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MUSIC NEWS IND GOSSIP
Hey, /all. The overwhelming majority of
this week's news is directly or loosely related
to Athens' sizable roots-influenced music com
munity. As I was tying up all the loose ends
for this week, I realized that such a singu
larly themed compilation of facts has never
appeared in this column. So, at least for this
week, slide on your boots—cowboy or work—
and have at it.
Attention Required: If you've never heard
of Junker, you're totally forgiven, because
I hadn't either and, come to find out, the
local band hadn't even played out in over
a year before a couple of weeks ago. Led
by the songwriting of Stephen Brooks, the
band plays brutally dark music that always
feels moments from the brink. The songs are
punctuated via penetrating and occasion
ally downright heartrending leads from pedal
steel player Zsch Wright, while Brooks' guitar
remains constantly awash in reverb. I hesitate
The Corduroy Road
to call this music "Americana," because it's
much more universal than that ill-fitting bag
that's so easy to hang on music with certain
instrumentation. What I can say is this: I've
not responded this viscerally to a Southern
poet—in this case Brooks—since John
Seawright passed away. Further, the demo
version of the band's track "Vegas" is as stir
ring, apocalyptic and able to navigate its
own claustrophobia as Richard Thompson's
"Calvary Cross." So, basically, this band is the
real deal Listen to everything again and again
over at www.junkerband.bandcamp.com.
Go Ahead and Move On In: Residencies seem
to be "a thing" these days in Athens, and the
next one crossing your radar comes courtesy
of Patrick Morales & Friends, who are under-
taking one this month at Highwire Lounge.
Morales (The Viking Progress) has said that
his conception of this series of shows is that
each week would be a cuiated set of "experi
mental instrumental numbers" and a different
person accompanying him each week as well
Selected guests include Matt Whitaker (Young
Benjamin), Jason Payne, Ryan Moore and
McKendrick Bearden (Androcles & The Lion).
The shows will take place each Tuesday in
June and start times are to be determined. For
12 FLAGPOLE.COM JUNE 6,2012
more information, please see www.facebook.
com/thevikingprogress.
V Fall Into the Gap: The Corduroy Road will
release its newest album, its first since 2010's
Live at the 40 Watt, on June 19. The band's
release show in the Athens area for the record,
titled Two Step Silhouette, will be its perfor
mance at AthFest main stage on June 22,
after which the guys will do a short East Coast
tour. The group returns to Athens July 1 to
play the Classic City American Music Festival
(at the Melting Point). Anything else can be
found at www.corduroyroad.com.
Campaign Season: Mark Cunningham; who
leads Athens band Burning Angels, has
launched a fundraiser campaign via IndleGoGo
for the band's sophomore album, Love & 20
Pesos. Donation sizes range from $5 to $500
but, of course, any amount thrown toward the
cause is appreciated, and the band will get to
keep everything raised. The band's overall goal
is $3,000, which feels kind of high for a band
that is still struggling to keep its name out
there. Chetk out the project and all its perks
via www.indiegogo.com/bumingangelband.
•* *. - % .*• +
I'll Tumble for Ya: The Georgia Theatre is
maintaining a spectacularly good-looking
Tumblr site. Located at www.georgiatheatre.
tumblr.com, the site has* tons of the requisite
photos but much cooler and more interesting
are the "GATH Radio Show" episodes, which
are basically Podcasts hosted on Soundcloud.
They feature music, interviews and more. Find
Jthem directly via www.soundcloud.com/gath-
radio. This is an impressive project overall,
and the folks behind it are obviously putting
in the time to make it right.
The Ballots Are In: Voting is closed for the
2012 Flagpole Music Awards, so all your
friends in bands should have stopped bugging
you by now. The votes are being furiously tal
lied by the Flagpole staff, and the winners will
be announced at the Flagpole Music Awards
Show on Thursday, June 21 at the Morton
Theatre. -■ 'O * ;.
Gordon Lamb threatsandpromises@flagpoie.com
much as things can be defined by
geography—How many times have
we tailed about a local band that
sounds like it's from and of Athens?—Dawes
is a Los Angeles band. Specifically, Dawes is
from Laurel Canyon, the wild northwestern
area where West Hollywood's urban grid bumps
smack up against nature and the streets disap
pear into the hills.
With lyrics both personal and wistful and
a sound earthy and polished, 2009's debut,
North Hills, pulled on folk and rock traditions
just as much as it did on more easygoing
country. That album and followup Nothing Is
Wtpng, released Last year, place Dawes com
fortably alongside 70s greats like Neil Young,
Crosby, Stills & Nash and Jackson Browne,
who were producing music in the area at the
time. That said, Dawes has its own Athens
connection, but we'll get to that. For now: Los
Angeles.
"If we moved all of a sudden, I'm sure you
would hear it in the music," says Dawes bass
ist Wylie Gelber. "We're all bom and raised
here, and it's the same as if you were from
Chicago or Memphis. [Musicians who] lived
there, they're from there, and you can hear it
in the sound. There's something really nice
about living in the overall vibe of where you
grew up and being part of that vibe. You
know, there are so many great Los Angeles
albums, especially with artists not from here
who came here to record, that still pick up
the vibe, like Pussy Cats by Hany Nilsson, that
John Lennon produced... It's just so vibrantly
'Los Angeles.'
"I just worked on the Father John Misty
album; I assisted with the engineering and
played bass on a few tracks. I watched him
[ex-Fleet Foxes drummer J. Tillman], who's
from Seattle and moved to LA., and he had
the same thing to say... It came out naturally
and wasn't forced like we were trying to make
an 'L.A. record' or anything. It just happens."
That sense of continuity isn't just some
thing that looks good on paper; Nothing Is
Wrong features collaborations with Jackson
Browne as well as The Heartbreakers'
Benmont Tench. Dawes—Gelber, vocalist/
guitarist Taylor Goldsmith, drummer (and
brother) Griffin Goldsmith and keyboardist
Tay Strathaim—has successfully partnered
up with acts rather than just pay homage.
They've backed up Browne, M. Ward and The
Band's Robbie Robertson, and will be one of
the featured acts at Glen Campbell's final per
formance later this month at the Hollywood
Bowl.
"Playing with Jackson Browne was one of *
the biggest pleasures of my life," says Gelber,
"and we're meeting up with him again next
month. We played 255 shows last year alone,,
so it's been great"
Oh, and that Athens connection? Gelber
says the band is eternally thankful to our city
for introducing them to Wes Delk. "We met our
sound guy there in Athens," says Gelber. "We
came in and played one night. Wes Delk—he
blows our mind every day. He's a genius with
mixing sound. Since we met him, we've never
worked with anyone else to do our sound."
Delk, the Melting Point's production man
ager and sound guru, is a scene fixture and
over his career made sure acts like Widespread
Panic, Waylon Jennings and Lynyrd Skynyrd
sounded just the way they should from what
ever stage they played on.
Says Delk, about to hop on a plane to NYC
to join up with Dawes for its current tour,
*They came in [to play the Melting Point last
May] and Barry Marler from Dreams So Real
had told me about them, so I took the shift
so I could see them. I liked them then. They
actually can sing. They have wonderful harmo
nies. Usually you hear a song or two that you
don't care much about, but I liked everything
they did, and I like them as people."
Gelber says they hit it off with Delk and
were impressed with the way he handled the
sound in the Melting Point, so the band's
drummer, Griffin Goldsmith, called Delk up
shortly thereafter and asked him to come out
and work their sound as they went on tour
opening for Lucinda Williams.
"I had sworn that after Waylon Jennings
passed away, I'd never go back on the road,"
says Delk. "But I liked the Dawes guys. And
that tour, Allison Krauss had an engineer
who's an old, old friend, Cliff Miller. So, I got
to spend time with him. And now I'm with
Dawes all the time—if they go out, I'm there.
We do crazy stuff. We've been to Europe,
Australia. We're about to play Central Park,
then hit Bonnaroo, then Athens. And then we
fly out to California, where w/re doing Glen
Campbell's last gig at the Hollywood Bowl.
They're backing up Kris Kristoffersoh, Lucinda
Williams, Jackson Browne... That should be a
good one."
With Delk in tow, it's easy to suggest that
while Dawes' songwriting may be geographi
cally specific, there's something universal
about the need for good sounds. Despite the
heavy touring, Gelber says the band hasn't
fallen into the another-day-another-gig trap.
"It's pretty easy for us," he says, "because
you go on tour, and the reality is you really
only get to play a show for an hour or so a
day, and we love playing music with each ,
other so much. So, the show is what we're
looking forward to. That's what keeps the
whole thing so fun and keeps us together."
Chris Hasslotis
KEVIN HAYS