Justin F. Farrar

(This show preview originally appeared in the Seattle Weekly.)

The Hacienda Brothers were sweet. They could achieve these peak moments (“A Lot of Days Are Gone” is my personal fave) when cofounders Chris Gaffney and Dave Gonzalez channeled the ghosts of Doug Sahm and Gram Parsons. Unfortunately, liver cancer claimed Gaffney’s life in 2008, shortly after the release of Arizona Motel, arguably the best album the Haciendas ever recorded. By all accounts, Gonzalez was a shattered man. To cope, he has done what all great musicians do: bury himself in his music. The Stone River Boys have yet to ink a deal, but a handful of MySpace tracks sound pretty f’n killer. Not unlike the Haciendas, Gonzalez fuses country-n-western and funky Southern soul into a gnarly brand of roots rock. As always, one of the main attractions is the dude’s masterful guitarwork. It’s truly awesome.

(This show preview originally appeared in the Seattle Weekly.)

It’s been nearly four years since Junior Brown’s last album, Live at the Continental Club: The Austin Experience. That’s a long time. Then again, Brown has never been a fan of the studio. The guitarist has released just nine albums since 1974. A genuine virtuoso, Brown prefers jamming, gigging, practicing, touring, etc. Playing a hybrid electric guitar and lap steel called a guit-steel, Brown is one of roots rock’s most gifted pickers. Of course, a lot of folks can’t get over that novel-looking axe, but that’s just the gift wrapping. When you get some extra time, track down an instrumental by the name of “Sugarfoot Rag.” This is Brown at his most intense. He sounds like Clarence White, Jr., as he fuses James Burton and Jimi Hendrix. No lie.

Yes, I took the plunge. If you’re interested, here it is: JustinFarrar. I tweet about all kinds of stuff,  from my latest feature articles to new record reviews for Rhapsody to YouTube clips. I also add updates for my other blog Strawberry Flats.

In this installment of WNCW’s “What It Is” host Joe Kendrick and his panel of music nerds (including me!) talk about Music That Took Time To Love.

BTW, if you’re wondering what’s the 411 on “What It Is”, this post explains it all.

(This show preview originally appeared in the Seattle Weekly.)

As far as band names go, Papercuts isn’t my cup of tea — way too precious. But that doesn’t really matter, because San Francisco’s Jason Robert Quever, who is Papercuts, has just delivered one killer album. The Gnomonsong-released You Can Have What You Want is one of the better indie pop records I’ve heard in recent years. Now Quever isn’t lo-fi and bizarre like Ariel Pink and Kurt Vile, yet he shares with those two oddballs’ ability to drown listeners in moody, dreamy sounds dotted with classic hooks nicked from bubblegum, proto-punk, Brill Building, psychedelia… you name it. Quever is also a member of the fantastic Skygreen Leopards, who are dropping a new album of their own this July. So yeah, this dude basically bleeds perfect pop music 24/7.

In this installment of WNCW’s “What It Is” host Joe Kendrick and his panel of music nerds (including me!) tackle hair metal and its death. I love talking about hair metal. I could have gone on for another 30 minutes! Hanoi Rocks is still one of my all time faves.

BTW, if you’re wondering what’s the 411 on “What It Is”, this post explains it all.

(This short preview/playlist of the Telluride Bluegrass festival originally appeared on the Rhapsody Blog. I would love to go to this some day. It looks gorgeous!)

Bluegrass is popular all over the United States — no doubt about it. But historically, it thrives in about three to five regions: Appalachia, the Ohio Valley, eastern Maryland-Pennsylvania, the Ozarks of Missouri and southeastern Kansas and, interestingly enough, Colorado. The Centennial State — that’s Colorado, yo — is probably the major hub for groups that explore progressive bluegrass (a.k.a. newgrass, jamgrass, hippie bluegrass). I’m talking about bands like Leftover Salmon, Yonder Mountain String Band, The String Cheese Incident and Oakhurst.

Colorado is also home to one of genre’s more celebrated multi-day festivals, Telluride Bluegrass, which is entering its 36th year. Located in the San Juan Mountains in the southwest corner of the state, there’s no beating Telluride when it comes to dreamy settings. Humongous snow-capped peaks and lush, Rocky Mountain flora surround its mainstage. There are workshops for musicians, all night jams, performance competition, camping, hiking and a well-established emphasis on green-conscious business. It’s pretty darn amazing.

Musically, Telluride has followed Bonnaroo’s lead in opening its doors to alt-country types, world musicians and hip indie rockers dabbling in Americana and roots music. For this year’s installment (June 18-21), the line-up features everybody from newgrass heavies Railroad Earth to indie dude Conor Oberst to mandolin legend Sam Bush to the luscious Jenny Lewis. And that’s just the tip of the iceburg. Here’s the complete line-up — more or less:

David Byrne
Elvis Costello & The Sugarcanes
Emmylou Harris
Three Girls & Their Buddy
Béla Fleck & Toumani Diabaté
The Steeldrivers
Todd Snider
John Cowan Band
Peter Rowan
Jerry Douglas
Tim O’Brien
Yonder Mountain String Band
The Punch Brothers
The Lovell Sisters
The Greencards
Crooked Still
Greensky Bluegrass
Gaelic Storm
Zac Brown Band
Blue Canyon Boys
Kasey Chambers & Shane Nicholson
Mike Farris & The Roseland Rhythm Revue

This is an insane collection of talent for sure, but if forced to pick three can’t-miss performances, I’d go with these:

1) Greensky Bluegrass
Not too many folks have heard these upstarts from Kalamazoo, Michigan, but Telluride just loves them. The quintet won the festival’s band competition in 2006. In addition to the playlist up above, a great introduction to Greensky Bluegrass is their last full-length, Five Interstates, which has a real Jay-Farrar-meets-Dillard-&-Clark vibe. There’s something very early ’70s about this Greensky Bluegrass. They’re basically classic singer-songwriters playing in a West Coast hippie bluegrass style.

2) The Steeldrivers
Much like the Infamous Stringdusters, the SteelDrivers are a pack of hot shot Nashville session cats getting all acoustic. That said, they’re totally fiery, playing a brand of Appalachian mountain music that’s fortified with brawny, swampy blues-rock. Singer and guitarist Chris Stapleton howls like Bob Seger had he grown up in, say, Bristol, Tennessee, rather than Detroit. Over the last year or so a Steeldrivers performance has become a pretty hot ticket in the bluegrass scene. So yeah, this will be a killer show.

3) Three Girls & Their Buddy:
Emmylou. Patty Griffin. Shawn Colvin. Buddy Miller. Need I say more?

In this installment of WNCW’s “What It Is” host Joe Kendrick and his panel of music nerds (including me!) tackle The Hard Act To Follow. We have “fun talking about the instances we recall when an opening act blew away the headliner, or the headliner imploded.”

BTW, if you’re wondering what’s the 411 on “What It Is”, this post explains it all.

In this installment of WNCW’s “What It Is” host Joe Kendrick and his panel of music nerds (including me!) tackle distinctive drummers. I kind of go off the deep end here and start talking about obscure underground rock like Lightning Bolt and Hella. But hey, I had fun!

BTW, if you’re wondering what’s the 411 on “What It Is”, this post explains it all.

(This show preview originally appeared in the Seattle Weekly.)

If you study the recent history of California underground rock, say the last 15 years, you’ll spot these four trends: 1) arty farty post-hardcore in all its many guises, from Gravity Records to Total Shutdown and the Locust; 2) the hard psych renaissance spearheaded by Comets on Fire and including megaton jammers Mammatus and Residual Echoes; 3) Zach Hill’s freak rock cottage industry – ’nuff said; and 4) vintage lo-fi madness a la No Age and Wavves. Fusing all this stuff into a pan-Californian aesthetic is why Crystal Antlers is wicked-sweet. Plus, the Long Beach outfit writes some wonderfully thrashy pop. When you get the chance, sample the anthem “Dust,” off Tentacles, the Antlers’ debut full-length, released on Tough & Go. Another chestnut is “Andrew.” It unloads some really sharp hooks.