George Orwell Was Wrong

Tony Peyser
Mirror contributing writer

   It’s official: Big Brother from “1984” has now been overshadowed by “O Brother” from 2000. That wildly influential soundtrack also indicates a cultural shift away from New Age-y and towards Old Time-y —- which is fine with me.
   If you like that kind of sound, check out Rick Shea and Brantley Kearns’ engaging debut as a duo, Trouble And Me. The longtime sidemen for Dave Alvin —- Shea is also a fine solo artist who I’ve written about —- are proud to let their roots show. Guitarist Shea has a fondness for California Country and fiddler Kearns yearns for folk music from his home state of North Carolina. It won’t take more than a track or two to see how Shea feels about Bakersfield. And Kearns —- whose dad had a square dance band —- proves that the Appalachian didn’t fall far from the tree. A true delight.
   In a darker vein is Royal City’s Alone At The Microphone. These north of the border boys cook up a bracing bouillabaisse that dares to occasionally deploy banjo and steel drums. Ordinarily, this sound would be called Americana but these fellas aren’t Americans. I guess this makes their genre … Canadana? Whatever the hell you call it, Royal City brews up a musical moonshine that packs a dizzy wallop.
   And so does the solo effort by Kevin Russell of The Gourds, the alt-country pride of Austin. He calls his band here Kev Russell’s Junker and has equal fun with the album’s nutty title: Buttermilk & Rifles. The CD is like a pair of dirty old torn jeans that your horrified parents would want you to toss out but they’re ridiculously comfortable and your favorite thing to wear. The tracks sneak up on you like a greasy-haired stranger with a spacey smile who surges towards you at a bus stop but not with malice — just to hand you a grimy JESUS LOVES YOU card. The playing is ragged, the lyrics are on the weird side and the singing has a hung over rawness. This Junker is a keeper.
   Miles Of Music has Trouble And Me for $12 and Buttermilk & Rifles for $15. You can get Alone At The Microphone for $14 at www.threegutrecords.com.
   * The Goofy Band Name Of The Week is … Weird Uncle Betty.