"YOU GOT IT" - Official Video - Roy Orbison

Friends Of The Junkyard: Concert Report

The ever faithful Veniche Gueverra has done me the honor of commenting on a great act she caught in Santa Barbara. None other than Steve Earles son, Justin Townes Earle.

JTE has been at it for a short while now(his middle name "Townes" is after the great Townes Van Zandt, an idol of Steve's), but in 2010 he released his third album, Harlem River Blues which in my opinion was his best effort to date. The title track is a happy-go-lucky suicide song, and if you can't tap you're foot to it, you must be paralyzed ( listen here ). The album is full of strong folk tunes, and his inebriating voice is a far cry from the scratch and wine of his fathers. His most recent album from 2012, Nothing's Gonna Change the Way You Feel About Me Now, was mostly a fine effort, with a more bluesy feel to it.

But enough of my ramblings, lets see what Veniche has to say about the concert:

Justin Townes Earle

Soho Santa Barbara, 12/11/12

I went into this intimate performance blind. I had heard of Justin Townes Earle before but was rather unfamiliar with his music. Knowing of my brother's fondness of both Steve Earle (whom I also love), and JTE I decided to go check him out.  I had read somewhere that Earle was a "master songsmith at work" and aint that the truth!  Earle is sensational.  He has a confident and raw sound; a dynamic musician channeling multiple influences and musical styles.  He is an amazing guitarist with an authentic and engaging voice  One of those voices that really gets down to the bottom of it.  He expressed a realness and honestly in his music, performance and interaction with the audience.  Earle is quirky and interesting, creating a curiosity in his listeners.  There is no falsified image while he performs, its just him, his guitar and some repair tools on stage.  

I am definitely hooked, already listening to his music "on the regular!" 

V 

Part of me thinks she should be writing this blog... Thanks for the awesome input Ven.

You can also catch Steve Earle and JTE together, on the HBO show Treme (Season 2)

SOD: Charlie Hunter "Fine Corinthian Leather"

I know, it's been a while. So I've got some catching up to do.

Charlie Hunter is an amazing cat. The six-string wasn't enough for him, so he created his own 7-string guitar (originally 8, but he downsized due to small hands). It consists of 3 bass strings (currently tuned G-C-F) and 4 guitar strings (tuned C-F-A#-D). The frets on the guitar are spaced out very interestingly as such, to help guide his hands into some of the wackiest patterns I've ever seen. Thus he holds a bass line that is divergent from the rhythm and melody (solos) he plays on the guitar strings. Already, his brain is tasked three different ways to accomplish that, but Charlie has said that before every song, he creates the drum beat in his head. Apparently that is what drives every piece. So if you count that, it's four things going on upstairs at once.

The Stalloners, myself, and friends all saw Charlie play three years ago at Equifunk. We were blown away.  To see this one man band live, is really something else. As you would imagine, he's incredibly concentrated, and his ability to create such an amazingly full sound all by his lonesome is something I've seen only one other performer do. That would be the great jazzman, Pat Metheny (who built a 42 string guitar which is completely different in sound and style to what Hunter has though). He's a one-of-a-kind guy, and what makes him so special is he's decided to step out of the confines of his trade. He wanted a different sound, and instead of trying to create it with what was out there, he chose to redraw the lines. I have an incredible amount of respect for that, because it takes so much more work to go that route.

 The more I read about this guy, the more he surprises me. First, I was struck to learn that an early pedagogue of his was the great Joe Satriani. It's not surprising I suppose seeing as Satriani has mentored many guitar virtuoso's of jazz, rock, and metal. But the Hunter I have heard, is quite different from Satriani. I must confess though, I've not even heard a third of the 17 solo albums Hunter has released. I was also quite surprised to learn that besides jazz, Hunter was at one point very intrigued by hip-hop, being that it was a newly created form of music which he thought had a lot of potential. Fifteen years ago, he was even quoted as saying that he wished A Tribe Called Quest would sample some of his stuff. That warmed my heart quite a bit, because of all the hip-hop acts out there, past and present, Tribe is my most respected.

But Hunter is not confined by anything, least of all genre. He's played and collaborated with acts from every walk of life, and every style of music. That's the least surprising of all the things I've seen and read about him. His quest for knowledge and interest to learn is insatiable. Now I'm certainly no expert on this guy, but there is one thing I can say confidently; if there were more musicians out there like him, the art form would be progressing a lot more than it has recently. Then again, there's a reason why there aren't any other musicians like him out there. I'll leave it at that.

This oddly named piece from 2008 is not indicative of the grittier blues and jazz he has been playing more recently. I chose it however, because I stumbled upon it looking for music Bundell would enjoy. And so i've included it as SOD today, because I know she will. 

For more on Charlie Hunter, check this video out which I posted a couple weeks ago. Thanks to Matty for the find.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Mq1IiSaetV4

Charlie Hunter - Fine Corinthean Leather