For those of you who like your Country to be a wee bit more left field than men with hats and Taylor Swift look no further than the Rough Trade Shops Country 1 compilation from 2003.
It is from this record that I took The Dream Syndicate's Dylan cover which I featured on Saturday
An excellent selection of artists and songs
You would expect me to like it given that I have albums by more than half of the artists featured on the shelves
As Howe Gelb states in the sleevenotes - a lot of them were done in that peculiar time in the 80's when it was still possible to fall between the cracks and not be pigeon holed
Today I give you some dark gothic country from Tarnation, a band that I never saw twice and featuring the unique and wonderful voice of Paula Frazer together with Violent Femmes a band that not many would describe as Country but who make a splendid racket.
Tarnation - Lonely Lights
Violent Femmes - Country Death Song
There's some very good tunes knocking about our little corner of the internet this morning and these are right up there with the best of 'em. Any post featuring the voices of both Paula Frazer and Gordon Gano is ok by me.
ReplyDeleteLaughed at your never saw them twice comment. How true that is of missing gigs for a host of banal reasons. Here's a twist on that. I've always been smugly pleased of catching Herman Dune at their sole appearance at The Grapes in Sheffield (seen 'em elsewhere in Sheff of course but there's a cachet somehow of seeing them at that particular venue, an upstairs room basically) Anyhow, I was googling earlier this week to check when the gig was (don't ask me why) only to discover they'd played there six times in all! Talk about a blow to the solar plexus. Bloody serves me right for being so effin conceited!
ReplyDeleteSpence
DeleteThe first time I never saw Tarnation was in Sheffield!
http://charitychicmusic.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/the-first-time-i-never-saw-tarnation.html