Bluefield’s are currently working. He had four major label cutsfrom songs he wrote in 2011. To say the least Joe Blanton is one busy guy!

To see Blanton on stage and to hear his voice is quite an experience. The Bluefield’sdebut show at the Mercy Lounge in Nashville was awe-inspiring! These guys knowhow to Rock!!! Blanton’s cool stage presence and his crystal clear vocals were a high-light of the show. His harmony singing is superb. Playing hisT-52 NashTele strappedlow Blanton was all the Rock Star anyone would dream to be. His command of thestage and his sheer presence ignited the stage with his band mates Dan Baird andWarner Hodges. A spring tour for the Bluefield’s takes them through the South andthen off to Europe.

I talked to Blanton in length about his long career and his many projects. He is the kindof guy you want to hang out with (check out the Bluefield videos onYou Tube). Hisstudio is home to his many friends and band mates. To say Joe Blanton is the real dealis an understatement! He’s cool, hardworking, and a joy to interview!

AG: Joe how are things in Nashville?Blanton: Things are fine. Just cleaning up some loose ends here this morning. My dogleft me a post-Christmas present!

AG: That proves he loves you!Blanton: I guess! We had two dogs for the longest time. One morning a few monthsago I went out to get them from the pen and someone had put another dog in thereso now I have three.

AG: Let’s talk about Joe Blanton. When did the music bug hit you?Blanton: The music bug hit me during my senior year of High School. Some friends ofmine and me were big into Alice Cooper,The Sex Pistols, and the Ramones. We really

JoeBlantonOne Busy Guy!


got into the early Punk Rock thing. I was an artist, drawing and painting and such. Ifashioned a band poster about a fictitious gig and postdated it for the previous weekand put them up around town and where kids hung out. It got such a tremendous re-sponse from my friends and the other kids (about wishing they had seen us play) I didit again, and it got an even bigger response. We looked at each other and I said“guyswe gotta start a band”. So we bought instruments, I took one guitar lesson, and wewere off and running! I have not progressed much since then!

AG:Oh I would not say that.You’re a pretty good guitar player!Blanton: Well I stood in front of Warner and borrowed a couple of licks and thingsfrom him over the years.

AG: Warner’s a freak of nature on the guitar. There are not many guys that can play likehim!Blanton: No there aren’t! He’s always been that way. He’s even a great drummer. Infact when our drummer got hurt and could not play he joined my band the RATZ andplayed drums for us back in ’80 for a few months. That’s how we became friends andwe’ve been friends for 32 years.

AG: Have you always just played Rock & Roll?Blanton: I started out with Rock but being from Nashville, you’re bound to get a littlecountry on ya from time to time.When the Ramones came out and I learned the E barchord, it was all about being fast and loud.My right hand was just a blur in all of thephotos I’ve seen of me from that era. I played the E bar chord for about three monthsuntil someone taught me theA bar chord and that opened up a few more possibilitiesand I got to throw away the Finger-eze. For some reason I thought I wasn’t half bad. Iguess it never occurred to me at the time that I lived in GuitarTown.

When Jason and the Scorchers came along I got into Country Music a little becausethey found a way to make it cool for a punk rocker to dig. Being from Nashville I guessit was in my DNA or in the water,but the Scorchers really opened up a newway to playit.Ya know, three chords and a cloud of dust! My mom was a big Elvis fan and JohnnyCash loomed large here in town on the AM radio. Hearing the Scorchers play classiccountry standards at blitzkrieg speed made me think,“wow HankWilliams was a PunkRocker”! When they got a record deal, the first of the Nashville bands to do so, it puteverything in a different light. I had gone off to college when they got signed andcame back to Nashville and went “man, it can be more than just playing down thestreet at the local clubs”! When I got out of college I decided I was going to try themusic path. I could always go back to painting and drawing at any age. So I put to-gether a band that would eventually becomeThe Royal Court of China and two yearslater I had a record deal. I don’t know if it was the right decision,but I went for it any-way.

AG: It was the right decision for the time in your life.Blanton: Yea it was. I’ve met some great people over the years that I would have nevermet without being in a band. I have a great time playing. I’m reconnecting with a lotof those folks today and it’s great. I have also been fortunate enough to work withgreat people like Dan Baird. I was one of the lucky people at the first Georgia Satel-lites Show here in Nashville and they blew me away! I could not believe that a bandcould be that good! My jaw dropped to the floor! Everyone in the club was that way.You don’t know how many Scorchers and Satellite’s songs I have written over theyears trying to get my band to play them. That music was infectious.

AG: Tell me about the Royal Court of China.Blanton: Just four guys from the suburbs of North Nashville. We were just at the rightplace at the right time I guess. We were a cross between Led Zeppelin,REM, and theByrds. I was always a Punk Rocker and wanted to bring an edge to it. We had great mu-sicians who were into Jimmy Page andT.Rex.With all those influences we had a reallycool sound. We attracted the attention ofA&M Records out of L.A. and they came outto see us play. It was a small little club. We were so green we had no idea how to puton a showcase. We even made the Vice President of A&M records pay to get in! Hecame up to us afterwards and offered us a deal. He said he knew he wanted to sign us


Carell Casey ♪♪♪♪♪A New DayFolk Rock/AmericanaIndependent Release

Carell Casey is a local singer songwriter in Madi-son WI. I first became aware of her talent at theGirls Rock Camp fundraiser at the High Noon Sa-loon in late 2011. Beth Kille asked Carell to per-form and if Beth Kille has you open for her youhave instant street cred with me! (She is also thefeaturedWoman in the Round in this issue – checkher out.)

The CD is a mix of wonderfully written songs that hold the listener’s attention. Caseyis a great writer who has great command of words and lyrical rhythm. Favorite tuneson this CD are Sweet Love, Dancing,Too Tireless to Tame, and So Are You for Me. Allthese songs really showcase Casey’s talent and spirit. They are well written songs withattitude and sensibility running through them. Casey’s vocal style is laid back. Herphrasing and punch comes from the heart in these songs. You can tell she has livedand learned from the experiences that brought these songs to life.

This is a great CD to play when you want to kick back and relax. A time for retrospectand reflection. A New Day was recorded atTimber Rock Studio in La Valle,WI. LucasEtten engineered it and he did an excellent job capturing Casey at her best.

A New Day is well worth adding to your collection. It showcases a fine localSinger/Songwriter in her true element. Carell Casey may not be a household namearound here yet, but I bet she will very, very soon!

Review by:Andy Ziehli

Chris Head & the Honchoes ♪♪♪♪♪Hard TruthsAmericana/PopIndependent Release

Chris Head, Rizal Iskandarsjach, and Tim Ungrodtmake up Chris Head & the Honchoes. They arebased out of Milwaukee. Combining elements ofrock, traditional country, folk,and power pop intoa superb mix of sounds.

This CD rocks with well written well playedAmer-icana songs. There’s enough twang here for the

purest country lover and enough footstompin Rock & Roll for the rocker in you. Headwrote all of the songs and sings lead on all of them. He is a consummate musician andwriter. He reminds me of Radney Foster in his vocal style and writing. That is not tosay that he is a clone of Foster, because he is well past that! Head is a storyteller thattouches the listener both lyrically and musically.

Some of the great tracks on the CD includeTina Smile, It won’t happen to you,FamilyPlot (my favorite),and Be that man. The cool guitar parts and the excellent rhythm sec-tion of this CD really bring these songs to life. The musicianship matches the writingand makes for a very, very enjoyable listening experience.

I recommend this CD to everyone, especially if you like that dreamy 60’s vibe of theByrds, Beatles, and early Foster & Lloyd. The Pop feeling of Heads songs rings true tohis roots. He’s not a plagiarist of the past. He’s a student and he has learned his les-sons well! Hats off to Chris Head & the Honchoes on HardTruths! One of my favoriteCD’s I have listened to in the past 6 months.


CDReview

Farewell Drifters ♪♪♪♪♪Echo BoomHeart Squeeze RecordsBlue Grass/New Grass

I love the Farewell Drifters! They are my favoriteBluegrass group. I’ve seen them in concert manytimes and they have never disappointed!!! EchoBoom is their second CD and it does not disap-point either!!!This CD is the Farewell Drifters Pet Sounds. IfBrian Wilson played Bluegrass this is what hewould sound like.

The CD starts off with Punchline a rolling up-tempo tune that reaches out and grabsyou and holds your attention throughout the whole song. Tip of the Iceberg is a bitmore of a traditional sounding tune. It glides along and you can’t help but tap your footto it. The third song on the CD is my favoriteWe GoTogether. It has a 60’s pop vibeto it. It was even recorded with that early 60’s vocal effect. The video is very cool(check it out on You Tube). This tune is so cool you can almost hear a band like theMama’s and Papa’s,Byrds,orTheVogues cutting this tune in their day. Roses is anotherfavorite on this CD. The 12 string beginning is very Byrd’s style and the tempo is gota great groove to it. YouWereThere really has the BrianWilson feel to it with the vocallayering and orchestration.

All the songs on Echo Boom were written by the Farewell Drifters. They played all theinstrumentation on this CD except the percussion that was played by Evan Hutchings.These guys are phenomenal musicians and vocalists. They are the best of the best ofthe new Bluegrass Musicians making headlines today. We can only hope that they getup“North”here to play in 2012.

I give Echo Boom a top pick!!! It’s one of the best CD’s recorded in 2011.


Picnic Area ♪♪♪You know you want itAmericana/Alt-Country

Picnic Area is an Alt-Country/Americana band outof Manchester England. They have been playing to-gether since 2006,at this time they were a duo con-sisting of Andy Callen and Wayne McDonald.Recently they added Simon Parkin,Matt Crawford,and Paul Mania. There sound can be best describedas stripped down rootsy Country reminiscent ofBobby Bare Jr.,UncleTupelo, and the Le Roi Broth-ers. Their sound is very much their own.

The songs have a haunting style to them, very No Depression in makeup and feeling.The seven song EP is well recorded and showsThe PicnicArea’s songwriting ability. Sil-verTrain,Chain Gang,and I’m not going to heaven if HankWilliams ain’t there are thetop songs on the EP.

I would like to hear more up-tempo songs from the Picnic Area on their next outing.This CD is a good showcase of their talent, but it would be nicer to see them stretcha little more on their next outing. The Picnic Area is a very good band and worth giv-ing a listen. Check them out.


www.amer i canagaze t t e .ne t 11

Sammy Llanas ♪♪♪♪♪4 A.M.Inner Knot RecordsAmericana

Sammy Llanas came out of the starting blocks afterleaving the Bo Deans wondering what the futureheld for him. He needn’t have to worry. Llanashas hit a home run right out of the batter’s boxwith 4A.M. This is not your daddy’s Llanas rockingup a storm. This is a mature performer doing whathe does best,writing great songs!

The CD is Llanas except for the Cindy Laupersong All Through The Night which is a wonderful cover. The CD radiates with heart-felt acoustic songs that let Llanas show a side we never got to see in the Bo Deans. Thearrangements on this CD are well thought out and the accordion really f ills the songswith a very cool vibe.

My favorite song on the CD is FareTheeWell aTex Mex flavored ballad that takes youto a small café on the coast of Mexico in the early evening when you shut your eyesand listen to it. My next favorite is Nobody Luvs Me which is a down home love songanyone in love can relate too. All the songs on this CD are wonderfully written andplayed. Llanas deserves a lot of credit for not coming out with a Bo Deans record. 4A.M.shows maturity and respect for his fans. I’m sure Sammy has some rockers left inhim,but this is a great start to a new career!Go out and buy 4A.M.!!!! It’s a superb CD to put in for a long drive on a coolWisconsinwinter night. The rhythms will keep you going and the melodies will sooth your soul!Wisconsin can be proud of Sammy Llanas and Llanas can be proud of this CD! Win-ners all around!!!!

Review by:Andy Ziehl

Various Artists ♪♪♪♪♪This One’s for Him:A Tribute to Guy ClarkStyle: AmericanaIcehouse Music

This is a double CD soaring toward the top of theAmericana charts for a very good reason. It con-tains 30 of the best songs you’ll ever hear – or atthe risk of being redundant,30 of Guy Clark’s bestsongs. Producers Tamara Saviano and ShawnCamp,in celebration of Clark’s 70th birthday,gath-ered 33 of his musical friends at studios in Austinand Nashville to sing their favorites among his

songs.The results are stunning.

Here are Emmylou Harris and John Prine singing “Magnolia Wind,” and Patty Griffinperforming“The Cape,”andWillie Nelson rising to the challenge of“DesperadosWait-

Grateful Dead ♪♪♪♪♪Dick’s Picks Vol. 35Jam Rock

Imagine for a moment that you are an archeolo-gist in some far away land digging and brushingaway soil and years at your dig site. Suddenly yourpick strikes something hard and unnatural. Youbrush hysterically unearthing this new ancientwonder. You pull out the artifact and hold in tothe light carefully. This is the first time in who-knows how long that this object has seen the skyand world.

That is how this newest re-release of Dick’s Picks make me feel. Let me explain. Theoriginal 1971 late summer recordings on this release were giving to the Dead’s newestpiano player,Keith Godchaux to use to practice with and become more accustomedto the band’s new and old material. The recently captured recordings were then lefton his parent’s houseboat in California and forgotten. Thirty-five years later, they werefound and in surprisingly good condition. So, as I listened, and I kept thinking abouthow long these recordings had been missing “sonically” from the universe. Soonthough I began to thinking of all the other musical treasures that lay missing, just wait-ing for someone to unearth them. Maybe it’s an early bluegrass recording that got lostin the mountains,maybe it’s a Mesopotamian hymn writing on stone covered in sand,or maybe it’s just the song of a bird that no longer exists.

That’s what this release brings to the table for me. On this four disc set, there is onefull San Diego show, and part of a Chicago show with over an hour of the HollywoodPalladium. The set lists are solid early Dead. They offer the new at the time favorites,and create a very solid base of songs for people just getting into the Dead. The first discoffers quite a few of the“hits of the day”, including Casey Jones andTruckin’. The sec-ond disc starts to get a little more on the improvisational end of things,which is morethan ok by me. Another thing I began to notice is that a good amount of the song se-lection was brand new to the band at that time. There are missing harmonies wherea listener is used to hearing them, unsure lyrics, and that exciting “anything can hap-pen” feeling.

That’s the thing about the Grateful Dead’s songs they aren’t quick radio friendly hits,they are journeys. The audience is never quite sure where the song will go,and I havea feeling that the performers weren’t too sure either. That’s what makes this music soexciting. Everyone is in it together. The third disc has great jams,holds a few surprises,and closes with Broke down Palace one of the GD’s most beautiful songs… in my opin-ion. Oh and all I have to say about the fourth disc is 25-minute Turn on Your Lovelight,with Pigpen at the helm. Is it the Grateful Dead’s tightest performances? No,butthere is magic behind these performances and songs. There were good vibes in the airthese few late summer nights, and even though the tapes were kept in terrible condi-tions, the vibes survived. The good vibes will survive.

Review by:Rob Kosmeder

Rick Harris ♪♪♪♪♪Up All NightBlues/Swing/AmericanaIndependent Release

Rick Harris is a fantastic musician who has playedaroundWisconsin and the Midwest for many years.He now calls Mineral Point his home. His style is across between Gatemouth Brown and Leon Russelland that cool Tulsa sound. This CD is filled withwell written foot tapping songs that jump out ofthe speakers right into your head.

Harris is a fantastic writer that knows his wayaround a song both lyrically and hook wise. He has surrounded himself on Up AllNight with fantastic musicians who bring his compositions to life. Favorite songs onthe CD are Up all night, Baby doesn’t love me (my favorite on the CD),Que Pasa ConTigo (my second favorite song), and Old Records. The backing musicians are fantasticand play with heart throughout the CD.

This is a great CD and I order you to get a copy and add it to your collection! Harrisis a true treasure to listen to. He knows his way around a song and his voice is boldand bright as he sings this fantastic collection of songs. You can tell a true artist becausethey don’t have to have gimmicks to create great songs. Harris is one of the great ones.His songs reflect life and love and are told in a way that everyone can connect to them.No gimmicks here, just great songs sung with a great voice!



ing for a Train,”which may be my all-time favorite among Clark’s songs. I still remem-ber the first I heard it. It was back around 1975, and I wandered into the Exit In inNashville for what turned out to be an utterly forgettable performance by DavidAllenCoe. Fortunately, Coe had an opening act, who turned out to be Clark, and as he ranthrough the songs on his soon-to-be-released first album,“Old Number One,”I realizedI was hearing something special.

“LA Freeway,”“That Old Time Feeling,”“Let Him Roll,”“Texas 1947”– any one of thesecould have been the showpiece of very fine songwriter’s set.But the songs kept com-ing, one after another, continuing to build in emotional intensity until at last he cameto“DesperadosWaiting for aTrain.” It was a song about his grandmother’s boyfriend, ahard-living,kind-hearted,oil-drilling drifter by the name of Jack Prigg with whom Clarkhad established a lifelong friendship. I remember even now that when the song wasover, there was a pause – almost awkward in its length, I thought – before anybodybegan to applaud. Finally, some guy said,“Damn,what a song!” and the room erupted.I remember thinking then what Lyle Lovett later put into words:“Guy Clark’s songsare literature.”

If you don’t believe it, listen to this tribute CD.Lovett is on it,and so are Steve Earle andRayWylie Hubbard and Jerry JeffWalker and Ramblin’ Jack Elliott.There were a hand-ful of cuts that took me by surprise – Suzy Bogguss doing“Instant Coffee Blues,”a rawand haunting morning-after song about sex;orVince Gill doing“Randall Knife,”a recita-tion song about the death of a father (on which, as it turns out,Gill had played guitarfor Clark’s original recording.) But most of this album is exactly what I thought it wouldbe – some of the greatest Americana artists singing some of the greatest Americanasongs.

“Let’s give her a good go and make ol’Guy proud of us,”said Rodney Crowell,as he en-tered the studio. I’m pretty sure that’s what they did.

Review by: Frye Gaillard

Oh and before I end this story, Lefty chimed in and wanted me to tell you readers“thanks for reading the story about me,but Chelsea will feel bad if you don’t read thefeature story about her. I don’t want to hurt her feelings!!”

Story by: Joyce Ziehli

Photos supplied by Chelsea Crowell.

When I was listening to Chelsea Crowell’s new CD,“Crystal City”, I couldn’t help butnotice the attractive looking dog on the cover of her CD. I pulled out her first CD,self-titled“Chelsea Crowell”and noticed that this dog was on that cover as well. I figuredhe must really be special and I need to do a Pet Note story on him. So when I went tointerview Chelsea, I snuck in a bunch of questions about her dog.This is what I foundout.

Chelsea rescued Lefty about 7 years ago. He is a very non-needy pet and really just likesto hang out. He’s part hound dog and likes to wail at most anything. I think it is hisway of singing along when Chelsea is recording a song.

Now Lefty is really named after the song, Lefty and Poncho. The Townes Van Zandtsong,which happens to be one of Chelsea’s favorite songs. Why Lefty and not Poncho?Chelsea said“he looks like a Lefty”.

Lefty doesn’t travel on tour with Chelsea at this time. Maybe when he gets older andgrows up a little more he may be invited along. As Chelsea and I were speaking, Leftyjumped up on the bed and was getting in a little bit of trouble. I heard“naughty dog”a couple of times.

One cute story that Chelsea shared with me was about the time Lefty left the yard andwent out on an adventure. Chelsea said he likes to break out of the yard frequently.There happens to be a restaurant behind Chelsea’s house,named the Nashville Dog. It’sa hot dog joint. Lefty likes to frequent this joint and enjoys sitting on the front porch,watching people come and go. I think he would make a great mascot for this Hot“DOG”place. Anyway, the owners had to call Chelsea 2 or 3 times in one day alone tohave her come and get Lefty. He was sitting very politely on the porch, looking quitedapper and hound dog/German Shepardish like, a real handsome fellow. The ownersdidn’t share these same feelings and threatened to callAnimal Control if he came backagain. Poor Lefty,all he wanted was a hot dog. He wouldn’t have even ordered it withthe works, plain would have been just fine! Chelsea stated that she really admiredLefty for his research and development in staking out the joint.

If, I mean when,you purchase Chelsea’s CD’s,you will see Lefty on the cover of her lat-est CD, Crystal City, her first CD,“Chelsea Crowell” and also on the back of her bandCD. Who knows where he will pop up next,maybe he will make his own CD – andcould call it – Lefty Live with the Nashville Dogs!!!


Is This LEFTY orPONCHO? Why it’s LEFTY of

course and it is thecelebrity dogof Chelsea Crowell -the beautiful younglady featured on ourfront cover.A

PETNO

TE


Bob’s Guitar Corner # 2Rhythm PlayingIn the first lesson we talked about alternate picking e.g.down-up picking.So let’s apply that same technique forour rhythm playing.What most players are doing whenthey play rhythm is they are alternating strumming orbrushing the strings with the pick starting from thelowest string (thickest) to the highest string (thinnest)and then,highest to lowest. I would generally recommendthat you start with a down stroke (strum). It’s easier and youhave gravity on your side. Imagine if you will that we are in 4/4 time.That means wehave 4 beats to the measure,or four ¼ notes and the quarter note gets the beat.We aregoing to divide that into sixteenth notes.That means in a single measure of 4/4 wewill be strumming the strings 16 times.This can be done at any tempo, I recommendslowly at first. So let’s get back to the strumming.Again, since we are in 4/4 and thereare 4 beats in our measure each beat is going to get 4 strums.1 beat = 4 strums,4 beats= 16 strums. One way you can count this is to say “one-e-and-a “. Each syllable is rep-resenting a sixteenth note. One sixteenth note is a strum. So physically that wouldequate to”down-up-down-up,”which would be 4 strums.If you do this pattern 4 timesyou get 16 strums.Whew! 16 strums and you get a measure of 4/4. Now, as I said be-fore this is what most players are doing when they play rhythm guitar.The trick nowis the“accent”or“emphasis”.That means you are going to be hitting the accented struma little harder.Let’s start by putting the accent on the first strum of each of the 4 groupsof 4 strums. Just like when we counted the 4 sixteenth notes of “one-e-and-a” the ac-cent would be on the one of“one-e-and-a”. Here is what an accent mark looks like.(>)

> >One is louder.“ONE-e-and-a.”The strumming would be DOWN-up-down-up.

Once you can do this easily try moving the accent to the” and “, or the third strumwhich is an up strum.

>It would look like this.”one-e-AND-a”.Now try playing the

>accent on the “e” of one-E-and-a.This is a bit more difficult because you are now ac-centing on the up stroke.Darn gravity.Remember,it’s the accent that makes the rhythmunique and distinctive. It never hurts to watch how other players are doing this. Prac-tice this and you will be playing hot rhythm guitar in no time.Good Luck!Repeat till arm falls off.Bob Westfall is a Multi-Instrumentalist, Songwriter, Performer, Recording Artist, Pro-ducer, and has been teaching guitar and mandolin for 30 years. For lessons or contactemail to [email protected]

By:BobbyWestfall

TAB

TAB

Fiddle

Mandolin

Guitar

50

0 2

2 0 2 3 2 05

0

02

0 1 02 0 2

2 0 2 3 2 05

0

02

0 1 02 0 2

2 2 2 3 2 3

0 0 0 1 0 1

2 0 0 04 5

02 2 2

40

05

0 2 05 4 5

2 0 20

2 04

0

05

0 2 05 4 5

2 0 20

2 04

0

Fdl.

Mdn.

Gtr.

7

0 0 0 2 0 2

2 2 20

20

1.

1.0

5 5 50

1.

2 0 0 0 2

2.

2.

05 5 5

2.

2 0 0 0

0 0 2 50

0 0 20 2

2 05 3

02 0

3

2 2 3 50

2 2 30 2

3 2 05

1 02 0

4 2 4 5

4 2 40

Fdl.

Mdn.

Gtr.

15 1.

1.

04 2 0

1.

24 2 0

5 4 50

04

0 2

25 2 1

00

2 1

2.

2.

0 3

2.

21

2 3 2 0

0 1 02

5

0

Golden SlippersArranged by Bobby Westfall

G D

G G G C D

G D G

You may have heard this one as the old Golden Grahams cereal commercial. This is an easy one to improvise on so try doing some variations, and have fun with it!Bob has written 3 Mandolin books for Hal Leonard Music Publishing and teaches Guitar, Mandolin,Ukulele, Tenor Banjo,and Fiddle. in Madison, WI. Bob performs with "Big Bang String Thing" at The Merchant 121 N. Pinckney on Feb. 2nd & 16th in Madison 9 p.m. For lessons contact Bob at 608.335.5153 or email to [email protected]

(c) 2011 Newesterner Music

Miktek is a fairly new company here in Nashville creating a huge amount of buzz withtheir studio and stage microphones. Reviews in the trade magazines and from engi-neers and producers in the field have been wowed to see these new microphones goup against some of the industry standard’s best. I had the chance to talk with MikeKetchell, president of Miktek and he was kind enough to share what’s been going onwith this great new company.

AG-Hey Mike, it’s great to meet with you.Tell us a little about your colorful musicalbackground.

Mike-I was interested in music early on as all kids were in the 60's and 70's; schoolmusic programs and bands. And I was into gear early on buying guitars at flea marketsand selling them to friends for a little profit.

AG-Where in NY were you from?

Mike- Long Island.

AG-And I understand your tastes in music ranged from classical to punk?

Mike- Absolutely.On Long Island,we figured everyone was from the city or the coun-try. Going through a bridge out of Manhattan on to Long Island meant you lived in thecountry.Then when I moved to the Midwest and found out what the country meant.(Laughs) It’s why I love Nashville so much.It feels like both a small town and a big city.

AG- So how did you get your start with audio gear?

Mike-I always used to modify gear. I was always hanging out in the music stores; fromlike age 15 to 21 when they finally hired me (Laughs). I left a real good full time job towork part time in a music store.I just wanted to be around it.Luckily I did that becauseit led to a lot of great experiences in this industry. So, I worked in many different as-pects of this industry from retail.Then to my own startup company. I was sales man-ager for Mackie Designs.Various manufactures...marketing, R&D. It’s been a lot of funbeing involved on so many levels.

AG- From all that,what brought on the decision to finally set up shop here in Nashville?

MIKTEK



More great good fortune came my way thisweekend when I caught up with Chris Wag-oner and Mary Gaines, hosts of WORT's MadToast Live!- over some French toast at the ElDorado Grille. Dizzyingly talented, mile-long-repetoired, but mostly generous, consum-mate professionals!

AM:How did MadToast Live! get its name?MG:Way back when I first got my computer, I was trying to draw with the mouse,andwhat I drew looked like a piece of toast,with a face, and it looked mad.

CW: It did, it had this puff of smoke coming out of it.MG:So we thought, toast of Madison,mad toast, that would be a cool name for...some-thing we do, and we kind of stored it up until the time and thing were right.

AM: So has MadToast Live! always been hosted atThe Brink?CW: It has, the show started in 2008, and after about 8 months,Andrew LaValley, BearSound teamed up with us and is now our head engineer and technical producer. Hedid a lot of research on shows that developed podcasts, likeAustin City Limits, andThisAmerican Life- he spends hours mixing each podcast.

AM:How was this show born?MG:Well we used to host a jam at Club DeWash.We inherited the acoustic jam at theClub deWash fromWilly Porter,but it was“Papa Hambone”who had aWPR broadcastfrom the Club deWash that was kind of a variety show which featured interviews withpoets,musicians and other interesting folks (and also featured the same house band asthe“Waddyaknow Show”that we drew our original inspiration from – that and also thelate“Hotel Milwaukee”show that was also onWPR.

AM: Everyone who has worked with you two refers to you as "consummate profes-sionals". You do everything from playing out,to recording,to hosting the show,you docommercial work, do you teach violin to fourth graders?CW:Oh yeah!MG:We do, give private lessons.

AM:So there seems to be this characteristic growing in the Madison music scene that'slike this celebration and honoring of the wealth of talent here. When I interviewed Eliz-abeth Engen-Brink it showed through, it's reflected when people talk about you two,Joyce and Andy Ziehli contribute to it, there doesn't seem to be this cut-throat com-petition, what's up with that?MG: It's really a combination of things: first, you get more work when you help eachother, and just a more pleasant way to live, helping each other.CW: It seems like more here in Madison there's this cross-genre, everybody knowseverybody, and it's less of a scene and more of a community.

AM:You two literally do every aspect of professional musicianship, if you could narrowthe focus, and just pick one thing,would you?What would it be?MG:We have friends,who we've played with and respect a lot who have branded them-selves, their name,which is smart.CW:Maybe that's what we should have done, but we stayed diversified- have done somany things,we're still involved in so many things.

AM:Talk about how the Madison music community changed after the Club DeWashburned down.CW: Oh those were the days. You'd unload, go through the Barber's closet, get cat-called at, andThe Barber's Closet was the best- they had a great jukebox,we loved thejazz. It was just such a good place to be, so many greats hung out there.

AM: So this would have been in the mid eighties?MG:Early to mid, yeah.

AM:And after the fire?What do you do?CW:Everyone was bummed,we really only had the jam then, at Club deWash and wewere traveling and touring a lot back then,with the Common Faces. But Okayz Coral

Mad Toast Live!the interview

was a scene in itself, you know. And there were other venues.MG:We played this bar in Milwaukee where I left a bass, once.And Willy (Porter)brought it back to me,but first he played it in a gig,and then when he brought it back,I was in awe,with this bass, all covered inWillie's mojo!

AM:Do I have the chronology right, that your time with Common Faces followed yourtime with HarmoniousWail?MG:And there was Mammals of Swing, that came before Harmonious Wail, we mayhave a few of those fans around.

AM:Who were your heroes then?MG:Richard Davis, Roger Brotherhood, jazz musicians.CW:Paul Cebar,Willy Porter, Randy Sabien.

AM: So you guys worked in a time where you might bump into someone at the ClubDeWash, and maybe you had their phone number,but if they were cool, they weren'thome to answer it anyway, and you might have left a note on their door, if you knewwhere they lived, but you were probably more likely to just happen into them whileyou were out, when you could literally pull your phone out of your pocket and poston face book that you are playing a gig at El Dorado for brunch today, and within 30minutes, you could pack this dining room. Which is better?CW:Both are good, it's just a question of using the tools available to you at the time.

AM:Back to the show,MadToast Live! How does it work, is it work?CW:Because of who we are,we are really suited to it. I have an extremely high thresh-old of objectivity, so I can appreciate a lot of different styles of music, even if theyaren't my preference.Our goal is really to support the local music scene,and sometimeswe get to have touring regional artists on their way between Chicago and wherever,and that's great!

AM:Do you try to theme the show?CW:We have series within the show,or seasons that we might theme, like this seasonwe'll have more bluegrass,so the bluegrass fans can saddle up,but I also like to pair upopposites,I think that makes for an interesting show.Music promotion is like a full-timejob though, and connection can be kind of seasonal, it's a lot like farming, you've gotto make hay when the sun shines!MG:Chris usually does the talking points for the interviews,and then I try to keep theshow conversational- being a teacher really helps,we are pretty open-minded people.


We've always been supporting musicians, you know, it's been our job to make peoplesound good.

AM:Have you been able to identify favorite guests?MG:Oh, they've been so diverse, but when we had opera recently, it was so cool, I re-ally liked learning about it, and once when we had this really avant garde poet, I feltunsure of what to really listen for at first, and sometimes it’s really just a mood thing,what you are in the mood for.CW:We've had so much fun, the diversity is the thing: like we had a band, Delhi toDublin,where this Indian guy in a kilt played a sitar;Don Peachy Band,Ry Cooder,wehad Mountain Heart, Grammy award winners from Nashville; Mike Marshall; ClaudiaSchmidt...MG: I really enjoy the more unusual singer-songwriters, the ones who are stylisticallydifferent. I really like to root for the underdog.CW: It's not that we don't like the big artists, it's just...

AM:They don't need as much help?CW:Yeah, kind of. And we stay true to the goal, which is to support the local talentscene. Like Mickey's has kind of become our after bar hangout.MG:After-show hangout.CW: Right, after show hangout. It's really like a continuation of the show's conversa-tion, and the community has so many people of different ages, like once we had apolka band, the Don Peachy band, the only quests to show up in a silver eagle bus,Don is like 80 years old.MG:And his son is like 60,so there's Don,playing this accordion,and his son was play-ing the trumpet with one hand, and a keyboard with the other, because they didn'thave a bass player.

AM: So the diversification of the guests is by design.CW:Absolutely, but it's not really too much work to achieve that. Like we are hostinga jazz series, and they have grants,which can bring national artists, too.

AM:Do you have an awareness about fans of the show vs. fans of the guests? Can youtell when people show up to see you guys and when the guests draw the crowd?CW:Not really, because sometimes we'll sit in and play along with the guests.MG:Sometimes our show is really a ticketed performance by the guests,and we are justpresenters.

AM:Have you ever felt like you needed to step in and save someone from drowning?CW: (a chuckle) Not on the show, really, but playing live, for sure.

AM:What about session artistry, you record with so many bands,how much influenceto you yield?CW:Our motto is 'serve the song'. We are really collaborators.

AM: Is the song ever just not good? Do you find yourselves needing to influence?CW:If I had advice it's that younger artists sometimes need to learn when to speak andwhen to listen. The producer's role is to guide the sound,and we're really there to help flush out the sound.MG: People can get attached to their own ideas, and that'swhen ego can get involved,so we might try to relieve peopleof pre-conceived notions, and have an open mind.

AM:Can you teach that? Do people actually grow into open-mindedness?MG: Oh yes, in sessions, it's about bringing a bunch ofsketches,and often it's either the first take,or the fiftieth take.CW:Yeah,a lot of times the first take is the one you build on.For us, though, it's about learning to stay out of the way.MG: Sometimes you have to spend some takes warming upto the gel,and we've always been the supporting sides,me onthe base and Chris with strings- now we work as a duo, andwe've always been that, supporting each other, so we canbring a variety of perspectives. It's about the flow.

AM:If you could spend all your professional time on just oneaspect of the music,what would it be?Teaching, recording, hosting, gigging?MG:Definitely gigging.We also love teaching!

AM:When you play a gig, or record in the studio,who plays what?MG: I play two instruments, and Chris plays,what six?

AM: So does the set list tell you what gear to pack?MG:We don't really use a set list.CW:We tried that sort of, especially with the Moon Gypsies, and if we play a biggershow or festival,we do,but it's not really us.

AM:So you go do a show,or go into the studio,you what,pack the kitchen sink in casethe spirit moves you during a show?CW:The song tells us what it needs, and we really like to wing it. Dave Lindley (Jack-son Browne) really did it right,he'd take everything into the studio,I follow that think-ing.

AM:What do you want the world to know about your music?CW:That we really like this- doing the show and we're going to keep doing it.MG:If we have a vow to our fans it's that we mean to get back to some original music.

AM:Speaking of that,do either of you fancy yourselves with the title:singer/songwriter?MG:It seems like there's not enough time for that,but really mean to get back to record-ing original stuff.

CW:Now we're going to be on the record with that.

AM:What's the secret to surpassing generations of music in a local music scene the sizeof Madison's?MG:The Madison music scene is like an organic business, there's so many people talk-ing to so many people, and of different ages.The key has really been for us to bounceeverything off of each other. We've had different roles in music, and different roles inlife,and we've always been a duo,supporting each other,or side musicians supportingthe whole sound.That has strongly influenced who we are, it's about listening,becauseit's always been our job to make other people sound good.That has made us be ableto really support each other. I think it's really important for people to exercise a cre-ative outlet to express themselves using their own minds.Also, I don't answer thephone just because it rings. What's going on in my mind is more important than thephone. And that might be my advice as a teacher, too, 'do you want to learn some-thing? or do you want to talk on the phone?'You know,you can't learn to play the gui-tar while you are on the phone,and there's nothing like the one on one experience ofteaching.

AM:Now for the speed round:Other than music,what are you fanatics of?CW:Old time airplanes.MG:Color.

AM:What's the best place in the world?CW:HomeMG:Yeah,home.

AM:What's the best gig you've ever played?MG:Oh,we played recently on top of Rib Mountain,nearWausau,and it was like,well,playing on top of a mountain!CW:And,headlining the International folk festival, in Hallein,Austria, in a beer tent with2000 sweaty and drunkAustrians!

AM:Do you listen to music on Ipods?Both MG and CW:No.MG:We don't like how it sounds.

AM:CD player then?CW:Turntable. Rye Cooter jazz, I think is on it now.

AM:Who or what is the greatest loss to music that you can think of?MG: SarahVaughn

AM:Who or what is the greatest contribution to music?MG:RadioCW:The new digital recording technology. It's opened so many doors, now everyonecan afford to produce music, which is both good and bad, there's so much more towade through now,what's good and what's bad, but if you think about it,we'll never

really know another Elvis, because everyone can produceanything.

AM:What's the worst kind of cliché?MG:Oh, probably the one that's so tired: 'It's only 3 chords,how hard can it be?'CW:One that's really used up is probably that musicians aredrug-using, irresponsible, non-stop party-ers....just ain't so!

AM:What's going on now/next and how do we find outabout it?MG: Chris is working on his second and third fiddle booksfor Hal Leonard.CW:You can download podcasts of MadToast Live!, you cancheck stellanovas.com,that kind has the Chris and Mary cal-endar of events. Or, bigbangstringthing.com, or check outgraminy.net our newest band.

AM:What's the new band about?MG: It's new grass/ class-grass

AM:And what is the difference between new grass and blue grass?CW:New grass has jazz chords,and Latin sound.Our group,"Graminy" is actually more"class-grass", mixing elements of Classical, Bluegrass, Klezmer, Indian, and jazz, while"Big Bang StringThing",our group with our long-time friend and musical partner,BobWestfall, is more "Jazz-Grass".MG: So rehearsing is really more about arranging, which is one of the most excitingthings.

Chris and Mary spent our time conveying this supporting cast role they have taken onover the years, but make no mistake, they are really more like the white-coated re-search geniuses pro-creating the human DNA of the Madison music community for allposterity.Thanks you two!

Website info:

MADTOAST LIVE www.madtoastlive.comTHE STELLANOVAS www.thestellanovas.comGRAMINY www.graminy.netBIG BANG STRINGTHING www.bigbangstringthing.comSTUDIO STRINGS www.studiostrings.com

Story by: Anne Miller


Well you can’t ever say the Americana Gazette is not family friendly! Inthe past we have had Rodney Crowell (Chelsea’s Dad) and Rosanne Cash(Chelsea’s Mother) featured on the cover of our magazine. This time it isChelsea’s turn and she deserves it. If you listened to her first CD, self ti-tled “Chelsea Crowell”, that was a great CD, now her second solo CD,“Crystal City” is amazing. She is one gal you need to be checking out.

Chelsea Crowell was born January 25th in Nashville Tennessee. She at-tended elementary school and high school in both New York andNashville. She has also lived in Baltimore,Memphis, Charleston and Col-orado. When she was 19, she formed a band, Jane Only with StephenBraren, with whom she still works with on occasion. She attended Bel-mont University and Memphis College of Art, studying history, Englishand photography. Currently she lives in Nashville and has just finishedrecording her second album as well as working on an opera.

In the last issue of theAmericana Gazette we reviewed her latest CD,andnow I had the chance to talk with Chelsea about her CD,her career andher dog, Lefty. (Which happens to be this issue’s featured Pet Note, besure to check this out.)

Joyce: Hello Chelsea. How is the weather in Nashville this evening?

Chelsea: We are having great weather. I have been in Ireland for a fewweeks and I was ready to see some sunshine again.

Joyce: Chelsea, do you know anything about our magazine?

Chelsea: Yea, in fact I do. You had a photo of my Dad on one issue andmy Mom too. I’m well acquainted with your magazine.

Joyce: Well, now it’s your turn to be the featured artist.

Chelsea: This is great timing with my new CD coming out and I will bestarting out on tour again this Spring. Perfect!

Joyce: Why don’t you tell me a little bit about yourself. You obviouslygrew up in a musical household, Rodney, Rosanne, and your grandpar-ents, Johnny and June Cash. When did you first start playing and think-ing music was going to be your career?

Chelsea: That is really not a very interesting story,so I’ll make it fast. (weboth laugh) I first started playing guitar when I was 13 years old, then Igave it up for a number of other projects I wanted to try to see if I couldfind out what I wanted to do with my life. I didn’t start playing again

ChelseaCrowell

Releases 2ndSolo CD –CRYSTAL CITY


until I was about 18. I started a band with my boyfriend at the time. We had one recordthat we put out.

Joyce: When did you start writing songs?

Chelsea: I started writing back when I was 13. I never stopped writing songs, I juststopped playing music. I was the head of a literary column for a magazine in highschool, so I wrote a lot for this. When I got to college, I started playing again. We livedin Charleston, then moved to Memphis, then back to Nashville where I started a bandand started recording. Actually my cohort, then boyfriend and later collaborator, herecorded on the last record I did,“Crystal City”. We still work together.

Joyce: Do you co-write?

Chelsea: (laughs) I don’t co-write with anybody!

Joyce: Not even your Mom or Dad?

Chelsea: No. I have co-written with one of my best friend’s from high school. We co-wrote some funny songs together one time. Another good friend of mine,who doesvideos for me, and actually just came off a 7 week tour with me, I co-write with him,that’s about as far as it went.

Joyce: Chelsea you play guitar. Any other instruments?

Chelsea: Umm, not well. (I laugh) I have a piano in my bedroom, actually my TV sitson top of it. I was taught to play a lot of things, but don’t play them now. Just thepiano if anything else besides the guitar.

Joyce: This is your second CD, correct?

Chelsea: My third including the band CD we did. But yes,my second solo CD.

Joyce: What would you like people to know about your CD?

Chelsea: That’s the hard part. I really don’t knowwhat to say.

Joyce: Any stories about the songs?

Chelsea: Yea, there are lots of stories. The song,“Don’t Talk About The Girl”, I actually wrote onthe airplane and when I got in the car I pulled outmy guitar on the way home and had it figured outby the next morning. A lot of my songs are fan-tasies, some are very personal to me. Except for2 or 3 songs,all of them were done on a live track.Then we went back and overdubbed stuff on topof it. We just did it live at the time. It’s really kind of sparse.

Joyce: Where did the title track,“Crystal City”come from?

Chelsea: Crystal City is actually a real place. I am planning my tour around that place,I want to play Crystal City in the middle of the tour. It’s the strangest town ever. I’vedone research on it. I wrote the song based on seeing it on a map. I was looking at amap ofTexas in an atlas on a road trip and as I was sitting in the passenger seat, I sawa place that said Crystal City, so I wrote the song based on seeing it on the map. Nowit seems like I’m landmarked to be able to hit that city.

Joyce: Where else will you be touring?

Chelsea: I will be back touring in the Spring to promote this CD. Will be starting inthe south. Doing South By Southwest, Jackson,Nashville,Crystal City, then toArizonaand LA.

Joyce: Any plans on coming North toWisconsin?

Chelsea: Not as of yet.

Joyce: I see you are on a mission to play Crystal City!

Chelsea: Yea, I’m hoping to find a honky tonk there to play. My Dad is fromTexas.

Joyce: I love this CD. Are you working on songs for another?

Chelsea: I have a lot of songs, piles and piles of songs. I have enough out there tomake another CD. I’ve also been working on an opera for the last 4 years. Every timeI am making headway on it, I get sidetracked on another project. I will be damned ifit doesn’t see the light of day in the next 7 years.

Joyce: Good for you. Where can people purchase your CD’s?

Chelsea: Online on my website: chelseajanecrowell.com,unless you live in Nashville,then you can get it at the local record shops,Grimey’s etc. It is also available onAma-zon.

Joyce: Do you work another job now or is music going to be your one and only career?

Chelsea: Yup, this is it. I’m in it for life!

Joyce: Now a little bit about Chelsea as a person. What do you do to relax, hobbies?I know you are a dog lover.

Chelsea: I’ve been working in EquineTherapy since I was 17. I started riding horseswhen I was 4, then when I lived on a farm in Colorado, I started working in EquineTherapy. Equine Therapy is therapy for children with disabilities. It is really a greatthing.

I’m really not a bigTV person,but am a huge football fan. TennesseeTitans of course!I take football pretty damn seriously!

Joyce: Well,Chelsea thank you very much for your time. Good luck with your new CDand your future endeavors in your career. I hope to come hear you in person some-time. You are a very nice and talented young lady and your parents should be veryproud of you and your accomplishments.

Chelsea: Thank you Joyce. It was a pleasure speaking with you. I look forward to see-ing the article.

For more information on Chelsea, visit her website at: www.chelseajanecrowell.comand be sure to check out her CD. It will be well worth the listen!

Some background information taken from Chelsea Crowell’s website.

Story by Joyce ZiehliPhotos supplied.


This tale was unthinkable to me as recently as sixyears ago. Until that time six years ago I wouldnever have dreamed I would walk on Floridabeaches and even enjoy spending time at theseashore. It took my good friends and former col-leagues Jerry and Carol a fair amount of persuasionto finally convince me to consider such a feat. I wasa country guy fromWisconsin. I grew up and livedamong the farm fields and hills and valleys of South-ernWisconsin. I felt comfortable and at home there.Other people walked on beaches, other peoplesoaked their feet into oncoming waves from oceans,and other people sat on beach chairs sunning andresting and reading. Not me but others did thosethings.

Jerry and Carol upon their retirement investigated the Miami Beach area, and theycame home raving about the good time they had there. For two years they came backtelling me that I should come along with them next year. Eventually my defenses weak-ened and I agreed to try a six night stay in South Beach with them.As we flew south-ward to Florida, I wondered how I would survive six days and nights living on thebeach.Would I be bored? Would the time drag? We arrived,and as I walked out of theairport to the transportation to the hotel, the sight of waving palm trees,warm breezes,and a bright blue completely clear sky started to win me over. As we all do on vaca-tion, we rush to our hotel room and quickly change to take part of the action of thatvacation. After only being in Florida for an hour, I was standing on the sand glancingover the miles and miles of open ocean before me. The sound of the waves crashingon shore stirred my soul in ways I had not dreamed Hundreds of people were campedout as far as I could see up and down the beautiful white sanded beach. Blue loung-ing chairs dotted the beach. Life guards sat up in towers spaced all along as far as Icould see. Waiters balancing trays of food and drinks were moving among those um-brella-covered chairs. Happy conversation and laughter filled the air along with tonsof sea gulls many of which followed those waiters hoping for a handout. Some gullsrested on top of the umbrellas. The voices filtering through the sound of the wavesspoke many European and SouthAmerican languages, and the sound of a lot of Amer-ican accents could be heard throughout the crowd. People were frolicking in thewaves, and other people were walking in and out of the oncoming waves and downthe beach as far as you could see. Florida is flat, so you can see a great distance at anyone time.

Turning your back to the ocean you spot miles and miles of high rise condos and ho-tels. The tourist is the King here. Between the sand and those buildings is a wide pathmade of concrete decorated blocks perfect for jogging, bike riding,walking, pushingbuggies and strollers, and perfect to move to any of those buildings.

Once on the beach a hotel staff person would come over to set up our “beach area”.He planted into the ground as many beach umbrellas as our crew would need. We

helped him drag a chair per person to that section.We were now “camped” on the beach, and I washooked. This country guy was communing with anew kind of nature---not farm fields, not pine trees,not rolling hills,nor not steep valleys. I was now athome on the beach sitting within feet of the ocean.I could get up out of my chair at any time and walkinto those waters and journey up and down thelong long South Beach, Florida, area! We couldorder a lunch from the hotel delivered to us on thebeach. We could spend hours moving in and out ofthe sun while people watching or listening to themany voices around us,and we certainly could readto our heart’s content.

Around 4:30 that afternoon Carol and Jerry suggested we leave our spot and go to ourrooms and change for dinner. We would meet in the lobby around 5 PM to walk to din-ner. Another special feature of South Beach is that there are over one hundred specialrestaurants within easy walking distance from the hotels.There are three distinct re-gions, and we visited all three on our nightly haunts. Staff from each restaurant standon the sidewalk attempting to convince you to eat at their restaurant. If you show in-terest, they flash their menu to you and point out early-bird specials, and if you reallyseem interested they offer reduced prices or a free drink or a free dessert. Our trickwas to walk through each section and then compare notes and decide where we willdine that day. Many of the places had both indoor and outdoor eating. Just think ofhow wonderful the thought is to be able to eat outside in January or February or evenMarch.Because it does cool down around sunset,most places had heaters for the out-side area. The heaters are mounted on poles above your table and resemble torches.It is amazing to see how many people fill those many restaurants each night of theweek. Our evening always ended with us stopping at a famous chocolate shop for afree sample of their chocolate.

It did not take long to set our pattern: get up whenever you want but usually set ameeting time for breakfast and walk on that wonderful path to a nearby section ofmany breakfast spots. Here it was the same with staff holding menus and begging usto try their spot. The gimmick they could offer was free coffee or tea or orange juice.We often ate our breakfast on porches. Then it was back on the path dodging seem-ingly everyone possible out walking or jogging. The early morning walk or jog is verypopular with the retired people living or visiting in Florida. Next on the agenda waschanging for the beach or for the pool area and claiming your spot. The earlier youwere the better the spot you got. We would often split up to claim a good spot ateach,and therefore we could move back and forth as we wanted. But we would spendthe entire day at the pool area and/or the beach. Lunch would be delivered to us fromthe hotel or we would walk two blocks west and one south to a fantastic French bak-ery and sandwich shop. We would eat our fares on tables in front of the place notbeing bothered by the heavy traffic passing in front of us. After all,we could soon es-cape all that and return to the beach. That was our pattern. Some times after the din-

From the FarmFields of Wisconsin

to the SandyBeaches of

Florida!



About five years ago three women met in the kitchenof a home in the country.Their purpose was to meetwith close friends once a month after reading a mys-tery. They would meet in each other’s home and thebooks would be chosen by the host-

ess of the month.The three women agreed that eight members wasa good count since this was the number of chairs around the diningroom table. Five more women were invited to attend and the firstmeeting was launched.They decided that Monday morning was agood time to meet.They would call themselves the Monday Morn-ing Mystery Book Club.This went well for a couple of months whena conflict in schedules of two of the members appeared and it be-came apparent that a new meeting time would have to be estab-lished.Thursday morning was the most acceptable day and so it hasbeen ever since. Only the name was changed to protect the inno-cent. It has become the“Monday Morning Mystery Book ClubThatMeets On Thursday Morning.”The books read are fictional and aremostly written by feminine authors.The endings are usually prettytidy. But, is this always so in real life crime?

In my collection of many books I found an answer. It was a bookwritten in 1981 by Jay Robert Nash. The title is “Look For TheWoman.” He calls it a narrative encyclopedia of female poisoners,kidnappers, thieves, extortionists, terrorists, swindlers, and spies.There are over three hundred entries of women who have commit-ted crimes. From Elizabethan times to the year of 1981 he has researched. I do notknow if the book is still in print. An interesting observation that Nash made is that inall his research he discovered the most popular names of women criminals are – inorder of frequency, Catherine, Elizabeth, Mary and Ann. Here are the facts of fourwomen with those names.

Mary Ann Burdock. (1805-1835) - Mary Ann , a landlady,who lived in Bristol England,had fallen in love with a young sailor named CharlesWade. He had rented a room inher house.Even thoughWade also loved MaryAnn he told her that he could not marryher because he had no money. He had wanted to open a lock shop but did not havefunds.

One of Mary’s roomers, a Mrs. Clara Smith, did have money and Mary knew this. Sheknew that Mrs.Smith kept the money in a cash box and hid it under her bed. Mary wasdesperate to marry Wade and so she poisoned Mrs. Smith, stole several thousandpounds from her room, and gave the money to Charles Wade. Mary began planningher wedding.A relative of Mrs. Smith whose name was Read became suspicious. Heheard from Mary that Mrs.Smith had“died very poor.”He knew that Mrs.Smith was notpoor and had considerable amount of funds. He took this information to the police.They exhumed the victim’s body and it was found that she had been given arsenic.Mary Ann Burdock was arrested, tried, and condemned to death. She was hanged inApril of 1835.CharlesWade did not attend her execution.

Does anybody else grin like a madman wheneverthey hear ‘Like a Rolling Stone’ by Bob Dylan?

(Insert catchy intro music here).Would that I wasgood enough to be able to stick intro music intowriting.That would be a pretty epic skill.Don’t haveit though. How does somebody go about gettingepic skills like that?WheezyWaiter might know.

Speaking ofWheezyWaiter (YouTuber, also knownas Craig Benzine, who’s incredibly hilarious onceyou start to understand some of the inside jokes)Driftless Pony Club (The band he’s a part of) wasin Madison in January.Which you can imagine waspretty exciting. It’s nice that they’re from Chicago,because they actually get up here sometimes (I’mglaring at you, Hank Green [another You Tuber,who’s one of the vlogbrothers and also makes won-derfully nerdy music])

On a totally different topic,Malvina Reynolds is kindof awesome. Like kind of really awesome. Sadly, Ican’t find any of her CDs from our library system,which is really unfortunate,because I really like hervoice as well as her songs (weird as that mightsound, because she’s got kind-of an old lady voice,but I think it’s awesome). In case anybody doesn’tknow who I’m talking about, she wrote ‘Little

Women and Crime- it really does not pay!

Catherine Bevan (1680-1731) was a murderer whose execution was to be strangled bythe neck at the stake and then her body was to be burned. The fire was set prematurelyand the rope around her neck was burned away by the fire and Catherine was burnedalive. She was the only woman inAmerica to encounter such a horrible end. She was

having an affair with her husband’s servant Peter Murphy. Murphydecided to murder the husband by using poison. He gave the poi-son to Catherine and she gave it to her husband with his morningcoffee.This failed so Murphy jumped upon the husband,beating himunconscious while Catherine strangled her husband, Henry with ahandkerchief.

Catherine sent young Murphy to town t inform the officials that herhusband had died of a fit.The funeral was held rather quickly.A localjudge thought it was suspicious that the coffin was nailed shut. Theofficial ordered the coffin to be opened and there was Henry’s bodyall battered and the real cause of death was determined. Both thewife and lover were arrested and Murphy was quick to confess.Theexecution date was June 10,173l.

The next two entries in this summation of murderers are women bythe name of Ann Bilansky (1820-1860) and Elizabeth Mason (? –1712) Ann,of St.Paul Minnesota, longed for the affection of her hand-some nephew JohnWalker.She complained to a neighbor and friendthat her husband, Stanislaus Bilansky was nothing but a bother toher. She dosed the old man’s soup with arsenic and shortly there-

after he died.

The neighbor had a few bad dreams and because it bothered her so much she told herhusband she thought that Ann had killed her husband. The husband went to the po-lice. They exhumed the body, and found that he had been given arsenic. JohnWalkerwas arrested with 40 year old Ann but was released for lack of evidence.Ann was ar-rested, found guilty, and was sentenced to be hanged on March 23,1860. She was theonly woman hanged in Minnesota History.

Elizabeth Mason was a servant girl who thought she was to inherit her godmother’s es-tate and so she poisoned her. She mixed yellow arsenic into the woman’s coffee. Shethen tired to poison her godmother’s closest friend believing she might be the one toinherit instead of Elizabeth.The friend grew ill and called a druggist.He made her drinka large amount of oil which expelled the little arsenic that she had swallowed. Eliza-beth was arrested a short time later. She was tried on June 6,1712 after confessing tothe crime. She was hanged twelve days later.

These were crimes of passion, and greed, all committed by women, all used poisonnamely arsenic,all executed and hung. Then,as now,it was proven.CRIME DOES NOTPAY.

Written by: Rosemary Ziehli

Boxes’ and ‘Morning-town Ride’and‘TurnAround’ and “WeHate to See ThemGo’ and ‘It Isn’t Nice’and a whole host ofother amazing songs.Also, she was onSesame Street some-times as ‘Kate’,which pretty muchmakes you impervi-ous to being un-awesome.

Also really awesome areThe Seekers. I’m particularly fond of‘RedRubber Ball’ and ‘I know I’ll Never FindAnotherYou’.‘Nuff said.

Totally irrelevant, but did anybody else watch season two ofDownton Abbey? Arg. I can’t even begin to describe how awe-some…. If you haven’t seen it (or the first season) then find them.Best Period Drama Ever.Although Cranford is quite nice too,and…I’ll stop.

Happy 2012.BestWishes.

Written by: Celia Carr

Celia'sColumn


2011 is starting off in many very unusual ways. The most obvious unusual event herein southernWisconsin it’s January and it’s nearing 50 degrees outside, and yes, that isabove zero. I have come to the conclusion that at this point in my life (and forevermore) I am happy to live without snow in my day-to-day experience. I will happily goto where the snow is rather than it needing to come to me. Snow,please take note.

The less obvious (unless you’re driving past my house or next to me in my car and canhear the thump) is that I am writing an article on Lady Gaga. I can see the bubbleabove your head right now:meat dress, enclosed in an egg, or in a leather jacket withfishnet stockings and a thong. Yes, all of those pieces of Lady Gaga are accurate andpart of her created persona.

Jim, please remember that you are writing for a publication entitled the AMERICANAGAZETTE. Yes, I remember. Jim,do you realize that perhaps most of the readership ofthis publication prefer acoustic instruments over electronic beats? Yes, I am aware ofthat. Jim, are you really going to try and sell an artist such as Lady Gaga to this read-ership. Darn right I am!

It is a week beforeThanksgiving 2011 and Bob has recorded the Lady Gaga special outof curiosity. Up to the moment I sat on the couch to watch with him I had heard onlyone Gaga song,“Bad Romance” from her FAME MONSTER release.

Okay, going to clear up that other little bubble over your head. Even though I am ofthe community that finds men my preference,I have never enjoyed dance music, flam-boyant costumes, female impersonation,bars,or over the top diction or pride parades.I mostly prefer acoustic instruments,harmony,great songwriting and authentic artists,just like you.

Gaga jumps into “Lady Is A Tramp”with Tony Bennett. Wait a minute I was thinking,this woman can SING! My only exposure to her music was the dance heavy “Ro-mance”; now I was really curious. Next she was back at her grade school doing craftswith the young girls there, and with a genuine connection she shares art and singswith them the chorus of the title track of her new album“BornThisWay”. The lyric isclear and moving. Next she jumps into the dance version of the same song. Soon shewas sitting at a piano playing piano only versions of “Edge Of Glory”and“You & I”. Iwas speechless.

The following week I purchased her“BornThisWay”LP and played it from top to bot-tom. After watching herThanksgiving Special and getting a glimpse into the“why”ofwhom she is, I listened with open ears and an open heart.

I will turn 50 this year,and I thought I pretty much had myself figured out. I knewwhatI liked in the realm of music. Heck,I have been listening for almost 45 years! Miss Gagagave me a huge gift forThanksgiving this year. HerTV special opened a door inside ofme for which I will be forever grateful.

I could not get enough of her music. The more I listened the more I felt myself gettingwhat she was about. Her songs mixed themes but overall her message to me (and Isoon found out to everyone who loves her) was,who you are is perfect,amazing even.Be proud of who you are and don’t let anyone tell you differently. I found myselfhome alone one afternoon with her music playing on the sound system that I have

wired through the house. I then found myself DANCING to track 6,“Hair”. This isamusing for two reasons. 1- I hate dancing. 2 - I am almost bald.

I could not help it. I was filled with such joy that I just had to move, and I loved it! Icould FEEL the spirit that Gaga put into her carefully crafted pop music. There I wasjumping up and down, spinning in the middle of my living room. I had no idea whatI was doing and I did not care. That is not how I normally approach my life. I am usu-ally more concerned about what someone else will think about what I am doing. I hadfive minutes and eleven seconds of FREEDOM. I was a changed man. I am not kidding.

This is why I am writing about the amazing Stefani JoanneAngelina Germanotta in theAMERICANA GAZETTE. I was unaware of my rigid mindset of what I liked or what hadmeaning as far as music and musicians were concerned. We all know of the very vi-sual aspect of Lady Gaga. I had a preconceived notion of her as an artist even thoughI never listened to her music. Shame on me!

What I love so much about Lady Gaga’s music is the blending of her infectious beats,melody lines and the fact that her voice is front and center in the mix.Make no mis-take folks,Lady Gaga can SING! Pitch correction is not necessary. It was very clear asshe sat alone with her piano that she is a skilled pianist and sings with mastery. She isdeeply emotional. She is on a mission to uplift any who feel trampled under the feetof any kind of naysayer, even if that negative voice happens to be in oneself.

Gaga looks and acts larger than life. She has said she owes it to her fans to be consis-tent and often will look as she does in her performances while she is cooking dinner.It is important to her to be a sort of lighthouse for the bullied and ignored, as she hasexperienced in her young life. To me what sets Gaga apart from other over-the-top vi-sual artists is she is not doing it for just the shock. Sure she leans on Madonna and Brit-ney and even Bette, trying to find her unique expression for her heartfelt message.What makes her shine is her heart. Her fans (this one included) can feel her sincerity.There is love in the air and Gaga wants to make sure we all get our share.

Miss Gaga, thank you for reaching out to this 50 year old man, helping me find au-thentic joy in who I am right here and now. Thank you for helping me dance with ajoyful heart for the first time in my life. Thank you for helping me look beyond the sur-face of those around me. Thank you for caring so much for my happiness and my free-dom.

Life is full of joy; it really is. There is so much that is right in the world. If you’re find-ing it difficult to tap into the good feelings that life has to offer, remember you havesome choices. TheTV can be turned off rather than on. The newspaper does not needto be read for a few days. Play music you love when you’re tempted to turn on thenews. Let the world spin without you being“plugged in” for a few days.

With this new year let‘s give each other a break. A little more“live and let live”and re-laxing a bit when we think someone should do or be whatWE think is best. Perhaps,if we do that just once, we may find ourselves dancing more, laughing more, lovingmore and enjoying each other more!

Written by: Jim Smith

GaGafor theLady


WHAT HAS BILLY DEAN BEEN DOING SINCE THEN?

I grew up listening to Billy Dean on the radio and when I received an email about himand Kenny Rogers doing a 2011 Christmas Tour, I thought wow what a great time tocatch up with Billy and find out what he’s been up to! For those of you too young toremember Billy Dean,check out his accomplishments below then read on to see whatBilly has to say nowadays:

Music Awards1992Academy of Country Music (ACM) Songwriter of theYear for Somewhere In MyBroken Heart1992ACM New Male Vocalist of theYear1991 and 1992 BMI PopAwards1993 BMI Country SongAwards for BillyThe Kid and Somewhere In My Broken Heart1993 BMI MillionAir Plays Award for Somewhere In My Broken Heart1993 CMT Rising Star Award1993TNN Songwriter Award for BillyThe Kid1996 Grammy for A CountryTribute...Amazing Grace

TV RolesOne LifeTo Live, Lois and Clark,Wings,Diagnosis Murder

Movie RolesA Face to Kill For, BlueValley SongbirdTV Hosting Roles: LifetimeTV Special,Good MorningTexas, PrimeTime Country,ABC

Info from Billy Dean’s website.

Me inWisconsin with my eyes fixed upon a gorgeous picture of Billy Dean,began myinterview with Billy who was enjoying a quiet day in Nashville. After talking about themagazine and other things for awhile,we got into the interview.

Joyce: Hi Billy. Let’s start out with how you ended up getting into the music business?Billy: My Dad,his name was Billy Dean;he had a band for 28 years. His band played attheAmerican Legion every Saturday night in Florida. He was playing here before I waseven born. He was above average, an exceptional singer and they were very success-ful. The place was packed, probably around 300 people every night. They called it asquare dance back then. Yea, I grew up with band members coming over to the houseto rehearse. Dad had aTexaco Gas Station,filling station and they would rehearse there.I loved being around my Dad and all these guys.

I started playing early on,I think the second grade. I was performing in front of my sec-ond grade class, I would play the guitar and sing. This has stayed with me all throughhigh school and then I entered into a series of contests and did well in them whichbuilt my confidence and made me think I might actually have a career in music.

Joyce: Billy when did you move to Nashville?Billy: I moved to Nashville when I was 20 years old back in 1983 I believe. I enteredinto the Wrangler Country Star Search Contest and made it into the top 10. I per-


formed on aTV show and met a number of the judges that were in the music busi-ness and they encouraged me to move to Nashville. With the help of my friends andmy local community rallied together and helped me get an apartment and make themove.

Joyce: And it’s been good ever since?Billy: Yes, it’s been quite an adventure. In every sense I have the feeling that I be-longed here. Some people thought I should go home,weather a few hard knocks,turn 30 years old and then come back,but I didn’t. The songwriters actually openedup their arms to me, guys like Guy Clark,Verlon Thompson, and Richard Lee. I gota publishing deal, and as I was recording with Guy Clark, in walks Emmylou Harristo sing on the record. Also met Rodney Crowell and what a great source of energyand talent there. I was just a sponge taking it all in.

Joyce: What have you been doing the past few years?Billy: I started a publishing company,BDMG (Billy Dean Music Group). I’ve tried tostay connected to my fans, touring has picked up which is the best way to get backout to connect. I have some new music to get out and am working with a “NatureCompany Outlet”, a distribution outlet. I’m also looking into a management com-pany out of LA to secure another record deal. I have my farm,Dean Acres which Ibring concerts to. I had 3 in 2011 and hope to expand that in 2012. We have otherartists come of a very high caliber as I want visitors to know us as a great life styleand be able to enjoy amazing music and the beautiful surroundings here in Ten-nessee.

Joyce: Boy keep talking like that and I’m on the next plane there!Billy: Come on down.

Joyce: As we are speaking, you are currently on tour with Kenny Rogers doing a se-ries of Christmas concerts. How did you hook up with Kenny?Billy: I’ve been working with him off and on for about 20 years,back in the ‘90’s wedid a lot of shows with him. Alison Krauss and myself sang on Kenny’s hit,“Buy MeA Rose”. This is my 4th or 5th Christmas ShowTour with Kenny.We developed a re-lationship and he’s my pal. He has an amazing group and crew, they are like familyto me. He’s an iconic music figure and great to be around that stardom and experi-ence this. Also I hope I am taking some of the workload off for him. Sometimes wedo 5 shows in a row, it gets a little grueling.

Joyce: Any new CD’s on the horizon?Billy: I have a CD that is only available on tour now. It’s time for me to embrace theniche’ I’ve always felt I’ve belonged to,which is writing music for the 45 to 65 yearold female audience. I can write about it now and am focusing on this, love and life,etc. I’ve experienced it which helps me to write about it.

Joyce: Do you co-write with anyone?Billy: I usually co-write when getting songs recorded by other artists. When it’s myown music, I write on my own because it is so specialized.

Joyce: Well, thank you Billy for talking to me. I look forward to seeing you in con-cert one of these days. I will send you some goodWisconsin cheese!

“SOMEWHEREINMY BROKENHEART”

Remember This Song?

Billy DeanWon Songwriter of the Yearfor This in 1992!


Tracing some of the roots of Americana music will take onethrough the early days of country music. Hank Williams. JohnnyCash.George Jones.Merle Haggard. Gram Parsons might have beenone of the first to show that there needn't be the great division be-tween country and rock-n-roll as there once was.Perhaps the hip-pies and rednecks could co-exist at a time when it was thought tobe impossible.Another musical pioneer who was not afraid to takesome chances and blend some influences was Buck Owens. Heowed as much to Chuck Berry and the Beatles as he did the driv-ing honky- tonk twang as he and his Buckaroos were creating,which came to be known as the 'Bakersfield sound'.Author EileenSisk has taken her investigative journalism experience to write abook about a man who greatly differed from his innocent,good oldcountry boy persona.The result is a shocking account of the manand his music and a deep rooted lust for money, fame,women andpower.

AG- Hey Eileen,when did you first get into journalism?Eileen- I've always been a writer. I was an editor of the high school newspaper. In col-lege I was an art major for 3 years and then switched to communications. I wrote forsome local community newspapers in the wine country. I got an internship at the LATimes.Then to LasVegas,which was my hometown paper. I got to cover music and en-tertainment while I worked there.That’s kind of where it all started.Then I moved toDC and worked for the US Chamber Of Commerce for a few years on its newspaperthen worked part, then full time for theWashington Post.Then I came toTennessee inApril of 2000 and worked at theTennessean.

AG-Was music, particularly country music, always a passion for you?Eileen-Yeah,my first book was on honky tonks,Guide for Country Dancing.My dad al-ways listened to music. I was always into country and rock-n-roll.

AG-What led to the decision to write specifically about Buck Owens?Eileen-Well,with my dad being a big fan,we always watched Hee-Haw every Saturdaynight. It came down to my agent telling me I should write a bio on a celebrity.Writeabout something you know about, like a country music star. So I wrote to 10 differentsingers who hadn't had any books written about them to date and Buck was the onlyone who responded.

AG-What were your very first impressions of him when you met?Eileen- My first impression of him was how tall and bigger than life he seemed.He wasvery charming.Warm.A very engaging, charismatic person; I liked him.

AG-Were you aware in the beginning what kind of shrewd, cut-throat guy he was, asyou would come to find out, and so different that what had been portrayed to thatpoint?Eileen- I had heard stories about what a tough business guy he was. But I had no clueon how he treated people until I started interviewing people who had worked forhim. It was a real eye-opener in that respect. I was a fan going in, and I had the sameimage of him as everyone had.He was this innovative musician who had an edge,withcountry and rock...and this was where I was coming from. I was in awe and a littlestarry eyed.But I know we're all human. So I don't really deify anyone.

AG- I’m sure that Buck would admit he was country and rock with the Chuck Berryand Beatles influences...Eileen- He absolutely was.Those early recordings in 1956 were rockabilly, rhythm andblues.

AG- So as I understand the intro to the book,Buck wasn't very guarded and was in factvery willing to give the details of his life in the interviews that you had with him,cor-

rect?Eileen- Correct. At first, he was very charming andopen. But there’s a whole story behind that...I'velearned since why Buck wasn't going to have me writehis story.When I was interviewed recently onWord onWords,he thought that was Buck's worst career moves,because had Buck hired me, I would have workedunder his terms.

AG-Which would have made it an entirely different book....Eileen- It would have been a totally different book. It would have been his entire view-point. Instead, this book speaks from many different voices. I interviewed Buckaroos,people who could talk.There were some who couldn't, still being in the organization.Anyone who was still alive,which some are gone now, I got to talk to.

AG- So, after Buck had divulged all in the interviews and his management came backto you and said that the bio would be 'unauthorized', did Buck talk to you personallyat any point and ask you not to write the book?Eileen- He did not talk to me personally.He had Jim Shaw call me and leave a messageon my machine.At the time I was interviewing Kris Black,who was Buck's former pro-motion director. It was funny because Doyle Holly (Buckaroo bassist 1963-70) talkedto Buck and Buck told him it was alright if we do the book but he didn't want us tomention anything about Kris Black or sex. So that was at the point that Buck knew Iwas out talking to people, that’s when Jim Shaw called and said it would be unautho-rized. And I said fine.

AG- Even though all the Buckaroos were vital in shaping that sound,what was Buck'sreaction like when you brought up guitarist Don Rich's motorcycle accident and death?Eileen- His reaction was very strange.When I told him in the office in Bakersfield thatI wanted to delve into the death of Don Rich because I thought that story had neverbeen properly told, it was like this big wall had come between us. Silence and this bigpause, then he couldn't look me in the eye and he said,‘well it’s like this Eileen, I justdon't trust publishers. But you know I've got enough money that I could write thebook myself, I could pay you a fee.What would you think about that?" And I just saidhowever you want to work the deal. I was going to stay another day.He was going topick me up.And he never showed up. I even went to the Crystal Palace where he wasthat night.And he slipped out the back.Then I knew I had been 'Bucked'. (Laughs)

AG- So at the time, you hadn't looked into any of the police or autopsy reports?Eileen-No.I just wanted to know as a fan.We all knew about the accident and that Buck

BUCKOWENSthe Biography

Eileen Siskauthor



Here we are twelve years alive and kicking and surviving after thedreaded date of January 1,2000. So you suppose some people are stillusing stored food and water they put away in fear of the total collapsepredicted for 2000? That remindsme of a friend that reported that hermother-in-law was sure that the arrival of Castro as the leader of Cubawouldmean nomore sugar forAmericans. This womanwas so certainof this that she had hoards and hoards of bags of sugar in her house.They filled one room and spilled over to another.

The college football season,usuallymy favorite sports season,has comeand gone seemingly with a whimper. So many of the bowl games thisyear brought me little pleasure or excitement. It appeared to me thatmany of the teams playing in the various BowlGames really did not de-serve to be in one. One game featured two teams with a total of thir-teen losses and twelve wins. And the so-called championship gamefeatured two teams that had played each other earlier in the season ina game with no touchdowns. They were also from the same league.There are rumors that the championship format will be changed bynext fall with even some talk of an actually play-off system. But don’thold your breath.

The period of time fromThanksgiving to the new year is the specialtime that the so-called“best”movies of the year come out. What thatmeans is that the movies released during that time often have the bestreviews, best advanced word of mouth, and will receive many nomi-nations for the whole host of award shows that appear on our televi-sion screens. It does seemthat there is no big blockbusting movie for this sea-son. There appears to meno single movie talkedabout the most. I decidedthat I would attempt amovie eachTuesday of thatperiod and test the watersformovies that pleasedmytastes. Remember it is allabout taste, and what ex-cites one person wouldnot dent an ounce of en-thusiasm from another per-son. Keeping all that inmind let me reviewwhat Ihave seen so far:

J EDGAR--I found it very in-teresting and well done. The acting was excel-lent, and I thought the movie was fair inshowing the good accomplishments of Hooverand also showed the warts in his personality.There was also a good job recreating the time

frame of the early days of Hooverand the FBI.

DESCENDANTS--Whowould darecriticize anything GeorgeClooney does? The main subjectof this movie is a very difficult totackle, but the movie pulls off agood balance of humor and theseriousness of the topic. The en-tire cast is excellent and look formany nominations from thismovie.The scenery in Hawaii isspectacular and three different is-

lands are featured.A good break on aWisconsinwinterday might be just sitting in the theater and looking atthe background of this film.

YOUNGADULT--After I left the theater andwalked themall for a bit having just seen thismovie,I was stoppedby a couple who had seen me in the movie. Theywanted to know my reaction. I told them I was verydisappointed in the movie. It was listed as a comedy,but I saw little if any comedy, and as a life time smalltown guy I found the putdowns of small towns dis-turbing. The couple told me they had complained tothe management of the theater about their disap-pointment and unhappiness of having spentmoney onthe movie. Enough said?

MYWEEKWITH MARILYN--I loved almost everything

Robe

rt’s

Ramb

lings

about thismovie,a true account of the eventsfeatured in the week the author spent withMarilynMonroewhile shewas in London fora film. MicheleWilliams is certainly deserv-ing of Oscar talk for her job as Marilyn. Shedoes not try to imitate her, but she simplyseems to be her. Marilynwas famous for turn-ing on and off her screenMarilyn in compar-ison to her off-screen personality. Micheledoes that sowell. Again the re-creating of thetime frame for this movie is very well done.

WE BOUGHTA ZOO---You want a fun relax-ing time at the movies? This is the movie foryou. Matt Damon like George Clooney canplay the every day man or ordinary man sowell. And if you like animals,then for sure thisis a movie for you.

THE MUPPET MOVIE--Were you a fan of thelong running television series featuring the

Mup-pets?If you were, then head to the theater to see theirnewest feature. It drags a bit at times,but the charmand the humor of the Muppets is still intact. And itis fun to look for and spot various famous people intheir briefmoments on the screen in thismovie. Beteveryone spots Mickey Rooney. And the use of hu-mans and Muppets works very well. It feels real.

THEARTIST--Perhaps themost unusualmovie for usin 2011 or 2012 would be a silent movie. THEARTIST does an excellent job to bring to us the tra-dition, the feel,and the artistry that went into silentmovies. The human leads are wonderful, but ber e a d yto seethe realstar oft h emov ieand the

character that steals the whole movie in myopinion at least. That is the dog! Treat yourselfto something different. Also it is not a particu-larly long time viewing this clever film.

If your cable provider gives you the BBCAMER-ICA channel, then you just might find yourselfenjoying the Graham Norton Show usually onSaturday nights. It is a talk show with musicalguests and lots of laughter. The productioncrew seems to find very interesting clips andfacts and things about the guest that you neverknewof before you see it there. Norton’s showusually features at least oneAmerican guest anda wide range of stars of British television. Mostof them are extremely interesting, many are

funnyas can be,and the inner action of host and gueststhe best on television right now. Consider givingit a try. Re-runs of past shows run almost daily atsome time of the day on BBCAMERICA.

And finally if you are a mystery reader and wantan easy read or a fast moving read,then Mary Hig-gins Clark’s latest is just for you. You could accuseher of being a formulawriter,but she always keepsyou guessing and creates vivid characters for youthe reader to visualize. The book is called I’LLWALKALONE.

Written by: Bob Hoffman


When internationally acclaimed singer-songwriter Jason Ringenberg created his fam-ily music character Farmer Jason in 2003,he had no idea he was launching what wouldprove to be the most commercially successful creation of his career,culminating withhis recent signing to the MyKaZoo Music label through Universal Music Enterprises.Hisvideos are in regular rotation on MyKaZoo TV, the first of its kind, streaming, onlineand interactive music channel for young children and their parents.

With Jason and the Scorchers,he pioneered the fusion of punk rock and country thatturned the music world on its ear during the mid-1980s.The band’s first record, LostAnd Found, still shows up on critics’“Best of the 1980s”lists, and there is an exhibit ofthem in the Country Music Hall of Fame.When Jason went solo in 1999, the LondonTimes called him“one of the most dynamic live performers of his generation.”In 2008theAmericana MusicAssociation awarded the band their LifetimeAchievementAward.Jason could rest easily, assured that his place in rock ‘n’ roll history was secure.

However,with two sweet, beautiful, preschool daughters missing Daddy Jason duringhis 200 dates-a-year touring schedule, Jason wanted to make a CD that his kids couldlisten to while he was out globetrotting. Since they lived on a small farm near BonAqua,Tennessee, and Jason grew up on an Illinois hog farm, he reckoned that a rootsoriented record about farming and farm animals was just the ticket. Hence the firstFarmer Jason CD,A Day at the Farm with Farmer Jason, was born. Jason’s peak ambi-tion for A Day at the Farm, released in fall 2003, was that his daughters could laughand sing along to his songs.

To his surprise, word got around, and soon lots of other young daughters and sonswere singing along, too.Disney’s magazine Family Fun called it“one of theTop 5 Fam-ily CDs of 2003.”Farmer Jason, Jason Ringenberg’s“twin brother,”was soon doing con-certs from inner city schools in Brooklyn to country fairs in rural Norway. Buoyed byhis success in the family arena, he kept writing songs and released Rockin’ in the For-est with Farmer Jason in 2006.With stick-in-your head hooks and subtle lessons aboutecology and nature appreciation, this CD also earned rave reviews, including the Par-ents Choice GoldAward.Farmer Jason’s success generated even heavier touring around

the world, including many major European and US festivals.At the huge StagecoachFestival, USAToday called the Farmer Jason show“one of the most memorable of thefestival.”

Back inTennessee,Nashville PublicTelevision noticed this new sensation in their backyard and produced an educational interstitial video series starring Farmer Jason basedon songs from the two CDs, It’s a…Farmer Jason! To everyone’s delight and surprise,the series won an EmmyAward for Best Children’s Program Mid South Region in 2009.Using those videos and more new footage,Farmer Jason released It’s a…Farmer Jason!on DVD in May 2009.Dadnabbit called it “instantly memorable fun… everything youwould want in entertainment for your young ones.”

He continues to tour internationally, attracting new fans along the way. In 2011, Jasonsigned on to become the debut artist for a brand new label,MyKaZoo Music, throughUniversal Music Enterprises to release his newest CD Nature Jams.

What started out as a simple side project for Jason to entertain his own daughters hasgrown into a worldwide bandwagon pulled by a tractor and a singing farmer.You canbet the tractor will keep on rolling.Climb aboard and grab a pitchfork…or a guitar…

Watch Farmer Jason’s interactive music videos on MyKazooTV and stay tuned for morenews from the barnyard soon.

Info from Farmer Jason’s website

FarmerJason

…becausethere is a littlefarmer in allof us

25

Farmer Jason, anaward-winning,internationallya c c l a i m e dfamily musicartist, willrelease anew col-lection oforiginals o n g sa n dm u s i cvideoson ab r a n dn e wm u s i cl a b e lMyKaZooMusic thruUniversal MusicEnterprises on Febru-ary 7, 2012. Nature Jamsfeatures guest appear-ances from top artists andwill be the debut release fromthe new label. MyKaZoo TV, anew 24/7 interactive kids’ enter-tainment channel, will premiere addi-tional music videos based on these songs inearly 2012.

Nature Jams is a high-value, kid-friendly giftpackage of 16 original songs, 4 music videosand a colorful 20-page booklet created byüber designer Brad Talbott. The song stylesrange from rock and roll anthems to seashanties, jazz to folk. Farmer Jason talkswith his musical guests about taking hikes,going canoeing,skating and even spelunk-ing. The idea is to get kids excited aboutthe big world around them, observingvarious animals (“Meadowlark in CentralPark,”“Manatee,”and“Dison the Bison”),learning about cool places around theworld and simply enjoying nature.“Thepoint is to motivate kids to get outsideand excite their curiosity withoutbeing preachy,” says Jason.“We tried tomake these songs energetic, fun and ex-citing.”

Farmer Jason raked in an all-star list of guest artists to sing and perform with him onNature Jams, including Steve Gorman of The Black Crowes, Mike Mills from R.E.M.,Tom Peterson of CheapTrick, Iris DeMent, indie folk darling Brandi Carlile,Grammy®-award winning bassist VicWooten,Americana hipster Todd Snider, banjo virtuoso Ali-

Farmer Jason Encourages Kids To Get Active &Delight in the Big World Outsidewith Nature JamsThe Premier Release for the New MyKaZoo Music Label -Guest Appearances by Top Musicians,Collectible MusicalPackage includes 4 Videos and 20-page illustrated book

son Brown, zydeco star Terrance Simien, platinum-selling vocalist SuzyBogguss, Celtic rockers The Sawdoctors, humorist-musician Webb Wilder,HankWilliams III and the legendaryTommy Ramone ofThe Ramones.Withthese engaging songs and videos,Farmer Jason and friends hope to mo-tivate children to get outside and experience nature firsthand.

Music videos for the songs “Take a Hike,”“Spelunker,”“Can YouCanoe” and “Dison the Bison” are included in the Nature Jamspackage.MyKaZooTV will feature these and other music videosby Farmer Jason and more top artists. MyKaZooTV offers par-ents and kids a safe, focused environment showing hundreds ofentertaining music videos by top artists,kid hosts and humorouseducational interstitials. The channel, at http://www.myka-zootv.com, launched in January 2012.

Farmer Jason is Jason Ringenberg, also known for his pioneer-ing band Jason and the Scorchers, which won the Lifetime

AchievementAward for Live Performance by theAmericana MusicAssociation in 2008and still tours internationally. Since 2003, as Farmer Jason,he has also built a fervid in-ternational fan base for his kids’music and Emmy®Award winning public televisionmusic videos.The father of three daughters (featured on the album’s last track,“Skat-ing Along”) lives on a small farm west of Nashville. He plans a wide-ranging NatureJams family concert tour across North America and Europe during 2012-13.He is thefirst artist signed to the MyKaZoo Music roster.

MyKaZoo Music is a new family music label created in partnership with UniversalMusic Enterprises (UMe). For more information about the company’s plans to developand present high quality family music experiences, visit www.mykazoomusic.com

Nature JamsTrack list

1. Nature Jams2. CanYou Canoe (with Alison Brown)3. Take a Hike (with Mike Mills of R.E.M.)4. Well OhWhale (withThe Saw Doctors)5. Meadowlark in Central Park (with Suzy Bogguss)6. Bayou Boogie (withTerrance Simien)7. Prairie Riddles (with Iris Dement)8. Buffalo or Bison (byWebbWilder)9. Dison the Bison (withWebbWilder and Steve Gorman of the Black Crowes)10. Spelunker (withTom Petersson of CheapTrick and Ruthie Foster)11. The Glacier (with Jason and the Scorchers)12. Manatee (with HankWilliams III andTommy Ramone)13. No Place Like theWoods (byVictorWooten and theWooten Kids)14. The Moose LivesWhere? (withTodd Snider and Jo Nesbø )15. HaveYou Ever (with Brandi Carlile)16. SkatingAlong (with Kristi Rose,Addie and Camille Ringenberg)Bonus: 4 Music videos!“Take a Hike,”“Spelunker,”“CanYou Canoe”and“Dison the Bison”

Info supplied by:Beth Blenz-Clucas, Sugar Mountain [email protected]


Of all the great musicians I have had a chance to meet, none are quite like Michael“Supe”Granda! He’s a world class bass player, songwriter, artist, mandolin player, vo-calist, journalist, author and Santa Claus impersonator; besides being one of the mostcomical people I have ever met. To say that Supe is a true renaissance man of the artswould be an understatement. He draws,writes,performs,and covers the St.Louis Car-dinals baseball team.

I first heard of Supe when in the early 1970’s when his band,the Ozark Mountain Dare-devils released their first album. That album was a standard issue here in SouthernWisconsin, long before Frampton ComesAlive or the first Boston record. All my friendsand I wore out the Daredevils first two records and learned all the songs on them (ofwhich we all still play in our bands today). Those shaggy hippies from Missouri helpedturn me onto playing music, for which I am eternally grateful today!

I talked with Supe at length about his long musical career, and his career as a journal-ist and author.

AG: Is this a good time to talk?Supe: It is! I was busy earlier this morning onWSM Radio promoting my Christmasrecord and a gig tonight at the FamilyWash. Mark Horn and I went over to the stationand had a blast.

AG: Who is playing with you tonight?Supe: Supe and the Sandwiches. Mark Horn,Tom Mason, Jen Gunderman and myself- and whoever the hell else shows up! If you’re in town you can come on up and playtoo!

AG: I’ll let you run this interview. What do you want to talk about?Supe: I’ve always liked artists that do a whole bunch of things. They put out records,make a video,write a book, record a single, and that they’ll start all over again in a dif-ferent genre of music. That’s how I like to lead my life. I want people to keep guess-ing what I’m going to do next? For the month of December I’m using my talents (whitebeard and beer belly) to play Santa Claus. I love doing that! I’ve got my own customSanta Suit!

I don’t even know what I’m going to do next. All I know is, if it interests me,chancesare it will interest other people too. I’m getting ready to start another book which willtake up a lot of my 2012. It’s a collection of baseball stories I have written over theyears. In the 80’s, I befriended some folks on the Cardinals team and in the front of-fice. I would get them Daredevil tickets and they would get me Cardinal tickets. I

Supe Granda, What a Guy!

started writing a monthly column for a publication up in St.Louis about Cardinal base-ball. I have 60 or 70 of these columns that I am going to put together in a book alongwith some of the rock & roll articles I have written.

AG: I loved your first book!Supe: Thank you.

AG: As I have told you before, the Daredevils have always been one of my favoritebands. They were huge here in Southern Wisconsin. Every beer party had the firsttwo records played either on 8 tracks or vinyl. My band still does two to three Dare-devil tunes a night when we play.Supe: Thank you for that! It’s fantastic that you guys still play those songs. We were avery,very lucky bunch of guys. When I wrote my book I took six months to do the re-search. I wanted the facts to be correct - but along with that, I did not want it to bean encyclopedia. I wanted it to be a story of what really happened and how thingstruthfully were. I wanted to make the writing style entertaining.

AG: It was very entertaining!Supe: Another thing I wanted to do was add the flavor of the late 60’s early 70’s. It wasa very distinctive time, not only in our country’s time but in music. We had no ideawhat we were doing. We were just getting together and writing songs and saying“let’s try this”. It was complete artistic freedom that was afforded to us. When you havecomplete freedom, art just flourishes.

AG: So what did your band mates think of the book?Supe: Well, none of them are suing me! It was pretty much how it went down. Wemade some really bad decisions back then. I was in on some of those and making thebad decisions myself. There were some things that went a little haywire. I wanted toinclude them in this book. I did not want to sugar coat the story.

AG: It was the 70’s and people smoked dope and snorted coke. That’s how it wasback then.Supe: That’s the kind of flavor I wanted to include in the book. We screwed up a lot,but we also did some very cool things, too.

AG: How did you end up making Nashville the center of your universe?Supe: I came to Nashville in the late 80’s / early 90’s. The Daredevils were not work-ing much. We had some personnel changes and had been on the road way too long. Ineeded a new creative space in my life. John Dillon,Steve Cash and I were just burnedout. I had some friends down here in Nashville. We had made a record here and I fell


in love with the town and creative community here. One day I justgot up and said to myself“hey I’m going to Nashville. I want to playmore, sing more,write more and be more creative. So, I packed upmy stuff and moved here.” When people ask me for advice aboutmoving here, I tell them “put your crap in your car and just movehere!” Twenty one years later I feel pretty good about my decisionto come here!I just kind of stumble into things. I’m part of the Grammy nomi-nated“I Love;TomT Hall’s Songs of Fox Hollow”CD.ChetAtkins cutone of my songs. I just kind of fell into that. All the other good thingsthat have happened to me, I just stumbled into. Life is good!

AG: Tell me about Supe and the Sandwiches.Supe: Supe and the Sandwiches started in the early 80’s. I started writing songs thatwere a little more raucous than the standard Daredevils fare. The songs were a littletoo crazy for the Daredevils. So,one night I just got some guys together and sat downand taught them up in Springfield. This band was put together just to play my songs,nothing but my material. Because I write so much I had over a 100 songs to choosefrom. We played around Springfield between Daredevil tours. We ended up becomingquite popular in the local club circuit. Then,one guy left and I replaced him,and thenanother did the same until I have had over 50 people be in the band since I started it.

When I moved to Nashville I brought the same batch of songs and found some knuck-leheads down here to play them and started all over. They are great players and greatfriends and we have a blast playing together. I just put out my 11th album of Supe andthe Sandwiches music.

AG: Do you know Jack Clement? He’s a great guy!Supe: Yes I do! When I came to town I did not want to beWired Al or Cletus T. Judd.I wanted to be like Roger Miller and Cowboy and write humorous songs,not parodies.I got together with him (Clement) before his fire and played him some polka music Ihad written. I have a polka band with some college buddies from Springfield and werecorded some polkas and took them over to Cowboy to listen to.

AG: We have a lot of mutual friends. They all said that I had to interview you!The say-ing that came up was that you were a hoot to be around and one of the nicest peoplein Nashville.Supe: Well, thank you! My friends are all such great people. You know,when you seea person that is famous, you hope that they are as nice in person as they seem to be

on stage orTV. I have to say that our mutual friends are all that way. They are the kind-est people you would ever hope to meet. I have been so blessed to be able to hangout with and make music with all those great folks.

I feel so lucky that I get to spend my creative energy and good times with these peo-ple. You know when you first move to Nashville and spend your first night here alone,it’s kind of scary. You wonder if you made the right decision. Then you wake up andstart meeting these wonderfully supportive people and they become your family. That’swhat makes life great!AG: We feel so blessed to be part of that group, too!

AG: Can I ask you a couple of questions about the Daredevils?Supe: Of course you may.

AG: In the beginning there was the six of you, all songwriters and players. After thesecond album Randle Chowding (lead guitar & vocals) left the band. Were you guysexpecting that?

Supe: Everyone was completely surprised. No one saw that coming.

AG: Is he still playing today?Supe:Yes. He’s living in Springfield and playing around town. Everybody is still play-ing music today.

AG: When you guys started you weren’t really a band. You just got together and helpedeach other out.Supe: That’s right. We were a bunch of writers and musicians that were tired of play-ing the Doobie Brothers new hits. So,when we got together to play, it was 100% orig-inal music, no covers. For the first year it was very hard. We were just a local band inSpringfield Mo.and no one wanted to hear our original music. We would play gigs andpeople would come up to us and say“play some Doobie Brothers, play some Stones”,but we stuck to our guns. For the first year and a half, we pretty much starved. Weplayed our gigs for our fans. The local fraternities wanted covers and we did not dothat – so,we did not get paid. We had our sights set a little higher. We wanted to makea record. It paid off in the end,but it was tough there for a while. We ate a lot of beansback then!

AG: You guys were basically what they call Americana today. You were just a differentband than the others like the Eagles, Doobies and Steve Miller. You had a sound thatreally resonated with me and all my friends.You had a very cool sound. It was some-thing that was not out there anywhere else.Supe: We knew that, too. That’s why we stuck to our guns and did not cave in. Wehoned our sound. After we made that first record, everyone wanted to hang out with

us.

AG: When all of you were hanging out and living at that house out-side of Springfield, did you find that it was a very creative time foryou?Supe: It was a very creative time for all of us. We would stay outthere for four to five days. Make music all day,hang out and be cre-ative. It was the best of times. It was the most creative fertile soilwe ever tilled.

AG: My favorite Daredevil song is “Country Girl”. We still play thatsong every night.Supe: That was the very first song we ever worked on together. Wewould get together and play “If You Wanna Get to Heaven” and“Country Girl”. Our friends and families would say that those weregreat songs, but the outside world did not get it - yet.

AG: The depth of the writing on those early records is so good. You had rockers like“Heaven”and“LookAway”,then great songs like“You Made it Right”,which I told JoyceI want played at my funeral.That is such a beautiful song.Supe: That’s what we talked about earlier, that when we first got together,we got to-gether as musicians and writers - and the songs came alive. We were not the greatestmusicians,but we were great songwriters and had a style that was different than every-one else.

AG:You were pretty good musicians, trust me!Supe: Our strength was our songwriting. When people finally got to hear them, theythought that they were pretty good. The trouble was that,because we were from south-ern Missouri,we got lumped into the Southern Rock thing and we were not that kindof a band. Our diversity made us so different than those types of bands.

AG: Supe, thanks so much for the interview. I still listen to you guys all the time yet.You are one of my favorite acts of all time to listen to.Supe: Thank you and thanks to everyone who ever listened to and still listen to theDaredevils and myself. It’s been a great ride and I hope it continues for years to come.I’ve got lots of songs left to be written!

Story by:Andy ZiehliPhotos supplied and one by Joyce Ziehli


Billy: Thank you Joyce. I enjoyed speaking with you.

For more information on Billy Dean check out his websites at:www.billydean.com andwww.deanacres.com .

Story by: Joyce ZiehliPhotos supplied.

dean... continued from page 21

owens... continued from page 22

Dean Suffers Loss of ‘Dean Acres’ Barn, FarmEquipment, Career Memorabilia in Blaze

Nashville,Tenn. (January 9, 2012) –This past holiday season while country music starBilly Dean was touring the countryside with Kenny Rogers, disaster struck back athome.Dean’s farm,‘DeanAcres,’ located in Smithville,TN caught ablaze, destroyingthe GrammyAward-winning country star’s farm barn.The fire destroyed the entire1,500 square foot barn that contained Dean’s fishing boat, tractor and many careerkeepsakes.Dean lost demos and master recordings that dated back to the early daysof his career, before he was signed to a label. In addition, vintage posters and photosfrom Dean’s early 20’s were also taken in the blaze.

“I lost a lot things that were very meaningful to me but no one was hurt and that’sreally all that matters at the end of the day,” says Dean.“We’ll rebuild but I’m reallygoing to miss that tractor and fishing boat this spring.”

went into a long depression over it.That’s all you heard.There weren't any newspaperreports. It seemed suspicious.He was such a huge part of the sound.

AG- Do you believe someone was going to, or would have signed him as a solo artist?Eileen-He wanted to go solo. I'm trying to get it in the paperback version of the bookwhich comes out in July of 2012, a former lover of Don's said that he was unhappywanting to leave. His widow had told me that he wanted to leave. Countless othershave told me the same thing.He was telling Buck that he was going to write a tell-allbook.And there were things that Buck didn't want told.Don knew what was going onbehind the scenes.When you have these underhanded deals, late night business deal-ings going on...there must be something Buck didn’t want out there. But I have newinformation that may make it into the paperback on how the whole death investiga-tion was botched. So, it’s interesting stuff.

AG-The book gets into how Buck wanted to control everything early on. I was sur-prised to learn how little Don Rich was able to contribute with the harmony vocals onthe records.So even though Don was the only one who would stand up to Buck,Buckwas obviously the boss in the studio as well.Eileen- He was the boss in the studio.He knew what he wanted.You can hear it in thechatter in between takes in his early work on the Bound For Bakersfield CD with al-ternative takes.You could hear what he was like in the studio. But I do like the musicon it.

AG- And he had no issue with stealing songs and claiming them as his own?Eileen- Oh no! (Laughs) It’s common practice; even in the business today. Elvis andCol.Tom Parker did it all the time.

AG- He even tried it with 'Act Naturally’?Eileen- Johnny Russell had to sue Buck.And he actually did win.Buck said he didn't losemany lawsuits. But he lost that one.

AG-Well,with the Buckaroos being under Buck's contracts,did they even want to con-tribute to any of the songwriting?Eileen- Doyle might have contributed to one song,but Buck never gave him any creditfor it.There wasn't any incentive for them.And when they left the band, they had toturn everything over to him anyway.Don Rich's family might be getting a little bit.

AG-With all the questions that still out there;mostly have to do with Don's death, areyou planning on doing further investigation beyond the book?Eileen- Yes, if the opportunity arises. I really have not stopped. Further details on theautopsy report, they could have done a true blood/alcohol test.There’s some myster-ies surrounding the condition of the bike from the accident as well.

AG- Do you have enough for a book on Don Rich alone?Eileen- (Laughs) I probably do.We'll have to see what happens after the paperbackcomes out.

AG-And lastly,any other artist out there that you'll be writing about for the next book?Eileen- It’s a female singer. But I don't want to say too much about it yet. (Laughs)

By: Travis CooperPhoto of Eileen Sisk byAnthony Scarlati

Mike-We had thought about it awhile.We saw with so many companies, they have tocut costs to make and sell microphones.Which is fine,but it was almost like the com-panies were forgetting about the step up products.There are a lot of folks who love thatold,vintage expensive gear. It seemed there was big gap between the inexpensive stuffand something that was unreachable to most of us with project studios. So I thoughtthere was an opportunity for a small company to come into the marketplace to offersomething that was boutique. In our experience, we try and bring a global scale toboutique products. Something that would represent a great value. It could be in thereach of the serious project studio guy and gives him a sound that’s really incredible.

AG- And yet it still maintains that sort of handmade feel too...Mike-Absolutely.As a matter of fact,we put as much money into everything that makesa difference to the sound as we can.And we try to buy smart everything that doesn'thave to do with the sound, like the casings, shock mounts…stuff like that. But hon-estly, when it comes to our microphones, the thing that gives us our real mojo andsound are the transformers.Which are made here in the U.S.? There’s a lot of parts lookthe same and do the same function,you can get them out of a catalog...you can pay lessmoney for them. But we choose them fromAMI because it has ALOT to do with whyour microphones sound so special.

AG- Did you guys feel confident right away that you had a product that would fill aniche, stand up to the industry standards and even go beyond?Mike-That’s really a great question.One I like to bring up from the other side because,the quick answer is of course we did.Yes.But in reality,you think you might have madeall the mistakes before.And every day brings new challenges. Having said that…theway the product came out, the way we designed it, the way the engineers came to-gether. We had a great team and the whole was greater than the sum of parts in thiscase.We knew it was good, but we didn't expect the level of greatness.The storieswe've been hearing from great artists and producers like Buddy Miller and RayKennedy, Keb Mo' and his producer John Schirmer.They were shooting it out, notagainst other microphones in the price range,but the iconic ones that we all dream oflike 251Telefunkens,U-47 Neumann.C12AKG.The big boys. I don't know of other mi-crophone companies having those kinds of stories going around. If it’s out there, I'mnot aware of it. Just in the first year of shipping, we've already been on some greatrecords from Jake Owen to Macy Gray,Keb Mo' and others.

AG- Incredible.And for how many years have you' been at this?Mike- 18 months of shipping as of now.

AG- Describe some of the microphones you have with their ideal applications.Mike- The first 3 are the condensers that you want to have in your studio.The C5 is apencil condenser which can be used on many stringed acoustic instruments.You canget it as a single or a matched set.The C7 is the FET condenser.It’s a multi- pattern, largediaphragm and a wonderful vocal mic that would be reminiscent of the mics from the60's. But like the C5, it can be used as an overhead on a drum kit.The flagship micwould be the CV4 which a 9 pattern tube mic.Loaded with a bigAMI transformer anda new/old stockTelefunken tube.The sound is incredible.The C7 and CV4 are voicedvery similar. Slight difference on the top end. Lots of harmonic content going on.

AG- So a female vocalist may prefer the tube mic?Mike- Well...it would depend on what female vocalist.There is a thread going on outthere that a very popular female singer is using the non-tube C7.The great thing aboutour mics is that they have a very even and well balanced frequency response.Those aresome of the best comments that I get. I put mics in 2 categories...ones that have beenscooped out and ones that have been bumped up.That’s the thing that sets us apart,the balance.Not too much midrange.Not too little.

AG-And you have a killer new preamp out as well.Tell us about that.Mike- It’s a 2 channel and based on one of the most famous,ClassA preamps out thereby Neve which has been duplicated, simulated...evaporated (laughs) many times, butwe wanted to put on our spin on it.You can use it with old ribbon mics. It’s not thesame as everyone’s preamp.Not as dark as anAPI.And its got more beef than you wouldexpect from a Neve reproduction.We like the fact that it has a unique sound all it sown.

AG-So one of the stories I've heard lately is that Keb Mo',who's records do sound great,decided to recut his record using a Miktek....Mike- Yes.The C7. So he was recording in a famous studio and they rented a $10,000microphone for $100 bucks a day.They set up a new studio in his home in Nashville.So when they went to buy a microphone in the budget of a 1000 dollars or less for thatstudio, they bought a C7 on the recommendation of a dealer.And when they listenedto it, they were so impressed that they decided to recut half the record.We heard thatby a very nice letter from Keb's producer.We got a call from Buddy Miller a coupleweeks ago that he was recording Shawn Colvin.They had tried a 47 and a C12 andSHE ended up picking the CV4.The one thing I love to hear is what the artist feelswhen they step up to the mic.That’s what it’s all about.You can argue about the tech-nical aspects of it all.But what matters to me is how the artist feels while using the gear.As an engineer, we want it to sound great.You want the artist to give the best per-formance they can give.They love what they are hearing through the headphones andthey give a great performance. It’s the best compliment we can get.

AG-I 'm learning that too.The last time I was in the studio, I was able to A-B some var-ious microphones. I was shocked by the differences.Mike- Exactly.

miktek... continued from page 13


AG- So tell us about some of these webcasts Miktek has been a part of.Mike- One of the great things about Nashville, we figured we could be a part of thegreat community of engineers that we could interface with.We couldn't be happierabout that.The quality of people who have been trying our products.And some ofthese guys have a microphone locker we would all be jealous of. Every mic in theworld.They're not going to use something that doesn't sound great.Some just want totry something different. But it comes down to this, if it doesn't sound up to par withwhat they have, they're not going to use it. It has to be great. So a company calledMusic Fog rented our studio to do a television broadcast.Aaron the engineer broughtin his 'comfort zone' microphones, the big name ones.And little by little,30 some actsthat came in to film,by the end Miktek mics were being used exclusively.To have guyslike Gary Nicholson,Marty Stuart and Connie Smith,new artists like Elephant Revival...avery diverse group of artists all sounding great with Miktek mics.

AG-What’s on the future horizon for Miktek?Mike-We're just about to start shipping our mics for stage use.We introduced 2 hand-held mics...the PM5.Which is high end... like a having a vintage studio condenser micfor the stage.Very sweet.And we have a dynamic mic that killer (PM9).It been on sometours and they love it.The drum mics PM 10 and 11 are getting great reviews from stu-dio drummer Chad Cromwell and Randy Kohrs.

AG-Well thanks for the time Mike, and I wish you and Miktek all the best!

By- Travis CooperPhoto byTravis Cooper

dubay... continued from page 5

casey... continued from page 5

“the cardinal wanttobe” says that all are not welcome at church in the Madison dio-cese. He only wants “true” believers and followers, not sinners in his pews! Whatwould Jesus do? I know what Jesus would do! He would tell Bishop M.to get with theprogram and study his story. You know the ones about how everyone is welcome inhis house. What the Bishop has forgotten is that the church is God’s house not theBishops, and God makes the rules not the Bishop, and God will kick his ass for keep-ing his flock out!

I understand too that the priest in Mt.Hoerb made a rule that women could not werepants to mass anymore only dresses. Does that mean that men can’t wear kilts tochurch in Mt. Hoerb? Who do these jokers think they are? I’m running for Pope soplease vote for me!

With that I’m running for Governor ofWisconsin too. Have you seen the commercialsScott Walker is running? I don’t know but I would sure like a swig of whatever he’sbeen drinking or smoking!!! He says he’s saved all these union jobs, and created newprivate sector jobs in the last year. In what state? I don’t know about you but I thinkhe’s beginning to believe his own spin doctors. Can you say out of touch with reality?I can’t decide who is worse for SouthernWisconsin, ScottWalker or Bishop M.!

Signing offLitt Dubay

If at first you don'tsucceed, redefine success…Success or being successful has many different definitions to many different people.What does it mean to you as a musician? Being wealthy and attributing that wealth toyour art music is probably the easiest way to define if you are successful or not,but isit the only way?

Do you draw large crowds when you play? Do you continually sell out venues? Do youhave a fan base of over 1,000 fans that regularly attend your shows? Are there youngeracts emulating you? The questions could go on forever,because all are measurementsof being successful,but what about how“you”measure success in your heart based onyour music?

Are you the type of artist that can write a new song every day? Are people telling youthat your music touches them and enhances their lives? Are you living out a dream youhave always had? Are you keeping your head above water by applying your art to mak-ing a living? Are you feeling fulfilled by performing and or writing? These too are waysto measure if you are successful.

Taking the title of this editorial and applying it to your own circumstances,can you be-come successful? The answer is yes! Success is what you want it to be,not what so-ciety says it is. Success is you and your music touching the fans at your shows, yourpeers wanting to perform with you or your songs in their shows, the smiles you bringto people when they hear your music and it’s 1,000 other things. If any or all of thesethings happen, then the money will happen too!

Redefining success and building from that new definition will help to carry your ca-reer forward. It is becoming successful under your terms, thus making it easier to cre-ate the opportunities for you and your music to reach the heights you dream about!Mostly though it provides you with the positive base and steps you need to becomethe kind of artist you were meant to be.

Andy Ziehli, Senior Editor

1st,atThe Froth House,11 NorthAllen St.www.frothhouse.com from 7 to 9 (There willbe another act too.They do half hour sets,where each act plays twice). Plus both mybands will be playing at an OxfamAmerica InternationalWomen's Day show in March,and anAlliance for Animals Benefit in April.

Joyce: Carell before I let you go,what would you like people to know about you?

Carell: I guess just that I love to play music and feel that I write from my heart. I hopepeople enjoy listening to it as much as I enjoy making it!

Joyce: Thank you Carell for talking to me. Please check out Carell at: http://www.cd-baby.com/cd/carellcasey

Carell: It was a pleasure meeting you. Thanks Joyce!

Story and photos by: Joyce Ziehli


cd review... continued from page 11

The Good Lovelies ♪♪♪♪♪

While Canada has a long history of folk music, thecounty has experienced an unprecedented ren-aissance in folk and alt-country singer-songwritingin the last two decades. Among those numbersyou can count the Good Lovelies. Known acrossthe northernmost nation of theAmericas for theirhumorous on-stage banter, impeccable harmoniesand sly, playful lyrics, this trio is making a splashacross the border as well.

When I picked up the Good Lovelies’ self-titled album,I expected to hear a sound sim-ilar to theWailin’ Jennys or the Duhks. It was a pleasant surprise to hear music moreakin to the swing of theAndrews Sisters and the contemporary, inventive explorationsof L.A.’s Ditty Bops.

This Canadian trio of award-winning musician is comprised of Caroline Brooks,KerriOugh and Sue Passmore. Their self-titled full-length album, released in 2009, wonawards for New Emerging Artist at the Canadian Folk Music Awards, as well as a Junoin 2010 for Roots/Traditional Album of the Year. With hammock-swinging melodies,their lyrics sprinkled with nostalgia and innuendo,the Good Lovelies brighten both thefolk and bluegrass genres many would label their music. In addition to their liltingmelodies and tight harmonies, the Good Lovelies excel at blending an ear-inspiring va-riety of instruments in their songs.

To my ear, the Lovelies are at their best with their flirtatious dance songs. Cheek toCheek,an engaging combination ofTommy Dorsey swing with full clarinet, finger-snap-ping and bright vibraphone, is one of my favorites. The live So Charming broadcaststhe Lovelies’confident sex appeal through their unique combination of coy voice andbold lyric. IWant is a small work of genius, in which the singers’ luscious harmoniesare contrasted against a backdrop of tinny piano and fiddle.These yesteryear tech-niques accompany the three singers as they, like the song, run pell-mell across theirdreams and desires with the abandon and precociousness of a preteen girl. In LieDown, the Lovelies croon to their lover while accompanied by a positively spicy man-dolin, closing with a male voice and men’s chorus singing in call-and –response stylewith the women. (The Lovelies apparently routinely use the occasional men that ac-company them as musical foils, not just as onstage ones).

Not all their songs emulate the lively music of the past.While its tone is light, Lum-berjack is a gentle waltz that pays tribute to Brooks’grandfather,whose influence andmemory created the legacy of trust and love of home she feels today. Shades of re-bellion gather round Down,Down,Down--the sparkling banjo,chipper beat and cheer-ily sung lyrics nonetheless evoking a social critique reminiscent of Indigo Girl balladslike Shame onYou. The Good Lovelies’ lyrics are at their strongest in songs such as this.In this case,they capture in spare imagery the uneasy parting of ways between motherand daughter –one perennially searching life for redemption, the other for meaning.

With another JunoAward under their belt—this time for Best Vocal Group of theYearin December of 2011—you can bet we’ll soon hear more of the Good Lovelies here inthe U.S. In the meantime, until summer returns, I recommend picking up the GoodLovelies for a fresh but cozy foray into the warmth and comfort of North America’swell-loved musical past.

Review by:Anne Gravel Sullivan

Stacie Collins ♪♪♪♪♪Sometimes Ya GottaRev RecordsRocking Country Music

Stacie Collins is a singer/songwriter/performerfrom Nashville who is nothing like all the othersinger/songwriters from Nashville, this ladyrocks!!! She is 10 sticks of dynamite!!! This is herthird CD and it rocks from the beginning notes ofHey Mister to the ending notes of Lend the Devila Hand!

Sometimes Ya Gotta shows Collins singing/song-writing and harmonica playing style full out. Along with husband/bass player/ andsongwriting partner Al Collins, Stacie put together a wonderfully exciting CD of rock-ing good time songs. The CD was produced by Dan Baird,who did an excellent job ofcapturing Collins talents and transferring her live show to the CD. Joining the Collin'swith co-writing wereWarner Hodges andTommyWomack.

My favorite cuts on the CD were all of them! There is not a bad song on this CD. It isnot often you get a CD with 12 fantastic songs but SometimeYa Gotta has that! All thetunes here have a life and sound of their own which makes this a great CD to throwin the ole CD player and turn it up as you go down the road onWeekend night to hitthe town! This CD has it all Rock,Country,Ballads,and Blues,you name it, it’s here,andall played with intensity and style.Collins is very lucky to have the great band she has on this CD backing her,Dan Baird,Al Collins,Warner Hodges, Jimmy Lester,Eric Borash,MichaelWebb,and Collins herselfon Harmonica. These fine musicians leave their mark all over this CD without steppingon Collins toes. I can’t say enough of how much I love this CD! This is what singerslike GretchenWilson,Miranda Lambert, and the rest of the made up Country Queenswish they sounded and rocked out like!

Stacie Collins is the real deal! A down to earth singer and performer who gives 200%to everything she does, and it shows. Check out Stacie on you tube and at her web-site staciecollins.com. Go out and buy this CD and her other two as long as you are atit. She’s a keeper!

Look for the future story on Stacie in theApril / May issue.


ner hour,we would sit by the pool or use the pool before escaping to our rooms forthe day. Some lobby sitting time is also a must for the evening or a stroll to nearbyshops can be fun, too.

And so that became our routine. I found that I could enjoy the sandy beach as muchas my farm fields and wooded lots. Those six days and nights went by in a snap, andtherefore, by the next winter I was pushing my friends to return for another winterbreak in South Beach. We did that for three years,and we added a day or two more eachvisit. We found some other friends that wanted to join us there, too. We loved it there.The staff went out of its way to make you comfortable and happy. The hunt eachevening for our meal was special, too. We did not need to rent a car as we could walkto everything. But there was a downside,too. South Beach is very expensive,and hotelliving gets to be a drag after a few days, and thus by year four we were ready for achange.

June another former colleague was always raving about her time she spent in SiestaKeys, Florida,which is on the Gulf side off Sarasota. Thus we spent some time inves-tigating on the computer, and we decided last winter that we would give that place a

try. Some travel shows on television had named the Siesta Keys beach the best one inFlorida (with South Beach being number two). The big draw was that this was condoliving and not hotel living. Our friends opted for three weeks, but we decided to tryeight days mainly because by the time we called the rental office that was all that wasavailable at the time our friends would be there. Here a car is needed if you want toget to stores and shops and restaurants.

Siesta Keys was wonderful. We loved that beach, and the complex we stayed in hadover 100 units and most people there were from the Midwest like us out to escapesome winter. The condo was perfect for us and gave you some privacy and choicesnot available in hotel living.The complex had three pools and beautiful landscapedtrees and plants native to South Florida. It was great fun to make your own breakfastin your condo and take it to the patio for eating in the morning sun. A loud crow livedin the palm tree outside our unit,and I used the technique that I use at home to silencehim. I simply stand outside and clap my hands as loud as I can, and off the Floridacrow flew just as ourWisconsin crows do. Again the key is to get to the beach as earlyas you can to claim your spot and your chair. Our favorite spot was under a lonelypalm tree so we could move back and forth from sun to shade with ease. Walking thisbeach proved as good as the Miami one, and because there were fewer people, it wasoften more fun. Everyone seems to collect shells on these strolls.. Lunch was back atthe condo often a sandwich and fresh fruit. You could prepare your evening meal inyour condo because it is completely equipped for that, but it is fun to try new placesto dine,and so we packed into our vehicle and explored the region of Sarasota or SiestaKeys for dinner.

A conversation with another snowbird taught us a trick of the trade so-to-speak. Rollyour deposit over for the next year and that will hold a spot for you. While checkingout, I asked to do that and gave them a range of dates I wanted to consider for the nextwinter and told them how many days I was wanted for the next visit. Thus this win-ter it will be two weeks on the beach, and we were assigned a condo next to the onewe had last winter. It is a short walk to the beach and close to all three pools. Thebeach is calling! To my surprise I am as at home on the beach as I am in the fields andvalleys and hills of SouthernWisconsin.

Written by:Bob Hoffman

wisconsin to florida... continued from page 18

wisconsin to florida


in the first 15 seconds he heard us. We didn’t knowwhat that meant. He offered us the deal the next dayand while we were waiting for the paper work to arrivewe got 14 other major label offers from that one show.We chose what we thought was the best shot for us. Weput out a couple of records,did some movie soundtrackstuff,moved to L.A., toured a little, and lived the Rock &Roll life style for a few years. I lived just down the streetfromWarner in L.A.

AG:After the Royal Court of China you took a differentpath right?Blanton: After theA&M days, I moved back to Nashvilleand started writing songs for Ronnie Milsap’s Publishingcompany. I did that for three and half years. It was verycool. I got to learn the craft from some very, very goodwriters and they taught me a lot about songwriting. Itwas probably the best thing that happened to me at thattime. I had no formal music training and no training insongwriting. Up to that point, I was just writing what-ever came to me in dreams and everything was from myperspective. I started trying to connect with the audi-ence during this time and creating characters in mysongs that still had parts of me floating around in thembut it wasn’t just me. It also taught me a lot about col-laboration with other writers.

AG: Did you find that they were open to you comingfrom a Rock background?Blanton: Since my band was signed out of Nashville andwe had received a great deal of press, they had heard ofme. Everybody is looking for a different angle and sparkin songwriting so my Rock & Roll background was reallynot an issue to them; in fact it was a different way forthem to write too. Rock & Roll had crept into Country(the early to middle 90’s). It was Garth Brooks swing-ing from the rafters and loud guitars, smoke, and lightshows, so it did not hurt to have that kind of a back-ground. They were all looking for the “edge”, but no-body really wanted it when they heard it (laughs)!The thing you have to remember about writing inNashville is that you write so much that you can fall intoa trap and get stuck writing the same things over andover again. Being different and writing with differentpeople with different styles keeps you fresh and givesyou new ideas to work from. Writers always want to saysomething new and exciting. Collaborating with differ-ent people gives you that opportunity to do just that. Itcan throw you into a whole new direction.

AG: Now you are a graphic artist too. You do that foryour“day”job,but do you draw and create on the side forother musicians?Blanton: I do. Right now I’m doing a huge project forRay Stevens. He is putting out a nine CD box set calledThe Encyclopedia of Recorded Comedy Music and I’mdoing the artwork for it. I do all of his artwork for hisprojects. I’m also a videographer and editor which alsokeeps me busy. I feel I’m a better audio engineer, butvideo and audio today are built along the same lines andwith the software that’s available I keep my chops up inboth worlds and I keep busy with both areas.

AG: Do you find when you engineer and produce otherpeople’s projects that they are open to your suggestionsand ideas on how the project should go?Blanton: It really depends if you are coming from astrictly engineering approach or as the producer. If youare coming from engineering perspective you have tobe able to read the artist. You have to be in tune withwhat they want. You’re just there to capture the soundand reproduce it the way the artist and producer wantsit to sound. If you hear mistakes you need to point themout,but sometimes people want the mistakes left in be-cause they think it’s cool. Sometimes…it is! It’s a veryorganic process. When people have a set vision of howthey want the session to go, then it’s your job to followtheir lead and do your best to make sure the red light ison.

As far as production goes,you might hear one small gui-

tar lick and the artist may not even know that it’s there.That could be the hook of the song. They might be soclose to the song that they are not even aware that it’shappened. As a producer it’s your job to listen for thosethings and bring them out. You also have to listen forthe strengths of the artist and find ways to enhancethem. You also need to have good communication skills.If you’re Mr. Negative guy, you can shut down the cre-ative process fast.There are many ways of saying some-thing sucks! And I have heard them all! Ha!

AG:What do you like better, engineering or producing?Blanton: I like them both. It’s really kind of like writing.It’s the most beautiful part of the process. WhenWarner,Dan,& I are writing you can tell that we’re itching to getthe song down and recorded. Being able to write,record,and create the song in its entirety in the studio isfantastic. I’m the most inspired in the studio. I don’tknow where it comes from, but the studio seems tobring it out in me.Maybe I just like switches and buttonsand blinking lights.

AG: When you write do you have a formula, lyrics,melody, chords?Blanton: I hear the full song,words, chords, a full bandplaying in my head. It usually happens when I’m doingsome mundane task like cutting the grass. The whitenoise seems to clear my head and it allows me to create.I grab my phone and sing the song into it. After the in-spiration, the work part comes, sorting it out, organiz-ing but not trying to beat the life out of it. I love beautifulmistakes so I try not to over-think a song.

AG: When you get inspired and record the melody orsong into your phone and come back and listen to itlater, do you go“god I heard this before?”Blanton: It has happened to me, and I think it happensto everybody who listens to a great deal of music. It canbe very accidental that you rip something off. You’reworking with a finite number of chords and notes, soborrowing something from other songs or writers isbound to happen. The trick is to take three chords andmake them sound different than anything that has comebefore. It’s an art & skill to do so. Its okay to borrow andwe are naturally going to do that. The trick is to not out-right steal from someone else. I’ve had to scrap songsI’ve written because they were just too close to some-one else’s song. Sometimes I use the old“reverse the riffor chord structure” trick and you can save it!

AG: So what’s on the horizon for Joe Blanton?Blanton: Well I’m putting the finishing touches on themixes for the Bluefield’s album which comes out in2012. It’s been very exiting working on this with myfriends. I recently finished editing the Dan Baird &Homemade Sin Sweden Rocks DVD and it came outgreat! I’m also awaiting the release of new The FarmerJason album on Kazoo/Universal which I co-wrote andproduced 4-songs for. The Scorchers are doing a 30 yearanniversary tour and I’m directing the filming of theirNewYear’s Eve show in Nashville for a live performanceDVD they are making. I get to mix the audio too! Thisis such a cool project for me because I’m a huge fan ofthe Scorchers. It’s a labor of love! I’m very grateful toWarner Hodges for keeping me in the middle of all thisbustling activity.

AG: I love the Bluefield’s sound! Your show at the Mercywas incredible! It was a joy to see guys having fun onstage instead of just posturing.Blanton: It’s a great band! I’m the least famous personup there and it’s such an honor to be on stage with thoseguys. It’s just fun to make music with them!

AG: Joe thanks for your time and I am looking forwardto the Bluefield’s CD!Blanton: ThanksAndy and I’ll send you a copy when it’sfinished. I’m sure we’ll be lighting up The Bluefield’sfacebook page too when all’s said and done.

Story by:Andy ZiehliPhoto by Joyce Ziehli

blanton... continued from page 9love, life, music... continued from page 8

man. As comfortable in the studio as he is on stage, Siesmentors and records local performers, helping to bringtheir music and dreams to life.

People listening to Sies will be struck by his agile fingerwork and the fluidity with which he plays the guitar. Tothis day the six-string is still his favorite instrument.“There’s no place to hide”behind an acoustic guitar,Sieschuckles as he quotes Stephen Stills. This characteristiccandor is part of what makes Sies the musician he is:comfortable taking risks, always challenging himself.Faced with the loss of his voice,Sies continuously foundnew ways to grow as a musician. Sies credits his wifeMary for unequivocally supporting his need to continu-ally express himself and connect with people throughmusic.

One cannot talk to Sies without being left with the im-pression that you’ve barely scratched the surface. Siesclearly believes there is no limit to the places music cantake people, whether musician or listener. Putting fin-gers to string, it’s as if there are no barriers between re-ality and the soul that music can’t cross. Sies’ peers arequick to praise not only his skill and musicianship buthis work ethic and collaborative style. Sies’ ability towork with a wide diversity of artists, in an even wider va-riety of genres-- and always bringing a generous musicalcontribution of his own--has earned him an unparalleledreputation for creativity and trustworthiness.

Sies’many musical partners characterize him as being asgenerous in spirit as he is in talent. “Doug is incrediblygiving,”Beth Kille says warmly,recalling that there was al-ways a sizable cohort of friends that she and her bandmates came to dub“Doug’s People”present for each CBBperformance. Even when performing in more distant lo-cales like Denver,the vast, loyal network that comprised“Doug’s people”would come out to hear him perform.

Sies acknowledges he’s had more than his fair share ofWarhol’s 15 minutes of fame.He’s experienced the grat-ification of having a large fan base and of earning moneyfor playing the music he loved as part of Summer Haze.He’s known the camaraderie and satisfaction of collab-oratively creating original rock as part of Clear BlueBetty. And in both these musical enterprises,he’s knownthe thrill of being part of something larger—and ofbeing recognized for his talents with popular as well ascritical acclaim.

Still it’s clear there’s more to come for this veteran mu-sician; he has always enjoyed the thrill of live perform-ance, playing the circuit and meeting new people. As Iprepare to leave he plays me a song he recentlyrecorded with a young woman from Kansas City, Mo.Her voice is clear and pitch true; its understated sultri-ness brings back memories of a youngAllyson Kraus. Alovely voice, transformed into a clarion anthem by theelegant acoustic showcase Sies constructs for it.

It is precisely this trait of Sies’--this inclination to reachout to people, to connect with them through music thatwill no doubt lead Sies to the next phase of what he callshis wagon full of dreams. “I love people,”he states mat-ter-of-factly, opening his arms expansively as he speaks.Translation: keep an eye out on this ever-evolving per-former, songwriter,producer and raconteur. Some pieceof Sies’ magic will wrap around another leaf, sprout orkernel of an idea,take root and grow. With rare skill,Siesaccomplishes something critical to the magic of per-formance that goes largely unacknowledged by musi-cians and audiences alike: by connecting them,translating and reframing divergent notes and tempos,he fills in the gaps and becomes what bonds them. JimiHendrix had it right when he said “knowledge speaks,wisdom listens.”

By:Anne Gravel SullivanPhoto supplied

This book celebrates the wit and wisdom of country's favorite singer-songwriter and includes 25 rare and unusualphotographs and an introduction by music journalist Alanna Nash.

Fort Lauderdale's Rock & Read Books has published The Quotable Dolly: A Collection of Rich Sayings to Live, Love andLaugh By from The Country Music Legend, a gift-book sampling of Parton's wit and wisdom. The totable volume, designed bythe award-winning Carley Wilson Brown, pairs self-deprecating quips and philosophical quotes with photographs of theSmoky Mountain singer-songwriter, musician, actress, and philanthropist from various stages of her life and career.

The topics are as diverse as her cantilevered looks and her indomitable faith. For example: "People always ask me, `Whatdo you want people to say about you one hundred years from now?' I want them to say, `Dang, don't she look good for herage?"'

The 80-page collection includes an introduction by noted music journalist Alanna Nash, who writes, "With the face of anangel and the zeal of a tent-show evangelist, Dolly Parton remains, at sixty-five, a mountain miracle. As ever, she appears atangle of contradictions, a world-class poet in stiletto heels, a fragile flower and one-woman conglomerate, a serious song-writer and wisecracking comedienne. She is, most of all, a Southern original."

Part of the proceeds from the sale of the book will benefit the Imagination Library, the non-profit organization Partonfounded to promote early childhood literacy. Available now from: rockandreadbooks.com, fanclubhouse.com, Amazon.com,the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Ernest Tubb Record Shop.

The Quotable Dolly: A Collection of Rich Sayings to Live, Love and Laugh By From the Country Music Legend Dolly Parton

Americana Gazette February - March 2012

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Transcript of Americana Gazette February - March 2012