Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Tribute to Lee Part 2: Fellas I Know, Ladies I Don't


Ladies & Gentleman, this week's Tribute to the late Lee Hazlewood continues with a couple of entries to the Elegant Lady/Not-Elegant Dude tradition that are both based out of Vancouver.
The first track, "We Don't Have To" is EXCLUSIVE to A Bulldozer With A Wrecking Ball Attached, since it comes from my brother, one Jesse Matheson. Jesse, you may recall, recently scored Track of the Day at CBC Radio 3 (and you can hear R3's Craig Norris's reasons right here). Well, this track features the same lady-voice as that chart-topper "Son of a Gun" does, Allison Russell of Po' Girl. How my brother manages to swim in such esteemed waters remains a mystery to me.

Song number two is from another Vancouver sensation, albeit one we have to share with the world. Lightning Dust is Amber Webber and Joshua Wells of Black Mountain fame, and aside from the fact that some of their press photos recall the Nancy:Lee dynamic (it just struck me, why aren't musical duos expressed as a ratio more often?), their music pretty much features Amber's voice exclusively and bears little resemblance to Lee Hazlewood's (which is not to say it isn't haunting and terrific, because it's both of those things). This track, howev, has some Josh:Amber back and forth and, at the very least, reminds me of Lee because Josh isn't the most, um, naturally gifted vocalist, but he works what he's got to pleasing results.

MP3: We Don't Have To by Jesse Matheson feat. Allison Russell
MP3: Jump In by Lightning Dust

As a postscript, it's worth mentioning (as I may have already) that Josh Wells shares my enthusiasm for Royal Trux, from whom we might hear in the next installment of Tribute to Lee!

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