Saving Country Music

Perfect hair is an unattainable goal for many Americans. Forget about genetics for a moment, and just think about the wide varying humidity and barometric pressure that we can experience here in the United States. It can wreak havoc on even the most ideal head of God given locks. And then all those hair products, my goodness. Shampoos, conditioners, gels and sprays now can take up over an aisle and a half at your local retailer.

And don’t get me started with trying to hunt down a good stylist. Every time you find a good one they move, retire, go back to graduate school, whatever, and then your left fending for yourself. And don’t even try asking your friends, oh no. They guard that secret like the babysitter that will work on Saturday nights for only $15 and a bag of Newman O’s, and won’t go rifling through your closet looking for your porn collection.

But despite all of this, I am so happy to report that at the Hank III show at Emo’s in Austin last night (3-16-10), the opening band, Kyle Turley had a bass player with the most perfect head of curly golden strands. It had that “just stepped out of the shower” sheen, without being clumpy or greasy looking. And the way he thrashed it around in rhythm with the music, just about made me want to start playing for the wrong team.

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Seriously, I’m having a little fun at the expense of a guy that did a fine job last night, but I think the bass player’s hair, and how he thrashed it around, was a good microcosm of the Kyle Turley set. I know the hip thing to do would be to come on here and trash it, but in truth, it wasn’t that bad, it was just out of place.

Kyle Turley was like the one sports card dealer at a horror comic convention. But he did a good job. The performance was tight, and the music was decent. Listen, if you had walked into some random bar and saw a former famous football player up there with a full band doing his thing, you would’ve been impressed. Kyle Turley is doing what he wants to do and following his dreams. And if every American did that, we’d probably be living in a much better world, though our hair style may be a little worse for the wear.

Some people have called his music pop country. Last night he said: “I’d like to discuss it with anyone out on the street.” I honestly don’t hear the very quickly identifiable pop country formula in his music. He calls it “power country,” which a critic might say is southern stoner metal without the balls, or country without the soul. But it fits into some sort of hard rock, southern-fried category that I could see being very successful for him in the hands of the right audience, I just don’t know that the Hank III audience was the right one.

There were a few boos, but mostly people were receptive, or at least tolerant. My guess the boos were from hardcore Hank III fans, and your average walk-up ticket attendee dealt with Turley’s fairly catchy, but never too involved songs just fine. His song “Flying Helmets” kind of plays right into his critic’s hands, and I’m wondering how his remark about Jerry Jones being an asshole, and all Dallas Cowboys being crooks is going to go over in Ft. Worth tonight, but I guess they say sing about what you know about.

His song “I’m With the Devil,” though it breaks down to a tribute song to his music mentor Hank III, I really think is a good song and shows a lot of songwriting promise and prowess that might pay off for Kyle eventually. His band was solid, but simple and straightforward. The lead guitar mainly played varying rhythm more than anything, and the keyboards had their moments, but were average. I can definitely say that what Turley did last night was much better than anything YouTube has to offer of his work (at least at the moment), and I wouldn’t go drawing hard conclusions from amateur videos.

A lot of people will take this as a negative review, but honestly would give him an A- if I was just walking into a random bar and saw him. But as the opener for Hank III, I’ll eek out a C+. But please, someone should tell Turley’s bass player to tame the hair situation; not the hair itself, but the way he tries to steal the show with it. He’s not doing himself or Kyle and favors. This is not an 80’s Poison routine, this is country music. There’s a reason Hank III ties his hair back during the country set.

And one of the reasons Hank III has become the biggest act in underground country is by knowing who his people are. Sure, in the last few years he’s alienated the hippie and alt-country crowd as he’s moved more towards the metal heads, but the trade off in numbers has been tit for tat at the worst. But this fit, for Hank III AND Kyle, seemed a little forced.

I hope the best for Kyle Turley, and hope he continues to follow his dreams and desires.

It will probably be easier to name of the bands and artists that WON’T be at South by Southwest in Austin, TX this week than to even begin trying to make a list of the ones I’m hoping to see. In fact I’m learning before I even get there that the most maddening thing about my upcoming SXSW experience is how much great music I will miss.

While I’m watching a band that I’ve wanted to see for years (let’s say, Slim Cessna’s Auto Club), there will be another band that I’ve wanted to see for years (maybe Whitey Morgan and the 78’s playing right down the street . . . within walking distance . . . for free . . . while they’re serving free beer . . . and free food . . .while the most beautiful women in the world (that being the one’s of the Texas persuasion) walk around enjoying the fact that they do not need to wear as much clothing as they did a month before.

It’s a good problem to have.

I’ve been trying to keep any itinerary thoughts free and lose so I don’t get frustrated trying to stick to some pre-ordained plan, but I know for sure it will all start off with the Hank III show tonight at Emo’s, and probably end sometime Sunday with me not wanting to hear one more note of music for a while, cursing large crowds, and nursing a gullet tortured and poisoned by bad diet and worse behavior.

Most of the interviews, reviews, and other SXSW content will likely not show up on the site this week, but next week when I can make sense of it all. This week sow, next week reap. But if you want, you can follow my daily activities on the Twitter Feed, and no, you don’t have to join Twitter, you can just watch. It will give you some insight into what I’m doing if you so care, music wise that is. I’ll keep updates on my bowel movements to myself.

–Triggerman Out.

Flint, Michigan’s Whitey Morgan and the 78’s have just signed with the the label that is the home of Insurgent Country, Bloodshot Records.

Whitey and the boys join the ranks of people like Wayne “The Train” Hancock, Justin Townes Earle, and Scott H. Biram, all signed to the Chicago-based label.

The announcement comes just days before Whitey Morgan & the 78’s head down to South by Southwest, where they will be playing at a couple of Bloodshot Records showcases, as well as other events. For interested parties, here’s their SXSW schedule:

• Thursday 3/17 - Converse/Smallstone Party - Encore
• Friday 3/19 - 12:55pm - Bloodshot Party - Yard Dog Gallery
• Saturday 3/20 - Dogfish head party - G-Man
• Saturday 3/20 - 10pm - Bloodshot showcase - Red Eyed Fly

The signing came about when Bloodshot top brass Rob and Nan saw them at a recent show. Whitey Morgan and the 78’s come from a burgeoning scene of Outlaw roots artists from the Wolverine state, a scene that includes people like The Goddamn Gallows and Rachel Brooke.

I will be down at SXSW later this week, and hope to catch up with Whitey & Co. to get more info on this big signing.

Way to go Whitey!

If you’re anything like me, if I want to hear some new music, you sure aren’t going to find me sniffing around CMT or burying your nose in the latest Rolling Stone. No, I’m likely going to be looking to the past, not the future. And man, what a thrill it is when you find a vein of music you’ve never heard before that unlocks months of new music for you to explore.

That’s what happened when someone mentioned the name Rose Maddox to me at an Izzy and the Kesstronics show a few months back. Before then I’d never heard of Rose, though I’d heard of Maddox.

The little town I was living in at the time, Ashland, OR, people liked to rave about “Maddox Beef.” There was a farm just east of town that everyone knew as the Maddox farm. Little did I know that a woman that you can trace back some of the very foundations of country music to, someone who was making country before it was even called that, was buried in that town. And that this woman had a huge impact on rock n’ roll as well. And that this woman and her brothers were also the first to blend the two sounds into what today we call rockabilly, and that they were the first band to use the term “Outlaw” to refer to their music.

Rose Maddox has been called the Grandmother of Rockabilly, The Queen of West Coast Country, Miss Boogie, the Original Hillbilly Filly, and many more I’m sure, and her impact on modern music cannot be understated.

Rose and her brothers moved from Boaz, Alabama during the Depression era to California in search for work. The story goes that one day Rose’s brother Fred while working in a cotton field sat down on his sack, tired and frustrated, and proclaimed to the rest of the family, “We’re going into the music business.” The family called his bluff, and the band became known as the “Alabama Outlaws,” with Fred on bass, Cal on rhythm guitar, and 11-year-old Rose singing. They played weekday mornings from 6:30 to 7:00 on KTRB in Modesto, CA, sponsored by Rice’s Furniture Store.

Later in 1939 they would win a sponsorship by Anacin Pain Reliever at the Sacramento Fair and sign a contract with the McClatchy Broadcast Network that broadcast their music all over the West Coast.

“We were called hillbilly singers - not country - then.” Rose recalls. “No, none of this country music then. People just called us hillbilly. It took people in our field years and years just to get to the point where we were called country singers.”

During WWII Fred and Cal joined the armed services, and when they got back in 1947, younger brothers Don and Henry joined the band, Rose started playing some fiddle, and they began to go under the name “The Maddox Brother’s and Rose.” The group dropped their small label, called Four Star Records, and signed to Columbia. About this time is when Rockabilly was born, as the group mixed elements of their “hillbilly” or country music, with “boogie woogie,” later known as rock n’ roll.

Their up tempo, slap bass rhythm, and electric guitar blended with traditional hillbilly sounds was something that had never been heard before. It is where Rockabilly, or “country boogie” came from, but elements of it would also go into making what we now know as traditional country and rock n’ roll.

“People tell me that I was one of the first women to sing what I sang - country boogie.” Rose says. “I guess I was. There was no rock ‘n’ roll in those early days, before 1955. Only country boogie.”

By the mid 50’s The Maddox Bros. & Rose were touring coast to coast, and rockabilly music was an all out craze. The band played on the Louisiana Hayride, and toured with Elvis. Elvis’s bass player, Bill Black, looked up to Rose’s brother Cal as a mentor, and they played similar styles. As rock n’ roll was being formed, The Maddox Bros. & Rose were right there. They also played the Grand Ole Opry, the Las Vegas Strip, toured with Marty Robbins, and even Hank Williams.

In 1957 the band broke up, but Rose Maddox stayed on Columbia Records, making albums and releasing singles. She became known as “Miss Boogie,” and Rose was who every aspiring rockabilly or rock n’ roll female singer learned the craft from. You can hear the same rockabilly singing style that people like Wanda Jackson perfected in Rose’s early solo stuff:

“Kitty Wells would stand up there and not even move,” says Johnny Whitesides, who wrote a biography on Rose. “Rose would get on stage and high-kick and shimmy-shake. That drove people crazy.”

One of Rose’s more rockin’ tunes was called Wild Wild Young Men.

Emmylou Harris has stated that Rose and her brother’s combination of repertoire, stage presence and rural heritage helped make many more people aware of country music, and that Rose never received the recognition she deserved because of “a reluctance in American society to celebrate the value of white country and roots music.”

Rose Maddox had an indelible mark on country music, AND rock n’ roll, and virtually invented rockabilly. That is why it is a shame that the Country Music Hall of Fame has yet to recognize her, and it lends credence to the idea that there is a bias against country performers from the West Coast.

On the latest episode of the It Burns When I Pee podcast, Joe Huber of the .357 String Band let it be known that the high octane bluegrass band plans to continue touring and backing up Bob Wayne once the platoon gets back from a stint in Europe this month.

“Bob is one hilarious dude man. He’s probably one of the coolest dudes I’ve ever met. He definitely keeps you entertained all the time, and one of the most noble people I could possibly meet. . . . Within two weeks into this first tour with Bob we already decided to extend it to the West Coast, so in May and June, we’re already planning another month of West Coast tours and shows with Bob.”

Huber also talked about other tour plans for the rest of the year.

“We’re trying to hit up some festivals this year, either within Wisconsin or throughout the area, just kinda like bigger shows where we can get out, instead of playing rock clubs you can try to hit a festival, you know, get more people seeing you within one day, playing a show to more people than you would in a rock club.”

You can get the whole interview with Joe Huber, as well as an earful of IBWIP’s, um, “adult” humor as well as quite the anatomy lesson on It Burns When I Pee Episode 38.

I’ll be honest with you: Even though some of my favorite country artists right now are offspring of other famous country artists, whenever I see a new one coming up, I always roll my eyes. I’m not sure why, but in my head I think, “How good could they really be?” But time and time again, my instincts are proven wrong. There truly must be a country music pedigree that runs deeper than just a marketable name, and Shelli Coe, daughter of David Allan, is yet another example of this.

With her first full length album, A Girl Like Me, Shelli debunks any thoughts of talent skipping a generation. She’s puts out a good, solid, classic country album with some neo-traditionalist elements as well as a little rock n’ roll. It’s 12 songs that cover a wide variety of emotions and true life country topics.

The title track “A Girl Like Me,” and songs like “Truly,” and “No More Me and You,” pulled me right in with heavy handed pedal-steel guitar. Pedal steel always gets my ears perked, and usually gets the pop country crowd punching out. Many of the songs on this album have that classic sound that when you hear you immediately say to yourself, “Yes, that is what I mean when I say REAL country.”

The slower traditional country songs are in my opinion the best tracks of the album, songs like “Truly,” “May Your Heart Rest in Pieces,” and possibly the best track of the album, “Face to Face.” They are classic, without being corny like so many songs that use old-timey verbage in the lyrics or that have their masters through some filter to make them sound vintage. They just work in a traditional country sense.

In “Truly,” Shelli pays tribute to her father in a special way (you’ll have to listen for yourself to find out how), and in “May Your Heart Rest in Pieces,” Shelli articulates the eternal theme of lost love, while again that pedal steel guitar helps tug your heart strings even more. “Face to Face” is a cheating song, and it isn’t classic sounding, it is a classic, period. An instant classic. Shelli Coe doesn’t have the strongest of voices, but I thought these slower, hard country songs really brought out the strengths her voice does have. She used some vibrato and was able to really flood her lyrics with emotion.

Her voice is most evident in “Falling at the Speed of Sound,” which starts of with just Shelli and a guitar. In the space, Shelli’s voices outright shines.

The album does have a few low points. I wasn’t particularly impressed with her “Please Come to Boston” cover, though I’m rarely impressed with well-known, and sometimes worn out cover songs. Her cover of her dad’s “If This Is Just a Game,” was a little more my speed, but I’ll rarely favor a cover over an original. I’d also second guess the song “That Memory of Mine,” which had a little too much rock guitar for me. Maybe by itself this track would have worked, but taken within the album, it felt like a reach for a radio hit.

The more straightforward, rockish songs also tended to expose Shelli’s voice, which whether it came across as weak by nature or by arrangement, it always seemed stronger the more countrified the tune was.

But the few missteps aside, I really like this album. There may be some better albums than A Girl Like Me that will come out this year, but there will also be many many more worse. With this album Shelli Coe really makes her mark as more than just a famous name. I’m sure the mainstream will mostly ignore it, and some of the more hardcore elements will not get enough “whiskey and devil” references for their taste. But for me, it was right in my wheelhouse, and I see lots here to make daddy proud.

Thumbs up!

Shelli Coe’s label is Big Beard Records.

They say war makes strange bedfellows. I guess this is a good example.

In a recent Edmonton Journal article, country music legend Merle Haggard held little back when sharing his thoughts on “Auto Tune”:

“They fix a person’s voice when it’s out of tune, and then they have to do it live when they can’t sing. I can’t stand it. Well, I don’t allow my music to be tampered with; it goes directly to tape with very little sweetening. I don’t believe in a producer; God is my producer. Anyways, I want it to be real so we can do it properly onstage.

It wasn’t very long ago that the words “Auto Tune” were only known by music industry types and recording engineers. When I wrote about it back in October of 2008, word was starting to spread about this piece of cheater technology that bends the pitch of imperfect singers.

Well now “Auto Tune” is a household word, not because of the mainstream pop and pop country acts like Rascal Flatts, who openly admit using the off-key disguiser; they would probably like to go back to 2008, when Auto-Tune was their little secret. The people exposing it are hip-hoppers, principally T Pain and his ilk, who turn the Auto Tune to 10 till their voice sounds like a computer, using it to disguise their heroic lack of talent.

Another hip-hopper helping to expose Auto Tune is Jay-Z, but he doesn’t look upon it so kindly. In his song Death of Auto Tune, he puts the “superstar in a can,” in it’s place:

“This is anti-autotune, death of the ringtone. This ain’t for Itunes, this ain’t for sing-along. . . I know we facin a recession, But the music yall makin gonna make it the great depression . . .”

He’s sold thousands of “Death of Auto Tune” shirts. The song won a Grammy.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not glorifying Jay-Z or his music. Jay-Z funded his music career by selling crack cocaine on the streets of New York and New Jersey. He pushed his way to the top by pushing others down, and now he owns record labels, clothing lines, a pro basketball team, and is worth $150 million as he raps about “keeping it real.” But even a confessed criminal can see the absurdity of Auto Tune, how it is fundamentally immoral.

Even Taylor Swift can see it, because God knows, one thing we can all agree on is she doesn’t use it.

In baseball they talk about the “steroid era,” how a big asterisk will be put beside the records of people like Barry Bonds. Maybe a big asterisk needs to be placed beside the records of top pop performers of our era who use Auto Tune to disguise their lack of talent, training, or heart. Is it a coincidence that the era that has seen the rise of Auto Tune has also seen a plummet in music sales?

Only when the use of Auto Tune becomes a pariah will there be the possibility of a Renaissance in the blighted and battered music industry, but my guess is that as the pool of talent that is willing to deal with the overbearing nature of the music industry dries up, it’s use will only become more widespread.

As we speak, Lucky Tubb is in the studio recording his new album, and when I spoke to him at The Cash Bash, he gave me some hints of what he’s working on, including a duet with the legendary Wayne “The Train” Hancock.

“Me and Wayne Hancock are going into the studio next week and recording Hillbilly Fever, the Red Foley and Earnest Tubb cover of George Vaughn’s.”

Lucky has also been picked up by booking agent Gina Gallina; the elegant and talented Gina Gallina that is, that also happens to be Wayne Hancock’s wife and a player in the Camptown Ladies. Could this mean we might see some more collaboration between Wayne and Lucky in the future, and maybe a tour together? One can only hope.

Here’s what else Lucky had to say about the upcoming album:

“Natalie wrote a song called “Honky Tonkin’s All We Got,” were gonna do “Whose Gonna Take Your Garbage Out,” and we’re also gonna do “You’re a Real Good Friend.” So it’s gonna be a duet album, there’s gonna be a lot of old school country on it. We’ve got Roy Orbison’s reverb plate, we’ve got Porter Wagoner’s board in the studio.”

No word on a release date or title for the album as of yet. Stay tuned.

This is going to be a long one, so faint of heart turn back now.

A small controversy has been brewing lately that involves the oh so coveted opening slot for Hank Williams III’s upcoming West Coast Tour. It started when Lucky Tubb was interviewed by Outlaw Radio Chicago, in Episode 74 back before Xmas, and announced that he would be opening the tour. Apparently that news was premature, because when the tour dates came out, former football player turned country act Kyle Turley was slated as the opener.

This was a double letdown for some, because some fans were hoping and expecting to see Lucky Tubb, and a lot of those fans also have some strong opinions about Kyle Turley and his music. Then rumors started flying about how Hank III and Lucky were on the splits, and Hank III wasn’t answering Lucky’s phone calls, prompting Lucky to lose it, jump in his car and drive all the way to Nashville to confront Hank, who refused to see him.

I don’t write a gossip column, and my #1 goal is to keep this scene in tact and moving forward, and with this goal in mind, I sat down with Lucky Tubb after his set at this last weekend’s Cash Bash to talk to him about what had happened, and hopefully clear the air:

I thought that Lucky Tubb said all the right things and he’s a stand up guy for that. There is no doubt he is disappointed that he will not be opening the tour, because he wants to do what is best for his music. Yes, I heard the pause at 4:17 when I referenced Kyle Turley, but again he swallowed his pride :

“If you love Hank then you’ll support the opening act like everyone supported me.”

Which brings us to Kyle Turley.

Some, not all, but some have unfavorable views of Turley because they think his music is pop, because he’s friends with Darius Rucker, because they think he was an asshole when he played football, whatever.

When I first reported that Kyle Turley was getting into country music and playing with Hank III, I honestly wasn’t even paying that much attention to the music, I just thought it was refreshing to see someone with a name outside of country, actually starting a music career from the ground up and hanging out with underground artists instead of selling out every chance they get to corporate Nashville.

Every week someone with a name “goes country.” Last week it was Norah Jones. This week it’s WWE’s Mickey James. When I saw Kyle Turley I was impressed that finally someone was doing it for love of the music and not love for the money.

And if you think differently about Kyle Turley, I have to politely disagree. The way to power and money in Nashville is NOT through Hank III, trust me. That is the path to getting the same black ball status Hank III has enjoyed for a decade. At $20 ticket prices in mid-sized venues, a Hank III opening spot is no delivery from a Brinks truck. And besides, one of Kyle’s first music tours was a 16 date stint that all went to the Gridiron Greats charity assistance fund. Say what you want about Kyle, but he’s doing it for a passion for his music.

And as for that music, some people have been calling it “pop,” or otherwise criticizing it. I find it hard to call it pop country. Pop country has a very easily-definable formula that I don’t hear from Kyle. Do I like his music? Not particularly, BUT, all the man has out there right now is a three song EP. His full album is not out yet. And I’m not saying this as some positioning statement, but I honestly do hear some potential in the very little we’ve heard from him so far: some of the phrases he turns shows to me that he has a little something and can’t be just discounted as a pop country hack out of pocket.

I’m not putting the Saving Country Music stamp of approval on his music. I’m not recommending it. And I’m not going to have to back track from any statement I’ve made about his music if it turns out not to be good. All I am saying is the same thing Hank III, Lucky Tubb, and Kyle Turley himself is saying: GIVE HIM A CHANCE !!! Because then if you still don’t like him, someone can’t say to you that you had your mind made up before you even saw him.

If Kyle Turley opening goes over like a lead zeppelin, then it will look bad on Hank III as well, and Hank III knows that. That is why Kyle opened for Hank III at Layla’s in Nashville the day before Xmas eve in December, and to a man, everyone who I heard from at that show said he was better than they expected him to be.

Kyle Turley was interviewed on last week’s Outlaw Radio Episode 83. Jashie P asked him some tough questions, and Kyle Turley responded honestly. I can’t say I was happy with all his answers, like when he talked about his friendship with Darius Rucker, but the man deserves props for answering all the questions honestly, and NOT pandering to an audience or just telling us what we all wanted to hear. Kyle has played in stadiums with 60,000+ fans booing him. Trust me, he’s not going to lose any sleep if he can’t win everyone over, and he may even relish being hated or being portrayed as the bad guy.

Kyle also talked extensively about his love for Hank III’s music, and how he felt like the industry was keeping Hank down. That is the same industry that’s proping Darius Rucker up, and I hope to talk to him about these and other issues when I see him perform in two weeks.

And I will judge his music, honestly and fairly, with as few preconceived notions as I can, just like I try to do with any artist. And that is all Hank III and Kyle, and even Lucky Tubb are asking us to do.

I’ve said my peace. Now is your chance below.

We’d all like to think that our country heroes live out the words to their songs. Some do, some don’t, and some it’s somewhere in the middle. The truth is getting sloshed at the bar every night till you have to fight your way to the exit and then end up in jail is probably not the lifestyle that lends getting your music to the masses.

However after not only seeing Lucky Tubb and the Modern Day Troubadours at this year’s Johnny Cash Bash, but spending a good amount of time hanging out with him, I can say he’s the real deal, on and off the stage.

Think of that one kid in school that was ALWAYS getting into trouble. Now think of that kid as a grown man. Lucky Tubb is like a buzzbomb. If you take your eyes off of him, he’s gone, and he’s likely doing something wrong. People in positions of responsibility are always on edge when Lucky’s around. You feel the need to always keep your eye on him, but you never can. If you hear a commotion coming from somewhere, there’s no need to rubberneck, it’s probably Lucky.

I talked to a girl that night who does some promotional work for the great nephew of Ernest. She said he will make you nervous right up until he gets on stage. Maybe you can’t find him. Maybe he’s had a little too much too drink, or a little too much of something else. But he always shows, and let me tell you folks, when he gets up on stage, it’s one of the best true country shows out there.

Lucky Tubb is so much more than just a part famous, part catchy name. The man is a natural born talent, showbusiness in his blood you might say, but no there’s bit of acting on his part. He is the real deal of real deals, and along with other compliments I heard him receive that night, this was the most common.

Lucky’s set was nothing less than spellbinding. On a night full of big names, he was a show stealer. But his set was loose, and showed signs of needing practice. At the end of nearly every song, the band was looking at each other nervously, and the landings were sloppy. If someone yelled out a Johnny Cash tune to play from the crowd, Lucky and the Troubadors were right on it. They played “Folsom Prison,” and “Cocaine Blues” on request, but both songs Lucky repeated verses and left others out. This might have slipped unnoticed at other times, but at a Johnny Cash tribute show, it stuck out like Johnny’s middle finger in that famous photo.

But somehow you forgave Lucky for this; his mistakes held their own own endearing quality. He’s Lucky Tubb, and you appreciate that bad boy, genuine, half cocked nature about him. You probably don’t want him to date your sister, but there’s no suspension of belief needed when he’s up there singing about being in the slammer.

Lucky Tubb had my #1 song for 2009, and what I noticed about seeing him live is that he had a unique cadence and drawl that doesn’t completely come across in his recorded material. It is there, but live it is even more pronounced. Lucky knows how to work a crowd as well. He’s a hell of an entertainer.

BUT. With Lucky there’s always a “but,” and that’s the problem. His stock has risen greatly since he toured opening for Hank III, BUT he has done little with that momentum, and you can start to feel it beginning to fizzle. Because of the nature of Lucky’s music and his stage presence, he needs to be out there touring coast to coast, hitting the honky tonks mercilessly, and putting on the same show, whether he plays to 3, 30, or 300 people. Instead there’s changeover in his touring band and poorly booked weekend junkets, partly hindered by a reputation that precedes him, and I’m not talking on the music side.

We’ll see what the future holds for Lucky, but he’s not getting any younger. I tried to pep talk him. I told him how many fans he has out there, and that we needed fresh faces like his. Lucky was self-admittedly spoiled by the crowds the Hank III opening slot afforded him. And now it looks like the chances of him touring with Hank III in the future are up in the air at best.

Lucky is a loose cannon. He maybe has improved from his younger days, but he still has demons to tame. It is hard to say where Lucky goes from here. Still, I’m rooting for him, and if you pass up a Lucky Tubb live show, you’re a fool.

Props go out to the Modern Day Troubadours as well; a superb group of musicians that each bring a lot of uniqueness to the show, musically and personality-wise, and help take the Lucky Tubb experience to the next level.

To read a review of the full Johnny Cash Bash, click here.

PS: I talked to Lucky Tubb extensively about the mixup with Hank III and the opening tour slot, and I will have that for you very soon, along with my comments about Kyle Turley opening.