Tag Archives: Music

October 09, 2018

ROSANNE CASH + THE RIVER & THE THREAD

Recently, we were honored to have longtime friend Rosanne Cash approach us to collaborate on a special project. She worked with Bldg. 14 to print and produce t-shirts dedicated to her album, “The River and the Thread.” As you know, Alabama Chanin has a special relationship with this record and its message. Rosanne has served as a source of inspiration for our design team and we are once again inspired to be working with her. The shirts feature a screen-printed design of her album artwork and will be sold both at Rosanne’s concerts and at Alabama Chanin’s online and Factory store.

Proceeds from the sale of this shirt will be donated to Equal Justice Initiative, a Montgomery-based organization led by Bryan Stevenson that focuses on racial justice, children in prison, mass incarceration, and the death penalty. They recently opened the National Memorial for Peace and Justice which memorializes lynching and racial terror in America. Rosanne chose this organization because she wanted to focus on affecting change in our region.

Rosanne was recently awarded the “Spirit of Americana” Free Speech Award by the Americana Music Association, in partnership with the First Amendment Center. In her speech, she—as she always does—spoke her mind about issues she felt were of urgency at the moment. Those things included the Music Modernization Act that would secure fair compensation for musicians. She spoke to the status of women today, saying, “Women are not small, inferior versions of men. We are not objects or property. We have unique gifts to offer and if you discount us, the whole world tilts on an unnatural axis. We deserve respect and every kind of consideration given to men, including equal representation in government and equal pay.”

She also addressed a topic dear to her heart and one that she has been outspoken about: gun control. “I believe with all my heart that a single child’s life is greater, more precious, and more deserving of the protection of this nation and of the adults in this room than the right to own a personal arsenal of military-style weapons. The killing of children in schools should not be collateral damage for the 2nd amendment. There is no amendment that is absolute and not subject to revision. We must re-order our priorities and protect our children.”

Rosanne would like to remind everyone in America to VOTE in the upcoming elections, as would our team at Alabama Chanin.

We look forward to any future collaborations with Rosanne and are honored to join with her on this project.

September 16, 2016

#THOSEWHOINSPIRE: JOHN PAUL WHITE

John Paul White spent years of his life on the road. Formerly one-half of the prolific duo The Civil Wars, it was not unusual for him to spend 300-plus days a year on tour. Once that project came to an end, White returned home to Florence and began a period of centering himself, settling in as a father and a husband—and eventually as a producer and owner of a record label. He told Paste Magazine, “I made a conscious decision to focus every bit of my energy on being a good dad, a good husband, and that segued into becoming a label partner and a studio owner. So everything has kind of been me, following my nose, but me paying close attention to what was within 20 yards of me, me pulling in the reins and staying connected to what’s within arm’s length.”

John Paul and his partners Ben Tanner and Will Trapp of Single Lock Records have spent the last few years focusing on helping less established artists find a foothold in the music industry. He and Tanner built a recording studio in White’s back yard, and John Paul has been one of the most prominent voices speaking out for and supporting artists in our community. But, he has done all of this with the understanding that being present for his family is his priority. It’s been quite a while since John Paul White has considered re-entering the world of writing and recording his own music… And yet, here we are.

John Paul says that he initially resisted the urge to go back to songwriting, even as songs began to come to him—uninvited. He did not want to be pulled away from his family and this time and this place, but the songs kept finding him. “Songs that a lot of me tried not to write,” he said. “Songs that wouldn’t leave me alone. Songs that moved me enough to want to share them.”

“Honestly, I tried to avoid them, but then I realized the only way I was going to get rid of them was if I wrote them down. I got my phone out and I’d sing these little bits of melody, then put it away and move on. But eventually I got to a place where it was a roar in my head, and that pissed me off.” Due to his experiences as a gun-for-hire in Nashville, White was reluctant to romanticize the creative process, to turn it into a spiritual pursuit. “Then one day I told my wife I think I’m going to go write a song. She was as surprised as I was. I went and wrote probably eight songs in three days. It was like turning on a faucet.”

The songs on Beulah range from folk to country, to 90s-influenced rock. You can hear The Secret Sisters’ beautiful harmonies on songs like “I’ve Been Over This Before”, and White’s familiar acoustic sound emerges in songs like “Hate the Way You Love Me.” But it’s hard not to immediately gravitate toward “What’s So”, a hard-driving song that reveals both his Southern background and his love for swampy rock and roll.

White says that “Beulah” is a term of endearment in his family, comparable to calling someone “Honey”. It’s what his father called White’s little sister, and it’s what John Paul calls his own daughter. But it’s hard not to also see connections to the Beulah of poet William Blake—a place in the subconscious—not quite heaven, but the source of inspiration and dreams. John Paul White seems to agree. “[Blake’s] Beulah was a place you could go in your dreams. You could go there in meditation, to relax and heal and center yourself. It wasn’t a place you could stay, but you came back to the world a better place.”

Listening to Beulah, you are transported to another place—sometimes familiar, other times unkind and uncomfortable, but you always return home changed, and for the better.

Grab a copy of Beulah for yourself here. And listen to “What’s So” from Beulah, by John Paul White below:

Photos from Single Lock Records and Allister Ann.

March 15, 2016

SINGLE LOCK: MORE TO LOVE

Earlier this year, we caught up with Single Lock records and observed how they have grown in the short time since the label was founded. Since our very first meeting, the label has more than doubled its roster and continues to be a resource, helping artists grow in a way that best suits the artist’s vision.

Each quarter, we are featuring different Single Lock artists in our online store; this quarter we are highlighting veteran musician Donnie Fritts and the newest addition to the Single Lock artist roster, Penny & Sparrow.

Donnie Fritts is a Florence, Alabama, native and a well-respected songwriter who has penned hits like “We Had It All” (recorded by such artists as Waylon Jennings, Ray Charles, the Rolling Stones, Tina Turner, and Willie Nelson) and “Breakfast in Bed”, which he co-wrote with Eddie Hinton for Dusty Springfield. In the 60s, 70s, and 80s, his songs were recorded by artists like Charlie Rich, Jerry Lee Lewis, the Box Tops, and Ronnie Milsap. Donnie also became an actor and spent 20 years as keyboardist for Kris Kristofferson, where he became known as “Funky” Donnie Fritts.

He recorded the critically praised Oh My Goodness on the Single Lock label, produced by John Paul White. The record features a host of Alabama stars, all on board to pay tribute to Fritts: Alabama Shakes members Brittany Howard and Ben Tanner (co-owner of Single Lock Records), Jason Isbell, The Secret Sisters, Dylan LeBlanc, St. Paul and the Broken Bones horn players Ben Griner and Allen Bransetter and longtime friends and music legends David Hood, Spooner Oldham, and John Prine.

On Oh My Goodness, Fritts’ voice is a weathered instrument, but one that conveys emotion with unexpected tenderness. The music is more polished and spare than in previous records and showcases the songwriting that he is so well known for. “This album means so much to me,” Donnie says. “I thought I wouldn’t get another shot. It’s the most personal and important album to me. It’s one of the most special things I ever got to do in my life.”

Singer-songwriter duo Penny & Sparrow, out of Austin, Texas, began making music together in 2010, when they were roommates at the University of Texas in Austin. Andy Baxter and Kyle Jahnke built their reputation for honest, unadorned acoustic music over years of touring. Let a Lover Drown You is their third full-length album, produced by John Paul White and Ben Tanner. The record is hauntingly beautiful and melancholic and marries their characteristic minimalist sound with White and Tanner’s richer arrangements.

Their music is clearly influenced by artists like Simon and Garfunkel, Swell Season, Bon Iver, and even some Broadway composers. (Baxter is so inspired by the musical Les Miserables that each record contains an homage; in Let a Lover Drown You, the closing song is titled “Eponine”, after the iconic character.) Their well-paired harmonies and thoughtful lyrics make it clear why the duo has a fervent touring fan base. This record features both White and Tanner—and bass player David Hood (of the legendary “Swampers”) makes several appearances.

Penny & Sparrow are currently featured on NPR Music’s annual “Austin 100” list, spotlighting their favorite artists for each year’s SXSW Music Conference. Let a Lover Drown You was just released on March 11. Look for Penny & Sparrow, currently on tour (hopefully) in a city near you.

Photos courtesy of Single Lock Records

April 20, 2015

NEVER A PAL LIKE MOM (AND ROSANNE CASH)

Dust-to-to-Digital is a unique recording company that serves to combine rare recordings with historical images and descriptive texts, resulting in cultural artifacts. We have previously written about several of their collections that resonate so well with our brand. We believe in preserving traditions, and Dust-to-Digital truly speaks to that with their historically rich albums. We revisit one of their books, Never A Pal Like Mother: Vintage Songs & Photographs of the One Who’s Always True, for Mother’s Day.

Photograph from Never A Pal Like Mother with the caption, "she was the first to ever love me".

Compiled by April and Lance Ledbetter, founders of the Dust-to-Digital label, the 96-page hardcover book features vintage black and white and sepia-toned images of mothers and their children interspersed with poignant lines from popular commercial recordings of the early twentieth century, each one dedicated to Mom. An essay by Sarah Bryan accompanies two CDs of 40 recordings from 1927 to 1956. The forward is written by friend, mother, Alabama Chanin ambassador, and master lyricist Rosanne Cash.

From Rosanne’s essay and the Dust-to-Digital site:

“We can feel our American past here: how we lived, how hard we worked, how we were a nation of travelers and wanderers, how we held fast to our faith, how great our losses were, how quickly death came, and how often our mothers were the rock and the lighthouse, the home inside our hearts. These songs could never be written in the age of jet travel, therapy, delayed adolescence, the internet, nor could they survive current popular ideas of human psychology. They are pristine and deeply wrought sonic images, unfiltered through modern expectations, and are all the more refreshing and thrilling for being so. Those of us who treasure American roots music are listening to the very center of its essence in this anthology: a nearly century-old collection of songs about the most important person in the entire lexicon.” — Rosanne Cash, from the introduction to Never a Pal Like Mother

The book itself, contents notwithstanding, has the beauty of a treasure chest, the CDs tucked neatly inside pockets on the front and back covers. The back cover displays the song list in a vintage inspired typeface that invokes the memory of an old record, perhaps one played on a phonograph of one the mothers depicted within the pages. Any mother would be proud to count this album among her library of cherished tomes (while ballads celebrating her heroism play in the background).

Old photographs of families from Never A Pal Like Mother.

February 20, 2015

HUGO + MARIE FOR ALABAMA SHAKES

A little musical (and visual) interlude for this cold and snowy Friday—listen to this newly released track from one of our studio favorites, Alabama Shakes. Along with a beautiful video designed by Mario Hugo—half of our husband and wife, New York-based design and web team, Hugo + Marie.

November 07, 2014

I BELONG TO THIS BAND

Here at Alabama Chanin, we continue to be drawn to the distinct and historical Dust-to-Digital catalog. Dust-to-Digital is a unique recording company that serves to combine rare recordings with historical images and descriptive texts, resulting in cultural artifacts. We have previously written about several of their collections that resonate so well with our brand. We believe in preserving traditions, and Dust-to-Digital truly speaks to that with their historically rich albums.

I Belong to this Band: 85 Years of Sacred Harp Recordings is a moving glimpse into the history of Sacred Harp singing and its deep Southern ties. Compiled by Matt Hinton and Lance Ledbetter, this CD features 30 recordings as varied as the earliest recordings of the genre from the 1920s, 30s and 40s. It also includes a pleasant mix of home recordings made by small groups of singers in the 1950s as well as contemporary recordings of all-day singings.