Roots Time

Rootstime Belgium reviews veteran singer-songwriter Stuffy Shmitt’s “Stuff Happens,” his first new album in 8 years

Stuff Happens is the title of a new album by New York City singer-songwriter Stuffy Shmitt. This record comes just over eight years after the release of the two albums he released in 2012, Twelve Songs and Industrial Love. However, Shmitt couldn’t handle the tremendous pressure placed on him afterward, and he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, which drove him pretty crazy with depression and unstoppable mania.

Between 2000 and 2008 he also released several albums that confirmed his great talent as a singer and songwriter. But it was the skyrocketing expectations of the music industry that ultimately drove him into such a fragile state. Shmitt was thoroughly treated, moved to Nashville six years ago and now seems to have resurrected as a musician. On Stuff Happens, the 11 songs he wrote for this album show that he has joy, joie de vivre and optimism again.

We can conclude that from the song “It’s OK,” the opening track and first single of the album. In the beautiful acoustic ballad “Mommy and Daddy,” he cleverly interprets the timeless feeling of aging. The album features a well-thought-out mix of indie folk, blues rock and Americana.

Catchy melodies are the basis of the rocking songs “Jim’s Dad” and “Sweet Krazy,” while blues sounds predominate in songs like “Scratchin ‘At The Cat” and “The Good Land.” Shmitt also shines in beautifully orchestrated Americana ballads such as “She’s Come Unglued,” “Mommy and Daddy,” “Something Big” and piano-accompanied “The Last Song,” in which he reminds us for a moment of David Bowie. And we also have to mention our favorite track from this album, “Sleeping On The Wet Spot”, a classic in the making that ripples onto a lovely melody.

For the recording of this new album, Shmitt’s regular backing band received instrumental assistance from some well-known names in the Nashville music scene. Aaron Lee Tasjan and Brian Wright played lead guitar on “Sweet Krazy” and “Scratchin ‘At The Cat,” Jellyroll Johnson appears on harmonica on “The Good Land” and Anana Kaye and Brett Ryan Stewart handle keyboards. And, finally, in our opinion, album producer Chris Tench also deserves to be honored here for all the excellent work he turned in from his recording studio in Franklin, Tenn.

CATCH THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE (& WATCH STUFFY SHMITT’S VIDEOS FOR “IT’S OK” & “MOMMY AND DADDY” AT ROOTSTIME BELGIUM..

by Baby Robot Media

Roots Time Belgium reviews James Houlahan’s Ordinary Eye, calling it “one of the best albums of the year”

Mainly dark folk songs and Americana songs—that’s what you can expect on the latest record from singer-songwriter James Houlahan, a guitar-playing musician from Los Angeles, and one-time co-founder of the bands Dogs On Television and The Jody Grind, two groups with their roots in Boston, where Houlahan was born and grew up. Some of his earlier songs have also been featured in commercials, movies and television series.

Because of the somewhat gloomy lyrics, his songs can sound rather heavy and desolate, but they’re not all autobiographical, and oftentimes just sprout from his rich imagination with the aim of creating a certain atmosphere for the listener. Houlahan already has five albums in his discography, and we’d like to explain the latest, Ordinary Eye, a bit more for you here.

A total of 12 songs take you on a trip through the life of this singer-songwriter for 50 minutes. Most of the songs were written during his extensive promotional tour of America following the release of his previous 2018 album The Wheel Still in Spin. His observations of the world around him formed the basis of Ordinary Eye, but without wanting to pass judgment. The climate crisis, political divisions, the social climate of his home country and its citizens over the past two years—and how the common man is trying to cope with these troubled times—are all themes covered in this new record.

The album was recorded in Los Angeles in the weeks leading up to the first corona crisis in the United States. The musicians who worked in the studio on this recording were producer Fernando Perdomo who plays bass, keyboards and acoustic guitar, violinist Scarlet Rivera and drummer Danny Frankel, while Esther Clark provides the female backing vocals. Houlahan also plays acoustic and electric guitars to accompany his songs.

All these musicians provided a very specific and special cachet to the tracks from Ordinary Eye, starting with beautiful opening track “As It Is” (which you can listen to in the video at the link below) and which was selected as the first single from the album. The violin sounds of Scarlet Rivera color the folk songs “Tomorrow’s Had Enough Of Me,” “What Is Our Love”—with the striking phrase, “it’s more efficient to be without pain”—and the beautiful “Walking Through The Fire.” In addition, Houlahan’s electric guitar playing forms the basis of songs like “The Jailer,” “Writ In Water” and the very beautiful blues ballad “All These Blues.”

Our favorite songs on this album, however, are the catchy riff-floating “Tehachapi Dust,” on which Clark provides a soft but beautiful second voice, and the modest but atmospheric “You Are Not Alone,” with which he gives the average American a heart in these difficult times. Just take it from us—James Houlahan’s Ordinary Eye will be one of the best albums this year. Listen for yourself and be convinced.

Read more and watch the “As It Is” video here.

by Baby Robot Media

Belgium’s Roots Time reviews Rev. Greg Spradlin and the Band of the Imperials’ long-awaited debut release Hi-Watter

Rootstime Roots time Belgium review Rev. Greg Spradlin reverend the Band of the Imperials Hi-Watter baby robot media blues americana rock roll soul baby robot media music publicity

Sometimes your environment or who you know determines who you are. For Reverend Greg Spradlin, this is certainly the way you talk about his career as a musician. Born in Pangburn, Arkansas, White County, Greg Spradlin has been making music since his teens. Today he works as a consultant for non-profit organizations and after many years of experience acts as a senior manager for the Heifer International Foundation. From time to time he sometimes appears on stage.

What happened in between? Greg Spradlin’s musical journey. While in high school, Greg played guitar and performed with bands in bars and clubs in Central and North Central Arkansas. While studying at the University of Arkansas in Little Rock, he was recruited to go to Los Angeles and join some kind of prepackaged Southern rock band that one Bryson Jones wanted to form. Warner Bros. was interested in them. In 1992, the group was about to make a deal with Warner Bros. when everything collapsed. Warner Bros. staff announced that changes were coming or layoffs would occur. Spradlin went back to Arkansas dejected, completed college, did odd jobs, and eventually started The Skeeterhawks. They made passionate country rock that combined a rolling punk spirit and soulful, Gram Parsons-tinged twang.

The Skeeterhawks signed with Synapse Records – a rap label that wants to branch out – in San Francisco. The band went to California and recorded a sub-par version of the record they had already made in Arkansas. Everyone got a bad feeling about the label and the deal, a feeling that got worse as the days went by without anyone seeing a penny. The band went back to Little Rock, the record never came out and they never heard from the label again.

Perhaps this story would have ended here and Spradlin would have shelved his rock & roll dreams, had it not been for Jim Dickinson. Born in Little Rock, Dickinson was a respected producer and musician and one of the godfathers of the Memphis sound. He has played on iconic records by Aretha Franklin, The Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan. The two grew close and Dickinson became something of a musical father figure to Spradlin, who Dickinson still calls his “Obi-Wan Kenobi” (from Star Wars). Dickinson and Spradlin planned to make a record together, but this dream came to an end with Dickinson’s death in 2009. Dickinson’s death shocked Spradlin but also woke him up. He felt his mentor was still pressuring him.

In 2010, Pete Thomas, the drummer for Elvis Costello, Randy Newman and Sheryl Crow, was in Little Rock to record a number of songs with producer Jason Weinheimer’s wife Indy Grotto for her solo album. It was Weinheimer who then encouraged Greg Spradlin to come and jam with the British drummer. That session was a life-changing experience for Spradlin, although he didn’t know it at the time. The unmistakable chemistry at the time initiated a musical journey that would take Spradlin to Los Angeles to record ‘Hi-Watter’ in 2012 with, among others, Pete Thomas, Los Lobos founder / singer / guitarist David Hidalgo, the late keyboardist Rudy Copeland (Solomon Burke, Johnny Guitar Watson) and bassist Davey Faragher (Cracker, John Hiatt). The album, “Hi-Watter,” the debut album from Rev. Greg Spradlin and the Band of Imperials—a raw celebration of hip rock, soul, blues, R&B and gospel—was finally released in July earlier this year.

“My mom’s records were Sam Cooke, Otis Redding, all great stuff. My dad,” Spradlin recalls, “loved Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson. That was the diet I grew up with. My mom had a box of 45s. It was everything from the early Elvis to Howlin’ Wolf, the early James Brown … that’s what I listened to. So I grew up listening to music that was very old. I’ve always loved music that is timeless and has no expiration date.”

As a result, the music from “Hi-Watter” comes out a bit more rocking and robust. This is immediately apparent from the soulful tones of the opener “Gospel of the Saints”, which is introduced by Pete Thomas in a relaxed manner, from the aptly named “Go Big,” the compelling title track “Hell or Hi Watter” and “I Drew Six.” The ballads “Stainless Steel,” “Don’t Make Me Wait,” “What Would I Do” and “Sweet Baby” betray the soul side that he got from his mother. With “The Maker,” this unexpected rock experience comes to an end.

Rev. Greg Spradlin & the Band of Imperials’ “Hi-Watter” is an album that you play at a riotous moment on Saturday night, before cleaning your battered soul with gospels of the Lord on Sunday morning. Inspired by the Reverend’s dear deceased friend, “Hi-Watter” is the ultimate proof that talent always comes to the surface, even if the wait sometimes takes years.

Original Rootstime review (in Dutch)…