Maybe the third time really is the charm for Nashville’s Monsters of Pop festival. The three-day celebration of local, regional, and national pop artists arrives Oct. 26-28 on the Rock Block with its strongest lineup of acts yet. Among the confirmed out-of-towners are Luna, the Velvets-influenced New York quartet led by former Galaxie 500 guitarist Dean Wareham; Philadelphia’s The Lilys, whose 1999 Sire LP The 3-Way is a revved-up ’90s take on British Invasion-era pop; Detroit’s The Waxwings, whose Low to the Ground CD just came out this summer; Suggs, the new project from Butterglory’s Matt Suggs; and The Posies, whose founders Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow played a recent acoustic show at 12th & Porter.
The local acts are just as strong, from Daniel Tashian’s new band The Bees to Middle Tennessee’s The Shazam, who were just asked to serve as Paul Weller’s opening act on his UK tour. Much of the cream of Nashville’s burgeoning pop scene is on tap, including Joe, Marc’s Brother; supergroup SWAG, featuring members of The Mavericks, Cheap Trick, Wilco, and Sixpence None the Richer; artist/producers Brad Jones and Jay Joyce; solo artist and in-demand guitarist Will Kimbrough; and of course Music City’s founding father of indie pop, Bill Lloyd. And the shows will be divided between the Exit/In and The End, allowing for easy travel between shows.
Tickets are $12 per night or $25 for a three-day wristband and will go on sale Saturday at Tower Records. The festival is being presented by Monsters of Pop founder Lee Swartz, Festival Management LLC, and online service TappedInto.com. For more information, check the Web soon for www.monstersofpop.com.
—Jim Ridley
Obit
Rebert H. Harris was a gentle, shy person who shunned the limelight. He was also arguably the greatest pure vocalist to emerge during gospel’s “golden age.” Harris, who died Sept. 3 in Chicago at age 84, was gifted with a magnificent voice and three-octave range. As a member of The Soul Stirrers, he pioneered the use of slurs, trills, and other falsetto techniques during the ’30s, ’40s, and early ’50s.
Harris’ innovations and approach were eventually embraced by countless gospel stars, including many who crossed over to soul. He served as a model for Sam Cooke, who in 1951 replaced him in The Soul Stirrers. Cooke’s earliest singles with the group were practically straight imitations of Harris’ fluttery, creamy leads, though he soon developed his own magical style. But Cooke never forgot his debt to Harris and later recruited him to record for the SAR label during the early ’60s.
R.H. Harris was born in Trinity, Texas, and started his career with groups like The Friendly Gospel Singers. Soul Stirrers founder Roy Crain enlisted him following some late-’30s recordings the group made for Alan Lomax, and The Soul Stirrers’ popularity soon exploded. Harris’ shattering leads and the group’s ensemble theatrics switched gospel’s direction from strict melodic interpretation into bravado encounters and spellbinding, emotionally intense performances. Then, just as The Soul Stirrers were at their peak, Harris departed at the end of 1950, disgusted by the behavior of some of his fellow artists.
He would never again enjoy the fame or exposure of his Soul Stirrers years, but he resisted continual overtures to switch to soul. He led other groups like the Christland Singers, who cut one LP for Nashboro, and the Gospel Partners. During a 1990 interview in Memphis, he offered these remembrances about Cooke and the Stirrers: “Sam Cooke had the greatest voice I ever heard; it killed me when he told me he was going to sing rock ’n’ roll,” Harris told me. “The people at Specialty [Records] came to me several times over the years and asked me to do just one rock ’n’ roll tune. One time they offered me $100,000 just to sing three songs. I told them to take their money and put it somewhere.
“All I ever wanted to do was praise God in song. As a boy I used to come outside in the early morning and listen to the birds sing. That was what I tried to communicate in my songs—the way the birds and nature sounded.”
Sadly, most of Harris’ finest music is out of print, although the CD Shine on Me: The Soul Stirrers Featuring R.H. Harris (Specialty) is still available. He can also be heard with the Gospel Paraders on the two-CD set Sam Cooke: The SAR Story. The Soul Stirrers were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 11 years ago, thus helping ensure that R.H. Harris will never be forgotten by fans of American music.
—Ron Wynn
Sold!
The use of pop songs in advertising has been going on for so long that it’s almost beyond comment. All the arguments against the practice have been pretty well exhausted, and still we get car commercials with the likes of The Buzzcocks blaring on the soundtrack. If anything, the use of such hipster rockers as The Buzzcocks, Stereolab, and Iggy Pop has eliminated much of the stigma from licensing music to corporations. After all, it’s hard to argue with a new revenue stream when it’s so difficult to crack MTV or the big-market playlists; The Lilys probably made more money from their music’s appearance in a Nike commercial than they did from CD sales.
Savvy musicians are now operating a sort of reverse-exploitation, wherein they use ads as a secondary form of marketing for their work—using the car to sell the song, in other words. Fatboy Slim and Moby get more airplay on network television than they do on pop radio, and Sting pushed his latest album into the Top 10 when he started selling the rights to his songs to the highest bidder. Whatever the forum, exposure equals record sales. And sometimes there are happy endings to crass commercialization. Nick Drake’s song “Pink Moon” was used in a fairly artful Volkswagen ad that’s been on TV and in movie theaters, and the late folkie’s almost 30-year-old album of the same name recently went gold.
Still, there are times when the rampant push to trade credibility for dollars sends chills down a music fan’s spine. A recent jeans commercial features a typical scene of youngsters recreating, all to the strains of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Fortunate Son.” Predictably, John Fogerty’s lyrics—about how the poor are forced to die for our country while the rich can buy military draft deferments—are almost completely excised. What remains is one line: “Some folks are born to raise the flag / Ooh, that red, white, and blue.” In the original context of the song, that line is ironic, referring to how easy it is to be patriotic when you’re not sweating in a hail of bullets. Now it just means “Buy American.”
It would be nice to imagine that the jeans are selling the song, and that people are right this second enjoying the subtleties of CCR’s Willy and the Poorboys. But it’s more likely the opposite—people are hearing the song on classic rock radio, and they’re thinking about whether it’s time to go shopping for pants.
—Noel Murray
Looking east
It’s been out for a few months now, but folks who remember the early days of rock ’n’ roll in Nashville might wanna check out East of Nashville, by local music veteran Buzz Cason. The rootsy, 15-track CD strikes an autobiographical tone, with the songs and liner notes harking back to moments from the singer-songwriter-music publisher’s colorful past. Of special note are “Goin’ Back to Alabama,” a cowrite with Dan Penn (who also contributes backing vocals); “Soldier of Love,” a Cason-Tony Moon composition that has been recorded by Arthur Alexander, Marshall Crenshaw, The Beatles, and most recently Pearl Jam; and “Ardee Avenue,” which pays tribute to the singer’s East Nashville youth.
Cason is perhaps best known for his songwriting collaboration with Mac Gayden on the tune “Everlasting Love,” originally a hit for Franklin, Tenn., pop-soul singer Robert Knight in 1967. Other career highlights include an early stint in The Casuals, who became Brenda Lee’s backing band; the 1960 hit “Look for a Star” (recorded under the name Garry Miles); and a lucrative publishing partnership with singer-songwriter Bobby Russell (“Honey,” “Little Green Apples”).
The disc prefaces the eventual release of Cason’s biography, East of Nashville: Living the Rock ’n’ Roll Dream, which will detail his 30 years in the music business. To hear audio clips or to buy a copy of the disc, direct your Web browser to http://musicnashville.com/buy/html/music/country/MNC000.html.
—Jonathan Marx
Smooth moves
Saxophonist Joe Johnson and vocalist Marcia Butler are the latest musicians to surface in what’s becoming an active smooth-jazz/urban-instrumental circuit in Nashville. Each has a new disc on the local YASNY label.
Johnson’s Cover Story offers 11 versions of mostly R&B hits like the Isley Brothers’ “Between the Sheets” and Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together.” But there’s one venture into more traditional jazz territory, a decent version of Eddie Harris’ classic “Freedom Jazz Dance.” Johnson’s technical facility isn’t challenged by the material, but his melodic readings are solid, as are the arrangements and settings. Cover Story should prove entertaining to the smooth-jazz audience.
Butler’s Love Changes falls in the gap between adult-themed R&B and urban contemporary with a slight jazz influence. She’s a better ballad stylist than up-tempo vocalist, and is especially effective on such tunes as “Never Got the Chance to Love,” “There’ll Never Be,” and the title track.
While both these artists have turned out respectable CDs, they’re hurt by the lack of a local radio forum for this material; either would certainly work on the late-night “Quiet Storm” format.
—Ron Wynn
Platters That Matter
New in record stores this week:
Badly Drawn Boy, The Hour of Bewilderbeast (Beggars Banquet) This Mancunian one-man band won Britain’s prestigious Mercury Prize for his debut album, reportedly an eclectic blend of folk and contemporary pop that recalls both Belle and Sebastian and Beck. Next Big Things are a dime a disc across the pond, but this one has a refreshingly enthusiastic spirit, as well as a willingness to experiment.
Don Caballero, American Don (Touch & Go) The new release from Chicago’s self-assured post-rock, post-hardcore, post-punk noodlers. For all the kids who missed out on Rush and Van der Graaf Generator the first time around.
Green Day, Warning (Reprise) Little new can be said about the Bay Area’s most successful punks because they’re just so damned consistent. Their new single “Minority,” with its typical nod to British punk, is probably already stuck in your head.
Quincy Jones/Sammy Nestico Orchestra, Basie & Beyond (Qwest/Warner Bros.) Jones and former Basie arranger Nestico pay homage to the Count with a big-band session of their own compositions; the band includes Kirk Whalum, Paul Jackson Jr., and Bill Watrous.
Van Morrison & Linda Gail Lewis, You Win Again (Mercury) On what sounds like a dream match-up, Van the Man teams with Jerry Lee Lewis’ piano-pounding sister (and Michael McCall’s mother-in-law) for a spontaneous session of rockabilly and R&B duets.
Mark Mothersbaugh, Joyeaux Mutato (Rhino) This Devo-founder-turned-Rugrats-scorer makes commercially available what was a fan-only offering before: a collection of 12 holiday standards given the Mothersbaugh touch.
Radiohead, Kid A (Capitol) One of the year’s most anticipated releases, Radiohead follow up artsy OK Computer by delving further into the studio-as-instrument theory. Like true pompous Brits, they’ve promised no videos and no TV appearances, so you’re going to have to buy this one if you want to hear it.
The Sea and Cake, Oui (Thrill Jockey) Chicago’s finest jazzy post-rockers made strides toward Talking Heads-style rhythm-for-rhythm’s-sake avant-gardia on their last record. Advance word says that the new one is more conventionally breezy, heavily influenced by French and Brazilian pop.
Paul Simon, You’re the One (Warner Bros.) Watch out America! Everyone’s favorite Third World music thief/Capeman composer returns to form with an album of (gasp) introspective, heart-on-sleeve tunes.
Versus, Hurrah (Merge) One of the most accomplished “indie-rock” bands of its generation, Versus returns with an album that shows off players talented enough to write any kind of song they want and color it with their personal sound.
