Amy Lashley’s new record, Flatland Blossoms is officially released today. You can and should pick up a vinyl record, a CD or a download right now. If you give the first song a listen, I think you’ll be hooked and you’ll want more.
Facts are stubborn things.
Writing and recording music is one of the best things in the world and we’re grateful that we still get to do it. The downside is, it always seems to take forever to get the finished thing out into the world.
My musician friends know exactly what I’m talking about.
I’m pretty dang excited to finally get to share the whole album with folks. People will be discovering this record in the years to come. You’ll be able to tell these folks that you bought it as soon as it came out.
This snapshot was taken at a beautiful old diner in Chicopee, Massachusetts.
Imagine me sitting there quietly while I try to figure out what Louisville, Nashville and Houston have in common. This is one of life’s great questions that’s baffled folk singers throughout the ages.
Louisville gave us Muhammad Ali. I’ve heard stories of Ali visiting the Club Del Morocco in Nashville and watching a young and unknown Jimi Hendrix playing in the house band. Ali fought four times at the Astrodome and Houston is where he first declared himself a conscientious objector.
Ok, not a bad start, but what else do they have in common.
Townes Van Zandt lived in Houston and recorded his greatest album at The Old Quarter. He was part of the wave of great songwriters that moved from Houston to Nashville. He later lived in Louisville. I had a late night conversataion about 25 years ago at Air Devils in Louisville with a guy who let Townes live with him for a bit, but that’s another story.
Now we’re rolling.
My favorite actor is Harry Dean Stanton. A large portion of Paris, Texas was filmed in and around Houston. Harry Dean Stanton became friends with The Call and they did a tour with him as his backing band. That tour played for a very small, but lucky crowd at Uncle Pleasants in Louisville. I wish I could have been there for it. I’ve seen quite a few screenings of Harry Dean’s movies at the Belcourt Theatre in Nashville. That’s a bit flimsy on the Nashville connection, but it’s the best I have at the moment.
I’ve been known to sit quietly for hours contemplating such things. It’s good for the blood pressure, it’s cheap entertainment and it reminds me of the things I enjoy.
Having said all of that, the most important connection between Louisville, Nashville and Houston?
I’ll be playing in all three cities and the pre-sale starts today. If you’re anywhere near these cities, please come out and say hey.
It’s a beautiful town, they can’t wait to tear it down.
I was talking to Amy on the phone while driving through East Nashville, when that phrase came out of my mouth. A few weeks later, Our water heater died, so we called a guy to install a new one. He was an older cat that I’d never met. When he finished up, he pulled out his phone and showed me a picture of a kid cooling off in a galvanized metal horse trough while a woman stood there smiling. It was him and his mom in their backyard when he was a kid and it was just a few houses down.
We walked out to the front yard and he showed me where the house was. His childhood home had recently been replaced by something more profitable. He showed me where his grandfather’s garden was and told me about the day his grandfather passed away in that garden. We both stood around for a bit staring at the multiple houses that are now crammed onto that small piece of once fertile land.
I was thinking about stuff like that when I wrote this song. It’s not about that or anything else in particular. Sometimes you just empty the thoughts from your mind, put them to music and then move on. If you’re lucky, it might resonate with others. They might even fill in the gaps with their own thoughts. At that point, the song can become whatever they need it to be.
I’ve already said too much.
Raze was recorded at Columbia Studio A in Nashville and yes, that’s where Bob Dylan made Blonde on Blonde and Nashville Skyline. It’s been closed to the public for decades, but we were given permission to record my new album there. That’s pretty nifty stuff, if you ask me.
The album is called The Trust Of Crows and it’ll be released in September. This is the second “single” from the album and I’ll share more info down below.
The Trust Of Crows was produced by Otis Gibbs and Thomm Jutz. Thomm went above and beyond and did some heavy lifting to make this record happen. He’s been a wonderful friend over the years and I owe him dearly.
The band is:
Thomm Jutz -guitar
Dave Jacques -bass
Lynn Williams -drums
Engineered by Sam Jenkins
Mastered by Alex McCollough.
Video is filmed by Todd Fox and Otis Gibbs.
This is a completely grass roots/DIY effort and I need your help to spread the word. I’ll put links in the comments, it would be lovely of you to pass them around.
Thanks for giving a damn,
-Otis
I had a dream last night Bob Dylan came over to help me change tubes in my 63 Princeton. Who among us hasn’t had that dream?
He started talking about how much he liked the tremolo in those old Fenders with the brown panel circuit. We both started wondering what amp Pop Staples used to get that great tremolo sound. We both agreed it’s an under appreciated sound, and nobody was better at it. Bob said something about wishing we had more people like Pop Staples right now.
I smiled quietly, but I knew what he was talking about.
I told him I’m always worried about my tremolo clashing with the organ player’s leslie speaker. Is it too much? Am I the only one that’s hearing it? Bob said you never had to worry about that crap with Garth Hudson. He just layed it down and you knew everything was gonna be alright.
Bob mentioned he wanted to play a friendly game of poker somewhere. I knew just what to do. I got on the phone and called one of my old poker buddies. I won’t drag his name into this dream sequence. Lets just say it rhymes with Dandy Peace. Dandy is a badass guitar player and one of the most soulful cats I know.
When I got Dandy on the phone, he said he didn’t feel right about playing poker while the Constitution burns. I told him I’m struggling with it too, but maybe it would be nice to get together with friends and let off some steam. Dandy wasn’t feeling it, and I understood.
I asked Bob if he’d seen the footage of masked gunmen grabbing people off of the streets and throwing them in unmarked vans?
We both just sat there quietly.
I woke up to Bob waving goodbye as he walked down Nolensville Road. I got out of bed, made some coffee and texted my buddy, Dandy Peace to tell him about the dream. Then, I started working on the things I need to get done. It’s safe to say, my daytime stress is showing up in my dreams.
There’s something really bad happening right now and it’s not normal.
Once again, that’s where I am. I know a lot of you are out there feeling it. Well, I’m feeling it too.
We’re capable of so much more than this.
I’m looking forward to visiting my friends at Mountain Stage Radio Show. They’re super nice folks and they’ve been good to me over the years. If you’re anywhere near Charleston, West Virginia you should stop by and say hello.
I’m planning on visiting Grandma Gatewood’s grave on the way down and I’m gonna put Red Sovine and Mothman on the guest list. If you run into them, please let ’em know.
A little bird told me, this episode will air in September on 270 NPR stations. What could possibly go wrong.
We spent the night in this fine establishment in Lenoir City, Tennessee. We were in town to hang with our buddy, Charlie Starr and to see his band, Blackberry Smoke at The Shed in Maryville. Good times and a great hang!
The door to our motel room was hard to open. We had to give it a really good push and when it would finally give way, it sounded like the door was being kicked in. When we got inside, we could see that the door had some damage. I’m guessing it was caused by being kicked in a few too many times.
That begs the question: How many time does a door have to be kicked in before it’s officially too many times?
We had breakfast at a place called Donna’s Diner and the pancakes were ridiculously big. They spilled out over the plate. Donna does not believe in small pancakes.
My buddy, Todd Fox and I are gonna get some more of those pancakes and then drive to Nashville. If you see two dirtbags stumbling around East Nashville in a pancake coma, that’ll be us. In the words of the great Nelson Wilbury, “Handle me with care.”
The new single by my gal, Amy Lashley just went live on Spotify.
Be sure to click the save button, add it to a playlist and share it with a friend.
The song was produced by me and, Thomm Jutz and mastered by Alex McCollough. Here’s a list of the players: Thomm Jutz on guitar, Dave Jacques on bass, Lynn Williams on drums and me on guitar.
I filmed a video for Ain’t There Yet with my buddy, Todd Fox and I think you’ll dig it.
The album, Flatland Blossoms will be officially released later this year, but you can buy the CD or vinyl today from this website.
“Eastside” was recorded a few months ago at Columbia Studio A in Nashville. That’s where Bob Dylan made Blonde on Blonde and Nashville Skyline. It’s been closed to the public for decades, but we were given permission to record my new album there. As a lifelong Bob fan, it was an absolutely beautiful experience.
The album is called The Trust Of Crows and it’ll be released in September. You can help me by clicking this link and listening to Eastside on Spotify. Be sure to save it to your library and add it to playlists.
For those of you who dig backstories about songs:
Amy and I moved into our house in East Nashville almost 20 years ago. The day after we moved in, Chuck Mead called and told me about a neighborhood party that we needed to attend. When we showed up, there was a band playing on the front porch of a house. In the front yard, there were about 30 people sitting in lawn chairs facing the porch.
The band was lead by Cowboy Jack Clement. He’d sing a song and then tell a story about recording Jerry Lee Lewis at Sun Records and recording John Prine at his studio in Nashville. He was hilarious and had endless stories like that between songs.
Then he introduced the great WS Holland on the drums. They’d play a song and then WS told a story about playing on Blue Suede shoes with Carl Perkins. He talked about playing with Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison. I couldn’t believe I was witnessing all of this this on a front porch in East Nashville.
There were a few people backing them up, like Chuck Mead, Tim Carroll, Eric Brace, Peter Cooper and maybe a couple other folks.
When they stopped playing, Peter Cooper walked up and started chatting with me. He knew who I was and I knew who he was. He was a journalist for The Tennessean, a songwriter, a music historian and he was also one of Todd Snider’s buddies.
Todd is the patron saint of East Nashville weirdos. At that time, Todd was pretty much the Pied Piper of folk, leading us all to The Land Of Misfit Folk Singers, otherwise known as East Nashville.
When they were done playing, Peter asked me if I’d like to get up on the porch and play a few songs for the people in lawn chairs. I joked with him that following Cowboy Jack on that proch seemed like a really bad career decision. He got the joke and said something along the lines of, “Otis, we’re in East Nashville now. We didn’t get here by making career decisions.”
Well played, Peter.
Later that night, Amy and I were laying in bed talking about the party. Our heads were swimming. It’s scary to move away to somewhere else, but that party was a beautiful affirmation that we’d made the right decision.
We kept saying things like, “This is our new life, now.” Amazingly, that was just the start.
This isn’t necessarily what the song is “about,” this is just what was going through my head as I wrote the song.
Eastside was produced by Otis Gibbs and Thomm Jutz. Thomm went above and beyond and did some heavy lifting to make this record happen. He’s been a wonderful friend over the years and I owe him dear
The band is:
Thomm Jutz -guitar
Dave Jacques -bass
Lynn Williams -drums
Engineered by Sam Jenkins
Mastered by Alex at True East Mastering.
Video is filmed by Todd Fox and Otis Gibbs.
Thank ya kindly to my buddies, Todd Snider, Chuck Mead, Jon Byrd, Butch Primm and Kevin Gordon for being in the video.
This is a completely grass roots/DIY effort and I need your help to spread the word.
Today is kind of a big day around our house. We’re releasing a new song out into the wilds and I made this video to accompany it. We usually celebrate such occasions with pancakes because we’re crazy like that.
Bearded Iris is the first song from my gal, Amy Lashley’s new record, Flatland Blossoms. She wrote it for an old friend of ours that we think about and miss every single day. Anyone who met Miss Iris knows exactly what I’m talking about. She was the best friend anyone could ever hope for. If you are lucky enough to have known the love of a furry sidekick, you’ll understand the sentiment behind this song.
I filmed the video with my buddy, Todd Fox. Our super talented friend, Shelby Kelley made the dog puppet in the video and used his wonderful puppeteer skills to make it come to life.
The song was produced by me and, Thomm Jutz and mastered by Alex McCollough. Here’s a list of the players: Thomm Jutz on guitar, Dave Jacques on bass, Lynn Williams on drums and me on guitar.
The album, Flatland Blossoms will be officially released later this year, but you can buy the CD or vinyl from from this website.
This guy followed me into my hotel room last night near Almelo, Netherlands. We sat up for a while, shared some road stories and had a really nice hang. I told him he could crash on the couch if he wanted, but he said he had somewhere to be. We said our goodbyes and he disappeared into the night. Safe travels, my brother.
I’m playing tonight at an old cathedral in Groningen and tomorrow in a theater in Rotterdam. Both shows are sold out (like every other show on this tour. All but one.)
