The Great American Yard Sale

Mark Lemhouse

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 9, 2005)
• Original Release Date: August 9, 2005
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Yellow Dog Records
• ASIN: B000A9QKDM
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #183,007 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

About the Artist
Fresh off the bus in Memphis Tennessee, Mark Lemhouse arrived in the Home of the Blues armed with a guitar style that echoed Beale Street’s acoustic blues legends, but in service to a distinctly contemporary songwriting voice filtering the emotion of Hank Williams Sr. through the attitude of Tom Waits. He quickly set himself apart from the traditionalist pack, earning recognition as a top-shelf songwriter and guitar player. His debut album, Big Lonesome Radio, earned two 2004 W.C. Handy Award Nominations (the "Grammy" of the roots Blues genre) for "Acoustic Album of the Year" and "Best New Artist Debut".

He supported Big Lonesome Radio with a heavy touring schedule, sharing stages with the likes of Jimmie Vaughan, Junior Brown, Alejandro Escovedo, The Asylum Street Spankers, and Roy Bookbinder. Lemhouse has crisscrossed the country, performing as a main stage act at such festivals as the prestigious Heritage Music Festival, the Portland Waterfront Blues Festival, Pickathon, and the King Biscuit Blues Festival, as well as playing clubs, coffeehouses, dives, honky tonks, and the star-studded 2004 Handy Awards Show – all of it with nothing more than his great songs and outstanding guitar work.

Big Lonesome Radio was acclaimed by MOJO Magazine as one of the Top 10 albums of the year in its genre, charted as #4 overall in the Roots Music Radio Report and was heralded by Sing Out! Magazine as the work of a "stellar songwriter and guitarist." Lemhouse’s haunting waltz "Edwin’s Lament" confirmed such an accolade when it was included in John Singleton’s ("Boyz ‘n the Hood") new film production, "Hustle and Flow." The placement is no small achievement, considering that the film earned both the Dramatic Audience and Cinematography awards at 2005’s Sundance Film Festival, and is currently being released nationwide by Paramount/MTV.

Although he’s earned acclaim in the blues world and that music lies at the heart of his style, Lemhouse looks far beyond the Delta in his highly anticipated new Yellow Dog release. When someone tries to pin Lemhouse down, asking what type of music he plays, the singer-guitarist often quotes his friend Alvin Youngblood Hart, himself echoing Duke Ellington: "Good Music." The Great American Yard Sale is much, much better than good, as the genre-defying guitarist plugs in and heads out to edgy Americana territory, armed with banjo and electric lap steel as well as his deftly fingerpicked National guitar.

Even as he broadens his musical palette, Lemhouse’s eclectic formula of songwriting and guitar work places you in the middle of a world that’s as confounding as it is redeeming. With material that reflects the eye of a seasoned traveler, his songs run the gamut of love, insanity and hard-won life lessons. As Lemhouse offered in a recent interview; "Well, I just write about things the way they happened... But I lie too. If they don’t happen that exact way, I’ll start makin’ stuff up in a heartbeat... It’s a song, not a police report, at least not yet anyway."

Product Description
Mark Lemhouse's debut album, Big Lonesome Radio, breathed fresh air into the traditional blues world, earning a pair of Handy award nominations including 'Best New Artist Debut.' But like the great roots innovators who inspired him, Mark Lemhouse is a res

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mr Lemhouse Does it Again!, January 23, 2006

By	Rick Saunders "Rick Saunders" (Pullman, WA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Mark Lemhouse:
The Great American Yard Sale:
Yellow Dog Records 2005

I was talking with a friend the other day and I mentioned having trouble writing about the new Mark Lemhouse album. My friend, who has listened to The Great American Yard Sale as well said "why? Are you too startled by its greatness?" Yeah. I am. Maybe startled isn't the word because after his first album Big Lonesome Radio I expected good things in the future from him but dang, who knew? I sure didn't want to sell the man short. But like Yellow Dog Records label mate Chris Cotton Mr. Lemhouse has done his fair share of record Listening and knows how the history rolls and how to rock it. The Great American Yard Sale starts out deceptively enough with Scarlet. A sweet and innocent little banjo line then Lemhouse drops a rump shakin' wallop that recalls to me photographer Bill Steber's shots of the big beautiful ladies movin' and grindin' slow and low down in the jukes of North Mississippi. Mr. Lemhouse and his band lean down in on that greasy good groove thing and, in the words of the great T-Model Ford "Let it all hang in!" Lemhouse follows that with Paper Sack, a lament that ol' Tom Waits would dig. Lowly swangin' on the dirty money and peppered with accordion, banjo, and brushed drums torn up with sweet little guitar solos that Chris Issac could only pray for. I'm Worried is a tight sad country blues with living room harmonies. A banjo plus acoustic guitar piece that, like the previous song lays nicely textured `tho this with the sweet wash of a low flute and cello that combines brilliantly with Mr. Lemhouse's delicious rural city picking. It may be just the anthem you need. Leroy Feller's blues gallops down that hard lonesome road called women. "Nothing on this earth is promised. "No guarantees no reason why, you don't get nuthin' for your trouble, but all the angels sing about you when you die". It's a damn shame John Cash never got the chance to cover it. Never Me is a more traditional country blues made well done by Lemhouse's dark `shine and oj voice with banjo that ol' Dock Boggs or Charlie Poole would have appreciated. Several tracks on Lemhouse's second timer have an undeniably sexy groove-on but none more so than his reworked traditional Cluck Old Hen which carries enough draggin' it in the dirt swagger within its "When the Levee Breaks" steel-toed boot stomp to replant the southern Mississippi delta. Twice. Lemhouse and his band with Scott Bomar on bass and Paul Buchignan on drums and such know how to run that steamin' Memphis hot chicken down. Salem is a haunting melancholy song that sings of the miserable dreariness of autumn and winter in that Oregon capital city. Lines like "Six months to daylight in this town" and "I'm as cold as rock in the shade" sure as Lemhouse's acoustic and lap steel and Amy Severin's lonesome cello bring the bone rattling chill right off that ol' Columbia river. The Unofficial Ballad of Story Musgrave with Mr. Lemhouse on lap steel and acoustic backed by Charles Norman on occasional percussion is not just another song to remind you that there can never be enough country songs about wanting to be an astronaut. This track is followed by The Queen of Easy Street which in a perfect world would be a bigass hit single and would do for Lemhouse what similar odd tracks have done for the likes of your Counting Crows or your Wallflowers. But this ain't no damn perfect world and thank the stars Brother Lemhouse knows it. So after the lovely track 11 "Hazy" which would almost fit nicely on a Nick Drake LP comes You're a (...). A full on country rocker that oughta be the world's hottest download and be boomin' from trunks and ipods all life long. It's the new Take This Job and Shove It. It's your new song to play each day as you light that delicious first smoke after work. It's the song to play as you pull into the lot of your next crap job. It's a song Toby Keith wouldn't the okie (...) to cover. It's the theme song for every damned one of us that actually has to work at work. With this album Mark Lemhouse joins a rare group of fine artists like Drive By Truckers, Black Diamond Heavies, Chris Knight, Tarbox Ramblers and others working American music today that's as classic and timeless as it is of the Now. It's soulful, haunted, strong and smart music that is being heard by far too few people and that's a damn shame. The Great American Yard Sale ranks somewhere in my top three for album of the year.

4.0 out of 5 stars american classic, May 12, 2006

By	john orcopoulos (Thessaloniki, Greece) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Wonderfull American music played with steel guitars
with a taste of western music back to the roots .
Very nice listening for a long travel on the highway
tweleve travelling songs
listen from preview ""Nothing in the world can stop me.."

5.0 out of 5 stars Once again, Lemhouse comes through with a home run., January 20, 2006

By	Randle Ford (NYC) - See all my reviews

This Album, not only tops his first critically acclaimed CD, "Big Lonesome Radio," but he succeeds in showing more of himself to the listener. He's a true songwriter and musician. Reminds me of a Daniel Lanois produced album to some degree. Lemhouse is a truly gifted musician and it shines through on every track. He's always taking you interesting places in his songs. This guy can say alot with a few well written lines and a whole bunch more on his instrument. Exellent CD.