Concert Review: Westport Roots Festival

An acquaintance was appalled to learn that I paid the $25 admission charge to Westport Roots Festival on Saturday.  I suppose I could have weaseled my way in, but that’s not my style. 

I feel like I got my money’s worth even though I was impressed by only two of the nine acts I heard during the four hours I spent at the one-day event. 

Luke Bell played in the rain on the patio of the Riot Room.  The young honkytonk traditionalist from Wyoming appears to be the genuine article.

Kansas City’s Rex Hobart and the Misery Boys performed on the same stage before the rain hit.  I hadn’t seen the country band in years.  I hope to catch the sturdy ensemble again in the next couple weeks.


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I reviewed a production of “Million Dollar Quartet.”

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I reviewed Big Sean’s concert at the Midland theater.

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I contributed a Local Listen segment about Cadillac Flambé to KCUR.

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Madisen Ward and the Mama Bear’s Skeleton Crew sounds like a 1965 album on Vanguard Records.  RIYL: Richard and Mimi Farina, the Greenwich Village folk scare, Ian & Sylvia.

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Bruce Lundvall has died.

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Marcus Belgrave has died.

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Bob Belden has died.

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Murs throws his backpack under the bus on Have a Nice Life.  The new approach doesn’t always work for me.  The pop-tinged ”No More Control” is one of the album’s best songs.

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Big Steve, one of There Stands the Glass’ most dedicated readers, asked for my opinion of Shamir’s Ratchet.  He came to the right guy.  I’m more excited about an upcoming show by The First Ladies of Disco than any other oldies concert this summer.  Rather than representing anything new, Ratchet is a loving tribute to the ‘80s sounds of Mantronix, the Weather Girls and Newcleus.  So Steve, you’ll appreciate Ratchet if you share the fetish for creaky electronic funk and campy disco that Shamir and I harbor.

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Graham Parker and the Rumour’s Mystery Glue isn’t all that great but at this late date I can’t resist its pub rock charms.

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The Robert Glasper Trio's cover of Jhene Aiko's "The Worst" (my #20 song of 2014) combines two of my favorite things.

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Los Cardencheros de Sapioriz is billed as “the last performing group of an a capella Mexican slave song tradition.”  A few modern flourishes at the end of the recording break the magical spell of the group’s Un Amor Pendiente.

(Original image of pedal steel guitarist Nate Hofer’s boots by There Stands the Glass.)

B.B. King, 1925-2015

The first B.B. King concert I attended altered the way I perceive culture and society.

My date and I were among the only white people in the balcony of the Uptown Theater in 1979 (people under the age of 18 weren’t allowed on the floor at the time). 

The demonstrative audience- they preferred co-headliner Bobby Bland to King- showed me how to become completely immersed in the music.  Nothing was the same for me after that night.

I noticed the changing complexion of King’s audience each time I saw him perform.  The transition seemed to have been fully realized at the final King show I attended.  The great man served as an opening act for Peter Frampton at a sad 2013 concert at the Muriel Kauffman Theatre.

The giant of American music died last week.


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I reviewed a concert by Samantha Fish and Katy Guillen and the Girls.

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I contributed a Local Listen segment about Behzod Abduraimov to KCUR.

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The Numero Group has issued a 1969 recording by the Kansas City band White Eyes. RIYL: Crosby Stills & Nash, psychedelics, Richie Furay.  Here’s an 81-second video promoting the find.

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Heidi Lynne Gluck’s The Only Girl in the Room is impressive.  RIYL: Jenny Lewis, winsomeness, M. Ward.

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Teddy Dibble shares a handful of avant-garde jazz albums from his collection.

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Bernard Sollman of ESP-Disk has died.

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I’m not ready to proclaim as Chris Stapleton as the best thing since Dolly Parton’s wig, but Traveller is pretty great.  RIYL: Waylon, the Sturgill Simpson of 2015, Willie.

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I’ve been born again.  The Supreme Jubilees’ recently reissued album “It’ll All Be Over” is that powerful.  Here’s the title track.

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A version of  ”True Trans Soul Rebel” featuring Laura Jane Grace and Miley Cyrus is kind of weak, but it makes me smile anyway.

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John Patitucci’s Brooklyn is surprisingly hip.  RIYL: Lionel Loueke, international cocktail jazz for 2015, Steve Cardenas.

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The world didn’t need Stone Sour’s Meanwhile In Burbank… but I’m glad the covers EP exists.  

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As far as I can tell, I’m the only person on the planet who’s heard Juneteenth, Stanley Cowell’s excellent new solo piano album.

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I listened to media sensation Joey Alexander’s debut album.  It’s fine.  The problem with the cycle of hype associated with jazz prodigies, of course, is that most are discarded when they hit their mid-twenties.  There’s no denying that the visual element is very compelling.

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Portions of Pops Staples’ posthumous Don’t Lose This are magnificent.

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I’d rather think about Zac Brown Band’s dabblings in EDM and heavy metal than listen to  Jeckyll + Hyde a second time.  ”Heavy Is the Head” is my favorite track.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

I'm One

The PA system at the United Center in Chicago blared “Baba O’Riley” at a crucial juncture of the fourth quarter of the Bulls-Cavaliers game yesterday.

The moment was reason #3,129 I can no longer listen to the Who for pleasure.  That’s why I was relieved when The Who's appearance at the Sprint Center was canceled last week a day before the concert.

I knew I wouldn’t be working the show, but I felt obligated to show up and buy a ticket.  As a self-centered 17-year-old twit, I completed internalized Quadrophenia.

A lot’s happened since then.


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I reviewed Primus’ return to the Uptown Theater.

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I reviewed Mary Chapin Carpenter’s collaboration with the Kansas City Symphony.

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I contributed a Local Listen segment about Julian Vaughn to KCUR.

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Johnny Gimble has died.  I saw the fiddler accompany country stars a few times and I took in a few sets he led in Winfield, Kansas.

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Guy Carawan has died.

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Jerome Cooper, the drummer of the Revolutionary Ensemble, has died.

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Errol Brown of Hot Chocolate has died.

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Madisen Ward and the Mama Bear were featured on CBS Sunday Morning.

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Only when forced at proverbial gunpoint did I reluctantly listen to the Alabama Shakes’ Sound & Color.  Holy smokes!  RIYL: Some Girls, career artists, My Morning Jacket.  Here’s the title track. 

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Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.  Much of Kamasi Washington’s The Epic struck me as merely “good” during my first pass at the three-hour album.  From the choirs to the running time, it’s just too much.  RIYL: Pharoah Sanders, hype, Joshua Redman.

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Never Were the Way She Was is the first Colin Stetson album that completely resonates with me.  RIYL: chamber music, Hauschka, not a trace of jazz.

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Reason #3,130 I can’t listen to the Who for pleasure- Quadrophenia has become an actual opera.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Album Review: Yelawolf- Love Story

Blame it on David Allan Coe.  I was raised on outlaw country songs like “Longhaired Redneck” and the infamous “If That Ain’t Country.”

I suppose that’s why I remain partial to decidedly uncouth music by Southern and Midwestern outsiders ranging from Kid Rock to Tech N9ne. 

Yelawolf, the controversial Alabaman who has been repeatedly excoriated by critics, speaks directly to me, partly because I relate to his intense relationships with God and alcohol. 

Yelawolf airs his dirty laundry on the deliberately offensive “Whiskey in a Bottle”, one of Love Story’s many strong tracks.  ”Best Friend”, a collaboration with Eminem, is also pretty great. 

I don't condone the hateful slurs Yelawolf employs, nor will you ever hear me utter those words.  But that doesn’t mean that I haven't been barraged by similar trash talk for much of my life. 

I may not look or sound like Yelawolf, but I know precisely where he's coming from.


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I reviewed a concert by Vance Joy, the Kooks, Joywave and Hembree.

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I contributed a Local Listen segment about Mat Shoare to KCUR.

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“Hood Crazy” is probably Tech N9ne’s most mainstream song to date.  Here’s the video.  Tech N9ne’s Special Effects drops this week.

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I saw Joseph Kern conduct the Midwest Chamber Orchestra in a performance of his dissonant but romantic new Chamber Symphony at the Lutheran Church of the Resurrection last night.  Sarah Tannehill-Anderson’s singing of a Walt Whitman text was beauteous.

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Ben E. King has died.  I suppose “Spanish Harlem” is my favorite King hit.

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Jack Ely of the Kingsmen has died.

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Reach places flowers at the graves of jazz, rock and hip-hop in the ”Pay Respects” video.

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His provocative image aside, Young Thug is kind of boring.  Barter 6 is  RIYL: Birdman, drugs, Weezy.  Here’s ”Constantly Hating”.

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Earl Sweatshirt is so sad.  "Solace" is his extremely loose new project.

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Just a Mortal Man is the debut album of 71-year-old Jerry Lawson.  RIYL: Brook Benton, classic soul, Solomon Burke.  Here’s the title track.

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I appreciate Marc Myers’ reevaluation of the collaboration between Tony Bennett and Bill Evans.

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Angry jazz is good jazz.  Terence Blanchard’s goes hard on the EPK for his new album.

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Need a lift?  I recommend "Gyae Su" by Pat Thomas the Kwashibu Area Band.

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Portions of Raekwon’s Fly International Luxurious Art are almost as good as Ghostface Killah’s recent string of outstanding albums.  RIYL: Wu-Tang Clan, the kitchen sink, Busta Rhymes.  Here’s ”All About You”.

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Bell Witch’s acclaimed metal album Four Phantoms is RIYL: vertigo, High On Fire, fashionable black metal.

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I’m disappointed by Charles Lloyd’s Wild Man Dance.  RIYL: hype, Gerald Clayton, third stream.  The EPK, however, is amazing.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)