featuring the very best of americana, alt.country and roots music
November 26, 2023
Scott Foley, purveyor of dust
In a few weeks, we'll be celebrating our favorite cover songs of the year. For that Episode, we'll also be holding court on what makes for an effective cover. Cat Power's recent live, album-length tribute to Bob Dylan, for instance, deserves recognition, though it may not be on our list, since Bob Dylan genuinely doesn't need more artists playing his songs. In short, a great cover surprises us. Perhaps it crosses genres, or draws our attention to an artist with whom our familiarity is tentative. No spoilers here, but Kevn Kinney might be such an artist.
Kinney is not an unknown, though few probably appreciate the extensive nature of his work. This will hopefully change with the ongoing release of the songs that make up Let's Go Dancing: A Celebration of Kevn Kinney (Tasty Goody). Begun by Kinney's wife Anna Jensen (who also provides the artwork for each of the singles), the compilation was intended to be a 60th birthday gift, reaching out to friends and fans in hopes of having them contribute a cover from the songwriter's rich catalog. Per Jensen, the results will be shared over the next several months, resulting in one-hundred songs over the space of four records. The first of those is now available via Tasty Goody Records.
Let's Go Dancing: Said the Firefly To the Hurricane boasts an absurd wealth of talent, playing a rich assortment of Kevn Kinney's work, from Drivin' N' Cryin' thru solo work and collaborations with the Golden Palominos, his Sun Tangled Angel Revival supergroup, and others. On this first volume, you'll find Jason Isbell's tear through DNC's "Look What You've Done To Your Brother" from 1990's Fly Me Courageous record, featuring more electric guitar than we've heard since Isbell's early days with Drive-by Truckers. Patterson Hood is joined by Peter Buck's mandolin on the outstanding "Let's Go Dancing", originally on that same DNC release: So what do you know about revolution / When all you've taught is patience / And waiting, and making a statement.
That 2012 excellent Golden Palominos collab, A Good Country Mile, included contributions from Aaron Lee Tasjan, Eleanor Whitmore, and Anton Fier on one of his final sessions. Those tracks are represented here by a wonderfully grimy take on "Gotta Move On" from former Milwaukee accomplices Gordon Gano and Boy Dirt Car - Kinney's first Atlanta performance was in support of Gano's Violent Femmes; he's called this his "Violent Femmes ripoff". The legendary Alejandro Escovedo reaches back to Drivin' N' Cryin's 1986 debut for "Another Scarlet Butterfly", a tune Kinney revisited on last year's overlooked Think About It. Kinney has acknowledged the strong influence of the Athens scene of that time on his music, a debt that's represented by the inclusion of Vanessa Briscoe Hay's reborn Pylon on the early, edgy "Count the Flowers".
Kevn Kinney has issued nine solo albums, the first of which was 1990's MacDougal Blues, which took his band's Southern rock in an urban folk direction a'la Chuck Prophet or Peter Case. Shovels & Rope cover that record's "Gotta Get Out of Here", with wailing harmonica and untethered guitar squeal: Everyday I get up / I walk down the same street / I stand on the same bus stop / And I catch the same bus downtown / I sit in the same seat / With the same lady with a gallon of Walgreens perfume on ... The ageless Wreckless Eric turns that collection's acoustic "House Above Tina's Grocery" into a shambling, feedback-laden punk ode. Elsewhere on Said the Firefly, the voice of the long-lost Shelly Colvin echoes across "Save For Me", a reverb-heavy country ballad from Kinney's lesser-known 1994 Down Out Law. Singles have already been released from future collections, including tributes from Mike Farris, Scott McCaughey, Great Peacock and more.
Of course, the ideal response to a collection like this is to drive listeners back to Kevn Kinney's original stuff, most of which is available here and there. At heart, especially with his band, Kinney managed to span the chasm between Southern rock and the Mtv crowd, at a time when it was possible to catch acts like Georgia Satellites, Black Crowes, and Cracker, not to mention REM's unlikely ascendancy. At R&B HQ, we'll continue to share from this ongoing tribute series as new songs are released (and you can keep tabs at Anna Jensen's website). At Kinney's request, proceeds are being directed to a handful of worthy charities.
Next Episode: The Year in Americana
- Beirut, "January 18th" Hadsel (Pompeii, 23)
- String Machine, "I See You the Same" Turn Off Anything On Again EP (String Machine, 23)
- Iron & Wine, "Woman King (live)" Who Can See Forever Soundtrack (Sub Pop, 23)
- Bonnie Prince Billy, "Keeping Secrets Will Destroy You" single (Drag City, 23) D
- Johanna Warren, "Black Moss" Rockfield Sessions Vol 1 (Warren, 23) D
- John Craigie, "Absolutely Sweet Marie (ft TK & Holy Know-Nothings)" single (Craigie, 23)
- John Moreland, "You Don't Care For Me Enough To Cry (live)" Live At Third Man Records (Third Man, 23)
- Mol Sullivan, "Still Tryin'" Goose (Sullivan, Jan 26) D
- Haley Heynderickx, "How Does the Horse Go Home (ft Max Garcia Conover)" Among Horses III (Fifth Anniversary Edition) (Son Canciones, 23) D
- Willy Tea Taylor & Fellership, "Fightin' Man" Great Western Hangover (Blackwing, 23)
- Matthew "Doc" Dunn, "Under Thumb" Fantastic Light (Cosmic Range, 23) D
- Elliott BROOD, "Stars Align" Town (Six Shooter, 23)
- Dori Freeman, "Good Enough" Do You Recall (Blue Hens, 23)
- Bruce Robison, "Never Say Never" In the Woods (Next Waltz, Feb 9)
- Wilder Blue, "Ogallala Rail" Super Natural (Hill Country, 23)
- Victoria Liedtke & Jason Ringenberg, "Life Rides the Train" More Than Words Can Tell (Judee Bop, Mar 22) D
- Wesley Dean, "Burn This House" Music From Crazy Hearts (Hall of Flames, 23) D
- Wyatt Flores, "Life Lessons" Life Lessons EP (Island, 23)
- Will Quinlan, "Radio Life" single (Ironweed, 23) D
- John Vincent III, "Lincoln, NB" Songs For the Canyon (Concord, 23) D
- Mike & the Moonpies, "Redbird" single (Prairie Rose, 23) D
- Flatland Cavalry, "Wool" Hunger Games: Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (Geffen, 23)
- Vincent Neil Emerson, "Hang Your Head Down Low" Golden Crystal Kingdom (La Honda, 23)
- Blitzen Trapper, "Millions of Billions" single (Yep Roc, 23) D
- MJ Lenderman, "Dan Marino (live)" And the Windn (Live and Loose!) (Anti, 23)
- Daniel Donato, "Halfway (In Between)" Reflector (Retrace, 23)
- Charles Bradley & Menahan Street Band, "I'll Slip Away" Light In the Attic & Friends (Light In the Attic, 23)
- Daniel Bachman, "Leaves Lying On Each Side" When the Roses Come Again (Three Lobed, 23)
^ Great Lake Swimmers, "Peacemaker" Let's Go Dancing: Celebration of the Music of Kevn Kinney (Tasty Goody, 23)
- Violent Femmes, "Please Do Not Go (demo)" Violent Femmes (Deluxe Edition) (Craft, Dec 1)
--------------------------
To enjoy our weekly Spotify ROUTES-cast, just open Spotify and search for "routesandbranches" to access this most recent playlist, as well as many others from past months. Or click here for a preview:
No comments:
Post a Comment