REVIEWS
Sharecropper's Whine
CultureCrank.com
Tailgaten Relief EP
MusesMuse.com
cheezeball.net
Keep What's Left
Americana.uk
Oxford American
Still Standin
By Nick Pittman
Probably because of the way the story ends, Drew Landry doesn’t often brag about how Kris Kristofferson called him the best songwriter he’s heard in 30 years. Landry impressed the legend by playing him his “Last Man Standin” backstage at a Kristofferson concert. Afterwards, Kristofferson called him out, repeating his praise to the crowd. The only problem was Landry missed the whole thing because he was in the bathroom.
“I figured that would be one of those things in life that would be a real cool confidence builder nobody ever knows about,” says Landry. “It’s just like, well, this is what I’m supposed to be doing.”
The incident is par for Landry’s course: incredible luck coupled with unstoppable hustle. In grass roots marketing terms, Landry is a weed—ever-present and relentless in his efforts to get his music into the right hands. He’s hobbled around Austin on crutches during SXSW and mailed CDs to anyone with an address, and he has seen the results. His Tailgaten Relief & Hurricane Companion and this year’s Sharecropper’s Whine landed on the Euro-Americana Chart. However, Landry’s appeal is more than just hustle. Landry is a legit old school balladeer who weaves down home and ultra honest songs (even if they are completely fictional). Part good ole boy, part conspiracy-minded, politically incorrect pundit, he draws comparisons to Bob Dylan, Townes Van Zandt and Woody Guthrie. Though he sounds like he just ate a large, greasy meal and washed it down with a whiskey soaked night on the town, his slightly nasal voice has its own unique appeal. Landry spent the summer in Los Angeles, playing the Roxy and the Mint as he worked with a manager in hopes of getting a distribution deal for the October re-release of Sharecropper’s Whine.
“For me it’s just getting out of Louisiana, getting out of your comfort zone, trying to reach more people,” says Landry. “There is always somebody you haven’t met and something else you can do. I’m doing what I can.”
The record features 20-plus friends and incredible musicians, including Anthony Dopsie, members of the Red Stick Ramblers and Andrew Duplantis of Son Volt. “Last Man Standin” is definitely the album’s gem. In it, Landry’s politics come into their own. Landry regretfully croons, “If Jesus were alive, I bet we’d string him up just like we were the Romans. / Instead we’re going to use his name to justify a fight across the ocean.”
The song’s title is also the name of Josh Hyde’s documentary about Landry’s struggle for stardom. As Hyde follows Landry, the songwriter hits the road and gets tossed a record deal from Memphis International—a deal he rejects because it offered a 15 percent return.
“The movie is about making it, what does it mean to make it,” Landry says. “It’s funny because [Hyde] showed it to some people up north and they were like, ‘This dude didn’t make it because he wasn’t on American Idol.’ I showed it to people down here; they were like, ‘Dude, you finally made it.’ I guess it’s all relative. It’s one thing to write songs. It’s another thing to record them and get them sounding the way you want with the right musicians. If that makes money or not, that is a completely different thing. I don’t know. I’m pretty happy with where I am.”
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Music Review: Bandry Land - Sharecropper's Whine
Published May 24, 2008
Of course authenticity is rare, and getting rarer. Too many distractions in this life lining up to snatch us from what matters. Authenticity's especially difficult to discern when it comes to music, even though lots of people would argue that point. [N.B., I'm not being elitist here. Sometimes, I suppose, you simply need to hear Barry Manilow's "Mandy," although that's a poor point since that song and much of Manilow's work are definitely authentic. How about "Dust in the Wind"?] Mostly, I believe, that music because, of all the arts, is the most powerful and seductive: many times we want to believe when we shouldn't; or our belief is excessive. And this is not simply artist by artist, but song by song. No matter what, we "Don't Stop Believin'," so to speak.
But I know this: Bandry Land's Sharecropper's Whine is authentic. Listen to it and smell late day sweat in the southern summer sun. Feel the dust tighten your throat, the dank and humid August air choking you like an angry lover's fingers. That's why it matters that you hear this album. It's real and if it slaps you in the face a time or two, be thankful. What have you heard lately that treats you so roughly and rudely, but with such respect?
Bandry Land's former calling card read Drew Landry and the Cajuns. That group released one full-length album, Keep What's Left (2004), and a post-Katrina EP titled Hurricane Companion & Tailgaten Relief EP—both to excellent reviews. That group is now Bandry Land, and Sharecropper's Whine is its latest (or first, depending on how you look at it) release.
I don't know his earlier work, but I'll seek it out now that I've heard — almost non-stop for the last week — Sharecropper's Whine.
It's an album that would have been (mis) labeled "roots" five years ago. I don't know what roots music means today and it doesn't matter. What this CD stands for is the purity of music, what it means to feel and to have the guts to say what you feel. It's an emotionally treacherous 14-song display of heart and soul. Like Steve Earle, Landry works out of a truth-telling tradition, no holds barred, no sacred cows. He's not playing; this isn't a game… I been through hell and now I'm back again.
From the song "Conspiracy Theory": "This ain't no joke no more/ hell it ain't no holy war/ just another way a rich man got fat off of the poor." The war, the Katrina disaster, the losers in this life, emotional disaster and nostalgia for the good times and friends we've lost — these all inform Landry's vision as intensely as shedding your skin and "pullin' out of here to win" do Springsteen's.
Landry's working in the tradition of Dave Alvin and Cash and Springsteen and, particularly, Earle — all of whom he'll remind you of. But musically he's traipsing a more varied terrain than any of the above. His music is rock (most definitely rock when it needs to be), country, country blues, Cajun, fiddle-grit, and, of course, the blues. Landry's voice can be lazy, full of twang, urgent and annoyed, or resigned. By turns it's angry in a defeated sort of way, or simply melancholy.
But it's always real. So is Sharecropper's Whine. I'd say it's vital, and represents a chance to hear something, maybe for the first time in a long while, that'll lodge solidly in your gut.
Bandry Land
Palehorse Music
By Dan Willgang
 |
Albums recorded for a C-note and cheap beer aren’t supposed to sound this good. But give it up for Lafayette singer-songwriter Drew Landry, who not only lands his best album yet, but one that could easily contend with anything on the national Americana scene. Landry assembled 23 of his closest pals, including mandolinist Al Berard, guitar fireball Michael Juan Nunez and Son Volt bassist Andrew DuPlantis (another Lafayette homie) to beef up his otherwise austere tunes, many of which will be featured on the upcoming, biographical Last Man Standing documentary. Several tunes reveal no-holds barred life chapters like the confessional adolescent years (“Juvenile Delinquent”) and a cathartic, yet gut-wrenching response to a failed relationship (“90 Proof”). There are even the trials and tribulations of touring, especially when the band quits just days prior to lift off (“Out West”).
While Nunez often rocks it silly and the arrangements are denser than previous efforts, Landry’s songs can usually stand on their own given his colorful songwriting and world-weary voice that sounds as if it’s about to draw its last breath. Sunflowers sprout up throughout provocative lyrics such as “California, it’s just one bag of weed / killing one another for someone else’s greed’ (“Out West”) and “Hell, that’s how the west was won / they call it justice with a gun’ (“Last Man Standing”). While that’s certainly chilling, the coup de gras zinger comes with the closing line of “Conspiracy Theory”: “Ain’t nobody gonna leave Iraq till we’re finished with Iran.” Still, one of America’s undiscovered treasures.
Marc NOLIS – Editor/Owner
Van Erstenstraat 24, B-2100 Deurne, Belgium – Tel: 0032/(0)473 51 25 20
E-mail: marc.mazzmusikas@skynet.be
Review in MazzMuzikaS Free-zine 98
!!! MAZZMUSIKAS HATS OFF: ALL HITS, NO MISSES !!!
Bandryland / Sharecropper’s Whine / Pail Horse Music (www.drewlandry.com)
Op het eerste zicht leek het hier om een nieuwe groep te gaan tot we in de kleine lettertjes beneden op het hoesje zagen staan: The Drew Landry Band. Deze man uit Louisiana verraste ons met de EP (met duur van een volle cd) Tailgaten Relief & Hurricane Companion naar aanleiding van Katrina. Deze plaat maakte me lyrisch en dus was de verwachting t.o.v. deze plaat ook hooggespannen. Ook staat er op de hoes dat het gaat om songs van de documentaire Last Man Standing. De titel van deze documentaire laat al vermoeden dat het hier niet om een vrolijke komedie gaat. Drew opent met het akoestisch solo gebrachte Strength Of A Song. Dit bewijst hij ten volle in de 13 volgende nummers. De titelsong is een vlot nummer dat zich direct onder je hersenpan nestelt. Het daaropvolgende nummer, het meer dan 7 minuten durende Juvenile Deliquent, is een sleutelsong in de traditie van Springsteens Tenth Avenue Freeze Out. Het begint akoestisch, na een tweetal minuten valt de rest van de groep in en de stem van Drew klinkt zo scherp dat je de pijn van het hoofdpersonage voelt. Het daaropvolgende Lap Of Luxury is een duet met K. Richard en is met zijn vettige slide een meezinger die van de Stones (die andere K. Richards) kon zijn. Dit om van uitbundig naar een traag, slepend maar oh zo knap gezongen, met accordeon opgefleurd Ocean’s Apart over te gaan. Op Outwest haalt hij eindelijk zijn mondharmonica boven en is het weer duimen en vingers aflikken. Carry My Cross heeft een scheut cajun door de viool die de hoofdrol opneemt. Zo heeft elke song iets: de venijnige gitaar in Take My Place; de harmonica in Over There; knappe slide in 90 Proof; de steel gitaar in Sangre De Jesus; de hook in Conspiracy Theory; het desolate gevoel in de titelsong, en de knappe bewerking van Gone Home met flarden Clifton Chenier, Sam Cooke, John Lennon en Charlie Rich dat live een klapper moet zijn. Waarom er op het net zo weinig terug te vinden is van deze plaat is mij een raadsel. Doordat we een promo exemplaar kregen, hebben we weinig informatie over de medemuzikanten (die vrouwenstem op de afsluiter?). We sluiten af op een klein uur muziek van topklasse. Louisiana heeft een behoeder van zijn traditie en een nieuwe artiest die de fakkel overneemt van Sonny Landreth, met als surplus dat deze een knappe zangstem heeft. Of je nu van folk, rock, country, blues, americana of alt.country houdt, er rest je slechts één ding: deze plaat onverwijld aanschaffen. (LD)
...A RUFF (and pretty funny) DUTCH TO ENGLISH TRANLATION...
At first sight it seemed here to a new group to go until we in the small print below in the case saw: The Drew Landry Band. This man from Louisiana surprised us with the EP (with duration of a full CD) Tailgaten Relief \u0026amp; Companion as a result of Hurricane Katrina. This album made me so lyrical and was expected compared this record also high. Similarly's on the cover that they are songs of the documentary Last Man Standing. The title of this documentary leaves already suspect that this is not a joyous comedy. Drew opens with the acoustic solo brought Strength Of A Song. This proves he is fully in the next 13 songs. The title track is a fast track that is directly under your brain nestles. The subsequent number, the more than 7 minutes Juvenile Deliquent, is a sleutelsong in the tradition of Springsteen Tenth Avenue Freeze Out. It starts acoustic, after two minutes, the rest of the group and the voice . It starts acoustic, after two minutes, the rest of the group and the voice of Drew sounds so sharp that you the pain of the main character feels. The subsequent Lap Of Luxury is a duet with K. Richard and his greasy slide with a meezinger that of the Stones (which other K. Richards) could have been. This order of exuberant to a slow, slow but oh so clever sung, with accordion assured Ocean's Apart to proceed. On Outwest he finally gets his harmonica up and the weather is aflikken fingers and thumbs. Carry My Cross has a shoot cajun by the violin that the major record. Thus, each song thing: the vicious guitar in Take My Place, the harmonica in Over There, handsome slide in 90 Proof; steel guitar in the Sangre De Jesus, the hook in Conspiracy Theory, the desolate feeling in the title track, and the handsome Gone Home to working with snatches Clifton Chenier, Sam Cooke, John Lennon and Charlie Rich to live a folder should be. . Why there is so little on the net can be found on this album is a mystery to me. Because we got a promo copy, we have little information about the medemuzikanten (female voice on the valve?). We are closing on a small hours of top class music. Louisiana has a guardian of its tradition and a new artist who takes over the torch of Sonny Landreth, with the surplus that they have a great singing voice. Whether you're of folk, rock, country, blues, Americana or alt. country holds, there can rest only one thing: buy this album immediately. (AP)
Drew Landry and the Dirty Cajuns – Tailgaten Relief and Hurricane Companion EP
By Chip Withrow - 03/04/06 -musesmuse.com
The other day, I was watching a news report about the first Mardi Gras after Hurricane Katrina. The haunting song in the background was a gospel group, maybe the The Blind Boys of Alabama, singing “House of the Rising Sun/Amazing Grace.”
Drew Landry’s “Category Five” deserves a spot alongside that song as a powerful soundtrack for post-Katrina images. With a gravelly voice and an acoustic guitar, Landry tells a story that is both poetic and direct, with this searing message: “Maybe next time all the old and sick and poor won’t have to die.”
This 7-track disc begins with the blistering “Grosbec (Game Warden Song).” I can’t figure out whether it’s a cautionary tale or unapologetic advice to do what you gotta do, but it satisfies my periodic craving for doses of good Southern rock and nasty slide guitar.
At first listen, I didn’t much care for “Tiger Fan” – it sounded too much like a novelty. But after repeated listens, I realize that the sentiment applies to anyone who – like my wife has accused me of being with Ohio State sports – bases his emotional well-being too much on how his favorite team is doing. Plus, the guitar and harmonica interplay rocks, and rhyming “Shaq O’Neal” with “Billy Cannon up and down the football field” is just plain cool.
“Dirty South” and “Land of Dead Giants,” different as they sound, seem like companion pieces, odes to a Cajun country that used to be. The former is a rousing rocker (again, strong lead guitar and blues harp) with the refrain, “Where you been goin to?” The latter, a plaintive guitar-and-fiddle number, is a vivid picture of lost wilderness.
The closing track (well, there is a bonus track, a boozy-sounding singalong that seems to be called “I Can Hear the Jukebox Play”), is well-suited to end this Louisiana-themed song cycle. On “Salt Water Tears,” Landry refers to TV preachers, looters, and the government’s favoring of foreign wars over national safety.
In the notes that accompanied this CD, Landry writes that Tailgaten Relief and Hurricane Companion is “the story of what kept me from putting out a 2005 release.” He adds that this EP might not appeal to people outside of Louisiana, but I disagree. Good songs are good no matter what...
We get CDs from people we don't know all the time, and a cursory listen usually validates their obscurity. Not so in this case. Once through Tailgaten Relief & Hurricane Companion, and we almost felt that we should apologize to Drew Landry for not having heard of him earlier.
Equal parts gritfolk and southern-fried country-rock, Drew Landry and the Dirty Cajuns' latest release is a 7-track, 43-minute EP that collects 8 songs, a few answering machine messages and some sort of field interview a la Alan Lomax.
While Drew and the boys draw the occasional comparison to the Drive-By Truckers--give "Grosbec" a listen -don't write them off as imitators. Their admixture of biting social commentary and well-rendered regional vignettes has a distinctly original flavor.
The album has several standout tracks, but we're partial to "Salt Water Tears". These guys deserve a listen.
D.Landry &The Dirty Cajuns “Keep What’s Left” (Self Release 2004) Available: Now. Review by Pete Gow
Man this guy D. Landry has confidence in himself. In fact looking at what dropped through my door for review some might say it is a confidence that borders on malapert arrogance. A CD, with no case, a photocopied strip of paper wrapped around the disc that contains neither the name of the artist, never mind the name of the record. Oh yeah & it has the words to five of the seventeen songs handwritten on the back with a promise that the rest of the lyrics will be posted soon on a website (that appears to be under construction) and ending with the declaration ‘P.S It’s Copyrighted 2004’. It just made me wonder how many times Mr Landry’s record found its way into the bin, before ever getting anywhere near a CD player? ‘Keep What’s Left’ is the equivalent of the Lomax field recordings for the 21st Century. The tracks were, apparently recorded in three days & none of the players got paid. Well I can guess that not much of those three days were spent on mixing, or mastering the tracks. They are a sonic cluster- fuck. I would compare them to the sessions in the 30’s when the work of A.P Carter & his family was committed to acetate for the first time, but I suspect they may have used slightly superior equipment in Bristol. So why am I scoring this so highly? I will tell you why, because it is brilliant. It captures a spirit that will never be replicated in a conventional studio. Landry is a songwriter of essentially country music, but ‘Keep What’s Left’ dips its toe into all manner of blues, old- timey, skiffle and roadhouse variations on the theme. A number of the songs are just Landry and his (increasingly out of tune) guitar, building verses over repetitive guitar figures, his storytelling draws us into a whole cast of cowboys, drinkers, gamblers & fighters… ‘Moe Brown’, ‘the Rodeo clown who works two hundred days of the year’, or the prisoner repenting the murder he committed in Shreveport before they ‘Locked me up & threw away the key in the Angola Penitentiary’. There are also more biographical tales, such as ‘Hub City Blues’ or the enigmatically titled ‘Family Farm’. When the Dirty Cajuns kick in, they really bring some good old-fashioned ass-kicking to the party. Elegantly sloppy (check out the drumming on ‘Whiskey Shot’) this is the a house band that probably takes its pay in Wild Turkey and amphetamines. The guitar solo that leaps out at you in ‘Hub City Blues’ (I don’t think they have heard of compression in Lafayette!) sounds like James Burton on heroin…. but in a good way, while the beautifully monikered ‘Bayouself’ is a guitar & fiddle ballad in which Landry’s voice is all but giving out on him…. When the bottle is empty, it ain’t worth a damn. I’ll drink to that. I’m not going to pretend that over seventeen tracks that this record works every time. But that is kind of the point. It is not really a record. There is no apparent thought gone into the sequencing, it just sounds like the soundtrack to one of those picking parties that Townes Van Zandt & Guy Clark used to hold where the guitar was passed around in the same hand as the Jim Beam. D. Landry has some songs to sing and here they are. He is getting them down before he forgets them. Well I won’t forget them in a hurry. That these recordings made their way out of South Louisiana and to my door in England is an absolute triumph for independent music & underlines my long running argument that the best bands are not always auditioned. It is not easy to get hold of this album, but the rewards will be obvious to anyone who loves music with heart, soul & integrity and, lets face it, not much else. www.pailhorse.com (…. when it is finished) www.milesofmusic.com PG
Sometimes an inspired amateur can achieve an originality that veteran competence forbids. Consider as a case in point the extraordinary debut of D. Landry & the Dirty Cajuns on "keep what's left"(self-released). His coon-ass romps simultaneously extend and rebut the country music of his native southwest Louisiana in the same way that the Pogues' lurching, fast-forward, can't-walk-a-straight-line rambles blasted through the greensward pieties of traditonal Irish music. Counrty, Cajun, Zydeco, Rock & Roll, Landry does them all. "Hounds of Hell", for instance, is a terrific blues tune. You can imagine hearing D. Landry's songs at a (very inlightened) truck stop. The relative homemade quality of the recording is an asset, too, though "low-fi" has become a cheap signifier these days of authenticity
-Will Blythe
