Turn It Up - 5/20/2024

Earworms, obsessions, recommendations

We’re back again to start the week with some things we’ve been listening to. David goes first this week, then Charles, and we’ve listed a bunch of reading recommendations at the end.

The Avett Brothers – “Love of a Girl” (from The Avett Brothers, 2024)

When their recordings click for me, I love the Avett Brothers: I’ve been known to sing along loudly with “Shame” and “I and Love and You.” More often, though, I struggle with the band a bit. Their overreliance on minor-chorded, mid-to-slower tempos combined with their perpetually self-serious heavy-man-heavy affect gives time to think and talk back and magnifies miscues. Some pace and a sense of play might prompt more generous listening, at least at first, at least for me. And in that respect, “Love of a Girl” is something of a left turn in their catalog. Dizzily in love—with a girl, yes, but also with pop-punk—it races about like peak Old ‘97s covering Fountains of Wayne. Given that kind of goofy energy, the concluding “I got a good deal on flowers at the grocery store” lands as funny and poignant and self-deflating all at once.  Of course, they can’t help themselves and have to tag the thing with a slowed-down coda, but it works. – DC

Nappy Roots – “Play Clothes” (single, 2024)

What Kentucky’s Nappy Roots have always done best is to rap from a midsouth, rural-adjacent and poverty-familiar perspective. Here they remember those neighborhoods where they played as kids and how they grew up through the decades with those same memories always by their side: "Hopscotch, jump rope, drinkin' out the water hose / Dirt stains, ripped jeans, Mama called 'em play clothes.” A nice nostalgic vibe here, think “I Wish” crossed with “Summertime,” and—a nice touch—the beat is irresistible but easy and inviting, perfect for first learning to Cabbage Patch or Roger Rabbit. “Everybody broke as fuck but everybody beautiful.” – DC 

Gretchen Peters – “Watch It Shine” (single, 2024)

It’s always good to get new music from Gretchen Peters. One of the great singer-songwriters of my lifetime, Peters often tells short stories full of details you recognize but that open up to metaphors that allow her small tales to take in the world. I’m thinking first of songs like “Independence Day” and “Chill of an Early Fall,” “Border Town” and “The Secret of Life,” but you maybe have your own list. What I love about this new one, “Watch It Shine,” is how it flips that script. It eventually narrows to specifics that all are hers but is metaphor from the get-go: “I am one more pilgrim… I am the road behind me, I am the road ahead.” Bonus: If you sing along with her, its metaphor sings your life too. – DC

Duane Eddy – “Guitar Child” (from Twangin’ Up a Storm, 1963)

While working on my recent Duane Eddy post, I really enjoyed working back through his catalog—so much great music worth recommending that didn’t quite fit my “Country Style!” series focus. For example, “Guitar Child” is a rock and roll dance record, with Eddy picking in slightly different styles to help the kids do the Bossa Nova, the Bird, and so on, ending with playing the Twang, of course—all backed by Hal Blaine behind the kit and a Blossoms lineup that included Merry Clayton, Fanita James, and Edna Wright. What really tickled me about the cut, though, is the voice of the title character in call and response with the Blossoms (who are here billed as the Rebelettes). I’ve been unable to confirm it but, boy, that sure sounds to me like it’s Thurl Ravenscroft, AKA the voice of Tony the Tiger and “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch,” talk-singing the bass. Sounds gr-r-reat! – DC

Adeem the Artist – “One Night Stand” (from Anniversary, 2024)

Adeem the Artist’s Anniversary is one of the best records of the year. (Don’t take my word for it. Ask Charles below!) I love how their songs often engage country conventions but also tweak or call out their gender, class, or racial hierarchies—while still rocking out and egging us to sing along. “One Night Stand” sounds like it was surely a major country-radio hit back in the 90s, or like it could be a hit tomorrow—except for its queer p.o.v. It’s a great record (that guitar lick!) and a great song, too. They spotlight their knack for unexpected word choices—“patriarchy,” “anxiety attacks,” “ruminating”—that you might expect not to sing so well but that here both pop to your attention and flow like conversation. And I predict no one this year will craft a more perfect internal rhyme than “[he] led me to the parking lot, with his palm atop / the small of my back...” Adeem the Artist. – DC

Adeem the Artist – “Plot of Land” (from Anniversary, 2024)

Adeem the Artist’s Anniversary is one of the best records of the year, an affirmation and expansion of their remarkable songwriting and crackling performances. (Don’t take my word for it. Ask David above!) It sounds great too: Adeem and their band sparkle in vibrant productions from Butch Walker. Near the end, for example, there’s “Plot of Land,” a dream of escape from the workaday grind that hurtles forward with a spitfire energy that recalls ‘80s Steve Earle or Jason and the Scorchers. Adeem’s lovely invocations of pecan trees and blueberry bushes would’ve worked well in a more restrained setting. But the full-throttle, big-drums arrangement gives “Plot of Land” a jump that links country-music dreams of pastoral independence with a come-on-let’s-go urgency that defines the best rock ‘n’ roll. If that wasn’t enough, Adeem adds a call for a more just world that we all should share, whatever plot of land we find ourselves on. – CH

Kyshona (feat. Nickie Conley and Maureen Murphy) – “Heaven Is a Beautiful Place” (from Legacy, 2024)

Speaking of the year’s best records, Kyshona’s Legacy is a compelling meditation on inheritances, musical and otherwise. One of the most exciting young artists in the big-tent musical communities of Black Nashville, she’s been working on this project for a decade, building tributes to family members through songs and clips of their spoken voices. Recorded in Memphis, produced by Kyshona and Rachael Moore, Legacy is a stunning culmination and a brilliant announcement. The gospel stomp “Heaven Is a Beautiful Place” was written by her grandfather Hawthorne Armstrong, a fact that Kyshona only learned after his death. Alongside musicians including the great drummer Steve Potts and assisted by guest vocalists Nickie Conley and Maureen Murphy, she shares the Good News and reminds all of us to stay on the righteous path. It’s a rocking, rollicking reminder of gospel’s enduring power, and just one example of why Legacy is such a fantastic album. – CH

Ana Egge – “Mission Bells Moan” (from Sharing in the Spirit, 2024)

Ana Egge’s made great records for over 25 years, and her new one is no exception. I could’ve easily picked the determined anthem “Don’t You Sleep,” or the great covers of Ted Hawkins and Sinead O’Connor, or a few others to spotlight here. But I keep being drawn back to the intoxicating love song “Mission Bells Moan.” Egge’s nearly whispering here, revealing herself and her desires to a lover in a setting somewhere between the morning after and the rest of forever. Her voice rises only briefly, at the end, as instruments wash around in a moment of release, but it’s no less climactic (pun intended) than the simmering delivery through which Egge earlier tells of her devotion. Even without the holy-love imagery, it’s something Al Green could’ve covered. In fact, I think the Reverend still should. – CH

Chris Smither – “Time To Move On” (from All About the Bones, 2024)

Tom Petty’s about to be the subject of a star-studded country tribute – David wrote about Dolly Parton’s contribution here – and folk-blues lifer Chris Smither offers his own contribution to the growing Petty covers canon with this take on the restless Wildflowers track. Smither’s version is fittingly shaggy and amiable, with his stalwart foot-stomp percussion driving his gentle finger-picking and sweet-old-world baritone. Harmonies from BettySoo and an electric solo from producer David Goodrich raise the road in front of Smither as he turns the original’s furtive rush into something like a fond farewell from an old friend. Here’s hoping that Smither – who turns 80 this year and released a fine album to celebrate – isn’t saying happy trails any time soon. – CH

Elizabeth King – “Jesus” (from Soul Provider, 2024)

Memphis gospel singer Elizabeth King has made a series of wonderful albums in recent years, and her newest – the smoldering Soul Provider – is her best yet. With an all-star crew of collaborators, King stays down in the groove for a brooding collection that recalls the funkiest work (sacred or secular) of the Staple Singers. Her version of Lou Reed’s “Jesus” – which, thanks to Glen Campbell and now Ms. King, has become an unlikely staple of late-career rejuvenations – is a particular highlight. Her rich alto hangs back in the mix, like she’s singing from the pews rather than the pulpit, while guitar and piano offer a tender amen. The slight instrumental dissonance reveals this as a plea fueled both by blessed assurance of the world beyond and the troubles of the world here and now. King delivers the message with all the beauty and complexity it deserves. – CH

Reading recommendations:

-Hanif Abdurraqib talks with André 3000, at Bitter Southerner

-A.D. Carson on rap beef, for The Conversation

-Nadine Smith on Billie Eilish, for The Independent

-Alan Siegel with an oral history of Green Day’s Dookie, at The Ringer

-Matt Clark and others remember Steve Albini, for The Chicago Reader

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