Hang Jones
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Hang Jones

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"Album Review - Hang Jones - The Ballad of Carlsbad County (Self Released)"

Concept albums appear to have had their time in the sun. The days when an entire story, not just a series of songs that have a sense of cohesion but a full on story reflected as a somewhat linear narrative from song to song unfolding from two sides of vinyl or a cassette tape seem numbered by a pick and choose distribution of digital downloads and the lust for hits that has plagued the music industry since day one. Still you can find purists that will sit you down in front of a turntable for a full rendition from the book of Pink Floyd’s The Wall or The Who’s Tommy.

But all that happened on the pop and rock side of the tracks, a concept albums in country and roots music has always been an even rarer creature. In 1975 Willie Nelson showed that a country music concept album not only could be created, but could be a hit with Red Headed Stranger, an unorthodox work featuring a fugitive preacher, on the run from the law after killing his wife, that went on the reach multi-platinum levels and made Nelson the icon he is today. But that was one album made over thirty years ago and the music industry and taste landscape has changed considerably.

So who in the hell would dare look at over this hostile aural landscape and plunge head first into the breach? Enter Hang Jones, pseudonym for San Francisco based singer/songwriter Stephen Grillos. His new release The Ballad of Carlsbad County tells a dark tale of a New Mexico town rife with drunken lust, envy, jealousy, deceit and finally the murder of a young woman and the wrongful conviction of a murderer that nonetheless was innocent of this specific wicked deed.

The songs uncoil this venomous tale with sparse arrangements - Grillos on lead vocals, guitar and mandolin, Matt Cunitz on upright bass, pump organ, backing vocals and Mayumi Urgino on fiddle and backing vocals - are ate less step-by-step chapters than character studies that moves the story and sets a mood.

Album opener “Mexico Line” tells the story of a man headed South-bound, on the run and armed. The song gallops and you feel the desperation in the man by Grillos’ passionate delivery and Urgino’s sawing like she’s possessed in a superb fusion of Gypsy/hillbilly fiddle. Imagine deliverance meets the Red Violin and you’re not far off.

“The Reckoning” is a lilting, beautiful song of foreboding and danger (Don’t go chasing shadows, son, you’ll only find death) “Comin’ Round” is as upbeat mandolin, washboard and fiddle tune that sound like a loose and raucous collaberation of Steve Earle and Kurt Cobain on a hot July front porch night.

“She Said” and “Wasted Time” are a soulfully melancholy tunes reflecting a man’s obsession for a woman out of reach. That obsession is given a finer point on the tune “Caroline,” which finds the subject weaving between desperate pleading and vaguely threatening.

“Red” is easily my favorite cut on the album. An emotional pique comes to a slow boil over strummed guitar and a bobbing and weaving fiddle. “Death Don’t Have No Mercy” is a dirge-like murder ballad that follows in it’s aftermath. “Arm Yourselves” is a Tumbleweed Connection-style rag addressing mob vengeance. “Hangman’s Noose” is a dark song of acquiescence and longing, a man’s view that death is a final means to an end in his loved ones arms. The album concludes with “Alive” where a man is faced with muddied morality of murder as a necessary step toward freedom.

As a concept album The Ballad of Carlsbad County is more then the sum of it’s parts. Each song stands on it’s own and the story isn’t a straitjacket on the organic nature of the whole. This dusty, dark beauty is one of my favorite releases of the year. - Twang Nation


"Album Review"

Here’s something different. Maybe not completely different, as Monty Python’s guys said, but Hang Jones (it’s singer/songwriter Stephen Grillos) is an effort to make the western ballad popular without reaching out to the glitter crowd of Nashville and L.A.

Fiddle, guitar and simple rhythm, along with titles such as “Caroline,” “Comin’ Round” and “Arm Yourselves” help him a lot. Harmony on “Caroline” is nice. These are all on The Ballad of Carlsbad County.

Same nice harmony on “Comin’ Round.” Now “Comin’ Round” is a happy kind of song, country and foot-stompin’ in all it’s glory. Grillos says about the “concept” album. He liked a couple of the songs best when he first wrote a few for this collection, then “got excited” about making other songs fit into a concept. I guess it works. It will probably take the new listener a few times around to get the whole story pieced together.

You can find out this guy and his San Francisco shows on www.myspaced.com/hangjones or on www.hangjones.com.

Grillos does the vocals, guitar and mandolin, while Matt Cunitz is responsible for the CD’s upright bass, pump organ and some vocals. Also making a major contribution is Mayumi Urgino - fiddle, vocals.

Grillos lists among his influences Townes Van Zandt, Steve Earle, Tom Waits, The Stones, John Hurt, Bruce Springsteen, Tim Easton, Rev. Gary Davis, John Mellencamp, Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Blind Blake, Charley Patton and John Lee Hooker. I do like that list! - Indie Update


"Allow Me to Introduce You"

Hang Jones (AKA Stephen Grillos) is a bay area singer-songwriter who has recorded an album based around an outlaw tale. I was hooked by the concept, but the results seem even better. The tale centers around the Outlaw William Bishop. The Ballad of Carlsbad County is the title of his self-released album due out in September. Check out his Website to get the complete tale. Also check out the video below. Based on what I see on his site this seems to be a well crafted project. I hope you agree. Register on his website to be e-mailed as to when you can buy the album. - Amber Waves of Twang


"Daily Lick: Hang Jones"

Hang Jones' album-length ballad about outlaw William Bishop, broken down into twelve chapters, is about as close as you'll get to a folk opera. Storytelling takes a front seat in this 45-minute ride from the "Mexico Line" to "Hangman's Noose" (though he ends up "Alive"), as mandolin, upright bass, and fiddle keep things moving along nicely. — Nate Seltenrich - East Bay Express


"Best of 2008"

Propaganda has been honed to a fine art in the last half century. Americans have been convinced to fight wars, hand over civil and employee rights and consume ever crappier beer, food and, alas, music.

Mainstream Country Music is one of the few genres in the 21st century that tolerates no real deviation from certified Music Row and mainstream radio product. Sure there are exceptions, the Outlaw Movement cooped a largely ignored youth movement, Garth tweaked the business model and stage production and Big and Rich and their “MuzikMafia” was a painfully lame attempt to emulate Hip Hop’s concept of crews. But when it comes to altering the DNA of the music the image driven slickness and paint-by-numers narritives seem as tightly mandated as the McDonald’s Big Mac cooking process. If you don’t fit the hat act mold you are cast into the slums of Americana, folk, roots, alt.country or, if the sins were severe enough, rock!

Into this unyielding environment stepped artists that discovered that Cash, Willie and Hank were speaking to them in ways larger then the flavor of the week bands being crammed down their throats. That’s where the wild hillbilly muse dances. That way real beauty and art lay waiting.

Americana/roots/alt.country is attracting new talent that bravely straddles the cultural divide between trad sepia-toned country circa Jimmie Rogers and Carter Family and the current attitudes, sounds and stories of our times. New artists like O’Death, The Felice Bothers, Justin Townes Earle and Star Anna and road-tested warriors like Dale Watson, Eleven Hundred Springs and Tom Russell have Inject new blood, whiskey and adrenaline into a largely lifeless form of music that refuses to be embalmed.

And then there are the genre-crossing big-wigs like Elvis Costello, Ray Davies, Chrissie Hynde and Robert Plant (who is currently nominated for 6 grammys and forgoing a Led Zeppelin reunion to continue Raising Sand with Bluegrass chanteuse Alison Krauss) that are moving toward a the wildser lands attracted by its proclivity for authenticity and celebration of experimentation. The only sin is mediocrity, the only transgression is bovine conformity.

There’s no reward for compiling a “best of” list. People will quibble with the selections, the order of said selections will displease many and whether the writer is at all qualified to compile such as list will be questioned. Ridicule and contempt is sure to follow.

I do this to celebrate those that are willing to look past the wanna-be-celebrity choked road paved with pyrite. The Great Ones bent Nashville to their ways or took refuge in other regions far from the industry, Bakersfield California, Austin Texas, to ply their wares. The Music Row road is not an easy one, it’s just crowded with sheep and the destination is less interesting.

Here’s to the on’ry, ragged, dusty dreamers.

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10) Hank Williams III - “Damn Right, Rebel Proud” (Sidewalk Records) -The man with a country music royalty pedigree, and an arguable entitlement to the moniker “Man In Blacker,” burns the middle-of-the-road with another custom hot-rod release. Amazon | MySpace | Official Site

9) Jamey Johnson - “That Lonesome Song” (Mercury Nashville) - Jamey Johnson does more than redeem himself for helping to pen Trace Adkins maga-seller Honky Tonk Badonkadonk with this brilliant release born of hard living and a love of Waylon Jennings and George Jones. Amazon | MySpace | Official Site

8) Sara Cahoone - “Only As The Day Is Long” (Sub-Pop) - Former rock drummer Cahoone has created a melancholy-shoegaze-Americana masterpiece with her rainy-day ready debut release. Amazon | MySpace | Sub-Pop

7) Star Anna - “Crooked Path” (Malamute Records) - On this smoldering debut of Americana-noir Ellensburg, Washington’s Star Anna Krogstie proves she can hold her own with Lucinda Williams and Neko Case. Her voice seems to be the shear definition of longing and heartache. Amazon | MySpace | Official Site

6) Hang Jones - “The Ballad of Carlsbad County” (Self Released) - Hang Jones is the alias for Stephen Grillos and his concept album, set in 1887 New Mexico, takes the typical elements - lust, jealousy, whiskey, gunpowder and blood - and works his gritty magic to deliver a great album. Amazon | MySpace | Official Site

5) Luke Powers - “Texasee” (Phoebe Claire) - Powers stated in an interview that Texasee is a study of a mythical place that lies between Nashville and Austin and is done in a style reminiscent of Sam Peckinpah. Sign me up! Writers in the Western genre celebrate a few that are seen as more “literary.” Powers like Tom Russell, James McMurty, John Prine and Joe Ely, occupies the mirror space in music. CD Baby | MySpace | Pheobe Claire Site

4) Felice Brothers (Team Love) -From from the Catskill Mountains to the subways of New York city these actual brothers (and a bass player named Christmas) channel the Basement Tapes and spin magnificently dark tales of desperation and violence. Amazon | MySpace | Official Site

3) O’Death - “Broken Hymns, Limbs and Skin” (Kemado) - New York’s O’Death is a concoction of parts that if mixed any other way would result into a noxious mess. Appalachian Mountain music, Gypsy music, Gothic punk, funk and metal, it all just shouldn’t play nice together. On Broken Hymns, Limbs and Skin the sounds meld magnificently in a dark and volatile masterpiece. Amazon | MySpace | Official Site

2) Justin Townes Earle - “The Good Life” (Bloodshot) -Before technology allowed us to cheat, musicians were the source of musical synthesis, or what is referred to by the hipsters today as mash-ups. Justin Townes Earle harkens back to these aural alchemists and has created a potent blend of 19th century folk, country swing and hillbilly boogie. Overcoming his Daddy’s long musical shadow (and his inclination towards illicit substances) Justin Townes Earle’s first full length release rejoices in heritage while transcending its creators youth. Amazon | MySpace | Bloodshot Records

1) Eleven Hundred Springs - “Country Jam” (Palo Duro Records) - If you want a crash course in the best Texas country music over the last half-century the 2008 release from Dallas’ ESL would be a great place to start. From the hillbilly poetry of Mickey Newbury and Joe Ely to the Western Swing of Bob Wills to the pop and rock of Doug Sahm and Buddy Holly all the influences are there. And though the sounds are reflective of the Texas greats ESL makes it distinctly their own on this superior homage to the Lone Star State. Amazon | MySpace | Official Site

Honorable Mention:

Drive-By Truckers - Brighter Than Creations Dark
The Whipsaws - 60 Watt Avenue
Slim Cessna’s Auto Club - Cipher
Caitlin Rose - Dead Flowers
The Power of County - See You In Rock and Roll Heaven
Lucinda Williams - Little Honey
Kathy Mattea - Coal
The Wildes - Ballad of a Young Married Man
Hayes Carll - Trouble In Mind
Joey + Rory - The Life Of A Song
Kasey Chambers and Shane - Rattlin’ Bones
Ashton Shepherd - Sounds So Good
The Steeldrivers - Self-Titled
Whitey Morgan and the 78’s - Honky Tonks and Cheap Motels - Twang Nation


Discography

The Ballad of Carlsbad County (2009)

Photos

Bio

The best Americana songs all have one thing in common: someone has to get shot. Singer/songwriter Hang Jones took this to heart when writing the songs for his debut album The Ballad of Carlsbad County. What began as a collection of bluegrass inspired country-rock songs evolved into a Western Outlaw-themed story album complete with hangings, gunfights, love, sex, and revenge. Jones credits two of his songs as catalysts for inspiring him to write a concept record. “When I began writing material for the new record, ‘Caroline’ and ‘Red’ were my favorites. I liked them for their cinematic quality, and they were a lot of fun to sing, but when I noticed that they could be chapters in a much larger story, I got really excited about rewriting all the other tunes to fit into the story.”

The album chronicles the life and fall of William Bishop. Born the son of a notorious outlaw, William, at an early age, witnesses his father’s capture and hanging. He spends his developmental years wrestling with the stigma of his father’s crimes (and punishment) while his mother stresses that William’s fate is not the same as his father’s. “I liked the idea of playing with free will versus destiny. Put the protagonist into situations where if he does what he feels is morally right, he will eventually wind up on the same road as his father, a man he himself views as amoral.” Each track on the album is a chapter in the story, taking William, and the listener, to the inevitable crossroads where our hero will have to decide his own fate: hang like his father, or live free like his mother taught him.

Jones is no newcomer to cinematic songwriting. His songs have been featured in the film “American Venus” (2007), as well as NBC prime time television shows “Friday Night Lights,” “The Black Donnellys,” and “Quarterlife.” Jones is also a skilled front man; honing his live performances in his Americana rock band Del Bombers, opening for such legendary acts as Social Distortion, The Blasters, and The Cadillac Tramps as well as several headlining North American tours.

To promote his latest creation Jones has embraced the many tools available on the web to get his music to his fans. A series of music videos have been created, allowing the viewer to get deeper into the storyline of the album. The videos will be released in installments on the Hang Jones website (www.hangjones.com), as well as several peer to peer and social networking sites. Modeled after an old radio serial show, each video has a cliffhanger ending, building up tension for the video that follows. In addition, Jones has added a "Legend" page to his site, where visitors can read how each song on the album ties into the overall story. While the web has begun to bridge the gap between the artist and fan, Jones still believes the best way to get his music, and story, to the masses is through performing live. Jones' live show is stripped down and gritty, captivating the audience through the power of the music, and entangling them in the story through weaving vignettes of the album's principal characters through the songs and spoken interludes. Jones is currently performing throughout Northern California, and will take his act on the road beginning this spring.