Quote Originally Posted by Davey
Yeah, looks pretty dire. Used to live down on the Mississippi coast and went through a big one, but this looks like an awful one of historic proportions. Hope it dies out at least a little bit tonight. Hope everybody stays safe.

Two big ones for me right now in rotation are The National Alligator and Richmond Fontaine The Fitzgerald. The National comes off their great EP from last year that I love, and the new one is very good too, and Richmond Fontaine now has a string of very good CDs to their name. This new one is really special though. Willy Vlautin wrote these stark tunes while tucked away in the Fitzgerald Casino Hotel in Reno for a few weeks, and it's pretty vivid and powerful stuff. Inevitably it has been, and probably will continue to be, compared to Springsteen's legendary Nebraska, but in this case with a more local scope since the characters all have lives revolving that central location. To me, it's also got a sound somewhat reminiscent of the sad tunes on that first Steve Earle album after he got out of jail. With maybe some help from Damien Jurado. And that weedy voice, similar to the much more popular Jeff Tweedy of Wilco fame. With maybe a touch of his ex-Tupelo partner, Jay Farrar, in the lower registers. One of those dusty, lived-in, stripped-down productions that is guaranteed to alienate some fans looking for the more up-beat and rocking alt-country they've come to expect from Richmond Fontaine, but I can't stop listening to it. If you haven't heard this one yet Swish Daddy, well, maybe you won't like it. But one of the very top dawgs for me this year. Puts me in a bit of a melancholy mood, kind of like all those poor souls cramming into the Superdome right now.
I've heard a couple from The National, and they both smelled bad. The Richmond Fontaine I'm looking forward to. And yr post, as always, is topical nd cogent.