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.

Carolina Chocolate Drops: "Leaving Eden"

I have wanted to check this band out for a long while. I read a piece on them in the excellent magazine Country Music People and it basically said that banjo is originally an African instrument and this band wanted to reclaim an often forgotten part of American folk music, the African American part that is.

Not that this band has to be "the black band". They're a real powerhouse of a band on any merit, black or white, but it's still a recommendable thing they're doing. I had the pleausre to aquaint myself with this tradition on the compilation The stuff that dreams or made of and I liked it. Normally when you speak of African American folk music, it begins with Robert Johnson and ends with Muddy Waters. Sure, I like blues, but it would be a shame if the black string tradition would die out and this trio does it's best to prevent it from doing so.

To be honest, I am perhaps the wrong man to review this record, as I don't know too much about the genre, but I sure like it.

So it would be a shame if I just kept it to myself and didn't share my views on it.

American folk musics are to some extent intermingled with each other. There's a real blues feel to good bluegrass and there is sure some European influences in the music of Carolina Chocolate Drops, but still most of it is African-inspired.

When I read on them in the CMP piece, it said they sometimes cover modern R&B songs and I have already listened to their famous interpretation of Blu Cantrells Hit 'em up style. On this record, they take this step one step further by not only interpretating modern music through folk styles, but the other way around too. They bring R&B to folk by beatboxing and scratching, they give their music a real urban flavour.

But they never downplay the strings on any tune, 'cept for the a capella tunes Read 'em John and the beautiful Pretty Bird.

So, what you get musically is a folkish album with roots everywhere (even in Scotland!), but most of all, as the lyrics to the best tune on the album, Country girl, explains, in the deep south.

There are no bad tunes on this album, even if all tunes aren't great. Still, it's agood album and by buying it, you support a hardworking young band that is really doing an effort to make brilliant music and saving a tradition in doing so.

All in all, as I said, a good album. I give it 78,9% in level of satisfaction!