I first told you about NO in a post on February 9 of last year. Since then the group has released their debut LP, El Prado,…..very much worth picking up if you like their sound. In case you missed last year’s post and don’t know about the group, here’s a great NO live performance at KEXP. Really good stuff…….
I’m sorry to report that Jesse Winchester passed away yesterday. He was a great singer/songwriter who is better know for other artists interpretations of his songs than for his own recordings of them. Here is Jesse’s performance of his song Biloxi (from his self titled debut album) followed by Jimmy Buffet’s cover version version (from Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes).
Jesse’s version
Jimmy’s version
I always had great respect for Jesse and his personal convictions that caused him to move to Canada in the 60’s rather than to be drafted into the military and sent to Vietnam. He was granted amnesty in the 70’s by President Carter. Jesse was back home in the US living in Virginia when he passed away yesterday.
RIP Jesse…we will miss you!
So I’ve had a nice Holiday break…..I hope you have as well. My New Year’s Resolution for 2014 is to Follow My Arrow. Confused? Listen to the following song by newest musical obsessions, Kacey Musgraves, and it will make a lot more sense…..
Kacey is one a great set of talented country songwriters that that emerged in 2013 and I absolutely love her song Follow Your Arrow. You could do a lot worse than adopting the following lyrics from the song as your own resolution for this year.
Say what you think
Love who you love
‘Cause you just get
So many trips ’round the sun
Yeah, you only
Only live once
So make lots of noise
Kiss lots of boys
Or kiss lots of girls
If that’s what you’re into
When the straight and narrow
Gets a little too straight
Roll up a joint, or don’t
And follow your arrow
Wherever it points, yeah
Follow your arrow
Wherever it points
Here’s an acoustic live performance of the song that I though you might like as well…..
I’m a little behind in my “Forty Years Ago Today” posts so later today I plan to do a final post to catch you up on the album releases in the later part of 1973. Later this week you should be looking for my Best of 2013 (End Of The Year Music Review) post.
You might have noticed that I’ve been listening to We Are All Where We Belong by Quiet Company. It’s a really good record about religion and realizing that you can no longer continue to pretend to believe…….I highly recommend it. Today’s Sunday Session post is a concert by Quiet Company at the release party for that record. Let’s listen……
As a bonus, here is my current favorite cut from the album, Everything Louder Than Everything Else. See what you think…..
Long, long ago
Back when the ocean was our home
We crawled out of the sea
So eager to breathe
And we looked to the sky
And to the limits of our mind
To understand why all things die
And how we came to be
Thought we knew all we needBut it’s time
To get off our knees and offer our hands up to the Earth
And it’s time
To find where we belong, see what it’s worth
And it’s time
Yeah, it’s timeDon’t lay me down
I don’t ever wanna die
I’ve had too good a time
I really like it here
But all those prophets promised me
That if I could just believe
An eternal life in peace
Are waiting for meBut when I go there will probably be no
Angels singin’, no harps ringin’
No pearly gates, nor devil’s flames
Just
Nothing! Nothing! Nothing! Nothing!
Oh, oh wouldn’t it be grand to take some comfort in
The same ancient texts that pacify my friends?
It wouldn’t change the fact that all we know is we come and we go
So it goes, so it goes, so it goesAnd it’s… time
To get off our knees and offer our hands up to the Earth
And it’s time
To find where we belong, know what it’s worth
And it’s time
Yeah, it’s time!Don’t let me go
I’m not prepared
I’m so damn scared
That I’m almost there
Don’t let me go
I’m not prepared
I’m so damn scared
That I’m almost… there (theeeere)
There (theeeeere)
There (theeeeere)
There (theeeeere)
Today I want to introduce you to four groups that are making some great music: The Front Bottoms are an indie-punk band out of New Jersey; Lowland Hum is a husband and wife folk duo out of North Carolina; Volcano Choir is an indie band out of Wisconsin that features Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon; and Lily and Madeline (pictured above) are a pair of teenaged sisters with unbelievable songs and vocal harmonies. I think you will enjoy the songs I have chosen to feature from each of these groups. With a little searching on internet you should be able to find addition music for any of these groups that catches your interest.
The Front Bottoms – Au Revoir
Lowland Hum – How Long
Volcano Choir – Byegone
Lily and Madeline
It’s Day 2 of my Sam Baker weekend post barrage. Go In Peace is the closing song on Sam’s new album, Say Grace, and I’m in love with the song, the performance, and the message. I’ve already added it to My Final Playlist and I think you will understand why when you listen. Do yourself a favor….buy the album…it is really good stuff.
Here is Sam’s website in case you want to by the album directly from him.
This is the first of what I hope will be a series of free music Fridays. To kick off this series we have a free Newport Folk Festival sampler pulled together by Paste magazine. This sampler has some amazing performances from many artists that that we have highlighted in this blog including Of Monsters And Men, First Aid Kit, and Dawes. I high recommend you check it out…..you sure can’t beat the price!
Here are the performers and songs from the sampler…….
Blind Pilot – Always
Joel Rafael – Racing And Chasing The Sun
Robert Ellis – Comin Home
Jonathan Wilson – Ballad Of The Pines
Trampled By Turtles – Keys To Paradise
Preservation Hall Jazz Band – A Good Gal’s Hard To Find
Ben Sollee – The Globe
Rodriguez – Like Janis
Deep Dark Woods – Virginia
Dawes – So Well
Apache Relay – Stay Naive
Jonny Fritz – Put Another Log On The Fire
First Aid Kit – Waltz For Richard
Of Monsters and Men – Little Talks
Dawes featuring Ben Sollee – I Dig Love
Here is the download link for the sampler…..
http://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/av/2013/01/the-2012-paste-festival-sessions-sampler.html
One of the bands on the sampler that I have not written about but have been following for years is Blind Pilot from Portland, Oregon. I particularly enjoyed their 2008 debut album, 3 Rounds and a Sound. To give you an appreciation for this group I have two songs for you, a live performance from this years 2012 Newport Folk Festival and the title song from their debut album. Enjoy!
As always…..let me know what you think.
Today we have two great Holiday vocal performances. First up is a beautiful Beach Boys song called Morning Christmas. From what I have been able to determine, this song was pretty mostly a solo effort by Dennis Wilson, the most overlooked of the three Wilson brothers that were the foundation for the Beach Boys. Let’s listen…….
Next up is On This Christmas Morning, a beautiful song as performed by the incredible Moody Blues. I think you will like it!
My special gift to you today is Dennis Wilson’s only solo album, Pacific Ocean Blue, which was released in 1977. The album was critically acclaimed and provided Dennis with some well deserved attention after being overshadowed by his brothers Brian and Carl for most of his career. In a case of unbelievable irony, Dennis, the only Beach Boy that lived the surfing lifestyle that Brian Wilson wrote about, drowned in 1983.
RIP Dennis! Here is a tribute to Dennis prepared as part of this years 50th anniversary celebration for the Beach Boys.
Today is a big day.
In case you missed it, NASA successfully landed a rover named Curiosity on Mars early this morning. I stayed up till 1:30AM to watch the landing and see the first pictures.
An absolutely amazing accomplishment…….congratulations NASA!
Adding to this festive occasion is the fact that it is time for Long Song Tuesday. How to celebrate??
Of course……how about a little Klaatu! Let’s listen…..
Its pretty funny to look back and remember that a lot of folks thought that Klaatu was the Beatles reunited under a different name. I don’t see the similarity…how about you?
Oh, one more thing…. this is my 150th post! I think that deserves a bonus Klaatu song.
As a lover of all things Canadian I should probably point out that Klaatu is a Canadian band.
Gerard, this Blog’s most loyal reader and commenter, posted a comment regarding Buckingham Nicks. He suggested that we checkout the Coffee House Demos which are available on CD so we all need to be on the look out for that. If you track a copy down, please let me know your thoughts about it.
I also wanted to let everyone know that there is a lot of good Buckingham Nicks music and pictures available from the following site:
To get to the good stuff click the Buckingham Nicks picture at the top of the page. Maybe the most interesting thing on the site are live tracks from the Buckingham Nicks last two concerts before they joined Fleetwood Mac in 1975. Check them out. You can’t beat the price….its free!
thebestmusicyouhaveneverheard 