Country, folk, Singer Songwriter

September 6: Buddy Miller was born in 1952

Buddy Miller

 

September 6: Buddy Miller was born in 1952

A showman’s life is a smokey bar and
The fevered chase of a tiny star
It’s a hotel room and a lonely wife
From what I’ve seen of a showman’s life

Nobody told me about this part
They told me all about the pretty girls and the wine and
The money and the good times
No mention of all the wear and tear on an old honkey-tonker’s heart
Well, I might have known it
But nobody told me about this part
~”A Showman’s life” (one of his best songs)

“A good song can take a steel guitar, no matter where it comes from, I think about songs this way: I’d love to sing that song, whatever band is playing it. Great songs transcend.”
~Buddy Miller

“When you hear Buddy or watch him play, there’s a magnetic quality that draws you to his music.
~Jim Lauderdale

A Showman’s Life:

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Great albums, Ryan Adams

September 5: Ryan Adams released Heartbreaker in 2000

ryan adams heartbreaker

September 5: Ryan Adams released Heartbreaker in 2000

“On Heartbreaker, I had to sing those songs. I drank the way I did those songs. I ate the way I did those songs. I communicated the way I did those songs”
~Ryan Adams – Spin Dec 2003

“I don’t know if Heartbreaker was influential as a record so much as the idea of it. There weren’t a lot of people out there doing that kind of thing. That’s all. But it was a terrible price to pay because I’ve never lived it down. I don’t regard that record as great art. I’m not even sure I put the right songs on the record. There are a lot of tracks that didn’t make it which with hindsight should have been on there.”
~Ryan Adams – Uncut Jan 2004

 

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Bruce Springsteen, The Best Songs

Bruce Springsteen Racing In The Street – 5 decades 5 Versions

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Bruce Springsteen Racing In The Street – 5 decades 5 Versions

Racing in the Street is a ballad written by Bruce Springsteen, it was originally released on his album Darkness on the Edge of Town (1978). The song has been referred to as Springsteen’s best song by a number of commentators. I think it’s at least in the top 3 of my favourite Springsteen songs.

“…And “Racing in the Streets” is still perhaps the best Springsteen song ever.”

– Rolling Stone magazine

Like so many times, before and since, the car is a symbol of freedom in Springsteen’s universe. Driving a car gives you the ultimate feeling of freedom in this world.

The song begins with two friends fixing up an old car. The story is made believable through Bruce’s attention to detail, he seems to know what he is talking about, “I got a ’69 Chevy with a 396, Fuelie heads and a Hurst on the floor”.  The two friends needs the car to go racing, to earn money from street racing. As the story is told, they go from town to town and win easy money. They’re like cowboys in the old west, riding where the work is, no strings attached.

The protagonist/the racer and his friend Sonny hasn’t stopped living, even if they have ordinary day jobs. They come home from work, get cleaned up and starts living, they go racing in the streets.

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Great albums, Great Bands, Rolling Stones

September 4: Get Yer Ya-Ya’s out! The Rolling Stones in Concert was released in 1970

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September 4: Get Yer Ya-Ya’s out! The Rolling Stones in Concert was released in 1970

“I have no doubt that it’s the best rock concert ever put on record.”
~Lester Bangs

“Recorded during their American tour in late 1969, and centered around live versions of material from the Beggars Banquet-Let It Bleed era. Often acclaimed as one of the top live rock albums of all time, its appeal has dimmed a little today…  it’s certainly the Stones’ best official live recording.”
~Richie Unterberger (allmusic.com)

Carol – 27 Nov 1969:

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Great albums, Music Calendar, The Who, The Who video

September 4: The Who released It’s Hard in 1982

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It’s Hard is the tenth studio album by English rock band The Who. It is the last Who album to feature bassist John Entwistle and drummer Kenney Jones, as well as the last to be released on Warner Bros. Records in the US. It was their last album until 2006’s Endless Wire. It was released in 1982 on Polydor in the UK, peaking at #11,] and on Warner Bros. in the US where it peaked at #8 on the Billboard Pop Albums charts. It got mixed reviews on its release, but I find it interesting. It’s a bit different, but I love Townshend’s playfulness and willingness to seek new challenges.

The Rolling Stone Magazine’s Parke Puterbaugh gave the album a rave review and said it was their best album since Who’s Next:

“The key to the album is “I’ve Known No War,” a song that could become an anthem to our generation much the way “Won’t Get Fooled Again” did a decade ago.

…

The entire album is vibrant with the palpable energy of rekindled bonds and rediscovered group values.

…

It’s a long road the Who have traveled from the bristling, bare-knuckled fury of their early days to the present. They rank among a handful of vanguard rock musicians who show signs of pushing through the age barrier and creating a viable adult vocabulary for rock, one that faces up to the moral responsibilities of middle age and allows them to use their craft to effectively shape consciousness. It must seem especially ironic to Townshend that this is true of the band that sang “hope I die before I get old” back in 1965, but there you go: always the group that delivers the unexpected. “

Eminence Front (Live, official video):

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