Album Review: Willie Nelson- The Border

Don’t let all the words expended at this site fool you. The music of Willie Nelson is the true soundtrack of my life. I was raised on country music. Hearing my father sing along to the 1960s hits of Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard and Ray Price is an indelible childhood memory.

Things changed when Nelson went rogue with the landmark Willie Nelson and Family album in 1971. My old man identified with Nelson and his longhaired compatriots like Kris Kristofferson, Jerry Jeff Walker, Hank Williams Jr. and, of course, Waylon Jennings. 

Then as now, each new Nelson album is a major event in my life. The Border, released on May 31, is no exception. I tentatively rank it #36 among Nelson’s 75 studio albums.

Nelson’s debut album And Then I Wrote was released before I was born. A couple recent health scares caused me to wonder if Nelson will still be working after I’m gone. Maybe that’s as it should be. We’re aging with time, like "Yesterday's Wine".

Concert Review: Nick Shoulders at Third Place Lounge

Original image by There Stands the Glass.

“Another act is coming up next.” The unintentionally dismissive aside from a Kansas City based singer-songwriter at the conclusion of her set during a Manor Fest showcase last week didn’t seem to phase Nick Shoulders.

Although the Arkansas based artist has more monthly listeners at Spotify than the combined total of all four dozen Kansas City based acts featured at the homegrown festival, the insurgent folk musician is remarkably humble.

Mindful not to infringe on his August 1 concert at Knuckleheads with a full band, Shoulders told me before his thirty-minute solo set he intended to play only “deep cuts.” (Most people in the room had previously purchased festival passes. I paid $30 at the door for admittance for two.)

Shoulders opened with a hilariously transgressive cover of Randy Travis’ “Diggin’ Up Bones” that was calculated to tickle my fancy. Decades older than the remainder of the audience of about 75, my life partner and I were the only people able to sing along to the 1986 hit.

Dozens of locals suffering from the cultural myopia that’s long incapacitated Kansas City’s music scene had their ears opened. Hometown boosterism is commendable but insular parochialism is poisonous. Shoulders’ incontrovertible talent served as a masterclass in the sound of success.

Book Review: Billie Holiday: The Heartache and Triumph of Billie Holiday’s Last Year, by Paul Alexander

Original image by There Stands the Glass.

A mid-priced CD containing an hour of recordings for Verve Records was my first encounter with Billie Holiday. In addition to permanently demarcating my taste in jazz vocals, the mid-1980s acquisition introduced me to staples of the Great American Songbook. Holiday’s slippery, scat-free delivery of songs like “All or Nothing at All,” “Comes Love,” and “Darn That Dream” is staggeringly profound.

Detailed accounts of Holiday’s fabulist tendencies, sexual proclivities and drug and alcohol intake in Paul Alexander’s new study Bitter Crop: The Heartache and Triumph of Billie Holiday’s Last Year don’t add or detract from my appreciation of her artistry.

The importance of Alexander’s work lies in his chronicling of the concerted campaign by United States government agencies in derailing Holiday’s career. The decades-long harassment went well beyond the revoked cabaret card that’s a notorious part of Holiday lore. 

Bitter Crop examines the ways in which Holiday was hassled in virtually every aspect of her life. What Alexander characterizes as “a sinister- and intentional- tactic of intimidation” persisted even as Holiday was on her deathbed. It’s impossible not to feel outraged about the unjustifiable human tragedy suffered by Holiday as well as for the cultural loss resulting from the United States’ slow-motion assassination of one of the most important artists of the 20th century.

May 2024 Recap: A Monthly Exercise in Critical Transparency

Screenshot of the trailer for Welsh National Opera’s production of Giacomo Puccini’s “Il trittico” by There Stands the Glass.

The Top Ten Albums of May

1. Brad Mehldau- After Bach II
Variations.

2. Sexyy Red- In Sexyy We Trust
Dazzling party album #1.

3. Grupo Frontera- Jugando a Que No Pasa Nada
Dazzling party album #2.

4. Sisso and Maiko- Singeli Ya Maajabu
My review.

5. Vince Staples- Dark Times
Gloom.

6. Mdou Moctar- Funeral for Justice
My review.

7. Borderlands Trio- Rewilder
Feral improv.

8. André Schuen- Schubert: Winterreise
Harrowing lieders.

9. Jessica Pratt- Here in the Pitch
Far-out freak-folk.

10. Childish Gambino- Atavista
Everybody’s working for The Weeknd.

The Top Ten Songs of May

1. Carly Pearce- "Fault Line"
(Un)happy hour.

2. Amyl and The Sniffers- "U Should Not Be Doing That"
Can’t stop.

3. Yahritza y Su Esencia featuring Michelle Maciel- “Nivel Dios”
Quite possibly the best band in America.

4. Nduduzo Makhathini- "Water Spirits: Izinkonjana"
Dolphin dance.

5. Kendrick Lamar- "euphoria"
King Kendrick is back.

6. Chief Keef featuring Lil Gnar- "Jesus"
Show me the way.

7. Beres Hammond- "Let Me Help You"
Sweet relief.

8. La Luz- "Always in Love"
Forever.

9. Yaya Bey- "iloveyoufrankiebeverly"
Before I let go.

10. Randy Travis- "Where That Came From"
Digging up bones.

The Top Ten Performances of May

1. Kate Kalina at Southminster Presbyterian Church
My Instagram clip.

2. Jeffrey Osborne at Ameristar Casino
My Instagram clip.

3. Alber’s “Born at Sea” at Charlotte Street Foundation
My Instagram snapshot.

4. Steve Cardenas, Forest Stewart and Brian Steever at Westport Coffee House
My review.

5. Alon Goldstein’s “Schumann and His World” at White Recital Hall
My Instagram snapshot.

6. Nick Luby and Susan Zhang at Meadowbrook Park
My review.

7. Bachathon XLV at Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral
My Instagram snapshot.

8. The Kansas City Symphony’s Mobile Music Box at Meadowbrook Park
My Instagram clip.

9. Jackie Myers, Matt Otto and Bob Bowman at Market at Meadowbrook
My Instagram snapshot.

10. Heidi Shea at St. John’s United Methodist Church
My Instagram clip.

The previous monthly recap is here.

Claudio, Dino and Arturo

Original image by There Stands the Glass.

I place the over/under line on the number of compact discs I own at 5,000. Not only are there too many to count, the prospect of making the effort is depressing. A substantial portion of the square footage of my home is dedicated to the outmoded media format. Yet I just can’t stop accumulating. My local library system’s retail outlet sells CDs at ten cents a pop. How can I resist? Worse still, a radio station recently offered sealed classical box sets for $5 each. Consequently, I’m now the shamefaced owner of 23 CDs of vintage piano recordings by Claudio Arrau, Dino Lipatti and Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli.

EP Review: Midwestern- Reflections

Seemingly taking exception to elements of my rave review of Cartoon Network, a member of the Kansas City duo Midwestern gave me a bit of sass last year. The pushback failed to dampen my enthusiasm. I was pleased for Midwestern when I was informed the duo moved to Brooklyn. Midwestern refined its sound in New York. The new twenty-minute EP Reflections is slightly slicker and a bit less abrasive than Cartoon Network. Fans of Yeezus, early Odd Future and 101 Gecs are likely to share my admiration of tomorrow’s sounds today. In the meantime, I’m looking forward to entertaining objections to this miniature missive.

Album Review: Sisso and Maiko- Singeli Ya Maajabu

All I wanted for my birthday this year was to hear something new. The possibility of encountering music unlike anything I’ve previously experienced is among the things motivating me to get out of bed each day. The Tanzanian artists Sisso and Maiko granted my wish on the anniversary of my arrival on the planet. Singeli Ya Maajabu sizzles with the thrill of the new. The singeli based blend of dubstep, hyperpop and footwork is more than a magical novelty. The manic noise sounds like a video game arcade in which all of the patrons are visiting either the brothel upstairs or the adjacent candy store. Should I defy the actuary tables, I could be in Dar es Salaam this time next year.

Concert Review: Nick Luby and Susan Zhang at Meadowbrook Park

Original image by There Stands the Glass.

I don’t believe I’d heard a Meredith Monk composition performed in the Kansas City area until Thursday, May 9. An unexpectedly daring concert at Meadowbrook Park surprised me. Unpromisingly billed as The Concert Truck, I’d supposed the Midwest Trust Center-sponsored piano duo of Nick Luby and Susan Zhang would present land-locked cruise ship pabulum.

Yet rather than covers of Billy Joel and Journey, the tandem’s impeccable setlist included compositions by Samuel Barber, Maurice Ravel, Béla Bartok, Meredith Monk, John Adams, William Grant Still and George Gershwin. Only “Rhapsody in Blue” seemed like a compromise. My date said Gershwin’s piece is still “trying to decide what it wants to be,” the most incisive commentary I’ve encountered during the composition’s centenary.

The informal setting negated a proper assessment of the quality of the playing. Distortion in the amplified sound, percussive thwacking from nearby pickleball courts and the shrieks of happy children muddled what may very well have been an otherwise impeccable performance.

Album Review: John Adams- Girls of the Golden West

John Adams’ operas Nixon in China and Doctor Atomic stupefied my ears and expanded my mind. How is it possible it took the recent Nonesuch Records release of the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s reading of Girls of the Golden West to make me aware of the Adams work that premiered in 2017? 

Giacomo Puccini set his 1910 opera La Fanciulla del West amid the American gold rush. (Unlike Girls of the Golden West, it’s an opera I’ve had the pleasure of watching.) Adams successfully refreshes the theme. Girls of the Golden West is so catchy I elected to listen a third time while mowing my lawn yesterday. The valuable time slot had been dedicated to Beyoncé since March 29. 

The shared Western theme aside, the opera is obviously quite not as “country” as Cowboy Carter. Girls of the Golden West more closely resembles an avant-garde “Oklahoma” starring the impeccable Julia Bullock.  Adams’ vigorous pieces about greed, sex and violence at a mining camp are well suited to a sweaty workout in the Kansas humidity.

Album Review: Mdou Moctar- Funeral for Justice

The several John Lee Hooker performances I attended in the 1980s seem like delirious dreams at this late date. The blues master put me in trances at the most mesmerizing of those club shows. The aggressive boogie of Funeral for Justice, the new album by Mdou Moctar, recalls that halcyon era. The surface elements may be dramatically different, but the boogie at the core of the sound of Hooker and Moctar is essentially the same. Just as my pals and I once relished getting “shook with the Hook,” my life is now enlivened by being “delivered by Doctor Moctar.”