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Posted |
March 9th, 2010 |
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Shooter
Jennings
'Black
Ribbons" |
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Los Angeles
Daily News |
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By John Wareham on March 5, 2010
 Every
once in a while, an album comes
out and you know right away that
it'll be a classic and it will
win Grammys and awards all over
the place. You listen to it one
time and you just know it.
Shooter Jennings just
released an album like that on
Tuesday and it's called 'Black
Ribbons'. It will be in
everyone's Top 10 Albums of
2010. Guaranteed.
Up
until this point, Jennings has
maintained a fairly country aura
about him, albeit a
rock/outlaw/punk version of
country. His breakout album 'Put
the 'O' Back in Country' (2005)
was a country record with rock
influences and 'The Wolf' (2007)
was country too, but mixed rock
elements and it had horns and a
feel that blended styles also.
Black Ribbons tears the roof
off the dump and delivers
something you're not expecting.
It's a concept album from start
to finish, but it's not country
and it's not rock, really
either. It's a fresh blend of
everything you've heard so far
that combines all together into
one wild, paranoid,
anti-establishment mash-up of
psychedelic theater.
The
theme of the record is something
Jennings thought of while
driving an RV a long distance -
much of it in the middle of the
night.
"When I was
driving across the country, the
economy fell and I was listening
to the social and political talk
radio DJ's," said Jennings about
his concept. "It was all about
the moon shining and the
horrible state of our world. I
was struck by this."
As
Jennings drove, he heard all of
these people's worries and
thought of a concept. What if
there was a radio talk show host
of that ilk - say, Art Bell -
who was broadcasting his last
hour before a hostile government
takeover of the airwaves. What
might he do? According to
Jennings and Black Ribbons, he
would play music the government
would hate and he would make
them shut him off.
Black
Ribbons is the last hour of talk
show host 'Will O' the Wisp' and
the DJ plays the
(semi-fictional)
anti-establishment band
'Hierophant' as his big
farewell. Hierophant is Jennings
and his band and most of the
songs on the record revolve
around love and people
connecting with each other mixed
together with something Jennings
is fascinated with.
"I
love the paranormal and UFO's
and stuff like that,' he added.
"We went exploring all those
corners. (For the album) we did
whatever we wanted."
Musically, the record
incorporates just about every
sound, every trick and every
facet of musical knowledge that
Jennings has - and he has a huge
base of knowledge to pull from.
He hosts a Sirius satellite
radio show on Saturday
afternoons and plays whatever he
wants on the show - usually
tracks that no one has heard.
But he not only knows the song,
but he tells a story about
almost every track that he
plays. With that knowledge, he
brought everything together for
Black Ribbons.
Growing
up the son of two country
artists (Waylon Jennings being
one), naturally he learned to
love country music. But he also
loves bands like Rush and Pink
Floyd as well as alternative
artists like Frank Zappa. He
also likes concept albums -
quite a lot - and knows them
all. Rush's 2112, Zappa's Joe's
Garage, Roger Waters' Radio
K.A.O.S, and Pink Floyd's Wish
You Were Here, The Wall and Dark
Side of the Moon, among others.
You can certainly hear Pink
Floyd's influence in Black
Ribbons - with Jennings at times
sounding like Waters when he
sings and the guitar player
purposely playing a tone that
sounds like something on a Pink
Floyd album.
"(The
guitar sound) is done on purpose
to sound like (David) Gilmour,"
said Jennings, who sometimes has
to defend himself against the
similarities. "It's a tribute to
him."
Jennings and
producer Dave Cobb worked
together to design the sound and
brought their strengths together
to mesh all of the elements.
Cobb is of the older audio
engineer crowd - with recording
natural sounds mechanically,
while technologically-savvy
Jennings is decidedly digital.
"We recorded all kinds of
mechanical effects and then
messed with them in the
computer," said Jennings who,
with Cobb, will sit down and
discuss the recording of the
album at the Grammy Museum
seminar at LA Live on March
25th. One effect that Jennings
pointed out explicitly a spot
where he sings all three parts
of a three-part harmony himself
and only one of the three parts
has the autotune effect on it.
One of the most fascinating
aspects of the record - other
than the sound and concept - is
who plays the character of the
DJ, Will O' the Wisp.
"We needed a voice to carry it
and we reached out to
(paranormal-themed radio talk
show host) Art Bell early," said
Jennings.
But he and
Cobb ultimately went a different
way and got horror writer
Stephen King to play the
character - which, after some
reverb and other effects on his
voice, gives the perfect tone to
the DJ-on-the-way-out-the-door.
The dialogue in between
the songs was originally written
by Jennings, but after King
accepted, the author added his
own spin and tone to it, so it
sounds like something you'd
expect King would say.
The best way to listen to the
record - which lasts a little
longer than an hour - is
straight through with no stops.
You get the full effect that
way.
The record is out
now in the various forms - CD,
digitally on iTunes, etc. but it
also on vinyl. it's a brilliant
record and something you'll
listen to repeatedly.
For
a preview of it, go to Jennings
website here, or his myspace. He
is also planning on playing the
entire record straight through
at the Coachella Music Festival
on April 17th (Day 2 of 3).
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