OndaDrops Vol. 4:

“To live outside the law you must be honest”: this line by Dylan sounds like a perfect motto for all the outlaws of American country music. Around the turn of the Seventies, a gang of latter-day cowboys armed with guitars and dusty boots decided to reclaim the authenticity of the country tradition, standing alongside noble forebears like Hank Williams or Lefty Frizzell and defying the glitz of the pop-country scene that then dominated Nashville. A generation of artists united by the same desire for sincerity and the same intolerance for rules, who overturned every kind of convention, both musically - tackling subjects taboo for the time, such as alcohol abuse or vagrancy - and personally, often living wild, lawless lives on the edge. A proud handful of musicians who proclaimed themselves proudly “outlaw”, and who, within the span of just a few years, managed to leave an indelible mark on the country scene. For the fourth installment of the OndaDrops project, we asked contemporary songwriters and folk artists to take on the legacy of outlaw country, reinterpreting a series of songs by its key figures (and its legendary forerunners). A tribute that goes straight to the essence, capturing the heart of a frontier America, land of dreamers, adventurers and “honky tonk heroes”.

CD1

Turner Cody

Covering a Townes Van Zandt song is no small feat: you have to measure up to an artist capable of piercing the soul with lines of despair and bewitching the heart with pages of pure magic. And as if that weren't enough, you also have to reckon with one of outlaw country's most skilled fingerpickers. The first to accept this “challenge” for OndaDrops is thirty-one-year-old Turner Cody, born Turner Van Pelt Kniffin, a songwriter belonging to that circle of artist friends associated with the current anti-folk “movement” (Adam Green, Kimya Dawson, Jeffrey Lewis, Herman Düne). Over eleven years of activity, besides racking up an impressive list of collaborators (Adam Green, Beirut, Arcade Fire, Wooden Wand, and a particularly special partnership with Herman Düne), the prolific Brooklyn-based musician has released about ten albums, the latest of which, “Gangbusters!”, is a fine testament to his modern, vital approach to the Americana tradition. On “Mr. Mudd & Mr. Gold”, Cody revisits one of outlaw country's favorite themes: gambling. With his warm, enveloping voice, Turner shapes the song's narrative into a dreamy melody, crafting a gorgeous ballad that showcases the words of a great poet – perhaps the greatest in the history of country-folk.    

Turner Cody – Mr. Mudd & Mr. Gold [download]

(Townes Van Zandt)

Great Lake Swimmers

The music of Tony Dekker, deus ex machina of the Great Lake Swimmers project, seems faithful only to itself, indifferent to trends and to the passing of time. Over nearly ten years of activity, the Canadian songwriter has kept the essence of an ethereal folk-rock virtually unchanged, while at the same time following his own path, one that has taken him from the bare-bones atmospheres of the eponymous debut to the dreamy reverberations of the follow-up “Bodies And Minds”, through the colorful country-rock of “Ongiara”, all the way to a well-balanced stylistic maturity on the more recent “Lost Channels“. For his contribution to OndaDrops, Tony chose to pay tribute to Guy Clark, one of outlaw-country's most refined songwriters, an unrivaled melody-carver who still inspires generations of musicians. Dekker tackles the nostalgic “Dublin Blues” with the humility and gentleness that define his character, delivering a version that is inspired and full of grace.

Great Lake Swimmers – Dublin Blues [download]

(Guy Clark)

Green Like July

Green Like July love crossroads. Their latest album, “Four-Legged Fortune”, was born between Italy and Nebraska, and their spirit has always been intimately American. That approach is embodied emblematically in their decision to take on a Jimmie Rodgers classic: “Ours was, so to speak, an ideological choice”, explains Andrea Poggio, the band's frontman. “Jimmie Rodgers, in some ways, represents a genuine point of contact between American and European musical tradition”. His unmistakable yodeling marked the crossing point between Old World folklore and plantation field hollers: “Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, and the whole generation of outlaws owe him everything”, writes Stefano Isidoro Bianchi in his “Prewar Folk”. Green Like July's shimmering reinterpretation of “In The Jailhouse Now”, built around Riccardo Maccabruni's barrelhouse piano and given a precious finishing touch by Doug Van Sloun on mastering, keeps Webb Pierce's version in its eyes and, in its heart, the desire to recapture the dark soul of a song rooted in the vaudeville of Black theater troupes.

Green Like July – In The Jailhouse Now [download]

(Jimmie Rodgers)

Midnight Jones

“When I record someone else's song, I tell myself: I wrote it, and its author just doesn't know it yet.” So said Johnny Cash, a man who knew a thing or two about covers. To interpret one of the Man in Black's signature songs, Ty Cooper (aka Midnight Jones) took that lesson to heart: “I was planning to simply put together a cover that stayed very close to the original. But as soon as I went to my friend and producer Andrew Rogers (who was also behind the desk on Midnight Jones' debut album, “The Angry Gospel”, ed.), he immediately talked me out of that approach. What I needed was to take the song in a new direction, closer to what I would have done if I had written “Folsom Prison Blues” myself. So we decided to bring in distorted guitars and keyboards in place of the classic minimal solo that Luther Perkins stamped onto the original version, and we turned a telephone receiver into a microphone to create a dirtier sound effect.” And the lonesome whistle of that train passing by the prison echoes closer than ever, carrying its longing for freedom.

Midnight Jones – Folsom Prison Blues [download]

(Johnny Cash)

Sarsaparilla

“Sarsaparilla” is a climbing shrub whose roots are known for their purifying properties. Behind this curious moniker lies the alt-folk project of Brandon Miller, a musician born in Philadelphia and now based in Berlin, who released his debut studio album, “Everyone Here Seems So Familiar”, at the very start of this year. Miller's music pushes past the more traditional boundaries of folk to explore an entire cosmos of sound, ranging from singer-songwriter fare to folktronica, from indie-rock to ambient, from folk-rock to alt-country. With that same spirit of experimentation, Brandon Miller tackles the “king of the road” Roger Miller (no relation between the two!), a country artist of honky-tonk stock best known for his fun “novelty songs”. The breezy western-country swing of “Dang Me”, one of the best-known tunes by the Texan honky-tonker, here gives way to a lean, taut country-folk, in a highly personal reinterpretation that speaks to the lively creativity of (Brandon, in this case) Miller.

Sarsaparilla – Dang Me [download]

(Roger Miller)

Luluc

It's pronounced Lou-Luke, and the sound of it is almost onomatopoeic for the boundless sweetness that radiates from the music of this folk duo, originally from Melbourne and now based in Brooklyn. Luluc's muse goes by the name of Zoë Randell, previously a vocalist alongside Paddy Mann (Grand Salvo), who with her acoustic guitar – reportedly dating back to the late 1800s – weaves ancient melodies over which her precious contralto voice shines. By her side is Steve Hassett, a gentle knight who accompanies Zoë's stories with the utmost discretion, carefully doling out his vocal and instrumental contributions. The two Lulucs' perfect artistic communion is plain to see on their enchanting debut, “Dear Hamlyn”. The Australian duo's magic comes alive once again in their ethereal version of “Keeper Of The Mountain”, a song by the Flatlanders, the country-(psych)-rock band from Lubbock that brought together three giants of alternative country – Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Joe Ely and Butch Hancock – under one roof, and which, with its rare reunions and handful of albums released over thirty-five years of “activity”, has built up an aura of legend around itself.

Luluc – Keeper Of The Mountain [download]

(The Flatlanders)

Pwolf And Avi

Meeting on the set of a western film: the perfect scenario for a love story to blossom between two country stars. And if that film happens to be Sam Peckinpah's “Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid”, the aura turns legendary in an instant. The marriage between Kris Kristofferson and Rita Coolidge didn't end well, but their duets still carry the mark of a love meant to last forever. Songs like “From The Bottle To The Bottom” bear witness to that: originally given by Kristofferson to Billy Walker, it was later revisited together with Rita Coolidge on “Full Moon”, in a version that won the 1973 Grammy for Best Country Vocal Performance. “Learnin' hard to live with losin' you”, because you're never truly free unless you belong to the gaze of someone who loves you. Patrick Dyer Wolf and Avi Vinocur, aka Pwolf And Avi, after debuting in 2010 with their “Coattails”, reunited in North Carolina, at the Schoolhouse Studios in Chapel Hill, to offer a delicate, dreamlike reading of “From The Bottle To The Bottom”, built on guitar, ukulele and drums. Dedicated “to our children, and to all their mothers”.

Pwolf And Avi – From The Bottle To The Bottom [download]

(Kris Kristofferson)

Chris Kasper

It's always worth keeping an eye on the Philadelphia folk scene, since it constantly attracts some pretty interesting artists. The latest in the series goes by the name of Christopher Paul Kasper, a talented singer-songwriter from the same circle as the excellent Raphael Cutrufello (Hezekiah Jones). Over the nearly ten years since his first demo, recorded in 2002 in a friend's living room, Kasper has developed a style of songwriting that's both carefree and sturdy, able to blend folk and Americana with real lightness of touch, showing great authorial sensitivity and remarkable command in the performance of his songs. Two years on from his last record, "Chasing Another Sundown", and ahead of the imminent release of "The First Hundred Years Are The Hardest", produced incidentally by Andrew Lipke (über alles!), Chris has prepared for OndaDrops a pleasant downtempo version of Willie Nelson's "Yesterday's Wine". A pioneer of the outlaw movement, the nearly eighty-year-old "Shotgun Willie" still embodies today the most sincere spirit of the outlaw, tirelessly carrying his music along the dusty roads of the States. A true living icon.

Chris Kasper – Yesterday's Wine [download]

(Willie Nelson)

The Fancy Dan Band

The first reaction to the drift of Nashville country was born in California: dubbed the "Bakersfield sound" after its place of origin, it was the forerunner of the outlaw movement. A music built around an unmistakable electric twang, with Merle Haggard among its heroes. And it's from California that the Fancy Dan Band hails too, led by the gentle voice of Fancy Dan Nordheim and the backing vocals of his wife Hankerin' Jane Kilmer: "Merle Haggard is in a way my favorite outlaw," Dan explains. "He's the least conventional, the most different from the others. What he writes comes from an utterly pure and honest place, and in 'Workin' Man Blues' he really manages to capture the spirit of being a working man. I was thrilled when Bob Dylan included his 'Workin' Man Blues #2' on "Modern Times": it was a wonderful tribute, a true sequel to Merle's song."

The Fancy Dan Band – Workin’ Man Blues [download]

(Merle Haggard)

The Burning Hell

Whether alone or backed by other musicians, Canada's Mathias Kom always manages to keep the mood (or rather, the humor) of his band The Burning Hell's dark-tinged indie-folk running high. Comedy and tragedy merge in Kom's music, giving rise to an irresistible burlesque in which Mathias's deep voice and his inseparable ukulele, together with guitars, horns, strings (and whatever else you can throw in), seem almost to be there as a pretext for celebrating a brilliant, witty kind of songwriting. All of this has left its mark on colorful albums like the decadent "Happy Birthday", the party-hearty "Baby", the placid "This Charmed Life", or the very recent, nostalgia-soaked "Flux Capacitor". Dueting with Nick Ferrio (playing the racist Texan), Mathias Kom takes on a fun classic from the repertoire of Kinky Friedman, the irreverent "jewboy" of outlaw country. Both of Jewish descent, both wordsmiths, both endowed with sharp wit and a marked flair for sarcasm: for Kom, choosing to reinterpret Friedman couldn't have been an easier decision!

The Burning Hell – They Ain’t Makin’ Jews Like Jesus Anymore [download]

(Kinky Friedman)

Caleb Coy

Cowboy hat, thick beard and mustache, sturdy build: the striking Texan Caleb Coy brings to mind a little of Blaze Foley's look, the forgotten "duct tape messiah" recently brought back into the light thanks to Gurf Morlix's tribute. And listening to "Wild Desert Rose", Coy's debut album released by Yer Bird in 2010, feels like being transported to that same faraway America, populated by drunks and vagabonds, from which the poetics of Austin's two "beautiful losers", Blaze Foley and Townes Van Zandt, drew their inspiration. With the help of his acoustic guitar, Coy manages to craft honest, sincere songs, marked by a pronounced lo-fi attitude and a melancholy spleen. All these elements come together in his stripped-down reinterpretation of "Texas Lullaby", a song by the renegade David Allan Coe, who with his long hair (another distinctive mark of outlaws) and his unruly lifestyle still embodies the outlaw spirit to this day. Speaking about "Texas Lullaby", Caleb told us: "I hope I did him some Texan justice." Judging by the result, it certainly seems like he did.

 Caleb Coy – Texas Lullaby [download]

(David Allan Coe)

CD2

Staggerman

Summer wine, wine scented with strawberries and cherries, wine that carries with it the breath of a kiss. Laura "Lalla" Domeneghini's voice is a solitary caress, and Matteo "Staggerman" Crema's voice weaves through it like a gust of dust. "Summer Wine" was one of the first duets by Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra, the songs that launched the famous couple's partnership. Matteo Crema drew inspiration from that very song for his "Ballad For A Lonesome Cowboy", included on his recent debut "Tiny, Tiny, Tiny". His version of "Summer Wine" is draped in velvet thanks to Guglielmo Scarsi's keyboards, Salvatore Lentini's bass and Lorenzo Colosio's drums. Then the melody's backdrop shatters into shards of dissonance and fragments of percussion, with an unsettling effect that brings to mind the live rendition of "Via Chicago" by Wilco. "She took my silver spurs, a dollar and a dime / And left me cravin' for more summer wine".

Staggerman – Summer Wine [download]

(Lee Hazlewood)

Wooden Wand

James Jackson Toth seems to have a genuine obsession with the name Wooden Wand: whether presented on its own or attached to other projects (Vanishing Voice, first and foremost), it's the name that recurs most often throughout Toth's sprawling discography, and it's certainly the name that best represents the American singer-songwriter to date. Raised on a diet of hip-hop and metal, James soon developed an interest in music across the board, reflected in a multifaceted artistic path in which experimentation takes on almost the status of a creed, from the trip-hop leanings of his early New York years to the free-folk psychedelia of Vanishing Voice. Over the years Toth has developed a certain inclination towards alt-country, clearly evident on the dark and captivating "Death Seat", the most recent album released under the Wooden Wand name. For OndaDrops, Toth pays tribute to Jerry Jeff Walker, the "gypsy songman" of outlaw country. True to his outlaw spirit, Toth doesn't add his name to the long list of artists who have covered the celebrated "Mr. Bojangles" (from Bob Dylan to Frank Sinatra, from the Byrds to Elton John), preferring instead to pick up an acoustic guitar for a gentle version of "Stoney", one of the hidden gems in Walker's repertoire, originally dedicated by Walker to his friend, the writer H.R. Stoneback.

Wooden Wand – Stoney [download]

(Jerry Jeff Walker)

The Brilliant Beast

Waylon Jennings, the outlaw par excellence: it was his voice that christened the outlaw scene, when he recorded Lee Clayton's "Ladies Love Outlaws" in 1972, the song that gave the movement its name. In 1978, the self-portrait sketched out in "I've Always Been Crazy" topped the American country charts for three consecutive weeks: "I've always been crazy but it's kept me from going insane", sang the unforgettable minstrel of "Hazzard". Jordan Porter and his Brilliant Beast, an exuberant folk crew from Minnesota who released their debut in 2010 ("Bestiary"), decided to beam that song into a parallel universe, borrowing a riff that Ride would have been proud of: "It could have been Waylon's next career move: starting a shoegaze band. It would have made perfect sense. It's a shame - I'm sure we missed out on some truly great karaoke songs. What bad luck, right?".

The Brilliant Beast – I’ve Always Been Crazy [download]

(Waylon Jennings)

Ronnie Fauss

Ronnie Fauss hails from Dallas and has three short-format releases to his name, poised between singer-songwriter folk ("I Can't Make You Happy"), alt-country ("New Songs For The Old Frontier") and classic rock ("Mulligan").

His original compositions reveal Fauss's ability to master classic, no-frills lyrics and arrangements, managing to avoid the tired clichés of the genre (make sure to check out at least "The Saddest Love That's Ever Been Made" and "I Can't Make You Happy": moving, heartfelt ballads sung with deep conviction).

His choice fell on Blaze Foley, a Texan like Ronnie and, like Ronnie, tied closely to the reality of those places: Foley, shot dead at the age of 39, embodied, through his life and his ballads steeped in unease and desolation, the epitome of the outlaw.

Ronnie Fauss – Clay Pigeons [download]

(Blaze Foley)

West Of The Shore

Time flows on even for outlaws. Rebellious youth gives way to an untamed maturity. West Of The Shore (a duo formed by Nicole Coutlangus and Joe Gualtier, born one winter deep in the Catskill Mountains) have chosen to pay tribute to the icon Kris Kristofferson not with one of the songs that made him famous, but with a track from his more recent songbook, one that casts a peaceful eye on the passing of the years: "Closer To The Bone" (which in 2009 gave its title to the album of the same name) is, in Kristofferson's own words, "a meditation on finding meaning in life at the end of the game". As Nicole Coutlangus explains, "Closer To The Bone" shows "his sincerity and his ability to get to the heart of a song. It essentially expresses a simple wisdom: growing older and reaching a point in life where you can be at peace with yourself". Closer to the bone of existence, closer to the truth of oneself.

West Of The Shore – Closer To The Bone [download]

(Kris Kristofferson)

Susie Asado

Josepha Conrad is a delightful singer-songwriter from the Berlin alt-folk underground. Raised between Frankfurt and Chicago, Josepha fell in love back in her school days with a poem by the eccentric American writer Gertrude Stein titled "Susie Asado", to the point of taking it as a model of inspiration when she began writing songs and using it as her stage name when, in 2007, she embarked on her solo career. Conrad's music, christened in 2007 with the debut "Hello Antenna", is a many-colored music box of experimentation, where Mitteleuropean cabaret sketches sit alongside sophisticated songs, and woozy instrumental interplay alternates with angelic harmonies of voice and ukulele. Curiously, the second of the two female performers on OndaDrops 4 has also, in a way, set her sights on the Flatlanders, opting in this case for a song by Jimmie Dale Gilmore, co-founder and frontman of the Texan band with the ascetic magnetism and unmistakable vocal timbre. Josepha's velvety voice sways gently over the rarefied notes of a xylophone in her highly distinctive reinterpretation of "Sally".

Susie Asado – Sally [download]

(Jimmie Dale Gilmore)

Tangarine

Arnout and Sander Brinks are twin brothers from the north of Holland who started writing music together as kids, falling especially under the spell of the delicate folk-rock of Simon & Garfunkel. Under the moniker Tangarine, Arnout and Sander have released no fewer than four albums since 2008, among which special mention goes to "A Mystery That Binds Us, Still", a rollercoaster of folk and bluegrass emotions on which they're joined by five other musicians under the name "Tangarine & Friends". For OndaDrops' fourth compilation, the Dutch duo delivers a cover of a gentle ballad written by the angel of Austin, Kimmie Rhodes, one of the few female voices of the outlaw movement, an elegant singer-songwriter with a voice of silk whose songs have been celebrated by numerous artists on the international scene. In the hands of the Brinks brothers, "Make The Morning Shine" takes on a new light and depth, enriched with instrumental and vocal layers that give the song a great sense of freshness.

Tangarine – Make The Morning Shine [download]

(Kimmie Rhodes)

Tristan Omand

Just like the outlaws of old, Tristan Omand isn't one to fall in line. Fiercely independent (his first self-produced album, "Tolled Stories", came out just a few months ago), for a decade or so he's been treading American stages with his one-man show, unafraid to reaffirm night after night his visceral love for a music that bets everything on sincerity, from Johnny Cash to the Ramones. "Ode To My Notorious Youth" is the perfect song for him, an anthem that seems carefree on the surface but harbors an inconsolable melancholy underneath: "Since my baby's gone and left me I'm the meanest man around". The song's author, Tompall Glaser, was one of the key figures on the compilation "Wanted! The Outlaws", which in 1976 helped define the outlaw canon. And yet he always remained on the sidelines, never matching the success of fellow travelers like Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson. Then again, outlaws never did care much for the spotlight.

Tristan Omand – Ode To My Notorious Youth [download]

(Tompall Glaser)

The Fishermen Three

American singer-songwriter Simon Beins seems to have a split musical personality. On one side, there's the playful, irreverent spirit of his band The WoWz, a fun indie-rock'n'roll outfit inspired by the early Beatles and rooted in the New York anti-folk scene; on the other, the more "composed" side of his side-project, The Fishermen Three. Joined by his friend Raphi Gotterman on percussion, Beins wrote the songs for this project's debut in the downtime between the many tours that took the WoWz around the United States alongside Herman Dune, The Wave Pictures and Turner Cody. "Rosina On Every Balcony" is a gentle folk-country record enlivened by folk-rock touches that freshen up the songs' faintly decadent atmospheres. Facing up to Lefty Frizzell, one of honky-tonk's most authoritative figures alongside Hank Williams, Beins takes on the romantic "Always Late (With Your Kisses)", reworked into a muffled acoustic version steeped in deep melancholy.

The Fishermen Three – Always Late (With Your Kisses) [download]

(Lefty Frizzell)

Buster Blue

The heart has no borders. An ocean isn't enough to quench it. "If it rained an ocean I'd drink it dry / And lay me down dissatisfied". Few have ever captured, the way Townes Van Zandt did, that thirst that never lets life rest easy. That's exactly why Buster Blue, restless folksters from Reno (fresh off recording their second album, "When The Silver's Gone", in a Sierra Nevada ghost town), chose to cover one of his songs: "his music was a stripping-bare of himself, not just storytelling", explains Bryan Jones. "You can hear in his writing all the suffering he went through in his life". Entrusted to the voice of drummer Jay Escamillo, with Zak Girdis producing, "Rex's Blues" takes on the solemnity of a hymn in Buster Blue's hands. Townes Van Zandt had dedicated it to his friend and fellow traveler Wrecks "Rex" Bell, but even when they shared a stage he never wanted Bell to play it with him. He wanted him to sit in front of him and just listen. Listen to that voice, capable of piercing straight through the heart.

Buster Blue – Rex’s Blues [download]

(Townes Van Zandt)

The Sumner Brothers

They come from Vancouver, but it's from Americana music tradition that the brothers Brian and Bob Sumner draw inspiration to bring to life their explosive blend of country, folk, rock and blues. Brian's deep baritone voice and Bob's pleasantly raspy one alternate at the center of the stage, and the two Canadians, besides relying on Mike Ardagh's drums and Michael Agranovich's bass, indulge in an extremely varied use of acoustic guitars, harmonica and banjo, reincarnating themselves into a new life with every track. There's something ancestral in the Sumner brothers' music, so "raw" in its immediacy, yet capable of creating atmospheres that are always intense and enveloping, as shown on the 2008 self-titled album. While awaiting the imminent release of the new album "I Love You, Smile", the Sumner Brothers take on Hank Williams's "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry". Brian Sumner's voice, thick as a moonless night, joins a melancholy acoustic accompaniment in a shadowy country ballad worthy of the best Johnny Cash.

The Sumner Brothers – I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry [download]

(Hank Williams)

A cowboy with his guitar slung over his shoulder, walking on foot down a long road toward a fiery red sunset: we like to imagine the closing credits of the fourth chapter of OndaDrops rolling over this image of Luke The Drifter (the alias under which Williams signed some of his work), as the Sumner Brothers' track fades into the vastness of the night, under a Texan sky of the seventies. That’s all, folks.

OndaDrops Vol. 4: Oneway ticket to nowhere

Cd1: download

Cd2: download

All the tracks featured in OndaDrops have been made available by the artists for free download. OndaRock makes no claim of ownership over these tracks, which remain the exclusive property of their respective copyright holders, artists, record labels and publishing companies.

Thanks to the artists, the labels and everyone without whose support this compilation could never have seen the light of day. Special thanks to Roberto Mandolini for his essential help in the final mastering stage.

All songs included in OndaDrops are provided by artists and intended for free download. OndaRock makes no claims of ownership to any of the songs, that are sole property of their copyrights, artists, record labels and publishing companies.

We would like to thank the artists, the labels and everyone whose support made this compilation possible. A special thanks goes to Roberto Mandolini for his essential support in the final mastering.

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