• Hayes Carll KMAG YOYO album cover
    Roots Rock

    KMAG YOYO (New from Hayes Carll)

    It was just a matter if time before I got around to Hayes Carll. After all, I’m a longtime fan of artists cut from the same cloth: Steve Earle, John Prine and Todd Snider in particular. Hayes sounds a lot like Snider, very similar singing voices – and as far as his sense of humor goes, Snider and Prine are blood brothers of Carll (don’t get confused on “Bottle In My Hand” though, that is indeed Mr. Snider joining along).

    As a Rdio subscriber, I’m always jumping on the new releases every Tuesday. Today, Hayes Carll’s latest, KMAG YOYO (& other American stories), hit the real and virtual shelves. It was SiriusXM Outlaw Country that played me “The Lovin’ Cup” today, and I headed right over to Rdio to check out the whole album.

    The title of the album may be familiar to our military, but silly old civilian me, I had to Google it. It’s an Army acronym for “Kiss My Ass Guys, You’re On Your Own”.

    “The Lovin’ Cup” is right up my twang-lovin’ alley – an up tempo, roadhouse shit-kicker of a song…

    “I’m sittin’ cross-legged in the heartache tree knowin’ damn well you ain’t a-thinkin’ bout me…”

    Buy the MP3 of The Lovin’ Cup, or check out all of KMAG YOYO (& other American stories) on Amazon.

    Check out Hayes Carll’s Official Site | Facebook

    Here’s Hayes and his band performing the title track recently at SiriusXM’s studios…

  • Todd Snider
    Folk

    On the Town this Weekend with Todd Snider

    Well, crap in a basket and call me Pappy, it’s almost Friday! And hey, Todd Snider is coming to town! If you’re in the Phoenix area, and you’re free on Sunday night (a long weekend for MLK Day), join me, the wife and some friends down at the Last Exit Bar & Grill in Tempe. $15 to see Todd Snider? I’ll take it….

    I’m looking forward to seeing him. He’s a singer/songwriter from Nashville (originally from Portland, Oregon) with a sharp, witty sense of humor – a performer sort of in the same vein as John Prine. His debut was on MCA way back in 1994 – Songs for the Daily Planet. Seven other studio albums have followed, all the way up to his latest, 2006’s The Devil You Know.

    Quality entertainment, folks. Check out a few tunes.

    Todd Snider – Combover Blues  – priceless lyrics about getting older… [from Peace, Love and Anarchy (Rarities, B-Sides and Demos, Vol. 1)]

    Todd Snider – All My Life (mp3) – a nice love song – [from Happy to Be Here]

    Todd Snider – Enough (mp3) – one of my favorite rockin’ harmonica solos along with Bruce’s “Promised Land” and Steve Earle’s “More Than I Can Do” – [from Step Right Up]

  • Rock n' Folk

    Todd’s Train Song

    One of tunes I heard during Bruce’s pre-show music prompted me to call home from the show and leave some of the lyrics on the answering machine (yeah, I’m a geek). I didn’t figure out what it was though until I saw the list.

    Todd Snider‘s the name. I’m ashamed to say I only own one of Todd’s CD’s, 1996’s ‘Step RightUp’, but that’s about to change after I’m done with this post. I wasn’t aware of Todd’s personal troubles, but he’s had one helluva fight with drug addiction which led him to a suicide attempt. Todd has been putting out his brand of Nashville country-folk-rock for over a decade now.

    So here’s that mystery tune that caught my ear. Gotta love those train songs…

    Todd Snider: Play a Train Song (mp3)