Country, George Jones, Great albums, Music Calendar

September: George Jones released I am what I am in 1980

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September: George Jones released I am what I am in 1980

I love the voice of George Jones, and today we present his best album, I am What I am. It was released September 1980 on Epic Records label, then on July 4, 2000 this album was re–released with bonus tracks on the Legacy Recordings label. It peaked at number 7 on the Billboard Country Albums chart and number 132 on the Pop Albums chart. I Am What I Am went Gold in 1981 and Platinum in 1983. We can not find the exact release date, but September it is.

Merle Haggard wrote in Rolling Stone magazine that “His voice was like a Stradivarius violin: one of the greatest instruments ever made.” This was never more true than on this classic country release.

When George Jones was divorced from Tammy Wynette in 1975, he went on an epic binge, an excess in cocaine and alcohol. His albums continued to sell ok and his singles were on the charts, he actually recorded some of his most popular songs between 1975 and 1980, but George was a wreck on a personal level.

He started cancelling concerts in large numbers and he got the un-flattering nick name, “No Show Jones”. George Jones went into rehab at a psychiatric hospital in Muscle Shoals. Thank God for that, it was the start of what would be his best record. It is a dark album, full of heartbreak and drinking, good melodies and the velvet voice of the restrained, but strong Mr. Jones.

George Jones – If Drinking Don’t Kill Me (1982) :

“I Am What I Am announced that George Jones had officially returned to form artistically and, in the process, it became his biggest hit album ever. It’s easy to see why — the production is commercial without being slick, the songs are balanced between aching ballads and restrained honky tonk numbers, and Jones gives a nuanced, moving performance. “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” “I’m Not Ready Yet,” and “If Drinkin’ Don’t Kill Me (Her Memory Will)” were the hits, but the remaining seven album tracks are exceptionally strong, without a weak track in the bunch.” – Stephen Thomas Erlewine (allmusic)

That is so true, all tracks are very good (not just the three hit singles!). This album is the sound of George Jones at his peak and it’s the highlight of his later years.

George Jones – He stopped loving her today (live, 1 July 1980, Canada):

George Jones – I am What I am on Spotify:

 

…and he has one of the best shirts in country music history on the cover!

– Hallgeir

Bob Dylan, Bob Dylan calendar

Bob Dylan – On This Day – September 01

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Hunter S. Thompson and Bob Dylan in Aspen, Colorado September 2002.
Hunter S. Thompson and Bob Dylan in Aspen, Colorado September 2002.

“I remember Joe Strummer said that when he first heard my records, I’d already been there and gone. And in a way that’s kind of true. It was like a flying saucer landed… that’s what the sixties were like. Everybody heard about it but only a few really saw it.”
~Bob Dylan (to Cameron Crowe Interview – August-September 1985)

Historic event

September 1 – 1969
On September 1st 1969, after The Isle of Wight Festival, Dylan arrived by helicopter at Tittenhurst Park to meet John and Yoko, he refused to participate in a recording session at Ascot Sound Studios, although he did unwind and relax with John and Yoko at Tittenhurst before flying back to the States.
~John Lennon Bible

September 1 – 1975
Dylan attends the marriage of his cousin, Linda Goldfine, at the Temple Israel Camp in Minneapolis, performing at the reception with a handful of local musicians, singing “Forever Young” and Kenny Loggins’s “A Love Song.”
~Clinton Heylin (Bob Dylan: A Life in Stolen Moments Day by Day 1941-1995)

(probably) September 1 – 2002
Hangin’ out with Hunter S. Thompson in Aspen, Colorado.

Check out: Hunter Thompson is still all-Gonzo

–

Studio work

Continue reading Bob Dylan – On This Day – September 01 →

Blues, Music Calendar

September 1: R.L. Burnside passed away in 2005

RL_Burnside

September 1: R.L. Burnside passed away in 2005

“He was a happy-go-lucky nihilist…. he took things exactly as they were. No more, no less.”
– Matthew Johnson, the founder of Mr. Burnside’s record label, Fat Possum.


R. L. Burnside (November 23, 1926 – September 1, 2005), born Robert Lee Burnside, was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist who lived much of his life in and around Holly Springs, Mississippi. He played music for much of his life, but did not receive much attention until the early 1990s.

In the latter half of the 1990s, Burnside repeatedly recorded with Jon Spencer,  garnering crossover appeal and introducing his music to a new fan base within the underground garage rock scene.

One commentator noted that Burnside…. were “present-day exponents of an edgier, electrified version of the raw, uncut Delta blues sound.”

In the 1990s, he appeared in the film Deep Blues and began recording for the Oxford, Mississippi, label Fat Possum Records. Founded byLiving Blues magazine editor Peter Redvers-Lee and Matthew Johnson, the label was dedicated to recording aging North Mississippi bluesmen such as Burnside and Junior Kimbrough.

Burnside remained with Fat Possum from that time until his death.

Burnside’s 1996 album A Ass Pocket of Whiskey (recorded with Jon Spencer) gained critical acclaim, earning praise from Bono and Iggy Pop.

Continue reading September 1: R.L. Burnside passed away in 2005 →

Bob Dylan, Bob Dylan video, Van Morrison

Van Morrison & Bob Dylan Performing Together (videos)

bob dylan van morrison

Happy 70th Birthday Van Morrison.

Bob Dylan and Van Morrison have performed together many times, here are some cool videos:

Winterland
San Francisco, California
25 November 1976

They say evrything can be replaced,
Yet every distance is not near.
So I remember every face
Of every man who put me here.
I see my light come shining
From the west onto the east.
Any day now, any day how,
I shall be released.

I Shall Be Released (The Last Waltz)

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Music Calendar, Van Morrison

August 31: Happy 70th Birthday Van Morrison

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van1

“Van Morrison is interested, obsessed with how much musical or verbal information he can compress into a small space, and, almost, conversely, how far he can spread one note, word, sound, or picture. To capture one moment, be it a caress or a twitch. He repeats certain phrases to extremes that from anybody else would seem ridiculous, because he’s waiting for a vision to unfold, trying as unobtrusively as possible to nudge it along…It’s the great search, fuelled by the belief that through these musical and mental processes illumination is attainable. Or may at least be glimpsed.”
~Lester Bangs 

Van Morrison, OBE (born George Ivan Morrison; 31 August 1945) is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician. His live performances at their best are described as transcendental, while some of his recordings, such as the studio albums Astral Weeks and Moondance and the live album It’s Too Late to Stop Now, are critically acclaimed and appear at the top of many greatest album lists.

van3

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