Americana Roots in L.A. (from The Temeculan)

FROM THE ROOTS OF LOS ANGELES’
MUSIC SCENE GROWS AMERICANA

By Jeff Fuller

So, what is this music genre called Americana you ask? Well, you are not the first to wonder, as I am often asked this question when I describe my band’s sound. The word “Americana” refers to American history, materials, characteristics, etc. Americana music (aka Alternative Country, Alt-Country) is a melting pot of Folk, Country, Rock, and the Blues. The Americana Music Association developed the radio format called “Americana” because of the polished sound of bands that melded American roots music and the traditions of Country, that did not fit in either the Country or Rock genres.

The Americana music scene in LA is top notch and prevalent, you just have to know where to look. It can be difficult in a city so large, diverse and over-saturated with Rock and Metal so bad that you feel sorry for the bands and the people that like them. I see the birth of America’s Americana music scene beginning in LA in the late 1960’s when bands like the Byrds, the Flying Burrito Brothers, CSNY, and the Eagles romped around the infamous Laurel Canyon and Sunset Strip. (Not a lot of people know how strong the folk-rock-country scene was in LA in the 60’s and 70’s because it gets over shadowed by the scene in the 80’s, but if you really want to know you should pick up the book LAUREL CANYON written by Michael Walker.) Take these aforementioned LA bands and sprinkle a little blues on top, and you end up with one of today’s most exciting genres of music, Americana.

There are a lot of venues in LA that cater to this scene, and then there are ones that have a specific afternoon or night devoted to Americana. You can pop into the Cinema Bar, The Redwood Bar or Taix 321 Lounge on most any night to catch some Americana. If you want to go to a strictly Americana music event, head to the Echo where they have an event on Sundays from 5-9 pm called The Grand Ole Echo, or spend a Saturday night at the Original Farmer’s Market at 3rd and Fairfax for an evening called Ranch Party. You could also spend your early Sunday afternoon starting at 12 at The Redwood Bar for Brunch Americana, or the first Monday of every month at Joe’s Great American Bar for Ronnie Mack’s Barn Dance, all are sure to please and all are free or just a few bucks!

If you like Folk, Rock, Country and Blues music then you like Americana music, trust me. Keep an eye out for all the great happenings in the LA Americana scene by seeking out one of the venues mentioned, or an LA band that plays this style of music. Once you dig around, you will be rewarded with a growing snowball of bands and events. Be sure to check out the Topanga Days Festival this Memorial Day weekend (May 29-31), as that may just be your best bet for catching a number of Americana bands, as well as being surrounded by a sea of music lovers. And when all is said and done, all that matters is the music, forget the genres, and hopefully it’s music that makes you feel good.

Jeff Fuller is a Los Angeles drummer providing the beat for the Americana bands The Marietta James (TheMariettaJames.com) and Sam Mellon and The Skylarks (myspace.com/smats)

Norcal tour Jan. 2010

How many bands can say that their first experience on the road runs as smooth and cost friendly as it ever could? Well, that's how ours went, minus the rain. We left on the morning of Sat. 16th and headed towards Morgan Hill (just south of San Jose) where Drew's cousin, his cousin's wife, and their 3 young children live, and where we would be laying our heads down for the night. We arrived, met everyone, and unpacked our sleeping gear in anticipation of coming in late after our live radio show at Stanford University.
So off we went to Stanford (about an hour drive north). We arrived with no problems, set up our gear and hit it at about 10:30pm (technical difficulties delayed us 30 min). The show, ’On the Warpath with The Big Chief’, was agreed by all band members to be one of the most fun experiences we'd had as a group. This was also our first time live on the radio. We played our EP, answered questions, laughed, joked, and played seven songs live. After an hour of unadulterated pleasure, we packed up and hit the road back down to Morgan Hill. After a few beers and more good times we hit the hay, well, almost; you see Mish had not slept much in the past few nights so he was out and snoring as soon as he laid down. As you can imagine, it took everyone a little while to embrace the snoring and attempt to use it as a sleep aid knowing that we would be woken up by three youngins in a few hours.
Sleeping longer then we all expected, we arose to the wonderful smell of coffee, breakfast, and rain. With many servings of eggs, pancakes, and bacon in our bellies, we began the task of sharing the one shower we had. The kids had a great time bouncing around on Jason's and Drew's air mattresses, which we later found were both punctured from this. Before we headed out, we crammed ourselves into the smallest closet we've ever seen and took a few pictures (see profile pic). We then played an acoustic show for the family which was our first "house party," and they were much appreciative. We then packed our cars in the rain and headed for Drew's friend's apartment in Berkeley.
When we arrived in Berkeley we were greeted by Lauren. Drew's friend was out of town so his girlfriend, Lauren, took care of us starting out with a few pulls from the whiskey bottle. We would come to learn that she was the coolest girl of all time. After chatting and getting our stuff out of the car and inside, we made our way to Beckett's Irish Pub by way of Lauren's borrowed Ford Expedition. We set up, rocked the packed house's face off, and then made way for the band after us. We rocked Beckett's so hard that they didn't care that we went over our bar tab maximum! Anyway, we stuck around a little while and then packed our gear into the Expedition and were shuttled back to the apartment by Lauren. More beer and the laying out of beds led us to the much needed sleep we needed.
In then morning we awoke to heavy rain and Jason in the middle of a tacoed air
mattress! We took our sweet time waking up, ate some pizza, drank a few cups of coffee and celebrated our mutual love for the religion of Mimosas Witnesses, then packed the cars. Thankfully we had a break in the rain. Our drive back down to LA was as good as it could be, we missed a lot of the rain, and we made it back home at our estimated time. Our trip was a success, mission accomplished! And here's to more frequent and lengthy trips as a band.

Cheers and Beers,

The Marietta James

New EP

The long wait is over! Our Ep has arrived and looks/sounds like it's supposed to. We recorded the 3 songs in mid August and now looking back, I'm wondering what took so long for us to get these cd's.? Oh well, we have them now and it's time to put them in the right hands! They are available through CD Baby.com and @ myspace.com/TheMariettaJames . Cheers!

New Band, New Name, Recordings, Etc.

Hello all! This is The Marietta James speaking, formerly The Effects of Cable Television (FXCTV). We just completed recording 3 songs for our EP which are now up on our new Myspace and Facebook pages!

When we finished recording, we contemplated changing our name since we really are a new band having replaced two members and adding another to complete our current lineup. After much thought, we finally landed on The Marietta James. We feel it fits for many reasons, the biggest one being that the band's founding members, Jason and Jeff, hail from Marietta, GA originally, and our music is heavily influenced by their southern roots.

With the new band name comes all the new Myspace, Facebook, etc. pages that have been created. Check out our new pages here:

Myspace: http://myspace.com/TheMariettaJames
Twitter: http://twitter.com/mariettajames
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/The-Marietta-James/291007460541?ref=ts
Blogger: http://themariettajames.blogspot.com/

We hope you enjoy the new music, the new lineup, and that you''ll continue to follow us and come see us play!