Most Popular
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An ancient Apollo statue landed in Cleveland and touched off an international outcry
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Joe Cimperman hopes to tear down his former hero, Dennis Kucinich
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Beat Down
Cleveland teachers swap stories of school violence.
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Everybody Hates Mike
The peril of coaching an icon.
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Secret Valentines Notes from C-Town Celebs
Our I-Team uncovered the private love letters of Cleveland's biggest names. You'll be shocked by what we discovered.
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$100 Bounty on That Kid (19)
Copley-Fairlawn finds a way to keep the impostors out.
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At Indie-Rock Singles Night in Cleveland, an event for hipsters lacks one key ingredient: Hipsters (14)
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Dennis Kucinich’s brave talk about working and fighting — from the safety of the officer’s tent (10)
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Beat Down (3)
Cleveland teachers swap stories of school violence.
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Sour Notes (434)
Underneath its glossy exterior, the Cleveland Orchestra has a dark side. His name is William Preucil.
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Crazy Talk
Miranda Lambert is a lot like any other girl with a soft spot for guns and setting exes on fire.
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The Bravery's New World
New-wave revivalists discover the power of three-chord guitar rock.
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Beer, BBQ, industry schmoozing: Rounding up SXSW 2008’s local delegates
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Keep on Truckin'
Jason Isbell finds life after the Drive-By Truckers.
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It took them 10 years, but the Sadies finally craft a country-rock classic
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Carl Monday’s back, and he’s not better than ever, which makes us sad
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A gentle proposal to Cleveland sports fans: Quit bitching and enjoy it
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In Minnesota, smoking ban no match for local thespians. Why didn’t we think of that?!
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Joyce Banjac may be Myers University's best hope
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Akron mom embezzles $12,000 from PTA
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What we are writing about
- Black Sabbath
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Recent Articles By Justin F. Farrar
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It took them 10 years, but the Sadies finally craft a country-rock classic
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Blossom Toes
We Are Ever So Clean/If Only for a Moment (Sunbeam)
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Weener
Saturday, December 22, at the Jigsaw, Parma.
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The Pearlfishers
Up With the Larks (Marina)
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The Howling Hex
XI (Drag City)
National Features
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Houston Press
"It Was Like an Armageddon Movie"
For days after Hurricane Rita, a Texas prison was hell on earth.
By Chris Vogel -
SF Weekly
The Candidate
Our columnist knows Ralph Nader's running mate all too well.
By Matt Smith -
The Pitch
How Not To Be a Rap Star
First of all, lay off the Ecstasy.
By Nadia Pflaum -
Village Voice
Project Runaway
What becomes a gossip columnist most?
By Michael Musto
Subject(s): country rock, The Sadies
The cover to New Seasons — a rural landscape dipped in shades of electric raspberry — looks a lot like the jacket for Charley D. and Milo's 1970 debut LP, a lost treasure in lysergic country pop. That's not surprising. The Sadies, as their sixth studio album clearly demonstrates, retain an encyclopedic knowledge of cosmic American music, one that runs far deeper than merely nicking tricks from the Byrds.
The Sadies, you see, aren't bad actors like Beachwood Sparks. The Canadian outfit doesn't dress up like cowboys and simply add a little reverb-soaked pedal steel to pedestrian indie pop. Sure, New Seasons is drenched in moody atmospherics and whispering harmonies reminiscent of '90s dream pop; "The Trial" and "Anna Leigh," in particular, ripple and float like a stoned hike through the Metroparks. The disc also gallops like a pack of movie outlaws wandering the high plains to Ennio Morricone (as well as some Dick Dale).
But New Seasons never feels like cheap cinema. That's because the Sadies are skilled musicians who understand the key to classic country rock. Guitarists Dallas and Travis Good don't strum — they pick . . . all the time. While that sounds like a minor difference maker, it ain't. Country picking is the earth from which everything else sprouts. And in the Sadies' case, what comes up is a kaleidoscopic field of wild flowers and poppies.
