The Chicks

One Liner: One of the finest country bands of all time

Wikipedia Genre: Country, bluegrass, country pop
Home: Dallas (but of course likely Nashville now)

Poster Position: Headliner!

Both Weekends.  Friday.

Thoughts:  I love the Chicks.  I loved them more back when they were the Dixie Chicks crushing all expectations and making those first three amazing albums.  I loved them when they insulted George W. Bush and got cancelled by all the rednecks (who seem to have forgotten about their love of cancelling now that they are griping about the Donald getting cancelled).  I definitely loved that they were a band that both my wife and I enjoyed, so we could agree on something to listen to.  I didn't love the new album, but what are you gonna do?

Let's do some background here.  You probably know all of this, but just for completism.  The band was formed in Dallas back in 1989 by sisters Martie Maguire and Emily Strayer (previously Erwin) with two other ladies, mainly sticking with a bluegrass sound.  They gained some notoriety, winning "best band" at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival and scoring opening slots for Garth Brooks and George Strait. They released a few independent albums, each of which featured steel guitar by stud player and producer Lloyd Maines.  So, when the other two ladies decided to move on from the band, Maines suggested his daughter, Natalie, to take on the lead singer role.  And thus, the current lineup was born.

Martie was the violin virtuoso, placing in the top three twice at the national fiddle championships.  She also handles some guitar and mandolin.  Emily is the guitar wizard, with a little banjo tossed in here and there.  All three of them sing, but it is Natalie who you are usually hearing with the lead vocals, and the other two add in their killer harmonies to make the whole thing work.  Sounds so good.

Loads of success.  Multiplatinum records.  13 Grammys.  The best-selling female band and best-selling country group in the US in the Nielsen SoundScan era.  Crushing it.  And then in 2003, they were playing a concert in London and Natalie told the crowd that they were ashamed of US President George W Bush being from Texas.  That triggered country music boycotts and record burnings and a bunch of other deeply stupid crap.  But it also left room for the Chicks to take a break to allow the Erwin sisters to make their very good Courtyard Hounds album.  After a long break, they reunited to tour around 2012 and 2013, and finally released a new album in 2020, about the time they dropped Dixie from their name.

The Dixie Chicks name came from the Little Feat song "Dixie Chicken," which is a great song.  But in the 2020 political climate, just using the word Dixie became something tinged with negative connotations and thus something for dopes to get worked up about.  So, now they are just the Chicks.

I've been re-listening to the first three albums, and I'm having trouble deciding which is my favorite.  At first, I thought it had to be the debut, 1998's Wide Open Spaces.  But I think that album is carried by the title song, which is my favorite song they do.  Do I love the rest of the album as much?  "I Can Love You Better" is a great leadoff track though!  Then I figured it would be 1999's Fly, because that one was released just out of college and it holds so many good memories for me.  "Ready to Run," Cowboy Take Me Away," and "Goodbye Earl" all rule.  Especially "Earl."  But it feels like the last few songs could have been left off and make the album stronger.  So then I'm left with 2002's Home, which has two absolutely killer covers on it, but then doesn't do a ton with the rest of the tracks.  "Travelin' Soldier," which is a Bruce Robison tune, is devastating and perfect.  I love it.  And "Landslide" is another wonderful tune in the Chicks' hands.  I think I'll give the favorite label to the debut.  I mean, "Loving Arms" is beautiful, "There's Your Trouble" is clever, "Let 'Er Rip" is fun.  It's just a really great disc of unexpectedly cool country music.  And you also get the added benefit of the cover image for the album, which looks like two hot friends finished their day jobs bartending at the coolest bar in Nashville and then picked up their goth cousin at the bus station to show her the best comic book store in The Gulch.  But, let's do some of these songs in here.

"Wide Open Spaces," the number 3 streamer at 112.7 million streams.

Oh wow.  That video, and those fake ass overly blue eyes, and the superimposed trampoline flying?  Those are really something.  But the harmonies, the lyrics, the fiddle and banjo and steel guitar - it all just comes together just right.  And the reality and perfection of the last verse gets me every time - "as her folks drive away, her dad yells check the oil, mom stares out the window and says I'm leaving my girl.  She said it didn't seem like that long ago, when she stood there, and let her own folks know she needed wide open spaces."  

"Cowboy Take Me Away" is the second-most streamer.  136.6 million streams.  From Fly.

Also a good one, although it makes me think of Julia Roberts movies for some reason.  Was it featured in the Runaway Bride or something?  No, that was "Ready to Run."  Hmmm.  More killer harmonies, and excellent work on that banjo.

About a million years ago, I was at a music festival of sorts that was being held in the Dallas mansion, Southfork Ranch.  There was (is?) a radio station in Dallas that played supremely great Texas country and Americana stuff that I really liked, and they put on a little music festival inside of the Southfork.  I have no recollection of who was there, and I'm certain that the Dixie Chicks were not playing, but I am certain that Charlie Robison, Emily's then-husband and now ex, was one of the headliners.  One of the guys I was with had the balls to go ask Emily to dance (the show was in a big ballroom with a dance floor included), during her husband's set, and she actually said yes and danced with him.  Legend.  Many years later I actually helped represent Emily and Charlie in a legal claim.  The world just keeps turning, doesn't it?

The top streamer in their catalog is that "Landslide" cover from Home.  154.8 million streams.

Going freaky with that video.  Trippy water drop action!  Those effects super suck!  Martie has gone goth!  Emily is pregnant!  But a beautiful version of that song.  Crushes the streaming numbers for a reason, they kill it.  "Lil Jack Slade" is a good bluegrass breakdown from that album as well.

The next album was 2006's Taking the Long Way, which was their big F YOU record to everyone who had attacked them for the Dubya dustup.  The top song is the imminently angry "Not Ready to Make Nice," with 85.4 million streams.

Her best look of all of the videos linked here.  Not my favorite song from the album at all, I prefer the title track (which also has a little nastiness to it, with lines like "I wouldn't kiss all the asses they told me to") or "Easy Silence" by far.  But I'm sure people use it as shorthand now the same way they use "I Won't Back Down" or "Respect."  This was their statement song for sure.  But, after that no new music for 14 years (except for a live album and a compilation).

Then, here comes the name change and the very 2020 album.  Even the title.  Gaslighter.  I really want to love this album, but after a handful of listens I'm pretty ambivalent about it.  First off, this ain't country.  And I know that shouldn't be surprising, they've been angling away from that work for a while, but the use of drum machines ("Julianna Calm Down," with a drum machine and forlorn organ instead of banjo and fiddle) and one song that is more or less a rap ("Tights on My Boat") are both surprising moves from these ladies.  And I'm sure changing their name to step away from the potential racist connotations of "Dixie" is likewise carried along by distancing themselves from the country establishment in general.  But more importantly, the album as a whole seems to be focused on personal issues, and less on the broadly pleasing story-telling, catchy tunes, and humor-with-insight that made them amazingly compelling back on their first two albums.  I think back to "Wide Open Spaces" or "Goodbye Earl," and I'm immediately happy about the feelings those great songs evoke.  But I think back to what I remember after 10 or so streams through this album and what I recall are Natalie's multiple mentions of some damn boat where her husband must have cheated on her.  Which isn't really all that interesting in the end, except to the TMZ folks who want the tea spilled.  And it's so specific - I can't relate to the issues they're singing about.

Their harmonies are still lovely.  The banjo picking is still technically proficient and well-placed.  But it feels like they put this out to show that they still aren't ready to make nice, but now none of us even remember why they were mad in the first place.  The lead single and title track kind of bugs me - I think I'm tired of hearing the term gaslighting because I over-scroll Twitter - and I'm sure it was cathartic to Natalie to call out her ex-husband for being a lying jerk, but the song isn't catchy enough to make me want to dig in.  And if it was catchy enough, then I could apply it to my own life - the liars that I might have to deal with - but in the end I just think about the dumb boat and that annoying term.  That track is the top streamer on Spotify at 40.2 million streams, but I'm going to give you second place instead, "Sleep at Night," with 10.5 million.

The chorus makes me think of "HOW DO YA LIKE ME NOW!" from Toby Keith each time she sings it.  Also, her ex-husband truly sounds like a piece of shit.  Even if I don't much care about knowing about it.  Maybe they'll release another album next that isn't quite so directly aimed at the balls of her old man.  Despite not caring about the subject matter so much, that one is a good song.  "Everybody Loves You" makes me think repeatedly of Coldplay - there is a piano lick lifted directly from "Trouble" and it throws me off each time.  I know that "March March" is saying the word "march," but I keep hearing "Marge Marge" and I think of the Simpson's mom angrily marching down a Portland street to protest all of the random things that they sing about in this song.  I think that normally I would gravitate to their big songs, but on this album, it's the quiet songs that are more appealing.  But, despite really wishing that this was going to be the next big thing on my radar, I don't much care for this album.  Hopefully something better is on the horizon.

Which makes me curious - what do their setlists look like these days?  And the answer is kind of a bummer.  Their last show had 10 tunes from Gaslighter, 4 covers, 3 each from Fly and Taking the Long Way, and 2 each from Home and Wide Open Spaces.  Ruh roh.  The show before that had one less cover and one less from Wide Open Spaces but was otherwise the same.  Dang, seeing them at Red Rocks would have been dope.  Their setlists look almost identical on this tour - Sin Wagon, Gaslighter, Texas Man, Juliana Calm Down, The Long Way Around...  I guess my hope would be that they'll do a different show for a Festival crowd?  Fingers crossed.  I'm absolutely going to go see them - zero question in my mind - but I sure hope they go with the old tunes over the new disc.

Billy Strings (2022)

One Liner:  Absolutely kickass bluegrass with a jammy side by killer musicians

Wikipedia Genre: Bluegrass, Jamgrass, Americana, Rock 
Home: Michigan

Poster Position: 3 (22nd line last time!)
Both Weekends.  Friday.

Thoughts: These dudes were here back in 2019, at one of those teeny tiny stages off to the side, the BMI or something.  I saw it, and it was revelatory.  Holy speed fingers rocking a banjo.  Back in 2019, his most popular track was an almost 10 minute long barn burner of a bluegrass party called "Meet Me at the Creek."  Back then it had 559k streams, but now it is up to 5.2 million.  Live version, but check the kid out.

It's like if Nickel Creek grew up on a steady diet of rock and roll.  That tune is from 2017's Turmoil & Tinfoil.  Also reminds me of that dude who plays with Allison Krauss - Dan Tyminksi, who did the "Man of Constant Sorrow" vocals.  Either way, give me a tune with a slammin' mandolin player and a banjo in the front of the mix, and I'm probably in for a pound.

Dude's real name is William Apostol, so I get the Billy part, and then I guess he did the Strings part because he plays instruments with strings?  Kinda like a mob guy going by Joey Bats or Freddy Piano Wire.  The name apparently came from an Aunt who noticed his skills on stringed instruments.  So its the aunt who has no originality.  His step-father was apparently a bluegrass picker of note, and introduced the kid to studs like Doc Watson and Bill Monroe and Ralph Stanley.  Rolling Stone called him a country artist to know and mentioned his prodigious speed in 2017.  So, if you dig some fast-fingered pickin' music, then this stuff is right up your alley.

He's taken home a Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album, and the list of accolades on his Wikipedia page is long and distinguished, and he's won a bunch of other awards in the Bluegrass world.  His band is great too - Billy Failing (banjo), Royal Masat (bass), and Jarrod Walker (mandolin).

I've gotten to see him play twice now - once at the 2019 ACL Fest, and then at his ACL TV show taping.  Both were freaking amazing.  The Fest show was jaw-dropping, shaking-my-head-in-fascination amazing.  I had listened to the songs for the preview, but listening on your computer behind a desk is a totally different experience than seeing a pack of wild animals who have mastered their instruments.  He was on guitar, but his banjo guy and mandolin guy were also top notch, just highly technical, fast-fingered, beautifully complex bluegrass stuff.  I'm very glad I got to see that one.  When I was just hanging around, before the show kicked in, this random dude walked up to me and was like "Have you seen them before?" And he had a true religious fervor in his eyes when he asked it.  About half way through the first song, he looked over his shoulder and bugged his eyes and mouthed "RIIIGHT?!?"  Very entertaining - also, he was totally correct.

His first real music, by himself, was a 2016 EP just called the Billy Strings EP (before that he had a joint album with someone called Don Julin (that is either live music or just recordings done in a room with bad acoustics and some people who cheer every once in a while) that wasn't great).  The EP has a fantastic song on there that combines both humor and speed-picking badassery.  Country artists have lamented getting arrested and the perils of drugs for years from the outlaw country world, and this one slots right into there, but along with some ridiculous solo freakouts.  "Dust in a Baggie," with 14.2 million streams.

"I used my only phone call to contact my daddy, got 20 long years for some dust in a baggie."  And holy damn hell, watch him at 2:25 or so when his guitar solo kicks in - his fingers do things that are illegal in 49 states and the District of Columbia.

After that EP, you get 2017's Turmoil & Tinfoil -  the one with "Meet Me At The Creek" on it, and then 2019's Home.  Home is very good - you can hear the band mature and figure some things out here.  They also start angling towards jam while still keeping the bluegrass tilt intact.  The top track on that one is "Away from the Mire."  Just over 8 million streams.

When watching the ACL taping, my wife, who does not like jam music, looked over at me with an accusation in her eye as this song was playing.  Look, man, let's just call it bluegrass!  No reason to let a label ruin an otherwise rad song!  After the slow intro, when they pick up the pace, that feels so right.  And, of course, the extended jam there in the middle to give each player a moment to shine is also very pleasing.

Finally, in 2021, you get Renewal.  These dudes are absolutely fucking kingpins of musical instrumentation.  Like, outrageously skilled players.  This one has a more modern skin on it - Strings melds bluegrass with a jam band feel on many of these songs to give it a much different feel than traditional bluegrass.  And while I know from my marriage that some people will get triggered by mentioning jam, you should really give this thing a chance and just make sure that you want to completely close yourself off to happiness and goodness and the American Way.  Up to you.  Anyway, if you don't know Strings yet - more importantly, if you haven't seen the dude live yet - then you need to get on board now.  His band is made up of killers at each axe - banjo, mandolin, bass, and guitar - and he can be both poignant and witty with his lyrics.  I promise you it is good.  (although I can definitely recognize a perspective that his band name is dorky as hell).  The top track is "Fire Line," which is almost at the end of the album.  Must be on a playlist somewhere.  2.5 million streams.

That track definitely gets into the jammy stuff I mentioned before.  Heavy on banjo picking and old-school harmonies and fiddle (for the bluegrass crowd), but those faux deep lyrics and the extended soloing and weird spaceship-taking-off sounds shifts it into something for the stoned to zone out to.  I really enjoy this disc.  I know bluegrass and jam aren't everyone's cups of tea, but I could just keep this one rolling.

Overall, I promise you this show will be awesome.  I know a lot of people wouldn't be interested in bluegrass, or jam band stuff, but if you like someone who is ridiculously skilled with an instrument in their hands, then this is the good stuff.  Check it out.

Judah & the Lion

One Liner:  Popular combination of bluegrass sounds into hip hop-tinged pop rock.

Wikipedia Genre:  Americana, bluegrass, folk, rock, hip hop, electropop
Home: Nashville

Poster Position: 8

Both Weekends.

Thoughts: Totally thought this was going to be some sort of Christian band.  I know there was a Judah in the Bible, but I couldn't remember squat about his tale and what it had to do with a lion.  After some hunting, I think Judah was more important to the Jewish faith than the Christians.  Judah's Lion is "a Jewish national and cultural symbol, traditionally regarded as the symbol of the Israelite tribe of Judah. According to the Torah, the tribe consists of the descendants of Judah, the fourth son of Jacob. The association between Judah and the lion can first be found in the blessing given by Jacob to his son Judah in the Book of Genesis."  

Genesis 49 contains that blessing, where he actually calls Judah the lion's cub (but also a lion and a lioness?): "Judah,your brothers will praise you; your hand will be on the neck of your enemies; your father’s sons will bow down to you.  [ed note, Judah sounds like a badass]  You are a lion’s cub, Judah; you return from the prey, my son.  Like a lion he crouches and lies down, like a lioness—who dares to rouse him? The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he to whom it belongs[d] shall come and the obedience of the nations shall be his. He will tether his donkey to a vine, his colt to the choicest branch; he will wash his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes. His eyes will be darker than wine, his teeth whiter than milk.[Ed note, well now the dude sounds terrifying, only wearing purple clothes, with dark purple eyes and extra white teeth?  Yikes.  Some evil sounding shit.]

So I was surprised to start the first song and realize that I hear this track on alternative rock radio all the time.  "Take It All Back," with 48.4 million streams is their top track.

Pretty solid song.  Kinda weird though, like combining mandolin and banjo with hip hop-ish beats and a singer who sounds kinda like when Eminem sings.  Oh, and their album is very unfortunately named Folk Hop N' Roll, which makes me want to die.  I liked the song much more before I read that album name.

That album, which was actually their second disc, was released in 2016 and also has their second biggest hit, "Suit and Jacket," with 36.2 million streams.

Yeah, that one is pretty solid too.  Weird, now that I've compared his yelling voice to Eminem's singing voice, I can't shake the comparison.

Three dudes - and they met at Belmont University at Nashville.  The lead singer's real name is Judah, and then met up with two dudes who happened to play mandolin and banjo, respectively, and created the new band.  Oh, hey, and when they started, it was a Christian band - they won a Belmont University Christian Showcase, and their first EP (which is not available on Spotify) was a Christian worship collection.  So I wasn't totally wrong in thinking of them as a Christian thing.  Back in the day, they even opened for Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors, another ACL band this year.

They just released a new album on August 7, 2019, called Pep Talks.  I actually heard one of these songs on the radio the other day, and since I knew these dudes were on the ACL poster I stayed there to check it out.  And it is a truly terrible song.  "Why Did You Run?" is apparently the first single from this album, and it takes their mandolin/banjo thing and runs it through a machine that has only ever heard that terrible Chainsmokers/Coldplay collaboration song, and thus can only make semi-EDM/quasi-indie rock songs.  Up to just over 4 million streams so far, here you go.

I mean, even that video is treacly try hard - he sees the girl and immediately gets a crumpled paper heart to unfold? Its all so painfully earnest and fake joyful with crappy EDM elements.  Ugh.  BUT, they do have a song with Kacey Musgraves on it, and she has never done anything wrong ever, so they may actually be redeemable.

The opening of the new album tries to copy the opening of The Greatest Showman.  Woaaaahhhhhhhooooohhhhh singing and some tense stops/starts.  Then the first real song is more rock and roll than anything else - pounding drums and chanting lyrics.  And then the Chainsmokers-ass song.  "i'm ok" starts to sound like they want to be 21 Pilots, and he still sings like Eminem.  "Don't Mess With My Mama" is truly horrible.  "17" sounds like bad Blink 182.  And, from listening to the tearful voice mails they include here during an anthemic session of them yelling that the BEEESSST IS YET TO COOOOOOOOMMMEEE!!! I know that this was somehow important and cathartic to them, but the album is not good.

Funny band, because they started out a totally different thing.  Those mandolins and banjos used to be legitimately used to make nice music - like the nice Americana track "Our Love," from the 2013 EP Sweet Tennessee - that don't try so hard to be hip and they come off really well.  "Hesitate" is really pretty!  And "Southern Ground" is a fun bluegrass barnburner!  Feels like these guys had a certain trajectory back in this 2013 disc - and it was laid on a foundation of real musicianship and fast fingers.  I mean, just look at that Wikipedia genre listing up there - everything from Bluegrass to Hip Hop - that isn't normal.

The first real album was 2014's Kids These Days, and it shifts their sound slightly - it isn't quite the full shift into hip hop beats, but it becomes more stadium friendly, a broader sound that still uses the banjo and mandolin, but goes more for an earnest rock and roll sound, like the new Mumford sound.  But some still retain the bluegrass sound entirely.  "Mason-Dixon Line" is obvious, but even the driving, danceable jam of "Rich Kids" is like an exuberant mash of bluegrass sounds with rock.  Not a bad album.  "Twenty-somethings" has the most streams at 6.6 million.

Eating Arby's on the ground is never a good idea, folks.  I don't care how you are doing on money, there has to be a better option.  Or at least know the nearest bathroom.  Also, you have to love all these dudes in $150 Patagonia fleeces filming themselves going into Goodwill to shop for clothes.  So downhome and relatable!  But the song itself is actually really good - nice, pretty ode to the insecurities and joys of an age.

I don't know.  My instinct is that I don't want to see a band with an album called Folk Hop N' Roll.  But probably, if I just relax and stop being all judgy and shit, I'd have fun at this show.  We'll see how the schedule shakes out.

Asleep at the Wheel (2019)

One Liner: Every year's favorite western swing purveyors
Wikipedia Genre: Ameripolitan, Texas country, western swing (Ameripolitan is a new one for me).
Home: Austin, Texas

Poster Position: 17

Weekend One Only.

Thoughts: You know these guys, or if you don't, then you have never been to the opening morning of ACL on weekend one, when these guys are more predicable than grass turned to hay by day 3 and no AT&T cell service by 3pm each day. They still just crank up the excellent western swing stuff like they always have, and everything is all good.  Warms my heart that C3 continues to include them on the bill each year, despite the fact that attendance at their show probably wanes each year as more of the true Austinites at the festival die off and are replaced with 14 year olds vaping weed oil and asking where to find the EDM tent.

If you actually don't know them, then know that they have won nine Grammy awards, have over 20 albums, and have charted more than 20 songs on the Billboard country charts, while keeping alive a very particular type of country sound that was best exemplified by Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys.  Ray Benson is the lead singer, and the 6 foot 7 dude is kind of a legend of the Austin music scene by now.  They were voted the best country western band of 1977 by Rolling Stone, which is a weird award, but right on.

They actually released a new album in 2018, which is a new and exciting wrinkle for these previews, as otherwise, each year has just been listening to "Hot Rod Lincoln" and "Miles and Miles of Texas" all over again and half-assing a preview.  So, what do we have here?  2018 album called New Routes, which would make you think that they are gonna change up their style and make their long awaited EDM album or something, but nope.  More western swing, country rock, soft country, and rockabilly packed into 11 songs.  Some are covers ("Seven Nights to Rock," "Dublin Blues," "Willie Got There First.") but a lot are originals.  

I wanted to hate on them re-making Guy Clark's "Dublin Blues," because that song is a damn masterwork, and on first blush I thought this one wasn't very good, but on repeat listening, I've decided that I will allow it.  They also do a cool tune with the Avett Brothers, paying tribute to Willie's effect on the rest of us all. Good one.  None of the songs from this album crack their top ten most popular - deservedly, most of those popular tunes are from the Bob Wills tribute Still the King (which is great) - and most of these tunes have been streamed less than 50k times, so I'll give you the most streamed, the one with the Avetts.  "Willie Got There First," with 102k streams.

I could curl up and sleep in the voices of the Avetts.  Just warm and cool and perfect.  Good tune, acknowledging that he already did everything worth doing in country music.  "I had such a good idea for a song!  But Willie, he got there first."  Of course, that is an Avetts song, so let's see about one of their new originals on this album - this is "Jack I'm Mellow," the album opener and with 67k streams.

Not only is that a fun little tune, but the video as advertisement for Willie's Reserve weed and the Luck Ranch outside of town are both a good time.  Also cool to feature the violinist as the vocalist - maybe that had been happening in the past, but she (Katie Shore) appears to be a new addition to the band and she sounds great.  

Go see, 'em, kids.  They play the best renditions of Bob Wills tunes since the King himself.  

Bruce Hornsby and the Noisemakers

One Liner:  Surprisingly jammy new tunes from the 80's piano soft-pop mastermind

Wikipedia Genre: Improvisational multi-genre, jam band, rock, gospel, heartland rock, jazz, bluegrass, blues rock
Home: Williamsburg, VA 

Poster Position: 9

Both Weekends.

Thoughts:  Huh.  Who woulda thunk that Bruce Hornsby would turn his soft-rock piano stuff into a freak-jazz-jam-band style thing in his older age?  I'll readily admit that I enjoyed the classic Bruce Hornsby shit - the "Mandolin Rain" and "The Way It Is."  Wait, do you even remember that stuff?  Quick refresher - Bruce Hornsby and the Range brought the heat in 1986 with the album The Way It Is, which boasted the massively popular title track and several other great tracks.  57.5 million streams for that hit.

If you're a fan of rad late 90's hip hop, then you certainly recognize that lick and hook as co-opted by 2Pac in "Changes."  Which is a good track.  And the original is great as well.  But Hornsby's gig was jamming the piano - he was an unapologetic piano man.  Took home the 1987 Best New Artist Grammy for that initial album as well.

He's also jumped out and done some other weird things, like winning another Grammy for an album with Ricky Skaggs (for Best Bluegrass album) and then served as a member of the Grateful Dead from 1990 to 1992, playing over 100 shows with them.  

But this band, The Noisemakers, appears to have come about many years ago to serve as his touring band, but then they've made a handful of albums that are listed as being by Hornsby and the Noisemakers.  I have no clue what that means for the live show - are we getting a full career retrospective from Bruce, or will this only be those tracks that are on official Noisemaker albums?  

Taking a look at his setlist from a July 14 show in Ohio, it looks like this will be a full-on do-whatever-the-hell-they-want show.  His set includes multiple Bruce Hornsby & the Range tracks, a few Hornsby solo tracks, a 2Pac mashup (of Hornsby's "Sunflower Cat" + "California Love," which is wild), some Creedence, Staples Singers, Don Henley, and Robbie Robertson. So no clue what you'll hear in Austin, but I bet you get "The Way It Is."

Without any knowledge of what is coming, I'll just dig into his two most recent albums - 2016's Rehab Reunion (which is expressly with the Noisemakers) and 2019's Absolute Zero (which features all sorts of people, like Justin Vernon and somebody named yMusic).  The 2019 album is the one with the super strong jam band lean, although even the 2016 one has some of those aspects.  But they also have small pieces of folk, country, Irish traditionals, rock, jazz, and who knows what else.  But I think a lot of the jam-ish sound are the guitar solos.

And, it must be said, that his voice is still beautiful.  He's always had a wonderful voice, and time hasn't reduced his instrument any that I can tell.  He might not try as many of those top end notes, but when he jumps up and goes for it, they still sound tasty.

The final track of Rehab Reunion has the most streams, most likely because Mavis Staples is on it.  The track right before, "The Valley Road," has some of that Irish traditional sound, the jam-band guitar sound, and little to no featured piano parts.  But here is that Mavis track, "Celestial Railroad."

Nice little organ-fueled groove.  And its that mandolin solo-work that also sounds tight.

Absolute Zero is all over the place.  "Fractals" is like some freaky experimental jazz thing with his staccato piano angles bouncing up and down the keyboard.  The title song is more of a chill groove.  Sometimes, he almost sounds like solo Sting in some pieces, where Sting used to get worked up over a piano groove - like in "Meds."  "Voyager One" is a high energy one with more high hat than all the other tunes combined, until it goes into a rumbled little jam solo on some weird instrument for a minute.  But "Cast-Off," one of the tracks featuring Justin Vernon (Bon Iver for those of you who have slept) is the top streamer, at 484k.

Understated and lovely, with a distinctive sadness in the first minute or so before the drums and lyrics kick in.  Reminds me of some sad Peter Gabriel song I've heard before.  And the sax makes me think of Dave Matthews.

Random aside, Wikipedia says that he claims to have beaten Allen Iverson in one-on-one basketball three games in a row after helping Iverson get out of jail.  What in the hell is that all about?

I also found a live album back among the 20-something albums available from Hornsby on Spotify, that is called Here Comes the Noise Makers, so maybe that is a good indication of what they will sound like live (albeit from 1998, 1999, and 2000, so hopefully they will have some fresh material since then).  Still has a jam band feel, his great voice, and excellent piano playing.  A good sound.  And includes covers from Grateful Dead, Don Henley, Bob Dylan, and probably others I just can't identify.  Here is "Circus on the Moon," captured live last year by this whole posse, to give you a little flavor of what to expect.

A buncha gray haired dudes making nice tunes that would feel at home right in the middle of a String Cheese set.

I've been surprised at how much I have enjoyed these new BH albums.  Figured that this was just a nostalgia play for the old 80's heyday, but his new tunes are legitimately enjoyable stuff.  I could see doing this show.

Tyler Childers

One Liner:  Great lyricist making fine Americana and country music.

Wikipedia Genre: Country, bluegrass, Folk
Home: Lawrence County, Kentucky

Poster Position: 4 (the fourth freaking line!?!  Really?!?)

Both Weekends.

Thoughts:  A Kentucky Americana guy whose most recent album was produced by Sturgill Simpson?  Yeah, I'm in for that.  I give you that nugget of fact, but know that if you are looking for the next Sturgill, you'll likely be let down.  He has some great turns of phrase and very strong lyrics, and some of these tunes are good, but nothing on here is so genre-bending and powerful as what Sturgill brings to the table.  This is pretty straight-forward country/Americana with great lyricism.  

Fascinating that he is on the fourth line of this poster, with no track that breaks 25 million streams, and no name recognition among normal folks who I know.  I'm sure in country circles he is known and rising, I just find it interesting that a relative unknown like this is above people like Jenny Lewis or Metric or Third Eye Blind.  That being said, he may just be a star on the rise - he won Americana Music Honors' Emerging Artist of the Year in 2018.

I reviewed his 2017 album Purgatory a year or so ago when a friend told me about his live show, and there are two songs on there that stand out enough to be immediately noted here.  Funny thing, I was sure that I had pegged his top song with the reverb-filled "Universal Sound," but instead it is "Feathered Indians" by a mile - 24.4 million streams versus only 7.0 million.

Look at that opening couplet, man:

"Well my buckle makes impressions
On the inside of her thigh
There are little feathered Indians
Where we tussled through the night"


Freaking fantastic love song - well told tale of finding something to finally live for in the Appalachian hills.  This guy reminds me more of a Chris Knight or Slaid Cleaves, relatively simple tunes anchored by very good lyrics.  Which, I mean, I love both of those dudes.

The other killer song on that album is "Banded Clovis."  While I don't know squat about a banded clovis arrowhead, the story of "Banded Clovis," in which a desperate digger murders his buddy for a great arrowhead, is a banjo-fueled fine tale.  Perfectly told story, all in good rhyme and good music.  It's unbelievable that he's not a big time songwriter doing battle with Jason Isbell for the Crown or Townes.  

And although "Universal Sound" isn't his top streamer, it is still a great track - more appealing and less country-ish.  And it isn't even his second (or third, or fourth) most streamed track from this album.  Second most streamed is "Whitehouse Road" at 12.6 million.  Also, he had a 2017 three song EP thing called OurVinyl Sessions that boasts a track with over 12 million streams that is currently his second most popular track on Spotify top ten.  I'll give you that raw and ragged track as well, "Nose on the Grindstone."

Like an Appalachian or Irish folk hymn for modern times.  Feels like something that would have soundtracked a difficult scene in Justified or something, like a character falling back into heroin use and sinking into squalor.

His only other album as of now is his first, 2011's Bottles and Bibles, which is a much less polished disc of stories told over sparse accompaniment.  His voice is less strong, his guitar play less nuanced, it doesn't hold a candle to the newer album.  Lyrically interesting, but the music itself isn't there yet.  That being said, he was 19 years old when it came out.

He's from Lawrence County, Kentucky, and if you click on the Wikipedia entry for that county he is listed first as the person from there, before a dead Chief Justice of the USSC.  About 15k people in the county, and this is coal country bordering West Virginia.  Childers' dad was in the coal industry.

He has two new singles from 2019 - "All Your'n" and "House Fire" - which leads me to believe a new album is on the way.  And Wikipedia confirms that a new album is due on August 2.  "All Your'n" has a jammy, organ/piano fueled southern funk to it that is different than many of the prior songs.  But "House Fire" is winning the stream battle for now with a more traditional Americana direction.

That video is weird as hell - like some choreographer was like "y'all seen that Hamilton thing with all them dances?  We should do a redneck version of that with people from 1800's Kentucky!"  And meanwhile the guy with the red mustache just keeps chuckling by the fire while Childers burns his guitar.  SYMBOLISM!  Anyway, another good track though.

Loving this guy.  Would totally go see him do it all live.

Billy Strings

One Liner:  Pretty kickass bluegrass with a made-up name to match

Wikipedia Genre: Bluegrass, Americana, Rock and Roll
Home: Michigan

Poster Position: 22

Weekend One Only

Thoughts: Oh this stuff is lighting me on fire today.  Holy speed fingers rocking a banjo.  His most popular track is an almost 10 minute long barn burner of a bluegrass party called "Meet Me at the Creek," with 559k streams.  Live version, but check the kid out.

It's like if Nickel Creek grew up on a steady diet of rock and roll.  Although I'm a little disappointed that he's just playing the guitar on that track and not handling the banjo shreddage.  Also reminds me of that dude who plays with Allison Krauss - Dan Tyminksi, who did the "Man of Constant Sorrow" vocals.  Either way, give me a tune with a slammin' mandolin player and a banjo in the front of the mix, and I'm probably in for a pound.

Dude's real name is William Apostol, so I get the Billy part, and then I guess he did the Strings part because he plays instruments with strings?  Kinda like a mob guy going by Joey Bats or Freddy Piano Wire.  The name apparently came from an Aunt who noticed his skills on stringed instruments.  So its the aunt who has no originality.  His step-father was apparently a bluegrass picker of note, and introduced the kid to studs like Doc Watson and Bill Monroe and Ralph Stanley.  Rolling Stone called him a country artist to know and mentioned his prodigious speed in 2017.  So, if you dig some fast-fingered pickin' music, then this stuff is right up your alley.

His most streamed tune, and probably also his best, combines both humor and speed-picking badassery.  Country artists have lamented getting arrested and drugs for years from the outlaw country world, and this one slots right into there, but along with some ridiculous solo freakouts.  "Dust in a Baggie," with 645k streams.

"I used my only phone call to contact my daddy, got 20 long years for some dust in a baggie."  And holy damn hell, watch him at 2:25 or so when his guitar solo kicks in - his fingers do things that are illegal in 49 states and the District of Columbia.

One real album - 2017's Turmoil & Tinfoil - and one joint album with someone called Don Julin (that is either live music or just recordings done in a room with bad acoustics and some people who cheer every once in a while).  The real album is much better than the early thing - that one has a bunch of meandering instrumentals on it, I prefer the more polished newer sound.  Also one of those little four song EPs from OurVinyl Sessions, which is damn good, and which is where that recording up above comes from.

Pretty awesome, to be honest.  I know a lot of people wouldn't be interested in bluegrass, but if you like someone who is ridiculously skilled with an instrument in their hands, then this is the good stuff.  I'd go check it out.

Trampled by Turtles

One Liner: Bluegrass traditionalists who can haul ass on the banjo
Wikipedia Genre: Indie folk, alternative country, bluegrass
Home: Duluth, Minnesota

Poster Position: 10
Day: Saturday at 5:30
Weekend Two Only.

Thoughts:  I randomly reviewed these guys a few years ago when my sister-in-law showed me a video of their top single.  This is "Wait So Long," from 2011's Palomino, and it ranks up there for some of the fastest bluegrass I can think of.  Just over 26 million streams.

Loogit that dude playing the banjo at the start!  Like, how in the holy hell do you get your fingers to do that stuff so fast?  And then the first breakdown, after the first chorus, and they just fucking BLAZE!  I just got goosebumps watching it, and I've heard this song 80 times.  They're like feral, coiled beasts of bluegrass, just waiting for their moment to spring into frantic action and knock people out.

These dudes are from Duluth, Minnesota, of all places.  And not all of their music makes you frightened for the health of their finger tendons.  A lot of their tunes are more like Band of Horses with a banjo (which is a high complement in my mind).  They also have some absolutely terrible electronic remixes on Spotify, but I won't hold that against them.  Six guys in the band, and a bunch of albums (2004's Songs from a Ghost Town, 2005's Blue Sky and the Devil, 2007's Trouble, 2008's Duluth, 2011's Palomino, 2012's Stars and Satellites, 2013's Live at First Avenue, 2014's Wild Animals, and 2018's Life is Good on the Open Road).  Nine albums is pretty legit for modern bluegrass purveyors.  I have a feeling they bring the thunder at live shows.

On top of their own music, they also have two highly rad covers - Tom Petty's "Wildflowers" and The Pixies "Where is My Mind."  I just had a guy in my office who heard the Pixies one, and we both reminisced about that great final scene in Fight Club.

And here is this band's version, which is pretty solid.

I like it.  And kind of cool music video with the lyrics.  The Petty cover is also super solid.  RIP Tommy P!

Now, what you've all been waiting for, the Tiny Desk!  I can only imagine the number of spontaneous orgasms that the people who work for NPR had as this banjo and mandolin freakout unfolded in their office.  All sorts of patchouli-scented jizz firing inside hemp jeans.

Man, that first tune blazes, then the second one opens up all the feels with a contemplative melody.  These guys are excellent instrumentalists.  And the comment saying that Hodor plays a mean fiddle is amazing.  They've only got one other tune with more than 10 million streams, so I'll hand that one to you now - "Alone," with 10.7 million streams.

Lovely.  One of the comments said that tune was played at the commenter's brother's funeral.  Holy criminy.  Not a dry eye to be had in that place when he sings that we all die alone.  Damn.

Their catalog doesn't vary much (except those aforementioned techno remixes), so you could pretty much jump in anywhere and enjoy it.  The new album is good, the middle album is good, their early stuff is good.  If you like banjo and mandolin and heartfelt lyricism, then this is your jam.

Absolutely on board with seeing these dudes do their thing.  I may have to do some convincing to get my buddy to go the bluegrass route, but I'm up for the challenge.

Sleepy Man

One Liner: Bluegrass boy band from New Jersey (for real)
Wikipedia Genre: Bluegrass, country, Roots music
Spotify Says Similar To: Steep Canyon Rangers and Cadillac Sky
Home: Lebanon Township, New Jersey

Poster Position: 26
Slot: Saturday, ?

Thoughts:  Their Wikipedia page speaks of several albums in their history, but none are available on Spotify.  All you get on Spotify is a 2014 EP and then two 2016 singles.  Their website has a non-bio that looks like they just kept the place-holder page in their web-publishing software.  But the photos on that website show that these guys look like they are about 13.  It's like a bluegrass boy band!  And the lead singer sounds like some emo singer I know.  Or is it the Yellowcard guy?  It's a very high pitched voice that sounds a little odd over the top of the rip-roaring banjo attack.
The most popular track on Spotify for them right now is one of those two new singles, "Your Smile," which has 126k streams.

Someone has noticed that using "wooooaoooohh, woooooaaaooooohhh" in pop songs is a key ingredient to success.  This sounds, other than the underlying banjo plucking, like some pop song that I'd hear on the radio right about now, a pop track from the newest boy band, that just happens to include banjo.  Their other recent single, "Feeling I'm Awake" sounds more like a purposeful homage to Mumford.  And several of the songs on the EP sound like a young lady singing them, but I assume it is the same dude.  For the next song, while it isn't their most listened to, I think the breakdown action on "By My Side" is worth giving this one to you to hear.  221k streams.

Live version that involves a weird emotionless girl from Finland, but you get the idea.  I find it fascinating to watch the eight year old (probably eight, I'm not looking it up) pick the shit out of that banjo while appearing to barely move.  The acoustics of that video are garbage, but their tune is great and they seem pretty rad.  And then there is this shit.

Holy hannah.  Banjo baby breaks it down, the pretty one with the guitar tears it up, then violin guy fires up that bow.  I'm a big fat sucker for the bluegrass breakdown freakout.  I'd be the guy in the aisle screaming WHOOWEEEE! and slapping myself in multiple places while kicking those around me.  OK, dammit, now I want to look up their ages.  How can they do that shit with their hands?

Here is a TED talk video from 2012 where the banjo player really does look 8.  Hold on... they just said he was 10.  Wikipedia says they were born in 2002, 1998, and 1997, so by now these guys are actually super crazy old, like between 15 and 20.  Ha!  At 15 I could probably strum, very slowly, a G, D, and C on the guitar.  These kids jam.  Don't know if I'll actually go see it in person, but they really can jam out.  Oooh, look, they play Saturday.  I'll make my kids go watch this and then tell them how disappointed I am in their lack of ability.

The Strumbellas

One Liner: Poppy alternative folk with that one hit about spirits in my head and guns that rattle, or something.

Poster Position: 12

Thoughts:  I just read something about these guys in Rolling Stone where they were apparently failing and were super jealous of the Lumineers and Mumford because those guys had made this folky sound into popular tracks.  So they started taking apart Miley Cyrus and Katy Perry to figure out what made their songs into pop hits, and integrated that into their new sound.  With that in their ears, they created their big hit, "Spirits."

That track has 27.3 million streams on Spotify, and their closest track is at 2.5 million, so you can tell which tune has hit the radio waves.  I honestly thought this was a Lumineers track when I first heard it.  Pretty good track.  These dudes are from Canada, and although I'd never heard of them before now, I hear exactly what RS was talking about in their story.  "Spirits" (and other tunes on 2016's Hope) is definitely more polished and poppy, while their debut EP (2009's The Strumbellas EP) sounds like bluegrass folk stuff with no pop lean, all banjos and harmonies and lyrics about woodsmen.  It's actually really enjoyable.
After that five song EP, they put out a 2012 album, called My Father and the Hunter, which sticks true to the bluegrass sound and is also good.  Very Lumineers sounding, maybe a little Avett Brothers too.  I think that is their best album of the three full length albums.  2014's We Still Move on Dance Floors won a Juno award, has a pretty spot-on Beach Boy's song ("Sailing"), and is also good, but I think the earlier album is better.  I think the worst album of the bunch is the new one that is trying to access the pop vote.  Not a bad album, just third place in the bunch.

"In This Life" is the most popular track from an album other than Hope, this one is from We Still Move on Dance Floors and has just over a million Spotify streams.

Great song.  That should be a real hit.  I think I'd go see these cats do their thing if I had the time in the schedule.  While I may think that their older stuff sounds better, their new stuff is still pretty solid. Cool new find.

Rhiannon Giddens

Soulful voice walking a thin line between bluegrass and blues.  I've looked at her music twice before, once with the New Basement Tapes supergroup, and then for the release of her first solo album.  That album, 2015's Tomorrow is my Turn, is really nice.  And mostly covers.  Her voice is velvety smooth like warm honey, I love it.  

Her most popular and most listened-to track on Spotify is a cover of "Forever Young" that was apparently used for NBC's show Parenthood.  A duet with Sam Beam of Iron & Wine, it clocks in at 879k listens.

I bet eight million tears were shed when that song played over some special montage of the ending of that show.  I watched the first few seasons and then just got exhausted by the soap opera aspects of it and gave up.  My wife still chastises me for not sticking it out.  If she reads this review and hears that song, she'll likely bawl all over again.  Sweet version of the song though.

From that new album, she's got three tracks that crack six-figure listens.  The most popular of those is "Don't Let it Trouble Your Mind," with 334k.

Live version, but check it out.  Sultry and powerful (and according to the comments beforehand, a Dolly Parton song).  Men who don't step right, you can step right on off.  Dolly and Rhiannon will tell you what's up.  My favorite of those top three songs off the new album is called "Shake Sugaree," and it has just over 150k listens.

A little mountain music, baby.  A million years ago, my sister made me a ton of tapes for the car, and one of them was a Taj Mahal mixtape, which is the only recollection I have of this song, but I dig it. "everything I got is done in pawn" is a good lyric.  If you want to trip down a rabbit hole into the meaning of that song, be my guest: philblank.net/Shake%20Shoccoree.doc

Giddens got her name from a book called Mabinogion, "the Welsh mythological epic," which is way cooler than what I thought, which is that her mom liked Fleetwood Mac.  Prior to this solo career, she was the singer for the Grammy-winning Carolina Chocolate Drops.  I've never heard them before, but I might give them a shot once this project is over.  In addition to her album, she also has an album on Spotify called "All the Pretty Horses," which is kind of a world music pastiche of Celtic sounds with occasional French or unidentified languages thrown in.  I actually enjoyed hearing it today.

As for my final thought, I honestly have enjoyed listening to her new album.  In general terms, this is kind of like the Norah Jones albums a few years ago, I can fully appreciate the fact that this is really well-done and beautiful music, but it doesn't mean that I'm going to go back and listen to it again and again.  I likely won't search out her show at the festival, but I'm not ruling it out either.