Music: Americana artists don't fit into other formats By Jim Beal Jr. Express-News Staff Writer Though Americana is a genre of music that, like jazz, is stretched to incorporate a wide variety of sounds, it's proved to be a boon to an array of artists, some new, some not so new. Such as: Ray Wylie Hubbard: Wimberley-based singer, songwriter, survivor of the "Cosmic Cowboy" scare of the '70s, author of the song "Up Against the Wall, Redneck Mother." Hubbard's latest album, the Philo/Rounder-label "Crusades of the Restless Knights," hit No. 5 on the Gavin Americana chart. "I invented Americana. If it weren't for me, all these kids would still be playing punk music," Hubbard said recently with a laugh. "I'm the Puff Granddaddy of Americana. I'm the Huff and Puff Daddy." Besides finding personal success with the Americana format, Hubbard has another reason for praise. "It's the type of music that I like," he explains. "It's the only type of music I listen to. You can hear people ranging from Dale Watson to Terri Hendrix. I feel fortunate to be part of it. I'd say it's helped my career. Americana music is what I've been doing for years and now it's finding a broader audience. It's introduced me to a lot of people who have never heard of me. I wish I could exploit it a little more. Americana is like the old progressive country thing but it doesn't have the cowboy hats and LSD. I just hope the major labels don't screw it up." Kevin Deal: From Plano, Deal is a stone contractor who started playing in rock'n'roll and blues bands when he was a kid. Deal entered the Americana music world with an album called "Lovin', Shootin', Cryin', Dyin'." His second album, "Honky Tonks-N-Churches," hit number 10 on Gavin's Americana chart. "Americana helps as far as booking and for people to take you seriously as a songwriter. But I haven't quit my day job yet," Deal said. "It helps get the music out there. There's lots of good music out there. To know you can hang is pretty exciting." "Honky Tonks-N-Churches" and the song "Boomtown" from the disc got strong airplay in the South and on the West Coast. "In the Northeast we didn't get anything," Deal added. "I think they don't play me because I haven't toured up there, but it's like the chicken-and-the-egg. You're not going to tour where there's no support." Wayne "The Train" Hancock: Born in Dallas, Hancock, a former Marine, is a bullheaded throwback to country music circa the 1930s and 1940s. An accomplished songwriter with a voice that conjures up the ghosts of Hank Williams, Jimmie Rodgers and Woody Guthrie, Hancock's latest album, his third, is "Wild, Free and Reckless." Hank Williams III covers several Hancock tunes on his "Risin' Outlaw" album. "I would say the Gavin Americana format helps. Everything helps, but Gavin can't do it all," Hancock said. "They have their playlist, too, just like other radio formats. You're always going to have some obstacles, but I've never had a problem getting on Americana." Hancock says he doesn't listen to a lot of radio. "But I think Gavin's Americana has the right idea," he said. "They play all kinds of music. In the field of country music, there are all types, but Gavin doesn't discriminate like Top 40 radio." Steve Earle: The former Holmes Husky is the kind of artist for whom Americana was invented. Long too country for rock radio (with the exception of "Copperhead Road") and too rock for country radio, Earle plays country, bluegrass, rock, folk, etc. whenever and wherever the spirit moves him. His latest album, "Transcendental Blues," on the E-Squared/Artemis label, topped Gavin's Americana chart about 10 seconds after it left the pressing plant. "The Americana format has proven to be nothing short of a godsend for artists like myself who have a tendency to color outside of the lines," Earle says. "Now, for the first time, there is a place you can hear the work of Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark, Tim O'Brien, David Olney and the like. For myself, though my current record is being played on AAA and mainstream rock stations, I fully intend to make more acoustic records down the road. Americana stations, unlike other formats, haven't penalized me for appearing on other stations." Ruth Logsdon: Not all Americana success stories are males from Texas. Logsdon, a singer and songwriter, leads the Washington, D.C.-based Ruthie & the Wranglers, a twanging, rocking country band that wraps a honky-tonk sound around lyrics that deal with everything from broken hearts to cross-dressing cowboys. "I was excited about Americana when I first heard about it because there's finally a format for people like me," Logsdon says. "What we do is still difficult to describe. One of our biggest problems is Americana is still pretty new to the market and, while I can now say our music is Americana, people still ask, 'What's that?'" Two Wranglers releases, "Wrangler City" and "Life Savings," did well on the Americana charts in '97 and '99 respectively. A new release, "Live From Chick Hall's Surf Club," is having a hard time breaking in. Wranglers manager Ted Smouse chalks that up to an influx of releases to Americana from many directions. "Actually being on a chart is important," Logsdon said. "Without Americana we wouldn't even be on a chart. It's hard to tell the impact it has, but I do know when we go to a town where there is an Americana station and they're playing our songs and talking about us, people come out to the shows. I don't think having the format alone will make or break an artist, but it helps." Slaid Cleaves: From Austin by way of Maine, Cleaves' latest Philo/Rounder album, "Broke Down," has been one of the biggest Americana successes of 2000. The album was No. 1 for five weeks. It doesn't hurt that Cleaves is one of the hardest-touring singing songwriters anywhere. "I'm extremely thankful for the format. It gives me a place to hang my hat that I didn't have before. I don't fit into Nashville country or public radio folk or rock'n'roll," he says. "It's nice to be able to call myself something and have a chart to point to. The Americana scene is still maturing. It's still a cult thing right now, but the audience has been building and the number of radio stations has been building. The presence of the Web has also helped. All of those things have helped to concentrate the audience." But Cleaves points out airplay on Americana stations isn't a be-all and end-all. "It's an opportunity," he added. "It's not a handout. I've worked hard and a lot of people, including the record label, have worked hard. I've been touring my ass off since the end of January." jbeal@express-news.net 07/03/2000