Newvember - New Sounds and Some Housekeeping

New music from Willie Nelson, Leon Bridges, Billy Strings, Jamey Johnson, Dwight Yoakam, and more; plus the Mixtape schedule going forward.

Happy November! To celebrate my birth month, here are a few new songs that have caught my ear followed by what to expect from the Mixtape in the next few months.

New Sounds

There have been so many big releases in 2024 that picking a “best of” list, something music writers obsess over the last quarter of the year, seems more difficult than usual. The music that’s flooded the marketplace in the previous month or so doesn’t make it any easier. Here are the ones that have stood out to me the most.

Willie Nelson - Last Leaf on the Tree

Talk about a perfect fall release to coincide with autumn leaves. When Tom Waits and Keith Richards treated us to "Last Leaf" from Waits’s 2011 album, Bad As Me, it was a perfect summit of the legendary disheveled singer-songwriter and aged, wizened rocker, holding on against the odds, the weather, and seemingly the laws of physics. How could such a sentiment have any more gravitas? Easy. Give Willie Nelson a turn. Over the last few years, Willie’s been making hay with a run of albums that lean into and celebrate his age while facing his mortality. His new album, Last Leaf on the Tree is no exception. This time, however, son Micah Nelson takes over the producer’s chair from frequent collaborator Buddy Cannon. The younger Nelson adds Lanois-and-psychedelic-like textures that work better in some places than others. The album also has added poignancy since the passing of fellow Highwayman Kris Kristofferson in September, leaving Willie as literally the Last Man Standing (the title of his 2018 album). The last leaf indeed.

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - “Never Be You”

Serendipity in motion. As I was interviewing Maria McKee recently for a piece on Lone Justice, I had no idea that the new deluxe version of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ Long After Dark would finally include his version of “Never Be You,” a song Petty wrote with Heartbreaker Benmont Tench and McKee recorded in 1984 for the soundtrack to the most ‘80s of all ‘80s movies, Streets of Fire. (Dig that incredible trailer: Diane Lane singing Jim Steinman! Hal Douglas’s voiceover! Michael Pare’s sex appeal! Willem Defoe’s onesie!) It also became a big hit when it was covered by Rosanne Cash the following year for her Rhythm and Romance album. (Tench provided keys on Lone Justice’s 1985 self-titled debut, where they covered another Petty song that had been previously unreleased at that time, “Ways to be Wicked”, which also makes an appearance in demo form on this collection (although it pales to the version found on Playback.)

Monty Warren - “Short Subjects”

Monty Warren has been kicking around the rock’n’roll game for a while and this driving advance track from his upcoming album definitely has a Tom Petty feel (the “Petty theft” line in the first verse lands perfectly). Keep an ear out for what’s coming next. (Lyric video provided by Phil Wolff.)

Leon Bridges - Leon

The cover art perfectly captures the vibe: Leon is the sound of a breezy summer - or warm autumn - afternoon. Songs like “Panther City” and “Peaceful Place” glide by, leaving a sweet, airy aftertaste. It sets a needed calming tone in a year filled with anxious tension.

Greg Humphreys - Disappearing

The guiding force behind Chapel Hill, NC legends Dillon Fence, Greg Humphreys music offers up a truly diverse collection of mood pieces, groovers, and folk/singer-songwriter excursions. That rare album you can just let ride in the background to maintain a vibe, but that also rewards close listening, Disappearing soothes and digs down into the soul all at once. (Dig the Al Green/Willie Mitchell groove of “Don’t U Want Me No Mo.”) But it’s “Fall into the Sea” that I’m feeling the most at the moment. Disappearing is one of the best surprises of the year.

John Howie, Jr. and the Rosewood Bluff - “(There’s a) Ghost in my Room”

Teasing their upcoming release on Schoolkids Records, John Howie, Jr. and the Rosewood Bluff once again prove they’re the real deal when it comes to hard country and heartbreak. Throw this on and two-step around the house in tears.

Click here for my 2018 interview with John Howie, Jr. for No Depression.

Dwight Yoakam - Brighter Days

Yoakam’s long-awaited return is boosted by the amp-busting and riff-powered, “Wide Open Heart” that opens Brighter Days (out this Friday), but it’s the second track, “I’ll Pay the Price,” that’s classic Dwight - marrying Kentucky-holler authenticity with Buck-n-Byrds California country.

For more on the new album, check out Bob Mehr’s fantastic piece on Dwight in The New York Times.

Billy Strings - Highway Prayers

I’ll go ahead and let you know: this is on my list for best of the year. A double album where not a note is wasted, the sound and feel of Highway Prayers takes me back to the bluegrass I heard as a child while spending time at my Uncle Alvah’s house (he passed just last month at the well-lived age of 94, God bless him) and with the first band I was ever in (I was 13, the others - all bluegrass lifers - were in their 60s at least). Billy Strings gets it. Highway Prayers is the real deal. The album has the heart of a bluegrass lifer, but the head of a jam band freak, which makes it all the better.

Miles in France – Miles Davis Quintet 1963/64: The Bootleg Series, Vol. 8

Quite simply, it’s five sets of Miles with his Second Great Quintet: George Coleman, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, and Tony Williams on the 1963 recordings, and with the addition of Wayne Shorter in ‘64. The sound is urgent, immediate, and still vital throughout. Here’s a taste:

John Cowan - FICTION

I wrote about the title track from John Cowan’s first new album in a decade this past June. The full album was released on November 1st, and it’s Cowan in full string-band mode. For fans of the New Grass Revival, many moments here harken back to that legendary group. A definite highlight is Cowan’s take on the Hollies’ classic, "Carousel.” It was also a minor hit in 1982 from Glass Moon, one of my favorite regional bands. Cowan puts some grass in the mix, ramping it up a notch.

Jamey Johnson - Midnight Gasoline

Was waiting 14 years for a follow-up to Jamey Johnson’s The Guitar Song worth it? Damn skippy. From the opening, “Bad Guy,” it’s obvious that Johnson’s been sitting on some special material. It’s a country album that harkens back to the witty, clever, timeless music that made the glory days of the 1970s so special. His take on Charlie Daniels’ “Trudy” is a case in point. It’s easy to say “They don’t write ‘em like that anymore,” and that may be true, but then take a listen to “Someday When I’m Old,” “Sober,” or “No Time Like the Past,” a co-write with Chris Stapleton, which sounds like a long-lost outtake from Waylon’s Dreaming My Dreams album - or more accurately, his mid-’80s MCA albums. Another co-write with Stapleton, along with the late, great Tony Joe White, called “Saturday Night in New Orleans,” is another standout. Whenever someone writes a NOLA-themed song, it’s hard to avoid the same old tropes, and there’s a little of that here, but the obvious lines are couched in unexpected ways, and the delivery is pure swamp-blues gold - foreboding, yet laid back. You can feel Tony Joe’s ghost hovering around the edges. And it perfectly fits in with my upcoming book on Swamp Rock (hint, hint, plug, plug).

Terry Anderson and the Olympic Ass-Kickin’ Team - “Everybody’s Birthday”

The original plan was to release this song as a celebration of the election of Kamala Harris as the 47th President of the United States. Alas, it was not to be. But why let a great song go to waste? Especially when it reunites half of the Yayhoos? Eric “Roscoe” Ambel lays down some serious badass guitar here, and the OAKTeam delivers as always. Hey, maybe we’ll be able to pull this out again in four years and really have a reason to celebrate.

You can order “Everybody’s Birthday” from Bandcamp here - it’s less than a cup of coffee!

Also, check out the OAKTeam’s latest, Got To Be Strong, from earlier this year. Here’s the review.

Housekeeping / Newsletter Schedule (or lack thereof)

I’m naturally focusing more on the upcoming book for the next several months, so while you’ll still occasionally receive my newsletters, they’ll become a bit more sporadic (more monthly, at best, rather than weekly). I have maybe two or three more pieces queued up for the remainder of 2024, one being my inevitable best-of-the-year rundown, but that’ll be it for the year.

After things settle down, I’ll return to a more consistent schedule (read: crashing into your inbox weekly). In the meantime, I’ll be spending most of my time down in the swamp. Chomp, chomp.