"HTH" is a goodun.
Recommended for Americana Fans: Amanda Ann Platt and the Honeycutters
I spend many hours exploring artists unfamiliar to me on Spotify. This week I came across this band. I’d never come across any mention of them before and thought other Americana fans here might enjoy them.
New York born and transplanted to North Carolina, Amanda Ann Platt is an excellent songwriter who’s asserted she’s as much influenced by Springsteen and Tom Petty as by Classic Country artists. Although a cursory listen might suggest the music is Country (due to the presence of pedal steel and mandolin and the overall rhythmic feel), the writing is more sophisticated and not hobbled by adherence to familiar Country tropes. In other words, it stands up to repeated listening. I particularly like "On The Ropes". On this particular record, the utilization of a Strat, incorporating bluesy bends and a Knopfler-esque tone imparts a Rock tinge that is distinctly different from Tele chicken-pickin’.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDVVjPva0vI&list=OLAK5uy_lXj0YAS5kf7T47Eu-vEExnAyKAGjCSggk&index=2
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Very talented guitarist, singer and songwriter (probably) best known in "jam band" circles but "Fade Away Diamond Time" sounds like 70’s Southern CA Country-Rock, a style that, of course, heavily influenced Alt. Country. Casal played in the Chris Robinson Brotherhood and released a string of solo albums. Sadly, he took his own life a few years back. "Sweeten the Distance" is another good one. |
Yes; Alt. Country is typically included within Americana, although I’ve personally never cared for it. Do you know this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fg39fBwvNWY&list=PLC8cS0Gcnu2E9ZL6vl2z8GuerOASfMlUC
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I couldn't ask for a more genuine response @stuartk . Appreciate that! |
I did do a bit more listening. I find his music pleasant enough but ultimately it doesn't grab me in a way that would make me want to buy any of his CDs. Purely subjective. I've recommended certain music I like to other people and they've had a similar response. As the saying goes: "There's no accounting for taste." Why we like what we like is, for me, a fascinating topic that doesn't get explored in much depth on the forum. Perhaps this is so because not all the factors involved are conscious. For example, I love the sound of some records. If they have lyrics, I wouldn't care if I couldn't understand what was being sung. The sound is acting upon me physiologically and psychologically in a way I find very enjoyable. |
FYI, I like Ryan Bigham's voice a lot. Haven't decided about his songs, yet. I have a love/hate relationship with Jerry and the boys. When the playing is tight and in tune, it can be magical. When it's sloppy and out of tune, I have very little tolerance. It's not like I'm singling them out, though -- I don't like sloppy, out-of-tune playing by anyone ! |
@stuartk Yeah, I meant Reflections. I understand your point. Most suggestions here will likely be very subjective. |
Do you mean Jerry’s solo album "Reflections" ? The Dead were clearly very much influenced by Roots genres such as Blues, Country, Bluegrass and Folk but also by other genres (not to mention their experimentation with psychedelics). I’d suggest American Beauty, Workingman’s Dead and portions of Europe ’72 fit more convincingly into the Americana category than Reflections. But others might disagree. An example from Europe ’72, later covered by Levon Helm: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5KEQ-sC6vg I will check out Ryan Bingham! |
I haven't see mention of Phosphorescent - Muchacho de Lujo or (live version probably more so than the studio) Honeyhoney - Billy Jack or 3 Hiss Golden Messenger Heart Like a Levee Frazy Ford (previously of Be Good Tanyas) is Canadian but truly fits on the fringe Amaicana hilt So much good stuff
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Check out Amada Platt's video for the song Jukebox. One of the best vids I've ever seen. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T87FD97QNRU |
Check out Amada Platt's video for the song Jukebox. One of the best vids I've ever seen. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T87FD97QNRU Also check out Zoe Muth & The Lost high Rollers more great music https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqvp27uUQTU
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+1 I've become a huge fan, to my surprise. I only discovered her a short time ago and have bought three cds. The topics she writes about resonate with me and even more so, the way her lyrics underscore the often paradoxical nature of human experience. And I really like the band and arrangements, too. Just goes to show, it pays to keep searching for new music. You never know what you might find!
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Check out Amada Platt's video for the song Jukebox. One of the best vids I've ever seen. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T87FD97QNRU |
@stuartk that’s a very scenic part of the State with four seasons!. And must be peaceful too. Re "Shania Twain is the highest paid lap dancer in Nashville." That's the sad part. She was practically a kid, waiting tables and singing for money to support her family, they were so dirt poor - before her career took off. So ironically the "poor girl in a broke town lap dancing" cliche may apply. |
@tomic601 I thought you measure time/distance as in how far from Stereo Unlimited Btw, I love those vintage audio pics you posted. And I love the Vandies more and more! |
Steve Earle: "Shania Twain is the highest paid lap dancer in Nashville."
A good joke, but I enjoyed (past tense) Shania for what she was: Pop music with a hint of Country mixed in. Plus production by Mutt Lange, also producer of some AC/DC albums, Graham Parker's Heat Treatment, and Shades in Bed by The Records, all in my collection. Shania is just an entertainer, not an artist (to me at least), so I cut her some slack.
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I’m 30 minutes North of @grislybutter , unless i take the very Americana….mule |
i classify music as like, dislike, still deciding…… checked discogs my collection… first ten that might fit the discussion; Alison Krauss…i prefer the segment “ Angelic “… Amanda Shires Amos Lee ( Willie sings on it, see also Teatro ) Amy Helm ( currently an only slighter less Angel ) Aoife O’Donovan The Band Blue Rodeo ( see Tremelo ) Bob Marley n the Wailers…checking attention span… Buddy n Julie Miller Dave Rawlings Machine
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@stuartk no I don't, I live in California. I do visit once a year to not be detached from reality |
@stuartk it's a sad excuse for a country, but one has no say in where to be delivered. It's that evil money laundering hole for dictators called Hungary. |
Seems to me you’re being awfully hard on yourself! Thanks for explaining what you meant by "labored". I wouldn’t say you weren’t making any sense. I didn’t understand your use of the word labored. Having said that, there are people who just play for fun and others who attempt to make a living, in both Folk and Country -- at least in the US. In the 50’s/early 60’s there was a heightened popular interest in Folk, which got many people into playing guitar who later went on to play other styles, both as amateurs and professionals. I’ve also studied music theory --up to a point. It’s been very useful for guitar playing. I don’t know why the other guitarists I’ve played with have had zero interest in it. You wrote "for my country’s musical background". I’m curious; what country are you referring to? |
@stuartk I don't think there is any value in explaining my ignorant and half-informed definitions. By labored I meant more professional, with the goal of selling the product. Folk always felt to me like playing to themselves and their bubble and enjoying it. But of course your examples prove how I make no sense. I studied music theory when I grew up but it was strictly for my country's musical background where there was folk, folk-dance, gipsy, beat, rock, and classical music. (Totally butchering it, my teacher would smash my head with a book) And I totally understand if someone doesn't get Shania. I had a phase and it stuck with me.
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Ah. OK. All I’ve heard of Shania Twain is slickly commercial. Apparently, she has a different, rootsier side that I’m unaware of. My bad. FYI, my favorite "Country"singer is EmmyLou Harris, who has always incorporated Folk, Bluegrass, Gospel and Rock into her overall approach.
Interesting. Are you making a pun when you describe music "made to make a living" as labored, or is that just the way your words happened to come out? Personally, I wouldn’t describe any music that’s well performed as "labored". If we’re talking about Country artists such as Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Ricky Skaggs, Jerry Jeff Walker, Rodney Crowell, Emmy Lou, Radney Foster, Dwight Yoakam or Marty Stuart, they are highly accomplished but definitely don’t sound labored to me. If anything, they make playing and singing seem effortless, a term that is, to my mind at least, fairly close in meaning to free spirited. But perhaps I’ve misunderstood? ? ? For me, Americana is music that lets its deep sources in roots genres -- Country, Blues, Folk, Bluegrass -- show, but does not overtly sound like any one of those influences, in particular. And, is not necessarily acoustic. Lucinda Williams is a great example. Sorry if my response comes across as excessively rigid or professorial. You did warn me about "butchery". I’m perhaps a bit too obsessed with exactitude when it comes to the written word. Trying to write poetry will do that! ;o) |
@stuartk yes I did read it. To be honest, I am no expert in various music genre, I am just an Americana/folk fan. Can’t stand modern country :( To me, Shania Twain is one of the inventor’s of modern country (but she is good. she did it with substance). By now, modern country is a cliche, zero substance, lots of empty "feelings" I mentioned her because when she started, she represented Canada and country at its roots, Then she blasted into pop/rock with a country spirit and it worked very well for her. I love her energy, country girl sweetness and laid-back-ness. I know I am absolutely butchering it but to me country is people playing music to make a living and folk is people singing/making music after work. Which is why country is labored and folk is inherently free spirited. Americana is a grouping but closest to folk. The Be Good Tanyas, one of my favorite bands is classic Americana to me, very acoustic, underproduced, harmony based, lacking elements of popular music and just free/"country liberal" I did butcher it with a lot of non-sense |
Did you see my comment about how she defined her sound? "Rock-tinged Country". I hear quite a bit of Rock influence in her music and she has pointed out that Tom Petty and Springsteen are as important to her sound as Classic Country. Having recently bought and listened extensively to three of her CDs, I’d argue there is also an element of Folk present. Yes, some of it sounds more Country than anything else, but the lyrics are more sophisticated than most Country (avoiding the cliches so enamored by Country songwriters) and furthermore, display a notably introspective quality that tends to couch situations in shades of gray, rather than black and white. It’s here, in the lyric writing, that I detect a Folk or singer-songwriter influence. That said, I’m no longer sure it is Americana. In fact, the more I’ve thought about it, the less sure I am about what exactly constitutes Americana. What’s your definition? I'm confused by your mention of Shania Twain. What I've heard by her is stylistically, writing-wise and production-wise, a very long way from Roots genres.
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@stuartk: Your comment about mine regarding Americana and the South had me reconsider the matter. Perhaps instead of using the term Southern, "rural" is more of what I'm taking about. I've thought in terms of Southern for a number of reasons, first and foremost because that part of the U.S.A. is after all where the Hillbilly, Rockabilly, Bluegrass, and Blues first fermented. Also because when I started meeting and being around some musicians from the South, I noticed that they not only spoke English differently than do we Northerners, Westerners, and Easterners, but they also even walk differently. And when I played music with some (Bill Pitcock IV from The Dwight Twilley Band, Evan Johns), they played with a feel very different from what I was accustomed too, being a California boy. But now that I think about it, one problem I have with the younger, Alt-Country guys is that they play in a way that feels very much of what I call "suburban". I grew up in and started playing in San Jose, California, which is not really a city, but rather one big suburb, very much like the San Fernando Valley of Southern California (San Jose is in the Santa Clara Valley). Not a city, and not at all rural. I have for years viewed The Swampers as the prime example of the Southern feel in music, but perhaps their style and feel are a result of the rural influence, not the Southern.
In a related matter, whenever the subject of the "best" American songwriters, singers, and musicians comes up, many consider Canadians not eligible for consideration (no Neil Young, Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell, or The Band?!). I disagree. Canada is, after all, part of North America. Close enough, ay? And now that the stable genius has declared he wants to make Canada the 51st state, perhaps the matter is moot.
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Since we're on this topic... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Vn0Dz7InjI To quote Willie Nelson: "There are two kinds of men in the world; those who are in love with Emmylou and those who have not met her". |
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- understandably 
road !