New Releases Abound: Dale Watson, Little Big Town, Marty Stuart, Randy Rogers Band, Ricky Skaggs & More

New releases for the week of August 24, 2010 include:

• The Carter Family III – Past & Present
  Amazon | iTunes

• Dale Watson – Carryin’ On
  Amazon | iTunes | MySpace

• Little Big Town – The Reason Why
  Amazon | iTunes | MySpace

• Marty Stuart – Ghost Train
  Amazon | iTunes | MySpace

• Mason Douglas – My Wild Heart
  Amazon | Best Buy | MySpace

• Michelle Wright – Do Right By Me (Reissue)
  Amazon | iTunes | MySpace

• Randy Rogers Band – Burning The Day
  Amazon | iTunes | MySpace

• Randy Travis – I’ll Fly Away
  Amazon | Green Hill Music | MySpace

• Ricky Skaggs – Mosaic
  Amazon | iTunes | MySpace

• Steve Gulley & Tim Stafford – Dogwood Winter
  Amazon

• Various Artists – Bloody War: Songs 1924 – 1939
  Amazon

• Various Artists – My Country – Smash Hits (To Benefit Fisher House)
  Amazon

Waltzes, drinking songs and two-steps abound. Watson, after all, has honky-tonks and beer joints encoded in his DNA. But it’s fun and instructive to hear him step out of his comfort zone and surrender a little of his famous autonomy in the interests of stretching his wings. Instead of railing against Nashville, he’s found a way to make it work for him.

Paisley not only had the sonic blend right, but also stretched out more as a singer and songwriter. He could be funny without sounding like a yahoo and somber without coming across as maudlin. A quick wit has tuned “Alcohol,’’ “Ticks,’’ and “I’m Gonna Miss Her’’ into modern country classics, while his sincerity has done likewise for “Waitin’ on a Woman’’ and “She’s Everything.’’

Mr. conductor?
This guy next to me just died
He was a gambler

“When I was with a major label, I had to run everything up the flagpole and get permission to make music,” he said. “I was told I had to make commercial country music. No duets, no bluegrass records. ‘Let’s not confuse the marketplace.’ That kind of crazy stuff.”

Hank Thompson And The Brazos Valley Boys were a dance band above all else, and a damn good one at that. They were slaves to the rhythm. Their music was a means to an end; if they didn’t get toes tapping and asses out of seats, they weren’t doing their job right.

Saying that the Brazos Valley Boys were good is an understatement: They were voted Billboard’s top country-and-western band a staggering 14 years in a row, thanks in no small part to members like legendary guitarist Merle Travis.

“There’s more energy (that way) versus everyone doing individual passes on the mike,” Schlapman said. “Listeners might not realize that records are normally cut in so many parts and that normally every vocal is recorded separately, so this is just different, and very enjoyable.”

That approach comes to the fore on fourth track “Shut Up Train,” Fairchild said, as the opening acoustic guitar leads into the four singers “just going for it at the same time, like it was a performance.”

Dale Watson performed “Carryin’ On,” the title track to his new album, on We Are Austin Live yesterday.