Telling Stories through song

Story telling is a pastime in the South as it is in many places around the world. In this modern world with social media and busy lives it has taken a backseat but you'll always hear a few among family and friends at social gatherings, weddings and holidays. Nowadays many story tellers are songwriters and the South has their fair share of some really great ones.

Former Drive By Truckers member Jason Isbell is one of these Southern songwriters. He wrote some tunes for the Truckers but he had some songs that didn't fit with their style so he decided to record them for himself which turned into his solo career. You may know him from the song Alabama Pines, released on his album Here We Rest.

He played a special acoustic solo concert this past Saturday at the Alys Stephens Center. Just him, his guitar, his girlfriend Amanda Shires and her fiddle. I didn't know as many songs as would have liked but I knew he was doing something real and not just writing songs for radio play or selling beer. 


It was an intimate show with seating for just over 100 on stage, which meant we would play in the opposite direction from what is usual in the Jemison Concert Hall. There were about twice as many seats above in the choral balcony but I'm sure there was not a bad seat in the whole house.

Earlier that day Jason did a small songwriting clinic where he explained how he began to play music and what his songwriting process was. He also suggested two or three books on the subject and for the second half of the one hour clinic he took questions from the audience. It was enlightening but I really enjoy hearing about the creative process of others whether they be musicians, authors or some other type of artist. 


Before we left he explained that he had to go to the bus station to pick up his lady friend who would play fiddle with him that evening. I was excited because I follow both Jason and his lady friend, Amanda Shires, on Twitter and her appearance was previously unannounced. 

Jason Isbell at the songwriting clinic sponsored by ArtPlay

[Sidebar: Amanda Shires is a fiddle player and songwriter who has been mentioned in national publications. She has played on national television with Jason and has also played internationally with him and other contemporary Americana artists. She plays music for a living and his highly regarded in her field but she took a bus, which I do not see as a glamorous mode of trasnport, from Nashville (I assume) to Birmingham. Musicians will understand this but non-musicians often see these people as leading a Robin Leach type lifestyle which is often not the case]

As I get there I find a seat on stage and notice that Mary Colurso has picked a seat just behind me and I strike up a conversation as I have read her articles in the Birmingham News for years. After I introduced myself she said that she recognized my name and knew I was a musician. That was my almost-famous moment for the evening.


The show was pretty amazing. I think the sound was not as grand as if it had been a full concert but that concert hall was not built for sound to be projected in the opposite direction. Jason and Amanda were great. His banter was spot on. Her fiddle was the perfect compliment to his songs and the short bursts of banter she provided were hilarious and the perfect addition at just the right times. She seemed timid at first and it was hard to hear her vocal harmonies but got dialed in just before intermission.

As many of you know I'm a sideman. I play harmonica in more than one band and I appreciate a good side man (or side woman in this case). Someone who doesn't steal the show with showmanship, but steals the show with how well they punctuate the musical passages and compliment the main act. Her violin could sound sweet, gritty or full on hoedown but whatever style she picked was ideal. I hope to see more from her.

If you need a suggestion on new music I suggest you go check out Mr. Isbell (which, for the record, is pronounced is-BULL). 

Mark your calendars for August 17th at WorkPlay

UPDATE: Monday, June 25th

The Alabama Music Office recently posted this video from the songwriting clinic.

Who have you recently seen or discovered recently that you believe to be a good storyteller? Let us know in the comments.

The International Blues Challenge 2012

Sorry I've been absent but living has taken over my life a bit. Last year I switched jobs and now work extremely close to home and have significantly less stress which allowed me to play quite a bit of music. That is probably the main reason for my absence; I traded one creative outlet for another. One band I play with, The Lefty Collins Band, was entered in to the 2012 International Blues Challenge this past February in Memphis, Tennessee.  Please allow me to recap that for you.

Members of the Lefty Collins Band and 2Blu (the duo winners
from B'ham) on historic Beale Street.

In July of 2011 The Lefty Collins Band wins the Magic City Blues Society's Battle of the Blues Bands. It was Lefty's second time to win but he brought on a new bass player and and new sideman on harmonica (Me) so it was basically a new band. Our main prize was for the MCBS to sponsor our trip to the IBC's. It was an easy trip straight up the future I-22 corridor for me and we made it in about 4 hours from the extreme west side of Jefferson County, Alabama.

When we arrived on a Tuesday I was surprised at the size of historic Beale Street. Not that it was bigger than I had expected but smaller! I had a Bourbon Street sized image pictured in my minds eye. Lots of BBQ joints though and plenty of music. After we ate at one of the IBC venues, The Pig on Beale, I asked our drummer David if it was just me or did we have better BBQ in Alabama. He assured me that it was definitely not the best pork he'd had, so I knew I wasn't being a snob. The bun was so soft it didn't make it through 4 or 5 bites and the meat was ordinary but good. I guess I just expected all Memphis BBQ to blow me away.

The Orpheum Theatre from dress circle.

The next day we had a small orientation and got our venue assignment and times for Wednesday (that evening) and Thursday which are both quarter final days. We were at Wet Willie's with 2 bands from Canada and one from South Africa! All the bands were really good but only a few made it to the semi-final round on Friday and The Lefty Collins Band was one of them. The Magic City represented! Now we just had to play our best again to see who would go on to the finals at the Orpheum Theatre on Saturday.








Friday we went to lunch at Charles Vergo's Rendezvous. It was the BBQ we had waited for. I had seen it featured on the Food Network and had heard so much from others that I hoped that it lived up to the hype. So we got seated right away downstairs and they started us on complementary red beans and rice (which I hear was unusual). I opted for a small order of ribs ($14.95) which comes with beans and slaw. Let me tell you: it. was. awe. some. Totally lived up to the hype and I really can't wait to go back. If you go to Memphis and don't go to the Rendezvous you're doing yourself an injustice.

Backstage at the Orpheum.

Then it came time to play the semi-final round with other bands we'd played with all week and one new band from South Florida. The talent in that room was unbelievable, but only one band in Wet Willie's could make it through. That one band was your hometown boys, The Lefty Collins Band! The band is made up of Lefty Collins (Gadsden, AL) on lead vocals, guitar and songwriting duties; David Green (Jacksonville, AL) on drums and backing vocals; Barry Wasserman (Helena, AL) on bass and backing vocals; and yours truly Andrew Brasfield (Dora, AL) on harmonica and backing vocals. The Orpheum was amazing. It was similar to the Alabama Theatre but I'd say it's a bit more plush. We finished somewhere between 4th and 9th though we like to tell everyone we came in 4th.

Here are a few band's that I met along the way and I think you should consider buying their music or at least giving them a try.

24th Street Wailers (Toronto)
2 Blu (Birmingham)
Mikey Junior and the Stone Cold Blues Band (Northeast US)


You can also find The Lefty Collins Band on CD Baby or Amazon for physical or digital copies and iTunes, of course.

Here's a video of us in the semi-final round:

 

Special thanks to David Brunswick for the video!

Friday Fun - The Cleverly's

I guess I stumbled upon these guys on a Neatorama post a while ago.   I thought they would be one trick ponys and not have anything more to offer . . . boy was I wrong!  They are really talented bluegrass players that do modern covers.  And not just like Hayseed Dixie that I've talked about before, they'll  do hip hop, 80's, Motown, dang near anything.  I won't go into their backstory but you can go to their website at TheCleverlys.com and click about to watch the video of their backstory.  I suspect they are studio musicians that wanted to do something between sessions or when times got lean and came up with their schtick.  My Facebook friends will vouch that I have spammed their News Feed with videos from these folks.

I couldn't decide which to post so here's Billionaire followed by I Gotta Feeling.  For more check out their YouTube channel.




Word on the street is they're supposed to be available for show dates soon so check out your local music establishment to see if they're performing near you!

Lemme know how you like 'em, or if there's new music I need to discover out there in the comments!

The Grand Ole Opry

85 years ago yesterday the WSM Barn Dance aired on AM 650 in Nashville, Tennessee.  That may not sound very exciting, but on December 10, 1927, it was renamed The Grand Ole Opry.  Before doing a little research I had no idea that after an artist passes he or she is no longer a standing member of the Grand Ole Opry.  I assumed it was like a Who's Who or a Hall of Fame, but Nashville already has the Country Music Hall of Fame.  At one time they had to make 26 appearances a year and only got paid $44 which made being a member a hardship on some performers.  Things have changed since then.

Anybody that has been to Nashville knows that the Ryman Auditorium is the most famous former home of the Grand Ole Opry.  If you know that you probably also know that there is a circle of the stage, about 5 feet in diamater, that was taken from the Ryman and was installed on the current Grand Ole Opry House stage.  That circle, as well as the rest of the stage, was submerged under 46 inches of water during the May 2010 flood.  The circle had to be refurbished but was reinstalled on August 25, 2010 with help from Little Jimmy Dickens and Brad Paisley.

Speaking of Little Jimmy Dickens he is the oldest living member of the Grand Ole Opry.  The Opry website says his mailbox is the only one out of alphabetical order at the Opry House to cater to his 4'11" stature. You probably saw him at the 2010 CMA's and if not check out the YouTube video.


 
Other members include, but are not limited to (in no particular order): Garth Brooks, Clint Black, Trace Adkins, Loretta Lynn, Blake Shelton, Vince Gill, Roy Clark, Emmylou Harris, Brad Paisley, Dolly Parton and many more.

Shows are still played at the Ryman and of course you can see a show at the Grand Ole Opry House too.  Click the links, take a visit to Music City and take in a show or two while you are there.

Got a Nashville or Opry story, or see something I overlooked/left out/got wrong?  Lemme know about any and all in the comments.

Poke Salad

For those who don't know poke salad is not something you grow in a garden but a poisonous wild weed that is picked for its young leaves (before they get a red hue) then boiled at least twice to get the toxins out of it.  One scientist says that no part of the plant should be eaten no matter how many times it is boiled.

I don't eat poke salad, and I don't know anyone who does anymore, but I do remember going with a friends parents, grandparents and their aunt and uncle to go look for poke salad.  One of my other friends had a school bus driver that occasionally stopped if she saw some "good poke salad."

Many of you have heard the Tony Joe White song Poke Salad Annie which was recorded in Muscle Shoals, Alabama (they've been known for a song or two) in 1969 and peaked at number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts.



Do you have a poke salad story?  Share with us in the comments section and don't forget to follow @okracola on Twitter!

New Music Thursday - Carolina Chocolate Drops

A friend of mine heard me sing a song I made up about collard greens then heard these cats on NPR's Fresh Air and told me I had to listen to them.  The Carolina Chocolate Drops play music in the olde time string band style that was popular in the 1920's and 1930's.  This song from YouTube is called "Cornbread and Butterbeans."



Somebody said that the line, "eatin' beans and makin' love as long as I am able" was not quite a romantic line, but I said that sometimes when you're broke all you got is some dry beans and each other and I think that is pretty romantic.

They play many instruments including some killer kazoo solos, but also do some modern stuff with beatboxing.  I dig 'em and think y'all may too.

Just for fun

After posting Hayseed Dixie's version, I decided that the Muppet version was too good not to post.



No Southern content but fits into the whatever I feel fit to post category.

Bluegrass Covers of Rock Songs

There have been a good many CD's doing Bluegrass covers of Rock songs.  Pickin' on the Stones, the Grateful Dead, even Blues Traveler.  One such band doing this kinda thing is Hayseed Dixie, which sounds a bit like AC/DC.  Their first album was "A Hilbilly Tribute to AC/DC" in twenty-oh-one.

Here's a video of them doing Bohemian Rhapsody.


Found via Neatorama.com

Hayseed Dixie
Their alter-ego is the Kerosene Brothers.
Here's an interview from CountryStandardTime.com

Harmonica & Orange Blossom Special

I play a folk instrument and talk about it any chance I get.  It's the harmonica and I found a girl on YouTube that does a killer version of Orange Blossom Special, usually a fiddle tune, but can be done well on harmonica.  The first person I heard do it was Charlie McCoy (Hee Haw music director and musician on Dylan's Blonde on Blonde).



Wow! Then I stumbled upon this girl the other day named Kaleena who was 16 at the time this video was made.



Wow again!  I just love seeing young folks pick up the instrument, plus you don't see many girls playing either.  I was 16 when I started playing (I'm 29 now) and discovered this song when I was about 20 and never have tackled it because it was a daunting task, but thanks to Kaleena I may try it!