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Sweet Arrangement:
Sugar Hill Records has
enthusiastically announced their signing of the Austin Lounge Lizards to a new
record deal. Tom Pittman, banjo and pedal steel player for the Lizards, said
vaguely that "some financial problems" at Watermelon, their last label, led to
their seeking something new. He also says that Sugar Hill was a good fit for his
band because "they're known for bluegrass, but kind of have a corner on Texas
Music" in that such artists as Terry Allen, Guy Clark, and Butch Hancock have
also recorded with the label.
Their new record, Employee of the Month, is due out in February 1998. If the album yields a single, it'll be the song "Hey Little Minivan," which Pittman describes as a Beach Boys-esque arrangement about a guy who for years drove a little muscle car and now has a minivan, yet fawns obsessively over the minivan as though it were the sports car. Are the Lounge Lizards minivan drivers themselves? Only one of them, Pittman says; the rest of the bandmembers' cars are comprised by an economy car and three pickups. Good vehicles are essential for this group, who are in the middle of a tour which takes them from Calgary, Alberta to Euless, Texas to Decatur, Georgia.  Planting a seed: Dallas' Tripping Daisy has gone into the studio to record their third full-length album this month. They won't say more about the Island Records project except that it will be produced by Eric Drew Feldman who, besides having produced such diverse groups as Captain Beefheart and Pere Ubu, is the bass player for P.J. Harvey. Look for it sometime next year. On the Record: The cover of Lisa Loeb's new CD, Firecracker (Geffen), features a soft-edged portrait of the artist in pink and off-white. It was conceived by Mark Miller, a popular painter for magazines and advertisements during the 50s and 60s. The painting has a pinup-girl quality to it, with Loeb lying dreamily on what looks like pink carpet in only a long dress shirt, showing a lot of leg and staring out at you from behind those trademark specs. It's a telling visual introduction to the album: Chances are that if you genuinely like the cover, you'll be enthused about the satiny songs and bubble-gum production inside. If you like songs about love with lyrics like "This is where I meet my muse / and it feeds me / This is how I buy the sun / and it feeds me," you will like this album. But if not, steer clear: When the bubble she's blowing pops on track six, things get mighty sticky. |
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Denny Freeman is one of the great latter-day Texas blues guitar players. From his position on the stage, he's seen the big ones come up beside him, play a little, and then go on to bigger things. Freeman himself never really cashed in the way his friends the Vaughans did, but served as an unostentatious and venerated participant in the parade. Perhaps it's this soulful steadiness that comes through on the exquisitely named A Tone for My Sins (Dallas Blues Society Records), his new album. What makes Freeman great is the way he comes through in his playing -- not technically mind-blowing, but rife with feeling and impressively tasteful. This is the kind of playing that only the accumulation of experience and wisdom can produce. Texas music news, comments, suggestions or recommendations? E-mail the author at jmackay@texasmonthly.com
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