Vintage Article: The Demise of Bone (1997)

Nashville’s media community lost an important voice with the demise of Bone Music Magazine. Published monthly by Tuned In Broadcasting, owner of radio stations WRLT-FM and WRLG-FM, the October issue of Bone announced that it would be its last after 11 years of providing readers with in-depth coverage of rock ‘n’ roll. It’s unknown at this time whether the publication’s owners plan on resurrecting Bone anytime in the future.

Bone began life as The Metro, founded by original owner Gus Palas in 1985 as a biweekly publication. Palas later changed the frequency to monthly, increased its circulation and began distributing each issue regionally. The Metro rapidly became the Southeast’s premiere music magazine, providing coverage to a growing regional music scene. Advertising revenue was always a problem for the young publication, however, and after putting out 100 issues on a shoestring budget, Palas sold The Metro to Tuned In Broadcasting in 1992.

Under the guidance of publisher Ned Horton, The Metro began to thrive. Affiliated with Tuned In’s WRLT-FM, the magazine underwent a graphic facelift and editorially became much more national in scope. The name was changed to Bone Music Magazine with the 8th anniversary issue in 1993. A subsequent distribution deal with the Nashville-based Cat’s Records chain allowed the publication to reach new territories. Horton further expanded the publication’s reach by creating affiliations between Bone and other alternative radio stations nationwide.

At its peak, Bone was publishing nine varying editions with over 200,000 copies distributed monthly in dozens of markets, including Atlanta and Seattle. For nine months, the staff of Bone also produced a weekly supplement to Nashville’s Tennessean newspaper. Called T-Bone, it offered a format similar to the regular magazine, and was inserted in each Friday’s entertainment section. A pilot for a Bone television show was also produced and broadcast on a local station last summer. The magazine began to suffer during the last year, however, as advertising sales remained stagnant and many of its radio affiliates began to question their involvement with the publication. “The Internet became our largest competitor,” says former publisher Horton. “Stations began to move towards the web.” Current and potential affiliates preferred to concentrate on making their presence felt in the new medium and, says Horton, “we didn’t have an electronic answer to offer them.” When Horton left Tuned In Broadcasting a few months ago, the publication lost its only champion.

I must admit a certain personal sadness in the passing of Bone. I was involved with the publication from the very beginning, enlisted by Gus Palas as The Metro’s first writer. Bone, like The Metro before it, enjoyed a better reputation outside of Nashville than locally, but its 11-year run made it the Southeast’s longest running music magazine. Feature articles introduced readers to talents like Jason & the Scorchers, Steve Earle, R.E.M., John Hiatt, Blues Traveler, and many others. Folks like Horton and Palas, Lisa Hays, Rebecca Luxford, Jody Lentz, Daryl Sanders, Andy Anderson, and the other editors and writers who were involved with The Metro/Bone through the years made a valuable contribution not only to Nashville’s music scene, but to the industry at large. Its presence will be missed.

Originally published by R Squared zine, 1997

Vintage Review: Jason Ringenberg’s Best Tracks and Side Tracks 1979-2007 (2008)

Jason Ringenberg is one of the nicest guys, if not the nicest guy, that you’ll ever meet. A devout family man, Ringenberg is polite to a fault, intelligent, and yet maddeningly humble. Yup, Jason meets the definition of “salt of the Earth” if anyone ever did. When I first met the man, back in ‘82, we sat in Jason’s West Nashville apartment with Scorchers’ guitarist Warner Hodges, talking and listening to music on a little record player.

The interview that came out of that night was published by CMJ’s Progressive Media magazine, possibly the first article on the Scorchers published on a national level. When we wrapped things up and Warner had driven off, Jason haltingly and embarrassingly asked me if I minded giving him a ride down to Kroger’s; I seem to even remember loaning him a couple of bucks to buy some fish sticks. Considering the great music and entertainment that Jason has provided since that night, it might have been the smartest investment of my life.

Jason’s all-around good nature makes his survival in the notoriously cutthroat music biz – an industry populated by sharks and sinners, snake-oil salesmen, bullies and thieves – all the more amazing. But survive Jason has, for some 30 years now, and he’s not only gotten by, he’s actually thrived in a business known for broken dreams and discarded souls. Amazingly, Jason actually seems to get nicer as the years fall off the calendar.  

Ringenberg came to Nashville in 1981 with the goal of finding like-minded musicians to pursue a shared musical vision. With a little help from the visionary Jack Emerson (R.I.P.), Jason was introduced to the guys that he’d spend the next decade playing alongside. Jason & the Nashville Scorchers unwittingly gave form to an entirely new genre of music. They didn’t set out to do so, but somewhere down the line, the Scorchers begat Uncle Tupelo, which in turn begat Son Volt and Wilco, which begat a glut of raving twang-bangers and roots-rock revivalists dubbed forever as the alt-country (a/k/a Americana) movement.

Jason Ringenberg’s Best Tracks and Side Tracks 1979-2007

When the Scorchers went on hiatus, Ringenberg launched his solo career in earnest with 2000’s A Pocketful of Soul. A folkish country-rock collection that Jason released independently, the album stripped the Scorchers’ high-octane sound down to a simple, elegant buzz (courtesy of guitarist George Bradfute and fiddle player Fats Kaplin). With more emphasis on his vocals and words than on the incendiary music that typically accompanied his lyrics with the Scorchers, Jason honed his already stiletto-sharp songwriting skills to a dangerous edge.

Two more Jason solo efforts followed A Pocketful of Soul – 2002’s All Over Creation and 2004’s Empire Builders, along with a pair of children’s records that Ringenberg recorded under his “Farmer Jason” nom de plume, as well as a Scorchers retrospective, Wildfires & Misfires. When the dust had settled and 2008 loomed on the horizon, Jason Ringenberg had survived three decades in the most dangerous bloodsport of them all – the music biz – and did so with talent and integrity both intact. With that in mind, Jason and his buddies over at Yep Roc put together Best Tracks and Side Tracks, a collection of Ringenberg solo material, outtakes, collaborations and rarities from 1979 to 2007. This two-CD compilation is divided into two parts: “Best Tracks,” featuring 20 songs culled from Jason’s three solo and two Farmer Jason albums, including a trio of new recordings; and “Side Tracks,” offering 10 rare, obscure songs and a couple of surprises that’ll have the hardcore fans running down to their local music vendor to procure a copy, pronto.  

The “Best Tracks” side of things kicks off with a pair of new recordings. A re-written version of the Scorchers’ gem “Shop It Around” suffers little from its reworking; if anything, the lyrics are more wistful, more pointed that previously. Featuring the always-reliable George Bradfute on guitar and Webb Wilder on backing vocals, this is Jason’s equivalent of Dylan’s “Positively Fourth Street.” It’s not as raucous, perhaps, as the original Scorchers’ version, but it has lost none of its power.

One Foot In the Honky Tonk

“The Life of the Party” is a similar love-gone-bad song, rescued from Jason’s lone major label album, 1992’s One Foot in the Honky Tonk. Re-recorded here because the original wasn’t available due to licensing problems, this harder-rocking version suits the song’s spirit better, with Bradfute holding down one end and drummer Fenner Castner making a big, beautiful noise at the other end. Jason’s duet with Steve Earle on Earle’s “Bible and A Gun,” from All Over Creation, is hauntingly sparse, with a high lonesome Fats Kaplin fiddle line punctuating the dark clouds of the lyrics.

“One Less Heartache,” a musical collaboration with England’s unpredictable Wildhearts, reminds me of the Del Lords or the Long Ryders, a solid roots-rockin’ tune with just enough twang to remind you that it’s Jason singing. In a good and just world, this could have been a big radio hit ‘cause it hits all the right chords and sounds great no matter what speakers that it’s blasting out of at the moment. “The Price of Progress,” from A Pocketful of Soul, is a favorite of mine, a mournful folk tale of a lone farmer versus the forces of profit, the song’s chilling lyrics supported by appropriately eerie fiddle and guitar tones.

“Prosperity Train,” a song by Illinois singer/songwriter Stace England with vocals by Jason and guitar by Bradfute, was pulled from England’s excellent 2005 album, Greetings From Cairo, Illinois. A rockabilly rave-up in Scorchers’ finery, it’s a fine way to familiarize oneself with the considerable lyrical talents of Mr. England. Offering a truly inspired vocal turn from Mr. Ringenberg, the song is part of a larger conceptual song cycle. A couple of socially-conscious songs from Empire Builders, “Tuskegee Pride” and “Chief Joseph’s Last Dream,” tackle sordid stories from America’s past with intelligence and emotion. Bradfute’s inspired guitarwork on “Tuskegee Pride” highlights Jason’s passionate vocals with an atmospheric tone. Ringenberg’s simple finger-picking on the latter song sets the stage for this tragic tale as Bradfute, Kaplin and drummer Steve Ebe create a moody thunderstorm behind Jason’s sorrowful vocals. A new recording of another Scorchers’ favorite, “Broken Whiskey Glass,” is performed by Jason and Illinois band the Woodbox Gang, the song transformed into a hillbilly romp with Appalachian instrumentation and dueling vocals from JR and the Gang’s Alex Kirt.  

The Sailor’s Eyes

Although there are several shining moments among the first disc’s 20 tracks, the second disc, “Side Tracks,” is the sort of hambone that brings flavor to the soup, if you know what I mean. “Lovely Christmas,” an odd duet with the lovely Kristi Rose is, as Jason readily admits, the most eccentric song that he’s ever put to tape. A country-punk mashup that alternates between Rose’s silky honky-tonk drawl and Jason’s manic, hurried vox, it’s a fun song that insightfully tramples over the holiday’s frenzied consumerism.

A new, unreleased song “The Sailor’s Eyes” may or may not be about Jason’s tenure with the Scorchers; it’s a fine lyrical metaphor nevertheless, with wistful vocals and a great Bradfute guitar line. With musician friend Arty Hill, Jason re-creates the Scorchers’ rockin’ “Cappuccino Rosie” live onstage as an acoustic country tearjerker complete with weeping fiddle. Years before the Scorchers, Jason fronted a band called Shakespeare’s Riot (great name!) in Carbondale, Illinois; that band’s original recording of what would become a Scorchers’ live fave, “Help There’s A Fire,” is a hoot – a sparse ‘50s throwback with a Duane Eddy beat and, as Jason describes it, a “cornpone Elvis rockabilly vocal.”

Another very cool Jason rarity here is a cover of John Prine’s classic “Paradise,” taken from a radio broadcast. A group effort, including R.B. Morris, Tom Roznowski and Janas Hoyt, the four vocalists do the song proud with a soulful, reverent reading. The set closes, appropriately, with another performance by Jason and the Wildhearts, a previously unreleased rave-up on “Jimmie Rodger’s Last Blue Yodel.” Evoking the Scorchers at their sweatiest, most raucous Exit/In performance, Mr. Ringenberg and the Wildhearts drive the train right off the tracks, smiling and rocking all the way into the abyss that lies below...

The Reverend’s Bottom Line

...and that, folks, is why Jason has remained so damn nice all these years. No matter the ups and downs, the hard knocks and career disappointments, the music is what has pulled him through. Jason has always sounded like he is sincerely happy and honored to be playing his music for us. His attitude is infectious, and it’s all over the 30 songs that you’ll find on Best Tracks and Side Tracks. (Yep Roc Records, released November 12, 2007)

Review originally published by Cashville411.com

Vintage Review: Jason & the Scorchers' Halcyon Days (2010)

The Reverend remembers watching…no, witnessing Jason & the Nashville Scorchers tear apart a local club – Cantrell’s, maybe the Exit/In – no matter, ‘cause those ol’ boys ripped it up like Link Wray and took that building apart brick by (figurative) brick. Nobody, and I mean nobody could take over a stage like Jason, Warner, Jeff, and Perry back in the day, and if you had the cajones and the stamina, they’d keep on rockin’ until every last punter had dropped to the floor…

Anarchy In The Music City

Yup, back during the early ‘80s in the Music City, rock ‘n’ roll was a man’s (and a few choice women’s) game, with bands fiercely rejecting the country music establishment that had hung the albatross of the cornpone Hee Haw image around the necks of we young soul rebels. Giants walked the dark streets and back alleys of Elliston Place and Eighth Avenue and East Nashville those days, outlaws like Raging Fire, the Dusters, Shadow 15, Webb Wilder, the Bunnies, and many more who took the stage each night determined not to quit rockin’ until the stinking cowtown corpse was permanently buried.

None of the musical giants of that era strode taller or played faster and louder than Jason & the Nashville Scorchers (the “Nashville” part was later dropped at the recommendation of some recordco dunce). They were not only the most popular band in town for a long time, one could make the argument that, for much of the world outside of Middle Tennessee, they were the only band that mattered.

The Scorchers were quite a spectacle, no matter what stage they conquered: while Jason yelped and danced and spun around like a dervish with pants on fire, Warner Hodges would play Keef to Jason’s Mick, tearing otherworldly sounds out of his guitar that had been previously unheard by human ears. Bassist Jeff Johnson was the epitome of cool, holding down the rhythm, while drummer Perry Baggs was a madman on the skins, bashing the cans like Tennessee’s own John Bonham while providing angelic harmony vocals behind Jason’s farm-bred Illinois twang.

More importantly, at least to us on the street, the drones on Music Row and the Nashville cultural establishment hated the Scorchers with a passion, viewing them as either the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, or as the end of everything good and green and holy about the city. Legend has it that famed Nashville deejay Ralph Emery turned his nose up at the Byrds when they played the Grand Ol’ Opry in 1967; a couple of decades later, the Scorchers damn near gave the poor man a heart attack. Back on Elliston Place, however, we knew the future of rock ‘n’ roll when we heard it, and as the band began to expand its circle to the Southeast, and then Europe with one fine record after another, it looked for a moment like our predictions of Scorchers world dominance might come true…

Jason & the Scorchers’ Halcyon Days

Sadly, Jason & the Scorchers never got the respect that they deserved; their records were under-promoted by the labels, or ignored in the hope that the band might just go away. Tensions grew dire within the band, members came and went, and by the time that grunge and the Seattle scene had wiped the slate clean, the Scorchers had fallen by the wayside. Although a mid-1990s Scorchers reunion would result in a pair of perfectly good studio albums and a live set that came as close as technology would allow to capturing the band’s anarchic onstage energy, it seemed as if stardom just wasn’t in the cards for Jason & the Scorchers.

Flash forward to 2010…the Kings of Leon are the new cocks on the walk, the first Nashville rockers to afford million-dollar homes, and it all seems so damn wrong. Sure, the local music scene still exists on some level, but every young new band seems to have its eye on the dollars and not the music, which is probably why old ‘80s warhorses like Royal Court of China, Shadow 15, the Bunnies, et al are drawing club crowds like it’s 1985 all over again, ‘cause the young ‘uns wanna rock, dammit! They want none of this TMZ bullshit and celebrity band status, just rock ‘n’ roll to feed the soul!

Into this vacuum step a reunited Jason & the Scorchers with Halcyon Times, the band’s first studio album in 14 years. Messrs. Ringenberg and Hodges still captain the ship, new guys Al Collins (bass) and Pontus Snibb (drums) are on board to man the rhythm section, and various musical contributions come from fellow travelers like former Georgia Satellites frontman Dan Baird, Brit-rocker Ginger of the Wildhearts, beloved Nashville icon Tommy Womack, and former Scorchers bandmate Perry Baggs, who provides his lively harmonies to several songs.

Somewhere on his Tennessee farm ol’ Jason must be hiding a damn time machine, because Halcyon Times sounds more like 1985 than 2010, the new album re-capturing the joyous abandon of early Scorchers’ discs like Reckless Country Soul or Fervor than anything they’ve done since. Sure, it may not have been recorded in Jack Emerson’s living room (R.I.P. Brother Jack), but Halcyon Times, produced by Hodges and Nashville pop-rock wunderkind Brad Jones, offers an energy and immediacy lacking in most modern recordings.

Moonshine Guy

The reasons behind the crackling livewire sound of the album comes from the presence of an audience watching the band record from behind glass, and the unlikely strategy of putting Jason live in the studio, singing along with the band…something seldom done with today’s Pro Tools dominated recording techniques. The result is an album that rocks like it was recorded in somebody’s living room, but sounds like a well-made studio creation.

The songs on Halcyon Times are among the best the Scorchers have ever delivered. The breakneck rocker “Moonshine Guy” is a paean to a certain kind of individual that, while not restricted to the South, is nevertheless a particularly Dixie-fried sort of character. With a punkish pace and intensity, Jason sings of the guy that “loves the Stones, hates the Doors/thinks the Beatles sing for girls/he’s a moonshine guy in a six-pack world,” his rapidfire vocals telling of the sort of last-century diehard who still yells “play Freebird” at any show he attends. A Celtic-flavored instrumental interlude in the middle, titled “Releasing Celtic Prisoners,” provides just enough relief for the band to charge back in to conclude the song.

Although “Moonshine Guy” could be dismissed by some slackjaw critics as a novelty, it’s really just a comic intro to a serious, joyful, and reckless set of songs that show why the Scorchers, 25 years after their debut, retain a fiercely loyal following from Lawrence, Kansas to London, England and points beyond. The collaborative songwriting efforts on Halcyon Times have produced some stellar results. Despite the contemporary production values, the raging “Mona Lee” sounds like vintage Scorchers with Hodges’ six-string gymnastics and Jason’s country soul vocals accompanied by fluid bass lines and crashing drumbeats.  

The folkish “Mother of Greed” features some of Jason’s best vocals, the song possessing an ethereal quality as the lyrics recount the passage of time and cash-grab progress. The Hodges/Dan Baird guitarwork here is simply gorgeous, their instruments intertwined in a beautiful melody until Hodges cuts loose with a magnificent solo. The vocal harmonies provide a gauzy, otherworldly quality to the mix. The album-closing “We’ve Got It Goin’ On” is the sort of song that the Scorchers based their rep on, only writ large for the 21st century. With shotgun lyrics delivered at 100mph above chaotic instrumentation that echoes 1960s garage-rock intensity, Jason spits out almost stream-of-consciousness lyrics that are nevertheless intriguing: “does an empire falling ever make a sound?”; “diggin’ down in the here and now ‘til tomorrow is yesterday”; “blacking out on a rush of pain kind of felt like home to me.” I’m not sure what it all means, but it rocks and that’s good enough for me!  

Twang Town Blues

For all the band’s protestations that they wanted to make a record that was forward-looking, the past casts a long shadow across Halcyon Times. The Scorchers, after all, were the great white hopes of cowpunk; the critical darlings with a cult following that were one song away from mainstream mega-stardom. Although Ringenberg and Hodges have certainly come to grips with their near-brush with infamy, somewhere deep inside them it has to chafe just a bit…on many nights, the Scorchers were the best rock ‘n’ roll band in the land, the Replacements and other pretenders to the throne be damned.

As such, Halcyon Times includes many subtle, and some not-so-so subtle references to days gone by, such as the inclusion of the nearly-subliminal line from “Hot Nights In Georgia” that serves as a kick-off to the second part of “Moonshine Guy.” The rockabilly-tinged “Getting’ Nowhere Fast” could be the band’s theme song, a runaway instrumental freight train with Jason singing “we’re getting nowhere fast faster than we’ve ever been, we’re getting nowhere fast put the pedal to the metal again.” In many ways, the song is a statement of defiance, and a gleeful one at that.

“Golden Days,” from which the album takes its name, is a look backwards that charts the progress of a fictional protagonist through the years, meaningful lyrics matched by another solid vocal performance and a timeless pop-rock soundtrack with an infectious chorus. The darkly humorous “Twang Town Blues” is the story of the Scorchers and every other wild-eyed dreamer that landed in Nashville, or L.A., or New York in search of fame and fortune. Telling the story of several such hopefuls with talking blues vocals resting above a menacing swamp-rock theme, the line “tonight he’ll kill a six-pack just to watch it die” shouts out to Johnny Cash and Nashville’s checkered musical history with eerie effect.   

Co-written by Dan Baird with an eye specifically towards the Scorchers, “Days of Wine and Roses” is the story of Jason and Warner and their often complicated relationship. In many ways the song is the heart of Halcyon Times, Jason singing “like a soldier that doesn’t know that it’s time to go home, and if there’s no one else to hoist the flag, well I’ll go it alone” with a world-weariness that only 25 years in the music biz can bring. Warner’s guitar tones are mesmerizing, bringing a bright, emotional edge to the lyrics as Jason sings “the days of wine and roses they are long dead and gone, carry on, carry on…” The song positions the Scorchers – and specifically Jason and Warner – as the veterans they are, old soldiers that refuse to go quietly into that good night.

If “Days of Wine and Roses” is the heart of Halcyon Times, then the pop-tinged rocker “Better Than This” serves as the album’s soul. With Warner singing in a voice that is as distinctively hard rock in nature as Jason’s is earthy country twang, the song delights in the unbridled joy of making music. Above a raucous soundtrack with some red-hot guitarwork, Warner sings “someday you just might find/as you’re looking back in time/it gets good but it don’t get better than this.” No matter the band’s trials and tribulations, minor successes, and failures, it all fades away once they hit the stage.

The Reverend’s Bottom Line

Released independently by the band, Halcyon Times is unlikely to set the charts on fire, although it’s certainly one of the best rock albums that will be released in 2010. Sensing that it might be the band’s last stand – or at least their last physical CD in an increasingly digital world – the Scorchers have put together a beautiful CD package that includes great graphics, and a thick booklet full of lyrics, photos, and liner notes sure to thrill the hardcore faithful.

It’s the music that counts, though, and here Jason & the Scorchers and friends have delivered in spades. The album combines the reckless energy and enthusiasm of their youth with the cautious optimism and mature talent of veteran musicians. With Halcyon Times, the band rocks harder and sounds better than they ever have. The Scorchers may be going nowhere fast, but they’re having a hell of a time doing so… (Courageous Chicken/NashVegas Flash, released February 19th, 2010)

Review originally published by Blurt magazine, 2010

Vintage Review: Bonepony's Feeling It (2006)

It should come as no surprise that Feeling It, Bonepony’s fourth studio album, should open with a song like “Home.” Although the band’s roster has shuffled a bit through the years, revolving around frontman Scott Johnson, the current line-up of Johnson, Nicolas Nguyen, and Kenny Wright represents decades of experience and tens of thousands of miles on the road. Grizzled veterans of countless local and regional bands, the trio has earned every right to be tired, fed up with the music business and worn down by the rigors of the road. Yet “Home,” at once both spry and weary, is a celebration of both those left behind and the brotherhood of the road, “singing in a traveling band.” The song offers the usual mixed genres of Bonepony’s sound, an overall bluesy feel complimented by a bluegrassy stomp and strum.

Concerned with relationships – with family, with friends, with fans – Feeling It is an affirmation of the band’s faith in the power of music. Relationships are hard to manage when you spend 100+ nights a year on the road, and the value of a family waiting for you increases with every mile traveled. Several songs here touch upon the subject, dissecting it from different perspectives. The guys are clearly reconciling the wanderlust of their chosen profession with the need for roots and romance. Whether directly addressing the issue, as with the Southern-fried funk of “She’s My Religion” or the mournful, high lonesome sound of “Colour Blue,” or indirectly, as with “Good News,” the question rises to the forefront of the album. The wonderful “Something Good” is classic Bonepony, sparse acoustic instrumentation matched with infectious vocal harmonies in the creation of a complex love letter that would translate well to both rock and country radio (if the medium wasn’t run by idiots).

The high point, in my mind, of Feeling It is the defiant “Farewell,” a recommitment to the muse that calls all three band members, a casting off of the ghosts of the past and the negative energy that would drag them down. Sung by Johnson with a deliberate hesitancy, the song brings the album full circle, where all roads lead back home. It jumps directly into the triumphant title song, the band finally succumbing to the siren of the stage, balancing family and fans with the magic of the music. It’s only appropriate that the album closes with “Park City Jam,” a brief yet energetic reprise of “Home” with whoops and hollers and handclaps that punctuate the joy and jubilation that is the root of Feeling It.    

Bonepony’s music, for those unfamiliar with the band, is an eclectic mix of rock, country, folk, blues, and bluegrass. It’s a sound as old as the Appalachian Mountains and as alien to today’s trend-driven, focus-group-created-frankenrock as you could possibly be. This is music for the heart and soul, not for corporate marketing. Bonepony’s sound translates well to the stage, where the acoustic instrumentation and the band’s dynamic performances can spark a fire hotter than a Delta roadhouse on a Saturday night. With no disrespect to former fiddle player Tramp, the addition of multi-instrumentalist Kenny Wright to the trio was a smart move, widening the band’s capabilities even as they strip these songs down to the basics. Feeling It will both satisfy longtime fans and earn the band new fans, the album’s honesty and energy an antidote to the restless dissatisfaction felt by many music lovers. If you’re looking for something new and exciting, look no further than Bonepony. (Super Duper Recordings, 2006)

Nashville Rock Memorabilia: Bonepony Photo Gallery

Stomp Revival, Bonepony's 1995 debut album

Bonepony (L-R): Tramp Lawling, Scott Johnson, Nick Nguyen

 Bonepony's Fun House album, released in 2001

Bonepony's Jubilee album, released in 2003

Bonepony (L-R): Kenny Wright, Scott Johnson, Nick Nguyen 

 All photos courtesy of Bonepony

Vintage Review: Bonepony's Traveler's Companion (1999)

It’s safe to say that Nashville’s Bonepony is, perhaps, the most unique band that you’ll ever experience. Comparisons don’t do them justice when there’s no band on earth that these ears have heard that sounds anywhere close to the original mix of rock, folk, country, bluegrass and blues that these guys have created. The folks at Capital Records evidently agree, dumping the band after a single fine album that the label obviously had no idea how to market. Undaunted, Bonepony founders Scott Johnson and Bryan Ward regrouped with new member Tramp on fiddle (ex-Cactus Brothers), the trio recording and releasing the excellent Traveler’s Companion on their own Super Duper Recordings label.

Hewing closer to traditional music forms than even many alt-country bands are willing to risk, Bonepony nevertheless rock with the enthusiasm and energy of any half-a-dozen heavy metal bands. Kicking out the jams with an unlikely mix of fiddle, mandolin, banjo, dobro and other folksy instruments and featuring excellent vocal harmonies, the raw spirit of the music serves to support the finely-crafted songs on Traveler’s Companion. Original songs like the sweetly spiritual “Sweet Bye And Bye,” the country-flavored “Savanna Flowers” or the witty and charming “Fish In the Sea” are smart, engaging affairs that tend to grow on you with each hearing, regardless of the sparse nature of the backing instrumentation.

Bonepony called upon some high-octane friends to assist in making Traveler’s Companion, among them Lucinda Williams, Reese Wynans, Brad Jones, and Wilco’s Ken Coomer. The band’s production works quite well, their light touch emphasizing the songs rather than any individual agenda. Since the band had complete creative control of the project, they released the disc in a package composed of industrial hemp, using soy ink for the printing, a smart choice in my book. If you’re tired of vacuous pop artists and cookie-cutter FM radio rock bands, treat yourself to something different and check out Bonepony. Traveler’s Companion is proof that you don’t have to be signed to a major label to produce major league music. (Super Duper Recordings, 1999)

Vintage Review: Aashid Himons & The Mountain Soul Band's West Virginia Hills (1999)

For almost two decades now, Aashid Himons has been Nashville’s most adventuresome musician. Sure, there are lots of players making $1,000 a session up and down “Music Row” who claim to be able to play varying styles of music, but few of them give up their cushy day jobs to blaze any new trails. From the moment Aashid first set foot in the “Music City,” however, he’s done whatever strikes his fancy, whether that might be playing reggae, blues, space music or even a bit of country.

From his work with the first incarnation of the wonderfully talented blu-reggae outfit Afrikan Dreamland through a solo career and various collaborations with other artists, Himons has reveled in the sheer joy of making music, commercial considerations be damned. Recently, with the release of Mountain Soul, Aashid sojourned back to his hillbilly roots and created an inspired collection of songs that draw upon a musical tradition almost as old as the Appalachian Mountains themselves.

Aashid’s West Virginia Hills

West Virginia Hills is a live document of many of the songs from Mountain Soul, performed by Himons and his Mountain Soul Band at Gibson’s Café Milano club in Nashville. Comprised of some of the most underrated musical talents that the Nashville scene has to offer, the Mountain Soul Band is up to the task of recreating these songs in a live setting. It is a testament to Aashid’s talents and the respect provided him by Nashville’s best musicians that Aashid can get artists of this caliber together for such a performance. (I count at least three successful solo artists on this roster as well as former members or players with artists like Lisa Germano, the Cactus Brothers and Bone Pony.)

The material on West Virginia Hills is a spirited mix of blues, bluegrass, roots rock and country with elements of Celtic and African music. With spiritual and musical influences that range from the highest mountaintop in Appalachia to the lowest cotton field in the Mississippi Delta, the performances here possess the soul and fervor of a church revival and the energy and electricity of a mosh pit at any punk show. Although many of the songs are originals, such as the joyful title track or the Delta-styled “Country Blues,” there are also the covers expected of such a project, musical homages to the artists who created this music: folks like Willie Dixon, Blind Willie McTell, and Muddy Waters. Aashid’s “The Captain’s Song” is another highlight of the Mountain Soul album performed here live.

The Reverend’s Bottom Line

There are fewer and fewer artists these days willing to “walk on the wild side” and embrace styles of music that are completely without commercial potential. Some, like Bruce Springsteen’s flirtation with folk music or Steve Earle’s recent bluegrass project, are natural outgrowths of the artist’s roots. In other instances, however, as with Aashid Himons and the members of the Mountain Soul Band, it is done out of a sheer love and respect for the music they’re performing. The material presented with much skill and reverence on West Virginia Hills is more than a mere throwback to another era – it’s also the root of all the music we enjoy today. For that alone, Aashid and the Mountain Soul Band deserve a loud “thanks!” (Soptek Records, released 1999)

Nashville Rock Memorabila: Aashid Himons Photo Gallery

 

Afrikan Dreamland: Aashid Himons, Darrell Rose & Mustafa Abdul-Aleen

Aashid Himons & The New Dream

Aashid Himons & Ross Smith

Aashid Himons (All photos courtesy of Aashid Himons)

Vintage Review: Aashid Himons' Mountain Soul (1998)

Aashid Himons has been a fixture of Nashville’s non-country music scene for long that it’s easy to take him for granted. One of the founders of the near-legendary “blu-reggae” band Afrikan Dreamland during the early-1980, Aashid has been the voice of conscious of the Music City’s alternative culture for almost two decades now. Whether as a musician exploring the depths of reggae, space music, or the blues; a documentary filmmaker; host of the influential Aashid Presents television show; or as a crusader for many social causes, Aashid’s multi-media talents have always been intelligent, vital, and thought-provoking.

Aashid’s Mountain Soul

Nonetheless, Aashid’s latest musical effort – the Mountain Soul CD – comes as a surprise in spite of his past track record as an innovator and trailblazer. A collection of country blues, hillbilly folk, and other traditionally-styled music, Aashid has shown us yet another facet of his immense talent with Mountain Soul’s enchanting performances. An African-American with his roots in the mountains of West Virginia, Himons explains the lineage of this material in the CD’s liner notes. In the harsh hills of Virginia and West Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee, African slaves often played music alongside the poor Irish and Scottish immigrants of the area. The resulting collaboration created a folk music tradition that spawned such genres as gospel, bluegrass, blues and country music.

To be honest, there aren’t many musicians these days exploring the artistic milieu that Mountain Soul showcases so nobly. On Mountain Soul, Aashid works alongside some of Nashville’s best – and most underrated – musicians, folks like Giles Reaves, fiddle wizard Tramp, and bassist Victor Wooten. Himons has created a mesmerizing song cycle that incorporates original songs written in the authentic signature of the hills as well as a handful of timeless classics. Aashid’s commanding baritone is perfectly suited to this material, whether singing a soulful, blues-infused cover of Jimi Hendrix’s “Voodoo Child,” the mournful spiritualism of Rev. Gary Davis’ “You Got To Move,” or on originals like the moving “Stranger In Paradise” or with the talking blues and nifty guitar work on “The Crazy Blues.”

One of my personal favorites on Mountain Soul is “Mr. Bailey,” Aashid’s tribute to the first star of the Grand Ole Opry, harmonica wizard Deford Bailey. A talented and charismatic African-American musician from East Tennessee, Bailey’s lively performances popularized the Opry radio broadcast in the thirties and helped launched the careers of such country legends as Roy Acuff and Bill Monroe. Tragically, Bailey’s contributions to the Opry and American music have been forgotten. It has long been Aashid’s crusade to get Bailey his long-deserved place in the Country Music Hall of Fame, and this song is just another reminder of that glaring injustice.

The Reverend’s Bottom Line

Mountain Soul is definitely not an album for the casual user of music, requiring more than a three minute, radio-influenced and MTV-bred attention span. Although the album’s style and often simple instrumentation might not seem so upon first listen, these are frightfully complex songs – musically multi-layered and emotionally powerful. This is music as old as the earth itself, its origins in the blood and sweat and tears of the common people who created it.

With Mountain Soul, Aashid Himons has paid an honor to both the roots of all popular modern music and the forgotten artists who wrote it. Mountain Soul is an artistically and spiritually enriching listening experience, a musical trip through time that will clear the cobwebs out of your ears, rekindle the fire in your heart and remind you of the reasons you began to love music in the first place. (Gandibu Music, released 1998)

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