ANOTHER HOTEL CAFE DISCOVERY- JOEY RYAN

I headed out to The Hotel Cafe last night to see Dan Wilson and am ending up writing about another artist- Joey Ryan.

Ryan started his Thursday residency at Cahuenga Blvd's musical gem last night, sharing the stage with talented backing musicians that included Counting Crows David Innergluck on guitar and mandolin. The set featured new material from his latest EP Kenter Canyon, as well as older songs that included the love inspired "Like A Cloak."

I was impressed and curious as to what the recorded material sounded like so I picked up the latest EP and With Its Roots Above And Its Branches Below. My iTunes slapped a folk genre stamp on his music, but it's more diverse than that. "Queen Jane" has a very contemporary country feel while "Falling" has more of an alternative style, which works well with his achy voice. Ryan also incorporates a variety of instruments in his work, which is always a pleasant surprise.

The music is not the only thing that grabbed my attention last night, he writes solid lyrics too. Ryan crafts songs that connect. Take for example the line from "Broken Headlamp" in which he sings, "why can I only tell you I love you when you're sleeping in the passenger seat." Simple words, but so real and heart felt.

Thanks to The Hotel Cafe for once again exposing me and my readers to more good music. I am going to try and get back to see Joey Ryan before his residency ends and per the wonders of social media looks like I will have a seat at next weeks gig per Ryan. Check out our Twitter correspondence below:

Philly2LA

That's you!

1. was really impressed by Joey Ryan. May need to come back to Hotel Cafe during his Thurs residency.about 19 hours ago via mobile web
   joeyryan
   @Philly2LA thanks dude! we'll save a seat for you next weekabout 5 hours ago via web in reply to Philly2LA
   
   (photo curtesy of Meg Jarrell)

PHOTO OF THE DAY

Grab some tin cans, a hubcap and various kitchen items and make your own percussion instrument!

(2/21/2010 at Venice Beach Wines)

WHAT'S GOING ON WITH.....

SHERYL CROW?

Here's an update on one of my favorite artists.

1. Sheryl is joining the cast of her friend Courtney Cox's ABC show 'Cougar Town' for several episodes starting in March.

2. Expect a new album from Crow sometime in late spring.

3. Sheryl will be co-headlining this summers Lilith Fair festival with Sarah McLachlan.

LIVE MUSIC

I've been to almost 300 live shows in my life- either worked them or as a fan and to me there is nothing better than listening to good live music. OK let's not kid ourselves, maybe there are a few other things, but it's defiantly in my top five :)

Thankfully, I live in a city that always has a tour stop for acts and a city that has many smaller live music venues. Last night, me and a few friends hit up one of those live music venues in The Troubadour to see Austin musician Bob Schneider.

Schneider is a very eclectic singer-songwriter from Austin, Texas who has several bands in addition to his solo work. Last night he was in Los Angeles promoting his new album Lovely Creatures.

Schneider, who's toured with Dave Matthews Band, Sheryl Crow and the Dixie Chicks, is a very good live performer who understands his audience. He was there to expose his fans to the new material, but also to give them what they came for, so he started taking requests toward the end. That's the great thing about small live music venues, you get to see your favorite musicians up close and possibly get a chance to interact with them. Another solid Bob Schneider show is in the books.

For more information on Bob visit his website at: http://www.bobschneidermusic.com/

Next up Dan Wilson at the Hotel Cafe 2/25!

IS INDIE DEAD?

The bold, simple layout caught my eye and it's question stimulated my mind. What is "indie" and was it dead?

Before reading Rachael Maddux's feature in the latest issue of Paste, I jotted down what I thought indie might mean.

• original, artistic, not mainstream
• without the help of a major label
• something that's viewed as "cool"

I figured Maddux would tell me what "indie" was right away because we need to know what it is before we can figure out if it's dead right? Well turns out Maddux didn't really know either and when she asked various folks what they thought, everyone seemed to have different opinions.

OK then the answer to is indie dead has to be NO since we can't agree on what it is, right? Well not according to Maddux. Confused?

Over the course of nine pages Maddux tries to support her view. At first she tries to categorize "indie" as a movement, much like punk, underground, or alternative. Each had their moment in the sun, but ended up dying when they became popular. But it's not that simple.

The rest of the article contains great music history and information, but it's a bit all over the place. She starts to paint this image of what a punk adaptor would see today if he or she had fast forwarded 30 years- cool concept, but she never sees it through. Rather we venture into music placement and marketing, talk about artists ranging from Spoon and Mozart to Lyle Lovett and Frank Sinatra.

Random I know, but you can read the whole article for yourself at

http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2010/01/is-indie-dead.html

That's right it's all online, including the cool graphics. Wish I had known, could have saved $5.95!

THE MOVIE CRAZY HEART

I can't believe it's taken me almost two months to finally see Crazy Heart. Lack of time is the only reason because ever since I saw the preview of Jeff Bridges looking like Kris Kristofferson from his Closer to the Bone cover, I've been curious.

With the tagline "The harder the life, the sweeter the song" I knew Crazy Heart would tell the tale of a hard-living musician caught up in booze and women, but would the movie stand out, would the actors develop interesting characters that pulled you in and would the music frankly be any good?

YES, YES and YES!

THE FILM:

Crazy Heart, based on Thomas Cobb's book, tells the story of country music legend Bad Blake (Bridges). The glory days for the 57 year old Blake are long gone and the years on the road combined with the reckless lifestyle show all over his face. Blake finds himself broke, divorced (several times), unmotivated and playing small town bars and bowling alleys to support his drinking and chain smoking habits. Along the way he meets Jean (Maggie Gyllenhaal) who allows Blake into her life and becomes the inspiration for Blake's new material as he attempts to regain his former fame.

THE ACTING:

Jeff Bridges and Maggie Gyllenhaal have received the majority of the press surrounding Crazy Heart and rightfully so, but I had no idea the movie also starred Robert Duvall and Colin Farrell. Both, but especially Farrell as Blake's former protege enhance Jeff Bridges performance. A performance that has already garnered Bridges a Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award for best actor.

Jeff Bridges

In Blake, Bridges takes on a character that we've seen many times in other films, but in Crazy Heart, Bridges makes Blake his own. The first piece is that he sings the songs and he sings the songs in a voice indicative of Blake's lifestyle. Second, Bridges creates believable traits in Blake that range from biscuit making, to the way he holds the booze bottle to driving his truck with his pants undone. And third, Bridges adds a lovable personality to Blake so even when he's screwing up you want to root for him and your heart breaks in the last two scenes with Gyllenhaal. You add it all up and I can understand the accolades.

Maggie Gyllenhall

Frances McDormand and Edward Norton are the only two actors I'll go see no matter what their in, but Maggie Gyllenhaal may become the third. Her performances in Secretary, Sherry Baby, and World Trade Center were exceptional and she didn't disappoint in Crazy Heart either.

Playing journalist and single mom Jean Craddock, Gyllenhaal had the tough duty of convincing me that she really was in love with a man 20+ years her senior, but she did it. The way she grabbed Blake's face was so real and the emotional delivery in key scenes were so natural, there's no wonder she's nominated for an Oscar for this performance.

THE MUSIC:

This is a music blog so lets get to the other main component of this film- the music. The main man behind crafting the sound of Crazy Heart was T Bone Burnett.

Burnett, seems like a perfect choice as the Grammy winning producer of the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack has worked on several films including another country music gem Walk The Line. On Crazy Heart, Burnett co-wrote five out of the six original songs and co-produced the soundtrack with Stephan Bruton.

The original lyrics sung by Jeff Bridges in the film capture the life experiences of Bad Blake and Burnett used classic country instrumentation to complete the songs. Both ingredients were essential because without them, I could NOT have bought into Bridges performance.

The Crazy Heart soundtrack is available now on New West Records.

-Tammy Good (entry and photo)

2 DIXIE CHICKS=COURT YARD HOUNDS

With the Dixie Chicks on hiatus, sisters Emily Robinson and Martie Maguire have created a new musical project- Court Yard Hounds.

You can preview Court Yard Hounds debut album at http://www.courtyardhounds.com/.

If "Delight" and "Ain't No Son" are true reflections of the duo's new project, get ready to rock. It's NOT like any Dixie Chicks material and I can't help but feel a bit of Sheryl Crow influence here. I'm sure it will be interesting reading the liner notes to see who the girls worked with!

Robinson and Maguire tell the story behind Court Yard Hounds at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o166rYH0WWY.

-Tammy Good

MELODY RECORDS, CHICO CALIFORNIA

I travel a lot for work and this past week I found myself in Chico, California, a college town 90 miles north of Sacramento. It was there, just blocks from Chico State University that I discovered Melody Records.

Small record stores are fading fast and Melody is the only one left in Chico per its owner. A sad consequence of the digital downloading world we live in, but for this music lover I was a kid in a candy store who found some very sweet treats.

After almost an hour of thumbing through rows and rows of vinyl, I ended up with ten albums in my arms. And the gems that I found blew me away. Check it out:

Fleetwood Mac- Rumours

Fleetwood Mac- Fleetwood Mac

Carole King- Tapestry

Eagles- The Long Run

Eagles- Desperado

Willie Nelson- Willie Nelson Sings Kristofferson

Carly Simon- Hotcakes

Heart- Dreamboat Annie

Suzanne Vega- Solitude Standing

Madonna- "Papa Don't Preach" (single, extended remix)

And all this great music only cost me $32!

-Tammy Good (entry and photo's)