Jack Rose w/ the Black Twig Pickers @ Terrastock....

The fantastic American Primitive guitar man Jack Rose has teamed up with one of the best old time/fiddle/string bands around The Black Twig Pickers! Their new self-titled album is out now on Klang records ($20 if you wanna know what it'll cost ya). Jack's solo guitar records have been slay'n ears for quite awhile. Add the Black Twigs sound to his brand of guitar pick and you've got some HOT tunes to melt your butter with. The Black twigs bring some clawhammer fretless banjo, fiddle, harmonica, and some fantastic washboard & other percussian sounds like fiddlesticks to the mix and not to mention for the first time I believe vocals on a Jack Rose records. I was lucky enough to catch the Jack/Black set at Terrastock and in my opinion it was one of the highlights of the entire festival. Which at the time of the festival the Dr. Ragtime and Pals had just been reissued which was a Jack Rose Lp w/ some guest spot by the Black Twigs. The new album is the blossoms of the seeds planted on Dr. Ragtime Lp. So do yourself a favour if you enjoy sittin on the porch sippin beer or bourbon and enjoying some good tunes than this is what you need.

Revenant Records...........

Revenant records is/was John Fahey's second record label he helped establish. For quite some time now it has been quiet. The last release was the Albert Ayler box-set that came out a few years back. 2004? maybe? Well I think they did have a release in 2005 that being Vol. II of the American Primitive series. Regardless of when the last release was my writing this is to tell you to dig into this labels catalog and buy anything you find to help keep it alive and to do your ears & brain some good with some of the greatest music ever released. There is a bright spot on the horizon though Revenant & Dust-to-Digital (another fantastic re-issue label) are going to team up for the possible release of John Faheys earliest recordings he did on Joe Bussards Fonotone records. So get out there and splurge a $150 on the Charley Patton box-set or the Sir Richard Bishop album or the Charlie Feathers collection. You will not be let down and maybe it'll help keep these types of releases coming out for years to come......
http://www.revenantrecords.com/


John

Some things I dug in 2008..........

some things I dug in 2008................

the Black Twig Pickers - Hobo Handshake (VHF)
- Live @ Terrastock Louisville, KY w/ Jack Rose
- split 7" w/ Jack Rose

Jack Rose - one of my favorite American primitive guitar players out there......
- I Do Play Rock & Roll (3lobed)
- & some killer re-issues as well this year
- as mentioned above his Terrastock set

Mississippi Records - Killer re-issue label out of Portland, Oregon that have been
doin it for a few years now......20's & 30's blues records to
80's new wave........
- The Rats - The Rats (one of Fred Cole's {Dead Moon}
early bands)
- All their blues/gospel & world comps taken from 78's

Holy Modal Rounders - Bound To Lose DVD

Crappy Nightmareville - Nautilus 7" (blackvelvetfuckere)

Larry Brown - Author - I just discovered this guy a few months back and have
tried to read everything of his I can get my hands on.
If you like Faulkner or O'Conner sure you'll dig this too.

Bejeezus magazine - One of my fave mags out there. 'A must' read.....

The Mississippi Marvel - The World Must Never Know (Broke & Hungry)
- Broke & Hungry records are doin a fine job pickin up
where Fat Possum left off.........

Terrastock - Louisville, KY - just look at my photos I've posted in my photo
section....

Kramers Ergot 7 (Buenaventura Press) - Food for your eyes........

Charlie Feathers - Long Time Ago vol. 1-3 (norton) - Killer re-issue of rare &
unreleased tracks.........the king of rock-a-billy.......

Dust-to-Digital Records - Anything this label puts out is gold to me. They've done
no & can do no wrong in my opinion........

Hank Williams - Mothers Best Radio Transcriptions (15 discs)
- a nice compliment to the 10 disc complete set......

Comic Books - diggin through some choice back issues........
- Hate!
- Freak Brothers
- Doofus
- The Watchmen

Michael Hurley - Bootlegs.......had to get snock on the list somewhere......

now for a quick list.........

-Carolina Chocolate Drops - Dona Got A Ramblin Mind
-Alan & Richard Bishop - The Brothers Unconnected (tour disc)
-MV & EE - Snakes Pass & Other Human Conditions (cassette)
-The George Mitchell Collection Vol. 1-45 (7" series)
-Nimrod Workman - I Want To Go Where Things Are Beautiful
-Andre Williams & the New Orleans Hellhounds - Can You Deal With It?
-Jim Ford - The Sounds Of Our Times
-Tom T. Hall - Storyteller, Poet, Philosopher
- Vetiver - Things Of The Past & More Of The Past (cover records)
-Steve Lacy & Roswell Rudd - School Days
-Billy Joe Shaver - Everybody's Brother
-Vandermark 5 - Beat Reader
-Hasil Adkins - Any
-Townes Van Zandt - Any
-NRBQ - Any

Might add more later........

John

Mississippi Records.......

In the past year I've come to know & love this record label out of Portland, Oregon. Most of it's releases are various artist compilations but a few focus on a singular artist. The comps. are what dragged me in. The first one I saw at ear-x-tacy in Louisville, KY was one titled 'Last Kind Word(1926-1953)' which is filled with vintage 78rpm recordings and I think a few come from some field recordings done a little after the dates provided on the cover. Most tracks are straight forward gospel tunes others are more blues than gospel but still dealing with the spiritual side of life but at times the darker parts of it. To top it off the cover artwork and the notes on the rear cover were sparse, nothing like Harry Smith's notes on the Anthology of American Folk Music but it added an air of mystery to the recordings lying inside. Along with the comps they've done Albums of Skip James & a fave of mine Fred Cole's 'The Rats' which is a late 70's early 80's garage/punk group by the man who would later form the fantastic Dead Moon. So they don't focus just on the vintage 78's they focus on what sounds good to them be it 1930's blues, 1960's gospel or 1970's garage/punk. Any music fan of any of vintage 78's though would do themselves well by checking these fantastic comps out. I think wikipedia has a little info about them but there isn't much else out there on this label. The new issue of Arthur magazine's recent online only issue has a little article about this label as well as some other like-minded labels. So do something good for yourself and seek out some of these records which aren't easy to come by (most issued in vinyl only format and pressing only a 1000 of each release) but worth the hunt.