Ry Cooder | seeyouattherockshow

There was no red carpet or phalanx of photographers to navigate as I slipped into the Mother Church of Country Music, the Ryman Auditorium in downtown Nashville, making my way into the 13th annual Americana Music Honors and Awards ceremony. I guess they were all out back, photographing the stars from the TV show, ‘Nashville’. The event was held September 17th, to honor artists chosen by voting members of the AMA for six ‘best of’ categories, and five awards of merit for a lifetime of work. What was once called ‘Alt-Country’ music has been civilized and categorized into a genre called ‘Americana’, opening up a class of music that welcomes artists that may not have fit into existing radio formats.

Perhaps I’m jaded by having attended two previous years’ events but this wasn’t exciting or electric, it was ‘take your seat and wait for the show to begin’ business. I missed the 50,000 watts of curiosity and enthusiasm that always radiated from my husband prior to The Really Big Show -but I confess to indulging in a good look around the room to check out the industry notables sitting in pews about the room. Then the lights went down and we were On Air, live from the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville.

The evening kicked off with a pre-On Air number, ‘Can’t Judge a Book by Looking at the Cover’ as interpreted by Doug Seegers. Any show that kicks off with a Bo Diddley (okay, Willie Dixon) song is getting off on the right foot in MY book.

Doug Seegers accompanied by Ry Cooder

The House Band once again was comprised of Americana advocates and banner carriers: Don Was on upright bass, Buddy Miller on guitar, Jim Lauderdale on guitar, Tim Lauer on piano, the McCrary Sisters on backing vocals, Joachim Cooder and Greg ? on drums and percussion.

The first honor to be awarded, the Lifetime Achievement Award for Songwriting, was presented by Kasey Musgraves and Angaleena Presley to the great Loretta Lynn, who made her way up the steps at the center of the stage in a beautiful lavender gown. She accepted the award in her self-deprecating way, making a comment to the affect of, she would like to stick around but she had a gig to get to and needed to get on the bus. But this great southern lady didn’t leave without gracing the event with one of her famous compositions, ‘Coal Miner’s Daughter’.

Loretta Lynn in Nashville

Next up, Rodney Crowell was joined by Ry Cooder on his song, ‘God I’m Missing You’ from his most recent CD, Tar Paper Sky

Rodney and Ry

One of this year’s nominees for Best Emerging Artist, Parker Milsap, rocked out on his number, ‘Truck Stop Gospel’, wailing the blues and ably supported by upright bass and a fiddle players, with serious facial hair. Rootsy.

The Lifetime Achievement Award for Instrumentalist was presented to Flaco Jimenez. I have had the privilege of hearing Flaco play in various clubs in Minneapolis over the years and it delighted me to hear Ry Cooder (over several days in multiple events) wax poetic about the musical gifts and contributions of Flaco Jimenez. Any readers unfamiliar with his work, please You Tube this guy; you will see why he received this award.

Flaco Jimenez and Ry Cooder

The next nominees to play were The Devil Makes Three, followed by Hooray for the Riff Raff, doing ‘The Body Electric’. These two bands are getting a fair amount of air play on my local radio station and provide relief from the disco and arch-sounding EuroRock that dominates drivetime. Check them out; both bands have updated a retro sound and bring whimsy to the stage.

Hooray for the Riff Raff

The award for Instrumentalist of the Year was presented by Carlene Carter and Vince Gill. It may feel to the other nominees like they were being ‘home-towned’ when AMA institution Buddy Miller was announced as the winner. (Buddy Miller, along with Jim Lauderdale are stalwarts of the AMA).

The next performance was from a very intriguing artist that, while she didn’t ultimately win the Best Emerging Artist award, is adding depth and distinction to the Americana sound – Valerie June. She doesn’t need the trophy to validate that she belongs on this stage, on the air and in a CD player near you. Check out the red guitar, yellow dress, and turquoise boots – she and Loretta Lynn just know how to dress.

Valerie June

Robert Ellis, one of Harry Gebibbe’s favorites (we’d seen him several times over the past couple of years) did a smoldering version of his, ‘Only Lies Can Comfort You’ from this year’s CD, Lights from the Chemical Plant. I admit I wasn’t crazy about his sound on the previous CD but after the performance on Wednesday I’m going to give him another listen.

Robert Ellis

One year ago, Mr Gebibbe and I had ringside seats at 3rd & Lindsley, the night Roseann Cash premiered her CD ‘The River and the Thread’ at the 2013 AMA Festival. The CD wasn’t released until February and I counted the days until I could buy it and re-live that night – my God, what a show she and her outstanding band put on! On Wednesday she performed the opening song from the CD, ‘A Feather’s Not a Bird’, with John Leventhal and Ry Cooder exchanging simmering guitar licks in the bridge, and once again I thought of that show a year ago, sitting with my baby at 3rd & Lindsley. This was worth the 875 mile drive to get here.

Roseanne Cash

Keb Mo’ presented the Lifetime Achievement Award for performance to Taj Mahal, and following his acceptance speech, Taj and Ry Cooder performed together (years ago they had been in the band, ‘The Rising Sons’).

Mahal and Cooder

Next up, Patti Griffin and none other than Robert Plant joined up on her number, ‘Ohio’. The young man sitting two seats down from me made an audible gasp when Mr. Plant emerged on stage – perhaps I did, too. There was a whole lotta love in the room at that moment.

Griffin and Plant

Here’s where I need to confess some ambivalence the Biggest Winner of the night – I LOVE Jason Isbell. I loved him from his first two songs on ‘Decoration Day’. I loved seeing him and the 400 Unit swing through Minneapolis about every six months for two and a half years following his departure from the DBTs. I applauded him and sent him earnest telepathic support when I learned that he ‘got sober’, and felt joy at his union with Amanda Shires. I listened to ‘Southeastern’ for nearly the first three hours of our drive back from the AMA festival last year. But godallmighty, did he have to win Album of the Year, Artist of the Year, and Song of the Year??? Damn, Roseann Cash should have gotten at least one of these awards. But you can’t argue with the brilliance and sincerity of ‘Southeastern’. He winning streak this night reminded me of when Paul Simon was giving his acceptance speech for one of his Grammy’s and the first person he thanked was Stevie Wonder, for NOT putting out an album that year…. I hope someone re-uses that line at the AMAs next year.

Isbell and Shires

The gritty, thumping rockers, The Hardworking Americans, did a number from their nominated eponymous album – Todd Snider could have been mistaken for Kid Rock – well, maybe only by me. He did a ‘Kanye West’-style walk off at the end of the number, which felt like the first Outlaw moment of the night, a ripple in the ‘peaceandlove’ vibe that had filled the room until that point.

Hard Working Americans

Peace and Love returned, along with some ‘good hair’ commentary, when the Milk Carton Kids introduced their pal Sarah Jarosz. They mentioned the good hair of Rhett Miller, Robert Plant, and the still-not-gray Jackson Browne but failed to recognize Marty Stuart – best hair of the festival in my estimation. After Ms Jarosz performed her number she returned the favor and introduced the ‘Duo or Group of the Year’ nominees, the Milk Carton Kids, who performed Everly Brothers style, sharing a mic.

Milk Carton Kids

Along with Valerie June, the other great new artists that I enjoyed hearing for the first (surely not last) time live at the AMA awards was the R&B dynamos, St Paul and the Broken Bones. These guys are in good company with a number of other new-ish groups, revitalizing the joyful, jet-fueled Memphis R&B sound – if you haven’t already, you MUST hear this band.

St. Paul and the Broken Bones

Skipping forward (sorry, I’m leaving some acts out) to the Spirit of Americana/Free Speech in Music Award – JD Souther presented Jackson Browne with the award and then joined him on the song, ‘Fountains of Sorrow’. I had forgotten how beautiful that song is (I had secretly been pulling for him to do ‘Red Neck Friend’ but when you are receiving and earnest award you really should chose one of your beautiful songs I suppose).

Jackson Browne

The winner of the Emerging Artist of year was Sturgill Simpson; the award was presented by Cary Ann Hearst and Michael Trent (Shovels and Rope). I bought his ‘Metamodern Sounds in Country Music’ upon its release in May and listened to it probably a dozen times as I traveled out and back to visit folks in McLeod County one Saturday. It didn’t stick with me and I haven’t listened to it since. But his live performance on Wednesday was rockin’ outlaw, better than I expected, and so if I haven’t sold the CD back to The Electric Fetus I will give it a dozen more listens. His presence on stage was more invigorating than what I got from the recorded music and encourage anyone reading this to see him when he comes to your town. After all, he’s a Winner.

Sturgll Simpson

The finale of the show was a rousing hootenanny version of Johnny Cash’s ‘Get Rhythm’. This made me think of NRBQ, which made me think of my beloved Harry Gebippe. I think he would deemed it, ‘a really great show’.

Respectfully submitted, Mrs Gebippe. Photos by Jinx Howell

David Lindley and Jackson Brown, circa 1992 (archive photo necessitated by the Cedar's new "no photos" policy during performances

David Lindley and Jackson Browne, circa 1992 (archive photo necessitated by the Cedar’s new “no photos” policy during performances)

If the music industry ever gave out the equivalent of the NBA’s Sixth Man Award, surely David Lindley would be a contender. In addition to his long affiliation with Jackson Browne, Lindley’s multi-instrumental work has added depth, color and nuance to a veritable who’s who of contemporary artists, including Ry Cooder, Warren Zevon, Rod Stewart, Crosby, Stills and Nash, Emmylou Harris, The Blind Boys of Alabama, Linda Ronstadt, Dolly Parton, John Prine, Bob Dylan, and David Bromberg. And that’s just for starters! His long affiliation with the group of session musicians known as The Section has led him to appear on scores of albums. For approximately 10 years, he led the much-loved, sorely-missed, multi-cultural cult favorite band, El Rayo -X, with its captivating mix of rock, blues and reggae. As one of the earliest champions of “world music,” he toured and recorded with Jordanian musician Hani Naser, as well as venturing to Madagascar with guitarist Henry Kaiser, to record with musicians there

: The Axe-Man cometh! David Lindley’s instruments, including a massive baritone Hawaiian guitar, normal Hawaiian guitar, bouzouki and oud.

Although he is still regularly called upon for session work, Lindley’s preference these days is to tour solo, dazzling audiences with his deft fretwork on a variety of instruments, including bouzouki, oud, and an impressive set of Hawaiian style hollow neck acoustic lap guitars. So it was during his recent appearance at the Cedar Cultural Center, where he entertained the 2/3’s full house for nearly two hours, with his mix of songs and story telling.

Bespectacled, with his long graying hair and signature massive mutton chops, Lindley resembled a character out of a Dickens novel – except for the loud paisley-print shirt, that is (standard apparel for the man occasionally referred to as The Prince of Polyester). “Ain’t No Way” from the first El Rayo-X album, was the set opener, done up more as a stately march than the loose, freewheeling arrangement from the 1981 album. Reflecting on his early career, Lindley noted that he used to play at Disneyland in a hillbilly band “with our bumpkin suits, bumpkin hats, and bumpkin instruments.” One of the members of the group was a much older man named Johnny Sancere, who played banjo and guitar, and whose longevity in the business while playing the style of music he preferred seems to have had a profound influence on Lindley’s own chosen career path. He used the Disneyland/Sancere episode as a segue into “Coot From Tennessee,” then the Warren Zevon composition “Beneath The Vast Indifference of Heaven,” both played on Hawaiian-style acoustic lap guitars. The hollow necks of these formidable instruments provided a huge, resonating bottom to the songs, making it sound for all the world as though there was a bass player up on stage, too.

Referring to the recent Rolling Stone article about The Section, Lindley related a story about saxophonist David Sanborn (“the Troll of Soul,” as Lindley referred to him),, making his way from ledge to ledge along the second story outside wall of the Holiday Inn where the band was staying while touring with Jackson Browne. Finally persuaded to come into the room from his precarious perch, Sanborn pointed at someone in the band and proclaimed “You and your little dog, too!” causing Lindley to howl with laughter at the recollection, while the audience politely chuckled in puzzled amusement. I guess you had to have been there.

Announcing, “I’d like to do a drug song for you,” Lindley told of how he and his daughter, Rosanne, came to write “Little Green Bottle,” an ode to . . . Extra Strength Excedrin. It occurred after Lindley had been bitten between the shoulder blades by some nasty tree spider that dropped down on him as he brushed against a branch. Only the magic in the little green bottle soothed his pain, so, while walking with Rosanne soon after – in the street, away from spider-infested trees – they began tossing off verses, eventually winding up with “about 30.” Although the version performed this night consisted of far fewer verses, the song itself went on for over 10 minutes, including hilarious spoken interludes about taking too much (leading to “bad musical ideas” and manic guitar playing), then coming down from the Excedrin high (slowing the song down to a dirge).

Back to the bouzouki, and another story about doing sessions with Dolly Parton, including an extravagant show at her Dollywood theme park, with a number of other guest musicians. Dolly introduced the musicians one by one, noting that so-and-so came in from New York, so-and-so from Los Angeles, and when she got to Lindley, she announced “And David Lindley flew in from Mars!” The murder ballad, “Pretty Polly” was the follow up to that anecdote.

Switching to the oud, Lindley pointed out that the one he plays does not have the rounded back traditional for this Middle Eastern instrument. “That’s because this oud was made to be plugged into a Marshall stack!” he noted, referring to his oud as “Destroys Drummers.” The bluegrass tune, “Little Sadie” was the first offering on this tricky instrument, followed by a medley of similar songs. The similarity between oud and mandolin in terms of size and number of strings (although the oud has 2 more) makes the oud a simpatico choice for bluegrass style music.

Back to bouzouki next for the Greg Copeland tune, “Pretty Girl Rules The World,” followed by another Greg Copeland composition, “Revenge Will Come,” played on the thunderous baritone Hawaiian. In between, Lindley told a story about the man who makes his lap guitars, a fellow by the name of Larry Pogreba, a neighbor of Ted Turner’s, who lives “off the grid” in Montana, and also builds black powder cannons that shoot bowling balls! It was just such a cannon that dispatched the ashes of Pogreba’s friend, the late Hunter S. Thompson, over his property in Colorado. Whatever else you might say about David Lindley, you certainly can’t accuse him of having boring friends.

Before performing his lone encore, the zydeco flavored “Bon Temps Roulez,” Lindley referred back to the Rolling Stone article on The Section. He took umbrage at the writer’s reference to the group as “The Knights of Soft Rock,” so he decided to give himself yet another nickname: Flaccido Domingo. That line got him the biggest laugh of the night.

It’s easy to see how David Lindley is such an in-demand studio musician. His range of instrumental skills is unique, but in addition to that his easygoing demeanor and “what, me worry?” attitude toward life must be refreshing in a business where over-inflated egos are the norm. Fortunately for us, he still spends a lot of time on the road, playing in bars and clubs, and at festivals all over the world. Alone on stage, flanked by his rack of instruments, is where his true genius shines forth – with a half-dozen humorous anecdotes thrown in for good measure.

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Tag Archives: Ry Cooder

” Nashville’s where you go, to see if what is said is so..”– Americana Music Honors and Awards 2014

The Return of the Badgerman: David Lindley at the Cedar Cultural Center, Minneapolis, MN, 5/14/13

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