Gritty Faith from Birmingham

by T. Ballard Lesemann

While they may not thump their Bibles and wag their fingers at sinners and heathens too often, Birmingham rock band the Back Row Baptists frequently imbibe in the spirits, if only to get a bit tipsy while twangin’ it up on stage.

Led by guitarist and main singer/songwriter Chris Porter, the group recently released a solid debut collection of slightly sinister, determinedly Southern tunes titled Broken Hearts & Bad Decisions(Vintage Earth).

Some of the songs on the new disc seem genuinely menacing and dark, while others carry a wry sense of sarcasm and wittiness.

“We recorded the record, and then we named it,” says Porter. “We didn’t have a title in mind until we tracked almost 20 songs and listened back to them. I think it’s an accurate title and it remains a good theme for the band.”

Born out of the rock clubs and watering holes of Birmingham, their punky mix of gospel-tinged country, blues, and old-time rock ‘n’ roll reflects some of the rowdy hick vibes of their home state.

“Birmingham is a blue-collar city,” says Porter. “A lot of them work hard, but they don’t get to tour as much as other bands. We do have a fairly developed music scene, but its blessing is its curse.”

In the band’s recent press release, Porter defined their sound as “outlaw gospel,” which fits the religion-peppered country stylings of the edgy music, although it neglects the rawer guitar-rock elements of the most assertive tracks.

“There’s some cynicism and Southern grit in there, for sure,” says Porter. “We’re working on another record right now, and it’ll probably be even grittier and more aggressive. No matter how things sound, we’re really reaching for a high level of honesty on it. It’s about putting out a product that is real to people — one that is accessible and understandable. If you try to fake your art, it’s like shooting yourself in your foot.”

Porter formed the band just a couple of years ago with Heath Green on keyboards and Sarah Green on percussion. Guitarist Adam Guthrie joined in soon thereafter, hauling a few ukuleles and exotic stringd instruments along for boozy experimental purposes. Bassist and banjo player Jay Taylor solidified the lineup in 2009.

“When we started out, we had a modular lineup,” says Porter. “The meat-and-potatoes of the band is me with Sarah playing kick drum and washboard, Jay playing upright bass, and Heath blowing harmonica and piano. We can do a super-stripped-down, three-piece punk rock show for the rock clubs or the full lineup with extra fiddle and other instruments.”

This week, the core trio of Porter, Green, and Taylor will handle the set at the Mill.

“You may see a fiddler or banjo player on stage, if we can find one to pull up on stage,” says Porter. “Our heart is in playing for bar crowds in bars — no matter what the lineup is. The show this week should be pretty dirty, raw, and aggressive. We wanna get people dancin’ and we want to get people drinkin’ liquor.”

Lord have mercy on their drunk souls.

by Chris Martin for The Examiner

August 22, 2010

This past Thursday night, 8/19/10, I checked out the Back Row Baptists (BRB) at Smith’s Olde Bar, and they did not disappoint.

For all of you who did not show up, shame on you. Those of us who did show up were treated to one sweet set of tunes that rocked the room atop Smith’s.

The BRB’s tore through songs from their album Broken Hearts and Bad Decisions as well as a few other gems.

Chris Porter is the main voice of the band, and on this night he delivered, growling out tunes such as “Wood & Steel”, “Me & The Devil” and “Pills & Kerosene” all while violently jamming his guitar, I am surprised no strings were damaged in the process.

Sarah Green was a double threat, her voice was incredible on “Alright By Me” and she never missed a beat pounding the kick drum and scraping the washboard hanging around her neck.

Heath Green and Jay Taylor supplied the final pieces of the show. Heath’s juke joint keyboards & harmonica and Jay plucking the stand up bass in all his barefooted glory provided the heart and soul to this southern revival.

The Baptists left it all on the stage, giving everything they had to the people who were there. They were captivating and gracious the way good southern folks are raised, but when the music started they got down and dirty, grabbing the audience and yanking them into their world of whiskey, pills, god, the devil and all sorts of other debauchery.

Once again I was not disappointed by the BRB’s, once again my expectations were met and once again I left wishing they could have played longer.

If you were not there you missed a great night, and you have no idea what you are missing. I suggest you pick up their album, play the hell out of it, and get ready for the next time they jam Atlanta.

http://www.examiner.com/live-music-in-atlanta/the-back-row-baptists-show-atlanta-the-light

by Chris Martin for The Examiner

If you have not seen the Back Row Baptists in person, then you need to do yourself a favor and get your ass to Smith’s Olde Bar this Thursday night.

With one of the best albums out this year, “Broken Heats and Bad Decisions”, the group from Alabama is on the road spreading the good word and preaching to the masses. Songs about despair, getting rowdy, love and fighting the devil. Songs about drinking whiskey, getting high and going to jail. The tunes on the album kick ass, but hearing them live adds a whole new level to them.

Lead man Chris Porter lays down the southern gospel with his gravely vocals, Sarah Green counters his howl with a sweet angelic voice and the rest of the crew, Heath Green, Adam Guthrie and Jay Taylor, provide the music that brings it all together. Using everything from a ukulele, washboard and stand up bass, (I am sure they would use a kitchen sink if they could figure out how to) their music lies somewhere between rock and jug-band. Live they have the power of a good old fashioned southern tent revival, with all the music, all the gospel, and none of the religion. Definitely something you must experience in person. The only thing missing from their show is a mason jar of shine to pass around.

They will be jamming Smith’s Olde Bar this Thursday night, August 19th. The doors open at 8pm, and the Baptists will be sandwiched between Sol Driven Train and the Best Brothers Band.

So clear your schedule, get to Smith’s grab some tasty food, toss back a few beers, or shots or wine, your choice, then take in the show and receive the good word, you will not be disappointed.

WHO: Sol Driven Train, Back Row Baptists, The Best Brothers Band
WHEN: Thursday, August 19th, 8pm
WHERE: Smith’s Olde Bar

http://www.examiner.com/live-music-in-atlanta/the-back-row-baptists-bring-their-southern-gospel-to-smith-s-olde-bar-church-was-never-this-good

July 23, 2010

by Shawn Underwood in Alt-Country, Americana, Blues, Country,Reviews

If Hunter Thompson were still alive, I think he’d like The Back Row Baptists. First off, you know he’d identify with the attitude of their namesakes, the heathens-in-the-house-of-god thing. More to the point about the music, though, Broken Hearts & Bad Decisions is a dark record. It’s about drinking and driving (although not necessarily together), trailer parks and road trips, and just generally raising hell. It advocates a take-no-prisoners attitude to life, but acknowledges that road is not without its dead-ends and drop-offs. Frontman Chris Porter says their music is outlaw gospel, and I suppose that’s a just description.

There are a couple of musical threads that wind their way through this album. The first is the sound of the upright piano that’s equally at home in a honky tonk or the choir room. The second is the raft of acoustical string instruments that find their way into even the most raucous numbers. Together they give songs like Wood & Steel, By & By, andFourth of July a presence that’s equal parts Marshall Tucker and Uncle Tupelo. That’s not to say The Baptists have a singular musical point of view. Just as you get comfortable with one genre, they break into something different. There You Are is a know thyself masterpiece that could have come from Kris Kristofferson. Me & the Devil is a swampy take on a story told by many a country troubadour, but with the background vocals of Sarah Green it takes the lament of “ain’t got no pills to get me high” to a new level. There’s also a subtle use of horns on several songs on the album that add a richness without calling attention to themselves.

In addition to the musical melting pot, this record has a lyrical foundation that sometimes you have to sit back and admire, and at other times makes you lean forward to sing along. Wreck On the Highway“when whiskey and blood run together” is a gospel-tinged number while “goddamn, raise hell, at the Fourth of July” is nothing deeper than a paean to partying. Thousand Songs, “don’t know what to say”, “a thousand tears, don’t know how to cry” evokes Glen Campbell in the 70′s, while Miles Away is a toe-tapper about the “pretty little girl who don’t say much, but likes to talk”.

Overall Broken Hearts & Bad Decisions is a little like hundreds of other alt-country, Southern rock, Americana records you’ve heard, and yet it’s little different from all of them, too. There are a lot of subtle musical and vocal tidbits that reward multiple listens. And if you grew up in the rural South, more than a few stories hit home a little harder than you first expect.

http://twangville.com/4241/the-back-row-baptists-broken-hearts-bad-decisions/

Truckers, Gardeners and Baptists; the best records from the first half of 2010

THE BACK ROW BAPTISTS / BROKEN HEARTS & BAD DECISIONS

The Baptists are a group out of Alabama, their music tells stories dealing with the age old battle of good vs. evil, god vs. the devil, insert your “vs.” metaphor here. After listening to their album Broken Hearts & Bad Decisions I thought it was OK, but nothing great, then about a week later I listened to it again, and again and again and it was as if I was listening to a whole new record. The gritty vocals of Chris Porter and the melodic sounds of Sarah Green are balanced perfectly and go well together. A mix of instruments ranging from guitar to stand up bass to washboard gives the record the right amount of country, right amount of rock and right amount of jug band. The real key to why this record is good is the lyrics. Vivid stories about trying to be good even though being bad is so much more fun. Lyrics such as “sold my soul in Muscle Shoals” from “Wood and Steel”, “me and the Devil and a bottle of whiskey” from “Me And The Devil” and “I went out and got drunk as hell a pretty little baby come pay my bail” from “Miles Away” illustrate this point while painting a mental picture. This record is one of the few records these days that I will put in the cd player or fire up on the iPod and listen to front to back, over and over again. A great listen, and may be the best record I have listened to this year.

Read the whole article HERE.

We are now half way through 2010 and a lot has been going on. Not talking about the economy or oil spill or World Cup, I am talking music. In the first six months of the year a lot of really good tunes have come out and I am going to lay down what I feel are some of the better records to hit the market, and are worth picking up. I am not going to touch on every single one, just my 6 Month Top 10 List.

So here are 10 records that I think stand above everything else that has come out so far during 2010:

THE MADISON SQUARE GARDENERS / TUNE IT UP, DIME IT OUT EP

Up first is a five song EP by the Madison Square Gardeners, Tune It Up, Dime It Out. While only five tunes, these dudes from Brooklyn have filled this EP full of infectious guitar hooks and classic pop/rock lyrics that please the ears. This EP delivers from start to finish, but the tunes “Trouble” and“Don’t Stop Lovin’ Me” definitely stand out. Give it a spin, you will not be disappointed.

TOM PETTY & THE HEARTBREAKERS / MOJO

T.P. just keeps on delivering the kick ass tunes. The new record MOJO is not you typical Heartbreakers album. It is not radio friendly rock tunes from his past nor is it theJeff Lynne inspired Wilbury sounds from his solo work. This record is a down and dirty bluesy southern rock spectacle. Petty’s lyrics are sharp and the music is smooth. Mike Campbell jams some serious blues on this record, check out “Jefferson Jericho Blues”, “I Should Have Known” and“Candy” and you will understand what I am saying. The track “U.S. 41” could have come straight from Robert Johnson while“Running Man’s Bible” and “High This Morning” fuse Benmont Tench’s classic keyboards to create some sick sounds. This record sounds like they all got together for a jam session and ended up making a record out of it.

SPOON / TRANSFERENCE

Spoon has made a career out of creating a sound all their own, and lucky for us it is a good sound. With their new record Transference, they keep on rolling with 11 more killer tunes. Britt Daniels’ distinct voice is what makes these songs work. His distinct sound gives them their flavor, from the rough sound of “Written In Reverse” to the smoothness of “Who Makes Your Money” and the beatlesque piano ballad “Goodnight Laura”. Anyone else singing these tunes just wouldn’t sound right. Musically they make more with less, “I Saw The Light” is a tune making use with some good guitar, but a very minimalist piano and a repetitive drum beat, yet it sounds much bigger. I still do not understand how these guys are not huge, especially with all the crap music out there that is popular these days.

DEAD RABBITS / THE RABBIT THAT ROARED

This Georgia duo tears it up. Loud, crunchy, guitar, powerful pounding drums plus a raw, raunchy voice, equals a sweet psychedelic garage rock record. Do they sound a lot like The Black Keys and the White Stripes, yeah, they do, but is that a bad thing? Their debut album The Rabbit That Roarsgrabs you by the ears from the first note of “Tomorrow’s Gonna Rain” then holds you until the very last note of “Chain Down The Sun”. When it is all over you ask yourself, what the f#@k just happened, and then you do it all over again. “Perfect Demon”, “Get Well Soon” and “Wasted Blues”highlight this record and are the proverbial “cherry on top” of one damn good sundae. Give it a listen, you will not be disappointed.

SLASH / SLASH

This is a good old fashioned, play real loud in the car as you fly down the highway, ass kicking rock-n-roll record. I don’t know how else to explain it. Slash has put together a collection of songs using various lead singers that I think most of you have heard of, Ian Astbury, Ozzy, Lemmy, Kid Rock,Myles Kennedy, Iggy Pop, and Chris Cornell to name some. What makes this record so good is how each tune sounds like it was written for that singer; this is not a collection of songs where everyone is just singing over Slash’s guitar. “Ghost” (Astbury), “Crucify The Dead” (Ozzy) and “We’re All Gonna Die” (Iggy) are great tunes, but nothing compares to “Doctor Alibi” with Lemmy’s gruff vocals growling about doctors telling him this or that. Another track that stands out is the instrumental“Watch This”, Dave Grohl on drums and Duff McKagan on bass, this sounds like a G’n’R’ tune waiting for the vocals. A scratch your head moment for the record is a tune which Fergie sings, but you know, it actually is not half bad. This album meets all daily recommend servings of rock-n-roll, now get back to finding a new lead singer for VR Slash.

DAVID BARBE & THE QUICK HOOKS / LOVE IT, DON’T CHOKE IT TO DEATH

I have always been a fan of David Barbe, from Buzz Hungry, Mercyland, Sugar to the stuff he worked on with Son Volt and Drive-By Truckers, the dude knows his shit. For the past couple of years word spread that he had been working on an album with his band the Quick Hooks (they opened for Kevn Kinney at the EARL about 6 yrs ago, good show) and this year it finally saw the light of day, it was worth the wait. These nine tunes cover it all, rock n roll, fuzzy garage rock, indie rock, alt-country twang, haunting melodies, beatlesque pop tunes, you name it. Songs like “The Broadcast Spreader”, “My Shiny Bird” and “Blacker Than Blue” punctuate the range of his musictude…..yeah I made that word up. This is an album most will not even know exists, which is a shame because it is pretty damn good.

THE WHIGS / IN THE DARK

After their first two albums, I wasn’t sure they could do anything better…man I was wrong. In The Dark, starts off with a bang and does not let up for the rest of the album. The garage rock trio from Athens, GA throws everything they have at us and just about all of it sticks. “Hundred/Million”blasts off right from the start into some power guitar licks and never stops, it is fast, furious and jammin’. Other tunes such as “Black Lotus”, “Someone’s Daughter” and the final track “Naked”anchor this solid release, but the track that stands out is by far “Kill Me Carolyne”. This song is one of the perfect rock songs that come along every so often mixing great lyrics with catchy hooks along the line of songs like “Surrender”, “Bastards Of The Young” and “September Girls”. This album needs to be a part of your collection.

THE BACK ROW BAPTISTS / BROKEN HEARTS & BAD DECISIONS

The Baptists are a group out of Alabama, their music tells stories dealing with the age old battle of good vs. evil, god vs. the devil, insert your “vs.” metaphor here. After listening to their album Broken Hearts & Bad Decisions I thought it was OK, but nothing great, then about a week later I listened to it again, and again and again and it was as if I was listening to a whole new record. The gritty vocals of Chris Porter and the melodic sounds of Sarah Green are balanced perfectly and go well together. A mix of instruments ranging from guitar to stand up bass to washboard gives the record the right amount of country, right amount of rock and right amount of jug band. The real key to why this record is good is the lyrics. Vivid stories about trying to be good even though being bad is so much more fun. Lyrics such as “sold my soul in Muscle Shoals” from “Wood and Steel”, “me and the Devil and a bottle of whiskey” from “Me And The Devil” and “I went out and got drunk as hell a pretty little baby come pay my bail” from “Miles Away” illustrate this point while painting a mental picture. This record is one of the few records these days that I will put in the cd player or fire up on the iPod and listen to front to back, over and over again. A great listen, and may be the best record I have listened to this year.

THE BLACK KEYS / BROTHERS

This record, Brothers by The Black Keys, flat out rocks! There is not a bad song on it. Dan Auerbachand Patrick Carney weave a mess of tunes that grab your ears and make them their bitches throughout this 15 song odyssey. Their raw, grungy, nasty blues sound is best represented in tracks like “Next Girl”, “Tighten Up” and “Howlin’ For You”. They can also slow it down and show their soulful side, Auerbach’s vocals on “Unknown Brother” and “Too Afraid To Love You” rival that of the R&B singers of the past. My words cannot do this record justice, the only way to grasp the funkiness of the Black Keys is to listen to this album, then repeat.

THE DRIVE-BY TRUCKRS / THE BIG TO-DO

The Big To-Do is another masterful album by the sons of the south, Drive-By Truckers. Songs of death and heartache and drinking and life in the south dominate this record, but then isn’t that expected? Patterson Hood’s haunting vocals bring to life the stories in each tune he sings, “Daddy Learned To Fly”, “Fourth Night Of My Drinking” and “This F**king Job” are perfect examples of this. Tunes sung by Mike Cooley such as “Birthday Boy” and “Get Downtown” are hard rocking and party friendly and Shonna Tucker throws in a nice change of pace with “(It’s Gonna Be) I Told You So” and “You Got Another”. With their southern gothic storytelling expertise the Truckers just keep getting better and better.

There you have it, ten albums from the first half of 2010 that kick ass, BUT WAIT, a bonus, here are five honorable mentions.

1 - Truth & Salvage Co. / Truth & Salvage Co.
2 - Blitzen Trapper / Destroyers Of The Void
3 - The Dead Weather / Sea Of Cowards
4 - Widespread Panic / Dirty Side Down
5 - Surfer Blood / Astro Coast

I better stop here, I could name a few more because there has been some good music hitting the stores so far this year. Now go check these records out. Enjoy the music, jam out to the tunes. Hit your local indie record stores and drop some cash on these killer albums. OH yeah, check back in 6 months and I will list my best of the year.

I can’t immediately find an answer to who, if it’s possible to identify anyone, first started using the term. I think it’s theologically meaningful, because the Baptists have so much emphasis on going forward to the altar–you can’t have “back row” Episcopalians or even Presbyterians. It’s also important because unlike other groups that emphasize going forward and making a commitment or testimony, various pentecostal groups for example, Baptists have a reputation for conservatism, so staying in the back is a way of being in between the action at the front and staying out of it altogether.  (Source:  Ted Ownby, personal email, 22 June 2010)

The Back Row Baptists bring together political controversy and kickin’ country music much like Lynyrd Skynyrd did.  Throw into the mix multiple lead singers, including the amazing jazz-influenced Sarah Green, and you’ve got crank it up, party down country rock that you will love, even if it might make you think or tick you off.  It’s hard to narrow down their standard three-hour live show to one CD, but their first label-backed release allowed them the luxury of a horn section and a less rushed atmosphere.  They are influenced by the subversive lyrics and themes of Boston underground hip hop, the multi-instrumentation of The Band, and punk-ish Black Flag, which unveils itself in dark, uncomfortable themes within a rocking country sound.  As Chris Porter says, “A sign of a good Southern city is a great cemetery.”

The band is defined by their Southern history, including the unpleasant and seedy reality of racism, exclusivity in religion, andeternal judgment in life and death.  They embrace their cultural history while throwing their more progressive, open-minded, and inclusive beliefs right in the face of fans who might be blatantly ticked off by it.  The Back Row Baptists’ music shamelessly challenges the status quo from within the culture.  Porter writes and sings from a character’s point of view rather than personal experience, while his sweeter love songs are generally sung by Green.  Porter is greatly influenced by literature, and uses those themes as conceptual starting points for many of his songs, taking a turn of a phrase and making it Southern, throwing in a touch of a Cops episode, resulting in a statement on the death penalty.  Tactful writing can get a controversial political message across without ticking off your audience.

Check out the full interview HERE!

NINE BULLETS REVIEWS “BH&BD”

The Back Row Baptists were brought to my attention via some of my fellow Twitter tweeters a few months back, and after a few mishaps one of their new cds, Broken Hearts & Bad Decisions, landed in my mailbox. For a while I really didn’t think I liked the album very much but after a few passes I realized that there was just a 4 song stretch (tracks 4 thru 7) in the middle of the cd that I really didn’t like. I deleted them and found a new band that I am digging the hell out of.

The Back Row Baptists come out of Birmingham, Alabama and consist of Chris Porter, Sarah Green, Heath Green, Susan Nuckols, Adam Guthrie and Jay Taylor. Where I come from, Southern Baptists are everywhere. Besides being bat shit crazy they are also one of the most judgemental cults you’ll ever run across (but at least they don’t rape little boys like those pesky Catholics). I tell you this because I’ve always heard the term “back row Baptist” used as a descriptor for a Southern Baptist who drinks, gambles and commits other hell-worthy offenses, of which Southern Baptists have more than the day is long. Now, I don’t know if that’s where the band pulled the term from, but I am pretending that it is.

Their bio describes their music as “uniquely Southern” and “outlaw gospel”. In this era of internets, cable tv and increased homogeneity, I’m not quite sure what “uniquely Southern” really means anymore, but I can damned sure get on board with the “outlaw gospel” descriptor. Another one of my fellow twitter tweeters called them, “a Birmingham version of American Aquarium”. It was a comparison that I had not even thought of, but damned if a revisit to the album didn’t prove it to be dead on. Both bands write real songs about real people (literally) and real situations. However, The Back Row Baptists do it with a lot more of a country flair. One might say Chris Porter’s voice sounds a little like a young pre-years of road abuse Ben Nichols while his inflection could be the brother of BJ Barham’s. I’m also told they’re one hell of a fun band to see live, so I just might have to put on my show promoter hat and get them down here to Florida.

Wednesday July 14, 2010

Check it here: http://fiftycentlighter.blogspot.com/2010/07/reviewshine-wednesday-anchor-in-valley.html