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Country's Heir Apparent |
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By Dirk Sutro
Listening to Randy Travis duet with Jones on Travis’ 1990 album Heroes and Friends is a spiritual experience. In "A Few Ol’ Country Boys," Travis sings the first verse, a tribute to being inspired by Jones, in a full, deep voice akin to Jones’, then Jones takes the second verse, sliding to unexpected high notes, stretching a single word over several notes, reaching out from a deeply troubled soul. By the end, even Travis is hugely impressed: "How am I gonna overdub something like that?" he asks when the music stops, realizing it’s futile to try to out-Jones Jones.
Even so, Travis, who July 30 plays one of the few country dates at this year’s Humphrey’s Concerts by the Bay series, is easily the most genuine and gifted of the current crop of male country crooners. Not only does he have the pipes for the job, he has more important qualities: emotional depth and sincerity that come across through the music, as well as a reverence for his classic country roots—at a time when glossed-up contemporary country rules the radio waves.
Travis’ newest CD, Full Circle, is a trip back along some of his favorite vintage country lanes. The music is pure country, with twangy Telecaster guitar, haystack violins, relentless road rhythms and a truckload of the tales that have marked country as "white man’s blues": lonesome highways, broken romance ... and a few retooled hits, including Roger Miller’s "King of the Road."
He may be a good ol’ country boy, but Travis is no hick. He’s hot stuff on the Internet, where a Web site includes details about his dissatisfaction with his label (Warner Bros.), a mention of his cover stories in Roughstock (a magazine for devotees of pure country) and GunGames, discussion of an acting career that includes parts in Young Guns and in the Steven Seagal movie Fire Down Below, and a "scrapbook" of great Randy moments. On another Web site devoted to Travis, there’s everything from a shameless plug for his Maui vacation homes, available for rent, to a bio that lists his favorite movie (Lonesome Dove, of course), all-time favorite country song, "He Stopped Loving Her Today" (George Jones in peak form), and most unusual place he’s performed: the summit of Disneyland’s Matterhorn.
Since he was hailed by the Academy of Country Music as "Most Promising New Male Vocalist" in 1985, Travis has recorded more than a dozen albums and won countless awards. He’s come a country mile from his troubled North Carolina childhood, which included plenty of George Jones, Merle Haggard and Lefty Frizzell, as well as ample amounts of alcohol, drugs and jail time. The turning point came when he hit bottom. Facing five years in prison, he was rescued by Charlotte club owner Lib Hatcher, who had heard Travis sing at a talent contest and convinced a judge to release him into her custody. Slinging burgers and singing in Hatcher’s club, he launched his career.
Travis is the prime cut of country from this summer’s lineup at Humphrey’s, but the calendar also includes Willie Nelson (August 18), Tracy Lawrence (September 4) and Wynonna (September 8).
Together 13 years, married for 10, San Diego jazz musicians Chris Conner (bass) and Cath Eckert (vocals) only recently got around to releasing their first CD. Titled The Journey, it’s actually Conner’s project, but Eckert sings three tunes, including Cole Porter’s "I Concentrate on You" and a hip-hop version of Billy Strayhorn’s "Lush Life."
Meticulously recorded at Proxy Music in San Diego, elegantly packaged in a three-panel jacket featuring hip graphics and cool type, The Journey also includes Strayhorn’s "UMMG" and "Bloodcount," plus a pair of Conner originals: the title track and "Santa Barbara Bossa." Eckert’s is a solid journeywoman voice, but Conner’s bass playing—in a sextet that also includes unsung San Diego sax hero Paul Sundfor and bassist Duncan Moore—is more distinctive.
Husband-and-wife team Chris Conner and Cath Eckert recently released their first CD
"For better or worse, I play a little different than most bassists," Conner says. "I don’t sound like anyone else. In fact, I’ve been less influenced by bass players than most bass players. I listen more to piano players and horn players." His solos, more fluid and delicate than the typical flourishes of bash and boom, tend toward melodic single-note strands of notes.
Conner and Eckert are both Toronto natives. Conner’s experience includes road work and/or recording with Freddie Hubbard, Johnny Hartman and Chet Baker, as well as L.A. piano phenom Gerald Wiggins. In May, Conner helped Wiggins celebrate his birthday at Catalina’s in Los Angeles, as part of an all-star jam that also included Andy Simpkins, Harry "Sweets" Edison, Eric Reed, Mulgrew Miller and Buddy Collette.
He’s considered moving elsewhere to boost his career, but Conner feels bound to San Diego—and he says the jazz scene is not as weak as some folks say it is.
"You know what? For the last couple years, I’ve made my living almost exclusively by playing jazz here," he says. "I’ve even given up electric bass in favor of acoustic, and I have to tell you, I’m doing quite well."
Find The Journey at Tower Records, or order a copy ($15) by mail: Chris Conner, Box 99990, San Diego, CA 92169.
Hailed by Rolling Stone this spring as leading proponents of ska-core, San Diego’s Buck-O-Nine also deserve credit for issuing their 14-song debut CD, Twenty-Eight Teeth, for the phenomenally reasonable price of $7.99. Recorded for New York–based TVT Records, the album pours some welcome new fuel into the genre previously known as ska—represented during the late 1970s and early ’80s by bands like the Specials, Selecter and Madness.
A lot of that stuff was monotonous, with its mindless horn riffs and warped-reggae rhythms repeated ad infinitum—best appreciated in altered states. Buck-O-Nine’s take on the genre (also being boosted now by No Doubt, the Mighty Mighty Bosstones and Orange County’s Sublime) is more guitar-heavy, more raw, and should appeal both to ska-philes and listeners whose tastes run to other flavors of rock, blues and world music.
Buck-O-Nine is on a roll this summer, having bagged a slot on Warp magazine’s Warped Tour ’97, alongside the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, the Royal Crown Revue, Blink 182, Pennywise, Social Distortion, Face to Face, Lagwagon and Less than Jake. The tour stops in San Diego July 2 at Hospitality Point. The CD is well worth a trip to your music store, especially at that bargain price.
Tracks: Also on tap at Humphrey’s Concerts by the Bay this month: guitar virtuosos Strunz & Farah (July 18), Hall & Oates, who recently bought three guitars from El Cajon–based Taylor Guitars (July 20), Dave Brubeck (July 24), Ottmar Liebert (July 25) and Hiroshima (July 31) ... Dedicated Taylor-man Leo Kottke unleashes his finger-style guitar fury July 23 at the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach ... The Latin jazz series at the Athenaeum in La Jolla begins July 17 at 7:30 with a performance by Brazilian vocalist Claudia Villela. The series continues the following three Thursday evenings, concluding with Peter Sprague and Kevyn Lettau teaming up August 7 ... Neil Young and his band Crazy Horse make what is billed as their only Southern California appearance this summer on July 17 at the H.O.R.D.E. Tour at the Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre, alongside Toad the Wet Sprocket, Morphine, Squirrel Nut Zippers, Big Head Todd & the Monsters and Primus ... The GTE Summer Pops at Hospitality Point this month features the Indigo Girls (July 1), Mary Chapin Carpenter (July 8), and Boz Scaggs (July 20) ... Rickie Lee Jones is at Canes Bar & Grill July 7 ... Bread comes to 4th & B on July 10.
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