Not many artists can boast the recorded output like Ryan Adams can. It seems like every time you turn around he’s dropping another record. This one’s different than the last. Be it full country effort like Jacksonville City Nights, guitar rock on Rock N Roll, alternative country with Easy Tiger or the Heavy Metal offerings of Orion, Adams works it.
His latest Ashes and Fire (Pax-Am) is the kind of album that suits him best, a singer/songwriter who has something to say and uses his craft to say it. After taking a break from constant touring, recording and dealing with Meniere’s disease, Adams was ready to get back to work and here’s the result.
A quiet album that showcases Adams ability to write stunning compositions when motivated, here’s proof that taking a needed hiatus can only help. Produced by the legendary Glyn Johns (Bob Dylan, The Eagles, Led Zeppelin), he knows enough as to when to have an artist lay low and when to be musically aggressive and he does it perfectly here.
As with his original band Whiskeytown and his better solo stuff, Ashes and Fire gets the point across in subtle musical ways. Acoustic guitars and minimal string arrangements emphasizes Adams vocals, which in turn spotlights the songs – it’s pretty dammed great.Even though guests include the likes of friends Nora Jones, Benmont Tench and Jeremy Stacey, they all fall in line and make the material their primary motivation. Standouts include “Invisible Riverside,” “Lucky Now,” “Save Me,” the albums title track “Ashes and Fire” and arguably the best Adams song since “Oh My Sweet Carolina” in “I Love You But I Don’t Know What To Say.”
Ok, I’m a pretty liberal thinking guy, as far as music goes, but for the life of me I can’t get my head around the use of a trombone as the lead instrument in a band. Trombone Shorty still has something to say about that though on his second album For True (Verve). I’m not a hater; it’s just that in most cases, not all, but most cases, the trombone is not a great sounding instrument to form a band around. That being said his 2010 debut Backatown stuck at number one on the jazz charts for nine weeks.
I will admit I admire that the kid dabbles in jazz to hip-hop and everything in-between, pretty well too. Produced by George Drakoullas (Black Crowes, Wu-Tang Crew), the album is almost a little too clean for it’s own good though. Maybe it’s ok for the jazzy things but I like the other stuff like my hip-hop a little dirty. Lots of guests stop by to lend a hand including heavyweights like Jeff Beck, Warren Haynes, Kid Rock, Lenny Kravitz, Ivan Neville and Ledisi. Not to be outdone by anyone though, Shorty himself plays everything from trombone and trumpet to drums and organ, a jack-of-all-trades or master of none?
Good ones where his trombone doesn’t get too much in the way include “Encore,” “Roses” and “Then There Was You”. Trombone Shorty is an amazing talent with a huge upside – it would get even bigger if he stuck that trombone in his back pocket.
I don’t think Lindsey Buckingham gets it. The Fleetwood Mac singer/guitarist was done with his solo record company deal and went out and recorded his next effort Seeds We Sow (Buckingham Records) anyway. The company, with good reason when hearing it passed, so he created his own company and released it on his own. Guess who now has thousands of CDs sitting in their garage?
Buckingham is an amazing talent, the architect of some of rocks best songs ever. But that would be when he’s with Fleetwood Mac and not as a solo artist. That’s not to say that you have to cater to the masses but when he works completely alone, his stuff is a crapshoot.
That’s pretty much the side where Seeds We Sow lands. Not to say he isn’t trying, he is but he should be trying with help from a collaborator. Not much here to get too excited about with the exception of “Illumination” otherwise… uh… err… ouch.
I’ve always had much appreciation for blues legend Johnny Winter. Here’s a Texas White Boy trying to make a living playing blues guitar. I literally mean White Boy as Winter is an albino. Cracking that scene has gotta be one of the hardest things in life to attempt.
That being said here’s Winter’s latest and one of his better ones in years, Roots (Megaforce). Augmented with special guests up the wazoo, the title perfectly describes the albums 11 tracks, as they are the best the genre has to offer.
These things can be hit or miss; the guest can surpass the host, as Derek Trucks slide guitar almost does on “Dust My Broom” or they play well together in perfect harmony, which thankfully is the case here. This is the kind of album I would love to produce because you pretty much roll tape (or turn on a computer) and get the hell out of the way.
Standouts include “Maybellene” with Vince Gill, “T-Bone Shuffle” with Sonny Landreth, “Done Somebody Wrong” with Warren Haynes, “Last Night” with harpist John Popper and Susan Tedeschi again being spectacular on “Bright Lights Big City.”
Trombone Shorty (MATC Times)
