Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell, "Old yellow moon"

/ ARTIST: Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell / TITLE: "Old yellow moon" / GENRÉ: Country music / LABEL: Nonesuch Records / FORMAT: CD /

To be honest, I haven't heard too much by Rodney Crowell before, so I can't really say anything about his input on this disc as compared to previous works.

Emmylou, on the other hand, has aged beautifully and I don't just mean her looks, she's still got a great voice and is anything but just a pretty singer. If she was, she wouldn't keep on doing her thing for as long as she has lasted and I consider her as great as Loretta Lynn. She impresses me as much when she does love songs as when she covers Townes van Zandt and though there are no Townes covers on this disc, she does touch a few serious subjects too and there's a strain of melancholy on quite a few numbers on this disc.

Merle Haggard was absolutely right in paying tribute to her on the record he released the other year. Emmylou means class.

That being said, this record, which is full of various flavors of country, bluesy stuff, waltzy stuff and ballads, isn't exactly groundbreaking. I know, I am an old fart and a jackass in disguise as a middle aged European geezer and I like the old stuff better than the new stuff on the country circuit. Most of the stuff being produced nowadays is utter shite. But then again, every age has had it's rebels and it's old farts and jackasses whom have considered the new stuff to be anything but country.

I like it, but to be objective, this isn't as good as the hype says. It sounds like country should sound according to me and country is supposed not to be the music for geeks like me, but for dancing on a Saturday night tavern over a few bottles of Budweisser and I suppose that much of the music on this record is danceable, it's just that it sounds like stuff you've heard a zillion times before. I wish some cool kid could make a record sounding groundbreaking, yet drenched in tradition.

Lyrically, you get a cocktail of love songs, as well as songs about drinks and drugs, even coffee and one tune about a bull rider.

I like this record, but I'm sure that Emmylou could pull something better off, therefore, not a perfect rate.

I wouldn't say it's a must-buy, rather, listen to the record first at Spotify and if you like it, support the artists by purchasing it!

I'll give this disc 61,8% in rate of satisfaction.

Frank Hutchison, "Complete recorded works in chronological order, volume 1, 1926-1929"

/ ARTIST: Frank Hutchison / TITLE: "Complete recorded works in chronological order, volume 1, 1926-29" / GENRÉ: American folk music / LABEL: Document Records / FORMAT: CD /

Who says Sham 69 invented street punk? Frank Hutchison had a lot of punk attitude, despite this record  being made with only acoustic guitars, fiddle, harmonica and banjo. Hutchison was a working class man, like so many other of the musicians in his time, he befriended black musicians (but had no qualms with performing a black face routine) and his lyrics are punk too.

But what made me think of punk when I listened to this record is the fact that Hutchsion performs with an enormous speed at some tunes, it's "faster, louder" 50 years before it's time. Some of the rag-times on this album could easily have been made by some punk combo, if they had been recorded with electrical instruments and drums.

On this album, you get, which is logical, as it is the beginning of his complete works, a showcase of his enormous repertoire. You get a lot of blues numbers that could've been recorded by black performers, the quality of the guitar play is that good, only his voice, which I find mediocre and his least quality in music, give him away. He sounds like a southerner trying to pass as a New England man.

You also get, apart from proper blues numbers, early country tunes, singing-free rag-times where Hutchison shows his great techniques with the guitar, pre-bluegrass and talking blues numbers.

I really like the Document Records project of re-releasing on CD a lot of old-timers that would otherwise be left as the luxury of anal 78-collectors. Yeah, record-collecting has it's charm, but at some time it has to be about the music and not about rarity, so let the collectors collect vinyl and let us ordinary fans of American music listen to these CDs.

No mess, no fuss, just pure impact. If you like old-time American music, you'll love this album, I think Hutchison was one of the best performers of his time and this little record should have a place in the collection of every true fan of the genré(s).

The only thing I'm slightly miffed with is the fact that the bio, as usual, is bloody short. I'd love to read more about him.

Get this record!

A great record like this gets a great rating. 94,3% in rate of satisfaction.

DVD: Merle Haggard, "Live from Austin, tx"

/ ARTIST: Merle Haggard / TITLE: "Live from Austin, Tx" / GENRÉ: Musical film / FORMAT: DVD /

It was a bit of a let-down that three of my favorite Hag songs weren't included on this one, namely Branded man, Okie from Muskogee and The fightin' side of me. But Merle is forgiven, cos included is a number of other great tunes, like Workin' man blues.

This DVD captures one of the greatest country music performers of all time (who continues to make great albums to this day) and it captures what is so special about the Hag. He is, as I see it, the missing link between the 1950's-60's Bakersfield sound and the 1960's-70's outlaw sound. He incorporates part of both sounds, the brutal guitars from Bakersfield, as well as the bluesiness of the outlaw scene and lyrically, he is just as credible when he sings about love, as when he sings about a prisoner waiting to be electrocuted.

Another great quality of Haggard's is the fact that he can play his music with a few guitars, bass and drums, as well as with a bigger band, as on this DVD, with strings, piano and saxophone. If the 60's demanded that you played down to the bare essentials and the late 70's got back to bigger bands (this recording is from 1978), Merle does both things just as good. He plays his Workin' man blues just as credibly when he is backed up by his band, as he does when he does it with an acoustic guitar.

But Merle also surprise us by playing the fiddle on a few tracks and does it surprisingly well. Again, we're in for a surprise, as Haggard plays a few western swing numbers, as well as old time feeling country tunes and proper blues.

But even though the musicianship alone makes the Hag one of the greatest country performers of all time, his lyrics is what makes him stand out as unique. No one has captured the daily struggle of the white (not that it matters), protestant (again, not that it matters), blue collar working man (which matters) nor the sentiments of jailbirds like the Hag has. Commies can rant all they want about proletarian culture, but the fact is that none has come as close to describing working class reality like mr Haggard.

New West Recordings should have a lot of credit for publishing these DVDs and this particular DVD is one of the better and is recommended not just to fans of old country, but also to fans of Taylor Swift, if they want to discover what country once was, as well as to fans of music in general, as the Hag is strong enough to appeal to all music lovers.

This is a near perfect DVD. Had my other three fave tunes been included, it would've reached highest rating, but now I give it 95,6% in rate of satisfaction.

Buy this DVD!!!