One More Reason Not to Like

What passes for country music these days.

According to Reuters, Troy Gentry, of the country act Montgomery Gentry, has been charged with killing a tame bear named Cubby and then faking a video to make it look like a hunting trophy.

According to Reuters:

“After using a bow and arrow to kill the animal inside its pen, Gentry and the owner of the preserve tagged the bear and registered it with the state as if it had been killed in the wild. A videotape was edited to make it appear that Gentry had hunted down the bear.”

What kind of dude (I’ll resist using the P word) do you have to be to want to shoot a tame, caged bear and dummy up a video to make it look like a hunt?

What’s next, a big game hunting trip to the zoo?

I wonder how many more seconds the “Humane Society Approved” logo will be on the Minnesota Wildlife Connection‘s web site?

I grew up listening to country music, but to my knowledge I have never heard a Montgomery Gentry song. The stuff coming out of Nashville these days sounds more like recycled Dan Fogelberg than Merle Haggard or George Jones.

If he really did this, maybe he’ll have prison in common with Merle Haggard. That would be about it.

Sick 'Em Dwight (Er, I Mean Cory)

In a cyber-bout reminiscent of the whipping Larry Holmes once put on Marvis Frazier, Dwight Silverman refuses to buy the RIAA’s bullshit about dropping its case against the family of a recently deceased defendant “out of an abundance of sensitivity.”

Dwight asked an RIAA spokesman this very good question:

“Where was the ‘abundance of sensitivity’ when the RIAA failed to initially drop its case against the Scantleberry family following the death of the named defendant in the case?”

As Dwight points out, the RIAA only exposed its sensitive side after the story got picked up by lots of old and new media.

Look, if you want to have a scorched earth policy in the name of stuffing the long-lost cat back into the bag, then at least admit it.

UPDATE: Like a dummy, I didn’t notice that Dwight was quoting from Boing Boing. It was actually Cory Doctorow who put the Larry Holmes on the RIAA. But I’m sure Dwight would have if the RIAA weren’t already TKO’ed.

RanchoCast – August 11, 2006 Edition

I did a new podcast tonight. It started out without a particular theme, but quickly turned into the River Edition, as I played songs inspired by our recent trip to the Frio River.

I’m hoarse from too much fun at the river, but managed to introduce some great songs by the Hangdogs, Jesse Dayton, Johnny Cash, Mother Hips, Julie Miller and others.

RanchoCast – August 4, 2006 Edition

I did a new podcast last night.

I played some great songs by Jonathan Edwards, the Reivers, Jethro Tull, Jesus and Mary Chain, Leslie Gore and a 2-fer by the best blues singer ever. The finale is a blues jam by Albert Collins.

I also talked a little about the marginal utility of extreme political correctness in the blogosphere.

Adventures in eMusic

Every dog has its day. Today, it’s eMusic‘s turn to be the dog.

That’s not a criticism of eMusic. I just think it’s a little funny that the roving herd of bloggers (of which I am certainly one) has made its way around to eMusic in the never-ending search for an online music service that works. I’d link to Fred Wilson’s post about eMusic, but I grow weary of one-sided conversations and Scoble told us earlier that it’s not nice to link to Fred.

I used eMusic a ton back in the day. I can’t remember exactly when I started using the service, but it was around the time MP3.Com went from being one of the best music sites ever to one of the worst.

And I found a ton of great music on eMusic, including perhaps the best alternative country band ever, The Star Room Boys. I got a lot of good, legal music from eMusic, much of which is still on my music server.

The problem with eMusic back then and which, based on a quick look today, may still a problem, is that it had almost no major label content. Granted, it had some great indy label music, including a lot by the most under-appreciated label in America, Fat Possum Records. But after you went through the available stuff, the flow of music you wanted slowed to a trickle.

My suspicion about the limited number of major label songs arises from the fact that you can’t see the library of available songs until you sign up. There’s no good reason for that, and so the only reason left is a bad one.

There was a different system in place when I last used eMusic. First, it was unlimited downloads for a set monthly fee. Then is was vaguely limited downloads for the same monthly fee. Now there is the following tiered pricing:

40 downloads per month for $9.99 per month
65 downloads per month for $14.99 per month
90 downloads per month for $19.99 per month.

At signup you can get a free MuVO MP3 player or a 20% discount if you sign up for a 12 month plan. No thanks.

After you signup, you are encouraged to download some software that will let you download entire albums at once. Otherwise, you have to download songs one at a time. Being highly bloatware-adverse, I don’t want to put more software on my computer.

I am sounding like a critic of eMusic, and I don’t mean to. There is a lot to love about it.

For one thing, I absolutely love eMusic’s policy of selling non-DRM infested music. And I readily appreciate the fact that you can get a ton of good music without giving a dime to the record label cartel. eMusic is a central despository for that music, and that music is certainly worth paying for.

But if you want to pick up a classic record by Humble Pie or Steppenwolf, it’s not for you (although it does have an especially good selection of blues).

There is a place for eMusic, for sure. And I hope one day it is viewed as the forefather of online music distribution.

But we’re not there yet. Not by a long shot.

My Favorite Records:The Guess Who – Canned Wheat

This is the another installment in my series of favorite records.

In yesterday’s podcast I talked about the Guess Who, and how I believe they are greatly underappreciated, given the incredible amounts of great music (not to mention big hits) they generated in the 60s and 70s. And as luck would have it, we’re to the end of the G’s in my Top 50 Album series.

The Guess Who made 4 excellent records in a row between 1968 and 1970, starting with Wheatfield Soul (hard to find, except on an oddly paired double album CD) and ending with Share the Land. Any of them could be on this list, but I’m going to settle on just one- Canned Wheat from 1969.

cannedwheat Canned Wheat is the best place to start for those who remember the Guess Who only for their long string of radio hits. This is an excellent rock record that features some fine Guitar work from Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings’ great voice.

No Time, the first track, is a classic rock standard, that you’ve heard before. Minstel Boy is a beautiful and sad number inspired by a Thomas Moore poem. Laughing and Undun, two classic rock gems, follow.

Every other song on this record could easily have been a hit. In fact, this record could be a greatest hits record for a lot of popular bands. And it’s just one of 4 great records in a row by this under-appreciated band.

One of the things that impresses me the most about the Guess Who’s records is how well they have aged. These records sound like they could have been recorded yesterday. The true sign of musical genius is the ability to make music that still sounds fresh 20 years later. Bob Dylan does it. Springsteen does it.

And so did the Guess Who.

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top 50 albums, record reviews

RanchoCast – July 28, 2006 Edition

I did a new podcast last night.

The theme was great, but under-appreciated, guitarists. I played deep album cuts by Peter Green, Frank Marino, Brownsville Station, Derek & the Dominos, The Guess Who and more. The finale is a 12 minute blues jam by Boz Scaggs.

I also talked a little about HR 5319 (the MySpace Law) and the underground blogosphere.

RanchoCast – July 21, 2006 Edition

I did a new podcast last night.

The theme was the Live Show. I played great live cuts by the Waterboys, Whiskeytown, the Allman Brothers, Grand Funk Railroad, David Baerwald and others. I ended with a live Bruce Springsteen bootleg cut from 1978.

In the techtalk portion, I talked about various approaches to blogging, and suggested the best one for new bloggers.

New Rancho Radio Set

I uploaded a new set to Rancho Radio this morning. 269 great songs, from alt. country to country rock to 80’s alternative to classic rock to blues.

Almost 18 hours of music and what I genuinely believe is the best mix you’ll find anywhere.

Among the many great artists featured are Laura Cantrell, Steve Pride, the Swills, Ten Years After, Tom Waits, Whiskeytown, Uncle Tupelo, Traffic, Willie Kent, Stonewall Jackson, the Troggs, Velvet Underground, Tompall Glaser, ZZ Top, the Zombies, Willard Grant Conspiracy, Warren Zevon, Tanya Donnelly, Syd Straw, Grateful Dead, the Hangdogs, Jesse Dayton, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, the Jayhawks, Iron & Wine, Honeybrowne, Fever Tree, Joe Ely, White Witch, South Filthy, Six String Drag, Pee Wee Clayton, Humble Pie, Joe Jackson, Junior Kimbrough, Kasey Chambers and many, many more.

There’s a real time playlist on the Rancho Radio page.

Where It Ain’t in Music Discovery

I have to disagree with Fred Wilson about finding new music.

Pandora and Last.fm are absolutely, positively and without a doubt the holy grail of music discovery. I have discovered more good, new music on those sites in the past month than I have in all of my years of blog reading.

It’s not about spoonfeeding- it’s about algorithms (be they mathematical or social) that help you find music you like, but have never heard. Whether that’s music on a 20 year old record or music freshly uploaded by the artist is immaterial.

I have traditionally favored Pandora slightly over Last.fm, but with the new design and added features, Last.fm has pulled even in the two horse race for dominance in music discovery. Here’s my Last.fm page for anyone interested, and here’s Fred’s.

If you, like me, are an alternative country fan, you can add Twangville to the mix for a trifecta. If you like live classic rock, add one more site to the list: Vault Radio.

And I have to agree with Bob Lefsetz, particularly when he writes:

“I’ve got XM. I’ve got Sirius. I’m not living in the world of terrestrial. I never want to hear another commercial AGAIN! I just want music. All the time.”

and:

“Remember how you used to rush home to play your favorite records? How you needed nobody else in the room to feel joy? How you played the same track for an hour straight?”

I remember the first time I heard Paul Kennerly’s ensemble record The Legend of Jesse James. I listened to Charlie Daniels sing Northfield: The Disaster over 100 times in a row over a week or so. Not one other song entered my ears that week. It was spiritual. And it’s still one of the best songs I have ever heard.

Now back to Fred.

He says that the place to mine for new music is the mp3 blogs. He gives no link to them, because they are distributed. It’s like those cats in that commercial. They’re out there somewhere, but getting them to one place is a chore.

Yes, there’s The Hype Machine, which I think is a pretty neat web site. But unless it wants to change its name to The Next RIAA Defendant, it is going to be limited in the scope of music it can include. Don’t get me wrong, I like The Hype Machine, but Pandora it is not.

Blogs are great, and some of them feature good new music. But, in general, blogs are where it ain’t as far as discovering new music without a lot of unnecessary effort. Heck, even podcasts are far better suited for that purpose. One of the reasons we do the RanchoCasts is to help people discover new music.

New music doesn’t mean music that was just made. It means music that is new to the listener. When I became a huge blues fan a decade or so ago, a new universe of new music suddenly became available to me- little of it made after 1980.

I’m all about unsigned bands and new music that hasn’t been manufactured by the star maker machinery behind the popular song, but let’s not get carried away.

There is an almost unlimited universe of new music waiting at Pandora and Last.fm. And it doesn’t take herding cats to find it.