contents
cmp
January 2018
Features
WHEN JEFFREY STEELE PUT TOGETHER
HIS SONS OF THE PALOMINO PROJECT
HE UNWITTINGLY BECAME A HERO FOR
FANS OF 80S AND 90S COUNTRY,
HE ALSO MADE ONE OF THE BEST
ALBUMS OF 2017.
He talks to Duncan Warwick
10 Jeffrey Steele
JEFFREY STEELE
Accidental Hero
From Boy Howdy to charttopping songwriter, Jeffrey Steele now fronts Sons Of The
Palomino. He didn’t mean to be but he’s also saving country music finds Duncan Warwick.
17 Critics’ Choice
Our annual review of the year is bigger than ever with regular contributors and special
guests naming their top releases of 2017.
10 cmp - JANUARY 2018
JANUARY 2018 - cmp
Nice to meet y’all...
I
Adrian Peel meets the hot-shot traditionalist tipped for the top.
f you prefer your music to have a dark side and think there aren’t
enough murder songs these days you really need to hear Bones,
the new single from Andrea Colburn and Mud Moseley, the self-
proclaimed King and Queen of the Hillbilly Underground from North
Georgia.
“In Atlanta Georgia in the 90s and 2000s there was a large country/
Ameripolitan music scene that was called the Redneck Underground,”
explains Moseley. “Not many of those bands are still around but a lot of the
players are still out and about playing several days a week. With a need for
a new term we’ve been billing ourselves as Hillbilly Underground because
it runs along the lines of that music scene and we kind of push to do
everything we can with very little resources/man power, and that boils down
to using all sorts of weird shit like musical saws, and hammers on stage.”
Previously working as a solo artist, Colburn, who is nominated in the
Female Outlaw category at the up-coming Ameripolitan Awards says, “The
great thing about playing with Mud Moseley is that we sort of complete each
other as a musician. We come together with our different strengths to write
and the songs end up being way better than either of us ever expected.
Plus, I was leaning way more to the country side and he was leaning more
Piedmont blues so the combination has been really exciting and different.
For us anyway!
“I only play with Mud now. He joined the band back in March when it
had sort of fallen apart and been put back together a few times so we just
combined names and went forward as it was our band. When we play
together, it is exactly what I’ve always wanted. It’s cheesy, I know, but it’s
true. He’s pretty amazing. You’re stuck with me now, Mud!”
The music Colburn and Moseley are making together Moseley describes
as, “Our music embodies the crust of the Atlanta music scene. We can fit
with 60s garage rock, the two steppin’-est honky tonk bands, dirty punk
music, the deepest, darkest blues outfits, and even bluegrass bands or old
timey string bands. The music we write and play tends to include snippets of
decades past (predating the 70s) and compiles them into a painting of Merle
Travis, Aretha Franklin, Dick Dale, Memphis Minnie, and Hank Sr. playing
cards for a bottle of gin. We’ve been told ‘it’s a little Johnny and June but
also a little Sid and Nancy’ while retaining the feel of the Alabama Shakes.
To tie it down to earth I’d say it’s a blend of piedmont/Muhlenberg style
blues, honky tonk, through the ears of a surfer.
“We’ve kinda embodied this really cool 60s country sound with songs fit
for a 60s B-movie soundtrack. We’re lucky enough to have a friend, J.D.
Wilkes from the Shack Shakers featured on a track and he killed it.”
Andrea meanwhile, adds, “We tell people that we play country music
heavily influenced by old school rockabilly and blues. We’ve still got a dark
side but now with Mud writing all the songs with me, I don’t have as much of
the dark side, luckily. For my sanity.
“We started playing together in March and the chemistry was instant.
We just kept writing and writing and then a few months in it was apparent
that we had enough songs for a full album. Although we didn’t have nearly
enough money to fund it, we’ve somehow made it happen. We also had
some luck with crowdfunding so tha nk you so much to everyone that
helped. We can’t wait for everyone to hear it! We’re calling it Easy, Sleazy &
Greazy which is actually what we were considering calling ourselves at the
beginning. Mud mentioned it and I loved it and thought that it summed us up
nicely, but we decided it would be better for an album name rather than our
names.”
Among Colburn’s influences are the unlikely combination of Bobbie
Gentry and Led Zeppelin, which even she admits with a laugh make for
uncomfortable bedfellows. “When I first heard Bobbie Gentry’s Ode to Billie
Joe, I was in love. I had to go out and get a guitar right away. Seeing a
woman play stuff that I wanted to play was absolutely inspiring. Led Zeppelin
has always been my favourite band mostly because of their versatility and
the way that they revived some very old blues songs and made them their
55 Songs Of The Year 2017
The editor’s pick from last year.
56 The Reeves Brothers
Good ol’ boys from Vegas show the roots of their raisin’ in everything they do.
Walt Trott remembers the late great singer, songwriter, and actor whom we recently lost.
11
Page 10
48 Margo Price
60 Mel Tillis
I
often go on about how great country music was in
the late 1980s and early 90s. Those halcyon days
when Nashville was revitalised by a new generation
of traditionalists spearheaded by Dwight Yoakam
and Randy Travis. The knock-on effect was that
record companies hurriedly signed traditionally inspired
artists and it seemed as though every album released by
one of the Nashville major labels at the time at the very
least included a waltz, a shuffle, and a George Jones
style stone country ballad. In the case of George Strait
and Alan Jackson whole albums consisted of little else.
Even when Garth came along and the record company
greed was ramped up to a whole new level there was still
enough twang and steel guitar to identify the music as
unmistakably country. The Texas scene was also buzzing
and fresh with artists like The Derailers, and out on the
West Coast Buck was once again revered, and thanks to
Dwight, Bakersfield was cool all over again. With CMT
broadcast in the UK we had no need for a country radio
station. What it boils down to is that country records
actually sounded like country records, yes, even most of
those in the mainstream, and I think that’s why so many of
us decry the contemporary chart music.
If that sounds like a scenario with which you identify
then Jeffrey Steele might just be your man. More than
that, he might be something of a hero and his Sons Of
The Palomino project proves why. Adorned with special
guests, the self-titled album features Steele-penned songs
that have been largely unrecorded due to being ‘too
country’ and sounds like a previously undiscovered gem
from those better times.
46 cmp - JANUARY 2018
own. Those are my early influences. So much more influences me now and
it is all much closer to being the same as Mud’s I reckon.”
Moseley however, says, “I never took any particular interest in either
group. Most my influences come from what I heard as a kid. Junior Brown
in particular has the most weight, but this ranges from Elizabeth Cotten to
the Ventures to Mose Rager. I spent a great part of my life diving deeper
into the music from the area where I’m from (North/Central Georgia) mostly
piedmont blues like Blind Willie McTell and Blind Blake, and bluegrass/old
timey like Gid Tanner and the Skillet Lickers or Doc Watson. Still a great deal
of influence comes from the music around us night after night: stuff like The
Wooly Bushmen, Whiskey Gentry, Dale Watson, Lost Dog Street Band.”
They both agree that country music has become fragmented, with Mud
stating, “What the name ‘country’ retains nowadays is just pop music
geared for a materialistic rural and suburban American audience. There
is little that actually ties it to what most musicians consider country. It’s
pretty unfortunate that the term Ameripolitan had to be coined but fans and
musicians alike really need something to cling to since the ‘country’ music
scene kind of split. That split is embodied in many songs and I’ve read
interviews with the big ‘Dawgs’ on either side kind nip at each other that
clearly show not only a disparity but often a hostility that honestly I think
most musicians and many fans on both sides of the bank play into and can
become bitter about. Americana on the other hand, translates to an umbrella
term for music to me; it kind of seems that any music with an acoustic
stringed instrument and any sort of blues background is put in this genre so,
I think it of all three of these subjects this genre can describe the other two.”
Colburn agrees, and adds, “And I only have one thing to say about it:
Country music and rap do not go together.”
Moseley further shares his views on the current state of country music.
“Some of the best musicians and writers that ever lived are in the music
scene RIGHT NOW and its important that fans of the music are more
involved than ever. The art just continues and continues to build upon
itself but I’m afraid that the next generation won’t understand that Hank
Williams was as deep as William Blake or hell, they might not even know
one of the best American songwriters. There is such a huge potential for the
evolution of country music in a direction that is not dictated by the current
pop culture. We’ve got these greats playing, like our buddy Colter Wall and
the Deslondes and good ole’ Pat Reedy that are all doing their own thing
and absolutely killing it, proving that you don’t have to be a CMA artist or a
legend to make amazing works of art.
“It absolutely lights me up to hear our peers on Netflix shows or in movies
or on the radio. There’s a huge potential to turn the scene in a different
direction and I personally believe that its going to flip soon. There aren’t
new 80s bands, doo-wop is out of the picture, and grunge isn’t really a thing
anymore, its time for us to leave bro-country; as a culture we’ve been there
and done that and it wasn’t any good.”
Colburn adds excitedly, “ Yes, yes, yes. If we are talking real country music
today, the talent is insane. Chris Stapleton, who has been around for a long
time but is just now getting recognition, is an obvious example. I think he
has the best voice of all time. And Colter Wall… that boy can sing and he
can sure write a song. And he’s the nicest person ever which is such a relief
when you really like an artist and then find out that they are great people too.
I’m not worried about the state of country music at all. I just wish the right
musicians were making the big bucks.”
Andrea Colburn and Mud Moseley are making beautiful music together
in more ways than one. “We use to see each other at all the same shows
in Atlanta for years,” recalls Coburn. “He was the cutest thing I’d ever seen
and he was always wearing overalls like me so when I heard (from our now
drummer, Michael Adkison) that he was a great guitarist, I knew I had to get
him to play with me.”
Andrea Colburn & Mud Moseley: Easy, Sleazy & Greazy is released Feb 1.
JANUARY 2018 - cmp
47
Page 46
62 Index
All the great stuff that was in CMP in 2017 easily referenced.
Reviews
The Price Of Fame
MARGO PRICE HAS BEEN HAILED AS A FUTURE STAR OF COUNTRY
MUSIC. SHE HAS ALSO TOURED THE UK ON A NUMBER OF
OCCASIONS. ADRIAN PEEL CAUGHT UP WITH HER ON HER MOST
RECENT VISIT.
T
he Lexington, a shabby-looking but characterful pub
near King’s Cross railway station, was the location for my
interview with up-and-coming country sensation Margo
Price a few hours before she performed upstairs at the venue
to an enthusiastic and highly appreciative audience who packed out
the space.
Looking relaxed and very casual in her jeans, black jacket and
unkempt hair, the talented singer-songwriter, who put out her second
album in two years – All American Made – in October was polite and
attentive as we sat down and chatted on a low-lying sofa.
“We’ve been on the road a lot,” began the 34 year old, who was born
and raised in Illinois. “But actually about four months ago, I went in
and made another album. I’m not sure if I’m going to just hold on to
it, or if I’m gonna go record another album… The one that we’ve just
recorded we paid for out of our own pocket and did it in Nashville. I
would like to record again in December while I have some time off. I
want to be calculated about who I get to produce it and what I want to
do.”
Having released the excellent Midwest Farmer’s Daughter in 2016
on Jack White’s Third Man Records, and then its follow-up this year,
Margo is certainly prolific. She writes a lot of her songs with husband
and guitarist Jeremy Ivey (“We both really push each other”) and also
has another, rather exciting project on the go.
32 Album Reviews
48 cmp - JANUARY 2018
Regulars
4 News
8 Tour Guide
16 The David Allan Page
45 Americana Roundup
46 Nice to meet y’all - Andrea Colburn & Mud Moseley
52 Nice to meet y’all - Ryan Koenig
JANUARY 2018 - cmp
49
Page 48
Nice to meet y’all...
RYAN
KOENIG
Multi-instrumentalist and member of
Pokey LaFarge's South city Three, Ryan
Koenig's solo debut - Two Different
Worlds - is honky tonk... and more.
L
egendary St. Louis musician Ryan Koenig may be best known
as a member of Pokey LaFarge’s band but for his own recent
release he follows a different musical path. Whereas LaFarge
embraces early jazz, ragtime blues and Western Swing, for
Koenig it’s the classic honky tonk sound that takes centre stage
with a hefty dose of Tex-Mex providing support. It’s an edgy
sound firmly rooted in barrooms of yesteryear but with enough modern
attitude to ensure more widespread support. Koenig says, “I usually
describe my music as Pan-American,” when pressed to nail it down. “A
mixture of many American styles.
“However, in a modern context this is unrealistically nationalistic. we have a very incestuous and nurturing music community. Jack Grelle
is an often songwriting buddy and I also play his sideman. Mat Wilson
is a Rum Drum Ramblers bandmate of mine, and a constant inspiration
and hero since the mohawk days. Nick Pence is not only an excellent
band mate in Skin and Bones, but also taught me leatherworking. Kellie
Everett, my wife, also performs in a long list of bands including my
longtime buddies the Hooten Hallers, and our duo Southwest Watson
Sweethearts. The late Bob Reuter was a friend of my fathers and a St.
Louis legend as a DJ, photographer, writer and musician. His song It
Don’t Matter is included as a tribute and lent the title to Two Different
Worlds.” Koenig has not only been part of Pokey’s South City Three, he played
an important part in its very formation. “I’ve been touring with Pokey for
almost 10 years now,” he recalls, picking up the story, “so I can hardly
remember when there wasn’t an important connection. I met Pokey in
Asheville North Carolina in 2006 or 2007, while on tour with my old rock
and roll band, the Vultures. The Vultures also contained Joey Glynn,
another member of Pokey’s band now. We managed to convince him
to move to St. Louis a few years later, and then formed the South City
Three with Adam Hoskins, a school buddy of Joey and mine. As far as
influence and mentoring goes, I think we’ve been a constant influence
on each other, and have developed much of our music industry sense Peubla, MX on his album. “A friend of mine played violin in a Mariachi
down the street from me. I also started to listen to a lot more Doug
Sahm and Freddie Fender around then, and they have been mainstays
ever since. I find for me, when I can see a music live, it will often speak
to me in ways a recording never could. I wasn’t a huge jazz fan until
I saw live trad jazz, now I love it. I think most people just don’t realise
they like a certain kind of music because they haven’t heard or seen the
right thing yet.”
As well as capturing a great sound, Two Different Worlds also benefits
from some deliciously retro artwork, something the singer considered
important. “I love the aesthetic of an LP. I own literally thousands. I
Many styles people may perceive as ‘American’ or even ‘Ame ricana’
have been alive and well in every continent since long before anyone
living was alive. Country music is the heaviest of my influences and my
area of expertise, but I grew up on punk, rock and roll, blues, and R&B,
so all of that is definitely in there too.”
The end result is one which would sit as happily with a fan of Hank Sr.
as it would with those of the Texas Tornados.
“I’m mostly influenced by my friends,” Koenig continues, “and see
many of them as my immediate and tangible heroes. I have much
respect for the long tradition of music, but have too many heroes to
name in one article, so it’s easier to drop my friends names. In St. Louis Adept on many instruments, Koenig modestly recounts how he
gained his prowess. “I’ve always been interested in playing many
instruments. Violin was my first followed by trumpet, guitar, harmonica,
keys, and percussion. I put down the violin - smashed it actually - for
many years. It was really the harmonica and guitar that stuck. As I
became more interested in older music the list of instruments just goes
on and on. I started playing upright bass in high school, and picked up
mandolin, fiddle (again), Dobro and 5-string banjo shortly thereafter. I
built my first washboard for the Pokey band. I learned bones after a tour
with Dom Flemmons. These days I’ve trying my hand at lap steel and
4-string banjo as well. I’m largely self taught on all of my instruments.” side by side. We’ve always introduced each other to new music,
everyone in the band has very unique and specific taste.”
With a dozen years of recording behind him including working with
Jack White and Jack Grelle as well as his LaFarge gig, Koenig’s album,
Two Different Worlds, marks his debut in his own right.
“Some of these songs took five minutes, some took almost ten years,”
he confesses. “I often write a hook or chorus first, but sometimes a
whole song can sprout out of one lyric or melody.
“Tex-Mex music is something I’ve really come to enjoy in the past five
years or so, around the time I started to see live Mariachi music,” says
Koenig about the infusion of tracks such as Podemos Si Te Quieres and wanted the look to represent the sound: modern, but classic. Timeless.
Julia Van Horn, who also has done much of Jack Grelle’s design work,
NAILED IT in my opinion.”
Koenig’s album also works on levels away from the honky tonk
shuffles and waltzes, and Tex-Mex grooves. “My favourites are It Don’t
Matter and Cheyenne,” he shares.
“It Don’t Matter has made so many people is St. Louis happy as a
tribute to its writer, Bob Reuter. Many who knew him have told me they
were in tears upon hearing it, so I feel I did it justice. My own father
thought it was Bob singing when he heard it the first time on the radio.
The reason Cheyenne is my other favourite is because it was one of the
52 cmp - JANUARY 2018
JANUARY 2018 - cmp
53
Page 52
THE
THE
REEVES
Charts
BROTHERS
What happens in Vegas?
LIKE A THROWBACK TO ANOTHER ERA, THE
REEVES BROTHERS ARE LAS VEGAS BASED
AND LIKE TO DO THINGS THE OLD FASHIONED
WAY. DUNCAN WARWICK SPEAKS TO ONE OF
THE BROTHERS, MATT REEVES, AND SOON
FINDS OUT HE WAS RAISED THIS WAY.
W
64 Americana & UK Country Charts
65 Billboard Country Charts
Courtesy of Billboard Inc.
ith a penchant for 1970s
honky tonk The Reeves
Brothers sometimes
describe their sound as
‘Cosmic Country’. Whatever way you
look at it it’s country like it used to be
and still can be in the right hands. The
Reeves Brothers are those hands, and
not just that, but it’s in the blood for
brothers Matt and Cole, whose father,
Jack Reeves, an Academy of Country
Music nominee, had them onstage by
the time they were walking. Joining
them in the band is also Kelly Bishop.
Prior to forming The Reeves Brothers
in 2013, Cole was Nevada-based and
Matt was playing honky tonks in
Arkansas (growing up the brothers
had spent time in both Nevada and
Arkansas). Hearing the Buck Owens
track Big In Vegas on the way to a gig
a year or so later encouraged them to
make the move to Sin City where they
remain based and at the end of last year
released their follow-up to 2016’s Home
Sweet Honky Tonk in the shape of King
Of Country Music. The Reeves Brothers
love the country music that came out of
the neighbouring state of California in
the 1960s and they love the hardcore
country sounds of the 70s, whether they
56 cmp - JANUARY 2018
be honky tonk or Outlaw, and their own
sound is influenced by all of them with a
generous helping of ‘Southernness.’
“We’re really not trying to be Outlaw,”
says brother Matt who is fixin’ to hit the
hay at 4:30 am local time in the ultimate
24-hour town when we hook up on the
phone. “I really don’t know how it’s
come about like that. We just go into the
studio and we lay it down like we play
it live.”
Further explaining the early hour
Matt adds with a laugh, “There’s a lot of
stuff happening and everything kind of
quiets down from 5am until noon.”
But it’s not the big name show on the
Vegas strip that is keeping The Reeves
Brothers up nights.
“There are a lot of honky tonks
around here in Vegas and we’ve got a
bunch of friends that are working those
places and so we go out and hang with
them and kind of do that.”
And it’s easy to imagine The Reeves
Brothers partyin’ hard on a nightly
basis in a town famous for it. It’s in their
genes as much as it is in their bootcut
jeans. “Our dad, he worked Vegas for
years back in the 70s and back then,
the Golden Nugget, all they booked was
country. He was closing the shows for
JANUARY 2018 - cmp
57
Page 56