Derby City Scene

Neil Hulsewede

Army of One

Local singer/songwriter Neil Hulsewede's album Army of One has been in constant rotation since I laid my hands on it a few months ago. He plays a blend of straight, old fashioned, no frills country music, accompanied by lyrics that are achingly relevant for a young man who is still trying to find his place, in a world that hasn't quite embraced him the way he had been promised. Topics range from an ode to his father, to drinking anthems, to love lorn tales of heart break, to the universal dissidence of isolation. Basically, it bears the themes of old-fashioned country - but these are not your parent's country songs.

DO NOT skip these songs: "Army of One", "Oh Baby, You", "Drinking Out on the Town too Late At Night", "I've Been Reflecting"

My Morning Jacket
Celebracion De La Ciudad Natal [tanslated: Celebration of the Hometown]

My Morning Jacket ceased to be Louisville's band quite a few years back. Once critics in L.A. and New York began to hail them - while people like Dave Grohl and Cameron Crowe were name dropping them in interviews or sticking them in films. Those of us who remember their final 2 night stand at Headliner's (and far smaller venues) before sending them off into the big bad music industry - could no longer claim the band as our own...we had to learn to share. And MMJ has been back many times since those fairwell shows...but the venues have gotten larger - when Headliner's sold out at 800, they went to Brown Williamson which sold out at 1,500, they then moved to The Palace which sells out at just under 3,000, then they moved to Louisville Gardens which sells out at 8,000, before their most rescent show at the Waterfront where they sold out over 10,000 hometown tickets.

Alas, it is that show from where this live album, an ode to their home town is recorded (half of it anyway, they other half is recorded at a in-store performance in their hometown local record store Ear X-Tacy). Eventhough it's only 7 songs, I say album because it clocks in over 47 minutes long (to give a point of reference it's signifantly longer then EVERY album Weezer has ever put out, with approximately half as many songs). There's a good mix of old and new tunes, while avoiding the ones you might expect. "Evil Urges", "Highly Suspicious", and "Librarian" are the three songs off their epic 2008 release Evil Urges; and these were by far the strongest tracks on that record, and have translated wonderfully to the stage. The band digs deep for expansive, new takes on some of their older crowd favorites...the songs that would have filled these very same streets a decade ago, at the band's inception, songs like: "Where to Begin" and "Phone Went West". But the band also doesn't let you forget about the creative outpour that came with their groundbreaking album Z, with "Gideon" and "Dondante". Noticeably absent are any songs from their Earth-shattering major label debut It Still Moves.