News and notes

Good morning, and happy Monday!

We at Wildy's World want to take a moment to congratulate all of the recently announced finalists in the 2012 International Songwriting Competition.  The list is long and lengthy, and you can view them all here, but the nominees include Wildy's World alumni such as Gina Sicilia, Carrie Rodriguez, Thomas Calder (The Trouble With Templeton), The Trews, and TAT.

This is one of many contests out there for songwriters, but is among the most prestigious.  Anyone who has gotten this far is worthy of attention.  You'll also note that the list includes a couple of bigger names, such as Jane Siberry and Missy Higgins. 

Judges for this year's competition include Tom Waits, Jeff Beck, Kelly Clarkson, Ozzy Osbourne, Tori Amos, Lucinda Williams, Tegan and Sara, John Mayall and Massive Attack.  The music industry is well represented on the panel as well, so this year's winners could be tomorrow's stars.

In sadder news, the music industry said goodbye this weekend to The Monkees' Davy Jones as well as to legendary guitarist Ronnie Montrose.  Jones' passing at age 66 of a heart attack came as a suprise, as a recent check-up had shown him to be fit.  He leaves behind a wife, four daughters, and a legacy of bright airy songs that will keep his memory alive for generations to come.

Ronnie Montrose, the iconic 1970's rock guitarist played with a list of names that could form their own rock and roll hall of fame (Sammy Hagar, Van Morrison, Edgar Winter Group, Boz Scaggs, Gary Wright, Herbie Hancock, The Neville Brothers, and others.  His group Montrose continues to be a favorite spin on classic rock/AOR formatted stations.  Montrose is believed to have died from Prostate Cancer.

On a brighter note, former teen idol Jon Bon Jovi recently turned 50.  Hard to believe, isn't it?

Wildy's World Top 60 Albums of 2010: 30-21

 We're moving quickly toward our number one album of the year.  Today we're counting down numbers 30 through 21 in our top Albums and EPs of the year.  Let's get to it!

30. Hans York – Young Amelia
York is a singer-songwriter thoroughly in his element on Amelia, and is one of the best folk songwriters working.

29. Phil Ayoub – Arrivals And Departures
A captivating singer, songwriter and performer. 

28. Carrie Rodriguez – Love And Circumstance
Rodriguez a dervish with a voice that could melt butter and a fiddle fit to cut the world in half.  Love And Circumstance is among her best work to date.

27. Eliza Blue – The Road Home
Eliza Blue proves the richness of recording at home with The Road Home, pouring her heart and soul into every song with a richness and depth that is rare in popular music.

26. The John Byrne Band – After The Wake
One of the finest Celtic-influenced albums of 2010.

25. Syzygy – Realms Of Eternity
Deep theological concerns and a modern take on classic progressive rock make Realms Of Eternity the sort of album you can't let go of.

24. Isabel Rose – Swingin’ From The Hip
Rose will one day be a legend.

23. Wes Weddell – By The Side Of The Lake
By The Side Of The Lake shows a master craftsman at the top of his game.

22. Annie Fitzgerald – In Good Time
In Good Time is absolutely captivating.  Annie Fitzgerald has you from hello.

21. The Chapin Sisters – Two
The daughters of Tom Chapin and nieces of Harry Chapin show that their musical blood lines run deep on Two, an a haunting collection you won't be able to get out of your head.

The Wildy's World Top 60 Albums/EPs of 2010

We're back!  I hope you all had a great Christmas, Hannukah, Winter Solstice of whatever else you may celebrate.  And of course, Happy Kwanzaa!  It's time for the Wildy's World Top-60 albums or EPs of 2010.  This list is compiled from albums reviewed on Wildy's World during 2010 and may occasionally include an album from late 2009 as well. This is a proprietary list, meaning it's generated entirely by me.  You may disagree with some of the choices or the placement, and I invite respectful discussions of opinions in response to the postings.  Anything rude or unintelligent will be zapped ASAP. 

Today we have numbers 60-41.  Click on the album name to link back to the original Wildy's World review.  Original reviews include artwork and links to artist sites and purchase points.  Without further adieu...

60. Anna Kaelin – Anna Kaelin

59. Hugh Morrison – Robert Burns Rocks

58. Colin Gilmore – Goodnight Lane

57. Sufjan Stevens – All Delighted People

56. Rooney – Eureka

55. Joy Ike – Rumors

54. Anna Coogan – The Nocturnal Among Us

53. Jon Troast – Living Room

52. Dropkick Murphys – Live On Lansdowne, Boston MA

51. Waking Ugly – Waking Ugly

50. Jason D. Williams – Killer Instinct

49. Billion Dollar Babies - Die For Diamonds

48. James Hurley – Tempest In A Teacup

47. Corinne Bailey Rae – The Sea

46. Original Cast Recording – Ordinary Days

45. Maidens IV – Celtic Fire

44. Rachael Sage – Delancey St.

43. Never Shout Never – Harmony

42. Gangsta Grass – Lightning On The Strings, Thunder On The Mic

41. Chip Taylor & Carrie Rodriguez – The New Bye & Bye

We'll be back tomorrow with numbers 40-31.  See you then!

Chip Taylor & Carrie Rodriguez - The New Bye & Bye

Chip Taylor & Carrie Rodriguez - The New Bye & Bye

2010, Train Wreck Records

It was a fated meeting at SXSW in 2002 that brought Carrie Rodriguez and Chip Taylor together.  From 2003 through 2005 the duo put out three critically acclaimed albums on Taylor's Train Wreck Records and toured the world together.  In that time Rodriguez blossomed as a singer and solo performer, and Chip Taylor found his passion for songwriting and recording reborn.  In 2006 the duo parted ways to pursue their own interests, with Rodriguez going on to become a successful recording artist in her own right and Taylor reclaiming his mantle as a legend-in-waiting of Americana music.  On October 12, 2010, Train Wreck Records will release The New Bye & Bye - The Best of The Train Wreck Records 2002 - 2007, featuring 13 tracks from past releases and four new songs.

The New Bye & Bye really isn't an album you analyze but one you let wash over you.  Taylor & Rodriguez don't so much tell stories as create moments for the listener to experience, the sort that usually might only be found on a back porch on a Texas summer night (with gracious nods to Appalachian folk).  Highlights include "Your Name Is On My Lips", a mournful love song with a sense that the narrator has been here many times before.  The song is full of sorrow without a sense of being overdone.  Rodriguez chips in on vocals but it's here violin in the break that highlights the sorrow as if interpreting the heart of it all.  "The New Bye & Bye" is a fight in song, with Rodriguez spitting fire while Taylor plays the placating miscreant in an old-school country musical play.  "Don't Speak In English" is the utter highlight of the disc; a tune about breaking out of the ordinary where such is made unimaginable by life circumstance.  The mix of toughness and vulnerability here is stunning, and Taylor and Rodriguez both run with it.  "All The Rain" is a rambunctious turn, the best instrumental work on the album and a highly danceable number you won't soon get out of your noggin.

The New Bye & Bye features two live versions of Taylor classics.  "Angel Of The Morning" is done in the same vocal split employed throughout the album, with Taylor slightly in the lead.  While this may be appropriate considering Taylor wrote the song, Carrie Rodriguez lights up the stage in the moments when she's alone at the mic.  This would have been one time to allow here to have the whole stage.  "Wild Thing" is offered up here in a low-key version that paints the song in a very brush than the version made famous by The Troggs.  Taylor sings it like a love song sung by someone whose been beaten around by life.  The context illuminates aspects of the song you might not have before considered.  The two live tracks are performed by an all-star band that includes Taylor, Rodriguez, pedal steel master Greg Leisz (Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, Joni Mitchell), Bill Frisell and Buddy Miller.  The album closes with a reprise of "The New Bye & Bye", an apt closer.

If your taste in music runs to the roots of country, rock and folk as played on back porches across post-frontier frontier then you need to be listening to Chip Taylor and Carrie Rodriguez.  The New Bye & Bye is a great place to start, offering the best work of their years together and some nice new surprises.  Taylor and Rodriguez are very capable of making magic on their own.  Together they combine those collective talents with the sort of chemistry you can't buy or force.  The New Bye & Bye is essential listening.

Rating: 4 Stars (Out of 5)

Learn more about Chip Taylor and Carrie Rodriguez at http://www.chiptaylor.com/,  http://www.carrierodriguez.com/ or  Train Wreck Records.  The New Bye & Bye drops on October 12, 2010.  Pre-orders of the CD are available from Train Wreck Records and Amazon.com.  A digital version is available via iTunes.

Review: Carrie Rodriguez - Love And Circumstances

Carrie Rodriguez - Love And Circumstances
2010, Ninth Street Opus

Over the past decade Carrie Rodriquez has gone from being a top notch session violinist to one of the most talented and sought after performers of Country music; the main reason being that Rodriguez eschews the plastic tendencies of commercial country radio for a sound that's true to her own tastes and history. We first became familiar with Rodriguez because of 2008's She Ain't Me, an album that sounded good at the time and simply gets better with age. Rodriguez's 2009 release, Live In Louisville, was so good it wound up in our Top-20 albums of 2009. After eight albums in as many years, Rodriguez returns in 2010 with Love And Circumstances, a cover album featuring songs from some of the best country and folk singer/songwriters of the past forty years.

Love And Circumstances opens with "Big Love" (Ry Cooder/John Hiatt/Nick Lowe/Jim Keltner), a song of hope and yearning that's full of a pragmatic beauty. The song has a rootsy Americana feel that should make it a commercial success. On "Wide River To Cross" (Julie & Buddy Miller) Rodriguez uses her warm voice to invoke the determination of someone making the long journey home after a long time away. It's a gorgeous melody that's moving in its simplicity and grace. "Eyes On The Prize" (M. Ward) has a classic country story song feel that jibes well with Rodriguez's easy vocal style perfectly. Rodriguez captures a sense of tragic hopefulness on "Waltzing's For Dreamers" (Richard Thompson), adding her distinctively mournful violin into the mix as well.

"I'm Not For Love" (Sandrine Daniels) is a heartbreaker, written from the perspective of one who's been burned too many times. Rodriguez highlights the song with a voice that emotes tragic beauty and a world-weary mien, and Bill Frisell's guitar work completes the sound. Rodriguez hits gold with her take on Merle Haggard's "(Today) I Started Loving You Again". The dark textures of her voice wrap around the melancholy feel of the medley in this song, creating a sense of time and place that is palpable. One of the highlights of the album is Townes Van Zandt's "Rex's Blues". Aside from her voice, Rodriguez has an inspired energy in this song that shines through every nook and cranny. Whatever the inspiration, it burns beneath the surface but you can't fail to hear it. The most moving song on Love And Circumstances is Rodriguez's interpretation of the Hank Williams classic "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry". Rodriguez invests the song with a believable sense of loss, and the bluesy guitar interplay is a nice touch. Rodriguez closes with "La Punalada Trapera" (Sosa Tomas Mendez). It's a gorgeous tune, and the weight of the story is meted out in the deliberate guitar work that fills out the song.

Carrie Rodriguez always produces compelling listening experiences when she steps into the studio. Love And Circumstances is no exception. The choice to immerse herself in classic songs and hidden gems from the pens of others is a brave one, forcing Rodriguez to find chemistry with the voices of the creator of each song. Carrie Rodriguez manages to make each song on Love And Circumstances her own without abandoning the character of each song. The musicianship is top-notch as always, and it would be hard to say that Rodriguez has ever been in finer voice. Love And Circumstances is a keeper.

Rating: 4 Stars (Out of 5)

Learn more about Carrie Rodriguez at http://www.carrierodriguez.com/ or www.myspace.com/carrielrodriguez. Love And Circumstances is available as either a CD or Download from Amazon.com.

Review: Chip Taylor - Yonkers, NY

Chip Taylor - Yonkers, NY
2009, Train Wreck Records

Chip Taylor is the legendary songwriter responsible for such hits as Wild Thing (The Troggs), Angel Of The Morning (Juice Newton), Try (Just A Little Bit Harder) (Janis Joplin) and I Can't Let Go (The Hollies). His songs have been recorded by the likes of Johnny Cash, Aretha Franklin, Willie Nelson, Frank Sinatra and Jimi Hendrix. The younger brother of vulcanologist Barry Voight and actor John Voight, Taylor has a wealth of childhood stories to tell. He's saved the best of them for his latest album, Yonkers, NY. Yonkers, NY is released as a two-disc set. The first disc is done "Worlds + Music" style, with spoken words stories injected between (and sometimes in the middle of) songs. The second disc is edited to supply just the songs.

Taylor grew up in Yonkers, and tells about his formative years as Jamie (his nickname as a child). The arrangements are lush Americana, and Taylor takes us back in time when trains, horses, girls and family were the most important things in the world. Yonkers, NY opens with Barry Go On (Put Yourself On The Mountain), a missive on being told to become what you want to be as a child. It's a wonderful tune full of both the excitement and angst of being a young child in a big world. Charcoal Sky recounts learning all about trains from his father and a friend who was a conductor on the Hudson River line. Taylor reminisces about laying nickels on the train tracks to get train-pressed souvenirs with his brothers in a sweet and loving tribute to times gone by. Hey Jonny (Did You Feel That Movie) has a shuffling rockabilly feel that is guaranteed to get your feet moving and incorporates Bill Haley's Rock Around The Clock. Without Horses is a love song, of sorts, written perhaps from Taylor's father's perspective, about one man's love for betting on the ponies. Written in a gentle waltz, Without Horses has a real melancholy feel.

Taylor gets a gentle mix of R&B and Honky-Tonk on No Dice, an entertaining vamp that allows his band to show off their chops between verses. On Bastard Brothers, Taylor tells about his brothers complaints leading to Taylor's violin turning into a Ukulele one Christmas morning. The story that goes with it is funny and touching, and the song turns into a sort of back-handed thank you. Piece Of The Sky is a song about finding your dreams, whatever they might be. Here it's a win at the race track, but the universal nature of the song is appealing. Saw Mill River Road is about the local Country Music bar of Taylor's younger days. You can hear the Johnny Cash influence in this one, particularly in the "flashback" portion of the song. Yonkers Girls is a reminiscence of about the wiles and ways of the women of Taylor's youth grouped by their hometowns. Taylor closes out with Yonkers, NY, a musical portrait of his hometown that's both highly descriptive and deeply personal. Taylor describes a working class town with trials and tribulations like most similar sized towns in the US in the 1960's.

Chip Taylor has an easy, likable style as both a songwriter and story-teller. His voice isn't what you'd call pretty, but it's full of character, life and experience and is a very enjoyable voice to listen to. Yonkers, NY works so well because Taylor lived each song and each moment. Part confessional and part musical novella, Yonkers, NY uses intelligence, remembrance and humor to bring the people and places of his childhood alive. This might just be Taylor's masterpiece. Yonkers, NY is a Wildy's World Certified Desert Island Disc.

Rating: 5 Stars (Out of 5)

You can learn more about Chip Taylor at www.trainwreckrecords.com/chip.html or www.myspace.com/chiptaylorsolo. You can order a copy of Yonkers, NY from Trainwreck Records on either CD or LP, or you can download the album from Amazon.com.