Bentley’s Bandstand: December 2023
By Bill Bentley
Anohni and the Johnsons, My Back Has a Bridge for You to Cross. There is no one like Anohni singing right now. Once known as Antony, Anohnii is an indescribable artist who has invented their own style. It is one full of beauty, spirit, originality and even a certain stridency that raises the stakes to a high intensity. This is a human who has had to invent their own way of living, and to do that headed into the wilderness and came back fully formed as a new being. The music signals a time where everyone is able to find their own state of living, and using freedom as a blueprint this voice becomes like a stepping stone into a different land. Songs like “It’s My Fault,” “Scapegoat,” “Why Am I Alive Now?” and especially “You Be Free” are the sounds of a future world, one where the past can be left behind and the future is up for grabs. Everything can change.
Kevin Burt & Big Medicine, Thank You Brother Bill: A Tribute to Bill Withers. There is no doubt soul singer Bill Withers was one of the most engaging artists of the 1970s. He wrote incredibly personal songs, saw the full sweep of music across the social scope of America and always had a spiritual spark on originals like “Lean on Me” and “World Keeps Going Round and Round.” Kevin Burt is a stone-cold disciple of Bill Withers, and zeroes in on the deep, deep feelings that Withers always shared so well in his songs. This tribute album hits right on the money for the kind of feelings that the best soul music always captures. Every one of the tracks on THANK YOU BROTHER BILL delivers the very best of what the songs are capable of. Kevin Burt has captured the most moving aspects of each of the selections, and when he really hits the top on “Grandma’s Hands” and “Ain’t No Sunshine” it’s clear we’re hearing the most personal connections we all have. It’s all real.
D.K. Harrell, The Right Man. There are those who get on a mission with the blues and there really is no turning back. It’s the one thing they know they can count on, and when they’re able to really express themselves with the blues they know they’ve found their life’s calling. Listening to D.K. Harrell there is never any doubt that this is the music he is supposed to be creating. It’s in his voice, it’s in his hands on the guitar and it’s in his heart. What’s really amazing is just how strong and present he can take the sounds of the past and give them a total place in the present. Harrell’s guitar is modern at the same it strikes the chords of music that came before.. Which is not that easy a thing to do. But this man stretches across generations in a way that is not too common. It takes an imagination and dedication that is beyond logic. It just is. THE RIGHT MAN is exactly that. D.K. Harrell has found his place and there is no telling how far he will go. But the blues man has what it takes to make it to the big stage. That’s for sure.
Michelle Malone, Fan Favorites Vol. 1 Unplugged. Here is a singer-songwriter who finds power on the road. It’s obvious from the first note of Michelle Malone’s live acoustic album that she has discovered her own fountain of youth. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, Malone is someone who takes the timelessness of songs that can infuse her voice with a strength that only comes from a true believer. Collecting a dozen of her original songs (along with two written with others), she is able to turn the concert into an in-depth excursion into her deepest feelings. With vocals that sound like she has come to testify for all she believes, this is someone who is unafraid of sharing emotions that most keep hidden inside. Along with guitarist Doug Kees, the night turns into a rousing testimonial to Southern sounds at their finest. From rock & roll, blues, gospel and country-soul, Michelle Malone turns up the lovelights for all who live for music like this. Do not miss.
Robbie Mangiardi, The People You Love. One of music’s greatest thrills is when someone appears totally out of the blue, with no real announcement. But through their songs, it’s like a bright new presence has announced themselves, and the power of the surprise is something never forgotten. That’s Robbie Mangiardi and his new album. It’s got some of the strongest country roots of anything recently released, and causes wonder about just where he came from. Turns out he’s from the East coast, but has found a southern style where his songs are born, and a delivery that has a sureness about it that cannot be missed. It’s like Mangiari arrives to show just how wonderful a musical surprise can be. Produced by music veteran Herb Pedersen, these eight songs really are all-timers, whether it’s the depth of the title song, “Moment of Weakness,” “Thank You for Breaking My Heart” or “Where the Waters Run.” Robert Mangiardi’s voice never misses. There is no trick to how he delivers his truths. The man sings like he’s waited his whole life to get here, and he’s only going forward. It’s called belief, and there’s a good chance it will take the man all the way. Mangiardi has arrived.
James Talley, Bandits, Ballads and Blues. There are only a handful of singer-songwriters in the country music scene that can raise to the personal standards of James Talley over the past 50 years. Starting with his historic debut album GOT NO BREAD, NO MILK, NO MONEY, BUT WE SURE GOT A LOT OF LOVE, this is an artist who has always kept his eye on the sparrow and done his very best to share his feelings, insight and pure love of music with the world. It’s been a soul-testing ride to be sure, but Talley has never done anything but his best. Now, at the start of 2024 with producer Dave Pomeroy’s aid, to release 12 songs of such majestic wonder almost feels like a Music City miracle. The tracks, from “The Love Song of Billy the Kid” to “Fort Summer Blues” strike home with a power that isn’t that easy to find these days. There is a reservoir of depth in each and every one that gives shivers in their insight into the human condition. Ranging from sheer beauty to heart-stabbing pathos is as memorable as anything being recorded today. Maybe that’s because James Talley has never budged an inch from being as real as real gets. He may write with a keen eye for how life is lived in the world now, but there is an infinite understanding for all that is underneath the obvious which the man captures like very few other songwriters can today. In so many ways, it feels like the real story of America is being offered on songs like “If We Could Love One Another,” “For Those Who Can’t,” “The Dreamer,” “In These Times” and all the others with a sure hand and soulful eye. For the ages.
Tommy Taylor, Across the Stars. Talk about surprises. For many decades Tommy Taylor has been the go-to drummer in Central Texas for a wide range of musicians. He may have first found fame in his long position with Christopher Cross’ outfit, including the incredible success Cross had starting in the late 1970s, but Taylor is so much more than that the mind fairly boggles. And to prove that once and for all is his new album ACROSS THE STARS. In some ways it feels like it is arriving as an overwhelming surprise. Everything about the release–the songs, the production by Taylor and Mark Hallman with Michael Omartian joining the pair on the last track, the singing, the playing, all of it–has a breathtaking beauty that it’s hard to easily explain. There are those accomplishments that come only once or twice a year, and when they arrive it is not possible to predict where they come from. But arrive they do on ACROSS THE STARS. Starting with Tommy Taylor’s voice. He has the emotional range and singing ability to put him in a class as strong as Jackson Browne. Every song feels like it is exactly where it’s supposed to be, sculpted along with various musicians in a way that is nothing short of timeless. Not unlike that there is an inevitable march of time pushing the music forward, weighing in with history like very few rock releases are able to capture today. Taylor wrote all the songs in a way that feels everything is of one piece, fitting together like a fine novel or film, and leading to a highly emotional end with the last song, “The Party.” All the tracks are a highlight as well, like a complicated life is being explained in a way that nothing else can. “Everybody’s Gonna Let You Down” in some ways feels like the linchpin of the set, but not necessarily forever. Hope does raise its hand to spring eternal before ACROSS THE STARS is over, but needless to say it involves a sense of sureness to get to the conclusion. Chalk Tommy Taylor’s new musical opus up to sheer resolve, and then say a prayer there will be more. Tommy Taylor’s time.
Various Artists, Stax Christmas. It’s true that the official Christmas season is over for another year, but the real test of the very best holiday songs are those that sound good all the way around the calendar. Those songs may resonate a little deeper in December, but they are always welcome body boilers anytime and anywhere. And the greatest example of this equal listening affair is the songs that came out of the unbeatable Stax Records studio in Memphis starting in the 1960s. How could they not hit the monkey nerve whenever heard when the artists performing them include Otis Redding, the Staple Singers, Carla Thomas, Rufus Thomas and others of equal emotional stature? The musicians on all these tracks usually include one or all of Stax’s A-team house band Booker T. & the MGS, who even have their own rendition of “Winter Wonderland” included on Santa’s list here. There is no mistaking the downhome delectability of these dozen beauties, and the ways each one carves out its own niche whether the songs are well-known bell ringers are the slightly more off-track slammer like”Santa Claus Wants Some Lovin'” brought home by Albert King. In the season of giving and receiving what’s better than a big mess of Memphis holiday songs to make everything groove? Ho Ho Ho!
Allan Wachs, Mountain Roads & City Streets. It might be more correct to call this vinyl pressing of Allan Wach’s MOUNTAIN ROADS & CITY STREETS a reissue, but just for fun it’s going in the new release section. What hopefully will happen is that people will listen to these ten songs with totally fresh ears and discover one of the great American albums of folk-based music ever recorded. Wachs’ mixture of country-edged musical styles and a hard-eyed look at American culture hasn’t quite been equaled since its original release in 1979 on Wachs’ small independent label True Vine Records. When first heard 45 years ago, there weren’t a lot of other contemporary albums like it. With Wachs wandering up and down the West Coast highways, from Los Angeles’s wild-eyed metropolis to the rural wilderness of Oregon’s coast, the man was able to see what the country had been and what it was quickly turning into. With songs like “Adventures of the Invisible Dog” and “Least of My Strangers” bumping into “The Lord Will Provide” and “Traveling Light,” the musician was able to capture a shifting culture that hadn’t really found its real footing. Not that it has today, but with all the confusing elements of the world’s present craziness, it’s a unique occasion to hear from a singer-songwriter who was looking at America when an open-eyed wonder was a bit more possible. Hearing how Allan Wachs captured that time is something that won’t ever happen again. Listen and feel.
Hannah White, Sweet Revolution. It isn’t always easy to tap into the British music world from the United States. There is usually a whole new wave of singers and songwriters breaking through the record charts, and without a guide book it can be a large load to take on. But every few months there is another upcoming talent that seems to get the pick to be someone of long-term abilities. For right now, that British singer-songwriter is Hannah White. The young woman’s sound is not only original, and it is one that calls for attention. It also is a high mark that White writes all the songs herself. Having been described as “Americana noir” in the UK press, this is someone who is capturing several nominations and awards for this new album, and holds the kind of promise that other English newcomers are often lauded for. With Hannah White, the most important element is that she sounds like someone who has her eye on a long career, one where songs like “Chains of Ours,” “One Foot” and others keep her away from someone who will capture the spotlight now, only to soon disappear. White has all the markings of a singer-songwriter whose inspirations come from a permanent place, one that could deliver success now but also give her the chance to develop over the next decades. For someone who feels like there are such long-range possibilities, SWEET REVOLUTION takes on the glow of poignant possibilities and a long road of growth. Female solo artists have a very proud history in the UK music world, and here’s a new entry ready to join that parade. Now and always.
Reissue of the Month
Lazy Lester, All Over You: 25th Anniversary Edition. There were enough swamp blues kingpins to fill an Angola Prison bus in Louisiana, but for sure in the front row of seats would be Leslie Johnson, aka Lazy Lester. The man started recording for Excello Records in the Pelican State in the late 1950s, and stayed at it for over a half-century. He had dozens of regional hits, and even knocked a few out of the ballpark all the way to England to influence the early British invasion bands like the Rolling Stones, Kinks, Yardbirds and others. Lazy Lester’s semi-hit “I’m a Lover Not a Fighter” became like a theme song, and as he continued playing wherever he could find an audience he worked his way to the top. Lazy Lester’s harp playing was down and dirty, and he didn’t worry about blowing fancy solos or complicated accompaniment to his songs. Instead, he went for the heart on releases like “Nothing But the Devil,” “My Home is a Prison” and “The Sun Is Shining. Once the bluesman made it to Austin starting in the 1980s he knew he’d found a home among acolytes like the Fabulous Thunderbirds’ Kim Wilson and others there who had centered around Antone’s nightclub. He’d start shows with his philosophical mantra: “Have fun. It’s later than you think,” and then take it to the top from there. ALL OVER YOU was released on Antone’s Records 25 years ago, and gets a supreme sonic makeover on this vinyl reissue, and with a band that includes guitarists Sue Foley and Derek O’Brien, bassist Sarah Brown, drummer Mike Buck and pianist Gene Taylor there is no way these songs are going anywhere but straight for the bullseye. There won’t be anymore blues giants like Lazy Lester, so start right and hear what the Louisiana Man was able to do in the 1980s with a studio full of musical heroes, some of the best swamp blues songs ever written, and all delivered by a singer and harp player who helped invent swamp blues to begin with. Lazy Lester rules.
Book of the Month
Paul Barry, Blowin’ Like Hell: The William Clarke Story. Blues harmonica players seem to come out with an intensity that not all musicians have. Maybe it’s the amount of air they need to play on such a small instrument, or it could be that the sounds that come from their heart have little room for mistakes. The great harmonica players, like Little Walter, George Smith, Paul Butterfield and others leave little room for error, and carry themselves with a deep seriousness churning inside. Which is exactly where William Clarke enters the picture. Writer Paul Barry has dug deep into the musician’s past, and the way he followed Clarke’s journey through the blues is a breathtaking tale. Not always for the faint-hearted, it’s obvious that the Californian was born to find a place in music, and without doubt it was meant to be the blues. It’s a style that isn’t chosen as much as it chooses those who play it. It’s almost like there is no choice to it. And as twisting and turning as William Clarke’s life unfolded, there is also a great generosity and joy to all he did. He gambled to play the only music that made any sense to him, and took it to the highest limits he could. Even when the Californian crawled inside the bottle a little too deep. And there is no doubt this is a musician who wouldn’t have had it any other way. Clarke carried himself like he’d hit the jackpot, and when it comes to living the life that’s exactly what he did. Paul Barry captures it all, and there’s a good chance there might not be many more players like William Clarke that had this chance. Blues or lose.
Bentley’s Bandstand: December 2023
