FOUNDERS’ KEEPERS: Milo Binder, Johnny Irion, Continental Drifters, and More

Songwriters reappear (Milo Binder) and reinvent (L.C. Franke) and keep on rollin’ (Johnny Irion). A bluegrass mainstay (Rhonda Vincent) puts her own stamp on classics with some high-profile guests. And a couple of personal favorites from decades past (Continental Drifters, America) serve up archival sets that stand the test of time. Here’s the latest batch of keepers from this ND founder.

Milo Binder — The Unspeakable Milo Binder

Thirty-four years ago I sat at a table in an Austin hotel lobby during SXSW talking to Milo Binder, who’d just released an impressive debut record and seemed poised for a fruitful career as a singer-songwriter. And then… nothing, for 34 years (save a whimsical cover of Abba’s “Dancing Queen” on an early-’90s Pravda Records compilation). And now… a sophomore album, which takes him out of the running to rival Willis Alan Ramsey’s 53-years-and-counting gap since his debut. Still, the strange thing about The Unspeakable Milo Binder isn’t so much the passing of three decades between records, but rather that he seems to have picked up exactly where he left off, as if no time at all has passed.

Well, that’s not quite the case: You don’t live this long without accumulating some hard-won wisdom. These 12 songs reveal an enviable economy of lyrics and instrumentation, the former indicating Binder’s rare talent as a writer and the latter reflecting near-perfect production from Willie Aron (The Balancing Act). Binder finds poetry in tiny observations (“Green Coin Purse”), builds insightful stories from unusual phrases (“Tipped-Over Night”), lets go of his daughter with two minutes of bittersweet reflection (“You And Your Boyfriend”), and eloquently makes a play for his beloved (“I Should Be Your Man”). Some of these stories may be character sketches rather than personal accounts, but they’re no less believable if so. If I were forced to provide you with a reference point for Binder’s music, I’d probably say Cat Stevens, but that would sell short his uncanny singularity. Best of all is the final track, “You Must Break The Heart,” which tempers the heartbreak with bittersweet existential truths. Welcome back, Milo. Come see us again before 2058.

Johnny Irion — Sleeping Soldiers of Love

From 1990s indie-rock with North Carolina bands Queen Sarah Saturday and Dillon Fence, to several duo records with his then-wife Sarah Lee Guthrie in the early 2000s, to collaborations with fellow traveler Mike Stinson and the group U.S. Elevator, Johnny Irion’s career has been a long and winding road. Solo albums have been few and far between, but they’ve included some of his best work. For the 10-song Sleeping Soldiers of Love, Irion brought along a few special guests, including Wilco’s Pat Sansone, R.E.M.’s Mike Mills and actor/singer Jeff Bridges. Irion has shown a natural affinity for rootsy folk-rock since his 2001 solo debut Unity Lodge, and that strength is in full bloom on cuts such as the optimistic opener “I Will, I Do, I Can,” the harmonica-spiked title track, and the sweet horse-as-metaphor ballad “Mustangs.” He takes a down-and-dirty turn on “Back Hoe Daddy,” cranking out bluesy electric riffs. The album’s focal point is “I Am This Mountain,” a gently beautiful environmentalist/naturist anthem. It also apparently inspired the exquisite instrumental “Mountain Reprise,” which closes the album.

Rhonda Vincent — Destinations & Fun Places

Missouri bluegrass musician Rhonda Vincent has released two dozen albums since 1990, picking up eight Grammy nominations and one win along the way. A multi-instrumental talent best-known as a mandolinist, Vincent called upon some big names to sing along on Destinations & Fun Places, which features 11 reimagined classics plus a couple of new originals. She gives a grassy shine to Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5,” then welcomes Parton to sing with her and guest Cody Johnson on John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads.” Trisha Yearwood and Jeannie Seely join her on Jimmy Buffett’s “Margaritaville,” which features some gender shifts (there’s a man to blame, not a woman) plus a mandolin player’s prerogrative to sing “strummin’ my eight-string” instead of six-string. Other “destination” songs playing into the album’s title include Steve Goodman’s “City of New Orleans” and “I Miss Missouri,” a co-write with Jeannie Seely and Erin Enderlin. Stretching seven minutes is the Bob Dylan/Ketch Secor anthem “Wagon Wheel,” with extensive harmonies throughout from Alison Krauss. Members of her longtime band the Rage provide top-shelf bluegrass backing, especially on the early-1970s Olivia Newton-John hit “Please Mr. Please.”

L.C. Franke — Still in Bloom

After a half-dozen albums under his own name and as leader of the band My Jerusalem, Austin singer-songwriter Jeff Klein took a few years off. He was not sure if he wanted to keep making music. A healthy break, it seems, because Still in Bloom is the best thing he’s ever done. He changed his name to honor his grandmother, Elsie Franke, who’d turned him on to the lush 20th-century orchestral-pop classics that divined his new direction. He’s still writing smart lyrics that seek to pierce the heart of darkness, but the rich melodicism and sophistication of the arrangements cast these ten songs in a whole new light. Franke smartly gets in and out quickly, presenting tightly composed tunes that are all around three minutes (the whole things clocks in at 33:30). Strings swirl and woodwinds swell around Franke’s warm crooner-style vocals on standout tracks such as the tone-setting opener “Marionette,” the bittersweet “You’re Not Alone” and the exquisite mood piece “Still in Bloom.” Emmy-winning filmmaker Dan Brown gives a noir-ish touch to the video for “Wish the World.”

Continental Drifters — White Noise & Lightning: The Best Of

Launched in Los Angeles before they drifted across the continent to New Orleans, this 1990s collective was like a supergroup with way more charm and charisma than supergroups usually have. The close ties between members perhaps more closely resemble Willie Nelson’s Family band, and in a couple of cases bandmates did become families. The common bonds were talent and heart, as the memorable songs on their four albums attested. Fifteen of those songs (just eleven on the vinyl version) are gathered here, with basically everyone writing the songs, sometimes collaboratively, sometimes on their own.

“Get Over It” is an instantly infectious four minutes of pop-rock glory, written by Mark Walton (Dream Syndicate) and sung passionately by Susan Cowsill (The Cowsills). Cowsill also co-wrote with her then-husband Peter Holsapple (The dB’s), who penned two other songs on this set, and her current husband Russ Broussard. “The Rain Song,” arguably the band’s best-known tune and the opening track here, featured Cowsill teaming with Vicki Peterson (The Bangles), who wrote four of these songs on her own. “The Mississippi,” the Drifters’ debut single, showed the chops of founding drummer Carlo Nuccio (who died in 2022) and Ray Ganucheau, who was aboard only for the L.A. years (as was guitarist Gary Eaton). My favorites change with each listen, but it’s easy to call “Drifters” their quintessential song, one that perfectly describes the magic they all shared: “We’re all drifters, singers and sisters, brothers and lovers and mothers and confidantes. We were born alone, we’re alone when we’re gone. So while we’re here, we might as well just sing along.”

America — Live From The Hollywood Bowl 1975

When I turned 20, I flew to Rhode Island for the revival of the Newport Folk Festival, hoping Bob Dylan would show up (he didn’t). But ten years earlier, I can’t think of any place I’d rather have been than at the Hollywood Bowl for this concert, which took place just a few days after my 10th birthday. I have no shame in admitting that America was my favorite band back then. The early hit “Ventura Highway” got me interested, but the chart-topping “Sister Golden Hair” really knocked it out of the park in the summer of ’75. It’s worth remembering that George Martin’s post-Beatles exploits included producing five America albums in the 1970s. They were in the midst of that run when they welcomed Martin to conduct an accompanying orchestra for this early-August show at the legendary Los Angeles amphitheater. The hits are all here, from Dewey Bunnell gems such as “Tin Man” and “A Horse with No Name” to the Dan Peek standouts “Lonely People” and “Don’t Cross the River.” For my money, the trio’s best songwriter was Gerry Beckley; as memorable as his “Sister Golden Hair” may have been, Beckley’s crowning jewel was “Daisy Jane,” which gleams like a jewel with the Martin-conducted strings on this hot August night.