Depression proof music

We used to know them as the magazine that covered "alt-country music (whatever that is). " Today they are an online emination self-described as the "roots music authority."

Whatever. We don't enjoy No Depression nearly as much these days, but they continue to provide a sanctuary of sorts for people with like-minded musical tastes, no matter what they call it. And once you sift through the confusing and convoluted process that was used to come up with their 2010 year-end lists (why in the world did they need three?), there is at least some listenable music to consider. 

We're sharing the Readers Poll below because it best reflects the Sanctuary's listening choices for 2010,  but there are also No Depression polls derived from the selections of featured bloggers and short people, and those can be found here. Wait -- that last one is a widget poll!  (Five albums made all three lists and are denoted by underlined italics.)

NO DEPRESSION'S TOP 20 ALBUMS OF 2010
1. Justin Townes Earle, Harlem River Blues
2. Alejandro Escovedo, Street Songs of Love
3. Peter Wolf, Midnight Souvenirs
4. Drive By Truckers, The Big To Do
5. John Mellencamp, No Better Than This
6. Mavis Staples, You Are Not Alone
7. Robert Plant, Band of Joy
8. Black Keys, Brothers
9. Carolina Chocolate Drops, Genuine Negro Jig
10. Jamey Johnson, The Guitar Song
11. Elizabeth Cook, Welder
12. Neil Young, Le Noise
13. Patty Griffin, Downtown Church
14. Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Mojo
15. Arcade Fire, The Suburbs
16. Bruce Springsteen, The Promise
17. Ray Wylie Hubbard, A. Enlightenment, B. Endarkenment (Hint: There Is No C)
18. Los Lobos, Tin Can Trust
19. Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings, I Learned the Hard Way
20. Tift Merrit, See You On The Moon

Get the Kinks out

The best list we've seen in some time: Tom Petty ranking his favorite songs of the British Invasion, from the Rolling Stone Playlist Special that we drilled into here prior to the latest artist listings.

Instead of loading up on Beatles and Rolling Stones songs, Petty spreads the wealth around by listing 10 different bands, each of which made a vivid imprint on the movement while spiking Petty's musical inspiration. As he mentions in his precede: "These guys brought the guitar to the fore. You weren't getting guitar off the Shirelles."


We were particularly pleased with the ranking of the Kinks' "You Really Got Me" at No. 2, just behind the almost obligatory Beatles' twin spin of "I Want to Hold Your Hand"/"I Saw Her Standing There." Ray Davies and the punkish Kinks rarely receive the credit they deserve alongside the Stones and Fab Four, but it's all there as the video above attests.

Here is Petty's list. Click on the following link to read what he says about each song: http://rollingstoneextras.com/playlists/view/tom-petty

1."I Want to Hold Your Hand" b/w "I Saw Her Standing There" The Beatles, 1963

2."You Really Got Me" The Kinks, 1964

3."We've Gotta Get Out of This Place" The Animals, 1965

4."She's Not There" The Zombies, 1964

5."When You Walk in the Room" The Searchers, 1964

6."I'm Alive" The Hollies, 1965

7."I'm a Man" The Yardbirds, 1965

8."Anyway You Want It" Dave Clark Five, 1964

9."I Can't Explain" The Who, 1965

10."(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" The Rolling Stones, 1965

Oh Holy Mole night

Merry Christmas and the happiest of holidays to all of you, with a big assist to our good friend and fellow crusader Rick Hotton, creator of the wonderful Holy Mole comic strip....

The upside of Carey Ott

Carey Ott is an artist you should pay attention to. It may seem surprising to hear us say this because we don't spend a lot of time mining the pop genre. What is pop, anyway?

Carey Ott is pop, and this makes pop okay.  If Ott were to take a stage name that mostly aptly describes his craft he might be known as Pop Hook.  (Dr. Hook is already taken.) The man is a virtuoso at writing catchy lyrics and turning them into irresistable rhythms, melodies and beats that send you down the sidewalk with a skip in your step.  He's the artist most likely to have music appear on a TV episode (which has happened several times) or a movie soundtrack.  And what's wrong with that?

Take the song "Ain't No Upside (Living on tha Downside)" from his 2010 album Human Heart.  Play the clip above from an in-studio taping and give us your honest assessment.  It's not easy to isolate a single song because Ott is so prolific -- he had to whittle down Human Heart to 20 songs and probably has written twice that many since then, some of them even rising above "Ain't No Upside."  Many are collaborations with other artists in his Nashville studio.  Sow those lyrical oats any way you can.

Now go to his website http://www.careyott.com/ and listen to how he goes about his craft.  It makes you wanna sit down and write a song because he makes it sound so easy. But it couldn't possibly be as good as this:

Ain't no upside living on the down side
There ain't no down side in looking up
Ain't no reason for living this way
You keep treading water day after day

And you stay so downhearted it can feel like a hurricane
When you don't feel any love come to ya, give some away
I say ain't no upside living on the down side
There' ain't no downside in looking up
Honey sometimes life can beat you up
I don't have any answers, darlin, only love

Ain't no problem baby we can't solve
We all hurt sometimes it ain't nobody's fault
You keep waiting on tomoorrow like it won't never come
When you don't feel any love coming to ya, give me some

Hook, line and Foucault

Jeffrey Foucault isn't new to Sanctuarians. The Wisconsin songwriter was our first Personal Six String Sanctuary Tout (Pssst!) back in February 2009:

http://sixstringsanctuary.blogspot.com/2009/02/pssst-one-for-listening-room.html

Since then we've noticed a proliferation of online music videos featuring Foucault.  In particular, there was a Vox Concert Series in Marshfield, Wisconsin during which some quality music was recorded -- including the clip above of "Ghost Repeater." Can you believe the sound coming out of that little Martin O-18 guitar? 

We went to Foucault's website to check out his gear and among the various guitars he shares an image of one of our favorite fishing lures, the Lazy Ike. "I've never actually caught anything on this lure," he writes, "but I have a good feeling about it.  Also, I like the way it swims."

He may not have caught anything on that lure, but he hooked us long ago with his reflective story-telling and a gritty but polished baritone that plumbs deeply into the soul of things. Oh, and listen to the sound of that guitar.

Foucault has a great website, so turn there to learn more -- including news about about his latest release Cold Satellite: http://jeffreyfoucault.com/

The greatest soul on earth

If we could see just one more live music performance in our lives it would be a night with Pat McLaughlin at Douglas Corner in Nashville. Or anywhere else we might be lucky enough to find him playing. Hands down.There is nothing like it.

In the video above pay particular attention at the 1:53 mark after Pat lets loose with one of his spontaneous funkafied yelps. Check the reaction of bass player Michael Rhodes, who turns back to drummer Greg Morrow with a smile that says everything you need to know about McLaughlin.  Even his bandmates are continually amazed by the soul that reverberates through McLaughin's beat up Teleaster, sweats through his T-shirts, gurgles over the stage and envelopes the audience.

Peter Cooper of the Tennesseean calls McLaughlin's music "Groove and soul, slink and stutter, groove and soul, wisdom and pain, groove and soul."

We have nothing to add, except:  Go see him.  And check out his website at http://www.patmclaughlin.com/

Catching up with Clay Riness

We first heard Clay Riness in the Eighties when he released an album of homespun songs from the Heartland like "Down to the Cellar," "Combine Boogie" and "Victoria's Kitchen."

We were particularly smitten by "Victoria's Kitchen, which conjured some warm and inviting images:

Sometimes it sings of fresh bread, sings of whole wheat
Plenty of molasses, raisins and apricot muffins
It's where she makes the cookies and dries the wild chives
Heats up the coffee and keeps it alive on the oven

Click this link to hear "Victoria's Kitchen" from back in the day. To borrow a phrase from Bob Dylan, Riness was so much older then, he's younger than that now -- as you can see watching the embedded video above.

We lost track of the artist from Coon Valley, Wisconsin, and it wasn't all our fault. Riness settled down to raise a family with Victoria, and his music took a back seat for a number of years. We were happy to reconnect with his music recently after doing a simple Google search.  Apparently he never put the guitars in storage.

Clay's website is under construction but you can find out more about him and his music at: http://www.myspace.com/clayriness