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Post by Prince Hal on Mar 27, 2020 15:19:08 GMT -5
Impressive. Good to see Dylan engaged with what's happening in the world and with recent history. Yes, if you mean he was inspired to release it, but he says he wrote it a while back and just never included it on an album. Another testament to his universality.
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Post by beccabear67 on Mar 27, 2020 16:32:55 GMT -5
I find Dylan's Jokerman song in my head sometimes lately.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Mar 30, 2020 12:11:38 GMT -5
Top songs of 2019
#64 - Merle Haggard - Hungry Eyes
While pretty much everything Hagg touched in the 60s was gold, 1969 was a magic year for him. He released four albums that year and every one of them was a stone-cold classic. The last of those "A Portrait of Merle Haggard" had three of his best singles, Workin' Man Blues, Silver Wings, and this track which is one of his most autobiographical songs. Hagg was raised by a single mother (his Dad died when he was nine) and you can hear the love for his mother and her struggles in every note of this song.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Mar 30, 2020 14:17:39 GMT -5
I'm sporadically reading Lost Highway: Journeys & Arrivals of American Musicians by Peter Guralnick. This is essentially a follow-up to his earlier work Feel Like Going Home: Portraits in Blues, Country, and Rock 'n' Roll. As with most books about music I'm listening as I go along (though the cites to songs in this book are far from comprehensive).
The first artist covered was Ernest Tubb, who was still touring when this was published in 1979, but had lost his contract with MCA (which had acquired Decca). Along with touring Tubb appeared on the Grand Ole Opry and his own Midnite Jamboree. Tubb had long since stopped producing new music playing his hits for his multi-generational fan-base.
Musically, the focus is on Tubb's biggest hit and one of the most important country songs in history "Walking the Floor Over You." The 1941 single sold a million copies and is regularly put forth as the first true honky-tonk single. Tubb codified the honky-tonk sound and his use of the electric guitar was a huge leap forward in country music.
Next up...Hank Snow.
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Post by berkley on Mar 30, 2020 14:35:17 GMT -5
I find Dylan's Jokerman song in my head sometimes lately. One of my favourite tracks of his. Infidels and Oh Mercy are the only two Dylan albums from the 80s or beyond that I've really gotten into, though to be fair, most of them I've never even tried.
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Post by beccabear67 on Mar 31, 2020 0:43:57 GMT -5
I always loved Ernest Tubb's singing, and Merle's great story songs of course!
I was reading a review about a very obscure mid '70s folk recording duo under the name Merruwyn (one LP back says from dartford, and another source claims Kent, and the name is from Cornwall), but almost impossible to find anything to hear. One and a partial track on Youtube from one album. So there's a new old one added to my try and find list...
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Mar 31, 2020 10:36:35 GMT -5
Top songs of 2019
#63 - Tom Russell - Nina Simone
Tom Russell is back. This was the third track off Russell's 2009 album "Blood and Candle Smoke" which was, I believe the first of his albums I really keyed me into his work. The song is a great homage to the amazing Nina Simone and it's pure Russell as he is has made a career of writing songs about his influences.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Apr 1, 2020 9:36:25 GMT -5
Top songs of 2019
#62 - Roger Miller - Kansas City Star
Roger Miller was my first favorite musician. Apparently as a toddler I would stand at the stereo and dance to Roger Miller. I always showed good taste. Miller was a brilliant lyricist and one of the best scat singers ever. And this song is just brilliant and would has the makings of a great movie about early local television.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Apr 1, 2020 17:56:52 GMT -5
Looking on the bright side and anticipating (hoping for) the end of this entire crisis I looked at potential (and realistic) concerts in the coming months.
Highest probability is
The Drive-By Truckers on July 14, in Boise. I should hope the world will be back to semi-normal by that time. And it would make it exciting that son #2 is home as he is almost as big a fan of the Truckers as I am. So there's a high probability this will happen.
Moderate probability:
Paul Thorn on July 18, in Hailey. Not super likely if we see the Truckers on the 14th. If we don't make that show this one moves way up as it's close. The price is kind of high for The Mint though.
Jason Boland and the Stragglers on July 28th in Boise. Maybe. I love the venue and the price is good. But Tuesday concerts are tough on my old body.
Maybe....
Seriously considering finally going to the annual Braun Brothers Reunion in Stanley at least for the third day, Aug. 8. I've never been, but that particular day will have Corb Lund, Reckless Kelly and most importantly Mike and and Moonpies.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Apr 2, 2020 9:37:40 GMT -5
Top songs of 2019
#61 - Webb Pierce - There Stands the Glass
People forget just how huge Webb Pierce was in the 50s. This one spent 12 weeks at the top of the country charts and was his fifth number one.
This is one of the consummate country drinking songs. That slow twanging lament between the honky-tonk dance numbers. And it's one of the great answers to why we drink.
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 9,545
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Post by Confessor on Apr 2, 2020 10:36:41 GMT -5
Here's a recording of my wife and I covering the Joni Mitchell classic, "Big Yellow Taxi". She's on lead vocals (obviously!) and I'm on acoustic guitar and backing vocals -- doing my very best Crosby, Stills & Nash impersonation on the latter. I decided to play a little bit of percussion on this as well, using bongos, an egg shaker, and a knife and fork!
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Post by berkley on Apr 2, 2020 12:59:01 GMT -5
I shouldn't be surprised at the quality of these recordings since you're professionals but it always blows me away nonetheless. I suppose because I think of you as "just" one of the guys on the Classic Comics boards, even though I know in my head that you're a professional musician.
I'm curious - do you and your wife ever disagree about music? I imagine your tastes coinicide pretty extensively since you collaborate together in your music but are there some things you like that she doesn't or vica versa?
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Apr 2, 2020 13:06:37 GMT -5
Here's a recording of my wife and I covering the Joni Mitchell classic, "Big Yellow Taxi". She's on lead vocals (obviously!) and I'm on acoustic guitar and backing vocals -- doing my very best Crosby, Stills & Nash impersonation on the latter. I decided to play a little bit of percussion on this as well, using bongos, an egg shaker, and a knife and fork! My youngest son's first percussion instruments were bongos. He wanted a set of bongos for Christmas when he was about five years old. I went ahead and got him a decent set and he considers himself a "percussionist" viewing mere drummers as second-class citizens. Sounds good.
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 9,545
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Post by Confessor on Apr 2, 2020 16:51:05 GMT -5
I shouldn't be surprised at the quality of these recordings since you're professionals but it always blows me away nonetheless. I suppose because I think of you as "just" one of the guys on the Classic Comics boards, even though I know in my head that you're a professional musician. Thanks, berkley. That's really nice of you to say. I'm curious - do you and your wife ever disagree about music? I imagine your tastes coinicide pretty extensively since you collaborate together in your music but are there some things you like that she doesn't or vica versa? Oh, absolutely! You're correct that our tastes overlap a whole lot, but there's stuff like semi-modern R&B, UK garage, and cheesy pop that she likes, which I don't, and likewise, there's a fair bit of noisy indie rock that I enjoy that she doesn't. My wife also doesn't like Bob Dylan. 😧 She thinks he's a great songwriter, but she can't stand his singing voice. We do Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man" and "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere" live on occasion, but we do versions based on the Byrds' covers of those songs. When it comes to picking the songs we perform at our gigs, we have a golden rule which is that we will never perform or play any song that we don't both like. Luckily, that means that between us we still have a huge variety of rock, pop and soul to choose from.
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Post by berkley on Apr 2, 2020 20:26:29 GMT -5
I'm curious - do you and your wife ever disagree about music? I imagine your tastes coinicide pretty extensively since you collaborate together in your music but are there some things you like that she doesn't or vica versa? Oh, absolutely! You're correct that our tastes overlap a whole lot, but there's stuff like semi-modern R&B, UK garage, and cheesy pop that she likes, which I don't, and likewise, there's a fair bit of noisy indie rock that I enjoy that she doesn't. My wife also doesn't like Bob Dylan. 😧 She thinks he's a great songwriter, but she can't stand his singing voice. We do Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man" and "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere" live on occasion, but we do versions based on the Byrds' covers of those songs. When it comes to picking the songs we perform at our gigs, we have a golden rule which is that we will never perform or play any song that we don't both like. Luckily, that means that between us we still have a huge variety of rock, pop and soul to choose from. I must have the wrong idea of what UK garage music means or an inaccurate picture of your musical tastes, because I would have guessed that was something you might be into yourself.
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