Gangstagrass (featuring T.O.N.E.-Z) - Lightning on the Strings, Thunder on the Mic

 

I just wanna know how the conversation went down.

There you had it; one fine bluegrass band, guitar, fiddle, resonator guitar, banjo and bass on hand, just hanging out in the studio one day with a jug of moonshine and some hayseed, when the guitarist looked over to the banjo player and said, “You know what we’re missing here?”

“No, what?” the banjo player must've replied,  “Harmonica?  Washboard?”

“No,” the guitarist stated, slinging his six-string over his shoulder.  “What this bluegrass jam really needs to take off is a hot-ass rapper and some dope DJ spinning the tables.”  

Ok, maybe he didn’t say “dope.”

You’d have to think something like that happened because the thought of gangster rap mixed with real-trad bluegrass is about as incongruent as the London Philharmonic playing on the infield of NASCAR.  Just shouldn’t happen.

But it did, and damn if this isn’t one of my favorite discs of the year.  Just try and get it out of my car player.  Heavy in beat, twangy in tone, Gangstagrass manages to take the best of both worlds and pull em together as if they’d always been meant to be there.  Think of this as music from inner city Memphis, or downtown Birmingham.  Whatever.  It works.

In truth, the combination probably came a lot more naturally than my made up conversation  Mastermind Rench is a guitarist, songwriter, and producer from Brooklyn already entrenched in the honky tonk and trip hop worlds.  All he did was pull together what he does best, find some like minded folk and get one funky breakbeat going on down at the old farmhouse.   And let me tell you, the results are brilliant.  Dirty and country dusty hip hop.

Let’s forget the beats for a moment.  This is hardcore ‘grass.  Guitars picking and strumming, banjo twangy, resonator guitar filling the spaces, and that great fiddle just wailing over it all.  Each of these cats can play and mesh perfectly together as a unit.  Each player aims to fill out the music, not overwhelm it.  Filling in some tasty fills, backing off for the fiddle to run high and low.   It all works.

Now the beats.   With Prepmode on the turntables, plus Rench programming some beats, we got lots of room for T.O.N.E-Z to play in.  And play he does.  With a crisp pace and clear tone, T.O.N.E-Z unleashes one tale of urban struggle after another.  Nice and fluid, his raps pack power and clarity.  Not just senseless boasting or ‘ho busting here, Gangstagrass ain’t afraid to take on politics and strife.

And the album kills it right from the get go.  “That’s Right I’m Good,” rides a swinging fiddle melody over some twangy guitar as the beats hit hard from second one.   This ain’t a political one, this is pure on rap boasting, setting the stage for the album to follow.  T.O.N.E-Z makes his case as being the best rapper around and as the band tears the roof off the barn behind him, it’s impossible to argue.  Yeah, it’s rap.  Yeah, it’s bluegrass.  But together there’s just something authentic about it all, just real and honest, foot stomping party music.  The band getting down.  The rapper hitting his flow.  Hell, yeah.

“I’m Gonna Put You Down,” is even heavier, with its spartan beat over that loose strung guitar.  Here, the fiddle comes on like a mourner at a funeral, laying down the atmosphere, and really hits me with its mood and tone.  This is pure gangsta here, praising and hating the hood in the same breath.  And it all resonates, each beat bringing that gritty reality to the rap.  And when the chorus kicks in with the cowboy-blues vocals, it’s a moment of brilliance.  “Dig a hole, dig a hole in the meadow.  Dig a hole, dig a hole in the cold, cold ground, I’m gonna put you down.”  Urban gangster meeting old school cowboy.  Brand new but aged and weathered, like a ridden hard and cracked leather saddle.  Somehow, it all works.

Other standout tracks are the bust-up-a-bar-and-break-your-face-with-brass-knuckle Harley rap of “I Go Hard.”  Really dig the contrast of the fluid rap with the more languid old-country chorus vocals.  “Big Branch,” also deserves mention, first because Tomasia takes over the rap from T.O.N.E-Z, but mainly for the story she weaves of life in the coal mining towns of West Virginia, black lung, death in the mine, and blowing your hands off in a meth lab.  Powerful.

What makes the album work so flawlessly is the blend.  Neither the rap nor the bluegrass take over, they simply mesh perfectly creating a cowboy-outlaw rap that’s not like anything I’d heard before.  It’ ain’t hard rock, but it still will make my Top 10 for the year.  If you dig outlaw country, dusty gritty bars, southern rock and some massive beats, don’t miss this.  It really is lightning on the strings and thunder on the mic.

--Racer


Buy here: Lightning On The Strings, Thunder On The Mic (Amazon MP3 Exclusive) [Explicit]

Ripple News - Tommy Shaw Teams up with Bluegrass Greats for the Great Divide

Some news that may be of interest to you bluegrass fans.  I know Old School's ears may perk up a bit.

Tommy Shaw, guitarist of Styx, is set to release his debut Bluegrass album, “The Great Divide” on March 22nd, 2011, through Pazzo Music/Fontana Distribution.  The album features an impressive roster of guest musicians, including: Alison Krauss, Dwight Yoakam, Jerry Douglas, Sam Bush, Rob Ickes, Stuart Duncan, Byron House, Gary Burr and many more.

With this album, Shaw, a Montgomery, Alabama native, establishes himself as an authentic addition to the Bluegrass community. Born with a unique gift for music, a passion quickly recognized by his parents, he picked up his first guitar at the age of ten. From what his brothers remember, after Tommy’s introduction to the guitar; “We never saw him again...”, as he would stay in his room for hours practicing day and night. His tenacity and intrinsic passion for Bluegrass at an early age implies that this new release isn’t a casual endeavor, but a return to the music on which he was raised. Shaw wrote or co-wrote every song on the album in addition to playing acoustic guitar, dobro/resonator and mandolin.

A perennial part of the rock scene since the mid-70s as a member of STYX, Damn Yankees and Shaw/Blades, Bluegrass may at first seem like a stretch for Shaw, but his transition to Bluegrass is seamless.  Having been raised on the genre, Shaw has always been deeply enamored with Bluegrass’ ability to connect to the listener through storytelling. “These are story songs,” says Shaw, an Alabama Music Hall of Fame Inductee.  “I think songs that take you on a little journey are the best ones.”

This is the story of a Southern boy who made it “big,” but always held tight to his roots. “The Great Divide is a story of love and life; of happiness and hope; of loss and discovery,” says Shaw. “It’s the story of a journey that spans generations and is ultimately about trying to find your way home.  And I’m as proud of this story as any I’ve ever told.”

The legendary rocker proves to his listeners that although this may be his first Bluegrass venture, it certainly won’t be his last.

“The Great Divide” was produced by Tommy Shaw, Brad Davis and Will Evankovich.  It will be released on CD, vinyl and digital formats on March 22, 2011.

Running Kind - The Girl For All The World

This is shit kicker music. Country western, beer-drinkin’, cowboy-boot clankin’ music. Pull on those Tony Lamas and dust off those Lee Jeans. You’ll be hittin' the honky-tonks, cryin’ in your beer, hee-hawin’ with your horse, and all the time there will be guitars, bass, drums, mandolins, piano, dobro, pedal steel, even a trombone, a-playin’ to entertain you.

You see, these boys can really get down. Leslie can sing a touch or two - so can George, Matt, Neil and Frank. You’ll be two-steppin’, a-waltzin’, box steppin’ and country swingin’.  You will also be wantin’  to listen. So get yourself a cold one.

Matt and Leslie Bosson sang together in the Mt. Greylock Regional High School choir. Later on  they married and came up with this here band, Running Kind, named after an old Merle Haggard tune.  They got George Alexander to break out his Telecaster, Mitsuru “Neil” Fukusawa to bang on the drums and pick a bit of mandolin, Frank San Filippo to thump the stand-up bass and play an electric Fender, and Kevin Smith to tickle the ivories. Darlin' Jim D'Damery adds a bit of dobro to Running Kind’s song “Don’t That Make No Sense” and John Groover McDuffie, from Rita Coolidge’s band, dropped in and played pedal steel on the songs “Two Roads,” “A Okay,” “Seemed Like A Good Idea,” “I Still Love You (Like I Loved You Before),”  “Return of the Grievous Angel,”  and on “Don’t Cry No Tears.”

Here in the US of A country music outsells metal, rap, latin, jazz, new age, classical, Christian and soundtrack music.  It has a long domestic history - it is a true American art form. Generally, it consists of silly lyrics, story-telling and “woe is me” love songs.  The twang-tinged musicianship can be awe-inspiring like a Doc Watson guitar pickin’ instrumental or a Flatt and Scruggs duet.  All these ingredients are combined on Running Kind’s album - The Girl For All The World.

Throughout this collection Running Kind taps into the various sub-genres of country.  The song “Life To Go,” is a George Jones classic about a jailed woman doing a life sentence that tells her tale of woe and remorse.  It is a ballad played in a style reminiscent of Marty Robbins’ hit song “The Chair.”  The album’s title song “The Girl For All The World”  is a story, unusual for country in that it could be interpreted as a lesbian love song, delivered in a mournful style akin to an Emmylou Harris slow ballad.

The next track, “Two Roads,” is the only song on the album written jointly by Matt and Leslie. Acoustic, electric and slide guitars, drums, keyboards and vocals all come together to form an excellent two-steppin’, twangy fandango about separation and reunion.  It is followed by “A Okay” a warm, honky-tonk, love song featuring some stellar slide guitar work.  Leslie’s voice on the track called to mind the vocal style of the late Nicolette Larson.

A bluegrass lilt permeates “Don’t That Make No Sense,” a song about life and how it changes us.  The music, not the words, harken to Mungo Jerry’s 1970’s hit “In The Summertime.”  Running Kind follows “Don’t That Make No Sense” with “Seemed Like A Good Idea,” a comedic ballad, complete with trombone, that is in the tongue in cheek style of Buck Owens.  In fact, it reminded me of Buck’s classic “Pfft, She Was Gone.”

The album slows down for “I Still Love You (Like I Loved You Before)” a “somebody done done somebody wrong” song.  The lyrics are typical country western fare over music that echos the song “Anna (Go With Him),” written by the great Arthur Alexander, but, probably better known from the hit cover version by The Beatles on their 1963 album Please, Please Me.   After “I Still Love You (Like I Loved You Before)”  the band plays “Old Girl,” a blockbuster of a country/folk/rock/alternative crossover tune that has more of a relationship to an Outlaws or Marshall Tucker Band song than it does to traditional country western.  This one could play, and become a hit, on country, rock, alternative and folk radio stations.

The last two songs on the album are covers. Gram Parson’s “Return of the Grievous Angel” is about as country a country ballad as you can get.  Running Kind gives it an even greater yee-haw treatment, and a slightly more upbeat tempo, than Gram Parsons did on his album Grievous Angel.  The song is about coming back to one’s love after time on the road.  The album culminates with a cover of Neil Young’s “Don’t Cry No Tears”  a short ballad about lost love.  It is played in a more polished manner and in a traditional country style rather than in the folk-rock style of Neil Young & Crazy Horse on their album Zuma.

Any old cowpoke worth their boots will tell you that there are two types of shit-kicker music - good and bad.  Partner, this is the good shit.

- Old School

Lost Classic - Down, Not Out – Down, Not Out

Thursday Night used to be jam night.  The boys would get together and break out the instruments, amplifiers and vocals.  Soon, we didn’t sound half bad - maybe 60% good.  Encouraged, we continued this musical play for a few years.

One of the guitarists, Jim, got into digital home recording studio technology.  Whether it was adding a new (or old) computer, a patch bay or shielding the pickups on a Stratocaster, Jim was, and is, always tinkering. He builds, markets and sells homes for a daytime job. His mechanical skills match his tinkering skills.

In 2004-2005 Jim’s recording studio hobby coincided with the remodel of his home. Most of the work he did himself. The roof of the house, from the kitchen over the garage, is gabled.  This leaves a small room under a pitched roof above the garage.  Jim is 6 ft, 4 inches tall and cannot stand up straight in the room. The floor is heavily cushioned with carpet and there is a single window that opens to a second story view of the driveway. The roof and walls are strategically covered with acoustic foam egg crate tiles. The space is furnished with two chairs, an old sofa and a desk covered with recording equipment, mixing boards, interfaces, computers and other electronic wizardry.

In order to get to the studio there is a rope ladder to the top of the refrigerator.  Standing on the refrigerator the room is accessed via a short door behind and above the refrigerator.  To actually record in the space requires at least two people - one person in the kitchen and one person on top of the refrigerator to whom gear is handed so the ladder can be climbed.

As I understand it, Jim is friends with guitarist and singer Andrew Freeman.  Andrew Freeman, in turn, is friends with drummer and singer Eric Kurtsrock. Eric and Andrew formed the band Down, Not Out, a “High-Energy Acoustic Americana” band with bassist Brad Russell (who played with Rick Derringer and Pat Travers), mandolin player and violinist Chojo Jacques (founder of the “Waybacks”) and a slew of background vocalists to sing harmonies – Tim Hunt, Joel Streeter, Patrick Archer and Reggie Mack.  Pedal steel player David Trabue also joined in.

Down, Not Out wanted to record their first album. Jim told Andrew he could engineer it and showed him the small recording studio above the garage.  Andrew loved it and the studio became known as “The Loft.”

The album that was produced at "The Loft," “Down, Not Out,” is nothing short of phenomenal.  It is intensely intimate and highly reminiscent of the best of the acoustic Grateful Dead with its touches of bluegrass, folk, country and blues. Andrew wrote four of the tracks himself – “Plant A Tree,” “Distant Lullaby,” “Rear View” and “The River.”  He also co-wrote “Back To Me.” Additionally, “Down, Not Out” contains covers of “Hobo Song” by Jack Bonus, “If I Had A Boat” by Lyle Lovett, “Dig A Little Deeper” by R. Bowling and J. Emerson, “These Days” by Jackson Browne and “White Freightliner Blues” by Townes Van Zandt. 

The musicians that are known collectively as Down, Not Out are all staples of the Bay Area club scene. The last time I saw and heard the band from the album live was at Murphy’s Irish Pub in Sonoma.  However, I’m told Andrew and his friends continue to play every Tuesday Night at Giordano Bros. on Columbus at Broadway in North Beach in San Francisco.

Even if you do not have the opportunity to hear Down, Not Out live, try to find the 2005 album “Down, Not Out.”  It will be one that you will definitely cherish.


- Old School

Buy here: Down, Not OUt