I've always been stuck in the past, musically speaking. In high school, while everyone else was listening to Styx, Foreigner, and Supertramp, I was into the Stones, the Beatles, and just about anyone else who charted during the 60's.
Even now, it took until the 21st century before I began getting into the hits of the 80's.
However, I've recently discovered two artists who are more contemporary.
The first is Drive-By Truckers.
Admittedly, what caused me to give them a listen was their homage to Lynyrd Skynyrd: Southern Rock Opera.
I've always been partial to Southern fried R&R. The Allmans, Skynyrd, Dr. John, I could go on and on. Some kind of down-hominess comes through from a southern band or performer that just can't be duplicated. So when I stumbled upon a review of SRO from Rolling Stone, and saw its four-star rating and its double-CD-full of praise for Lynyrd Skynyrd, especially the relationship between Ronnie Van Zandt and Neil Young, well, I had to give it a listen.
It's a powerful album. It has a hard edge to it that I would like to think that Ronnie and the gang would likewise possess had not that 1977 plane crash killed the original Skynyrd.
It took me a while to take a chance on another Truckers offering: Brighter than Creation's Dark. This album is equally listenable, with some sweet mellow tunes thrown into the hard-driving mix. This includes the gorgeous vocals of Shonna Tucker, a bass player who has joined up since 2001's SRO. She is also a songwriter. The group is lucky to have picked up her talent.
I now own all of the Trucker's albums, including a bootleg called Acoustic and Otherwise. I haven't obtained their latest, The Big To Do, but intend to do so soon. If you like southern fried rock, give the Truckers a try. That goes for you old goats my age, especially.
The second pleasant musical discovery I recently made was Lucinda Williams.
Lucinda Williams was presented to me as a country artist. I used to be big into country, and still like many performers, but no longer have much use for the genre in general. Practically every big name that arose during the 90's has been, IMHO, disposable. I can't tell an Alan Jackson from a Toby Keith from a Kenny Chesney. They all sound the same to me, kind of like everyone doing disco circa 1978.
Thus, I was a bit reluctant to give an unheard-of country singer a listen. Once again, Rolling Stone turned me on to Car Wheels On A Gravel Road. This album is simply magnificent. And it's about as country as Neil Young. Neil can sound country, but is without a doubt a rocker. Same story with Lucinda Williams.
I don't know why I'd never heard of her. She was born in 1953, and released her first album in 1988. She is a prolific songwriter, and others have recorded hits that are hers. For example, Mary Chapin-Carpenter's "Passionate Kisses". Tom Petty covered "Changed the Locks," which she had released as a tepid-selling single. Emmylou Harris added Williams' "Sweet Old World" to Wrecking Ball.
Car Wheels was released in 1998. It was hailed as the album where Williams' potential was finally fully exploited. The album is simply magnificent. Songs that stick out from just a couple of listening are "Drunken Angel," "Lake Charles" (guaranteed to make any relocated coon-asses homesick), and "Concrete and Barbed Wire."
Since listening to this amazing album, I've gone out and downloaded the rest of her discography. I look forward to learning more about this amazing singer.
So there you go. It's still possible to teach an old stuck-in-the-60's dog new tricks.
