#alec newnam

[lauraepartain]

Happy Valentines Day to my best friend Alec Newnam. Taken during a recording session last month here in Nashville.

[sinceileftyoublog]

Live Picks: 10/15

Kelsey Waldon

BY JORDAN MAINZER

Country, punk, somewhere in between.

Kelsey Waldon, Schubas

Of the current crop of “high and lonesome” country artists, Kelsey Waldon certainly has the pedigree, as the first artist to sign to John Prine’s Oh Boy Records in 15 years. With her album White Noise/White Lines, she dives headfirst into the descriptor’s spirit, making an album that argues that you find yourself when you’re by yourself. 

Co-produced with Dan Knobler and filled out by a formidable four-piece band and guest fiddle and Wurlitzer players, Waldon’s record is as much a showcase for her traditional drawl as it is her ability to paint a picture of the ability--or lack thereof--to escape. It’s an album rooted in time and place, both ambiguous and specific. Take the title track: “Black snake crawlin’ through the soy beans, summertime / It’s hotter than a child should ever know,” Waldon sings over hazy, disorienting guitars. You may have never been to where she’s talking about, but you can picture it, smell it, feel it. The song ends with a recording of a chant from members of the Ada, Oklahoma Chickasaw Tribe that Waldon met during a solar eclipse. The heat and the sounds are part of them and that location just as where she’s from in rural Kentucky is part of her. On “Kentucky, 1988″, she sings, “This is my DNA / I wouldn’t have it any other way / When things got rough, we did not complain,” not as a sense of stubborn pride but of a society unavoidably ingrained in you, for better and for worse.

It’s the strength of her roots--and roots in general--that shapes Waldon’s views on fate. On the short, acoustic strummed “Lived and Let Go”, she argues for living in the moment instead of planning too much. “What will all the little children say? / When they wake up to find their dreams too far away,” she sings, before smiling, “When you leave, hope your stone says you lived and let go.” “An idle mind is the devil’s playground,” she warns on waltz “Run Away”, arguing that acting in self-sufficiency rather than wallowing in your lonely sorrow helps you thrive. On bourbon drinking anthem “Very Old Barton”, she sings, “You are the real thing when you are alone.” Alcohol is the catalyst for the surfacing of the truth that lies inside you, how your background affects your perceptions.

It’s closer and cover of Ola Bell Reed’s “My Epitaph” that really ties together the record. Over Mike Khalil’s tremolo electric guitar and Brett Resnick’s longing pedal steel, Waldon finally confronts death. “Where that I’m going, I won’t be alone,” she sings, convincing enough to make non-believers weep, again reminding us to live our lives by the grace of God or whatever we believe in. Nate Felty’s drum roll brings the song and album to its final crescendo as we reflect on what Waldon’s told us--though if we’d have followed her instructions, we’d have been acting based on her wisdom the whole time.

Album score: 8.3/10

White Noise/White Lines by Kelsey Waldon

Local singer-songwriter David Quinn opens.

B Boys, Empty Bottle

B Boys, the Brooklyn trio of Andrew Kerr, Brendon Avalos, Britton Walker, are as succinct as their band’s name and that of their latest record Dudu. Recorded by Gabe Wax and mixed by Andy Chugg, it manages to interpolate dance-punk, power pop, post-punk, sludgy fuzz, and funk all while remaining true to the band’s minimalism. Inevitably comparable to Parquet Courts, B Boys juxtapose shouted, sometimes harmonized vocal chants with wiry, anxiety-addled instrumentation, often managing to capture that nervous dread in song with much fewer words than PC. “Prove it!” “Guilty!” they shout on “Pressure Inside”, obtuse but with the potential to capture the zeitgeist and our collective mindset because of it.

The instrumentation on the record, more specifically the interplay between lead guitar, bass, and drums, is impressive, as the guitars slink along with the vocals on “No” and criss-cross in off-kilter patterns over the chugging drums and bass on “Instant Pace”. The complex stop-starts of “I Want” are just as worthwhile as the fuzzy hooks of “On Repeat”. “Can’t Stand It” manages to stay relaxed as Avalos laments “waking up to my ever changing moods.”

As much as B Boys are self-aware in their absurd postmodernism--there’s a song on here called “Another Anthem”, for goodness sakes--they ultimately do find time to be serious. The penultimate “Taste For Trash” is the best song on the record, on the surface silly but an ultimately sort of moving rant about how we poison the earth and ourselves. “I’ve got no taste for trash! / It kills everything / It’s inside me,” Avalos screams. When the words ring true, why flower them? B Boys present the gutter in all of its horror.

Album score: 7.2/10

Local art rock band The Knees and experimentalists Aitis Band open.

Liz Phair, Jay Pritzker Pavilion

Tonight, Liz Phair discusses her memoir Horror Stories with renowned music critic Jessica Hopper. Phair also recently announced that she’s releasing a new album next year helmed by producer Brad Wood, who worked on her beloved 90′s records, and featuring Exile in Guyville guitarist/engineer Casey Rice. She’s already shared a song, “Good Side”, from the album sessions. Never mind the catchy, chugging beat and flanging guitars; the song is more notable for its instantly iconic opening lines: “There’s so many ways to fuck up a life / I’ve tried to be original / Done plenty more wrong than I ever did right / Still I’m not a criminal.”

[lauraepartain]

A day late, but happy 4th Anniversary to my sweet, sweet Alec Newnam. Thanks for loving me through it all, and supporting me in all the incredible ways you do. We're both such lucky, lucky ducks. Photograph taken backstage at the Opry a few years back <3 

[lauraepartain]

Alec and Mary Lou Newnam, Ocean City NJ | Sept 2020 | Mary Lou, who also happens to be Alec’s mother, is a professional multi-instrumentalist, with her main instrument being saxophone (though pictured here with her clarinet), and her primary genre of work being the jazz scenes of Philly, Jersey, and New York. She’s played with a multitude of excellent and legendary artists, including the likes of Jimmy McGriff and The Temptations. However here in the more intimate setting of her backyard in Ocean City NJ, she and Alec play outside. I believe the original idea of playing outside stemmed from a need to be covid-safe while we visited. It also made for a great photograph. The apple didn’t fall far from the tree in this family - it’s quite incredible to hear them play. Alec is also pictured with his late father Bill Newnam’s old Kay upright bass. Bill was also a professional musician, with equally as remarkable of stories and musicianship.

[lauraepartain]

3 years ago today, Alec and I, after a very brief and certain week of spending time together, began formally dating. We knew, it was easy, and supernaturally meant to be. Something I never imagined I’d have in my own life. I made this portrait of Alec on Lookout Mountain in Chattanooga, TN the day we started dating. It was the best day of my life. I love him more with every passing day. It’s beyond me that we ever met. I love you, Alec Newnam. 

[lauraepartain]

I haven't been great at posting to socials lately. Been shooting a lot and working on a lot of unreleased material. While in real life Alec's birthday was entirely memorable last week, including an excellent recording session with Greasy Neale and Brendan Benson, and a lot of carrot cake and we-time, here's a belated appreciation post to my favorite person. Lots of love to my dedicated, empathetic, intelligent, goofy, passionate, and loving Alec. My creative co-pilot, hiking buddy, and real time sketch comedy partner. Every day, on his birthday, and beyond. You're someone I celebrate every day. <3 Alec Newnam

[lauraepartain]

Alec Newnam’s 30th birthday portrait | St Pete, Fl | Dec 2019

[lauraepartain]

I knew Bill Newnam for a little under a year. He was a lifelong student of music, trombone player who played with countless artists including Frank Sinatra, Gladys Knight, and James Brown to name a few, and the father to my Alo. Its no wonder Alec inherited musical genes from both of his parents. I last saw Bill at Christmas, and in parting ways he recited the lyrics to Cole Porter’s “Every Time We Say Goodbye”.  Alec and Bills relationship was one of father and son, but also so intimately, was about the music they loved. Im so, so grateful to have known him. See you on the other side ❤️ 

[lauraepartain]

Alec Newnam and Dennis Crouch | June 2018

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Alec Newnam | 03/19/18

[lauraepartain]

A year ago this very night, I got a text from an acquaintance at random exclaiming to me how great 650AM is at night (which is pretty damn true). I told him that they were recording at the American Legion Post 82 and that I was just leaving, he told me he was at the bar across the street, I told him I wanted to come hang, and he said the first round of drinks was on him. We talked until the lights came on. It was a supernatural communion of two spirits and that was it from that moment, til now, until forever. Happy 1 year of hanging out night after night, Alec Newnam. I can’t believe it. Youre truly and forever my best friend ❤️