Mondo Drag

When Mondo Drag drummer/singer Johnnie Cluney says that "we're kind of bringing in more of a pop element" to the band's new songs, take that with a giant rock of salt.

The Quad Cities-based band released its full-length debut, New Rituals, on the Alive Naturalsounds Records label last month, and it's a hazy, sludgy affair - bluesy psychedelia borrowing heavily from the 1960s and recalling the contemporary sounds of Dead Meadow.

Yet there are indeed hints of accessible melody in the massive riffs and thick keyboards. "Love Me" hides on its downslope a compelling ascending chorus with heavy vocal emphasis on the downbeat. Calling it poppy is a stretch, but it opens the door to the remainder of the song. "True Visions" has a similar late revelation, with moaning layers of keyboards and guitars as its extended coda.

The quintet - celebrating the release of New Rituals on Saturday at the River Music Experience's Performance Hall - has begun to build a national profile. The band had its Daytrotter.com session released last week, and even though that Web site is based in the Quad Cities, it certainly doesn't play favorites with hometown bands.

The Ellis Kell BandConsidering that the ensemble's front man is the director of programming and education for Davenport's River Music Experience, the decision to instead perform the Ellis Kell Band's forthcoming 20th-anniversary concert at the Moline live-music venue Rascals might seem like an odd one. As Kell himself explains, however, it's not.

"We hadn't played there for a long time, but that's kind of where we owned it," says the blues vocalist/guitarist, who will jam with present and former bandmates on Saturday, February 20.

Dr. Dog

To understand some of what makes Dr. Dog sound like it was preserved in amber in the mid-1960s, listen to singer/guitarist/songwriter Scott McMicken talk about drums.

The quintet -- performing a Daytrotter.com show at RIBCO on February 9 -- has a new record (Shame, Shame) due out April 6, and for its sixth studio album it finally enlisted a producer, holing up in a New York studio for nearly a month.

"The real crux of the problem in New York was the drums," McMicken said last month. On previous Dr. Dog albums, which regularly sound 40-plus years old, "the drums aren't really dominant ... very muted."

But on the New York recordings, the drums had a modern microphone configuration -- overkill, in McMicken's view. "The real problem was that you were hearing all 16 microphones at once. I knew if I could put my hands on that console and turn off 75 percent of the mics, we'd probably be getting to hear a really cool drum sound."

Gov't MuleWarren Haynes joined the Allman Brothers Band in 1989, and was a member of the Dead for its 2004 and 2009 tours.

But Haynes, who was 23rd on Rolling Stone's 2003 list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time, suggested in a phone interview this week that Gov't Mule is dearest to his heart, despite the legendary status of his other bands. He co-founded Gov't Mule in 1994 as an Allman offshoot, and he said it offers an unparalleled freedom.

"Gov't Mule is our laboratory to create anything musically that we want to create," he said. "We're still establishing the parameters. In in a band like the Allman Brothers or the Grateful Dead, they're pretty open-minded about what the music can be, but there are parameters that were established a long time ago ... ."

Gov't Mule will perform at the Capitol Theatre in downtown Davenport on Tuesday, February 9, and Haynes said the quartet has a newfound energy. It's evident on the band's album from last year -- By a Thread -- and in its live shows, and he credited that change to bassist Jorgen Carlsson, who joined a year and a half ago.

Leon RedboneLeon Redbone sounds like a relic.

It's not just his repertoire -- mostly songs from the 1910s to the '30s -- but his attitude. Asked in a phone interview last week about the appeal of music that preceded his birth, he gave a curmudgeonly answer. As one moves back in time with music, "you realize that it's not getting any better," said Redbone, who will co-headline a show with guitar whiz Leo Kottke on Saturday at the Capitol Theatre. So he plays songs from the dawn of recorded popular music.

MVBS Presents Jim Suhler, George Thorogood's Guitarist, on Sunday Jan. 31

The Mississippi Valley Blues Society presents guitarist Jim Suhler and his band, Monkey Beat, on Sunday Jan. 31 at Creekside Bar and Grill, 3303 Brady Street in Davenport. The show starts at 5 p.m. and admission is $8, $6 for Blues Society members. Since 1999, Jim Suhler has been George Thorogood's guitar player live and on recordings. He tours with Monkey Beat when Thorogood is on break. Suhler and Monkey Beat's latest CD, Tijuana Bible, has been nominated for a Blues Music Award in the category of best blues-rock recording. The Atlanta Constitution has noted that "Suhler is a monster guitarist, tossing out slide riffs and power chords with the exuberance of a Page or Hendrix." Noted producer Jim Gaines (Santana, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Steve Miller) says of Suhler that he's "a wonderful songwriter and an electrifying performer." Suhler was born in Dallas, Texas, December 30, 1960, where his first exposure to music was by the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and British Invasion bands. He began playing guitar at age 14 and was influenced at that time by Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Allman Brothers Band, ZZ Top, Johnny Winter, Led Zeppelin and others. Suhler was also influenced by Rory Gallagher, AC/DC and the Ramones. During these formative years, Suhler was exposed to Texas guitar talent like Stevie Ray Vaughan, Anson Funderburgh, and Jimmie Vaughan. He played in an array of cover and original bands during these years, initially backing other vocalists or guitarists. At this time, Suhler was playing traditional blues in the style of T-Bone Walker, Magic Sam and B.B. King. During this period Suhler was a DJ at Dallas' KNON radio station, hosting a three-hour weekly blues show called "Radio Mojo", every Tuesday night. Suhler was playing a gig at Huey's in Memphis when George Thorogood dropped by the club during a break from a recording session. He was impressed with Suhler's playing, arranging and songwriting skills, so the two struck up a friendship. In mid-1991, Suhler formed power trio Monkey Beat, with drummer Paul Hollis and bassist/vocalist Carlton Powell. At that time, Suhler sent a four song demo to Thorogood producer/engineer Terry Manning, after Thorogood told Suhler, "Terry would love you guys." Radio Mojo was released in February 1993. Several tours opening for Thorogood & the Destroyers across North America in 1993-95 followed. In early 1994, Suhler & fellow Dallas blues guitarist Mike Morgan convened to record Let The Dogs Run, a collection of originals and songs by blues greats Magic Sam, Lazy Lester, and Howlin' Wolf, for Black Top records. For the next few years, Jim Suhler & Monkey Beat toured throughout the United States and Europe, playing clubs, theaters and festivals for a burgeoning fan base. Bad JuJu, which was produced by Jim Gaines, was released on Lucky Seven records in 2001. Texas rock 'n roll, zydeco, Tex-Mex, hip hop and blues influences were evident on the songs on Bad JuJu. The acoustic Dirt Road was released in 2002, coming on the heels of the death of Suhler's daughter Brittany in a tragic accident. Suhler started the Brittany Suhler Memorial Foundation in her honor, a charity which continues to this day. The newest CD, Tijuana Bible, was recorded in Nashville, and includes guest artists Elvin Bishop, Jimmy Hall and Joe Bonamassa. Tijuana Bible has covers by Rory Gallagher, AC/DC, and Elvin Bishop, as well as 13 Suhler originals. Suhler has also played on and contributed songs to George Thorogood DVD and CD releases since 1999. Also on Suhler's resume is having his compositions used in major motion picture releases and television worldwide. He has played onstage with Les Paul, James Cotton, Duke Robillard, Peter Wolf, Willie Nelson, Irma Thomas, Dr. John, Pinetop Perkins, Lazy Lester, Steve Miller, Elvin Bishop, Son Seals, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Johnny Rivers, Joe Bonamassa, and others.

Freedy JohnstonIf you followed the career of Freedy Johnston, you might wonder what happened to him after 2001, when Elektra released his Right Between the Promises album.

Until Rain on the City (out today), Johnston released a live record and a CD of covers, but the man behind the 1994 single "Bad Reputation" -- who was Rolling Stone's songwriter of year that year, and whose major-label discography included albums produced by Butch Vig and T-Bone Burnett -- doesn't want to talk about the more than eight years between albums of original material.

"That's why we put it in the bio," he said last week. "I didn't want it to be talking about it every time, rehashing the same story."

In that official record-label bio, Johnston -- who will perform a Daytrotter.com show at RIBCO on January 23 -- is vague: "It takes a while to re-adjust one's priorities and get back on track after working with the big budget that the majors give you. I went through issues with the IRS, had a relationship go south and a touring vehicle grind to a halt, but through it all I never gave up writing and gigging whenever possible."

In our interview, Johnston didn't elaborate much on the specifics of his personal life. (In addition to living in Austin, Texas, in Nashville, and in New York, he did live in downtown Rock Island in 2002 and 2003 and married a woman from the Quad Cities.) But he did discuss his difficulty completing songs.

"I used to have no problem writing songs before I had a major-label deal," he said. "All of a sudden it was really hard to finish the damn things. ... Now I'm on the other side of it. ... Maybe I just needed to reset my clock. I'm working better now than I ever was."

Winners of the RME's 'What Music Means to Me' ContestMore than 90 students entered this contest with essays on what music means to them, and six winners were drawn in Mojo's at the River Music Experience on December 17. Winners received a musical-instrument package courtesy of Milan Surplus.

The winners and their essays follow.

Shilpa Ray & Her Happy Hookers. Photo by Chris Becker.

Shilpa Ray has a voice with the unpolished force of PJ Harvey and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Karen O on their early recordings, and she sometimes unleashes an uninhibited bluesy growl. Yet she's also capable of reining in her vocals to suit the song, as when she sounds (intentionally) a little sloppy/slurry/drunk on "Beating St. Louis" but also manages to nail a passage of higher notes.

She has a testimonial from the king of dramatic singing, Nick Cave: "She has a great voice; she writes great songs, great lyrics."

And Shilpa Ray - who will be playing with her backing band the Happy Hookers on January 16 at RIBCO - also plays a portable harmonium, a reed organ she picked up while studying northern-Indian classical singing from ages six through 17. (The instrument sounds a lot like an accordion.)

The goal: Make an album from favorite songs released in 2009, with special attention paid to the arc and to the relationships between songs.

The rules: one song per performer; artists featured in the previous three years of this project are excluded.

The caveats: I listen to a lot of music, and I estimate this list is culled from roughly a thousand songs from the past year. But I don't hear everything, and my listening is constrained by both taste and work. These are merely favorites.

The results: I had a much easier time selecting and sequencing in past years; the order here is more random than I would like, and it feels like it's missing some connective tissue. But these 16 tracks (totaling just more than an hour) do follow a path. This album puts up a defiant front before revealing its heart, and then it falls into a dark and cold place for much of its second half before recovering a little at the end. A line in the final song is "I believe in growing old with grace," and I think that can be seen as a loose theme running through this collection.

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