In House #1713: Bobby Bare Jr.'s The Longest Meow; Jerry Lee Lewis' Last Man Standing; New Solomon Burke

It might be said that the music of Bobby Bare Jr. is a warped take, at least in part, on the 1970's Nashville inhabited by his famous father. Jr. certainly spent plenty of time during his formative years within that milieu, after all, even going so far as to score a Grammy nomination at the age of five for a duet he sang with Sr. and somehow winding up on stage on the final night of the Grand Ole Opry's run at the storied Ryman Auditorium in 1974. The music he's created since has been a rebellion against that scene, but not the typical kind. Instead of rejecting the somewhat campy sounds that were his beginnings, he's embraced them, turning Nashville on its head by incorporating a variety of musical elements into the familiar territory of fiddles, pedal steel guitars, and "Ring of Fire"-style horn arrangements (an unorthodoxy not unlike his father practiced, notably on his 1973 collaboration with Shel Silverstein, Lullabies, Legends and Lies). For his latest, The Longest Meow, Bobby Bare Jr. reassembled his Young Criminals' Starvation League with personnel from acts like My Morning Jacket, Clem Snide, Lambchop, and others, for a marathon recording session last spring. "11 Songs, 11 Hours, 11 Musicians" is how it's being billed, and the results are a remarkable and typically genre bending collection from Bare Jr., with honky tonk nods like "Back to Blue" and "Demon Valley" alongside rockers like "The Heart Bionic." Psychedelic honky tonk rock, perhaps? Add to the 11 originals a particularly subdued solo take on The Pixies' "Where Is My Mind," and you've got a repeatedly enjoyable, if oddball, effort, the irony being that Bare's Nashville sounds closer to his father's than the current version would dare.

Bobby Bare Jr.

In House #1713.
Airdate: 9/27/06
Focus: New releases from Bobby Bare Jr., The Longest Meow, Jerry Lee Lewis, Last Man Standing, and Solomon Burke, Nashville. Plus, new music from Jim Lauderdale, Wayne Hancock, Old Crow Medicine Show, and more.

BONUS MP3s-
Bobby Bare Jr., from The Longest Meow: "The Heart Bionic" (MP3)

Jerry Lee Lewis with Merle Haggard, from Last Man Standing:
"Just A-Bummin' Around" (MP3)


PLAYLIST

In House PODCAST #182