None of Butch Walker’s seven albums have reached the Top 100 on the US charts. His most recent record, 2015’s Afraid of Ghosts, crawled to 104 with Billboard.
Kinda odd, I think, because they sound authentic and of-the-moment but still seated firmly at the table with their influences. It’s rock and roll. But it’s shiny pop too, sometimes winding their way around each other in the same song. Sugary. Truthy. Hooky. Holy. Smart.
His audience is cult-sized. Those who know and like, well, are glad they know and like, because his music kinda digs in and finds way into a listeners gut. And heart.
Walker, raised in Georgia, has found his success with his producer’s golden-boy touch on records by Taylor Swift, Fall Out Boy, Avril Lavigne, Pink, Keith Urban, and worked on the new solo record from Gaslight Anthem’s Brian Fallon.
His go-to sound? Layered vocals that build a wall of cotton candy around a bottle of whiskey. A big-and-loud pop sound. It’s also back to the 80’s. FM radio. And AM radio too, full of static and sex.
Not too often that kind of material gets stitched together and heard, like Butch Walker does it, as a big ol’ blanket of 2016 goodness, covering you with a feeling of both nostalgia and like the song may be the newest little treasure that nobody else has found yet.
Walker’s new record, Stay Gold, is due soon. There’s a teaser video out today. And here’s a couple other of my favorites from him (and his recent work with Fallon) to test drive.
power pop
The Hold Steady announce re-releases and old band getting back together
Good news for fans of loud, Springsteen-ian guitar rock and roll with intelligent, soul-grabbing, blue-collar, Lou Reed-ish spoken lyrics, majestic piano, and essential gritty rock that transcends easy classification. The Hold Steady is celebrating their Our Boys & Girls in America album, which turns 10 this year
From the band…
“we are very excited! We will be playing a limited number of live shows this fall to celebrate. Our old friend Franz Nicolay will be joining us. More info on the first few shows will be available Wednesday, May 18. Mark it on your calendar!
“One apology: The plan was that today was going to be the day releasing the precise info on everything. Unfortunately, some details with our co-conspirators changed and it required waiting two more weeks on the details.
“Also, we are finally reissuing Almost Killed Me and Separation Sunday on VINYL this fall on Frenchkiss Records.
“Stay Positive! It’s about to get incredible!”
The Hold Steady.
Love that they are getting together with former piano player Nicolay, who lent a certain gravitas to their music and is associated with their glory days….
VIDEO: Rick Springfield with Dave Grohl and Sound City Players
Highlight of the music weekend: Dave Grohl’s new movie Sound City debuted at the Sundance Film Festival and he had a concert featuring Rick Springfield, John Fogerty, Stevie Nicks and more…but it sounds like Springfield stole the show… (VIDEO BELOW)
from Movieline review: Rick Springfield’s set resonated even more with Sundancers judging from how violently their dancing and jumping shook the club’s floor. It was an extended moment of pure rock bliss in which all the labels that get applied to music in terms of what’s cool (Foo Fighters) and what’s not (Rick Springfield) fell away and infectious, enduring pop music was celebrated for its essence. Grohl introduced the former General Hospital actor as “the one, the only, fucking Rick Springfield,” and the band played together on a number of the former pop star’s 1980s radio hits, “I’ve Done Everything For You,” “Love Is Alright Tonite” and “Jessie’s Girl.” And watching the beatific look on punk pioneer-turned-Foo-Fighter Pat Smear’s face as he played along to these Top 40 hits was indisputable proof that a good song is a good song.
As Grohl said archly between songs: “You’ve cracked the code, Rick Springfield. You’ve figured out how to write the perfect song. Goddamn you.”
Meanwhile, Springfield rose to the occasion of playing with one of the most balls-out rock bands in show business. In Sound City, he reveals somewhat sheepishly that Pat Benatar’s husband Neil Giraldo was pulled into the recording studio to lay down the famous guitar riff to “Jessie’s Girl” because the song’s producer didn’t think Springfield’s playing was up to snuff.” But that humiliation was very much in the past at Friday’s concert. Onstage at Park City Live, Springfield behaved like a bona fide guitar god as he traded licks with Grohl.
FROM ROLLING STONE: The supergroup grew out of Grohl’s Sound City documentary, which goes inside the fabled Van Nuys recording studio where Fleetwood Mac, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Metallica and Nirvana recorded some of their most acclaimed albums.
Album Review – Rick Springfield – “Songs for the End of the World”
Rick Springfield released one of the greatest power pop records ever. No, it’s not his new album Songs for the End of the World, though there are echoes worth hearing.
With his 1981 album Working Class Dog, and the song “Jessie’s Girl”, he found the formula to make one of rock’s best-ever power pop records, right up there with the stuff of Cheap Trick, The Romantics, Matttew Sweet and The Cars. The guitars, the sugary background 
vocals and three-minute pop/rock songs about girls and boys and more girls made the album a surprise hit record.
He would never match that sound or vibe again.
He’s given his new album a “take-a-dip-from-past” wash of his previous records, splashing guitar-driven, hook-laden, layered background vocals on the pop/rock. While not a truly great record, it is his best since returning to recording a little more than ten years ago.
Lost Video : Huey Lewis (circa 1984) solo with David Letterman’s orginal band
One of the lost little video nuggets of 80’s rock. Huey Lewis (with just one member of the News in tow) plays “Heart of Rock and Roll” with Paul Shaffer and the first Late Show band -back in 1984 – with Matt “Guitar Murphy” in for Hiram Bullock on guitar. And gotta love the raw look of the Letterman shows from the time. Though the song is a piece of pop/rock that felt more like fluff than rock and roll from Lewis, this version is interesting for the setting, and the fact that the massive Sports album, which would be career-changer for the band, was just breaking out, and Lewis is essentially solo here.
Indianapolis' The Late Show regains power-pop mojo
This story was featured in NUVO in August. Nice little interview piece I did with Don Main, who fronted The Late Show/Recordio/Rockhouse; essentially the same band, with different names. He and the main lineup is back together and playing shows in Indianapolis. I first saw them at a 150-person venue in Madison Indiana – I think it was 1989 or 1990 – so was nearing the end of their run. Best band the club booked in the Electric Lady in the two or three years that I lived down there. Also saw the Rockhouse version of the band, but my recollection was they were burned out by then, and the Rick Clayton Band (Late Show guitarist) was around in the ashes of the band separation, but not for long. So it is good to hear they are back and power-popping…and working on a new album.
***
The Late Show had a shot at national success.
In 1974, the band went to New York City and worked with producer Jack Douglas — known for his work with John Lennon, Aerosmith and, appropriately, The Knack — at the Record Plant. Major labels CBS and Epic offered them record deals.
The band, who created a potent mix of power pop vocals, guitars and reverberating drums, said no. They thought there were better offers to come. But, none came.
So why is their independent debut album Portable Pop now getting acclaim, more than 30 years after its original 1980 release? The band can thank the record label Trashy Creatures Records. They re-released the record in late May, and it picked up airplay on more than 70 radio stations of varying formats and dial positions.
The Late Show is playing a number of Indianapolis shows in 2012 and according to leader Don Main, prepping a new record. NUVO caught up with Main — who went on to own the Puccini’s restaurant chain — to talk about the albums, his other band and how the hell this all happened 40 years after The Late Show got together.