Dustbowl "Goin' Down" 2009***

I thought I'd continue with country-oriented bands from unlikely places, so after Germany and The Bosshoss I'll present a band from my hometown, Athens. I believe I first saw them live some time in 2008 at my favorite neighborhood bar, Closer. Unlike Bosshoss whose approach to country music borders on parody, Dustbowl are seriously immersed in the mythology of the West, without trying to emulate it faithfully. You won't find any fake Texas accents or "yee-haw" yelps here. Instead there's a combination of tasty pedal steel and twangy surf guitars, swampy desert blues and upbeat garage/rockabilly, with lyrics inspired by Southern Gothic literature. When I saw them live, their set was mostly an upbeat mix of rockabilly and Johnny Cash covers, but about half of the tracks here are dark Gothic Americana. Many of these tracks wouldn't sound out of place on True Detective - I'm mentioning this because I just (belatedly) finished watching this series, and absolutely loved the producers' choice of music. Dustbowl often remind me of Mark Lanegan, The Walkabouts, Beasts of Bourbon and -above all- of Jeffrey Lee Pierce (Gun Club). Some of the more garage/rockabilly style numbers include "Lil' Mefisto", "Junkyard Blues", "Lean On Me", and "Marigold Walls". For more traditional country try "Just A Love Song" and "Goin' Down (In A Whiskey Haze)" with its impressive (at least for Greek standards) pedal steel guitar. "Cherry Wine (Lullaby For The Wicked)" is a classic country duet between DD and Lydia, and "Voodoo (That Burns)" a swampy blues tune. The music is really a mix of different elements; in their own words, it's "...mother earth rock. You will find some Americana, alt. country and psychedelic rock influences there". For this particular album, the core band (Nik Fysakis guitar, Dimitris "DD Dynamite" Douranos vocals, Giotis “The Shoeshine Boy” Petrelis Drums, Lydia Grammatikou bass & vocals, and John "Hardy" Houstoulakis pedal steel guitar) are augmented by Phil Shoenfelt on atmospheric ballad "Morning Blue" and by former Barraccuda Jeremy Gluck on garage folk "Mourner". A closer collaborator, Alex K. from Greek garage legends Last Drive, adds vocals and harp on the gospel "Chain Gang Partners", melodic garage "Junkyard Blues", surf/spaghetti western instrumental "Land's End", and the album's sole cover "Death Don’t Have No Mercy" by bluesman Reverend Gary Davis. At the time, Alex K. led a similar desert rock band called Earthbound, and would later join -among others- Dustbowl's Nikos Fysakis and John Hardy in an Athenian supergroup called Thee Holy Strangers. Both of these bands will be presented in this blog on another occasion. To sum up, this album is a great mix of Americana, garage rock, and Gothic country. If that sounds right up your alley, you should definitely check this band out! 

**** for Goin' Down (In A Whiskey Haze), Lean On Me, Mourner, Cherry Wine (Lullaby For The Wicked)

*** for Burden (A-You Can't Bear), Chain Gang Partners, Lil' Mefisto, Morning Blue, Junkyard Blues, Voodoo (That Burns), Marigold Walls, Just A Love Song, Land Ends, Death Don't Have No Mercy (In This Land)

Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan "Sunday at Devil Dirt" 2008****

My random selection method came out with this CD exactly 5 years ago, but I left the review unfinished until now. The shocking news of Lanegan's death at 57 had me listening to his records a lot lately, and thinking about presenting one for this blog. Normally my first choice would be one of his solo albums, which represent him better, or something by the Screaming Trees, who used to be one of my favorite (neo-psychedelic? proto-grunge?) bands of the late 80's/early 90's. But this is just as good a choice as any, because it brings back good memories: seeing Mark and Isobel at the Take Roots festival, in Groningen 2010. What a couple... some called them "the beauty and the beast", which seemed obvious given the contrasts: Isobel's a fresh-faced frail-looking blonde with a sweet and innocent voice, Mark's got a heavier physique, with a gruff and tortured exterior and a deep smoky baritone voice to match. But that totally belies the couple's creative relationship: in a reversal of the stereotype, the lady is the behind-the-scenes genius, while the "brute" is the muse and protagonist of the show.

As a member of Scottish indie heroes Belle and Sebastian, Isobel Campbell was identified with a certain kind of smart but twee chamber pop. But this time she went for something completely different, delving deep into Americana tradition, and especially the great country duets by Johnny and June Carter Cash or Lee Hazlewood & Nancy Sinatra. She is the principal songwriter, arranger, co-vocalist, and multi-instrumentalist here, yet none of it would have worked without Lanegan: his whiskey-and-smoke-stained voice lends the songs earthy warmth and gravitas. Vocally, Campbell is a supporting character, the sultry ingénue to Lanegan's tortured hero. When she takes the lead on "Shotgun Blues", the result's rather strange, like listening to Marilyn Monroe fronting The Cowboy Junkies. The album opens with "Seafaring Song", a naked ballad with acoustic guitar and, from the middle on, some low-key strings. That's followed by "The Raven", a dark piece with a raspy ML solo vocal and an orchestral backing reminiscent of spaghetti western. The juxtaposition of the two diametrically opposed voices is used to great effect on the two orchestral pop duets "Who Built the Road" and "Come on Over (Turn Me On)", and the jazzy "The Flame That Burns". With the exception of swampy voodoo blues "Back Burner", the rest of the album is simple acoustic balladry. "Keep Me in Mind, Sweetheart" has some old-fashioned country charm, and so does "Something to Believe" with its whistling solo, but on the whole the remaining material is agreeable but unspectacular. Maybe Campbell sensed that, and that's why she deliberately restricted herself to backing vocals and instrumental accompaniment for most of the album: it takes a special kind of voice to elevate these songs above mediocrity; someone like Lanegan, or Johnny Cash. These were men that could sing the phonebook and make it sound heart-wrenching and full of meaning. I fear we will never see the likes of them again.

**** The Raven, Salvation, Who Built the Road, Come on Over (Turn Me On), The Flame That Burns

*** for Seafaring Song, Back Burner, Shotgun Blues, Keep Me in Mind, Sweetheart, Something to Believe, Trouble

** for Sally Don't You Cry