Best days of my life chorcs lissie3/6/2023 ![]() ![]() Mention the name Omar & the Howlers to anyone who spent the second half of the 1970s in Austin, Texas, and there is no doubt their will be a combination of laughter and looniness that crosses their face. ![]() Kent “Omar” Dykes and Issa Medrano, Mississippi Hoo Doo Man. In the end, the world did become too much for her. It had an almost open-wound power to it, like the woman was showing feelings to the world that normally weren’t shared. During her short and star-crossed career, Dalton always colored outside the lines and created a sound that was utterly unlike any other singers. There is no way she could ever do it any different. Whether Karen Dalton is covering Dino Valenti, Fred Neil, Holland-Dozier-Holland, Paul Butterfield, George Jones, Leon Payne, Richard Manuel or anyone else, she always makes her soul-deep expression entirely her own. ![]() Of course, what is most important are the songs themselves. Photos, essays, previously unreleased recordings: it’s all there. To say that it’s got everything is even an understatement. Light in the Attic Records has recently reissued her IN MY OWN TIME collection as an extra-special 50th Anniversary Edition that must be seen to be believed. The small circle of fans who came to love her infrequent live shows and the two albums released in her lifetime quickly realized there would never be anyone like her again, and hung onto those discs like they were life itself. Either way, it’s irrefutable that Dalton lived in a time of her own. Others might say she was blessed with a soul from a world most people would never see, and used what she saw and felt there to create a sound that will not come again. Some might say singer Karen Dalton led a jinxed life, one where hardship and heartache followed her like a devil trying to track her down. In their sound is the truth that comes when the world feels like it’s now or never. Buried deep in these songs is a combination of the isolation of the last two years because of the pandemic, as well as the desire to break free of everything: the virus, the loneliness, the lostness we’ve drifted into and, yes, the longing for a new connection with life itself. ![]() While The Americans have made other albums in the past, it now feels like 2022 could be their year. Not that dissimilar to what The Band might have sounded like if they’d been made up of Californians and not mostly Canadians. Whether it’s on stringed instruments that sound like they’ve been played consistently the past hundred years, keyboards with similar mileage on them or just drums that are hit like they’re supposed to be hit, this is a band that has deep roots and righteous pedigrees. The other Americans are right there with him. There is such a powerful presence in their songs, with evocative titles like “Born with a Broken Heart,” “The Day I Let You Down,” “Sore Bones” and “What I Would Do.” Singer Patrick Ferris is someone who takes his visions seriously, and never sells them or himself short. Maybe that’s because the players are totally tapped into what this country was, and even stronger what it still could be. It really does have the feel of the United States. There are no trickinations or shortcuts taken in making this music. But even more importantly, they have a sound that comes right out of the nation’s soul. One, it’s a true fact that the group is made up of Americans. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply.AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |