the hum / By Bob Doran

The Never Ending Stack

(Feb. 15, 2007)  The CDs arrive in an unending stream. The mailman sticks them in the slot in my front door; FedEx and UPS drivers block the street in front of my house to drop them off; promoters leave them on my porch or mail them to the Journal office; bandmembers slip them to me at shows. I don’t mind. Oftentimes, I even request them. But they tend to pile up on my desk, and sometimes I can’t find them when I need them.

Take for example, the new Keller Williams disc, Dream, sent to me by a publicist far, far in advance of its release date (last week) and his local appearance (Thursday, Feb. 15, at the Van Duzer). The Dream title derives from a dream-team of jammish collaborators: Béla Fleck, Bob Weir, Charlie Hunter, Michael Franti, Steve Kimock, String Cheese Incident to name a few. I gave it a spin when I got it, and while I appreciated the stellar cast, it may have been a day when I was not exactly in a jammy mood, because I promptly lost the thing when I took it out of the player. And frankly, I think Keller works better on his own, which is what he’ll be doing Thursday night.

While hanging around at Muddy’s Hot Cup the other night following the truly fine show by The Country Pretenders, a couple of people handed me CDs. First, Pretenders’ bassman Gary Davidson gave me a copy of a disc he’s on with Old Dog, a congregation of local pickers. I have to admit, it’s still in its shrink-wrap on my desk, but I will get to it. Then a couple of members of The Bucky Walters introduced themselves and gave me their new eponymous CD, a fine piece of work in the neo-old timey vein. “We put our hearts and souls into this,” one of them told me. I’d actually heard (and appreciated) the band the night before (backing Melody Walker at her birthday party at the Jam) and told them as much as I slipped it in my pocket. The album starts off with “Banjo Song,” a fast-moving number that begins with a train whistle and proceeds to barrel out of the station. There’s great picking and singing throughout, and good songs (I especially like “Dead Man’s Blues”). I’m guessing that the boys penned the lyrics (the liner notes are scant), but they sound like they could be old songs and that’s a good thing. If you happen to pick this paper up Wednesday, The B.W.s are playing a Valentine’s gig at Humboldt Brews. Friday, Feb. 16, is the official CD release party at Jambalaya. Twanginess guaranteed.

Living Well is a new disc by Rob Crow,one of the founders of the San Diego-based rock/pop band Pinback, one of those nearly famous indie outfits that knows how to put the hooks in the right place. The solo project (his fourth) is something like a slowed-down version of Pinback, chock full of polished, personal songs that apparently draw on his new life as a dad and husband, and the maturity that role entails. Rob’s people sent it my way because he’s on the requisite CD release tour, which hits Arcata Saturday, Feb. 17, for a stop at HSU’s Kate Buchanan Room. Local indie rockers The Signals open.

Down at the Jambalaya Saturday night it’s the first night a of a two-night run (Feb. 17&18) by Santa Cruz-based neo-old timey Devil Makes Three and the Portland post-blues duo Hillstomp, who just released a new album called The Woman That Ended The World. This one’s a collection of stripped-down down and dirty blues, heavy on the slide (Henry Kammerer) and driven by chugging rhythm (John Johnson). Good stuff, with a beat that’ll get you up and dancing. The equally kick-ass Devil Makes Three sold out the 330 Club (larger than the Jam) last time they were in town, so you might want to get a ticket in advance.

Also sort of in the blues mode, a new disc called Green Blues, by MV & EE with The Bummer Road, the MV & EE being Matt Valentine & Erika Elder, neo-hippies from Vermont. The album is on Ecstatic Peace!, a label run byThurston Moore of Sonic Youth and, as you might guess, it’s out there on the “freak folk” side of the blues, with long songs layered with psychedelia, strange noises, odd harmonies and other wildness. The band is on a tour that brings them to Accident Gallery Sunday, Feb. 18, with cool avant noise/guitar duo Tom and Christina Carter aka Charalambides and Humboldt’s own Starving Weirdos, whose CD-R releases have drawn acclaim internationally, specifically, in England’s Wire magazine, where the Weirdos landed on a best of 2006 list in the “outer limits” category.

They did not send me their record, but Diego’s Umbrella sounds pretty cool. The Spanish-surf-pirate pop band out of San Fran plays Thursday, Feb. 15, at Indigo Nightclub. Nucleus opens.

The Mateel resumes its monthly Community Jam on Saturday, Feb. 17, with a performance by Earl Thomasand his new acoustic band.

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