In a world where Brittney Spears is famous, and a television show crowns one ‘idol’ out of a group of individuals that sound exactly alike, I often find myself listening to some obscure, far removed from the mainstream bands and artists and wondering, “Why in the holy hell are they (him/her) not famous?!”
A few of my favorites:
The Eyeliners: Slamming three-piece all-girl (sisters Laura, Gel, and Lisa) punk band from New Mexico. Saw 'em live a few years back and they blew my socks off.
Jesse Dayton: Country crooner/rockabilly guitarist and all-round honky tonk hero. Has worked with lots of famous people (Waylon Jennings, The Dixie Chicks, etc.) but not too widely known outside of Texas.
Webb Wilder: Basic meat & potatoes rock-n-roll with a bit of a country twang, a cool lead singer with a baritone voice and a sense of humor that won’t quit. If you like The Reverend Horton Heat you’ll probably dig Webb.
Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers: Made up of remnants of The Refreshments and Gin Blossoms. Terrific folksy rock with a bit of salsa and some really clever lyrics. Pretty well known in Arizona, especially the Phoenix area, but strangers in most other parts of the world.
Know any local or regional talent that should be a household name?
In the same vein as Webb Wilder, I’d suggest Bill Kirchen and Junior Brown.
Kirchen is the former guitarist of Commander Cody, and he did the famous riff on their version of “Hot Rod Lincoln”. He’s a lot of fun to see live.
Watching Junior Brown play is like watching a juggler. He plays an unusual hybrid guitar, but it’s not a gimmick. He plays some great stuff, and really has the goods.
The Fenians- an outstanding SoCal band that plays both traditional and contemporary Irish music. Their greatest hits album, You Couldn’t Have Come at a Better Time, is available on iTunes and I can’t recommend it highly enough.
The have toured all over the US and Ireland, and in fact will be in Ireland at the end of March/beginning of April (An Gadai, I’ll be PMing you the Dublin date/venue).
I love Junior Brown. I’ve seen him a couple o’ times. I’m always pleasantly surprised when anyone outside of Texas, especially Austin, knows who he is.
That one’s on “It Came from Nashville”. Helluva’ album.
They got a small amount of exposure on Fuse and their first single (titled…“The First Single”) played on local radio, but I’m surprised the Format weren’t popular–they were a good band (Dog Problems is a wonderful album) most of their songs sound like they’d be radio-friendly.
I am constantly amazed that the members of the Meters (Art Neville, George Porter, Zig Modaliste, Leo Nocentelli) are not household names…
Since they are revered among musicians worldwide, and also celebrated in their hometown of New Orleans, I guess that is something, but I am still dumbfounded that they never hit mainstream popularity.
Chris Smither. Fabulousguitarplayerandsinger, and probably the most engaging and personable artist I’ve ever seen live. He’s a great musician, and a hell of a nice guy.
Sarah Fimm is a singer-songwriter and pianist that plays music pretty similar to trip hop and is my most favorite musician. Her voice, her lyrics, her music, and everything about her is, true to her presumed alias, ethereal. I’ve tried singing her praises here for three years now – five out of every six posts about her are by me, and all but one of the rest are by **Equipoise **(who I am sure will be dropping in to mention her own muse, Happy Rhodes, any time now) in reply to me – but my voice isn’t anywhere as lovely, so I’ve not made any headway.
She’s marginally more popular on the internet as a whole, but she still isn’t as well-known or famous as I feel she should be.
She has an EP free for download at whitebirdsep.com; my favorite track off it is Let it Run.
Jesse Dayton: Country crooner/rockabilly guitarist and all-round honky tonk hero. Has worked with lots of famous people (Waylon Jennings, The Dixie Chicks, etc.) but not too widely known outside of Texas.
I saw Jesse Dayton with the Supersuckers on their “Must’ve Been High” tour. Very good show!
I’m terribly biased, but I think The V.Cs are woefully overlooked. “21st Century retro-futurists bringing you yesterday’s tomorrow today”, you see. Impeccable costumed synth-surf. With theremin. Obviously.
They have a video that’s enormous fun, live shows described as “tighter than a bug’s chuff” and does anyone outside north-west England care? No!
Oooh oooh oooh, I just thought - there’s no nudity or anything like that in that there video, but there is a little a) PG campy spanking with a drumstick, b) implied female orgasm via theremin. If you or your worplace object to either of these themes, please do not click!
Remember Danielle Brisebois, the little girl Stephanie on “All In The Family.”
I saw her CD “Arrive All Over You” (get it???) and bought it on a lark thinking, “Oh a kid actor trying to sing.”
WOW was I just blown away. I can’t figure out why someone with THIS MUCH talent and ability is NOT famous <–note use of caps
She blows away artists like Alanis Morrisette. I think she arrived before the style of music popularized by Morrisette was in.
I bought Brisebois’s second CD “Portable Life,” and paid $75.00 for it on eBay (it was never issued) and it was worth it. I’d pay $200 for it, it was THAT good.
The writing is so superior to anything anyone has put out in the last 20 years and can Danielle sing.
If you get a chance to listen to “Arrive All Over You” or “Portable Life” do it. You won’t be sorry. Those are great CDs
