Tampa Calling

Anyone who pays any attention to music in Florida has heard about The Takers at some point in the past year, and since Suburban Home picked them up, the hype machine has been doing nothing but gaining momentum. By the time Virgil reached out to me with a copy of the band’s debut album, Taker Easy, I was already wondering if they’d be able to match the advance billing. Now, after spending some two months with the CD and managing to catch them live at the Citrus Circuit Tour, I can readily proclaim that yes, The Takers are worthy of the hype. Now hopefully with the CD finally coming out the rest of the country will get behind this little Florida band.

The Takers are a ragtag collection of bike mechanics, cooks, restaurant managers, cashiers and recycled ink salesmen out of Tim Tebow-land (Gainesville). They came together almost by accident when Devon Vlasin (singer) found himself in need of a backing band to open for an upcoming Willie Heath Neal show. A few phone calls and free beer bribes netted a temporary ensemble that decided to keep at it beyond the one-night gig. After some member revisions and additions, the band finally settled in with singer Devon Vlasin joined by Chad Smith and Ronnie Holmes on electric guitars, Jerome Goodman on bass, Mike Collins on pedal steel and drummer Jon Reinertsen. Read the rest of this entry »

My “Top 20 Songs of 2008″ feature is in the Creative Loafing that streets today. Here are my honorable mentions:

“All Nightmare Long,” Metallica
Metal masters are back – with a fierceness.

“Anyone Who had a Heart,” Shelby Lynne
Dusty would be proud.

“Be Mine!” Robyn (pictured)
Britney with brains.

“Better Get to Livin,’” Dolly Parton
Feel-good country pop from everyone’s favorite drag queen.

“Chemtrails,” Beck
Trippy dude.

“Discipline,” Nine Inch Nails
More Reznor industrial wickedness of the highest order.

“Don’t Change,” Lyrics Born
Positive alternative rap with a disco beat.

“Dust My Broom,” Cassandra Wilson
Greatest vocalist alive lends her sublimely smokey contralto to this Robert Johnson blues classic.

“Furr,” Blitzen Trapper
A splendid Dylan rip-off.

“Getting’ Up,” Q-Tip
Rap word master is back with a smooth, mellow, masterstroke.

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Last night I was ready to announce “last call” when I put on Letterman to check out the music guest. There loomed Jamey Johnson, this truck-driving fella with a rich, burly voice. He recounted a conversation with his WWII-vet granddaddy … and I nearly had to wipe a manly tear from my eye. Titled “In Color,” the song is moving without being maudlin, and Johnson, who co-wrote the number, delivers the touching lyric with old-school, outlaw authority — and charm. Fatherly charm. Big brother charm. Two old pals with lots of battle scars sharing a bear-hug charm.

But “In Color” is not the most gripping song on Johnson’s breakthrough disc That Lonesome Song. That honor goes to the nearly six-minute long “High Cost of Living (Ain’t Nothing Like the Cost of Living High),” another original. Here’s this mainstream country singer — Johnson’s on Mercury — candidly singing about his past struggles with cocaine. The lived-in lyrics and the shackled-but-ever-present demons in his voice place the song on par with the best by fellow and former Nashville rebels Waylon, Willie, Hag and Cash.

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A gifted, deep-voiced singer, razor-sharp songwriter and expert interpreter, Waylon Jennings reigned supreme in the 1970s as country music’s top outlaw. Like Toby Keith but infinitely cooler and more talented, Jennings churned out about a half-dozen awesome albums that ran from 1973’s Lonesome, On’ry and Mean to 1978’s I’ve Always Been Crazy. Crazy includes the hit “Don’t You Think This Outlaw Bit’s Done Got Out of Hand,” Jennings’ candid retelling of his infamous cocaine bust from the year before.

It would take Jennings until the mid-1980s to get off blow and then his health or reputation never fully recovered the way, say, Johnny Cash’s did, before diabetes buried Jennings in early 2002. The only thing of importance to surface in the years since Jennings’ death is the recently released Waylon Forever, an EP featuring Pops backed by son Shooter Jennings. Key track? A chilling remake of “Don’t You Think This Outlaw Bit’s Done Got Out of Hand” dubbed “Outlaw Shit.”

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