The Hold Steady and Drive By Truckers bring their Rock Show to The Crystal

(photo courtesy of Rahav Segev for The New York Times)

When we first heard the announcement that The Hold Steady and Drive By Truckers would be co-headlining a U.S. tour (appropriately enough deemed The Rock and Roll Means Well Tour), we thought it was pure booking genius. These two bands bring a mutual philosophy of delivering unadulterated and unpretentious live rock and roll. The pairing allegedly was born out of a mutual respect for each others shows and records by The Hold Steady's Craig Finn and Drive By Trucker's Patterson Hood.

Hood recently spoke about this on his blog citing his top 5 The Hold Steady Songs:

1. CHILLOUT TENT - This is the song the made me first fall in love with the band. If "Let There Be Rock" was my snapshot of going to The Rock Show back when I was a teenager, it could be argued that this one is theirs. At any rate, it tells a great story with both humor and pathos and like so many of their songs is cinematic as hell. I also love the irreverent reinvention of the sappy Greece "Summer Lovin'" scene into a classic slab of pop-culture revision that somehow manages to be both ironically detached and humanistically warm. A rare feat in modern culture, especially from a Rock and Roll Band.
One of my favorite songs of the decade.

2. LORD I'M DISCOURAGED - My favorite song on the new album and probably my favorite song so far this year. Also cinematic as hell (boy, it's hard not to use that phrase in describing this band). This song plays out like a five minute movie with humor and drama. Even a twist at the end. A beautiful piece of work with an absolutely bitchin' guitar solo to boot.

3. YOUR LITTLE HOODRAT FRIEND (click to listen)- This one plays out more like better version of classic era alternative rock (boy that's a funny concept in its own rite) turbo charged and taken up about ten notches in the writing department. Damn, they write great Rock and Roll songs. This song is truly hilarious from start to finish (getting even better as it builds up to the punch line) and it Rocks like pure hellfire. Many of my favorite songs ever written are structured like a well told joke that builds to the payoff punch line at the end. This one does that about as well as any song I could name.

4. STEVE NICKS - I may be totally full of shit, but this one hits me like some kind of deconstructed Springsteen song (especially when it starts coming unhinged toward the end) and I mean this in the absolute best of ways. Listening to THS, I always got the feeling that they were trying to build their idea of an ultimate Rock and Roll Band, taking elements they all loved from their favorites growing up and reconstituting them on their own terms to build their version of the perfect beast. All of my favorite bands through the years seemed to take this approach; including The Clash and yes, Bruce Springsteen (and yes, Drive-By Truckers) and to me few have ever nailed the concept any better than The Hold Steady.

5. STAY POSITIVE - (click to listen) Here we have a great song that references it's own catchiness in the second verse ("The singalong songs will be our scriptures") immediately followed by the most amazingly unshakable singalong chorus of the last decade and a half. This song is a monster hit single waiting to happen and if there was any justice (or half decent radio) it would be blasting from every car stereo in America.

The only disappointing aspect of tomorrow's show at the Crystal Ballroom is that our secondary market was only relegated one night while most other cities get a two night stand with each band getting a chance to close. Sources tell us that The Hold Steady will close the Portland show. Nonetheless we are excited for this show and expect to get our faces rocked tomorrow night.

HS PRESS: Vagrant / NPR / Blender

MP3/Download: Hold Steady - Constructive Summer
MP3/Download: Drive-By Truckers - Zip City

Saturday, November 22, 2008
Hold Steady / Drive-By Truckers
Crystal Ballroom
8 p.m. doors, 9 p.m. show | $20 advance, $22/door

REMEMBER THIS IS A CO-HEADLINE GET THERE EARLY!

The Rosebuds - Live @ Doug Fir

To the seventeenth-century poet Robert Herrick, rosebuds were a symbol of the fleeting pleasures of youth. Orson Welles made "Rosebud" the dying word of Charles Foster Kane, again a symbol of the tenacity of youthful memory. Kelly and Ivan - The Rosebuds - make music that embodies that certain spirit—youthful, but complex. Not at all fairytale, but magical. Not realistic, but real. Perhaps the way youth actually is.

The Rosebuds defy categorization with each new release, like creatures in a myth shifting shape to avoid capture; slippery catfish in a North Carolina river. Mention The Smiths and Ivan will turn his Morrissey croon into a gruff Greg Dulli growl or splash it against some reverb-laden surf guitar. Call them Southern Gothic and they'll release a dance record. They do not spend time categorizing themselves, each record is simply evidence of new curiosity.

On their newest album, Life Like, The Rosebuds return to more acoustic territory, barely a year after releasing the synth-heavy dance pop of 2007's Night of the Furies. Crisp says that perhaps they needed to exorcise the anger and disillusion caused by a hard year of terrifying storms, and endless frustration over an ineffectual political state (that provided the need for the Furies metaphor in their songs) before they could move on to explore stories more closely related to their everyday life.

Having just finished the first tour for Night of the Furies, Ivan and Kelly began working on other creative projects in an attempt to take a break from music before going back out on tour. However, they soon found themselves making songs to entertain themselves and realized they had a whole record. So they ditched plans for a second tour and called in their friends (including Portastatic’s Matthew McCaughan, Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon, and Ashley Stove’s Jim Brantley) and put the finishing touches on Life Like.

The Rosebuds have released four full-length albums, two 7-inches, an EP, and a digital-only album of remixes.

PRESS: SPIN / BlogCritics

LINKS: http://www.therosebuds.com

MP3/Download: The Rosebuds - Cape Fear
MP3/Download: The Rosebuds - Life Like

Saturday November 22, 2008
Doug Fir Lounge
w/ No Kids
Doors at 9:30pm, Show at 10pm - LATE SHOW!
$10 advance, $12 day of show

Willie Nelson Tribute @ Wonder Ballroom

THIS FRIDAY NIGHT! The Wonder Ballroom and KUPL have put together a Tribute Night to Willie Nelson this Friday the 21st. With a backing band formed with members of Jackstraw and Lewi Longmire, local acts such as Fernando, Al James from Dolorean, Caleb Klauder, Little Sue, and many more will get together to celebrate Nelson's music. Tickets are only $9.87 and available at Ticketmaster and at the door the day of show.

Tribute Night to Willie Nelson
Wonder Ballrom
11/21/2008 • Doors at 8pm, show at 9pm
98.7 KUPL Presents: Willie Nelson Tribute Night
Advance Tickets are $9.87 (Plus Service charge)

Living Legend, John Hiatt Rocks a Sold-Out Show @ Aladdin Theater

Living lengend, John Hiatt WOW'd the Aladdin Theater last night in front of a sold out audience. On May 27, New West Records released John Hiatt’s new full length album Same Old Man, his first album since 2005’s critically acclaimed Master of Disaster, of which The Washington Post declared “Hiatt has written some of the best melodies of his career,” and Time Out New York proclaimed “...his most vibrant and soulful album in years.” Same Old Man will also be available as a Limited Edition 180 gram vinyl record.

Same Old Man was recorded at Highway 61 Recordings and produced by John Hiatt. Appearing on the album are Kenneth Blevins on drums, Patrick O’Hearn on bass and Luther Dickinson on guitar, mandolin and national resonator. John’s daughter, Lilly Hiatt, sings harmony on the songs “Love You Again” and “What Love Can Do.”

John Hiatt, “…one of America’s best contemporary songwriters…” according to Performing Songwriter magazine, will be recognized for his talent in September with a lifetime achievement award from The Americana Music Association. “It’s a privilege to honor John Hiatt,” says Jed Hilly, Executive Director of The Americana Music Association. “He is the essence of what the Americana Songwriter award is all about; a true artist, a performer and songwriter whose work is steeped with integrity.” Past recipients include Americana icons Willie Nelson, John Prine, Rodney Crowell, Guy Clark, Cowboy Jack Clement, and Billy Joe Shaver.

John Hiatt will also receive the high honor of being inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame this October. The Hall of Fame recognizes songwriters whose work has "positively impacted and been closely associated with the Nashville music community and deemed to be outstanding and significant," explains Roger Murrah, Chairman of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame Foundation (NaSHOF). The Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame currently boasts 168
members including Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Dolly Parton, Rodney Crowell, Jimmy Buffett and Hank Williams.

PRESS: AP / TourPress

LINKS: http://www.johnhiatt.com

MP3/Download: John Hiatt - Same Old Man
MP3/Download: John Hiatt - Old Days

Monday, November 17, 2008
Aladdin Theater
John Hiatt & Agless Beauties

John Doe @ Aladdin Theater on Wednesday night!

On June 12 Yep Roc Records released John Doe's much anticipated A Year in the Wilderness, the follow-up to 2005's acclaimed Forever Hasn't Happened Yet, of which Rolling Stone said, "John Doe proves again that this punk legend/journeyman actor can still make great music."

In typical John Doe fashion A Year in the Wilderness 12 tracks feature an array of guest appearances including players he has worked with in the past-guitarist Dave Alvin, bassist Dave Carpenter and Jamie Muhoberac on piano and organ-as well as first time collaborators such as Kathleen Edwards who sings on three tracks, "A Little More Time," "Lean Out Yr Window," and the stand out single, "The Golden State." The album also features singers Aimee Mann and Jill Sobule, guitarist Dan Auerbach (The Black Keys) and acclaimed pedal steel player Greg Leisz.

John Doe is a founding member of the seminal LA punk rock outfit X and the country spin-off band The Knitters. Doe's solo career began with 1990 album Meet John Doe, and he has since garnered worldwide acclaim. Entertainment Weekly calls his work, "rip-roarin' and warm-hearted," Q deems it "the tightest, finest and most morally acute music of the last 20 years," and The Boston Globe praises its "striking emotional territory..."

PRESS: No Depression / Pitchfork / Rick Moody

LINKS: http://www.theejohndoe.com & http://www.xtheband.com

MP3/Download: John Doe - The Golden State
MP3/Download: John Doe - A Little More Time (w/ K.Edwards)

Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Aladdin Theater
Kathleen Edwards / John Doe
Time: 8PM / Tix: $20

Local Heroes ~ Hillstomp ~ Rock the Doug Fir on Wednesday Night!

Portland Oregon junkbox blues duo HILLSTOMP is infamous for digging through the dumps and forgotten backwoods of American music, recycling traditional elements into a refreshing and distinctive brand of do-it-yourself hill country blues stomp. North Mississippi trance blues, a bit of Appalachia, and a dash of punkabilly come clanging and tumbling from assorted buckets, cans and BBQ lids, all drenched in rambunctious slide guitar. Somehow it works.

Portland Oregon duo HILLSTOMP has duct-taped together a vigorous lo-fi hill country punk blues, clanging and tumbling from assorted vintage mics, buckets, cans and BBQ lids, drenched in rambunctious slide guitar.

Despite their homemade instruments and novel approach, HILLSTOMP is no novelty act. HILLSTOMP's memorable live performances tap into a magic that cannot be rehearsed, converting outlaws and traditionalists alike from skeptics into preechers. After two widely-acclaimed studio albums, the band hopes to capture some of that live energy on a new album titled After Two but Before Five. The album was recorded live recently on two nights in the Northwest.

PRESS: Willamette Week / BlogCritics.com

MP3/Download: Hillstomp - Boom Boom Room East Blues
MP3/Download: Hillstomp - Can't Be Satisfied
MP3/Download: Hillstomp - Jackson Parole Board Blues

Doug Fir Lounge
HILLSTOMP
O'DEATH
and CICADA OMEGA
Wednesday November 19
Doors 8pm, Show 9pm / $10 advance, $10 day of show

Grace Potter & Nocturnals Come to the Doug Fir

This Is Somewhere (Ragged Company/ Hollywood Records) marks the coming of age of the young, Vermont-based rock band Grace Potter and the Nocturnals. To say that this album makes good on the band’s immense promise would be an understatement. While these assertions quite naturally invite skepticism, we respond: “just insert and press “play.”

The album manifests incredible growth in the writing and singing of 24-year-old phenomenon Grace Potter, who has clearly found her true voice in both respects, as well as the instrumental prowess of the band: Potter on the Hammond B3, guitarist Scott Tournet, bassist Bryan Dondero and drummer Matt Burr. On this remarkable record, they make a glorious racket indeed.

The band’s timeless, organic brand of American rock & roll is fully in evidence throughout This Is Somewhere, starting with “Ah Mary,” with its languid verses exploding into arena-scaled choruses in what is clearly a call to action. This heart-pumping rocker sets the stage for a dynamic song cycle that encompasses “Stop the Bus,” a churning anthem that recalls Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers circa Damn the Torpedoes, the love-as-war lament “Apologies,” the paean to a battered New Orleans “Ain’t No Time,” the soulful, horn-accented “Mastermind” and the concluding stunner “Big White Gate.” Potter’s timely and eloquent songs—some of them intensely personal, others politically charged—immediately lodge themselves in the listener’s head (pretty much defining the de rigueur term “sticky”) and bore in deeper with each successive play.

Monday November 17, 2008
Doug Fir Lounge
GRACE POTTER & THE NOCTURNALS
plus NO GO KNOW
Doors 8pm, Show 9pm
$12 advance, $12 day of show

MP3/Download: Grace Potter & Nocturnals - Big White Gate
MP3/Download: Grace Potter & Nocturnals - Stop The Bus