Freedom Rock

Washington Post music critic J. Freedom du Lac is online every Tuesday at 2 p.m. ET to talk about the latest on the music scene: alternative, country, alt-country, pop, hyphy, harp-rock, reggae, reggaeton, R and B and whatever it is that Bjork does.

The transcript follows.

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washingtonpost.com: Texas Wrangler; Miranda Lambert Has a Feisty Side That Others Won't Want to Cross as She Shoots for the Top of Her Field

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J. Freedom du Lac: So, what's up?

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University of Maryland: Have you heard "Memory Almost Full," Paul McCartney's upcoming album, yet? I know it's not too hip to be a McCartney fan, but I can't help it.

I seem to recall you saying that you thought "Chaos and Creation" was a bit overrated. I personally disagree, but I can understand why some people might have found it a bit slow. From the singles I've heard and the buzz I've read, "Memory" seems to be a lot more rocking. Does "Memory" top "Chaos?" Or are McCartney fans in for a disappointment?

I have my hopes up that with the new Starbucks and iTunes deals, this will be the album to give McCartney some popular acclaim for his current material and not just for what he did 30 and 40 years ago.

If you haven't heard the album yet, please let us know what you think once you do. Thanks!

J. Freedom du Lac: I haven't yet heard the new one, but I'm certainly curious to hear what he's done. I actually liked "Chaos and Creation" well enough. A pretty but bittersweet album with some of Macca's most intimate and emotionally complex lyrics in years. It was a bit tame for a Nigel Godrich production, and it definitely had some duds. ("Very twee/very me!" Very lame.) But not half bad.

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Diggin' Miranda: Nice profile--She sounds like my next ex-wife!

J. Freedom du Lac: Blake Shelton might have something to say about that. But yeah, there's a lot to like about Miz Lambert. Though I actually had more fun talking to her pops than anything. That guy is a real kick in the pants.

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Atlanta, Ga.: Add this to the "is it still worth seeing Ancient Music Legend X/can they still cut the mustard" file:

George Jones = not really. Saw him last weekend, and his voice is shot. Still has the hair, though.

J. Freedom du Lac: Sorry to hear that, though at least he showed up. Didn't he recently have some sort of health issue that had him on the disabled list for a spell?

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Glen Ellyn, Ill.: Mr. Free,

You're up against Wilbon today - did you bring your A game? Any juicy tidbits on what he listens to?

J. Freedom du Lac: He's a big Amy Winehouse fan. But, then, who isn't? Even Prince is raving about her. And the Arctic Monkeys are covering her. You must track down their cover of "You Know I'm No Good," which Chris Richards wrote up in today's Singles File. Great cover from a live peformance on the Beeb. I'm tempted to stand near the stage tomorrow night and yell out for the song throughout the Monkeys' show.

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Buddies?: Do you think Toby Keith and your girl Miranda will get along this summer?

J. Freedom du Lac: Don't see why not, unless she starts blowing away his audience as the opener, which could happen. Then again, she does share management and publicists with Toby K's best friends, the Dixie Chicks.

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Fan Of Freedom: JF: What a great article today on Miranda Lambert! Did you actually talk to her dad, face to face? Is he an intimindating person given he's a gun collecting retired cop? Are you planning to watch the Country Music Awards tonight?

J. Freedom du Lac: Why would a gun-collecting ex-cop be intimidating? Such silly stereotypes. He was my favorite interview this year, though we did chat on the phone. I will, in fact, watch the Academy of Country Music Awards, if only to figure out what in the world John Legend is doing there. (He's performing with Big & Rich.)

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USA!! USA!!: Toby Keith will put a boot in your a**.

J. Freedom du Lac: I'd take that over Miranda Lambert burning down my house.

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Arlington, Va.: The Miranda Lambert is on my 'to get' list, so I can't do a true comparasion, but have you listened to "Balls" by Elizabeth Cook, also released on May 1st? It is very much a traditional country album (with a Velvet Underground cover) and has been in heavy rotation on my iPod.

J. Freedom du Lac: Yes, Elizabeth Cook, the new Loretta Lynn! She's got a bit of Dolly to her, too. So smart, so funny. "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend" crackles with more energy, though, and the songs tend sound and feel more soulful to me. But they're both worth owning.

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Greenville, S.C.: I ALWAYS ask this question and you ALWAYS ignore it. But hope springs eternal, so I'll try again.

Who sings that voice in my head?

J. Freedom du Lac: Bjork, I do believe.

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Alexandria, Va.: All the negative comments about local music in the GOG blog a few days back reinforce the need for some positive promotion of local music. Sure you're not up to it? People will listen to whatever you tell them is good...

J. Freedom du Lac: But I'm not a promoter. That's WAMA's job, no?

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Upper Marlboro, Md.: I probably already know your answer to this, but will it be worth it to pay extra money to see a -TOOL- like Toby Keith, when all you really wanna do is see Miranda Lambert? I'm really not pickin' pennies here, just hate to think I will give one cent to that bozo. He's a pretty big red pill to swallow just to see Ms. Lambert. By the way, did she mention anything about touring with this flag-waving, patriotism-exploiting, shock n'yall catch-phrasing moron? Was she for it? Did she not have a say? Does she actually like him? She seems pretty hardcore about what she does or doesn't do. I'd be surprised to know if she's just going along with it, but maybe even more surprised to know she's down with the clown.

J. Freedom du Lac: Well, yeah, you already know the answer. I wouldn't advocate going out to Nissan just to see an opening set. I think Miranda's a pretty powerful live performer, but it's not her stage, not necessarily her crowd, not her turn to play for 90+ minutes. We didn't talk about her tour wth Toby or about him in general. While she's generally outspoken (you saw what she said about her own boyfriend's music, no?!), I think she's savvy enough about her career that she wouldn't go mouthing off about a guy who's about to take her out on a big summer tour even if she didn't care for him. She really wants her music to be heard by as many people as possible, after all.

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John Legend will fit right in: Big and Rich ain't country. They're okay, but whatever it is they do will work just fine with John Legend.

Seems like every few years Nashville tries to grow its audience into urban markets, and all it does is dilute the music.

J. Freedom du Lac: And right on cue, here comes the new solo album from Cowboy Troy. Wheeeeee!

I think Big and Rich write some interesting songs. Not my favorite brand of country, but it's better than some of the pop pablum that's being produced in Nashville.

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25th & M, Washington, D.C.: I liked your article on Miranda Lambert. Do you see her having legs as an artist? Does she have another Crazy Ex Girlfriend in her or has she hit her peak?

J. Freedom du Lac: I think she's just getting started. You know that saying that you have a lifetime to write your first album and then.... well, however that saying goes, album number two is supposed to be something like a let-down. But she's really grown as a songwriter since "Kerosene." I think the only thing that could trip her up is internal or external pressures to deliver a big radio hit. She says she won't try to do that, and everybody around her says she won't, but who knows --- she's incredibly frustrated about her inability to crack the upper reaches of the radio charts. She *could* have a shot with "Famous in a Small Town," the current single, but the radio consultant and programmer and onair types I've talked to about her say they're just not sure it's "that song." Funny how they all say that. I mean, not LOL funny. Just ... curious. I haven't heard much about what the call-out research is saying on "Famous," though. That'll determine a lot.

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Re: Local Music: What do you expect. If you got talent, you go to Hollywood to be a star! So local music is by definition the no-talent leftovers. Which is cool if that's your thing. But I settle for nothing less than superstars in my diet.

J. Freedom du Lac: Now these are fightin' words. I don't buy this at all. Everybody knows that if you're destined to be a star, you move to Brooklyn.

I'm actually cooking up a story on a DC artist. Still working on the ingredients list, but it's happening.

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Tampa, Fla.: You ever had one of them crazy ex-girlfriends? Seriously, it's no joke. Shouldn't be the subject of your popularly available light entertainment choices.

FWIW, a restraing order only makes them madder.

J. Freedom du Lac: Did we date the same person? Could be.

Funny thing about the sorta afforementioned song: It actually started off as something kinda sweet. Miranda says it began as "Favorite Ex-Girlfriend." But then she decided to turn the thing on its head and it became the raging "Crazy Ex." Good decision, even if the track peaked at, like, #50 on the Hot Country chart.

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Washington, D.C.: I actively, hostilely dislike whatever it is that gets played on "country" radio these days, but I absolutely loved 'Rabbit Fur Coat'. Will I like Miranda Lambert?

J. Freedom du Lac: You just might. Miranda is basically an alternative country artist who somehow fooled people that she's sorta mainstream. She actually worried that her music wouldn't resonate with consumers. I guess "Kerosene" was getting positive feedback from certain quarters and, well....here, let's go to the interview tape: "Cool people were saying they liked my record, and I was like: Oh god, nobody's going to buy it. It's not mainstream! But you can be cool and mainstream at the same time." As an example, she cited the Dixie Chicks.

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Baltimore, Md.: So it's clear that you're enamored with Miranda Lambert's new album. So what can you tell us about Gretchen Wilson's? How do they compare?

J. Freedom du Lac: The new Gretchen Wilson isn't quite the barnburner I'd hoped for. It's sorta tame. And the writing isn't in the same league as the stuff on Miranda Lambert's album. Having said that, it's still pretty decent. Just when you compare the two, it's no contest.

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Actual Music Question: I really liked Joan Osborne's "How Sweet It Is" a few years ago. Have you heard her new one, and does it compare?

J. Freedom du Lac: I haven't heard the new album, though I was intrigued to see that it's being released by Time Life. (Call now, singers are standing by!) Hope to land myself a copy soon. She sounded damn fine at the Stevie Wonder tribute on Capitol Hill earlier this year.

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Frederick, Md.: There seems to be a major musical renaissance going on in the UK and Scotland. Winehouse, the Fratellis, James Morrison, Paulo Nutini, the Kooks, to name a few acts that are selling out worldwide but don't seem to make the Post's music radar. There is major energy being generated abroad by these names and others and stateside radio and pop media is fixated on "urban" trends to the detriment of the large spectrum of what is going on musically. Can you expalin the editorial thinking here? Any one of those acts I mentioned should get some Post coverage? I know you did Winehouse but there's so much out there that should get more mainstream exposure.

J. Freedom du Lac: Not on our radar? We've written about most of those artists, either in album reviews or live concert reviews. Will we write more? Maybe, if we think the artists are worthy of major coverage, a la Amy Winehouse. But what separates a group like the Fratellis from, say, Jet? And I have to say, I'm inherently suspicious of any artist who is supposed to be the next James Blunt. I like some of what I've heard from Nutini and Morrison, but it takes more than liking some of what I've heard for me to go out and do a big piece on an artist.

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Severna Park, Md.: So... American Idol is on tonight...

J. Freedom du Lac: Yawn. Wake me when Blake What's-his-name gets eliminated.

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Washington, D.C.: I understand Nashville still makes boatloads of money doing things their way, but seriously, how stupid are they? Why are they so resistant to putting good country on the radio? For every suit that says Lambert doesn't have a "giant anthem" - do they not remember saying the same thing about Hank or Willie or Waylon? Those guys apparently ended up being pretty popular and successful. Why is it so hard to accept that you can have good country that doesn't come from some studio's pre-existing formula?

J. Freedom du Lac: Good country, as far as radio is concerned, is the stuff that the audience wants to hear. So they research their playlists to death. I talked recently to a consultant by the name of Rusty Walker, and I asked him if he thought there were any hits on "Crazy Ex," and he said he hadn't the slightest idea. "I can't judge a song until the end consumer has judged it for me," he said. Meaning, the call-out research is the final world. And I guess the core country audience likes the safe stuff - the treacly ballads, the slick pop songs, the cliched boot-scootin' tunes, etc.

Like pretty much everybody in the radio world that I tracked down, though, Walker said he LURVES him some Miranda Lambert. It's just that she "hasn't found the right song yet." And what in the name of Jessi Colter is the right song? "It's the one that has that elusive thing that makes a song a super-hit. What it boils down to is whether a song fills, with exact proportions, the size of the music hole in 20 or 30 million people at that particular time." Oh. Anyway, Walker said: "I believe big-time in Miranda Lambert. She has the whole package and I think she's going to become a big, big star. I just can't tell you when." So there you have it.

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Olney, Md.: Miranda Lambert seems to have a cool attitude about commercial success displayed by a lot of country artists - she'd like to have it, but on her terms. Is it just me, or this more common in "non-Nashville pablum" country artists, as opposed to rock performers? So many rockers seem to go out of their way to sneer at the concept of selling records.

J. Freedom du Lac: I think that's correct. She absolutely wants to be successful. She said, for instance, that she could have made a decent living on the Texas music circuit, but that she wanted to be bigger than that. She wants her music to be heard by as many people as possible. She also wants to make a nice living. Nothing wrong with that. Sorta reminds me of what Gene Simmons once told me about hip-hop. He said he really, really admired that side of the culture and genre that openly embraced the concept of getting filthy rich -- which, of course, has been a big motivating factor during Simmons' own career. I think that was before he passed the phone to the girl he purported to be in bed with. Classy guy.

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Washington, D.C.: Hi Freedom! Have you heard of this Borjk? She is off the Hizzee! You should tell people about her! What about this new album by the Wilcos? I hear it has soothing songs that will sit nicely inside my minidisc player along with REO Speedwagon. Is this correct? Is it true that Huey Lewis sits in on some tracks? It is hip to be square!

J. Freedom du Lac: Thank you. That was mildly amusing.

I haven't been able to listen to the new Wilco album a second time. It's snoozy in a pleasantly straightforward kind of way. Music for medium-level middle-aged smart people who want to listen to something new while noshing on sauteed morels and wild leeks.

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yeah but : wanting to be filthy rich is very different from wanting to be successful, even including the monetary definition of successful. It's still about strive, having a vision, goals--whereas wanting to be filthy rich is just about consumption, bragging, excess

J. Freedom du Lac: Yeah but, I'm not here to defend Gene Simmons. I'm not saying he was correct. Just saying that he was saying.

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Anonymous: Hell for me would be being Gene Simmons' nursing home room mate. Gene would be drooling, slumped in a wheelchair with adult diapers under his codpiece, and you STILL wouldn't get him to shut up about how he won't marry the mother of his children because that would cut down on his extracurricular action and/or how no one really liked Nirvana because they wore flannel shirts and didn't have any pyrotechnics in their show.

J. Freedom du Lac: You know, that could make for a pretty amusing short film. You should get started on the script before somebody else steals your idea.

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Baltimore, Md.: Re Miranda Lambert and country playlists: Nashville seems to have this propensity for thinking artists are great but then not pushing them commercially. As Ian Tyson said of Tom Russell, one of the great country songwriters of the last 20 years, "He's a guy the people in Nashville listen to at home, but then they won't record him because he's not commercial." Of course, Tom writes things like five minute ballads about cockfighting, but you get the idea.

J. Freedom du Lac: And people wonder why Waylon and Willie had to leave Nashville. Hah.

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Washington, D.C.: So, Miranda Lambert is in Good Charlotte, right?

J. Freedom du Lac: No, but she used to be in Starland Vocal Band.

Thanks for stopping by, folks. Gotta jump onto the radio to talk about Miranda Lambert. Because, you know, I haven't said enough about her today.

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