Song Of The Day 9/7/2016: Blue Jug – “Come On to Town Ned”

The other night I came across an actually useful article on Rolling Stone’s website: “20 Rock Albums Rolling Stone Loved in the 1970s That You Never Heard.” They were partially right, although for the record, I’ve heard these: Fanny, the Hudson Brothers, Crabby Appleton, the Chambers Brothers, Lon & Derrek Van Eaton, Robin Trower, the Move, and I believe Frankie Miller, though not the Frankie Miller Band. Thirteen out of twenty ain’t bad though. They lavished praise on model/singer Twiggy’s solo album, which might have been the middle-grade hash talking since I found it a little pedestrian. Not horrible for middle-of-the-road though. It’s closer to the shoulder.

Anyway, one album they dug up was from a bunch of Seattle boys who moved out to Nashville, something I’ve been trying to do for nine years with no success. (Love Seattle, but I could own a mansion and a private airstrip in Nashville for what I pay for this kiosk.) The band was unpromisingly called Blue Jug, and their debut album came out on the Southern rock-friendly Capricorn Records. It was recorded at the semi-legendary American Sound Studios in Memphis. The article favorably compares them to The Band, and you can hear plenty of that lazy but smart amble in “Come On to Town Ned.” Blue Jug definitely overcomes the limitations inferred by their moniker.

By the way, there’s a Bill Burnett in Blue Jug, but it’s not the Billy Burnette who briefly played for Fleetwood Mac, nor the Bill Burnett who designed the Star Wars action figures. So zip that idle speculation up right now.