From the tradition of the Medicine Ball Caravan and the Partridge Family comes Sonic Joyride, a New Hampshire power trio crossing the country in a souped-up bus called the “Cosmic Sled.” The band’s gimmick is a great one: The Cosmic Sled has been basically converted into a rolling concert venue, with a stage on top and a 10,000-watt sound system, a 16-track recording studio, and a generator down below. They’re currently touring the country and placing digitized video footage from each stop on their Web site; this coming Tuesday, the band arrives in Nashville for two quickie gigs.
Of course, any band that makes geeky alterna-rock as pallid as the music on Bazaar, Sonic Joyride’s 1996 LP on Anomaly Records, had better have a getaway vehicle close at hand. (Sample lyric: “I say too much so you can choose to swallow whatever you would like to think.”) But give ’em points for not following the same worn path as most touring bands.
The group initially attracted attention by performing impromptu gigs at oddball roadside attractions, including the world’s largest ball of twine and a 50-foot thermometer. On Tuesday, Sonic Joyride pulls up outside the Grand Ole Opry House for a 2 p.m. gig, then sets up shop in the Tower Records parking lot at 5. If you miss those shows, you can always catch their performance April 13 in Marietta, Ga., at the base of a 55-foot metal chicken.
Long out-of-print albums by Tammy Wynette, Porter Wagoner, Charley Pride, Ray Price, and Billy Joe Shaver are among the new releases on New York-based Koch Records, a subsidiary of the large independent music distributor Koch International. Among fans and critics, Koch is better known for just-above-underground releases like Amy Rigby’s Diary of a Mod Housewife and Mud Boy and the Neutrons’ They Walk Among Us. Since 1994, however, the label has steadily built a cool catalog of country reissues through licensing deals with Sony, RCA, and other majors.
This month in stores, you can find Koch reissues of Wynette’s 1968 LP Take Me to Your World/I Don’t Want to Play House; Charley Pride in Person, recorded live at Fort Worth’s Panther Hall in 1968; Porter Wagoner in Person, recorded with the Wagonmasters and vocalist Norma Jean in 1964; Billy Joe Shaver’s I’m Just an Old Chunk of Coal; and Ray Price’s The Other Woman. Also worth seeking out are the label’s reprints of Merle Haggard, Johnny Paycheck, and Charlie Rich LPs.
The Koch Web site, http://kochint.com., is a good place to start: It also has links to the many worthy imprints Koch International distributes, among them the eminent blues labels Arhoolie and Yazoo, Nashville’s Revenant and Compass, and Ani DiFranco’s Righteous Babe label.
Jason & the Scorchers, Shawn Colvin, Cracker, and Mississippi fife-and-drum legend Othar Turner have been added to the lineup for Nashville River Stages, the sprawling three-day music fest taking place May 1-3 on three separate stages at Riverfront Park. The first day’s performers include Steve Earle, Link Wray, and Widespread Panic; the second day’s 11-hour marathon features Bonnie Raitt, Paula Cole, Keb’ Mo, Ziggy Marley, the Ben Folds Five, Medeski Martin & Wood, and a dozen more acts; the Foo Fighters, Colvin, Delbert McClinton, and the Indigo Girls lead the closing day.
That’s not to mention the many Nashville acts slated to appear, such as Buddy & Julie Miller, the Fairfield Four, the Del McCoury Band, Matraca Berg, Bobby Bare Jr., the Evinrudes, and Paul Burch & the WPA Ballclub. (We’re really looking forward to seeing the Foo Fighters back to back with Del McCoury, but Dave Grohl’s a chump if he thinks he’s gonna out-rock Ronnie McCoury.) Tickets are $20 at the gate or $30 for all three days; the concert is produced by TomKats Inc., Cellar Door, and Pace Concerts Southeast.
Elliptical dispatches: The debut LP by Nashville honky-tonkers The Ex-Husbands will be the first release on Tar Hut Records since the Boston-based roots-music label reached a distribution agreement with E-Squared, the label owned by Steve Earle and Jack Emerson. The record is due in stores April 21....
The 1998 USA Songwriting Competition is currently accepting submissions in 14 categories, including pop, rock/alternative, rap, country, R&B, gospel, folk, jazz, and children’s music. Winners will receive cash prizes and merchandise, but the deadline for entries is May 31. For contest rules, check the contest Web site at http://www.tiac.net/users/asn/songcontest.html....
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