By Matt Harness

Who says time travel is hard?
If you’re interested in classic country, just open up the record player and put the needle to Whitey Morgan and the 78s. Close your eyes and you are transported back to a time when Willie, Waylon and Merle ruled the airwaves and the honky tonks.
The fivesome from the Detroit area have one album out, Honky Tonks and Cheap Motels, and are finished with another. The big news came when the outlaw outfit signed with Bloodshot Records. The newest album most likely will be on shelves in the fall.
Whitey Morgan and the 78s aren’t blazing any new trails with their sound. They just do classic country the way you’re supposed to do it. Ain’t nothing wrong with that. And after a dozen beers, this is a band best heard live.
I recently spoke to bass player and band spokesman Jeremy Mackinder to better to get know these guys and gals. And yes, there is a Whitey Morgan. His real name is Eric Allen.

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Posted on April 15, 2010

By Matt Harness

April’s lineup of Bloodshot Records shows couldn’t get off to a better start than with Tuesday’s Dogfloydapalooza. Hosted by the Bottom Lounge, folks can listen to Andre Williams, The Goldstars, and Jon Langford and The Cashed Johnnies while sipping on brews from Dogfish Head and Three Floyds, which is based in Munster, Ind.
Here’s what else is going on this month.
Artist: Alejandro Escovedo
Venue: Old Town School of Folk Music
Date: Saturday, April 3
Sample:

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Posted on April 2, 2010

By Steve Rhodes

“Alex Chilton, 59, who began his four-decade career in pop music as the teenage lead singer of the Box Tops and whose later band Big Star influenced ‘power pop’ bands such as the Replacements and Cheap Trick, died March 17 in a New Orleans hospital. An autopsy was pending,” the Washington Post reports.
“The Replacements acknowledged Mr. Chilton’s influence with their song ‘Alex Chilton.’ Perhaps in a nod to a career that often flew under the radar, the song describes Mr. Chilton as an ‘invisible man who can sing in a visible voice.'”
Released: 1987
Length: 3:12
Label: Sire
Jacket: View image.

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Posted on March 19, 2010

By Steve Rhodes

A mix tape I made for a friend a few years ago with the liner notes I sent.
SONG NOTES (A)
1. Bullet From a Gun/Teddy Morgan & the Pistolas. BBQ rock.
2. Sara Smile/Hall and Oates. Classic.
3. We Just Disagree/Dave Mason. Makes the purchase of Dave Mason’s Super Hits worth it.
4. Dizzy Road/Run Westy Run. ’80s indie rock from the Minneapolis scene.
5. Surf City/Ramones. From an alternate universe.

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Posted on March 15, 2010

By Drew Adamek

I was in a death-metal/thrash/hardcore/Metallica cover/punk/funk band called Addiction!! for 38 seconds back in 1986. The band formed in my buddy’s basement, when we were 13.
Chris could play “Paranoid” all the way through on the drums; Reggie and Paul knew the chords to “Smoke on the Water.” I screamed with rage.
We did one take of “Iron Man,” a couple of shots of stolen Everclear, and I was fired as lead singer. Apparently, I wasn’t “jelling” with the band.
I’ve never gotten over that rejection. The entire rock star career I had planned – first superstardom, then megastardom and finally a living legend – collapsed in front of my eyes. I had already written out my discography, set lists and Grammy awards.
Digging through some old notebooks the other day, I discovered the liner notes that I wrote for my mid-career, drug-addled, alcoholic vanity country rock album.
I had planned for this to be my “hit bottom” album before I came roaring back with the greatest comeback album of all time: think Black and Blue before Some Girls.
Here, then, is the tracklist for my album Beer Goggle Self Esteem: Ode to Alcoholism.

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Posted on March 8, 2010

By Matt Harness

Here at the Bloodshot Briefing Desk in Beachwood Music headquarters, I’ve been fortunate enough lately to explore what’s underneath some unturned rocks around Chicago.
This week is no different, as I spoke with Dave Schultz, a Chicago-born writer and musician who will be coming out with his multimedia project “The Bicycle Club” this summer. The 54-year-old’s enterprise, which includes a novel and an accompanying album, follows the exploits of Wyatt Scruggs and his band. He spends also spends his time working at Hanson Guitars, where Bloodshot Records’ Alejandro Escovedo gets his axes.
As usual, we tackled a number of topics, including Schultz’s time spent as a funeral director in Rock Island.

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Posted on March 5, 2010

By Roger J. Oxoby

On the Efficiency of AC/DC: Bon Scott versus Brian Johnson
Department of Economics
Discussion Paper 2007-08
Robert J. Oxoby
Department of Economics
University of Calgary
Calgary, AB T2N 1N4
May 7, 2007
1. Introduction
The band AC/DC is considered one of the seminal hard rock bands, often compared to Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath in influencing many subsequent hard rock and heavy metal bands. The band was formed in 1973 by Angus and Malcolm Young, who took the band’s moniker from the back of their sister’s sewing machine. In its 35-year history, the band has sold more than 150 million albums, including 42 million copies of the 1980 album Back in Black, making Back in Black the highest-selling album by any rock band. In 2003 the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Given all this, it is no wonder that AC/DC has such a rabid fan base and, as discussed below, faces an epic debate regarding its lineup.
Among musicologists, researchers of popular culture, and rock and roll lovers of all ages there exists a common debate. That is, with respect to the rock band AC/DC, who is the better vocalist: Bon Scott or Brian Johnson?

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Posted on March 4, 2010

By Drew Adamek

I bought a 1960s transistor radio online a month ago, and I’ve been listening to the eclectic shows of the local college radio station ever since. The Old-Timey Country Hour and the experimental Portuguese jazz hour are my favorites.
Dialing in strange, new exotic music is a source of endless happiness for me. Not that I would ever purchase Portuguese jazz or that I even particularly like old-time country music.
It’s the act of discovering something that I don’t know, hearing a message from places I will never go, that takes me right back to my childhood.
I discovered rap music hiding under the covers with a pocket transistor pressed against my ear. I learned about sex and romance listening to the Quiet Storm after midnight. I developed an obsession with “That’s All” by Genesis that got so bad that my school banned me from carrying a radio into the building, even if it was turned off.
I am not so old that I had to listen to a transistor radio; I’ve just always loved the way they look and sound. My first hobby was buying broken hand-held transistor radios and taking them apart. I don’t know what I was looking for; I never tried putting them back together.
I grew up on the border of Illinois and Wisconsin and got all of the Chicago stations. The folks never let me watch much TV growing up – my addictive personality was clear then – so the radio was always on.
Here, then, are my favorite 1980’s Chicago radio memories*:

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Posted on March 3, 2010

By Don Jacobson

I have a new nomination for the ultimate cool old record store.
After reading about it in the San Diego Union-Tribune, I’m kind of afraid that if I ever went into Folk Arts Rare Records I wouldn’t emerge until sometime in the latter part of this decade.
I’m not sure exactly what that says about me except that I’m a music dork who gets the same kind of satisfaction from digging out cool old records as others get from, oh, say, a life.
So now I’m talking to you, o record collectors, because only you will understand. Imagine a mighty fortress of vinyl – 90,000 hours worth – lovingly tended in neat rows by burly, bearded Lou Curtiss, a 70-year-old curmudgeonly Seattle native considered one of the country’s prime archivists of early recorded jazz, blues and country music.

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Posted on March 1, 2010

By Matt Harness

Finally, the Deadstring Brothers‘ latest, Sao Paulo, is on American shelves. And you can catch them at the Double Door on March 26.
Let’s take a look at who else from the Bloodshot universe is playing where next month – including at South by Southwest – and sample their wares.
*
Artist: Dex Romweber Duo
Venue: Double Door
Date: March 5
Note: This is part of the Psychobilly Tour, and Reverend Horton Heat is in the house.
Sample:

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Posted on February 26, 2010