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Dave Rawlings Machine

Lodestar

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in Someone Else's Song

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Lodestar

Lodestar

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From Billboard (via a fellow VCer):

 

The Dave Rawlings Machine started "accidentally," according to Gillian Welch's longtime musical partner, as a vehicle to semi-anonymously road test some new material. But with the Nov. 17 release of "A Friend of a Friend," Rawlings will take the spotlight in his own right.

 

"You start out singing other people's songs 'cause you love them, and at some point you start to feel like you'd like to sing some of your own," Rawlings tells Billboard.com. "I think that happens to most people. It's just happening to me much later."

 

Rawlings produced "A Friend of a Friend" himself, recording it earlier this year at RCA Studio B in Nashville. Welch appears on eight of the nine tracks (and co-wrote five of them), while other players include keyboardist Benmont Tench from Tom Petty's Heartbreakers, keyboardist Nathaniel Wilcott of Bright Eyes and members of Old Crow Medicine Show, whose self-titled 2004 debut and 2006 album "Big Iron World" was produced by Rawlings.

 

Among the songs are a version of "To Be Young (Is to Be Sad, Is to Be High)" that Rawlings co-wrote with Ryan Adams' for the latter's "Heartbreaker" album, a Rawlings-Welch composition called "It's Too Easy" that will appear on the latter's album in "a very different version" and a pairing of Bright Eyes' "Method Acting" with Neil Young's "Cortez the Killer" that Rawlings says was inspired during a tour he did with Conor Oberst and company in Mike Mogis' stead a couple of years back.

 

"One of the songs we played every night was 'Method Acting,' which was always a song I responded to," Rawlings recalls. "I found myself sitting on a couch a year later, strumming it...and at some point I realized it went into 'Cortez the Killer,' which was a really important song for me when I was a teenager. I have a really emotional attachment to both of those songs, so it's nice to have versions of them out there. It gives me a reason to sing them."

 

Rawlings says Oberst also suggested the "A Friend of a Friend" title for the project. "I thought it was nice and appropriate," Rawlings notes, "because so many people I've worked with over the years and played music with are represented in one way or another on the record." Rawlings plans to tour to support the album, with Southeast and Midwest dates in late November and December and a West Coast run in 2010. The Machine lineup will feature Welch and three members of Old Crow Medicine Show -- fiddler Ketch Secor, who co-wrote the track "I Hear Them All," guitarist Willie Watson and bassist Morgan Jahnig.

 

Man oh man. I have been waiting a very long time for this.

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Wendy

Wendy

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I am psyched for this - I need a ticket for something in November/December as my show calendar is pretty bare - so ... yay for David Rawlings (& Gillian too)!

 

I saw that Bright Eyes show they mention in the article and did not expect to see David Rawlings sitting in for Mike Mogis. That was a sweet surprise!

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cryptique

cryptique

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a Rawlings-Welch composition called "It's Too Easy" that will appear on the latter's album in "a very different version"

Am I reading that right? Does it suggest that a new Gillian Welch album is in the works?

 

(Finally?)

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Lodestar

Lodestar

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Am I reading that right? Does it suggest that a new Gillian Welch album is in the works?

 

(Finally?)

 

When I saw them in June, it definitely sounded like a new Gillian album would come shortly after the Rawlings one. They played a new song called "Sweet Tooth" that she said will be on her new record.

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pnêyu

pnêyu

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From MySpace:

 

Nov 28 2009 8:00P The Melting Point Athens, Georgia

Nov 29 2009 8:00P The Orange Peel Asheville, North Carolina

Nov 30 2009 8:00P Cat’s Cradle Carrboro, North Carolina

Dec 1 2009 8:00P Bijou Theatre Knoxville, Tennessee

Dec 3 2009 8:15P Exit / In Nashville, Tennessee

Dec 4 2009 9:00P Headliners Music Hall Louisville, Kentucky

Dec 5 2009 8:00P Bluebird Nightclub Bloomington, Indiana

Dec 6 2009 7:30P Abbey Pub Chicago, Illinois

Dec 7 2009 8:00P High Noon Saloon Madison, Wisconsin

Dec 9 2009 8:00P Cedar Cultural Center Minneapolis, Minnesota

Dec 10 2009 8:00P The Waiting Room Omaha, Nebraska

Dec 11 2009 8:00P Granada Theatre Lawrence, Kansas

Dec 13 2009 7:30P The Parish Austin, Texas

Dec 14 2009 7:30P The Parish Austin, Texas

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cryptique

cryptique

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When I saw them in June, it definitely sounded like a new Gillian album would come shortly after the Rawlings one. They played a new song called "Sweet Tooth" that she said will be on her new record.

I'd say "it's about damn time" except that damn time came and went a few years ago.

 

If it doesn't release until next year she can call it The Seven-Year Itch. :hmm

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Vacant Horizon

Vacant Horizon

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up until now, The Machine has just been the duo. the only difference is that they play a lot of covers, david sings lead, and they wear jeans (not their old timey get-ups:) however, it looks like it's gonna be a band for this tour. hope they do some electric stuff. wrecking ball on gillian's last album is electric and perfect. they will never over-produce.

 

i too am very excited about this album. at the same time, i cannot believe that gillian has not put out a new album in 7 years. she was in her early 30s when soul journey came out. now she's over 40. i just don't get it. they've had the songs for years and she has been quoted as saying a new album will be out for the last 5 years. my only hope is that she got really back up with songs and recorded several albums that will be released over the next 2 years. that would be awesome.

 

best live show ever! them and neil young are probably the only folks i would pay money to see at this point. maybe wilco or jay farrar solo too.

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anthony

anthony

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Count me in as excited, as well. Always heard good things about the Machine. Can't wait to hear.

 

I, too, am anxious for another GW record. She is definitely one of my favorite artists of the last decade or so. Has it really been 7 years? wow.

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cryptique

cryptique

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I, too, am anxious for another GW record. She is definitely one of my favorite artists of the last decade or so. Has it really been 7 years? wow.

Not quite, but if we make it to June without a new one, it will be.

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Lodestar

Lodestar

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There's a video on YouTube of Rawlings and Welch doing "The Weight" with Old Crow Medicine Show, which I must have watched 10 times in the last two days alone. I'd post a link if I could get on YT right now, but alas... just watch it. Willie Watson, who sings the third verse, has the most affecting voice I have ever heard.

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SeattleC

SeattleC

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There's a video on YouTube of Rawlings and Welch doing "The Weight" with Old Crow Medicine Show, which I must have watched 10 times in the last two days alone. I'd post a link if I could get on YT right now, but alas... just watch it. Willie Watson, who sings the third verse, has the most affecting voice I have ever heard.

 

 

I had the great pleasure of seeing Gillian and David at the No Depression festival in Redmond, WA, where they did the final set. What a day, and I was never a big fan before that performance, but I am now.

 

How about this cover of Jackson from that day ?!?:

 

http://www.youtube.c...A1D0DB&index=18

 

 

and 'My First Lover' was even better and shows the beauty of the sky at twilight that night.

 

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anthony

anthony

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There's a video on YouTube of Rawlings and Welch doing "The Weight" with Old Crow Medicine Show, which I must have watched 10 times in the last two days alone. I'd post a link if I could get on YT right now, but alas... just watch it. Willie Watson, who sings the third verse, has the most affecting voice I have ever heard.

This the one?

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXf-SuBbJa0

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  • 1 month later...
Vacant Horizon

Vacant Horizon

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i had high hopes for this. gillian is probably one of my top five favorite artists. unfortunately, this disc is only half amazing. Ruby (despite being a soul song rip-off) is great. I see the All sounds like a long lost dylan song. Method acting is a great cover. hell, i'd love it if this album were all bright eyes covers. he can write good songs, just so whiny. don't need the cortez coda though. way too long.

the rest of the album just seems so tossed off. just neo-trad stuff that many people are doing these days. i don't know, i could be off.

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CortezTheKiller

CortezTheKiller

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Had 9 downloads left on eMusic and went to download this 9-track album. Wouldn't you know they are charging 10 downloads for it due to the fucking CTK song. The irony is delicious. I downloaded the 8 songs I could and now am left stuck with no CTK. You can't download it as a solo song on iTunes or Amazon either. :realmad

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Maggie

Maggie

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Had 9 downloads left on eMusic and went to download this 9-track album. Wouldn't you know they are charging 10 downloads for it due to the fucking CTK song. The irony is delicious. I downloaded the 8 songs I could and now am left stuck with no CTK. You can't download it as a solo song on iTunes or Amazon either. :realmad

 

I got my copy on emusic as well. I did however have enough downloads available. I hesitated, as I didn't want to spend 12 tracks on 9 songs, but I went for it anyway. I have since canceled my account (something I've been planning on doing for a while).

 

This is an enjoyable little album, but I'm glad I didn't bother buying a physical copy of the CD. I don't see it getting a lot of plays.

 

I wish Gillian would just go ahead and release a new album already!

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Vacant Horizon

Vacant Horizon

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I got my copy on emusic as well. I did however have enough downloads available. I hesitated, as I didn't want to spend 12 tracks on 9 songs, but I went for it anyway. I have since canceled my account (something I've been planning on doing for a while).

 

This is an enjoyable little album, but I'm glad I didn't bother buying a physical copy of the CD. I don't see it getting a lot of plays.

 

I wish Gillian would just go ahead and release a new album already!

 

yeah, i've been in that situation before. frustrating. as i said, some good songs, but def not a gillian album.

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