Podcast Episode 15 – Camp Black Dog
Camp Black Dog Family Photo
1) Dave Bielanko, 2) Chris Hudson (Cary's cousin), 3) Jeffrey Reed (Black Dog producer/engineer), 4) Paul Dickman (Marah's manager), 5) Danny Metz, 6) Noah Saterstrom, 7) Laurie Stirratt, 8] Cary Hudson, 9) Serge Bielanko, 10) Tyler Keith, 11) Bruce Langfeld, 12) George Sheldon, 13) Paul Smith (Marah's engineer), 14) Frank Coutch, 15) Ronnie Vance
Transcription
Theme Song: Mike Nicolai, “Trying To Get It Right” [Bandcamp]
Welcome to Don't Call It Nothing, the podcast dedicated to the lost history of '90s roots, rap, and rock 'n' roll. I’m your host Lance Davis and today we’re going back to Mississippi in the summer of ‘98 and we’re gonna spend a little time at Camp Black Dog. Before we get there, just wanna give a quick shout-out to Karla Ludzack and Rob Haire for joining the Don’t Call It Nothing family. I saw Rob propose to Karla at a Centro-Matic show, so you know that relationship is built on solid ground. Where was that? The Red Eyed Fly in Austin, I believe. Anyway, love that you guys are on board. If you’d like to support the only music podcast that matters you can do so at the $5 and $20/month levels. At the $20/month level, you can collaborate with me on a specific podcast and get access to the YouTube and Spotify playlists that are a backbone of this pod. Beyond that, the levels are pretty similar. All family members recently received my first bonus episode about my Japanese mom growing up in Hawaii during World War Two. So, Rob and Karla, you can expect that. To become a member, hit that “Buy Me a Coffee” button at the top of the page or the “Support” button at the bottom. Or just hang out and listen, whatever’s cool with me. If I may quote my French Dinosaur Jr cass-single. Oh, look at me showing off. I’m just glad you’re here.
From their 1998 album Let's Cut The Crap And Hook Up Later On Tonight, that’s Marah with “Eventually Rock.” In a 2006 interview with Perfect Sound Forever, Dave Bielanko said of the band’s debut, “Cut The Crap is the one moment in your life when you don't have any idea how to make a record or what the music business is. We didn't even have tuners! I can remember, we couldn't record electric guitars 'cause we didn't have amps!” (Perfect Sound Forever, May 2006) That’s basically true. Outside of a clean electric guitar on “Firecracker” and Chuck Berry-style lead guitar on “Head On,” most of this album is arranged around acoustic instruments, Dave’s soulful, old man lead vocals, and Serge’s backup holler. Aside from having one of the greatest album titles ever, Let's Cut The Crap And Hook Up Later On Tonight is the textbook example of alt.country as rock 'n' roll.
The Bielanko embrace of acoustic instruments is the story of Cut The Crap. “Eventually Rock,” which we heard, is carried by banjo and lap steel. “Rain Delay” is carried by mandolin and acoustic guitars that I assume are capoed way up the neck. “Baby Love” is Townes Van Zandt-esque acoustic fingerpicking blues. “Boat” is anchored to an upright piano and handclaps. “Limb” makes room for banjo, dobro, lap steel, and dulcimer. For all of the Springsteen romanticism and Stones boogie, these arrangements are fundamentally closer to The Gourds than they are to any sort of classic rock.
Now, Crap is probably too ambitious for its own good. “Fever” might’ve been better without horns, or at least 1 or 2 horns as opposed to the entire brass section from a Mummers parade. “Limb” was probably a minute and a half too long as is and THEN the brothers added bagpipes and snoring [laughs]. But, the failures are at least interesting. And can you blame them for throwing in bagpipes? It’s easy to see from the perspective of 2021 that Marah was destined for some kind of greatness. But, they didn’t know that going into this recording. For all Dave and Serge knew, this was their shot. And if that’s the case, fuck it. Put in the bagpipes, stack the horns, get the steel drum, get the xylophone, and for the love of God get the female backup singers. The Bielankos are going to church.
Song: Marah - “Boat”
Pictured L-R: Christine Smith, Adam Garbinski, Dave Bielanko, Danny Metz, Serge Bielanko & Mick Bader (Marah circa 2000)
In a curious case of synchronicity – though possibly due to a ghost in the machine – a couple of weeks ago I posted a picture of Blue Mountain on Facebook, Instagram, and the Don’t Call It Nothing blog. It was a promotional poster for Homegrown used for a 1999 Birmingham, Alabama, show that I attended. I wanted to include the poster in the transcription for my 1999 podcast, but it didn’t fit, so I published it separately. That exact same day – and I think within the same hour – Serge Bielanko published an essay entitled “A Band Called Blue Mountain,” a deeply heartfelt homage to Blue Mountain set in the summer of 1998. You really owe it to yourself to read the essay. I just wanna read one small excerpt because it pertains to Cut The Crap. Serge writes:
Once, outside Silk City, the diner bar on Spring Garden in Philly, me and my brother, Dave, handed a cassette to Go to Blazes guitarist Tom Heyman, who was a friend of ours. We had all just watched a Blue Mountain show that had left everyone giddy. Certain bands can do that, make the crowd high.
The tape was a copy of the first Marah record, an album we had made ourselves on ancient recording gear in a small space above an auto garage in South Philadelphia. It was unreleased then, we’d just finished it, and we were hungry to get it into the hands of Cary Hudson and Laurie Stirratt from Blue Mountain because they had started a new label called Black Dog Records. And we figured that if we could get on their label then that would mean they liked us. And that’s all we kind of wanted. Fools we were, when it came to the business of music. We knew nothing of record deals or making money. We only wanted to be on a label owned by a band who were legends in our world.
And you know what? It worked.
--Serge Bielanko, “A Band Called Blue Mountain,” October 8, 2021
The only downside to Serge’s brilliantly evocative essay was that much of it took place in the summer of 1998 when Marah opened for Blue Mountain in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. If you’re thinking to yourself, “LD, didn’t you move to Tuscaloosa in the summer of 1998?” That would be an affirmative. Unfortunately, I moved mere weeks after this show took place. But, don’t worry about me. I was in Baton Rouge enjoying 95% heat, 100% humidity, and 0% Blue Mountain. [Cue Nelson Muntz “HA HA!”] Actually, until reading Serge’s essay I forgot that Let’s Cut The Crap was issued on Black Dog Records. Given Marah’s obvious classic rock touchstones, it’s easy to overlook the Mississippi influence. Which is to say, I suspect the Bielanko boys were in T-Town because they were already in Monticello, Mississippi recording at Camp Black Dog.
Camp Black Dog was the nickname given to Route 1 Recording, a studio that doubled as the headquarters of Black Dog Records. For about a week in the summer of ’98, Marah, Blue Mountain, John Stirratt (Laurie’s brother and bassist in Wilco), Tyler Keith (singer and guitarist for my beloved Neckbones), and a low-key multi-instrumentalist named Noah Saterstrom all essentially camped out in this studio located in a patch of woods just south of Highway 84, an hour and a half west of Hattiesburg and closer to New Orleans than Oxford. The musicians jammed, smoked, drank, told stories, experimented, wrote some new songs, recorded some old songs that didn’t fit in other projects, and ultimately emerged with a 10-track collaboration called Camp Black Dog Presents Rock & Roll Summer Camp '98.
Song: Dave & Serge Bielanko - “Livin' On The Road”
Pictured: Laurie Stirratt & Serge Bielanko
Officially, that’s Dave and Serge Bielanko with “Livin' On The Road.” Dave is on banjo and the first voice you hear. Serge is on acoustic guitar and the second voice you hear. I have to laugh because it’s written like a Steve Earle song and Dave sounds a bit like Earle, so I can imagine Steve rushing to sign Marah because they reminded him of himself. “These guys are great! They’re like a young me!” [laughs] In fact, there are some lyrical gems in here. I’m fond of the final verse, when Dave sings, "I was a drunken teacher, an elementary preacher in a porno shop," followed by Serge declaring, "I was a wino beggar, a pretty good trumpet player with piss-poor chops." While the arrangement is different, it’s hard for me to hear this and not think about “Johnny Come Lately,” Earle’s collaboration with The Pogues on Copperhead Road.
By the way, the reason I said “officially” it’s Dave and Serge is because that’s how it’s credited on the CD. In fact, Danny Metz from Marah plays bass here as he did on Cut The Crap. However, instead of Ronnie Vance on drums, it’s Frank Coutch from Blue Mountain and he’s arguably the best part of the song. Listen to the snare and THEN listen to how he drives that floor tom. Badass. Cary Hudson plays mandolin, Laurie Stirratt doubles on acoustic guitar, and glue guy Noah Saterstrom doubles on banjo and adds the distinctive, Spider Stacy-esque tin whistle. Hootin and hollerin in the background are Jeffrey Reed and Paul Smith, the duo who produced, engineered, and mixed Camp Black Dog. Reed was a Mississippi guy tight with Blue Mountain, an actual part of Black Dog Records, and who’d previously worked at Ardent Studios in Memphis. Smith was Marah’s engineer and came down for the week. Wisely, he and Reed split production responsibilities.
Song: George Sheldon - “S.O.B.”
Pictured: George Sheldon
That’s Blue Mountain bassist George Sheldon bangin away on acoustic guitar and singin his pottymouth Johnny Cash-esque original, “S.O.B.,” which I know I heard at least once in a Blue Mountain set. Laurie and Frank are on bass and drums, so this is one Cary Hudson away from being a full-on Blue Mountain track. Serge is on harp and backup holler and Bruce Langfeld of Marah plays lap steel and electric guitar. Marah’s Ronnie Vance sits in on washboard and while he’s no RJ Simensen, he’s solid.
Song: Cary Hudson & Laurie Stirratt - “Big Black River”
Pictured: Laurie Stirratt & Cary Hudson
Officially credited to Cary Hudson and Laurie Stirratt, “Big Black River” features all four members of Blue Mountain making jugband rock ‘n’ roll sexy … as they were wont to do. Cary sings and plays mandolin, Laurie sings harmony and plays acoustic, George is thumpin standup, and Frank is on snare. Add Dave Bielanko on acoustic guitar, Saterstrom on banjo, and it’s pretty much the greatest thing ever. What’s interesting is that Hudson and Stirratt had released this song before.
From the 1991 album of the same name, that’s “Big Black River” by The Hilltops, an Oxford, Mississippi band whose members included Cary Hudson, Laurie Stirratt, and John Stirratt, as well as Hank Sossaman on drums. Though only separated by seven years, the two arrangements are 900 miles apart. The Camp Black Dog version is a concise 3:37, locked in on the beat, and completely sure of itself. The 1991 version wastes time with a long intro, includes some Loveless-esque drone, and wanders around for six minutes. I bring this up not to throw shade, but to demonstrate that even southern rock titans like Cary Hudson went through phases where they were figuring their shit out. This is the part of music that fascinates me. How does a good song become a great song? How does a good musician become a great musician? Some of it is practice. Some of it is tenacity. And some of it is just life experience. Cary and Laurie moved to LA in 1992 because I guess they didn’t have enough self-loathing and disgust for humanity and wanted to wallow in it. Within a year they moved back to Mississippi completely refocused, started Blue Mountain, went through a couple drummers, finally found Frank Coutch, and the road to Dog Days was set.
To be fair to Hudson and The Hilltops, they had moments of brilliance. When I said the two “Big Black Rivers” were 900 miles apart, that was deliberate. The Hilltops’ arrangement of the old folk song “900 Miles” IS the arrangement “Big Black River” should’ve had, even down to the Zep riffage. And it’s a tight three minutes. Perfection.
Song: Hilltops - “900 Miles”
Pictured: Laurie Stirratt rockin the bass
From the 1991 album, Big Black River, that’s The Hilltops with the traditional folk song, “900 Miles.” That album was reissued in 1996 by … Black Dog Records and I think it was the first release on the label. Where you can hear Hudson working toward Blue Mountain, John Stirratt’s songs have more of a Meat Puppets kinda vibe, but not at that level. That said, there is one track of his that I’d like to highlight. Slobberbone fans, see if you agree with me that the opening guitar riff here is like the older brother of the opening guitar riff in “Sober Song.”
Song: Hilltops - “I Might Be The Last One”
Pictured: Laurie & John Stirratt
That’s John Stirratt and The Hilltops with “I Might Be The Last One,” which you can find on the 1991 album, Big Black River, later reissued by Cary Hudson and Laurie Stirratt on their own label, Black Dog Records in 1996. You get Stirratt sibling harmonies, a sweet four-bar guitar solo from Hudson, and it comes and goes in 1:56.
Song: John Stirratt - “Not So Far Away”
Pictured: Frank Coutch
We return to Camp Black Dog and John Stirratt with “Not So Far Away” backed by Blue Mountain and Marah. It’s good country pop that sounds like early Wilco and manages to work “pantaloons” into the lyrics, a success in and of itself. I like how Serge’s harp seems to be in conversation with Cary’s slide and again, it’s nice to hear the Stirratts harmonizing with each other.
Speaking of which, in the liner notes Laurie is named Camp Black Dog MVP. First of all, duh. She’s a total badass, of course she’s MVP. But, I suspect she was so-named because she’s the only musician to appear on all ten tracks.
1. Dave Bielanko And Serge Bielanko - Livin' On The Road
Laurie Stirratt – acoustic guitar2. George Sheldon - S.O.B.
Laurie Stirratt - bass3. John Stirratt - Not So Far Away
Laurie Stirratt – acoustic guitar, backing vocals4. Cary Hudson And Laurie Stirratt
Laurie Stirratt – vocals, acoustic guitar5. Noah Saterstrom - Crow Jane
Laurie Stirratt – backing vocals, handclaps6. Dave Bielanko And Serge Bielanko - The River
Laurie Stirratt – bass, acoustic guitar, backing vocals7. Dave Bielanko And Serge Bielanko - Part Of Me
Laurie Stirratt – vocals, bass8. Serge Bielanko And Cary Hudson - Grey & Blue
Laurie Stirratt - mandolin9. Noah Saterstrom - Sail Away Lady
Laurie Stirratt – acoustic guitar10. Tyler Keith - Reckless Night
Laurie Stirratt – electric guitar
Most tracks feature Laurie on acoustic guitar or bass. However, one song has her rockin the electric.
Song: Tyler Keith - “Reckless Night”
Pictured: Tyler Keith (L) & Dave Bielanko
That’s the great Tyler Keith on vocals and lead guitar taking an early stab at “Reckless Night.” The following year it was released on The Lights Are Getting Dim, the second and final Neckbones album. What makes this version interesting is that you can argue it’s the first Preacher’s Kids track. That was Keith’s band after The Neckbones broke up and their 2001 debut, Romeo Hood, featured Tyler backed by Laurie Stirratt on electric guitar, George Sheldon on bass, and Frank Coutch on drums, all of whom play those roles here. The only difference is that Bruce Langfeld of Marah plays electric guitar here instead of Hudson. Langfeld also adds the piano, which is buried in the mix, but adds a nice percussive element. As much as I like this, though, nothing beats the original.
Like I needed an excuse to play The Neckbones. They had bad timing, a weird relationship with their label, Fat Possum, which meant sketchy promotion, and broke up in 2000 just as garage rock was becoming a thing again. Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, what did you think of the play? So, they got all the business parts wrong and all the show parts right. Let’s focus on the show. “Reckless Night” features Tyler Keith on vocals, lead guitar, AND piano. Renaissance punk, y’all!
I’m gonna leave you with one final song from Camp Black Dog song. It would be easy to go with “Grey & Blue,” the Civil War folk ballad credited to Serge and Cary. Similarly, “The River” is a Bielanko joint that’s like a Steve Earle murder mystery trapped inside of Townes Van Zandt’s “White Freight Liner Blues.” However, my last Camp Black Dog hurrah is going to “Part Of Me” because it sounds like Marah channeling “Revolution Blues.”
Song: Dave & Serge Bielanko - “Part Of Me”
Pictured: Cary bashin, Tyler crashin
How dope is that? Serge on harp and lead vocals, Laurie on bass and lead vocals, Dave on banjo and chorus holler, Cary on fiddle, Ronnie Vance on drums, and secret weapon Bruce Langfeld on the Neil-esque electric guitar. “Part Of Me” is very On The Beach, but between the southern rock, the specter of violence, and characters making difficult choices in shitty circumstances, it kind of anticipates what the Drive-By Truckers would soon become. When these tracks were being laid down at Camp Black Dog, the Truckers were in between their first two albums. It’s easy to forget this now, what with the DBTs rep built on three guitars and the rock show, but if you go back and listen to Gangstabilly and Pizza Deliverance, there is way more acoustic guitar, banjo, mandolin, standup bass, and John Neff on pedal steel than you might remember. That’s how I felt about Let’s Cut The Crap when I started this project. I expected to hear the blazing rock of Kids In Philly because that’s how I remembered it in my head. When I started listening to the tracks, I got the rock ‘n’ roll. But, I was surprised to hear it mostly filtered through acoustic instruments.
The last song of today’s show goes out to Lane Campbell in the great beyond. I think he would’ve loved this podcast. See you on the other side, brother.
That’s gonna do it for this week. As I said at the top of the show. you can become a member at the $5 or $20/month level by hitting that Buy Me a Coffee button at the top of the page or Support at the bottom. Please visit the Don’t Call It Nothing Facebook page and website, dontcallitnothing.squarespace.com. Like, comment, tell yo mama, and tell a friend.
I’ll talk to ya in a few weeks!
