Montana native Tessy Lou Williams essentially has music in her blood. From a childhood spent watching her parents perform in their band Montana Rose to spending decades in the Austin music scene, Williams has been immersed in the music industry her entire life. She grew up in Montana, the daughter of two musicians who relocated to the small town of Willow Creek (population: 210) from Nashville. Their three kids traveled with them often, experiencing life on the road surrounded by talented musicians and top-notch songwriting. After overcoming a paralyzing case of stage fright, Tessy Lou began performing at the historic Pony Bar. Soon after, Tessy Lou and the Shotgun Stars were born, and the trio, including Bryan Paugh on the fiddle and her dad, Kenny Williams on the bass, built a following around her home state. The band moved to Austin, Texas, and were discovered by Warehouse Records at Poodie’s Roadhouse, a fitting place for the stars to align for someone whose love of honky-tonks runs deep. As part of her beginnings in the industry, the trio released two albums from which we have just listened to the song Beer, boobs and whiskey, from their debut album from 2012 Leaving Montana, full of wonderful tracks of traditional honky tonk and ballads. Just three years later, in 2015, they recorded their second album named Somewhere in Texas, from which we’ll listen to the track Scotty’s Place.
Williams is now stepping out on her own with a self-titled solo debut that’s more than worthy of carrying the torch of her classic country forbearers. Working with producer Luke Wooten, Williams has crafted a ten-song project that tackles love and heartbreak with a cutting, yet delicate clarity and a sound like something straight out of the 1960s.
As Tessy Lou was preparing for the release of her first solo album, after a lifetime of songwriting and a decade of performing professionally, it is important to note the journey to get to this moment: her rural origins, the stage fright she once suffered, the move across the country to find her own place in the world and finally make her own music. All that brings about the heartbreak that inspired this batch of 10 songs. It all culminates in her solo debut, a self-titled effort that introduces her sound to a new group of listeners: deeply rooted in traditional influences, with her spin on western culture. These are the kind of songs you’d want to be playing on a dancehall stage when you walk in or blasting from the jukebox when the band isn’t there. It’s also the perfect soundtrack for a two-step or a waltz —or simply a great opportunity to sit back and enjoy well-crafted country music.
Let’s take a taste of this album by listening to two songs, the first one opens the album, Your forever will never say Goodbye, a wonderful heartstopping two-step with Tessy Lou joined by legendary bluegrass instrumentalist and songwriter Carl Jackson on background vocals about a painstaking love that is no more, and the second, Midnight Arms, with a feeling that the very Allison Krauss took the stage to flawlessly perform this story about cheating.
Country as hell, each of them songs are unique, and personal, and they embody heartbreak that we can all relate to.
Written primarily in Nashville, and recorded at Station West, also in Nashville, Tessy Lou and producer Luke Wooten collaborated with an ace band including Bryan Sutton on the acoustic guitar, electric guitar, banjo and mandolin, Mike Johnson at the pedal steel, dobro, and pedalbro, Aubrey Haney on the fiddle, Ashley Campbell on the banjo, and background vocals from Carl Jackson, Jerry Salley, Jon Randall, Wes Hightower and Brennen Leigh, just to name a few.
Between 2016 and 2020 the list of songs grew larger, and whenever they were playing these songs live, people kept asking when they would be available. Tessy Lou had been wanting to do a new album and knew the transition from the band to her solo career was nearing. The more time she spent going between Texas and Nashville, the more clear the idea became to her. She knew she wanted producer Luke Wooten to work on it because she was convinced that he could truly bring those songs she loved to life.
The question with a record like this is not the quality of the writing, or the top notch musicianship captured in the sessions at Nashville’s Station West, but how will it capture the ear and interest of the wider audience Tessy Lou’s songs and voice deserve? Some like to mix a little rock or pop in their music so it broadens its appeal, even if it results in something less country. You can still be country and include a dimension of variety, or spice. But this record falls a little short in offering something unique between the separate tracks. It doesn’t need a lot, but just a little something to make Tessy Lou not just true country, but truly unique within that realm.
Let’s say goodby to Tessy Lou listening to a couple more songs, the first one, One More Night, a great cut that seems to have been recorded by Union Station (although it hasn’t), and Busy Counting Bridges, one of her two co-writes with Jerry Salley that offers another up-tempo take on heartbreak, finding the narrator busy counting bridges that she has burned.
For those who are just hearing of Zephaniah OHora for the first time, if the warble in his guitar and the slight lilt in his voice bring forth the assumption that the singer-songwriter comes from one particular musical metropolis in Tennessee or some other country music-fueled locality in the U.S., think again. Though OHora sings with the love of country music in his heart, as we commented when we played his first album in this same show at the beginning of the year, he forged that passion on his own in the back rooms of Brooklyn, NY clubs. In OHora’s case, one could say his enthusiasm first sprouted not from growing up around the sounds and sights of country’s character but from one quintessentially New York City setting of record shops lined with bins, some holding well-loved country vinyl.
Fast forward to the present and OHora exudes the spirit of country’s unofficial motto – three chords and the truth – from a place of personal aspiration in his new single, “All American Singer.” This song comes off OHora’s forthcoming sophomore LP, Listening To The Music, due out August 28, 2020.
Despite the fact that OHora’s latest unfolds with a melodically lighthearted demeanor – complete with some pristinely executed harmonica performance by none other than Mickey Raphael – the music’s fundamental inspiration encompasses a breadth of sentiments and current event topics that tend to give one much more pause.
“The inspiration for “All American Singer” came from his personal experience, jis observations of events playing out in the American society, and their collective struggle, especially after the events leading to the movement BlackLivesMatter. There are many injustices and ongoing problems that people have good reason to be angry about and he simply took the opportunity to reflect on some of those issues through the writing of this song, where he explains that he sings for all America, not just for one side of it, making clear that his music is beyond the limits of the white community.
He truly believes that music is a great equalizer in our society and brings people from all backgrounds and walks of life together. In his style one can easily feel Merle Haggard or Gram Parsons’s spirit, his great influences.
We’ll say goodbye to Zephaniah listening to another song advanced from his forthcoming album. The song is called Black and Blue, about the relationships you just can't let go of on, two people who are so much alike that they can't seem to walk away from each other. It is the age old story of being in a relationship with someone who has many of the same tendencies as yourself. Someone that always seems to walk back into your life after you've finally walked out on the deal. Someone you find it easy to blame your relationship problems on until you eventually realize that really they're not that different from you. The song reads
“Not long ago you made promises you couldn't keep
You had me believing that all I was needing was you,
I was willing to go down any road I had to go
Is there a difference between me and you
or black and blue?"
He wrote it back in 2016 just after he finished recording his first album. Zephaniah Ohora, Black and Blue.
An award winning Nashville-based singer and songwriter, 3-time Top 30 charter artist in Europe and co-host of Radio and TV show The Music Row Show, we have just listened to the first cut of Scott Southworth’s new album called These Old Bones. The song is Steel Guitars and Broken Hearts, and it is the 5th album in his career that spans 8 years now. Most of his albums have received awards and nominations from Country Music People Magazine, or from the Academy of Western Artists, or from the North American Country Music Association Internation
He performs regularly in Nashville at the Bluebird Cafe, Douglas Corner and the Commodore Grille as well as house concerts and many songwriting festivals around the country and overseas, headlining a few years ago festivals in France, Spain, Norway and Germany.
This is his first release on new upstart Indie label Flaming Tortuga Records, in the Pacific Northwest, and continues to raise the bar set by earlier releases such as Hey Hillbilly Singer in 2018, or The Last Honky Tonk In Town in 2016. Let’s listen to a couple more songs. The first one, Critters, an excellent honky-tonk that sounds to me the good ole days of a mix between Hank Williams Jr. and Junior Brown. And the second song, a great slow-tempo song about a broken heart called Less to Break, a great opportunity to get the dancefloor and dance with your couple if you’ve got the chance to.
It doesn't get more in-your-face Country than this. Fully produced in Nashville, TN, by Buddy Hyatt, and engineered by Grammy Award Winning Zach Allen, this piece of work features some of Music City's top studio musicians, including: Brent Mason, Mike Johnson, Mark Fain, and Lonnie Wilson Scott among others. Scott Southworth has written and co-written more than 70 Indy cuts with artists as well as Independent films. As I commented before, he has released 5 solo songwriting projects. "The Last Honky Tonk In Town" dropped August of 2016 to rave reviews across Europe and the UK. Country Music People Magazine named him their September 2016 "Honky Tonker Of The Month". His first major label cut was part of Amanda Cook's Deep Water, her first major Bluegrass release with Mountain Fever Records. He is bit by bit getting to make his music more admired. Here you won’t listen to any rap music singing about half-naked country girls dancing at the bonfire, this is country music for grown-ups.
We’ll say goodbye to Scott listening to a drinking song. Every respected country musician has an ode to the liquid, and this time his voice reminds me a bit of Keith Whitley, who curiously enough, died of alcohol-poisoning himself. This song is called Brown Liquor. Scott Southworth.
From ode to ode about alcohol, there seems not to a better way to heal wounds and bridge deep divisions than by looking to cold longnecks and beer cans, or so it seems listening to Brad Paisley’s new song released this 2020. Set to a party-friendly outlaw groove, this great song called No I in Beer applies well to the idea of being quarantined during the Covid-19 pandemic. Anyway, don’t let the smoke get in your eyes because this tune was penned in 2018 by Paisley himself and Kelly Lovelace, although its idea of getting together and connecting has been a recurring theme for many people unable to see family and friends in person, along with the technology providing them with temporary solutions. As the lyrics say:
We’re all in this together,
to me it’s all so clear,
drinkin’ oughta be a team effort,
there is no “I” in beer.
Most concerts are not happening this year. As many artists have canceled or postponed their tours, some are shifting to drive-in shows. Garth Brooks recently shared a live stream concert for hundreds of drive-ins across the country. However, fans were disappointed because it was not actually a live show, but a video.
The website Live Nation has started a new series called “Live from the Drive-In.” It features live shows that you can watch from the safety of your own car. County star Brad Paisley sold out all three stops in his drive-in concert series some weekends ago. Paisley performed his full tour set up for his first in-person live concert since cancelling his tour due to the coronavirus pandemic in March. The tour included 90-minute concerts with stops in St. Louis, Nashville and Indianapolis.
The former CMA Entertainer of the Year award winner posted a recap video on his social media accounts with this message, “This was our weekend. The back row of cars was over a quarter mile away, but somehow I’ve never felt closer to an audience. Everyone went the extra mile to make this work, and somehow, safely, we played live music again. Thank you St Louis, Nashville, and Indy. These are the moments we will never forget. #livefromthedrivein”
One of these drive-in concerts took place in Ventura, in the sunny State of California, where artist Randy Houser paid tribute to a legend who passed away shy of a month ago: Charlie Daniels.
Lots could be said about Charlie, a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame who sang The Devil Went Down to Georgia, which, upon its release in 1979, didn’t just top the country chart, it became a huge pop crossover hit — climbing up to No. 3 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart. The song won Daniels' only Grammy Award in 1979, for Best Country Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group, and it gained even greater ubiquity one year later, when Daniels and his band performed it in the 1980 film Urban Cowboy, starring Debra Winger and John Travolta.
Regardless of that major moment in his career, his spans a 5-decade stay in the State of Tennessee.
A bearded embodiment of fast-fiddlin' Southern life, Daniels cut a handful of solo efforts in the early 1970s, none more notable than Fire on the Mountain — the Platinum-selling release that spilled into mainstream country and Southern rock success. Daniels would proceed to sell more than 13.5 million records logging nine Gold, Platinum or multi-Platinum releases.
Still, Daniels undoubtedly had many other passions. A staunch supporter of U.S. troops and veterans, he spent much of his career traveling overseas to play for service members in Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan.
At age 70, he joined the ranks of country music stalwarts enshrined as a Grand Ole Opry member. He’d regularly perform on the 94-year-old country music radio tradition until his death.
In 2016, Daniels earned a top honor for any Nashville musician: A place alongside the all-time greats in the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. Entering at nearly 80 years old, he joined Randy Travis and Fred Foster for the year’s Hall of Fame class.
He died on July 6th after suffering a hemorrhagic stroke. He was 83.
We’ll say goodbye to Charlie Daniels and to the show listening to 2 of his unforgettable tunes: What this world needs is a few more rednecks, and his classic The Devil went down to Georgia.
