A taste from Warren Haynes’ latest album, Ashes & Dust: Spots of Time
Warren Haynes (Gov’t Mule, Grateful Dead, Allman Brothers) has shared a track from his forthcoming album, Ashes and Dust, recorded with the band Railroad Earth as a backing band. Haynes as we’ve come to know, but maybe leaning a bit more towards his singer songwriter side. That said, this track that is written with The Dead’s Phil Lesh has very much a Grateful Dead flavor.
I’m looking forward to the album, enjoy this fine song!
My father used to play this great record by Roger Miller, “Roger Miller” from 1969. There was one particular song that has always stuck with me. Lately I have been listening to the lyrics more thorough and it has become one of my favourite country songs of all time.
It’s a relatively obscure record, but a great one, so start hunting collectors!
Where Have All the Average People Gone.
The late Dennis Linde wrote “Where Have All the Average People Gone.” Roger Miller recorded it and the song only reached No. 14 on the country chart in 1969, but the lyrics and social commentary still seems relevant. The song is about stereotypes and putting people into categories based on prejudices.
“Funny I don’t fit,
Where have all the average people gone?”
Roger Miller – Where have all the average people gone (audio):
Just a Closer Walk with Thee is a traditional gospel song that has been covered by many artists. Performed as either an instrumental or vocal, “A Closer Walk” is perhaps the most frequently played number in the hymn and dirge section of traditional New Orleans jazz funerals.
Rebirth Brass Band – A Closer Walk With Thee:
The ‘jazz funeral’ starts off sombre. On its way to the cemetery, the brass band plays soulful, sad funeral hymns called ‘dirges’, it should be something that reminds mourners of life’s ups and downs. The slow tune lasts until the procession reaches its final destination, at which point they ‘cut the body loose’ – send the hearse off into the cemetery.
I really love this song and have “dug up” a few examples of great artists doing their version of this old tune.
The Best Songs: Lord, I just can’t keep from crying sometimes by Blind Willie Johnson
Chuck Berry, Louis Armstrong, Bach, Beethoven and Blind Willie Johnson was included on the golden record that was sent into deep space in 1977 as part of the Voyager missions. What potential alien life forms might make of Johnson humming along to his slide guitar on “Dark Was The Night (Cold Was The Ground)” is anyone’s guess. The track moves me in a way that’s hard to explain, it’s the sound of pure emotion.
Steve Martin, the actor, once told a story about the golden record: “the first message from extraterrestrials has been received… ‘Send more Blind Willie Johnson’.”
Today we will give you more Blind Willie Johnson, we will present the fantastic, “Lord, I just can’t keep from crying sometimes” (audio only):
Wikipedia: “Blind” Willie Johnson (January 22, 1897 – September 18, 1945) was an American singer and guitarist, whose music straddled the border between blues and spirituals.
While the lyrics of all of his songs were religious, his music drew from both sacred and blues traditions. His music is distinguished by his powerful bass thumb-picking and gravelly false-bass voice, with occasional use of a tenor voice.
Johnson was not born blind, and, although it is not known how he lost his sight, Angeline Johnson told Samuel Charters that when Willie was seven his father beat his stepmother after catching her going out with another man. The stepmother then picked up a handful of lye and threw it, not at Willie’s father, but into the face of young Willie.
Johnson made 30 commercial recordings (29 songs) in five separate sessions for Columbia Records from 1927–1930.
What is a “buried treasure”, “a hidden gem” or “an underrated gem” ? Well, to me, it’s a great song that seldom (or never) is on the “best-of” lists of the artist, and it could have/should have been.
I am talking about great songs that are often overlooked. We are talking about personal favorites that you wouldn’t rate among the artists top 20 (maybe), but deserve some more praise and recognition than they get.
Neil Young has a lot of those, here are my 11 chosen ones (the Spotify playlist is at the end of the post):
Words – Between the lines of age, Glastonbury 2009 (Harvest):
