Hank Williams, Jaco Pastorius Lead Off Omnivore's RSD Slate

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That change in the air pressure you’re probably feeling around your favorite indie record store can only mean one thing: Record Store Day 2014 is coming your way. April 19 will see a host of beloved major and independent labels celebrating the good old resilient brick-and-mortar store with various titles sold exclusively at participating stores. And the beloved cratediggers at Omnivore Recordings have four exciting titles prepared for the big day – nearly all of which feature artists making their debut appearances on the label.

In a fitfully-brief career that ended with his untimely death at the age of 29, Hank Williams still managed to do more for country music than most, with a sizable stable of crossover hits including “Move It On Over,” “Your Cheatin’ Heart,” “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” and “Hey Good Lookin’.” Omnivore has quite an incredible find with its first RSD 2014 title, The Garden Spot Programs, 1950 – Extended Play. Culled from rare radio show recordings Williams cut for Naughton Farms, a plant nursery in Waxahachie, Texas (with a session band, not his familiar Drifting Cowboys ensemble), these recordings found Williams tackle hits, standards and material he rarely, if ever, recorded anywhere else. Sourced from newly-discovered transcription discs, these tunes haven’t been heard for nearly six decades; a month after the release of this 10″, 33 1/3 RPM disc (packed in a 78-RPM style sleeve with notes from co-producer Colin Escott), Omnivore will release 24 of these tracks from four shows on a new CD/LP compilation on May 20. (Keep an eye here for more info about that set soon!)

Two years before jazz bassist Jaco Pastorius (1951-1987) burst onto the scene with his 1976 solo album, the 22-year-old musician was working out his early solo material in after-hours sessions at Criteria Studios in Miami. Six cuts from those sessions soon made their way onto an acetate disc with which to entice prospective labels; now, that acetate is partially recreated on splatter vinyl (with one bonus track) as well as a CD featuring 11 selections from the entire session. (Happily, this title will be added to the label catalogue after the RSD celebrations.) Modern American Music…Period! The Criteria Sessions features two essays from DownBeat contributor/Jaco biographer Bill Milkowski as well as fan, package co-producer and Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo. Altogether, the set makes a perfect companion to the forthcoming documentary Jaco, about the late legend.

After the jump, Omnivore has a single from a most unexpected voice – an actor’s – and a special compilation of live cuts from some familiar Omnivores!

You might know him from films as diverse as Alien, where his Engineer Brett was the first to be killed by the fearsome fully-grown Xenomorph, or Pretty in Pink, as the hard-luck dad of Molly Ringwald’s Andie Walsh. However you know Harry Dean Stanton, the Kentucky-born actor with those distinctive hangdog features, Omnivore presents him in a way you might not know: a country singer. As shown in the acclaimed new documentary, Harry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction (which premiered at last year’s South by Southwest Festival), features the 87-year-old actor musing on his roles, his music and his interesting life, along with interviews and appearances by directors David Lynch and Wim Wenders and singer friends Kris Kristofferson and Deborah Harry. The Partly Fiction 7″ picture single finds Stanton and longtime collaborator, guitarist Jamie James (a member of Steppenwolf in 1977), tackle two country cuts: George Jones’ “Tennessee Whiskey” on one side, and a new version of folk tune “Canción Mixteca,” which Stanton and Ry Cooder performed in the award-winning 1984 film Paris, Texas.

When two friends and music men, publisher Tom DeSavia and musician Eric Gorfain, started a podcast from L.A.’s High Fidelity Records several years ago, they really kicked things into overdrive when they invited friends to a now-regular musical segment. For Record Store Day, Omnivore will release 14 musical and spoken-word excerpts from these podcasts on translucent green vinyl. Some are no stranger to the Omnivore label, including Sam Phillips, Rhett Miller of The Old 97s and members of Spain; other guests include comedian Paul F. Tompkins, singer-songwriter Grant-Lee Phillips and a well-known songwriter/arranger by the name of Van Dyke Parks.

Hank Williams, The Garden Spot Programs, 1950 – Extended Play (Omnivore, 2014)

The Garden Spot Jingle (Naughton Farms Garden Spot Program, Show #4)
I Don’t Care (If Tomorrow Never Comes) (Naughton Farms Garden Spot Program, Show #10)
Lovesick Blues (Naughton Farms Garden Spot Program, Show #4)
Closing/Oh! Susanna (Naughton Farms Garden Spot Program, Show #10)
Farther Along (Naughton Farms Garden Spot Program, Show #10)
Mind Your Own Business (Naughton Farms Garden Spot Program, Show #9)
Fiddle Tune (Naughton Farms Garden Spot Program, Show #4)
Closing/Oh! Susanna (Naughton Farms Garden Spot Program, Show #11)