Jimi Hendrix called CSN “groovy, Western-sky music.” The trio first combined their golden-hippie harmonies on this debut, featuring “Marrakesh Express” and the seven-minute “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes.”
~rollingstone.com (500 Greatest albums of all time)
Continue reading May 29: Crosby, Stills & Nash released their self-titled debut LP in 1969
“He really wasn’t built for the strand of rock music born of rebellion or release; he was a songbird…”
– Dominique Leone (Pitchfork)
Today marks the seventeenth anniversary of Jeff Buckley’s tragic drowning in the Wolf River. Jeff Buckley was a man who shunned celebrity, he had spent two years touring in support ofGrace, before recording what he intended be his next album, My Sweetheart the Drunk.
He never got to see its release. In 1997, while re-recording a few songs, Jeff Buckley drowned after going for a swim. It was ruled an accidental drowning.
It was posthumously released under the name Sketches For My Sweetheart The Drunk after Buckley’s mother asked for a title change because of the unfinished state of the songs.
“Jeff Buckley was a pure drop in an ocean of noise.”
– Bono
Jeffrey Scott “Jeff” Buckley (November 17, 1966 – May 29, 1997), raised as Scotty Moorhead, was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He was the son of Tim Buckley, also a musician. After a decade as a guitarist-for-hire in Los Angeles, Buckley amassed a following in the early 1990s by playing cover songs at venues in Manhattan’s East Village, such as Sin-é, gradually focusing more on his own material. After rebuffing much interest from record labels and his father’s manager Herb Cohen, he signed with Columbia, recruited a band, and recorded what would be his only studio album, Grace. (wikipedia)
Documentary from Columbia Records on the making of Grace:
Continue reading May 29: Jeff Buckley died in 1997
But I think beautiful is simple and elegant, like a ballad with simple harmony.
~John FogertyEven though I have often recorded alone, I still feel the best music is made by musicians playing off each other.
~John Fogerty
Bruce Springsteen Inducts Creedence Clearwater Revival into The Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame in 1993:
Continue reading May 28: John Fogerty was born in 1945 – Happy 70th birthday!
God, I’m just a fat bald guy, 60 years old, singing the blues, you know?
~Joe CockerIt’s all a matter of hearing what I like and seeing if I can make it fit into my style.
~Joe CockerMK: Who are your favorite contemporary singers?
BD: Oh, let me see, Joe Cocker, I suppose. Graham Nash can sing. Van Morrison’s fantastic.
And so is Stevie Wonder, but of all of them, Joe’s the greatest.
~Bob Dylan (to Martin Killer – July 1983)
With A Little Help From My Friends– 1969 Woodstock:
High water risin’—risin’ night and day
All the gold and silver are bein’ stolen away
Big Joe Turner lookin’ east and west
From the dark room of his mind
He made it to Kansas City
Twelfth Street and Vine
Nothin’ standing there
High water everywhere
– Bob Dylan (High Water (for Charley Patton)The premier blues shouter of the postwar era, Big Joe Turner’s roar could rattle the very foundation of any gin joint he sang within — and that’s without a microphone. Turner was a resilient figure in the history of blues — he effortlessly spanned boogie-woogie, jump blues, even the first wave of rock & roll, enjoying great success in each genre.
~Bill Dahl (allmusic.com)
Shake, Rattle & Roll:
Continue reading May 18: The late Big Joe Turner was born in 1911