All posts by Hallgeir

Country, folk, Great Concert, Interview, Photo, Singer Songwriter

Rod Picott: An interview and some pictures from Smio 2014

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[blockquote cite=” short bio from RodPicott.com” type=”left, center, right”]The son of a welder from rural New England, Rod Picott is a masterful songwriter and soulful singer who carries with him as fine a suitcase of songs as you’ll find anywhere. Slaid Cleaves, Ray Wylie Hubbard and Fred Eagelsmith have recorded Rod Picott songs. A former construction worker who hung up his tools when he released his debut CD in 2000, Picott has carved a career for himself with a run of 6 beautifully crafted self released CDs over the last 13 years and a well earned reputation as a engaging, emotion fueled performer..[/blockquote]

I drove up to Haugesund at 11:30 on Friday Sep 26, plenty of time to find a place to park before I would get to talk to the great singer/songwriter, Rod Picott. Or so i thought, but there where nowhere to park, I had no coins to put on the meter and I when I finally found parking space I had to run to get to Amanda Hotel where Mr. Picott was waiting. I hurried in to the hotel lobby and found Rod Picott sitting and smiling in a sofa in the lobby. We said hello (I was a bit stressed out and even forgot to tell him my name) and we started to talk.

I must also say that I saw Rod Picott in concert later the same day at Smio, Vea, Karmøy. He gave a fantastic, intimate and funny show, exceeded all expectations. I will post picture from the concert all through this interview.

Alldylan (A): I’ve been listening a lot to your records lately, and in the car on the way over I listened to your latest album…

Rod Picott (R): Does it work in the car? (smiling)

A: … oh yeah, especially the car-song, 65 Falcon. The car is of course a metaphor.

R: Yes

65 Falcon:

A: … a metaphor for freedom just as Springsteen’s Thunder Road..

Rod Picott laughs and says: but not as elegant

A: Oh, it is very good and it rings very true. Most people in these parts has a strong connection to USA and understands the significance of cars, not just to get from A to B.

R: The song is a bit of  a throwback, there aren’t many car songs right now, but I love songs that paints pictures. It’s a small song with many details, I really like those kinds of songs. To me it speaks of freedom and a little rebellion, You know, in the states a car, in some ways, communicate who you are. Not just in a matter of finances, it communicates other things…a sense of how you see the world. I used to have a 65 Falcon. So it’s all true.

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Bob Dylan, Cover versions, Sound

One more cup of coffee – 5 good cover versions

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Let’s start with one of the early interpretations. We are going to Eric Burdon in concert later this summer and he must have been one of the first to cover Bob Dylan’s song.

Eric Burdon Band – A live performance of ‘One More Cup Of Coffee’, Germany, April 21, 1976:

The next pick is White Stripes, a contender for best cover version ever.

The White Stripes (Under Nova Scotian Lights) –  One More Cup Of Coffee:

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Music Calendar, Nick Cave

September 22: Nick Cave is 57 Happy Birthday

Nick Cave Bergenfest 2013
Photo: AllDylan

“If you got a trumpet, get on your feet, brother, and blow it!”

― Nick Cave

“I was about 12 years old and I was sitting watching the television and it was some kind of talent show, you know, and on marches this monkey, this ape, in a pair of red-checked trousers with a little matching jacket holding a ukulele and it started jigging around playing it, and it was looking straight into the camera, straight at me, and I remember thinking, that’s it, that’ll be me, you know, that’ll be me.”
― Nick Cave

 

Nicholas Edward “Nick” Cave (born 22 September 1957) is an Australian musician, songwriter, author, screenwriter, composer and occasional film actor.

nickcave1
photo: alldylan

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Bob Dylan, Cover versions, Hank Williams

Bob Dylan covers Hank Williams

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hank_williams_bob dylan

Bob Dylan covers Hank Williams

I believe in Hank Williams singing `I Saw the Light.’ I’ve seen the light, too.”
– Bob Dylan (1997)

Hank Williams was the first influence, I would think, I guess, for a longer period of time than anybody else.
~Bob Dylan (Bronstein Interview, Montreal, 1966)

I started writing songs after I heard Hank Williams.
~Bob Dylan (The Les Crane Show, Feb 1965)

If it wasn’t for Elvis and Hank Williams, I couldn’t be doing what I do today.
~Bob Dylan (to Robert Shelton, June 1978)

Check out this post: Hank Williams’s birthday

Bob Dylan has referenced Hank Williams in interviews, in books, and with music a lot of times. Williams was also mentioned in the liner notes on Dylan’s first two albums:

Bob Dylan (1962):

Bob Dylan started to sing and play guitar when he was ten. Five to six years later he wrote his first song, dedicated to Brigitte Bardot. All the time, he listened to everything with both ears — Hank Williams, the late Jimmie Rodgers, Jelly Roll Morton, Woody Guthrie, Carl Perkins, early Elvis Presley.

The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan(1963):

Among the musicians and singers who influenced him were Hank Williams, Muddy Waters, Jelly Roll Morton, Leadbelly, Mance Lipscomb and Big Joe Williams.

Lets start with a lovely scene from “Don’t Look Back” (1967, D. A. Pennebaker) where Bob sings Hank Williams’ “Lost Highway” and “So Lonesome I Could Cry“:

“The songs of Woody Guthrie ruled my universe, but before that, Hank Williams had been my favorite songwriter, though I thought of him as a singer, first.”
– Bob Dylan (Chronicles)

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Drive-by Truckers, Great Bands, Music Calendar, Rock

September 14: Mike Cooley is 48 Happy Birthday

mike-cooley

Mike Cooley, guitarist, songwriter and singer in one of our favorite bands Drive-By Truckers, was born 14 September 1966.

Happy Birthday, Mike Cooley!

Drive-By Truckers are an alternative country/Southern rock band based in Athens, Georgia, but two of the members (Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley) are originally from The Shoals region of Northern Alabama, and the band strongly identifies with Alabama. Their music uses three guitars as well as bass, drums, and now keyboards.

During a recent solo tour, the Drive by Truckers’ Mike Cooley stopped by the Fretboard Journal magazine offices to perform this tune. “Birthday Boy” originally appeared on the DBT’s album ‘The Big To-Do.’ Cooley also describes the unique guitar he’s playing, built by luthier Scott Baxendale.

Mike Cooley – Birthday Boy:

Drive-By Truckers was co-founded by Mike Cooley and Patterson Hood in Athens, Georgia, in 1996. The two had played in various other bands including Adam’s House Cat which was chosen as a top ten Best Unsigned Band by a Musician contest in the late 1980s. After the demise of Adam’s House Cat, Cooley and Hood performed as a duo under the name “Virgil Kane.” They eventually started a new band, “Horsepussy,” before splitting for a few years. It was during this split that Hood moved to Athens, Georgia and began forming what would become Drive-By Truckers. Cooley soon followed.

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