Micah P Hinson 'All Dressed Up and Smelling of Strangers'

A covers album!

There are two ways of doing a covers album. One is to choose some relatively obscure songs and do some respectful and reverential versions, upsetting nobody and probably introducing your fans to some new artists. The second way is to laugh in the face of this notion and just choose your favourite songs and record them exactly as you choose. Micah P Hinson has chosen the second option.

As a result, the Texan troubadour presents a two volume collection of covers, divided loosely but not completely into a set of intimate acoustic recordings and louder full-band efforts. Hinson aims high and tackles well loved songs by the likes of Dylan, Cohen, Denver, The Beatles, Buddy Holly and, er, Emmy The Great.

Inevitably, with a project like this, the songs are executed with varying degrees of success. One constant though is Hinson's deep Texan drawl, a quite wonderful instrument which conveys real emotion; smooth and soothing one moment, harsh and broken the next, it has served him well with his own songs and in many ways works even better here...

..Take 'The Times They Are A Changing', no point in doing a cover of this you might think, especially not in exactly the same acoustic tradition as the original, but it is a joy because Hinson sings it so well, emphasising some of the words differently and stretching some of the syllables out, it is engaging and rich...and wisely he doesn't ruin it with a harmonica solo. Similarly, he does a great job with Emmy The Great's 'We Almost Had A Baby', switching it to the male perspective and having fun with lines like "I am a man...but before I met you, fuck, I was only a kid" and he does a straight, perfectly sung version of Leonard Cohen's 'Suzanne'.

If Volume 1 is filled with moody, lo-fi americana versions of standards, Volume 2 is far more adventurous and playful. For example, Hinson yells out Buddy Holly's 'Listen To Me' over a wall of guitar noise and Leadbelly's 'In The Pines' may lack the naked emotion of Kurt Cobain's version but is just as edgy and desperate.

'All Dressed Up and Smelling of Strangers' is a triumph for Micah P Hinson. As covers albums go, it is daring and experimental, but most of all it showcases what an amazing singer Hinson is. He takes on some of the all time greats here, and never sounds out of his depth.

8.1

['All Dressed Up and Smelling of Strangers' is out now on Full Time Hobby]

Micah P Hinson covers LP

Micah P Hinson's brand of country-noir is perfectly suited to soundtracking the start of Autumn, so what better time for Micah to release....a double album of covers?

Yes indeed, 'All dressed up and smelling of strangers' is released on cd and download on September 21st and has a quite mouthwatering tracklisting, which is below. Also, Micah plays the Cargo in London on 15th September.

The album is on Full Time Hobby and you can pre-order now directly from them.

1. Slow and Steady
2. This Old Guitar
3. Kiss Me Mother, Kiss You Darling
4. Not Forever Now
5. The Times They Are A Changin’
6. Suzanne
7. We Almost Had A Baby
8. My Way

Volume 2
1. Sleepwalk
2. Running Scared
3. Stop The World
4. Are You Lonesome
5. In The Pines
6. You Didn’t Have To Be So Nice
7. Listen To Me
8. While My Guitar Gently Weeps

The T&G 11

TracksandGigs is preparing its 'Album of The Year' list. In advance of this, it has nominated eleven albums to form the 'album of the year' shortlist. Each of these records has given T&G an enormous amount of pleasure this year. The list, in alphabetical order, is...

American Music Club 'The Golden Age'

A few weak tracks here but many strong ones and it features one of Eitzel's most beautiful songs, the incredibly visual and moving 'Sleeping Beauty'

Beck 'Modern Guilt'

Short and sweet, his most cohesive record to date. An exciting, tremendously alive set of songs.

Fleet Foxes 'Fleet Foxes'

Deserving of all the hype. A delicious mix of country, soul, pop and folk. Gorgeous harmonies and a great Summer record.

Jenny Lewis 'Acid Tongue'

Unfairly slated by some, this is a luxurious, rewarding album to listen to. It is also a lovely recording with plenty of space allowed and each instrument given room to breathe.

Micah P Hinson 'Red Empire..'

A warm and inviting country-noir album that is all the better for Hinson finally sounding happy and content.

Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks 'Real Emotional Trash'

Just about his best since Pavement. A guitar masterclass and some great songs too.

The Dodos 'Visitor'

Sweet ballads, innovative percussion and great songs. This came from nowhere but will stand the test of time.

The Mountain Goats 'Heretic Pride'

An album of horror, monsters, death and fun from John Darnielle. Some of his best 'loud' songs for years. A really consistent album too.

The Sleeping Years 'We're Becoming Islands, One By One'

Quietly beautiful folk/pop songs from ex-Catchers frontman Dale Grundle.

The Twilight Sad 'Here It Never Snowed...'

Atmospheric mini-album with the band playing in a completely different style from their debut LP. Including  a stunning Daniel Johnston cover.

Tindersticks 'The Hungry Saw'

Unconcerned with the past, this is a fresh, vibrant piece of music that has formed the centre-piece of the band's shows this year. It has left the band rejuvinated and open to all possibilities for the future. A near-perfect 45 minutes.

Full list soon.

Gig Dilemma

Have now got an absolutely awful gig dilemma.

I have tickets for Micah P Hinson at The Scala on November 6th, supported by Retribution Gospel Choir. Was very much looking forward to it, but now I find that Damien Jurado is playing the Union Chapel on the same night and.....The Sleeping Years are supporting.

Have seen Micah a few times but none since the new LP (which I love), have never seen DJ but would like to and have never seen TSY but am absolutely desperate to. Plus Union Chapel is my favourite venue.

Its a nightmare! Any advice?

Single Of The Week

yes, its once again time to pretend that we come up with a Single of The Week every week....but anyway....this week, by a country mile, it is...

Micah P Hinson 'We Won't Have To Be Lonesome'

Micah P Hinson's latest album '...Red Empire', is a stunning collection of country-noir ballads. If ever an album merited the description 'warm and beautiful' this is it. Hinson's deep, texan croon sits perfectly on top of sparse acoustic arrangements with the occasional orchestral flourish and burst of electric guitar. Needless to say, it is a fine album.

'We Won't Have to be Lonesome', the second single from it, is one of the more traditional sounding country songs on the record and given Hinson's trials and tribulations over the years, it is lovely to hear him singing a simple love song. Micah proposed to his girlfriend at a Union Chapel gig (attended by TracksandGigs) last Christmas, they are now married and this warm (sorry, i was trying to only use that word once in this review) guitar and organ led ballad pretty much tells the story. It soulds like a standard.

B Side 'You Ain't Calling The Shots' is spikier but equally good.

Hinson's music, intimate and lo-fi as it is, sounds better on vinyl so you should definitely be buying this on 7" vinyl, out on Monday 22nd, and available to pre-order from Norman Records and Piccadilly Records, TracksandGigs' recommended vendors.

Hinson tours the UK with Retribution Gospel Choir supporting (or thats the plan anyway) in November.

Micah P Hinson '...and the Red Empire Orchestra'

TracksandGigs has received a promo of the new Micah P Hinson LP. To be honest, I approached this with some trepedation. Texan singer-songwriter Hinson's 2004 debut 'Gospel of Progress' was a fine album. Mixing alt-country with Tindersticks style epic ballads, it showed him to be a highly promising talent. 2006's follow-up album though, was disappointing, a sketchy album with some good moments but not a patch on it's predecessor.

'Gospel of Progress' was inspired by Hinson's recovery from drug addiction and time spent in the County jail in 2000 and 'The Opera Circuit' was recorded following an accident that left Hinson in agony with a back injury that required surgery. Unlike his first two records then, 'The Red Empire Orchestra' is inspired by a happy event; Hinson proposed to his girlfriend at a gig at London's Union Chapel in December 2007, she said 'yes' and they are to be married soon.

Unsurprisingly, the result is an album full of warmth and containing many songs alluding to love and comfort. As with 'Gospel of Progress', Hinson's songs, originally demoed on acoustic guitar, are embellished by string arrangements and plenty of violin and cello. He sings in a slow croon, sounding like a Texan Stuart Staples and frequently repeats the same verse throughout a song, twisting the same words around to unravel layers of meaning.

'Tell Me It Ain't So' and 'I Keep Having These Dreams' especially are gorgeous ballads with subtle string arrangements and strong melodies. 'You Will Find Me' builds into a bigger epic with electric guitar used to good effect. 'We Won't Have to be Lonesome' meanwhile is Hinson's most Country-esque song to date.

The highlights though, is 'Sunrise Over The Olympus Mons', a patient ballad with Hinson singing "...oh love of my life". His confidence in these songs shines through here, he is not afraid to sing unaccompanied or with a very minimal guitar backing. He shouldn't be afraid either, he has a rich, deep voice and sounds like none other than Lee Hazlewood here.Listening to this album several times on a warm Sunday morning was a real pleasure. It is a warm, confident album made by an artist who sounds content and secure. This is easily Hinson's finest album to date, the songs are unhurried, melodic and memorable.

8.8

'The Red Empire Orchestra' is out on July 14 on Full Time Hobby. Micah P Hinson plays The Borderline on the same day and The Scala in November.

Pineapple Folk Yuletide Gathering

Grrrrrr. If this was a blog about work, you would probably see the steam rising from your monitor everytime you point your browser at Tracks and Gigs. Am I having a bad week? Yes. But, this isn't a blog about work so I shall say no more.

Anyway, there is life and there are great upcoming gigs. Recommending a forthcoming gig is a bad idea really. As anyone who has ever seen Cat Power live will know, anything can happen at a gig. But still, all things being equal the wonderfully named Pineapple Folk Yuletide Gathering will be an amazing night.

It takes place at Union Chapel in Islington on 8th December (with additional nights in Glasgow and Manchester. Check local listings for details). Union Chapel is easily my favourite venue. Still a working church, it is such a beautiful place to see a concert and I've seen some great gigs there over the years.....Smog, Low, Iron and Wine and Willard Grant Conspiracy all spring to mind.

The line up for the PFYG is simply superb.

Opening up will be Alasdair Roberts, the Scottish singer and guitarist who plays some lovely traditional folk songs. I have yet to see him live and can't imagine a better place than the Chapel to finally hear him play.

There will also be an hour long set from The Mountain Goats (see the post from last week for more on them), which I am tremendously excited about, especially as they will most likely be playing some songs from their forthcoming new album 'Heretic Pride'.

Headlining will be Micah P Hinson. Micah is a singer-songwriter from Memphis who has led a colourful live and produced two stunning albums of country noir. 2004's 'Gospel of Progress' album recorded with the assistance of the Earlies was a stunning debut. I saw him play live twice that year, a wonderful show at The Borderline (which incidentally was the first gig I ever attended with my girlfriend) and a night at The Union Chapel supporting Iron and Wine. I have yet to see him play a full band show though and have heard these are awesome, so if anyone from Pineapple Folk is reading, will this be an acoustic or electric show??

Anyway, Micah returned last year with 'The Opera Circuit', another collection of gorgeous country, rock and folk songs. Looking forward to seeing him play again.

If none of this is enough to convince you, there will also be a 'Special Guest' and there will be roast chesnuts, mulled wine and other festive treats on offer!

Tickets are on sale now from wegottickets.com
a review of the night will appear here on 10th December.