Sights and Sounds: Eddie Van Halen, Alabama Slim, Strawbs, Nobody's Girl

 A number of upcoming releases have been announced this week. Here are details on several of the most anticipated titles, as well as a leading news item on a tribute to the late Eddie Van Halen by Kramer...Robert Kinsler

Kramer Tribute to Eddie Van Halen on his birthday

In honor of Eddie Van Halen's birthday today (January 26th), guitar maker Kramer has posted a nice tribute to the late guitar great who passed away in October 2020. Read the tribute HERE.

New Orleans Bluesman Alabama Slim offers up a new solo album with an All-Star cast

Alabama Slim's 'The Parlor' is due Friday, Jan. 29, 2021

Due Friday, January 29, 2021, 'The Parlor' dives deep into the blues with a less-is-more approach overflowing with soul but keeping steady on the boogie, eliciting comparisons to the late great John Lee Hooker

Special guest Little Freddie King joins Slim on New Orleans Blues summit

PopMatters premiered a track ("Rock Me Baby") you can hear HERE

NEW ORLEANS, La. — Alabama Slim was born Milton Frazier in Vance, Alabama on March 29, 1939. His father built trains at the Pullman plant and his mother did domestic work to make ends meet. In their home they had an old Victrola turntable and a boxful of 78s. Slim fell in love with the blues of Bill Broonzy and Lightnin’ Hopkins, and that’s where the journey began for the always dapper bluesman, who was poised for a late-in-life breakout in 2020 with a scheduled appearance at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.

 

“I met Alabama Slim in New Orleans while visiting bluesman Little Freddie King,” remembers the Music Maker Relief Foundation founder and president, Tim Duffy. “Slim is a towering man, close to seven feet tall. He was well spoken and dressed in an impeccable tailored suit. He told me he was a cousin of Freddie’s and was originally from Vance, Alabama.”

 

When Duffy asked Slim how he honed his craft, his response was a vibrant timeline of decades past all wrapped into a few sentences. “I grew up listening to the old blues since I was a child. I spent summers with my grandparents who had a farm. Them old folks would get to moanin’ while they worked, and I just started moanin’ with them. That’s where I learned to sing. When I got grown I formed a band and we played little juke joints in the ’50s and ’60s. In ’65, I came to New Orleans after Hurricane Betsy. Got me a job with a moving company and then one making cooking oil. My cousin Freddie King was drinking hard in those days, and I was too. We jammed every once in a while. By the time the ’80s rolled around I was not doing much but Freddie always checked on me. By the ’90s I got myself together and we have been best of friends ever since, tighter than brothers really; there is not a day that goes by when we do not speak or see each other.”

 

You can hear this in the way the two play together. Bobbing and weaving guitars like a middle-weight title fight, one shakes the trees while the other rakes the leaves. It’s an otherworldly connection really, one rooted in song and making a joyful noise, much deeper than blood or a familial line. The two lived and played music daily in New Orleans up until Katrina’s landfall. In fact, during the storm, Slim rescued his cousin, King, with the two evacuating together.

 

Slim and Freddie settled into a Dallas apartment complex and spent most of their days working up old and new songs post-Katrina. Freddie's guitar work followed Slim wherever he went vocally. They visited Music Maker in Hillsborough, N.C. that December and together along with some fellow New Orleans musicians cut The Mighty Flood, released in 2007 on the Music Maker imprint. Slim is also featured in the 2019 Music Maker Relief Foundation book Blue Muse and the compilation album of the same name, both of which were critically acclaimed and garnered national media attention.

 

Now back in New Orleans, the pair has been touring the globe with the Music Maker Relief Foundation’s all-star band, playing Telluride Blues and Brew Festival, Roots N Blues N BBQ, Outdoors at Lincoln Center, even landing a prime slot on the lineup of the duo’s hometown Jazz and Heritage Festival that was sadly cancelled due to the pandemic.

 

On June 7, 2019, when the world was still like we remember it, Slim, Little Freddie King, and drummer Ardie Dean entered a New Orleans recording studio called the Parlor. The session took merely four hours with Reginald Nicholas at the board and Dean in the producer’s chair. What was tracked is a master class on deep soulful blues. Slim and King’s guitars interweave with Dean’s masterful drumming to create a driving boogie, with Slim’s soothing vocals sprawled out on top, reminiscent of John Lee Hooker. And yes, he sings as well as he dresses … impeccably.

 

Cornelius Chapel Records teamed up with the Music Maker Relief Foundation for this record, titled The Parlor, to immortalize where it was initially captured. The album was tracked in one-take for a straight-to-tape feel but was captured digitally. Cornelius Chapel brought in Dial Back Sound’s Matt Patton of the Drive-By Truckers and the Dexateens for post-production. He and Jimbo Mathus (Squirrel Nut Zippers, Mississippi Blues Legend) sequenced the record and added the perfect amount of bass, organ, and piano so that the other half of DBS, Bronson Tew, could work his audio magic.

 

The Parlor will be available on January 29, 2021 on vinyl, CD, and all streaming and digital platforms.

 

The final product is an instant classic, a lesson of perseverance and true grit. One never knows when the proper team can come together to leave their cumulative mark on an age-old genre. Pearl Rachinsky Moreland (Pearl JR) provided the album artwork.

 

There’s a politically charged, poetic masterpiece titled “Forty Jive” that paints the perfect picture of the past year. The name pretty much says it all. That opening salvo was premiered by American Blues Scene fittingly just before Election Day. Slim’s writing is inspired and stands among the pillars that’ve come before him. His delivery drips in soul — Slim was meant to sing. From opening track “Hot Foot” to the superior low-end sanctum of “Rock Me Baby” his vocal prowess is on full display whether retooling old classics or stomping out new masterpieces, Slim and company deliver the goods. Special guest Little Freddie King takes over lead vocals on “Freddie’s VooDoo Boogie.” 

 

“Who knows how many incredible unrecorded blues artists are out there,” says the Music Maker Relief Foundation’s Tim Duffy. “It is clear that the blues will never die within the community from which it was born, as there are artists that embrace the older musical traditions and are determined to scuffle and hold dear to their blues even if it takes them 50 years to get into a studio.” We couldn’t agree with him more.

Slim was recently a guest on NPR’s Thacker Mountain Radio Hour on 10/17 - Listen Here!

Here is video of Slim performing and speaking with Offbeat Magazine.

Pre-sale link here.

STRAWBS Release New Studio Album “Settlement”

Album set for release on February 26, 2021

Esoteric Antenna is delighted to announce the release of the new studio album by the legendary band STRAWBS. “Settlement” is the latest album recorded by STRAWBS, more than 50 years on from the band’s first major label release. The album comes at a time of political and social upheaval, which the lyrics and melodies of the songs reflect. Undeterred by the fact that ‘business as usual’ was not possible because of the global COVID-19 pandemic – working remote from one another, from their own home studios – “Settlement” is a remarkable achievement.

David Cousins, leader of STRAWBS says: “‘Settlement’ is something extraordinary. I can’t think of another band who can go from metal grunge to the lilt of an Irish ghost story – or from a song in 6/8 time to singing in 4/4 over a 5/4 backbeat – in half an hour. The lyrics reflect the times we have been living through and I’m immensely proud of what we’ve achieved.”

“Settlement” is produced by Blue Weaver who played with STRAWBS and Bee Gees in their 1970s heydays. The recording was coordinated from Blue’s studio in Germany, where he now lives. STRAWBS are David Cousins, Dave Lambert, Chas Cronk, Tony Fernandez and Dave Bainbridge. Special guests on the album are John Ford, another former member of STRAWBS, who lives in New York, Cathryn Craig, with her lovely voice and unmistakable Southern lilt, who lives in Northern Ireland, and bass player Schalk Joubert, with whom David Cousins performed in South Africa at the beginning of the year. The album will be available both on CD and 180 gram vinyl formats.

“There comes a time when every Settlement is due!”

Track Listing:

1. SETTLEMENT
2. STRANGE TIMES
3. JUDGEMENT DAY
4. EACH MANNER OF MAN
5. THE VISIT
6. FLYING FREE
7. QUICKSILVER DAYS
8. WE ARE EVERYONE
9. CHORALE
10. CHAMPION JACK
11. BETTER DAYS (LIFE IS NOT A GAME)
12. LIBERTY

To pre-order:
https://www.cherryred.co.uk/product/strawbs-settlement-cd-edition/
https://www.cherryred.co.uk/product/strawbs-settlement-180g-vinyl-lp/

Austin Trio Nobody's Girl bridges the great divide between folk and heavenly pop on upcoming self-titled album due this summer

Americana/folk-pop supergroup featuring acclaimed singer-songwriters BettySoo, Rebecca Loebe and Grace Pettis to release first full-length on July 30, 2021 via Lucky Hound Music

Ditty TV recently premiered the video for the band's version of Carole King classic "So Far Away" - view the video HERE

L-R: Rebecca Loebe, BettySoo, Grace Pettis Photo by Valerie Fremin Photography AUSTIN, Texas — “We always joke that it started out by accident,” offers singer-songwriter (and former Voice contestant) Rebecca Loebe when asked about the fortuitous aligning of stars that officially brought her and fellow Austin-based troubadours BettySoo and Grace Pettis together as Nobody's Girl. “Well, actually, Grace and I like to joke that we tricked BettySoo into being in a band with us ...”    BettySoo, sitting across the table from her two bandmates at a post-rehearsal Tex-Mex dinner, laughs at this, but Grace is quick to correct the record. “It’s not really a joke, though,” she insists with a mischievous grin. “It’s true!”   But why split hairs? Whether it was sparked by happy accident or some manner of sly master plan, the magic of that union was undeniable from the get-go. That three of the loveliest voices in Americana and contemporary folk music could complement each other so beautifully might have been a given, but it was the songs they wrote together — songs unlike any of them had ever or probably would ever write on their own — that really made Nobody’s Girl, well, sing.   “In a lot of ways, I think of Nobody’s Girl as a super fun project that lets us blow off steam, because it gives us a whole different channel to tap into," says Rebecca. “But most of all, I’m always really moved by the power of what we're able to access as a trio: ‘ust the power of three voices onstage together, carrying the same message.”   They’ve carried that message for the better part of two whirlwind years, playing more than a 100 shows together from Texas to Ireland in support of a 2018 EP, Waterline, and a handful of singles released late last year. But that “power of three” they share has never been stronger than it is now, and it’s captured like bottled lightning on the trio's strikingly assertive — and yes, striking fun, too— full-length debut: Nobody's Girl, releasing on digital, CD, and vinyl through Lucky Hound Music on July 30, 2021.   Recorded in September of 2019 and January of 2020 at Lucky Hound’s own state-of-the-art Studios at Fischer campus in the Texas Hill Country, the new album found Nobody’s Girl once again working with Michael Ramos, the Grammy-winning producer who helmed Waterline. The sessions also reunited — and expanded — the veritable dream team of Austin talent that played on the EP. “Michael brought in so many great players for this record, it’s kind of insane,” marvels Rebecca. In addition to Ramos on percussion and keyboards and the formidable rhythm section of bassist Glenn Fukunaga and drummers J.J. Johnson and Conrad Choucroun, Nobody’s Girl features arguably the deepest roster of Texas guitar heroes this side of a classic Joe Ely or Arc Angels record: Charlie Sexton, David Grissom, and David Pulkingham.    Of course, as road-seasoned (and in the case of BettySoo and Rebecca, classically trained and Berklee educated, respectively) musicians themselves, BettySoo, Rebecca, and Grace can certainly hold their own with the best of the best, just as they all have literally on their own, both as a lean-and-mean touring trio and as solo artists with more than 15 albums among them. But it’s the gorgeous sound of their voices, be they harmonizing as one or trading leads with the graceful, elegant precision of aerial silk dancers, that's clearly the main event. Well, that and the revelatory nature of the songs themselves. Lyrically, their co-writes can be as heavy and introspective as anything each of the three Kerrville “New Folk” winners has ever shared with a listening room or festival audience of serious Americana/folk fans. But the energy throughout the album leans decidedly more rock, with buoyant melodies and catchy choruses that often as not move the needle clear into the straight-up pop zone. It’s a disarmingly delightful turn that BettySoo playfully calls “bubblicious.”   “By that, I don’t mean that it’s flaky or light,” she explains, “because I think our songwriting instincts are all honed from the folk world. But I do think that the textures we tap into when we write together for Nobody's Girl are definitely more pop.”   “And, I don’t think there’s anything bad about that!” adds Grace. “I think for some people, ‘pop’ is almost like a dirty word — especially in a town like Austin thats all about ‘serious’music with integrity. But sometimes something fun is good in its own right. The kind of songs I want to write are the ones that have something to say, but that also make your foot tap and that you want to play really loud in your car and sing along to. And in a lot of ways, those songs are a lot harder to write, at least for me. But as a band, I think we are able to really do that sometimes. I don’t know what it is about the combination of our different backgrounds that brings that out, though, and it actually really surprised us when we started recording that EP two years ago. We were all going, like, ‘Oh, wow — these are pop songs!’”   Two of the songs from that EP, “Waterline” and “What’ll I Do,” are featured again on the new album, remixed with a brand new coat of proud sheen. “What’ll I Do” was actually one of the first two songs they ever wrote together. Back in late 2017, the three longtime friends decided to embark on a tour together — not as a “band” so much as one-time, three-week song-swap. But on a whim, just for fun, they decided to try co-writing. Doubtless it had something to do with the fact that Grace happened to already have an “in” with the Studios at Fischer (and Lucky Hound) team, who’d offered her and her friends an overnight stay for a writing retreat. Come morning, when they played their hosts the two songs they’d written as a thank you for the hospitality, they were offered a record deal on the spot.    “At this point, we had not even played a single gig together,” Rebecca recalls with a laugh. “But the chemistry was really good, and we were already having so much fun, we just figured, why not? And that'show we became a band!”   Apart from its two covers (one by another Austin songwriter friend, Raina Rose, and the other by New Wave legends Blondie), the rest of that first EP was written in about 36 hours and recorded nearly just as quick. By contrast, the new songs on Nobody’s Girl came along quite a bit slower — as in a little over a week, spread out over a couple of non-consecutive months in late 2019 and early 2020. Those were literally the only days that they could schedule for writing together all year, given the myriad distractions and responsibilities of road-managing themselves on tour. “But fortunately,” says Grace, “we have a pretty high productivity rate in terms of hours that we're able to actually write together yielding songs that we're all excited about.”   All nine of their new co-written originals that made the cut for Nobody’s Girlcertainly warrant that enthusiasm. From the Wizard of Oz-inspired opener (and lead single) “Kansas,” a stirring call to technicoloradventure and self discovery, straight through to the closing lullaby of "Lark" (described by Rebecca as an abstract meditation on earth and life and letting go, chock full of love and loss and “a whole lot of tenderness”), it’s an album rife with intriguing juxtapositionsnot unlike the aforementioned balance of lyrical depth and effervescent fun. Sometimes the contrasts are weighed against each other within the confines of a single song, as in the somber reflection on family pride and generation-spanning guilt in “Birthright” and the soaring, cautious optimism of “Promised Land,” with its metaphorical mountaintop perspective on the entire country (and human race), hoping to see a picture big enough to eclipse the bitter political and social divides tearing us apart. Other times, entire songs seem to pair off against each other as two sides of the same coin. Take, for example, "Rescued" and "Tiger," two future singles that balance each other out like the proverbial devil and angel over one’s shoulders. “Tiger,” notes Grace, is a warning about the “darker side of what happens when you let loose of your self control”; “Rescued,” on the other hand, is a defiant paean to not just losing self control, but owning that decision with unabashed pride.    “In other words, don’t mansplain my bad decisions to me,” explains BettySoo with a laugh. “And don’t try rescuing me, either, because I'm going to make this irresponsible choice and I’m going to have fun doing it! Because sometimes in life you have to be able to do that. Basically, if you’re not going to hurt anybody, bend the rules a little bit. But when there are stakes, then take care of each other! That’s what ‘Promised Land’ is about — and I think that also hews pretty closely to our philosophy as a band.”   Well, that, and maybe this, too: No matter how much songwriting talent you have in-house, a smart cover or two can really help tie the proverbial room together. Back before they wrote their first two Nobody’s Girl songs together, BettySoo, Rebecca, and Grace took Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car” for a spin and posted a video of them performing the classic as a sort of teaser trailer for their maiden tour. Late last year, they revisited it again with a proper studio recording that was released as a stand-alone single. And although you won’t find that particular gem on their new album, the record does offer two other covers every bit as perfect: “Beauty Way,” a resplendently bittersweet anthem/ballad for the troubadour life penned by Eliza Gilkyson, another Austin-based songwriter and one of their biggest heroes, and Carole King’s ‘So Far Away,” from 1971’s immortal Tapestry.    “I don’t know that we necessarily added anything to ‘Beauty Way,’ because Eliza herself and even Ray Wylie Hubbard have already done a pretty damn near perfect job on that song,” admits BettySoo. “But the siren call of it was too strong. We love it so much, we couldn’t resist attempting it — we just felt it in our bones that we had to sing it.”   And the King song? Let’s just say the piano made them do it. As in the very same piano that King herself played on the original recording of “So Far Away” — and the whole rest of Tapestry, too. It was the same piano that was also used on Joni Mitchell’s Blue— and that now just happens to be proudly owned and homed by Studios at Fischer. And although it was actually Ramos, the producer, who played the piano on the album, just knowing that the instrument so prominently featured on two of the most iconic singer-songwriter records of all time can now be heard on theirrecord, too, is a thrill in itself for all three women in Nobody’s Girl.   “I mean, we’re all fans of both of Tapestry and Blue, so for as long as we’ve known that that piano was there, we dreamed about recording a song from one of those albums,” says BettySoo. “We daydreamed about just letting that piano sing through one of those songs again — and about having an album that would be a vehicle for that to happen.”   Who knows? Maybe it was destiny. But Nobody's Girl, the album, is a lot more than just a vehicle for three friends to cover a beloved old song on a piano with an especially storied history. It’s a testament to the power of three strong independent songwriters with three strong voices coming together as one, carrying their message along the beauty way with a "bubblicious" roar like nobody else.     To view the broadcast premiere of the Nobody’s Girl “So Far Away” video on January 27 at 10 p.m. CT: DittyTV is accessible on the web and on any connected device, and also on your TV set via AppleTV, FireTV, Roku, GoogleTV, Sony and LG Smart Televisions, on DittyTV's iPhone and Android phone apps and through cable providers with digital service, such as Mediacom, Comcast and Cox via a Tivo box. https://dittytv.com/apps/ Or, online via this link: https://dittytv.com/watch/ https://www.wearenobodysgirl.com