Serge, 3hive’s official pro bono legal counsel, announced a few months ago that he’s getting married, and to celebrate this exciting news (and see if there was any validity in it — he sent the email on April 1st, one year exactly after he told everyone he was going to be on The Apprentice, and got us all excited until we looked again at the date) I’m posting bluegrass. Serge is from Kentucky, and he likes to represent so much that I think bluegrass is all he listens to. Anyway, my neighbor Chuck sent me some links to Split Lip Rayfield that sound like the real thing, bluegrass, heavily tattooed and drunk. So Serge, I hope you’re actually getting married; if not, I hope you at least enjoy Split Lip Rayfield’s guitar, banjo, mandolin, and bass made out of an old gas tank.
Mike Park
On July 2nd, Mike Park’s “Living Room Tour” is coming to Livonia, MI, a few miles down the road from here. First he’s playing in Ben’s living room in the afternoon, then there’s an evening show for Stephanie and Andrew. How cool is that? Maybe we can set up a 3hive sponsorship and I could carry his guitar case inside the house or something. The back-to-basics spirit of the tour matches perfectly with Park’s musical approach; think of Woody Guthrie’s social vision — “This guitar kills Fascists” — or the in-your-face emotion of Billy Bragg. Mike Park may not be the best guitar player ever, or have the finest singing voice, but when he tells you he thinks racism sucks, you can be sure he means it.
Mark McKay
I haven’t played as much air guitar as I did while listening to “I Know You Rider” since seeing Joe Satriani at Cobo Hall in Detroit in 1987. His is a different style than Mark McKay’s, mind you, with the latter tapping into the vibe of a ghostly night highway in the middle of nowhere, as opposed to Joe’s blistering fretwork. Really, the two likely have very little in common, and I haven’t listened to a note played by Joe S. since the late 1980s. Anyway, to summarize, if you dig the country rock, choose Mark McKay, not Joe Satriani.
Progenitorivox
Rilo Kiley
I’d love to find newer and better-quality Rilo Kiley MP3s on the Internet, but I guess these will have to do. (I know there’s a downloadable track on the Barsuk website, but it sounds like it was recorded on one of those little microphones they used to have on boomboxes.) The stellar voice of Jenny Lewis sounds like summer to my ears, especially on “With Arms Outstretched,” a big old smile of a song that features both clapping hands and a rag-tag chorus. I’ll mess around with my favorite line from the song to thank Katherine for cluing me in to Rilo Kiley and wish her well in Chicago: I hope your days by the lake don’t go too fast.
Nineteenseventyeight
Looks like these guys are going to turn into a country rock outfit called South of ’78, so enjoy the noisy guitars and drum crashes while you can.
Detroit Shows
Kate Maki
You can just tell Kate Maki is smart. Her nostalgic country lyrics hit all the favorite targets, from loneliness to love to obsession, and the easy-going gait to her songs always manages to sound a step ahead of old fashioned. Check out how the restrained brushed snare and pedal steel guitar match so nicely with her quiet, clear voice on “First Impression.” Then, listen to the playfulness of all of those same instruments on “Sweet Time.” It’s no wonder — Kate Maki used to be a teacher. On her first two albums, she’s put together a fine country music primer.
The Weakerthans
In light of the recent discussion in Wisconsin to legalize cat hunting (if you haven’t heard about this, check here), it seems appropriate to post The Weakerthans, whose “Plea From a Cat Named Virtute” is actually told from the perspective of a cat. Katherine slipped me a disc of their melodic Canadian punk/pop, replete with a little steel guitar here and some blazing noise there, and it’s been the only rotation in my car’s CD player for a few weeks now. As for the licensed hunting of feral cats, it seems like The Weakerthans would likely not approve. To my knowledge, 3hive has no official position on the matter.
Bettie Serveert
My brother-in-law Pete has been wanting to suggest something for 3hive for awhile now, I think, and although he’s pretty much committed to the music of his glory days in the mid- to late-80s — think U2’s Boy or Rum, Sodomy and the Lash by The Pogues — he pulled through with Bettie Serveert. “Attagirl,” off the Dutch band’s recent album of the same name, kind of has a new wave groove going, maybe. Anyway, Pete’s a hero of mine, along with my sister-in-law Cindy, because they actually hired a babysitter(!) for my favorite niece and nephew and went to see Bettie Serveert live(!!) not too long ago. They even got her autograph(!!!). I can hardly remember those days…