Jason Minus The Scorchers

Here's a review I just wrote of the latest compendium (there are many) of the work of Jason Ringenberg, who has labored mightily to show there's life after his beloved hard-rocking Scorchers (They came up with what is to my mind the best goddamed Bob Dylan cover ever with their take on "Absolutely Sweet Marie").

I once met Jason and his guitar player Warner Hodges, a great thrill. They were really nice guys and indulged me as I asked them about rare songs they played in concerts I had seen. Anyway, give Jason the benefit of the doubt. In a better world, he'd have a much bigger career

Mix Tape: "Basket Case," by Warren Zevon

When I was in college, I had the thankless task of editing and publishing the residential college newsletter, and I think I poked fun at a colorful homeless character who used to hang around our gates. One woman approached me one day to tell me the humor was in bad taste. I suspect she would not find "Basket Case" by Warren Zevon amusing in the least.

Here's a wonderfully off-kilter tune that marries a story about a romance with a "bipolar mama in leather and lace" with a jaunty guitar lead and background harmonies. As you can tell from the lyrics, it's not a Top 40 romance tune, but rather something to help peel the paint off of normal conventions. As such, it's vintage Zevon - the same scribe who penned classics such as "Excitable Boy" and "Desperados Under the Eaves."

The Jayhawk Will Soon Fly Free

Gary Louris has spent the better part of his musical career helping others take flight - he has led his band, the Jayhawks, throughout many permutations; he's been a member of Golden Smog, a Traveling Wilbury-esque group of alt-rock musicians; and he's been a songwriter for everyone from Nickel Creek to the Dixie Chicks.

At last, he's striking out on his own.

While I've long been a Jayhawks fan, it's always been my thought that its members were playing under protest. Once they achieved a certain level of fame, they thought better of it. It became obvious after the band - which during its greatest moments mixed the harmonies of the Byrds with the rough-hewn guitar sound of Buffalo Springfield or Crazy Horse - released one of its greatest discs, "Tomorrow the Green Grass." After it launched, Mark Olson, one of the two principal songwriters, struck out on his own. Louris soldiered on, taking the band in more pop directions and even using Pink Floyd producer Bob Ezrin on one disc.

So I'll be really curious to hear what he sounds like just doing his own thing.

Even so, he apparently has a disc in the works with Olson, which just goes to show it's hard to leave that group dynamic behind.

Creaky Old McMurtry Grabs Me Again

I thought I had done a thorough search of the best of James McMurtry, only to find this AM that he has more work out there I need to seek out. WFUV - pretty much the only station I listen to in NYC these days (with a few casual time outs for WAXQ, the classic rock station), offered up McMurtry's "Every Little Bit Counts," from an older album of his I don't have in my collection, "Walk Between The Raindrops." ...This guy's got a voice as dry as a desert prairie, so don't come to him hoping to hear female backup singers or a horn section or even some Beach Boy harmonies. It's just one guy, his Lou Reed of the Sahara voice and an acoustic guitar (and, in more recent days, a really crack rock band). In any case, "Every Little Bit Counts" has a surprisingly hooky chorus that just might grab even a casual listener. I'm up in the air about whether I just download the song or buy the whole album.....besides, according to Mr. McMurtry's Web site, he has a new album due out in April, with lots of Austin-area guest stars....

Carlene's Still Kicking

I'm excited but nervous to hear the new disc from Carlene Carter, the daughter of June who has surfaced over the years with interesting pop-rock gems but has not been able to keep up a sustained career with them

I obtained a preview disc of "Closer," and was half-impressed. I need to give it another listen. The disc is a little more earnest and country than I'm used to from Carlene, who has gained critical notice by working with former husband Nick Lowe and then former boyfriend and Heartbreaker Howie Epstein to create songs that were more like pub rock than country-esque. Some folks may recall songs like "I Fell in Love" or "Every Little Thing" (the last was penned with former NRBQ guitarist Al Anderson, which may give you a sense of why Carlene broke out)

But she's had a tempestuous life -drugs, bad lifestyle, several marriages, you name it. I'd like to see her do well and get some of the recognition she deserves. We'll see if "Closer" can seal any deals.

Smiles About "Smilers"

Word is out from Aimee Mann's Web site that she has a new album in the works - "Smilers." Ggiven her penchant for cutting lyrics and stories about people with intense emotional problems, dysfunctional personalities or dependency issues, I suspect the album will have little to do with smiling.

But it may prompt a few chuckles. Mann has a way with a lyric, often penning cutting odes that use irony and word choice to insinuate their way into one's consciousness. One of my favorites, penned to someone one drugs, one suspects: "They'll have a big parade / For every day that you stay clean / But when the trumpets fade /You'll go under like a submarine" (from "Going Through the Motions," on her last album, "The Forgotten Arm.")

Mann's discs aren't the most joyful noises I've ever heard, but they are clever, concise pieces of baroque pop that bear up to listening again and again. So there is reason to be happy