Fust on Saturday Sessions

I did not see Durham’s Fust popping up on CBS Saturday Morning’s Saturday Sessions coming yesterday. It was also a pleasant surprise to see the keyboard player’s “Florry is numero uno” t-shirt. Though not a stretch since they’re Dear Life Records label mates. My first time seeing Florry they were on the same bill as Fust during a day party at Hopscotch in Raleigh in 2023.

Courtney’s Back

New music from Courtney Barnett.

Drive-By Truckers at Pine Hill Farm 10.6.01

 

Listening to this previously unreleased live acoustic version of “Sink Hole” from the upcoming expanded edition of Decoration Day (The Definitive Decoration Day, due November 14 on New West) immediately put me in mind of the first of two mostly acoustic house shows Drive-By Truckers did at Pine Hill Farm in Durham, NC nearly a quarter century ago this month. This show was among the last they did with Rob Malone. I’d just seen them the night before at Firebelly Lounge in Wilmington. By the time they returned to Firebelly in early December they had a new guitarist in tow, Jason Isbell. 

The following year they returned to Pine Hill Farm. It was no less enjoyable than the first show but had an entirely different vibe. The first show was held inside with everyone jammed in front of the fireplace. It had a far more intimate feel. It was also in the wake of the terrorist attacks of September 11, which gave new meaning to songs from Southern Rock Opera, especially “Angels and Fuselage” and lines like, “Livin’ in fear’s just another way of dyin’ before your time” from Cooley’s “Shut Up and Get On the Plane.” 

While there were somber moments like the late Jyl Freed singing backup on and being moved to tears by “Angels and Fuselage,” there were also moments of jubilation such as the crowd singing along to the set closing cover of Wet Willie’s “Keep On Smilin’” and gut busting laughter thanks to the one liners of drummer Brad Morgan, who you usually never hear a peep out of during a regular show. 

The more casual atmosphere also afforded Patterson Hood more of an opportunity to preface the songs with his unique brand of storytelling.  It was an epic show in every sense of the word, never to be repeated. Their return engagement in early summer of 2002 with Isbell roughly a year before the release of Decoration Day (his first album with the band), had its moments but lacked the magic of the first. Years later, following Isbell’s departure from the band, these shows would serve as inspiration for the largely acoustic Dirt Underneath tour where they broke in songs that would become their next record, Brighter Than Creation’s Dark.

Circling back to “Sink Hole,” it was also at this first house show at Pine Hill Farm where Patterson tipped many of us off to The Accountant, a dark comedy starring Ray McKinnon about “saving the family by any means necessary,” that had inspired the song. The next year, it went on to win Best Live Action Short Film at the Oscars.

Below are some brief snippets from footage Craig Zearfoss shot at the first Pine Hill Farm show, the setlist, and other pertinent links. Unfortunately, I’ve been unable to locate an audio recording of the show to link to, though a recording does exist. Video can be obtained from the Southern Folklife Collection at UNC in Chapel Hill. In closing, I’m thankful to see an entire recording of one of the Truckers mostly acoustic shows finally see an official release.

Kurt Heggland, né Hickey introducing the Truckers

 

“Heathens” (snippet)

“Sink Hole” (snippet)

Drive-By Truckers at Pine Hill Farm in Durham, NC 10.6.01

1. Heathens
2. The Boys From Alabama
3. Marry Me
4. Goode's Field Road
5. Panties In Your Purse
6. The Tough Sell
7. The Company I Keep
8. Stupid Song
9. My Sweet Annette
10. Old Timer's Disease
11. One Of These Days
12. Sink Hole
13. Mizen Was American
14. Tornadoes
15. Daddy's Cup
16. Days of Graduation
17. Ronnie and Neil
18. 72 (This Highway's Mean)
19. Dead, Drunk, and Naked
20. Guitar Man Upstairs
21. Cassie's Brother
22. The Southern Thing
23. Women Without Whiskey
24. Zip City
25. Let There Be Rock
26. Shut Up and Get On The Plane
27. Greenville To Baton Rouge
28. Bulldozers and Dirt
29. Angels and Fuselage
30. Keep On Smilin' (Wet Willie)

Links

Craig Zearfoss Collection, 1988-2008

Drive-By Truckers at Pine Hill Farm, 6.29.02

U2 Released Rattle and Hum on This Day in 1988

 

Print advertisement for Rattle and Hum, released 0ctober 10, 1988.

U2 released Rattle and Hum on this day in 1988. This, and R.E.M.’s Green (released the following month on Election Day) were my last new vinyl purchases at the time. Rattle and Hum marked the end of an era for U2 and Green, R.E.M.’s major label debut on Warner Brothers, marked the beginning of a new one for them.

R.E.M.’s Green on CD housed in a longbox. Released November 8, 1988 in the US.

That year for Christmas I received a CD player along with my first CDs: Green and The Best of the New Riders of the Purple Sage. I had held out for as long as I could before making the transition to CDs. At this time, vinyl was being phased out, seemingly for good. Who knew it would someday make a return. In this digital age where streaming reigns supreme it all seems so quaint, especially thinking back on CD longboxes.

R.E.M. at the Pier, 10.10.82

From this day in 1982 at the Pier in the Cameron Village Subway located beneath Cameron Village Shopping Center in Raleigh, NC. At this time R.E.M. were not even a blip on my radar but here they are playing one of many early shows practically in my backyard. They first came to my attention the following spring when I heard “Laughing” from their full length debut album, Murmur on WQDR, an album rock station out of Raleigh. The rest as they say is history…

Waxahatchee on KEXP

Waxahatchee performing at the AJ Fletcher Opera Theatre during the Hopscotch Music Festival in Raleigh, NC on September 7, 2018.

I’m not sure exactly when Waxahatchee first appeared on my radar but I do know my interest was piqued enough to catch her during Hopscotch in 2018. At the time she had just released her Great Thunder EP. While I certainly enjoyed her set, I mainly picked up her EP on the strength of it being produced by Brad Cook. Even so, I was not overly taken with it.

Poster for the private, invitation only show at the Pinhook in Durham. NC on January 3, 2023 where Waxahatchee debuted songs from the album that would become Tigers Blood.

Fast forward to 2022 and I was all in with the Plains album she made with Jess Williamson. On the recommendation of a friend, I backtracked to her St. Cloud album which I also enjoyed. 

In early 2023 I received a text from a friend alerting me to an upcoming private, invitation only show at the Pinhook in Durham where she would be debuting a set of new songs backed by a stellar lineup of mostly local musicians. Thankfully, I didn’t sleep on that and purchased a ticket the next day. These songs are the ones that would become Tigers Blood, which came out the following year.

The next time Waxahatchee came to the area she played the DPAC, a considerably larger venue just a few blocks away from the Pinhook. It’s almost the same story for MJ Lenderman, who plays on the record and was a member of her band that night at the Pinhook. In early 2025 he played two sold out shows at Cat’s Cradle in Carrboro. By this summer he also found himself headlining the DPAC.

In a musical landscape where so many of my favorite artists fly just beneath the radar I find it remarkable when they’re somehow able to achieve that next level of success that eludes so many.

Back in August Waxahatchee stopped by KEXP’s studios in Seattle, WA to record her fifth live performance for the station. It debuted on YouTube just a few days ago.

Son Volt’s Trace at 30

 

Son Volt’s debut album, Trace. Released September 19th, 1995 on Warner Brothers Records.

“Drown,” the second single from Trace, 

released October 31st, 1995.

Trace, Son Volt’s 1995 debut album recently turned 30 with little to no fanfare. Much is made of the grunge explosion of the 90s, understandably so. However, there was a revolution taking place on the fringes that gave us alt.country. Long a fan of country music that blurred boundaries, it took me a while to get caught up in the undercurrent. I was aware of some of the artists and had seen No Depression magazine in the racks at bookstores but I was hearing very little of the music itself. 

Probably the most notable exception was the Jayhawks, who we played on WSFL (then an AOR station out of New Bern, NC) in the early 90s. I liked what I heard by them well enough but it didn’t really pique my interest to the point of seeking out more of their work or the work of similar artists. Even a promo copy I’d acquired of Uncle Tupelo’s final album Anodyne didn’t move the needle for me, at least right away.

Everything changed in late October of 1995 when I heard “Drown” from Trace on the radio for the first time. It was also on MTV and VH1. So infectious it didn’t take long for it to sink its hooks in me. Though tired from a day at work, one evening I drove into Jacksonville specifically to pick up a copy of Trace from Tracks (formerly Record Bar). This is the album that set me on the path to alt.country.

In 1997 came a couple various artist compilations on Yep Roc Records (Revival Vol. I and II) featuring local and regional artists which led me to pick up albums by the Backsliders, Whiskeytown, and Trailer Bride. A fateful first trip to Austin to visit family for Thanksgiving later that year introduced me to KGSR where I heard Cheri Knight’s “Rose in the Vine” and was reminded that there was life for Steve Earle beyond “Copperhead Road” thanks to ample airplay of “Telephone Road” from the then recently released El Corazón. Least I forget, I’d also seen him in concert for the first time earlier in the year at Merlefest which included a set with Guy Clark in memory of Townes Van Zandt who’d passed on New Year’s Day. During this inaugural visit, among many other purchases were the second Revival comp and Cheri Knight’s The Northeast Kingdom.

In the late summer of 1998 I finally had internet access at home. In November I saw Whiskeytown (my then favorite band) at the Brewery in Raleigh for the first time (subsequent shows were two impromptu reunions at Lakeside Lounge/Slim’s in Raleigh).

In the spring of 1999 I discovered the locally based, twang-centric Guitartown listserv. This is when my love of alt.country truly blossomed. I became part of a community deeply immersed in the subgenre in the heart of a region brimming with many of those artists. Surely, this would have happened sooner or later but most certainly wouldn’t have happened in the same way had it not been for being completely captivated by hearing “Drown,” and then Trace 30 years ago this fall.

Hurricane Ophelia

 

Image courtesy of the National Weather Service 

With his grandfather Norwood Frost's house and business in ruins in Salter Path, N.C., Daniel Frost, 6, who lives next door, helps remove debris from the home, which sustained 4 feet of water damage from Hurricane Ophelia. Norwood Frost, not pictured, who has lived on the property his entire life, said he only had water in the house after Hurricane Floyd and said the damage from Ophelia was the worst.

(Lawrence Journal World September 16, 2005)

It was 20 years ago this month that Hurricane Ophelia changed everything. There have been more severe hurricanes but coming on the heels of the onslaught of storms that started with the double whammy of Hurricanes Bertha and Fran in the summer of 1996, it was the straw that broke the camel’s back as far as my family having to make the difficult decision to part with our cottage on the Intracoastal Waterway which my father had purchased back in the 70s. 

It also happened between Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, both of which had a devastating impact on the Gulf coast. In fact, when I contacted FEMA for help, they laughed and hung up the phone. Those were far more dangerous storms but it didn’t make me any less homeless or in need of assistance.

I moved in with family, and left a job I’d held since 1998. It was also roughly within this time frame that we sold our family home at Sleepy Creek. That was the plan anyway since both my parents had passed but nevertheless it was a time of great upheaval. This was all the beginning of the next chapter of my life. I was 43 at the time.

You Can Get There From Here

10 years ago this past summer I finally entered the world of the innerwebz. Suddenly it seemed to make destinations such as Raleigh feel less distant. Just reading about shows when I happened upon a copy of the Spectator or the Independent was cool enough for me but it wasn’t enough for me to act on instinct to travel the distance. With the web I could map it all out; the mileage, the time, the money, all of the logistics. With friends and relatives in the area I also had a place to stay. I think my first trip up here was for Southern Culture on the Skids at the Cats Cradle in the winter/early spring of ’97. The show was sold out but a kind couple gifted my brother and I with a pair of extra tickets they had won. Zen Frisbee opened and even had the balls to cover SCOTS’ own Shotgun during their set. My brother had so much fun he danced a hole in his sock. I don’t recall how much of a role the web played in that trip but it definitely played a huge part in my next journey to the area.

Some time in the mid-90s Son Volt’s Drown single got the best of me. It got to me to the point where I made the trip from Swansboro to Tracks (formerly Record Bar) in Jacksonville one night just to buy their debut album, Trace. I had been reading about this “alt.country” thing here and there over the years and even had an Uncle Tupelo record (Anodyne), one I really never paid much mind to at the time but the subsequent off-shoot groups Wilco and Son Volt were starting to get my attention. Couple this with a burgeoning local alt.country scene and I was finding new interest in local music again. Namely Whiskeytown, whose singer I heard hailed from Jacksonville. After purchasing a compilation of mainly local bands (Revival Vol. 1: Brunswick Stew n’ Pig Pickin’ on Yep Roc) I could actually sample what these bands sounded like. I was somewhat aware of Whiskeytown through my brief tenure at WSFL in New Bern where we had their first single (though I don’t recall it ever being played on the air). I also remember the initial buzz around them with the inescapable “alt.country Nirvana” tag thanks to the antics of frontman Ryan Adams. The sampler also introduced me to the Backsliders, Trailer Bride, Six String Drag, Two Dollar Pistols and Glory Fountain. In fact, I think I even bought the Backsliders debut before I purchased my first Whiskeytown record (Strangers Almanac) but I digress…

It’s the fall of 1998 and a listing for Whiskeytown at the Brewery in Raleigh is tugging at me. It’s on a Thursday night but thanks to a fairly flexible work schedule I’m able to come in for half a day on Friday so I can attend the show. When I referred to my second trip to Raleigh for a local show as a “journey” I meant it. Somewhere on I-40 near Meadow, NC I start having a rather bumpy ride. I pull over on the shoulder of the road to discover I have not one but two flat tires on my van. After a tow truck ride into town and having the tires replaced I’m back on the road. When I arrive at the show openers Lou Ford from Charlotte are just finishing up their set. As Whiskeytown’s arrival grows near the house music gets louder as a lone spotlight shines on a drumkit with Ryan’s guitar leaned up against it. Soon they take the stage and Ryan explains Caitlin Cary will do most of the talking this evening so he can avoid putting his foot in his mouth. The songs are mostly new, many of which still haven’t appeared on a proper Whiskeytown record. The set is also peppered with cuts from their newest album at the time, Strangers Almanac. The first set is over far too quickly and the band is back onstage to close out the night. If I thought the first set was brief, I was in for a huge surprise with the second. Before I knew it amps were being punctured with guitar necks as the band shook up their beers and sprayed the audience. All this amongst ear piercing feedback that recalled Sonic Youth (I’d find out years later the closing song in question was a Whiskeytown original called Piss On Your Grave). I didn’t know what hit me but whatever it was, I enjoyed it. It seems like the show had barely started before the houselights went up and the concert was over. I had a fleeting moment to catch Ryan’s ear as he emerged from the dressing room so I told him of my trip from his hometown, complete with two flat tires along the way, only to arrive and hear a set that lasted barely over an hour. His response? “Sometimes it just happens that way”. At the time I was a bit peeved but as the years have gone by I feel fortunate just to have seen Whiskeytown in any form.

My first Guitartown gathering, the parking lot at Walnut Creek prior to Wilco and R.E.M. taking the stage on my birthday, August 27th, 1999.

Fast forward to the spring of ’99 and I have somehow stumbled upon a link to a Triangle based music listserve called Guitartown with an emphasis on the local alt.country scene. Shortly thereafter I joined up and soon find myself traveling to the area much more frequently. Reflecting upon the years I can’t even begin to count up the number of times I’ve hit I-40 from Swansboro for various live music locales in the Triangle. It all began with a Trailer Bride show at the Brewery that summer, just a few weekends prior to R.E.M. playing Walnut Creek with Wilco where I met some of my newfound Guitartown friends for the first time. Some of the members of the list have come and gone over the years while a handful of folks that were there in the very beginning have remained. I wasn’t there at the start but I got there as quick as I could.

In the last 9 years I have made various attempts to move to the region I found so rich with music and friendship. I miss the coast but due to circumstances beyond my control my family had to part with a home we’d had there since the early 70s. In the last couple of years I have fallen upon hard times on the work front. Nothing seemed to work out. After a considerable stretch of this, some dear friends in Raleigh offered to open up one of the rooms in their home to me. This would not only get me out of the former hellhole I was living in (Tarboro, a nice enough town but not much goes on there) but allow me to be in a city where I’m at most every weekend anyway, not to mention having many more prospects on the job front.

In March of this year Guitartown turned 10. Oddly enough, now that I've finally arrived the founder of the list (Alison Williams) has plans to move to Boston this summer. She will be dearly missed but I remain eternally grateful for the community she helped create and for the many friends I've made as well as all the great music I've had the pleasure of hearing over the past 10 years, none of which would have ever happened if I didn't stumble upon that link to Guitartown way back in the summer of 1998 whilst surfing the "series of tubes" known as the internet.

Not long ago, a very dear friend proofread this essay I've been working on since arriving in Raleigh last August. She thought it was good but it needed an ending. 9 months later that ending is still writing itself. I'm just glad to finally be where I've struggled so long and hard to be for the last 10 years. Thanks to all of my friends who've been kind enough to welcome me into their homes over the years, here's to all the great music we've shared along the way. The next part of my journey is just now beginning.