All posts by Hallgeir

Country, Video

Video Premiere: Wanda Jackson and Justin Townes Earle – Am I even a memory?

“I’ll always be a rocker, but there’s nothing like a great country song and this is a well-written, great country song. My fans love it, too. They even sing the words along with me when we perform it live on stage.” – Wanda Jackson to NPR.org

Justin Townes Earle is the producer on rock’n roll queen, Wanda Jackson’s new album Unfinished Business. Wanda Jackson know how to pick’em, last year, Jack White and now, Justin Townes Earle. And the results are splendid!

Here’s the first video off the record, Am I even a memory? written by singer/songwriter  honky-tonk revivalist Greg Garing. It’s a wonderful country ballad.

Am I even a memory?

From NPR.org:

Director Seth Graves set the song’s video in the “trendy dive bar” Santa’s Pub in Nashville. He framed the singers’ interaction as two lives crossing for just a moment on the dive bar’s stage, as Earle mourns one lost love (played by Mindy White, singer for the band States), and Jackson beckons toward another.

“Frankly … it’s a breakup song … sung between a 74-year-old woman and a 30-year-old man,” wrote Graves. “I’m no champion for social norms, but the Kid Rock/Sheryl Crow approach (the back and forth literal approach) seemed like it could potentially come off weird if taken literally. Not weird in a good way, anyway. That’s not the kind of video I wanted to make. It seemed necessary, inspiring and way more interesting to find a way to create and use images that would give them each a different take on the song. So. I just thought of two lonely people, singing the same song for different reasons.”

Here’s Greg Garing’s own version:

– Hallgeir

Blues, Music Calendar, Video

Today: Booker T. Washington “Bukka” White was born in 1906

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Booker T. Washington “Bukka” White (November 12, 1906– February 26, 1977) was a delta blues guitarist and singer born in Aberdeen, Mississippi. Even though he didn’t like the spelling “Bukka”, he was best known by that name. “Bukka” was not a nickname, but a phonetic misspelling of White’s given name Booker, by his second (1937) record label (Vocalion).

He is also known for giving his more famous cousin B.B. King his first guitar, a Stella.

A selection of “Bukka” White performances part 1:

White started his career playing fiddle at square dances. He met Charley Patton early on, although some doubt has been cast upon this; regardless, Patton was a large influence on White. He typically played slide guitar, in an open tuning. He was one of the few, along with Skip James, to use a crossnote tuning in Em, which he may have learned, as James did, from Henry Stuckey. (Lastfm)

A selection of “Bukka” White performances part 2:

Booker T. Washington “Bukka” White was active from the 30s all up to the mid 70s (he died in 1977).

Allmusic.com
by Uncle Dave Lewis

Blues purists will tell you that nothing Bukka White recorded after 1940 is ultimately worth listening to. This isn’t accurate, nor fair. White was an incredibly compelling performer who gave up of more of himself in his work than many artists in any musical discipline. The Sky Songs albums for Arhoolie are an eminently rewarding document of Bukka’s charm and candor, particularly in the long monologue “Mixed Water.” “Big Daddy,” recorded in 1974 for Arnold S. Caplin’s Biograph label, likewise is a classic of its kind and should not be neglected.

Top 5 songs by Bukka White:

First in great quality from Spotify:

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Indie, pop, Video

Video premiere: Silver and Gold by Sufjan Stevens

Sufjan Stevens has already released one video from his forthcoming seasonal box Silver & Gold: Songs For Christmas: The funny claymation video “Mr. Frosty Man.”

Now, we get another one (via Paste), and it’s safe to say that it is something different. The Title track of the compilation is a cover of an old Johnny Marks Christmas song, it is a nostalgic 8mm home movie style film with footage of Sufjan’s nephew Gavin running on a beach, playing with a kite. It’s a lovely video. The lyrics are in stark contrast to the pictures.

Great song!

The vinyl edition is now sold out, but you can still get it on glorious compact disc or digital download!

– Hallgeir

Music Calendar

Today: J.D. Souther is 67

John David Souther (commonly abbreviated as JD Souther) is an American musician, singer-songwriter, and actor. He has written and co-written numerous hits songs recorded by artists such as Linda Ronstadt and Glenn Frey of the Eagles. He is one of the greatest songwriters in the so called west coast rock, country rock wave of the 70s. He is mainly known for other peoples interpretations of his songs.

That is deeply unfair, he has made seven terrific albums under his own name.

J.D. Souther – Doolin’ Dalton, live 1973:

From Rolling Stone magazine interview with Souther, October 2012:

“…pivotal member of the L.A. country-rock posse of the Seventies, Souther recorded a handful of albums on his own, was briefly in the short-lived Souther-Hillman-Furay Band, is still close friends with Jackson Browne and, most recognizably, co-wrote songs with his friends the Eagles (“Best of My Love, ” “New Kid in Town,” “The Sad Cafe”) and Henley (“The Heart of the Matter”). Never one to court fame (despite having dated Linda Ronstadt and Stevie Nicks), Souther, 66, has largely remained under the pop-culture radar, especially once he retreated from the music business in the Eighties. But over the last few years, he’s returned to recording and touring (he just released a live EP, Midnight in Tokyo, featuring new songs and his current, jazz-oriented band), and he’s been nominated for the Songwriters Hall of Fame. And as Nashville shows, he’s also begun acting again (music fans in the Nineties may remember his stint as environmentalist John Dunaway inthirtysomething)…”

Read the whole interview here

J.D. Souther – I’ll be here at closing time, live 2009:

The album of today is the excellent “John David Souther” from 1972:

Other 2 November:
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Country, folk, Rock, The Best Songs, Video

Great Song: Friend of the Devil by Grateful Dead

This album, American Beauty, was released 42 years ago today. It is one of the two best Grateful Dead albums, the other is of course, Workingman’s Dead.

There are many good songs on this record, my favourite is Friend of the Devil. It is a refinement of their country rock sound from Workingman’s Dead.

I lit up from Reno
I was trailed by twenty hounds
Didn’t get to sleep that night
Till the morning came around

I set out running but I’ll take my time
A friend of the Devil is a friend of mine
If I get home before daylight
I just might get some sleep tonight

I ran into the Devil, babe
He loaned me twenty bills
I spent that night in Utah
In a cave up in the hills

Friend of the Devil, 1970 Studio version:


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