GUTHRIE PROJECT, NEW MULTITUDES, TO BE RELEASED ON FEBRUARY 28

Like a cadre of musical brothers finally coalescing after years on the road apart, Jay Farrar (Son Volt, Gob Iron, Uncle Tupelo), Will Johnson (Centro-matic, South San Gabriel), Anders Parker (Varnaline, Gob Iron) and Yim Yames (My Morning Jacket, Monsters of Folk) gratefully deliver New Multitudes, an intimate interpretation of American icon and musical legend Woody Guthrie’s previously unrecorded lyrics.

Set to coincide with the centennial celebration of Woody Guthrie’s birth year, New Multitudes will be released on February 28, 2012 by Rounder Records as a 12 track release and a 24 track limited edition. The limited edition features original Guthrie lyric sheets, the 12 track release, and 12 additional compositions recorded by Farrar and Parker. The album will also be available on vinyl.

We have created a new Facebook page for the group. Right now, we are streaming “Old L.A.” from the album, featuring Anders Parker on lead vocal. Please “like” this page so you can receive updates including interview footage, live performance video, etc.

http://www.facebook.com/newmultitudes

The band will hit the road for a select run of dates in March.

March 6 – The Fillmore – San Francisco, CA
March 7 – Music Box – Los Angeles, CA
March 9 – Crystal Ballroom – Portland, OR
March 10 – Showbox – Seattle, WA
March 12 – The Birchmere – Alexandria, VA
March 13 – Union Transfer – Philadelphia, PA
March 14 – Webster Hall – New York, NY
March 16 – Paradise – Boston, MA

Under the invitation of Nora Guthrie, Woody’s daughter, to tour the Guthrie archives, each of the four songwriters were offered the chance to plumb and mine the plethora of notebooks, scratch pads, napkins, etc. for anything that might inspire them to lend their voices and give the words new life. “These guys worked on an amazing group of lyrics, much of it culled from Woody’s times in LA. Lyric wise, it’s a part of the story that is still mostly unknown. From Woody’s experiences on LA’s skid row to his later years in Topanga Canyon, they are uniquely intimate, and relate two distinctly emotional periods in his life.”

The spirit of Guthrie may have been involved in more ways than one, as all four songwriters mentioned the immediate connection to the songs they chose, or as they would suggest, “chose them.” The writing came together quickly, as if the mischief muse who originally penned them latched himself to each writer’s grey matter upon first contact.

Musically, it is this sense of collaboration that makes New Multitudes not just another trite and traditional acoustic regurgitation of back porch blues. From the ragged jangle of its opening track, “Hoping Machine”, the loping lilt of “Fly High”, the floorboard stomp of “No Fear”, to the lush warmth and sudden sonic gut punch of “My Revolutionary Mind” the cohorts deliver a lesson in discovering a song’s sweet spot. It’s the function and preparedness of each artist’s dogged work ethic gleaned the old-fashion way; veracious songs, road weary odometers, and sweat stained live shows, all attributes of the man they are honoring.

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More news soon!

Thank you.

http://www.centro-matic.com

Digging a little deeper, here’s the track list for “New Multitudes” -

1. Hoping Machine
2. Fly High
3. My Revolutionary Mind
4. VD City
5. Old L.A.
6. Talking Empty Bed Blues
7. Chorine
8. Careless Reckless Love
9. Angel’s Blues
10. No Fear
11. Changing World
12. New Multitudes

Sometimes the beginning of the year is the best time in the Denton music scene. Take the Centro-Matic / Telegraph Canyon / Spooky Folk show next week at Dan’s Silverleaf here in Denton.

Here’s a little taste of Will Johnson solo -

Centro-Matic is a Denton band that has more musician cred. than a band like the Old 97′s who shunned their Denton roots for the “Dallas Band Old 97′s” title a long time ago. So be it. Dallas can have ‘em, but nobody’s taking our Centro-Matic-Will Johnson-South San Gabriel band – no matter what.
“By some counts, the number of Centro-matic or related releases is in the hundreds at this point; three EPs, a soundtrack cut and a cassingle were released while you read this-each one a surprise and revelation. But none more so than the album now in your possession: Candidate Waltz, what Will Johnson (songwriter, singer, multi-instrumentalist) calls the band’s “meat-and-potatoes pop record.” Johnson, the accidental solo artist who formed around him a band that’s hung tight and together for 15 years (and: Happy Anniversary!), wrote the songs on bass, in his warm Central Texas in mid-summer. He wonders: Can’t you tell? It sounds shirtless and sweaty.”

January 13 brings Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real to Dan’s Silverleaf -

“Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real are an American rock & roll band based out of Paia, HI and Southern Calfornia. The band consists of Lukas Nelson (Vocals/Guitar), Anthony LoGerfo (Drums), Tato Melgar (Percussion) and Corey McCormick (Bass). The band’s name represents a pledge made by the group to always be real to who they are both musically and individually and for better or worse. POTR released their debut record “Promise of the Real” in December of 2010 and have toured extensively throughout 2011 in support of the album. This year the band will play 250 shows and have appeared at Farm Aid and on the Late Show with David Letterman and the Tonight Show with Jay Leno.”

The Life and Times / Cush / Calhoun are at Dan’s January 19th. Holy smoke, have a listen to The life and Times’ “My Last Hostage” –

I hope you enjoyed the first post on fly fishing music’s top ten for 2011. Instead of getting easier, it gets even more difficult to stuff what could have been ten CD’s into the final five.

Add to that, the unexpected referral to the Von Ehrics by guide Joel Hays, and that just clouds the water even more. I am always inviting musical suggestions, but would you please do it well before writing for the top ten has begun! Talk about a scramble at the top, this was it, and I am still not sure now the top five shakes down.

NUMBER 5
The Von Ehrics – “Two Foot Stomp”

The Von Ehrics are a band I’ve never even heard of, but Joel Hays sent me a link to their video. I was hooked. Just about the time you thought all the energy had been sapped from rock-and-roll, the Von Ehrics bring it back down to its essence. “Lord I Pray” you enjoy this CD as much as I am right now. “Two Foot Stomp”
just sounds like a spring fishing run to East Texas. Do yourself a favor, and get this one. I will be sure to keep you posted on their tour dates, and if they make it to Denton again, I’ll even give a couple of tickets away through some tricky contest.

NUMBER 4 – A TIE
Alison Krauss & Union Station – Paper Airplane
It just doesn’t get any better than this. Alison Krauss & Union Station put out their best ever. In fly fishing music terms, think fly fishing in Tennessee or, say, Kentucky. You will thank me for this one later. It’s easy listening – pretty much the polar opposite to the Von Enrics, but these days that’s what a “Fly Fishing Playlist” is all about isn’t it. (I do long for some good reggae and the salt smell that brings though.)

The Decemberists – The King Is Dead
/ Long Live the King
Did you ever wish that REM still had that edge? Well, the first CD “The King Is Dead” has that “sound” thanks in part to Peter Buck of REM. Where Peter Buck leaves off, Gillian Welch kicks in to present a tour de’ force. There aren’t many bands that can call on this kind of participatory talent, and there’s a reason for that – the Decemberists are the real deal. Their music is arguably the most important snapshot of North American music today.

NUMBER 3
Paul Simon – “So Beautiful or So What”

There is just no explaining some things. Yes, that Paul Simon. “So Beautiful or So What” is a near classic. Simon takes on mortality head on, and even plays god on occasion. Paul Simon can do that. It’s a CD you want just for the sound – clean, and unique. I have never heard anything like it, and the sound is enough to make the CD necessary as an audio reference if nothing else.

NUMBER 2
Radiohead – The King of Limbs
My most recent listening of The King of Limbs came Friday (12/30), and the experience could have some bearing on why Radiohead went from a top ten lurker, to NUMBER 2 in the countdown. I was fishing a spot, one that had been productive weeks ago, on a local lake, and since it was a warm day, and little was going on; I decided to plug my Etyotic Earbuds into my phone and continue my countdown research for these two posts. I was ripping off some pretty distant casts with my Sage Z-Axis 6wt, and somehow the music and the moment just jelled.

Before you judge me for “tuning out nature” you have to know there was more trash than nature around, and it wasn’t a situation where I needed to hear where the fish were surfacing or jumping – they were doing neither.

On the last song I felt the earth move. The clouser (black/black) stopped and started going the other direction – post haste. I gave the stripped line, and it kept going … all my line and into the backing. I was thinking about the surreal moment, and also thinking that the length of the song could clue me in on the length of the fight at hand. The song ended. A few minutes, who knows how many, later the fight ended with the hybrid at my knees. The fat fish measured a healthy fourteen inches around, a bit over twenty-two inches long, and a solid five pounds on the Boga Grip
. A new waterbody record at hand.

So you can see how I might like the new Radiohead release.

NUMBER 1
Black Keys – El Camino

The sticker – right there on the cover – tells you what you need to know about El Camino – “Play Loud.” I am not a red-meat-flag-waving-America-kicks-ass-good-time-rock-and-roller, but El Camino is pure US rock and roll, and for that they get the NUMBER 1 spot for 2011. This CD is full of straight ahead rock, not retro, not techno, not anything but straight ahead hard driving rock-and-roll. If there was an anthem CD for the Chicken Fried Nation, this would be the one. All you have to do is spin it once, and you know; This is it. I could go on about the music, but it’s so obviously original and good, that it does the talking for itself.