Various Artists: "Rig Rock Deluxe"
Diesel Only Records, Upstart 025 (52 mins)
Dial-a-track code: 1201
The Coyotes: "Coyotes"
Round Tower, RTM CD85 (36 mins) Dial-a-track code: 1311
The Delevantes: "Long About That Time"
Rounder, CD9041 (42 mins)
Dial-a-track code: 1421
We open the new year with a tip of the stetson to a minor star who was a major influence on new country music. The details of the death of Texas singer/songwriter Townes Van Zandt are still a little sketchy (no doubt how this elusive man would have preferred it), but Dublin musician Pete Cummins, who played on Van Zandt's last studio album, says that he died after fellow songwriter Guy Clark had brought him home following a routine hospital procedure. For over 25 years Van Zandt pursued a trail low on commercial achievement but rich in artistic value. Songs like Poncho and Lefty and White Freight Liner Blues made famous by, among others, Emmylou Harris and Jimmy Dale Gilmore, are a testament to his distinctive talent. But Tecumsah Valley, from his 1968 album Our Mother The Mountain, stands clear in my mind as a wonderfully moving example of his strange, high, lonesome style.
His songs crop up occasionally amid the feast of music on show this week. Rig Rock Deluxe follows the theme of two other country music tributes to truckers, Rig Rock Truckstop and Rig Rock Jukebox and is compelling proof of the value, in the right hands, of the country compilation. The 16 tracks are full of humour and pathos, muscle and tears and display the variety and vitality for which country music is all too often found wanting.
Vintage rockers may remember an Irish band called Stagalee and its leader, Errol Walsh. Well, just to prove that old rockers don't die, they just go country, he turns up as the main man in The Coyotes, an impressive if understated band whose debut album is likewise. Walsh's classy songs are light years ahead of the average Nashville fare - and the playing isn't bad either, though the production could have been better.
The Delevantes are an earnest brother duo from New Jersey who have transplanted themselves to Nashville with happy results. At times redolent of Steve Forbert, Bob and Mike Delevante's jingle-jangle, Byrdslike, guitar-filled songs have a ring of honesty and dusty experience, the sort of music made for small halls and twilight bars. Listen to the rattling title track, the gentle I Wish I Were A Cowboy and the hook-filled Change Of Heart if you seek conclusive evidence.
Emmylou Harris: "Portraits"
Reprise Archives, 9362-45308-2 (3 CDs, 223 mins)
Dial-a-track code: 1531
Various Artists: "The Real Music Box"
Rounder, CD AN 25 (9 CDs, 580 mins)
Dial-a-track code: 1641
Emmylou's three-CD retrospective kicks off with Boulder To Bermingham, and with it the case rests. At her best, as she frequently is on this tastefully presented and comprehensively-annotated collection, she can melt the coldest heart with a twist of that pure bittersweet voice. But she is much more than a good singer who had the luck to touch the genius of the late, great Gram Parsons. All her career Harris has fought the good fight, seeking out songs to believe in, songs that reflect her instinctive emotional and intellectual belief in what she does. That search has led her down some cul de sacs, but when the music was right, it was magical. She spent 18 years with Reprise. The early years were arguably the best, when innocence and knowingness were fighting for her hand and her voice was fresh and fragile; but her career with the label had many highs, as this essential collect ion faithfully records.
In more or less the same time-frame Rounder Records has grown from a small enthusiastic enterprise into one of the most important roots labels in the world. This mighty collection was released to mark the label's 25th anniversary two years ago, but I've just got my paws on it. There are four double CDs covering the label's blues, folk, Cajun and country/bluegrass with another covering all parts in between for good measure. Together they represent a treasure trove of American music and, at £34.99, one of the best bargains you are likely to come across this year.
