All posts by Hallgeir

Country, The Best Songs, Willie Nelson

August 21: Patsy Cline recorded Willie Nelson’s Crazy in 1961

patsy

August 21: Patsy Cline recorded Willie Nelson’s Crazy in 1961

Patsy Cline, who was already a country music superstar and working to extend a string of hits, picked it as a follow up to her previous big hit “I Fall to Pieces”. “Crazy”, its complex melody suiting Cline’s vocal talent perfectly, was released in late 1961 and immediately became another huge hit for Cline and widened the crossover audience she had established with her prior hits. It spent 21 weeks on the chart and eventually became one of her signature tunes. Cline’s version is #85 on Rolling Stone’s list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

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Country, Singer Songwriter

August 21: Kacey Musgraves was born in 1988 – Happy birthday
Photo from kaceymusgraves.com
Photo from kaceymusgraves.com

August 21: Kacey Musgraves was born in 1988 – Happy birthday

Kacey Lee Musgraves (born August 21, 1988) is an American singer. She self-released three albums before appearing on the fifth season of the USA Network’s singing competition Nashville Star in 2007, where she placed seventh. She signed to Mercury Nashville in 2012 and has released two critically acclaimed albums on the label, Same Trailer Different Park (2013) and Pageant Material (2015).

Musgraves is known for her controversial lyrics in the conservative country music genre. Common controversial topics in her music are homosexuality acceptance, promiscuous sexual intercourse, recreational marijuana use, and anti-religious sentiment. Such aforementioned topics are almost unheard of in mainstream country music. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Musgraves faced criticism for her rebellious lyrics. “I think throwing the rebel card out there is really cheap,” she said. “The things I’m singing about are not controversial to me, I don’t push buttons to push buttons. I talk about things that have made an impression on me that a lot of people everywhere are going through.”

Follow your arrow, great song about prejudice:

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Classic Concert, Rolling Stones

August 21: Rolling Stones played at Knebworth 1976

Redirecting to a newer version of this post….

kneb stones

August 21: Rolling Stones played at Knebworth 1976

The Rolling Stones ended their European tour in 1976 at the third Knebworth festival August 21. It was filmed and has been heavily bootlegged. The picture quality is so and so, but the sound is terrific.

As the lights went up, Jagger stepped forward, “Thanks for waiting . . . ” and suddenly they were into “Satisfaction” – the anthem of mid-Sixties disaffection and anger. Jagger set off on a martial strut down the curving tongue, left arm outstretched, body bending and twisting from the waist, lights playing on a blue leather jacket, green pants and flashing off his rhinestone-studded vest and diamanté armlets; a long multicolored silken scarf around his neck, and on his head a silver tinsel contraption – a mockery of a crown – which he dispatched to the side of the stage almost immediately.
– Rolling Stone Magazine (great article)
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Blues, Music Calendar, Soul

August 21: Etta James released Tell Mama in 1968

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etta-front

August 21: Etta James released Tell Mama in 1968

Something told me it was over
When I saw you and her talking.
Something deep down in my soul said cry girl,
When I saw you and that girl walking.

I would rather,
I would rather go blind, boy,
Than to see you walk away from me, child.

Tell Mama is the eighth studio album by Etta James. The album was released August 21, 1968 on Cadet Records and was produced by Rick Hall. Tell Mama was James’ first album since 1963 to enter the Billboard 200 albums chart and contained her first Top 10 and 20 hits since 1964. It was her second release for the Cadet record label.

Tell Mama (on US TV, Happening ’68, 1968):

Leonard Chess sent Etta James to Muscle Shoals in 1967 (2 August – 6 December), and it really paid off with what might be her best  Cadet album. The record has a fantastic title cut, it has the moving soul ballad I’d Rather Go Blind, it has the incredible The Love of My Man and a many more very fine soul numbers. The tight studio band at Fame Studios really shone next to Etta James. The music they made is timeless soul/blues, it’s a masterclass in record making.

An incredibly good version of I’d Rather Be Blind (Live at Montreux 1975):

“The question of why a rural Alabama town became a conduit for some of the most memorable and instantly identifiable grooves may still be up for debate. The evidence exists in droves and Tell Mama could certainly be considered exhibit A. “
– Lindsay Planer (Allmusic)

One of the best soul albums ever made, and certainly among Etta James’ best records!

Listen to Miss James testify in a  country church style  on It Hurts Me So Much, oh my God how good it is!

Etta James – Tell Mama (Album, The Complete Muscle Shoals Sessions, Spotify):

– Hallgeir

Sources: Liner notes Tell Mama, Wikipedia, Allmusic

Led Zeppelin, Music Calendar, Robert Plant

August 20: Robert Plant Birthday

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It’s sort of a feeling of power onstage. It’s really the ability to make people smile, or just to turn them one way or another for that duration of time, and for it to have some effect later on. I don’t really think it’s power… it’s the goodness.
~Robert Plant

My vocal style I haven’t tried to copy from anyone. It just developed until it became the girlish whine it is today.
~Robert Plant

Whole Lotta Love – live 1970:

Our report from Robert Plant’s concert in Bergen, Norway in 2014:

The headliner on the second day was of course, Robert Plant and his band The Sensational Space shifters. Plant revisited  surprisingly many songs from the Led Zeppelin catalog (and an appreciative audience loved it) plus some new songs and tunes from his post-Zeppelin career. The emphasis was on blues put in a historic context, very modern sounding but also true to it’s roots. He drew the lines from England to Memphis to Africa. This wasn’t a dry history lesson, but a joyful celebration of the blues art form.

Mr. Plant was in a splendid mood, joking and clearly having fun. When he did Whole Lotta Love the audience went wild, he started it as a slow call and response blues before the band kicked in into a full-blown rock’n roll anthem. He then slowed it down again and had a middle act where he incorporated a “Who do you love” segment before finishing the song in Rock heaven. So fresh, but still so true to the original song! This gentleman of Rock delivered way beyond our expectations, the concert was amazing!

 

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