The Great Americana Holiday

Thanksgiving in the nations capital, this will be my ninth. What is there to be thankful for this year? That I now have to go through two security checks daily to get to my day job? That metro has again put up signs by the escalators that say ‘stand’ to the right? That poison gas detectors always seem to be at the metro station that I am at? That there are now short range defense missiles at area military bases pointed at the National Mall, because threat levels are so high? Hmmm.

Well no. I am not thankful for any of the above, but after thirteen years in DC I am beginning to realize that if you are going to become a native, you need to be able to roll with change and fear of it. I think this often leads outsiders to mistake a wicked and self deprecating sense of humor for DC’er’s bashing their own hometown. I was struck by this fact after falling over in hysterics upon hearing the last track on a locally produced CD called Americana Motel. This CD came out about November 2001. The song is by Karl Straub and is called “Don’t Take Advice”. It doesn’t address DC specifically, but it so purely exhibits a lack of sacredness for the obvious, the best arsenal of us “self-dep” types, I just had to mention the song.

Americana Motel was the brainchild, or lovechild, or both of Peter Fox, a long time area music maven, who recently relocated to CA. He hasn’t left his commitment to the metro areas musicians though, a minimum of 50 musicians appear on the CD. My understanding is that the CD resulted from hours of 'home' studio recording and contains 18 different songs by 18 different area bands and many of the songs and all of the bands are homegrown originals. Along with Straub there are songs written by Eric Brace, Scott McKnight, Kevin Johnson and others. These original songs flirt with classic rock and pop as much as the proverbial Americana genre. The go-to web site, www.americanamotel.net, intelligently gets all the alt-country/roots/no-depression monikers out of the way, refers to itself as “the whatever-you-want-to-call-it scene”. This music doesn’t try to sound like Americana or de-construct Americana, and with 50 musicians working on this thing it could sound like a mother-load of Jam-bands, but it doesn’t.

Just about every single musician that was on the CD performed at the 2001 Americana Motel CD release that was at the Birchmere. I was at that show in 2001. Seeing and hearing these artists work hard for an art they love gave me a reason to traipse all around the metro area this past year to hear a huge variety of songsters. This is an accomplishment, because prior to this I was a DC-ite who would not venture into "the 'burbs" if you paid me. Yet for all that time, and I hate the thought of it, "the 'burbs" was incubating all these great bands. So now I go to "the 'burbs", and today is an anniversary that I am happy to be celebrating. The Americana Motel 2 show is up to bat at The Birchmere tonite, deep in the heart of "The 'burbs". (I'm done now, I won't say it again.) I found inspiration in my own back yard in vibrant, smart, witty, accessible music that is connected to a history that was here before Bush or Clinton or Bush and promises to stick through what ever is to come.

I joke, but it's true, seeing the Americana Motel CD release at the Birchmere in 2001 pretty much changed my life. It gave me a reason to go to shows, meet musicians and enjoy myself knowing that there are people who still work hard for an art they love. This Washington, DC scene is so vibrant, Americana Motel goes a long way in documenting a small and happy part of it that will be growing and changing in the years to come. Many of the bands playing have been together for more than a decade and many of the individuals are full time working musicians WITHOUT record contracts. These are serious folks who play honestly, more for emotion and energy than trying to sound like Americana, deconstruct Americana or make Americana hip again.

So I will return invigorated by whatever happens at Americana Motel 2 and I hope to introduce some of the other people that I have helped turn into raving groupies for the local music who want to try their hand a dishing these bands. Thanks for a great year.....