If you haven’t picked up on it yet, I really, really love music. And I love to pass along music that I love so that you’ll love it too. I understand that you won’t love everything I love but I love that about music. We can all love what we love and love that other people love different music.

The musical partnership of Spune and Velvet Blue has produced two of my favorite artists of recent years; Doug Burr and Seryn. And, from what I’ve heard, it looks like they’re about to do it again.

The Dallas band Air Review is releasing their debut full-length album Low Wishes on January 29. Blending folk, Americana and Electronica and Pop, the band has a sound that’s at once comfortable (in a good way) and challenging (in a good way).

Stream the album on Bandcamp:

 
Check out the band perform “Low Wishes” on The Local Yokel Show



 
Watch the video for “My Automatic”



 

•  Visit the band’s official website

So, at the beginning of 2012, I decided that I would share my love of music with you, the kindly mass of humanity that reads my blog. I figured all two of you might like some of the same music that I do. So I decided that I would post one mix CD per month. The problem is that, though I love music, I have not put anything about this regular monthly mix CD in to my calendar. So, plain and simple, I forget.

Here is April’s monthly mix CD. Called “Can’t Get There From Here,” it explores a theme which you can figure out if you want or you can just listen to the good music contained within. Here is the setlist:

1. Home by Bears of Manitou
2. Always Travel Light by Doug Burr
3. Folded Hands by Zoo Animal
4. Fast Car by Tracy Chapman
5. Unfortunately, Anna by Justin Townes Earle
6. There Is A Light That Never Goes Out by The Smiths
7. When It Don’t Come Easy by Patty Griffin
8. Hold On by Tom Waits
9. Hold On, Hold On by Neko Case
10. Come On Up To The House by Tom Waits
11. Jesus Gonna Build Me A Home by John Davis
12. I Want You To Come Home Now by Drew Grow and the Pastors’ Wives
13. Please Come Home by Dustin Kensrue
14. Going Home by Juarez
15. Feelin’ Good Again by Robert Earl Keen, Jr.
16. Home by Bears of Manitou

So, I broke a few of my own personal rules here regarding mix CDs. I not only repeated an artist on a single mix, I repeated a song. Just pointing that out.

• Download April’s monthly mix CD Can’t Get There From Here.
• Download March’s monthly mix: “Sabzimentals”.
• Download February’s monthly mix: “Raintermentals”.
• Download January’s monthly mix: “Skinned Alive”.

Look Sessions recently released a couple of live tracks Holiday at the Sea favorite Doug Burr recorded for them at SXSW.

First up, “Chief of Police in Chicago, followed by “Red, Red.”

“Chief of Police in Chicago” by Doug Burr from Look Sessions on Vimeo.

“Red, Red” by Doug Burr from Look Sessions on Vimeo.

• Visit Doug Burr’s website
• Visit Look Session’s website

I love discovering new music. But, perhaps even more, I love new music from my favorite artists. Today, Denton’s Doug Burr drops a new 7″ and digital 4-song EP.

Several years ago, when I was living in Texas, my wife, some great friends and I drove in to Dallas to see Bill Mallonee (of Vigilantes of Love) play in a yoga studio. I remember being disappointed because there was an opening act, especially one we had never heard of. Burr took the stage accompanied by Glen Farris and I had an experience that has become all t00 rare: I was blown away. Burr played with passion and told haunting tales of toxic train crashes and soaring on the wings of eagles.

Since that night, Burr’s music has become a mainstay in our life. His music is both challenging and, at the same time, finds that spot in your soul where you feel like it’s always been part of your life. It connects. He has grown in skill and focus and that becomes tremendously apparent on this new 7″/EP. Velvet Blue describes the new release:

It’s alternate versions of songs from his critically acclaimed record O Ye Devastator.  It’s limited ed. 7″ and available every where digitally.  2 tracks on the vinyl, 4 on the download card.

The tracks are beautifully stripped down, which isolates the actual song and really allows room for Doug’s distinctive vocals and lyrics to be out in front.

I’ll be honest: I’m not a completist, you know, one of those people who HAS to have EVERYTHING his/her favorite artist has EVER recorded. So, when I saw that the new release was alternate versions of previously released material, I almost passed. Why do I need different versions of songs I already love, I thought. But, after listening, I’m glad these recordings have been released. It’s one thing to admire an artist’s fully-produced, full-band albums. But, there’s always that question; if the full-band and full-production are stripped away, do the songs themselves still stand up? The answer here us unequivocally yes.

The EP opens with a stripped down, piano-led version of ”A Black Wave Is Comin’” and demonstrates without question that Burr’s songs, not the production that surrounds them is the driving force here. Accompanied by gently strummed acoustic guitar and plucked banjo, the song hauntingly holds on to hope in the midst of what seems to be impending doom. Though the lyrics some times deal with the darker side of life (“Chief Of Police In Chicago,” for example, details a baby born with a gene determined to cause criminal behavior), the tone is always warm and even welcoming.

The EP is largely piano-driven with splashes of acoustic guitar and banjo with little electric instrumentation or percussion, which puts Burr’s voice and lyrics up-front. He is a story-teller tapping in to the human condition in a way few others are able. His vocals are both assured and vulnerable, and, after repeated listens, I’m convinced that Burr is an important American songwriter that you should get to know.

With any musician, we should always be asking: when everything’s stripped away and we’re left with just the songs, is that enough? In Doug Burr’s case, the answer is a resounding yes.

Here the “Forest Fortress” version of “A Black Wave Is Comin’”

 

Watch the video for “Should’ve Known” from On Promenade, featuring a cameo from Josh T. Pearson:

 

• Visit Doug Burr’s official site
• Get the 7″/EP from Velvet Blue

 

Here is video from a recent Doug Burr house show; “Thing About Trouble”

Doug Burr – Thing About Trouble from Sofar – Dallas / Fort Worth on Vimeo.

I love music. And I listen to a lot of music. I listen to enough music with enough of a critical ear that it’s very rare that I’m blown away by an artist who almost instantly becomes part of my regular listening.

Several years ago, my wife and some good friends and I had the chance to go see Bill Mallonee (formerly of Vigilantes of Love) play in a yoga studio in Dallas. As we sat down and prepared for the music, we let out a collective sigh as we realized that there would be an opening artist. One man climbed behind a keyboard and other other, with a wisp of white hair and dark-rimmed glasses, positioned himself on a chair with his guitar and a stomp-box. The moment they started playing, our love affair with Doug Burr’s music began.

It’s often difficult to write objectively about music. It’s even more difficult to write objectively about an artist you admittedly love. So it is that I sat down to try to review Doug Burr’s latest album O Ye Devastator.

The cover image of Devastator serves as the perfect introduction to the music found inside. A mournful bride peeks out from behind the veil. The beauty of the day is tinged by here eyeliner which makes one wonder if she’s been crying. There is a heaviness in her eyes that darkens the veil behind which she hides. Over the course of four albums, Burr has explored the seemingly contradictory themes of this image.

Burr’s work has continued walked the tightrope of faith and doubt and sin and redemption. 2003′s The Sickle and the Sheaves was a hopeful work drawing heavily on gospel themes while 2007′s On Promenade used the Van Gogh brothers as a centerpiece to explore themes of longing and doubt. In case there was any question about the depths that Burr was setting out to plumb, in late 2008, he put The Shawl, a collection of Psalms. The message was clear: Burr was compelled to explore the borderlands of faith and doubt in a way many artists shy away from. Salvation is seen brightest against depravity and you must see both to see the whole. Devastator not only continues these explorations but shines the light brighter on the darker side of hope.

The tone of hope-tinged blackness is immediately set with the album opener A Black Wave is Comin‘ as Burr wonders against soaring strings that betray the ominous tone:

So what do you see my lover

and what do you see my friend

I don’t know, I don’t know at

Midnight comes a snow

I can’t see, but I hear a little hymn

Whereas the Van Gogh brothers serves as the couplet centerpiece of On Promenade, here it is a mother and child who are caught in the jaws of depravity. Chief of Police In Chicago sets the stage as a police officer informs a brand new mother that her child has tested positive for a gene found in criminals. You’ve Been A Suspect All Your Life captures an exchange between the mother and child in which the mother tells her child “You’ve been a suspect all your life:”

And I don’t have the strength to see you this way

And oh, how this city would change your name

Oh, but you are the apple of my eye

No exoneration until you die.

This potent mixture of love and loss, of hope and faith and doubt is carried through songs like At The Public Dance in which a man is at once drawn to and repelled by the woman he pursues and Do You Hear Wedding Bells in which the celebratory notes ring “wreckless and drunk in the air like maybe they don’t know what kind of streets they’re stumblin down or they just don’t care.”

Throughout the album, the music accentuates the themes perfectly. Soaring strings and wistful pedal steel frame the questions of life and the struggles life and faith.

This is not what most people think of as “Christian” music and that’s what makes it so right. It is one of the most honest albums in one of the most honest catalogs I have come across in a long time. If it’s true that we should judge an artist by their catalog rather than their singles, then Burr is gradually positioning himself as one wise beyond his years. He is not afraid to remind us that there are black waves on the horizon, we are caught in the middle of forces we may not understand or be able to control, but there is always the ray of hope shining through, as he reminds us in And When We Awoke:

And when we awoke

The sea still foamin’ red

The bells have all begun ringin’, swingin’

Oh, sleeper, lift your head

Sleeper, lift your head

Burr is content letting some pieces of the puzzle remain unplaced. Are you? This is, by far, one of my favorite albums of the year. Highly recommended.

Watch a recent interview with Burr:

• Hear Doug Burr walk through the album track by track

Great music is everywhere for those with ears to hear. In other words, you have to be listening. My wife and some of our best friends had the unexpected treat of being as affected by an opening act as the headliner when we went to see local Dallas/Denton singer-songwriter open for Bill Mallonee, formerly of the Vigilantes of Love. Burr thoroughly impressed us all. Plugged says: “If Doug Burr’s not your new favorite singer/songwriter, it’s because you haven’t heard of him yet.” Leaving such hyperbole aside, we recently caught up with Burr on the release of his new album On Promenade to discuss life, art and everything in between:

• Where and when were you born?

Dallas, 1972

• Were you raised in a musical home?

Not very musical. No one composed music anyway. Mom played old hymns on the piano a good bit. But nobody creating any music.

• When did you begin playing music? When did you begin writing?

I began playing guitar at sixteen. I probably began writing finished songs at about eighteen. Nothing from that era that I claim today though.Took me quite a while to hit my stride as a songwriter.

• Do you have employment other than music at this time? If music is not your full-time job, how do you balance a “work life” with your “creative” life?

Yes – I’m the breadwinner for my family – two kids and one on the way. So music can’t afford much but music gear and some recording here and there. I work by day as an HRIS systems analyst. It’s always a struggle with a full-time day job to try to consistently write songs, record, and perform live shows. But especially with kids since you don‘t have any time to yourself until awhile after they‘ve gone to bed. But then there‘s still the household chores to think about. So I’ve just gotten to where I stay up later and later to fit in time to create music.

• You have been nominated for and won several songwriting awards. Artists in your position often gain a lot of ground by having other artists cover their material. What song of yours would you like to see covered and by whom?

I’m open the idea of having a wide variety of artists cover virtually any portion of my material. I see it as a healthy thing for art in general, and also a great way to sustain a career in music. I love what Johnny Cash did near the end of his life with his records put out by the Rick Rubin’s American Recordings label. He covered songs by Danzig and Depeche Mode. I mean who would have thunk it. But there it was – and it is just brilliant. I think that kind of cross-pollination can benefit both artists, and the material itself. So I’m certainly open to that and would just take it on a case by case basis.

• Do you hope to do music full-time? If so, what moves are you making towards that goal?

I certainly hope to do music full-time one day. It’s all that I think about all day, whatever I’m doing. It’s the thing I get most excited about; I’m just in love with the power of music.

• How do you balance the creative and business sides of music?

There’s not a huge business element to what I do with my music at this point. Really about the only business stuff I have to mess with is trying to be strategic about where and how often I book shows, what my website’s going to look like, what the t-shirt design should look like, who I’m going to follow up with regarding shopping my record…okay so there’s a few business items. But it’s all pretty small scale stuff. It certainly can keep me busy at times, but I’m just as eager to do those things because they pave the way for me to do what I love doing, which is making music for people. I also have to remind myself every time I hit a dead-end, that the songs – the music itself – is the one thing that has the power to drive everything else. So I try to never lose sight of the fact that there is nothing on the business end you can do to make this thing fly if the music is not excellent. And there is nothing that can stop it if the music is where it needs to be – it will find its way to the light if it’s good enough. So at the end of each day, I just focus on trying to get better.

• Are you married? Children? Is your family supportive of your art?

Yes – Twelve years. Two, and one more due in early November (2007). My wife is super-supportive, and I never would have made it this far without her constant encouragement and sacrifice to let me attempt such a ridiculously crazy alternate life.

• Were you raised in a religious home?

Yes. Grew up Southern Baptist. My parents, my parents’ parents – and on and on, from both sides.

• Do you consider yourself to be a Christian?

Yes, I do.

• If so, could you please share a bit about your salvation experience (your “testimony”)?

Well, growing up in a Christian home with good parents, it was a very logical decision for me, and at a very early age. I understood that Jesus presented me a choice – to choose His love or go without. As I grew, you begin to understand that at a deeper level, but it’s really still the same situation – the same choice. Depend on God, or depend on yourself.

• How does your faith affect your art?

It informs and inspires everything I do. My art is no exception to that.

• Are you involved in a local church? If so, what role does church life play in your faith?

Yes. My wife and I believe being involved in a local body of Believers to be an act of obedience to New Testament Scripture, and very necessary to ongoing growth in Christ. To be a part of a church body is to be used by God for others sake and to be blessed, challenged, and encouraged by others as well.

• What role, if any, do you believe local churches should play in the arts?

I think churches should embrace art as a way to engage culture. But it seems that rarely do churches train, equip, or even dare to lend much support to this idea. I think it requires Believers to walk a line that is uncomfortable to be able to enter into this conversation with culture, and requires abandoning some of our insecurities that have become a false holiness.

• You are signed to Velvet Blue, which has been at the outskirts of “Christian” music for many years? What are your thoughts on “Christian” music?

Well, I feel like the term “Christian music” earmarks music as music that would be endorsed by the current-day Christian music industry. And as such reduces it to 3.5 minute sermonettes based on a pre-approved range of topics (not speaking to worship music here – music intended for corporate worship – that‘s a whole other topic). No longer is the artist free to write about anything that comes across his/her path – not free to follow the muse – no matter how important, urgent, or relevant, because it’s got to fit inside that list of approved topics. And that’s just not how life reads, and not how even the Bible reads. Certainly, there are bands that have been able to exist in the Christian music camp and still put out worthwhile and even great music. But I think it’s a very risky proposition, and it still virtually ensures that a ton of would-be fans who may exist outside the pews will never hear your name. So I guess I’ve found that I have the most freedom as a writer outside of the Christian market altogether. I think Velvet Blue is a good fit because Jeff Cloud – the owner – shares a similar perspective – he’s not out looking for Christian bands – just music he thinks is great.

• Do you listen to any “Christian” music? Are there any “Christian” artists you think are doing it right?

I usually avoid “Christian music” (talking commercial Christian radio and Christian record stores) because it gets annoying to me very quickly. But then again, so does mainstream pop country and pop rock these days. So to look for anybody doing things right, I try to pay attention to the live music scene – or publications that promote more independent stuff.

• Your first album focused much more openly on faith issues, but they are no less present in On Promenade. Did you approach this album any differently from the first?

The Sickle & the Sheaves is a gospel concept record. Much like Cash, Elvis, or Dylan put out gospel records, but that’s not all they wrote/sung about. There are other things also out there that warrant our time and attention, and that same gospel is ultimately part of those things, or those things are part of it.

• The connection between “How Can the Lark (My Dear Theo)” and “Should’ve Known” is obviously the Van Gogh brothers, can you elaborate a bit on how those songs work together?

Great question – “How Can the Lark” was taken from correspondence letters between Vincent and Theo Van Gogh. At that point, I had already written “Should’ve Known” which I wrote about a current-day descendant of the Van Gogh brothers – also named Theo Van Gogh – who was murdered as a result of making an independent film about abuses of women by Muslim men. I thought it interesting that Vincent had apparently gone insane, sending his severed ear to a lady for whom he had feelings, as if to say “Stop, and listen to me”. Was it coincidence that his descendent was stabbed in broad daylight on a German street for making a documentary that seemed to say ‘stop and listen’?

• What artists have inspired you?

Blind Willie Johnson, Johnny Cash, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello, Will Oldham, The Clash, Bill Mallonee, to name a few of the ones having the biggest impact.

• What music are you listening lately and what are some of your all-time recommendations?

My CD-player in my car doesn’t work very well and has slowed down my intake – but all-time recommendations would be: Bonnie “Prince” Billy (Will Oldham) Master & Everyone, Bruce Springsteen‘s Nebraska, any Blind Willie Johnson recordings you can get your hands on (there aren’t many songs he recorded), the Anthology of American Folk Music by Harry Smith (put out by the Smithsonian).

• What are you currently reading and what are some of your all-time recommendations?

Currently: Flannery O’Connor’s Wiseblood, George MacDonald’s Phantastes.

All-time recommendations: Greil Marcus’s Mystery Train. I don’t know, I’m severely under-read, but I finished Moby Dick a year or so ago and loved it.

• What’s next?

Well I’m going to be embarking on a project to record some of the Psalms I’ve set to music hopefully this Winter. It’s just a crazy idea I got a few years ago when I spent some time between jobs and was in a writing lull. But as I began to move it forward, I really fell in love with this idea, and the power these seem to have. Then within twelve months from now, I’d like to be finishing up a follow-up full-length to On Promenade.

Thanks for taking the time to ask me these questions!