Colorado's Jay Sott was a three-year vet of Couch By Couchwest. He has notched a fourth year on his gun with this year's submission to the micro-couch edition from his new record, Dirt & Headache.
The new album was officially released less than a week ago, and it's a good 'un. The opening to Jay's submission from it - Gotta Fool The Devil - reminds me a bit of another devil-titled song: Todd Snider's The Devil You Know.
A couple of years ago, I was introduced to the music of Greg Smith and The Broken English. The band had just released a new album, and I liked it from the start. I encouraged them to participate in Couch By Couchwest. They did, and CXCW was better for it.
I reached out again this year to gauge their interest for a new CXCW2016 video. While Greg's band didn't have new music or a video to share, he did tip me off to a side project in which he is involved.
The Whiskey Treaty Roadshow is a collaborative effort of five songwriters from Massachusetts - Billy Keane, Tory Hanna, Chris Merenda, Dave Tanklefsky, and Smith. A novel way of helping underwrite the costs of their recent live album release, Heart of the Run, was partnering with New York distiller, Hudson Whiskey.
Though these videos weren't specifically recorded for CXCW such that it is in 2016, I felt like the spirit (spirits?) of them fit the CXCW vibe quite nicely.
For those who may not be familiar with Greg Smith and The Broken English, I blogged a review of their last album, Ramblin' Road. And here are their performances from CXCW2014.
Charlie Harrison is back for another year. After a couple of years of performing at Couch By Couchwest with his band, Charlie & The Regrets, Harrison has returned to a solo performance as he did in 2013 for his CXCW debut.
I'm also digging his Sun Records lid.
Charlie just wrapped up a Kickstarter campaign to help fund his next record. His pitch?
We need your help to record & promote a great sounding country record about everything from pot to prison, love and loss and politics.
Sci-Fi Romance was a four-year vet of CXCW - missing only the inaugural year when the site was hosted on Tumblr. Though CXCW isn't being formally hosted in 2016, Sci-Fi Romance is back nonetheless with another original and striking video.
Sci-Fi Romance released a new album earlier this year - Dust Among The Stars - and it is really, really good. The following video wasn't done specifically for CXCW, but it is indeed original. Vance Kotrla from the band did the incredible illustrations, and it is the official release video for Goodbye At The End Of The World from the new album.
For the past five years, a good time was had by all at the Couch By Couchwest on-line music festival. Though I had nothing to do with its operations, I've been all-in with the CXCW vibe:
learning about new bands and songwriters
taking random pics of tacos, French toast, and co-workers - though never in the same shot
developing new friendships, and
drinking beer. Plenty of beer.
The fine folks who ran CXCW did a helluva job soliciting original videos, collecting and watching them all, playing the tough guy role the few times when folks didn't adhere to just a handful of basic rules, building a page for each featured video, scheduling each video for its right time release, monitoring comments on the website and social media channels, etc. For a group of folks that celebrated slacking as an artform, they sure worked their collective asses off each March for our enjoyment.
But... all good things must come to an end. Or at least a pause. As announced recently on the CXCW website, it just ain't happenin' this year. The couch has been taken to the curb.
But...the absence of a formal CXCW in 2016 doesn't mean the discovery of great new music and bands end. I along with others believe it's the right thing to do to keep the spirit of CXCW alive in whatever meager ways we can.
I'll plan to feature videos sent to me or that I find along the way that would have been in the wheelhouse of CXCW had it continued. I'll do so through blog posts and tweets. Others are encouraged to do the same. Use Facebook, Tumblr, Snapchat, etc.? If so - leverage it. Those aren't my things, but I'd certainly recommend others use them to help spread the word for deserving music.
So how about getting things started with a couple of back in the day John Prine videos that would have fit perfectly with Couch By Couchwest ... had it existed in 1983.
More from my cassette cases buried deep in a far away closet...
The Pontiac Brothers: Doll Hut and Johnson: I found The Pontiac Brothers around the same time as EIEIO (see TMC cassette memories - post 2). Frontier Records released both of EIEIO's albums and The Pontiac Brothers' Johnson. As jangly as EIEIO was, The Pontiac Brothers was just raw and raucous ... and I loved it. I later picked up Doll Hut which was released prior to Johnson.
Johnson was upgraded via a CD purchase. I also bought Doll Hut on CD though it was packaged on a re-release with another album, Fiesta En La Biblioteca. After the band dissolved, frontman and guitarist Ward Dotson formed The Liquor Giants - another short-lived but fantastic band.
Across The Yard - Self-Titled. I have zero recollection of this EP or of the last time I listened to it. Sound familiar to you? If so, please leave a comment. Maybe a memory will be stirred.
Randy Travis - Storms of Life: I grew up in a house of classic country music though I quickly found my way to the rock-n-roll scene in my pre-teen and teenage years. Plus, in my opinion, country music in the 70s blew. The pop sounds of folks like Barbara Mandrell, Ronnie Milsap, Lee Greenwood, Anne Murray, Eddie Rabbit, etc. did nothing for me. My dorm mates and I rocked outlaw country such as Bocephus, Merle, Waylon, etc. Otherwise, I stayed mainly with my hard rock stuff.
Then one of my friends rolled into our apartment parking lot bumping Randy Travis' On The Other Hand from his Camaro Z-28. We were stunned by the sound, and I had to add it to my own collection. The album wasn't enough to convert me 100% to country, but it certainly led me to an eventual return to many of the country recordings of my parents.
The Coolies - Dig..?: I'm pretty sure I learned of The Coolies through db Records. db had so many great bands on their roster, and I'm guessing I was willing to take a flyer on just about whatever they had. Dig...? included punk'ish versions of several iconic Simon & Garfunkel songs.
The Call - Reconciled: I knew little then (or now) about this band. Their album didn't hit my radar when it was released. During a couple of years of post-college, early professional life, however, Friday nights were frequently spent drinking pitchers of beer and chair dancing in a Chattanooga cover-band bar called Yesterday's.
A crowd favorite was a band named Sheba's Breakdown. The band later replaced its lead singer and renamed itself The Hammerheads. The second version of the band did an incredible cover of The Call's Everywhere I Go, and that is what led me to get the cassette (and later the CD).
The Vulgar Boatmen - You And Your Sister: As a college student at the University of Florida, Walter Salas-Humara was in a band called The Vulgar Boatmen (web | Twitter). He left the band and formed The Silos with Bob Rupe and others. The Boatmen continued with Robert Ray and Dale Lawrence as the two primary collaborators. After buying The Silos' self-titled RCA release and their previous album, Cuba, I started digging deeper to learn more info. Using the address for the Record Collect label I found on Cuba, I wrote a letter asking what else they had. I got a personal letter from Walter (which I truly wish I'd kept) and a list of what he had for sale. (I didn't realize at the time Salas-Humara owned the label.) Soon after getting Walter's letter, I sent him a check along with an order for a solo CD of his, Radaris, and the Boatmen's You and Your Sister cassette.
A few years later, I was more than happy to upgrade my oft-played tape with a CD. My inventory was enriched with the addition of the the Boatmen's second release, Please Panic.
Guadalcanal Diary - 2x4: This is one of many bands to which my college roommate introduced me. Though we didn't see eye to eye on all of his faves, I'll remain grateful for his introducing me to bands such as R.E.M., The Connells, Jason & The Scorchers, Berlin, and others. But I digress...
As powerful as Guadalcanal Diary's music was, their live performances were off the hook. I saw them live three times on their Flip-Flop tour. The tour opened and closed in Nashville. Treat Her Right opened for them at the first show, and Government Cheese opened for them as the toured ended at Nashville's Cannery Ballroom. In the middle, I happened to catch them in Madison, Wisconsin while in town for a work trip.
Before MP3s and other "soft" digital formats, we had compact discs. Though loathed by many, CDs have been the premium format that most closely matched vinyl in sound quality and the durability and portability of other formats, namely tapes.
I still have fond memories of listening to the few 8-tracks that I had - even though they were a rotten format. But I was front and center with cassettes. CDs have always had advantages over cassettes. But as compact as a CD is, they've never been as compact as a cassette that be easily slipped into a shirt or jeans pocket.
With tapes, man oh man the options of recording and sharing were fantastic. I was mainly a TDK SA-90 guy though I often bought and used my share of Maxwell XLII blanks as well.
But I bought my share of pre-recorded tapes too. Here are a few more that brought back memories.
Night Ranger - Dawn Patrol: I remember seeing Night Ranger's video for Don't Tell Me You Love Me on MTV. I bought their cassette at the Record Bar store in Nashville's Hickory Hollow Mall. Then I got to see them in 1983 as the opener for KISS on the Creatures Of The Night tour.
Triumph - Just A Game: I became a Rush fan in high school, and I continue to listen to the band to this day. Another Canadian power trio that hit my radar shortly thereafter was Triumph. I was fired up when I learned they scheduled a tour date in Nashville. I bought a pair of tickets at the counter in the long-gone Castner Knott retail store in the still-struggling Donelson Plaza. Sadly, the show was canceled because of "unforeseen circumstances". I knew even then it was code for low ticket sales.
The Royal Court of China - Self-titled: Midway through my college years, one of my roommates began to clue me in to much more of Nashville's rock music. One band he'd heard of but not actually heard was The Royal Court of China. I remember buying this cassette as a complete flyer at Tower Records in Nashville. Incredible sound. I later replaced it with the CD, and it's a disc I still listen to some 30 years later. Joe Blanton fronted the band. Today, he partners occasionally with Warner Hodges (Jason & The Scorchers) and Dan Baird (Georgia Satellites) to perform as The Bluefields.
American Music Club - California: I'm pretty sure Tower Records' Pulse magazine led me to this one as well. No samples, no radio play. Just a biased pitch in a record store-owned magazine. But I'm so glad I bought it (and replaced it with a regularly played CD). The album is chockful of great songs - all of which have stood the test of time in my opinion. Many are dark and haunting but yet so captivating. Faves to this day include Firefly, Now I'm Defeated, Blue & Grey Shirt, and Western Sky. This cassette led me to buy many future AMC releases and Mark Eitzel solo albums - all on CD. The full California album is on YouTube. If you've never heard it, take the time to do so. Highly recommended.
EIEIO - Land of Opportunity and That Love Thang: As contemplative as AMC could be, EIEIO was just the opposite. This band's music was just flat fun listening.
Though I don't remember how I learned of the band (probably Pulse or Rolling Stone), I do remember the name of the song from That Love Thang that hooked me: Andy Warhol's Dead But I'm Not. While a great song with a catchy title, I'm not sure it's even the best one on the album. Hey Cecille, the lead track on That Love Thang, throat punches you from the jump. It sets the listener up for song after song with driving beats, nasal vocals, a horn section, solid harmonies, jangly guitars, etc.
After buying Love Thang, I backtracked to get the band's solid debut, Land Of Opportunity... and later bought CDs to replace them both. EIEIO was a truly underrated band that lasted just the two releases - or so I thought. I learned recently the band reunited for a third, self-titled album released in 2007 - almost 15 years after Love Thang.
Mike Hoffman from the band later joined with others to form Semi-Twang, another fave of mine from near the same era.
Wild Seeds - Brave, Clean + Reverent: I bought the Wild Seeds second and final album, Mud, Lies and Shame, on CD at Turtle Records. After playing it constantly in the late 1980s, I picked up the Brave, Clean + Reverent debut on cassette after I couldn't find it on CD. Though I prefer MLS over BCR, I did upgrade my cassette with a digital download a few years ago.
After parting ways around 1990, frontman Michael Hall released a series of solo albums - most of which I have as well as an underrated album with alt-country legends Alejandro Escovedo and Walter Salas-Humara of The Silos under the band name The Setters. Hall has also been a long-time writer and senior editor for Texas Monthly magazine and is on Twitter at @mikehalltexas.
