“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.
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.”
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
Lyle Pearce Lovett (born November 1, 1957) is an American singer-songwriter and actor. Active since 1980, he has recorded thirteen albums and released 21 singles to date, including his highest entry, the number 10 chart hit on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, “Cowboy Man”. Lovett has won four Grammy Awards, including Best Male Country Vocal Performance and Best Country Album. (- Wikipedia)
Lyle Lovett – Simple Song:
From Allmusic:
by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Lyle Lovett was one of the most distinctive and original singer/songwriters to emerge during the ’80s. Though he was initially labeled as a country singer, the tag never quite fit him. Lovett had more in common with ’70s singer/songwriters like Guy Clark, Jesse Winchester, Randy Newman, and Townes Van Zandt, combining a talent for incisive, witty lyrical detail with an eclectic array of music, ranging from country and folk to big-band swing and traditional pop.Lovett’s literate, multi-layered songs stood out among the formulaic Nashville hit singles of the late ’80s as well as the new traditionalists who were beginning to take over country music. Drawing from alternative country and rock fans, Lovett quickly built up a cult following which began to spill over into the mainstream with his second album, 1988’s Pontiac.
His eight best albums are not at any streaming services (that I can find), but we present his ninth best, which is pretty damn good too!
Lyle Lovett – Step inside this house:
Other 1 November:
1970: American Beauty by Grateful Dead was released
American Beauty is the sixth album by the rock band the Grateful Dead. It was recorded between August and September 1970 and originally released in November 1970 by Warner Bros. Records. The album continued the folk rock and country music explored on Workingman’s Deadand prominently features the lyrics of Robert Hunter.
In 2003, the album was ranked number 258 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
We had a fantastic night at Høvleriet in Haugesund last night. We want to come back, what a venue and what an atmosphere! Thank you.
– Ida Jenshus (on her webpage)
Ida Jenshus has recently released her third album, Someone to love. The album is a departure from the country on her two previous records, into a more airy sounding country/rock/songwriter style. The obvious comparison is Emmylou Harris’ collaboration with super-producer Daniel Lanois, but I can also hear Kathleen Edwards and Mary Gauthier in the quiet stuff, and Lucinda Williams in her more uptempo stuff. I like the direction she’s taken. I like the first two records but I think her concerts have showed a truer Ida Jenshus, and finally it is reflected in her recorded work.
The wonderful Tender Leaves:
We saw Ida Jenshus with a great group of musicians at Høvleriet in Haugesund last friday, there she dedicated a very fine version of Tender Leaves to Chip Taylor. An artist that Jenshus has worked with lately and have played with on several occasions. Chip Taylor is the man who wrote Wild Thing and Angel of the morning.
It was a lovely show that varied from tender moments into full blown guitar jams, never dull and, man, what a great group she’s touring with! The audience clearly liked what they heard, quiet listening and attentive, and it was great to see this many people coming out to see Ida Jenshus. Country flavoured music isn’t always the biggest audience puller.
Roger Dean Miller (January 2, 1936 – October 25, 1992) was an American singer, songwriter, musician and actor, best known for his honky tonk-influenced novelty songs. His most recognized tunes included the chart-topping country/pop hits “King of the Road”, “Dang Me” and “England Swings”, all from the mid-1960s Nashville sound era.
After growing up in Oklahoma and serving in the United States Army, Miller began his musical career as a songwriter in the late 1950s, penning such hits as “Billy Bayou” and “Home” for Jim Reeves and “Invitation to the Blues” for Ray Price. He later started a recording career and reached the peak of his fame in the late 1960s, but continued to record and tour into the 1990s, charting his final top 20 country hit “Old Friends” with Willie Nelson in 1982. Later in his life, he wrote the music and lyrics for the 1985 Tony-award winning Broadway musical Big River, in which he also acted.
Miller died from lung cancer in 1992, and was posthumously inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame three years later. His songs continued to be recorded by younger artists, with covers of “Tall, Tall Trees” by Alan Jackson and “Husbands and Wives” by Brooks & Dunn, each reaching the number one spot on country charts in the 1990’s. The Roger Miller Museum in his home town serves as a tribute to Miller.
You Can’t Roller Skate In A Buffalo Herd & Chug-a-lug:
From allmusic.com – Stephen Thomas Erlewine:
Roger Miller is best known for his humorous novelty songs, which overshadow his considerable songwriting talents as well as his hardcore honky tonk roots. After writing hits for a number of artists in the ’50s, Miller racked up a number of hits during the ’60s which became not only country classics, but popular classics as well. ….read more @ allmusic.com
Album of the day – All Time Greatest Hits (2003):
From allmusic.com – Stephen Thomas Erlewine: There have been many collections of Roger Miller’s hitmaking peak on Mercury over the years, but few have been as comprehensive or as good as Mercury/Chronicle’s 2003 CD, All Time Greatest Hits. Spanning 20 tracks over the course of one CD, this contains all the big songs: “Dang Me,” “Chug-a-Lug,” “Do Wacka Do,” “In the Summertime (You Don’t Want My Love),” “King of the Road,” “You Can’t Roller Skate in a Buffalo Herd,” “Kansas City Star,” “England Swings,” and “Husbands and Wives,” among others. All but one track from the seminal 1965 collection Golden Hits is here (“Atta Boy Girl” is the missing culprit — a good song but not enough to tip the scales in favor of the 38-year-old collection), and it spans further than that record, collecting hits from 1967-1970 and ending with the 1986 hit “River in the Rain.” While that final song isn’t quite of the standard of what preceded it, it provides a nice closer to a set of songs that unequivocally proves Miller’s genius. ….read more @ allmusic
We had a fantastic night at Høvleriet in Haugesund last night. We want to come back, what a venue and what an atmosphere! Thank you.
