of which I just became aware, called the NEW EARTH MUD. Apparently a few members of the former Black Crowes (fill in details I don't know if it seems appropriate). Caught them on a Letterman rerun from summer and noticed the sound from the other room first. Interested, I observed the lead playing an SG of similar outfitting to the fabled one played by Frank Vincent Zappa.
The appearance of the band was, let's say, Richard Brautigan Chic (referring to the hippie author of the novel Trout Fishing In America). A look at their website's songlist indicated a mix of originals and the odd Jimmie Rodgers number, along with at least 3 Dylan selections.
What gives? Legit search for roots or just a tired Johnson-administration rerun? The sound struck me as refreshingly assertive compared to contemporary depression-pop (kinda like Blue Oyster Cult when sober and straight), but is there a lack of (unique) message here, as I fear? Discuss.
UPDATE:
It appears that band leader Chris Robinson intends to re-form with others under the "Black Crowes" name and has cancelled tour dates with his current band, "The New Earth Mud". That means that only two albums will have been produced by this group, the Robinson solo album of 2002 called "New Earth Mud" and the recent one called "This Magnificent Distance".
3 Comments
Dangit!! I heard about 'em and wanted to check them out, but I was so dead tired I went to sleep right before they went on. I guess I missed something there.
The guess is it's legit to the extent that it's not being hyped too much and is probably one of those bands that wants you to seek them out instead of them foisting themselves heavily upon you. Just a hunch.
I fear that there won't be lots of spectacular new content to their lyrical approach, but the overall sound ("40 Days" was the number they performed) might be an indication of stylistic honesty. It appears that this project is one in which the members threw their hands up, declared that they neither knew nor cared which direction music was going, then resolved to mine their own music collections of 10-20 years for inspiration. This looks like a "roots influences" project centering on the consensus rock sound of about 10 minutes before the late 70's disco/punk streetfight broke out. A period range might be 1970-1975. Even if the lyrics suck, I may be interested; they appear to have 2 albums available and the site is newearthmud.net.
Further Observations - just got the second album ("Magnificent Distance") and am perusing it. It's still on sale at SoundWaves from the release last month. Will review soon.