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Goodbye, Almira album reaches ten-year milestone
Goodbye, Almira
Original liner notes by Shafer Hall
September, 2011
Few songwriters in contemporary New York City are as considerate to their audiences as Alex Battles. From JFK Airport to the foothills of the Rockies, Alex gives us everything from old blue pickups to fondue. There is something of the country and something of the city in this extraordinary young man.
And that is just his lyrical content. His melodies and arrangements take us from the polka halls of the Midwest all the way down to the cantinas of Mexico.
If a show at Hank’s Saloon calls for raucousness, Alex and the band will rock. If it’s midnight at Sunny’s in Red Hook, he can play quietly with the folkies. The amazing thins is that at both places he will play the same songs.
This collection of songs is the lost and found of the heart; this album is the box beneath the pool table win the back room where you left your innocence, and I left my dignity. Alex is the emotional designated driver for our late night souls.
If it’s true, as a young man once said, that Alex is akin to Kirk Douglas’s nephew Sam Douglas, and that the Whisky Rebellion is like Sam’s entourage, then the Brooklyn night burns bright with this celebrity. There is another Fifth Avenue just south of the one you know; let Alex show you around.
~ Shafer Hall is the author of Never Cry Woof ~
~~~
Goodbye, Almira is available for purchase and streaming on bandcamp.
One night in Bangkok
Taking a look at the lichess.org 2020 wrap-up, one notices two distinct bumps in chess players; the first stemming from the pandemic, the second from the popularity of the Queen’s Gambit.
As a new chess player myself, I wanted to recommend the Perpetual Chess Podcast, which interviews individuals involved in all levels of the world of chess. I was especially inspired by the interview with Thibault Duplessis, the founder of the free and ad-free lichess.org. Another interview I enjoyed was with adult improver Neal Bruce discussing Yasser Sereiwan’s book Winning Chess Strategies.
The picture below is a “berserker” from the historic Lewis chessmen.
Say goodbye, Lester.
A new songwriting collaboration with Paisley Fields
A line dance song about the challenges of line dancing, “Shuffling Fool” tells a story very close to my heart, During our songwriting session, I admitted to Paisley that while I had always been a fan of line-dancing, I was never able to master even the simplest series of steps. Fields agreed that this would be a fun topic to explore. Line by line, we discussed what would make the song the most truthful.
Own “Shuffling Fool” now on Electric Park Ballroom, the new Paisley Fields album. Get your copy on pink splatter vinyl from Don Giovanni Records. It is also available on compact disc, and as a digital download.
“Paisley Fields brings a roguish cabaret-style sensibility to “The Other Boys,” from his upcoming album Electric Park Ballroom. …describing the often-solitary experience of many gay men with a knowing mixture of humor and sadness.” – Rolling Stone
“Electric Park Ballroom probably won’t be embraced by the Nashville country-pop scene any time soon (the frisky “Ride Me Cowboy” is about exactly what you think), but it’s smart, fun music for folks who want to give new queer country a spin.” – Chicago Reader
“Electric Park Ballroom is a rarity, an album that is perfect from start to finish” – Country Queer
“Fields makes mischievous use of down-home symbolism on his frolicsome tune “Ride Me Cowboy,” upending the conventions of stoic, range-riding masculinity with winking, queer flirtation.” – NPR
“But ultimately the varied sonic palette Fields is exploring here is what makes Electric Park Ballroom an exciting listen, from the theatrical piano bar drive of the near-disco cut “Shuffling Fool” to the fiercely witty murder ballad “Time’s Up, Brad.” Highlights include the triumphant, live-or-die nature of “Thunder Road” (which does the namesake proud) and there is a hooky pop punk stomp to “Winter Night.” There hasn’t been a shortage of fascinating, exciting under-the-radar country artists over the last several years, and Fields should unquestionably be on any list of performers helping to redefine the genre.” – Merry Go Round Magazine
Official list of collaborators on the Grammy Ballot for Electric Park Ballroom.
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