Acoustic Breakdown Gone Country

by Hannah Dudley


Country Music: A way of life to many but completely underrated in the UK. I'm going to help change that here as I review and introduce country classics old and new, filtering the trite from the truly brilliant and dispelling your notions that country is corny. A lot of it is, but even then it can be great.


Opinions expressed are all mine and uninfluenced by external factors!

HANNAH DUDLEY on MYSPACE
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Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Michelle Branch, Jessica Harp and The Wreckers

Michelle Branch is one of those songwriters who (for me at least) always manages to say the right thing, tug the heart strings the right way and make me think "That's exactly how I feel!" No doubt this renders her well suited to late teens/early twenties singer-songwriting emotionally-turmoiled females like myself. BUT I should stress here that she does this not in an Alanis/Avril style (don't get me wrong, I have a HUGE soft spot for Avril) but in a Jewel-esque, Joni-esque country-rock-pop style which is so refreshing in the world of retarded britney-wannabies (how does a 'band' like the Pussycat Dolls achieve number one hits in the twenty-first century?) and the even worse wannabe 'singer-songwriters' like Katie Melua who make me WANT TO FUCKING KILL MYSELF. Apparently, there are nine million bisycles in Beijing - WHAT THE FUCK?! WHO THOUGHT THAT WAS A GOOD IDEA FOR A SONG? Oh yeah, her 'co-writer' who virtually wrote her entire record. *cough* anyway...

back to the decent 'female singer-songwriter guitarists' out there who put the idiots like Melua, Fefe Dobson, Katie Rose, Lucie Silvas, etc. right in their place.

So, as a little taster of Michelle's rapidly growing back-catalogue, i've picked the classic, heart-wrenching tune 'Goodbye To You'. Here's a rare live track from her 'Oxygen' concert, from back in 2004.
Goodbye To You (Live Acoustic)

Now, Michelle (if you read my previous post ;o) ) is friends with Nashville-born rocking country-esque singer-songwriter guitarist, Jessica Harp. Harp's best song available to download from her website, is Memphis. Here's the acoustic version.

Memphis (Acoustic)

The super-exciting news (forgive the corny phraseology) is that Michelle Branch and Jessica Harp now make up The Wreckers. Signed to Warner Nashville, this is excellent news for those of us that love the more countrified/acoustic Branch and Harp solo work. Now it comes rolled into one!

For those of you with the patience to listen through the amateur recording and the innane screaming/talking fans, this is an INCREDIBLE song, 'Lay Me Down'.
Lay Me Down (Live)

And/or, here's a more professional recording, of the equally brilliant 'The Good Kind', available on the One Tree Hill Soundtrack (don't let that put you off guys!), on which The Wreckers guest-starred to perform the song in person, back in Season 2.

The Wreckers recently toured with Tyler Hilton and Gavin DeGraw, Michelle Branch has toured with the Dixie Chicks and Sheryl Crow, covered Nirvana, Patsy Cline and released two singles with Carlos Santana. She also featured on Hanson's latest album 'Underneath' on the song 'Deeper' and she and her husband, bassist Teddy Landau were among those thanked in the credits on the latest Lifehouse album. Basically, they're getting around, have a broad appeal and deserve to be huge. One could even dream of a future collaboration between The Wreckers and say...Ryan Adams? or Tegan and Sara? That would be pretty hot!

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Jewel - SHE'S BACK and BETTER THAN EVER!!!

If you don't yet recognize Jewel Kilcher for the musical genius that she is...it's time for a quick catch-up lesson. But not only am I going to provide you with a few Jewel tasters...these are RARE HOT AND EXCLUSIVE tracks, so you will be entering this wonderful world of Jewel worship as the whipped cream on top of the white chocolate mocha...(trust me, that's good!).

For a detailed review of Jewel's debut album 'Pieces of You', see a previous post (and it is DETAILED!). Now, bringing you right up to date...

First up is the song Goodbye Alice in Wonderland, which is supposed to be the title track of her upcoming album (due out 2nd May 2006). Apparently, the hot news is that a live performance video of this song will be available from January the 30th (according to the BEST Jewel website, 'Jewel Pieces of UK' http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/~cmgroves/Jewel/). Anyway, the song is truly one of Jewel's perfect little gems of irony, honesty and soul-baring intimacy...enjoy!
Goodbye Alice in Wonderland (Live)

I've also decided that another perfect performance to introduce you to the wonder that is Jewel, would be her live performance of 'Angel Standing By' from the MTV VMAs 1997. It's one of those magical songs and performances that leave you breathless! The original version of this song is available on her debut 'Pieces of You'.
Angel Standing By (Live at the VMAs)

Finally, I've included two more brilliant Jewel songs. 'Jesus Loves You' is humorous/sarcastic Jewel perfection (available on her third album 'This Way') and the second is a live version of 'Morning Song', another beauty from her debut.
Jesus Loves You
Morning Song (Live)