DEADSTRING BROTHERS
''CANNERY ROW''
APRIL 9 2013
40:45
1/Like a California Wildfire
Kurt Marschke/4:20
2/It's Morning Irene
Kurt Marschke/4:08
3/Oh Me Oh My
Kurt Marschke/4:28
4/Long Lonely Ride
Kurt Marschke/3:34
5/Cannery Row
Kurt Marschke/4:01
6/Lucille's Intro
Kurt Marschke/0:31
7/Lucille's Honky Tonk
Kurt Marschke/3:29
8/The Mansion
Kurt Marschke/3:55
9/Just a Deck of Cards
Kurt Marschke/3:50
10/Talkin' with a Man in Montana
Kurt Marschke/4:28
11/Song for Bobbie Jo
Kurt Marschke/4:01
Kim Collins/Vocals
Pete Finney/Dobro, Pedal Steel
JD Mack/Bass
Kurt Marschke/Banjo, Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric), Guitar (Resonator), Vocals
Brad Pemberton/Drums, Percussion
Mickey Raphael/Harmonica
Mike Webb/Accordion, Mandolin, Organ (Hammond), Piano
REVIEW
by Steve Leggett
First off, Detroit's Deadstring Brothers have left Motown and relocated to Nashville, a move that isn't all that startling, since they've always sounded like they were from some mythic deep south anyway, with a sound that wrapped country, gospel, and blues up into a skillful facsimile of "Wild Horses"-era Rolling Stones, and Cannery Row is Kurt Marschke and company's first album since Nashville beckoned. The problem with this band, if it's really a problem, is that they sound exactly like that moment in time when Gram Parsons collided with the Stones in the 1970s, so much so that the Deadstring Brothers' sound like a cover band for a whole era of Stones albums recorded in an alternative universe where the actual Stones never ventured, which is all fine if you like the thought of that kind of thing, but a problem -- and at the very least, a conundrum -- if you don't. Marschke always sounds like Exile-era Mick Jagger when he sings, and one could swear the alternative ghost of Keith Richards is in there somewhere, too, with all the layered, swampy arranging of acoustic and electric guitars. All of this wouldn't even be the slightest bit bothersome, since the songs and production are wonderfully done and sound almost vintage, if it wasn't so damn eerie. Did the move to Nashville change any of this and maybe move the Brothers a little closer to an utterly original Americana country sound that was all their own? Well, no. There are a few more country elements on Cannery Row, but it still sounds like the alternative trapped-at-"Wild Horses" facsimile version of the Stones doing their thing. Hey, these guys do that thing well, and songs like the title tune, the majestic "Cannery Row," seem like they should have been great lost Stones songs, while the couple of songs that take baby steps out of that sound, including the lovely and bouncy "It's Morning Irene" and the chugging two-step shuffle "Lucille's Honky Tonk," are really the brightest moments here, for they suggest a Deadstring Brothers that could actually sound like themselves and not be dragging a long vanished phase of the Rolling Stones around with them.
BIOGRAPHY
by William Ruhlmann
Born and bred in a city hardly known for its country music heritage, Detroit's Deadstring Brothers play alternative country-rock with no small amount of rock & roll swagger and a deep bluesy undertow that often suggests Exile on Main St.-era Rolling Stones more than Uncle Tupelo or their followers. The Deadstring Brothers formed in late 2001, when singer and songwriter Kurt Marschke, who had been playing shows as a solo acoustic act, began working up material with a handful of likeminded friends. The band wasted no time earning a reputation for its tough but soulful sound, and on September 9, 2003, the group released its self-titled debut through Detroit's Times Beach Records. On the disc, Marschke was joined by Peter Ballard (Dobro, pedal steel), Phil Durr (guitar), Eric Hoegemeyer (tambourine), Aric Karpinski (organ, piano), William King (percussion, drums), Philip Skarich (bass, guitar, percussion), and Ross Westerbur (strings, chamberlin), with background vocals by Skarich, Robert Burrows, Masha Marjieh, Mimi Marjieh, and Loura Rock. Plenty of touring followed, with The Deadstring Brothers sharing stages with Cat Power, the Sadies, the Drive-By Truckers, and My Morning Jacket. In 2005, the band signed with Chicago's premier alt-country label, Bloodshot Records. Bloodshot licensed their second long-player, Starving Winter Report, to Evangeline Records for release in England, where it actually appeared prior to its domestic release, on October 3, 2005, the American issue coming on February 21, 2006. The musicians performing on the album were Marschke, Hoegemeyer, Skarich, Westerbur, Masha Marjieh, Rayse Biggs (trumpet), Edward Gooch (trombone), and David Mosher (fiddle). More touring followed, and the band's personnel continued to evolve, in particular with the infusion of several British members. As of the release of The Deadstring Brothers' third album, Silver Mountain, on October 9, 2007, the group was a sextet consisting of Marschke, Masha Marjieh, drummer E. Travis Harrett, and U.K. recruits Spencer Cullum on guitar, pedal steel, and lap steel, his older brother Jeff Cullum on bass, and Pat Kenneally on keyboards. São Paulo followed three years later in 2010. After relocating from Detroit to Nashville, the band released the just slightly more country-based Cannery Row in the spring of 2013.
DoWnLoAd
''CANNERY ROW''
APRIL 9 2013
40:45
1/Like a California Wildfire
Kurt Marschke/4:20
2/It's Morning Irene
Kurt Marschke/4:08
3/Oh Me Oh My
Kurt Marschke/4:28
4/Long Lonely Ride
Kurt Marschke/3:34
5/Cannery Row
Kurt Marschke/4:01
6/Lucille's Intro
Kurt Marschke/0:31
7/Lucille's Honky Tonk
Kurt Marschke/3:29
8/The Mansion
Kurt Marschke/3:55
9/Just a Deck of Cards
Kurt Marschke/3:50
10/Talkin' with a Man in Montana
Kurt Marschke/4:28
11/Song for Bobbie Jo
Kurt Marschke/4:01
Kim Collins/Vocals
Pete Finney/Dobro, Pedal Steel
JD Mack/Bass
Kurt Marschke/Banjo, Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric), Guitar (Resonator), Vocals
Brad Pemberton/Drums, Percussion
Mickey Raphael/Harmonica
Mike Webb/Accordion, Mandolin, Organ (Hammond), Piano
REVIEW
by Steve Leggett
First off, Detroit's Deadstring Brothers have left Motown and relocated to Nashville, a move that isn't all that startling, since they've always sounded like they were from some mythic deep south anyway, with a sound that wrapped country, gospel, and blues up into a skillful facsimile of "Wild Horses"-era Rolling Stones, and Cannery Row is Kurt Marschke and company's first album since Nashville beckoned. The problem with this band, if it's really a problem, is that they sound exactly like that moment in time when Gram Parsons collided with the Stones in the 1970s, so much so that the Deadstring Brothers' sound like a cover band for a whole era of Stones albums recorded in an alternative universe where the actual Stones never ventured, which is all fine if you like the thought of that kind of thing, but a problem -- and at the very least, a conundrum -- if you don't. Marschke always sounds like Exile-era Mick Jagger when he sings, and one could swear the alternative ghost of Keith Richards is in there somewhere, too, with all the layered, swampy arranging of acoustic and electric guitars. All of this wouldn't even be the slightest bit bothersome, since the songs and production are wonderfully done and sound almost vintage, if it wasn't so damn eerie. Did the move to Nashville change any of this and maybe move the Brothers a little closer to an utterly original Americana country sound that was all their own? Well, no. There are a few more country elements on Cannery Row, but it still sounds like the alternative trapped-at-"Wild Horses" facsimile version of the Stones doing their thing. Hey, these guys do that thing well, and songs like the title tune, the majestic "Cannery Row," seem like they should have been great lost Stones songs, while the couple of songs that take baby steps out of that sound, including the lovely and bouncy "It's Morning Irene" and the chugging two-step shuffle "Lucille's Honky Tonk," are really the brightest moments here, for they suggest a Deadstring Brothers that could actually sound like themselves and not be dragging a long vanished phase of the Rolling Stones around with them.
BIOGRAPHY
by William Ruhlmann
Born and bred in a city hardly known for its country music heritage, Detroit's Deadstring Brothers play alternative country-rock with no small amount of rock & roll swagger and a deep bluesy undertow that often suggests Exile on Main St.-era Rolling Stones more than Uncle Tupelo or their followers. The Deadstring Brothers formed in late 2001, when singer and songwriter Kurt Marschke, who had been playing shows as a solo acoustic act, began working up material with a handful of likeminded friends. The band wasted no time earning a reputation for its tough but soulful sound, and on September 9, 2003, the group released its self-titled debut through Detroit's Times Beach Records. On the disc, Marschke was joined by Peter Ballard (Dobro, pedal steel), Phil Durr (guitar), Eric Hoegemeyer (tambourine), Aric Karpinski (organ, piano), William King (percussion, drums), Philip Skarich (bass, guitar, percussion), and Ross Westerbur (strings, chamberlin), with background vocals by Skarich, Robert Burrows, Masha Marjieh, Mimi Marjieh, and Loura Rock. Plenty of touring followed, with The Deadstring Brothers sharing stages with Cat Power, the Sadies, the Drive-By Truckers, and My Morning Jacket. In 2005, the band signed with Chicago's premier alt-country label, Bloodshot Records. Bloodshot licensed their second long-player, Starving Winter Report, to Evangeline Records for release in England, where it actually appeared prior to its domestic release, on October 3, 2005, the American issue coming on February 21, 2006. The musicians performing on the album were Marschke, Hoegemeyer, Skarich, Westerbur, Masha Marjieh, Rayse Biggs (trumpet), Edward Gooch (trombone), and David Mosher (fiddle). More touring followed, and the band's personnel continued to evolve, in particular with the infusion of several British members. As of the release of The Deadstring Brothers' third album, Silver Mountain, on October 9, 2007, the group was a sextet consisting of Marschke, Masha Marjieh, drummer E. Travis Harrett, and U.K. recruits Spencer Cullum on guitar, pedal steel, and lap steel, his older brother Jeff Cullum on bass, and Pat Kenneally on keyboards. São Paulo followed three years later in 2010. After relocating from Detroit to Nashville, the band released the just slightly more country-based Cannery Row in the spring of 2013.
DoWnLoAd
