Posts Tagged ‘Buddy Miller’

The Popdose Interview: Shawn Colvin

She was a major pop star for about 15 minutes back in 1997. Before and since, she’s been one of the leading lights of “Americana” music and perhaps the most important singer/songwriter – male or female – of the last 20 years. She’s a big favorite of ours at Popdose; you can read some of our many thoughts about her here, here, and here — and those links don’t even include the brilliant Idiot’s Guide that was lost in the Jefitoblog Disaster of 2007.

Last week Popdose horned in on Colvin’s downtime at home in Austin, TX, following the July 3 conclusion of the high-profile Three Girls and Their Buddy tour – on which she matched songs and wits with Emmylou Harris, Patty Griffin and Buddy Miller. Starting this week, Colvin is hitting the road on her own throughout the summer and fall. After opening a couple shows for Jackson Browne this weekend in New England, she’ll be headlining smaller venues armed with nothing but an acoustic guitar and her catalog of folk-pop gems. She’ll no doubt perform some of the songs that appear on her new Live album, which she considers her first proper in-concert recording.

What made this the right time for a live album?
No other reason than the fact that I haven’t really done one. There were some live cuts on [1994’s Cover Girl] record, but for someone who’s been playing live for so long, and doing it solo in a way that audiences have always seemed to appreciate, it seemed like, why not now?

Well, there was the Live ’88 CD.
Oh. I’d kind of forgotten about that…

Sounds like you don’t consider it a major part of your catalog.
(laughs) ’Spose not, huh?

I never heard much about the circumstances of that release [which was an expanded version of the Live Tape she sold at gigs before signing with Columbia in 1988]. Were you involved much at all? Do you have any rights to the material, or receive any royalties from it?
Well, I have rights to the material … My recollection is that it was a release on a small label [Plump Records] that belonged to my manager at the time. It was sort of a favor to him.

I was at one of the gigs at the Bottom Line [in New York] where you recorded the live tracks that appeared on Cover Girl.
You were there? Huh! Well, those were solo performances, but they got added onto. I had an A&R guy at the time who was also a musician – and that’s a bad combination. He said he wanted to “semi-produce” some of those live tracks, so it didn’t turn out to be purely what I had envisioned. I mean, the studio tracks on that record were what I wanted them to be, but some of the live stuff didn’t come out the way I would have liked it to. (more…)

CD Review: Levon Helm, “Electric Dirt”

Levon Helm - Electric DirtIn the late 1990s, Levon Helm was diagnosed with throat cancer. The radiation treatments reduced his once powerful voice to a mere rasp. Unable to make any money touring or recording, the medical and other bills piled up. For a time, it looked like his beloved home in Woodstock, NY would face foreclosure. That was the impetus for the creation of the now famous Midnight Ramble in early 2004. The Ramble takes place in the studio attached to Levon’s house every Saturday night that Levon is in town. Having had the pleasure of attending the Ramble, I can report that it is one of the most amazing musical events that you will ever attend. The money brought in from ticket sales for these and other shows allowed Levon to keep the wolves from the door.

In 2007, with his voice 80% restored by his estimate, Levon released his Grammy Award-winning comeback album, Dirt Farmer. Now he’s back with a brand-new album entitled Electric Dirt (Dirt Farmer Music/Vanguard Records). I’m happy to tell you that the new album is the closest thing to an album by the Band since, well, since the last Band album. Levon’s voice is certainly an American treasure and he belongs in the company of great roots singers like Charlie Louvin, Ralph Stanley, and Buddy Miller. (more…)

CD Review: Buddy and Julie Miller, “Written in Chalk”

Buddy and Julie Miller - Written In ChalkIt certainly wouldn’t be accurate to say that Buddy and Julie Miller have bad luck. After all, each of them has had wonderful career as songwriter and performer. They’ve each had fine solo albums. A variety of country artists have had success with their songs, including Lee Ann Womack and Dierks Bentley.

Buddy has played guitar on tour with Steve Earle, Emmylou Harris, and more recently Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, and he’s produced albums in the studio he built in their Nashville home for Allison Moorer, Solomon Burke, and Jimmie Dale Gilmore. Together, Buddy and Julie have played inspirational shows all over the country.

But back to that luck thing. Written In Chalk (New West Records) is only the couple’s second album together. The first, Buddy and Julie Miller, was released exactly one week after September 11, 2001. Then, just days before this new album was released, Buddy was admitted to a hospital in Baltimore complaining of chest pains. He needed immediate bypass surgery, and though he’s coming along fine now, he is temporarily unable to go on the road to support the new album. Buddy and Julie are people of faith, and it’s their faith that has sustained them through setbacks and success.

This was supposed to be Julie’s next solo album, her first since 1999’s Broken Things. Most of the new record was finished, when her brother died tragically, causing the recording process to come to a halt. They tried to get back to it, but it wasn’t working. Meanwhile Buddy was working on his own Grammy-nominated Universal House of Prayer, and producing other artists. Finally, the circumstances were right for Written In Chalk to come together. At least two of the songs on the new album are songs that were originally intended for Julie’s solo album, songs that I heard her perform as long as five years ago.

As you might expect, Written In Chalk reflects the sorrow that the Millers have had to cope with in recent years. Julie in particular has a knack for crafting the most heartbreakingly beautiful songs that contain not one ounce of self pity. That’s great songwriting, and it’s especially evident on the magnificent “Don’t Say Goodbye,” a tribute to her late brother that features harmony vocals by Patty Griffin. Julie is also featured on a lovely tribute to June Carter Cash called, simply, “June.” (more…)