BELA FLECK - Nashville Musicians Association

Reviews cont.
career, but when the Carter Sisters came to
WNOX, his opportunity for redemption
arrived with them.
Before long Atkins was a featured part
of their act and his bold, distinctive style on
electric guitar and dry humor as June Carter’s
“straight man” proved to be perfect for the
Carters, who insisted that he be included
when they joined the Grand Ole Opry in
1950. He moved the family back to Nashville
and reunited with RCA’s Steve Sholes as well,
and the rest is history.
The “Guitarist” section of the book focuses
on the development and impact of Atkin’s
sound and style, those who influenced him,
and vice versa. The book takes you through
his long-and-storied career as a recording
artist, and collaborator with guitar titans
such as Merle Travis, Les Paul, Jerry Reed
and Earl Klugh.
In the “Tinkerer” section, guitar historian
Walter Carter goes into intricate detail
about Atkins’ lifelong pursuit of perfection
in guitar design, playability, and sound, and
the legacy of the many guitars that bear his
name and design influence. He was famous
for constantly tweaking his instruments
and amplifiers right up until the end of his
career and he also had one of the first-ever
home studios, as well as the aforementioned
workshop.
“Producer: RCA’s Man In Nashville”
spotlights Atkins’ achievements as a record
company executive and producer. Along with
Owen Bradley, he was one of the architects
of the Nashville Sound, which led to the first
country music boom in the early ’60s. The list
of hit records with which he was associated
remains one of the great accomplishments in
music history. The pictures in this book alone
are enough to make any guitar fan salivate,
and the content is fascinating.
The defining characteristics of Atkins‘
life and career — his never-ending quest
for musical knowledge and self expression
— is eloquently told through his music and
the words of his friends and colleagues in
essays, pictures, letters, and anecdotes. As a
companion piece, this book does justice to
the spectacular CMHOF exhibit, but it also
stands alone as an intimate overview of the
man known as “Mr. Guitar.”
Chet Atkins was a one-of-a-kind person
as well as a musician’s musician, whose
impact on the world, the guitar, the music
industry, and Nashville in particular, cannot
be overestimated. It is moving to see his
personal guitars on display once again, and
wonderful to have his story told so well by
the Country Music Hall of Fame. Both the
book and the exhibit will warm your heart,
make you laugh, and reach for the nearest
Chet Atkins album. n
Parachute
The Way It Was
Mercury
The band Parachute, consisting of Will Anderson,
Johnny Stubblefield, Alex Hargrave,
Kit French, and Nate McFarland, are recent
transplants to Music City and Local 257.
They began their career in 2008 in the Charlottesville,
Va., area, also home to Dave Matthews.
Parachute’s second album for Mercury
Records, The Way It Was, is an energetic,
hook-filled effort that showcases excellent
songwriting and musicianship, passionate
vocals, state of the art production by John
Fields, and has something to appeal to nearly
every rock and pop fan.
Songwriter, keyboardist and guitarist
Anderson has a knack for creating fresh
musical ideas and accessible lyrics that give
Parachute its own identity, yet have an air of
classic familiarity. His vocal performances
on the album are unashamedly emotional
and the band rises and falls behind him with
excellent dynamics, plenty of U2-ish ringing
guitars, a driving rhythm section, and explosive
production flourishes.
Unafraid of lyrical drama, the ever-shifting
sonic landscape seems to reflect the
mood of the singer in that moment. “Forever
and Always” is a bittersweet tale of losing
a loved one unexpectedly, and the rush
of thoughts and images reflect the real life
panic that such a situation creates, while the
unexpected ending brings the built-up tension
to a satisfying conclusion.
The album covers a lot of stylistic ground,
with echoes of Brit-pop, classic rock, and
singer-songwriter influences alternating as
the album progresses. The string section on
“You And Me” leads the charge, and takes the
record to an unexpected, cinematic place.
Stubblefield’s pulsating drumming and
Hargrave’s energetic bass work are an excellent
underpinning to songs like “Something
To Believe In,” which marries an uplifting
gospel lyric with a choir vocal approach.
October - December 2011
“American Secrets” is the album’s epic centerpiece,
with its stop-start rhythms building
to a huge sing along chorus and a wall of
melodic guitars that would do Tom Petty or
Springsteen proud.
The introspective coda is a glimmer of
hope for love not lost. “Kiss Me Slowly” will
undoubtedly gain the band legions of female
fans with its combination of insistence, sensitivity,
quiet piano-driven verses, and memorable,
hooky chorus.
The Way It Was is an intriguing combination
of contemporary and classic rock and
certainly points toward any number of new
musical directions for this exciting young
band. Keep your eyes peeled for Parachute
— they’ve got the goods. — Roy Montana
Blake Shelton
Red River Blue
Warner Bros.
Blake Shelton is a busy man these days. Yet
despite the recent demands of being both
a newlywed and a network TV panelist on
NBC’S The Voice, he somehow found the
time to record Red River Blue, which debuted
at No. 1, and is his seventh album for
Warner Bros.
The opening track, “Honey Bee,” is the
fastest-selling single by a male country artist
to go gold. In the chorus Shelton cleverly
name-checks a legendary country duo: “You
be my little Loretta, I’ll be your Conway
Twitty.” Here’s hoping that the reference will
motivate some of Shelton’s younger fans to
search a few record bins.
“Honey Bee” is followed by a range of
mostly midtempo songs. “Get Some” is a humorous
look at the lengths we all go to in the
hope of, well, you know. “Good Ole Boys”
claims it’s getting harder all the time to find
the real men, the ones “working on a farm /
Or out there chasin’ rainbows.”
“Hey” is the sort of homonym joke that
only Music Row writers really can pull off:
“Hey, hey, I’m out here bailin’ hay.” Verse two
takes a hilariously strange turn; without giv-
24 The Nashville Musician
ing away too much, let’s just say that Shelton
probably won’t be asked to perform this one
for the Family Research Council. The bridge
even quotes “I Am The Walrus” just for fun.
The final track is the true heart and soul
of this collection. “Red River Blue,” written
by Ray Stephenson and Buddy Owens, is an
absolute gem, a moving tale of heartache experienced
by the stubbornly proud man who
let the woman he loves slip away. The acoustic
guitars of Bryan Sutton and Ilya Toshinsky
— both Local 257 members — drive this
one all the way. Producer Scott Hendricks
wisely chooses to keep the intensity level low,
letting the lyric — and Shelton’s delivery —
do the emotional heavy lifting. It’s the kind
of song Nashville does best, and it draws the
album to a perfect close. — Kent Burnside
Various Artists
The Lost Notebooks of Hank William
Egyptian Records/CMF Records/Columbia Records
Ronnie Dunn
Ronnie Dunn
Sony Nashville
“Singer In A Cowboy Band,” the first track of
Ronnie Dunn’s solo debut album, opens with
a nasty tremolo guitar lick that explodes into
a punk country roadhouse beat before setting
up his familiar voice passionately belting out
a lyric of a hard life spent on the road.
Dunn’s distinctive vocals are front and
center like never before, and are in top form
throughout this self-produced project. The
rockers are smoking, the ballads have an
R&B edge that brings out the soulful side of
Dunn’s voice, and his classic country growl
is fine shape.
The album credits reveal that 48 of Nashville’s
finest players appear on this record, although
individual songs are not specified, so
it’s a bit difficult to know exactly who played
on what. Regardless, the playing is consistently
outstanding. Five acoustic guitar players,
six bassists, and seven electric guitarists
are listed, as well as dozens of other players
and singers, including strings beautifully orchestrated
by Bergen White.
Nine of the 12 songs were written or cowritten
by Dunn, and most celebrate work-
The Nashville Musician October - December 2011
There are many questions concerning
the appropriateness of the new
tribute album, The Lost Notebooks of
Hank Williams, in which a variety of singersongwriters
added melodies, and in some cases
lyrics, to unpublished Hank Williams songs.
Those questions were underscored when
Williams’ grandson, AFM 257 member and
recording artist Hank Williams III, revealed
he was not asked to participate in the project.
But putting all those questions of propriety
aside, there can be no argument of the artistic
credibility of the record.
The album is the brainchild of veteran A&R
executive Mary Martin. Martin originally
envisioned it as a project for Bob Dylan, who has always cited the influence of Williams
on his own music, and unquestionably a full-length album of material cowritten by two
of the most influential songwriters in the history of popular music would have generated
enormous interest. But Dylan thought additional artists should be involved, so they brought
12 other singer-songwriters on board who count Williams among their influences — not
only country artists, but also artists from the pop and rock worlds, including Levon Helm,
Lucinda Williams and Jack White. And although Hank III wasn’t asked to participate, one
of Williams’ grandchildren, singer-songwriter Holly Williams, was among the contributors.
The song she cowrote with her grandfather, “Blue Is My Heart,” features her father, Hank
Williams Jr. on backing vocals.
Williams’ words, and their transcendent energy, are what empower this collection. You
can tell the artists approached the project with care, borrowing heavily from the Williams
songbook, with a few twists and turns, in crafting their melodies and arrangements. The
result is every track feels right, even the contributions by artists whose names leap out
as possibly not being a good fit for the project — White, Norah Jones, Jakob Dylan and
Sheryl Crow. It’s easy to imagine Williams himself singing any of the 12 tracks included
on this remarkable collection.
Alan Jackson’s collaboration, “You’ve Been Lonesome, Too,” kicks off the record and
immediately establishes an authentic tone with a sparse arrangement — “just like Hank
[would’ve] done it back in 1949,” as he explained in an interview with GAC — no piano
or drums.
Dylan’s cowrite, “The Love That Faded,” follows, and even though his accompaniment
includes drums and piano, it continues the authentic vibe. His pained vocals, which suggest
he himself has lived William’s expression of love past, are backed with an arrangement
featuring a catchy, Cajun-flavored waltz groove.
A number of 257 members contributed to this unique tribute album, including Jackson,
Patty Loveless, and Vince Gill and Rodney Crowell, who both collaborated with the late
legend on “I Hope You Shed A Millions Tears,” the only three-way cowrite on the record.
Although it is often written, but rarely true, there is not a bad track on this album. Some
tracks, however, reveal more than others. It is really not surprising that Loveless’ track,
or other tracks by artists with Nashville connections, sound like Hank Williams songs.
But Jones’ beautiful “How Many Times Have You Broken My Heart” is a complete and
pleasant surprise because it shows what a great country artist she could be if she wanted.
And Levon Helm not only nails his collaboration, “You’ll Never Again Be Mine,” but in
the process, reminds us how much Williams’ songs informed the music of The Band.
The album closes with a religious-themed track by Merle Haggard, “The Sermon On The
Mount.” Like Dylan and Helm, Haggard is of the generation that felt the direct influence
of Hank Williams — while he was still alive and performing and recording — and just like
Dylan and Helm, he is able to reach within and find that place occupied by Williams in his
own art. Haggard’s cowrite is a moving and fitting finale to a project that was inherently
fraught with artistic risks and yet succeeded.
— Daryl Sanders
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