Tag Archives: Lynyrd Skynyrd

Southern rock

August 13: Lynyrd Skynyrd released Pronounced ‘Lĕh-‘nérd ‘Skin-‘nérd in 1973

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(Pronounced ‘lĕh-‘nérd ‘skin-‘nérd) is the debut album from Lynyrd Skynyrd, released in 1973. The album features several of the band’s most well-known songs, including “Gimme Three Steps”, “Simple Man”, “Tuesday’s Gone” and “Free Bird”, the latter of which launched the band to national stardom.

Bassist Leon Wilkeson left the band during the album’s early recording sessions only playing on two tracks. Strawberry Alarm Clock guitarist Ed King was asked to fill in for Wilkeson on bass during the remaining sessions, as Wilkeson already wrote many of the bass parts. This left Skynyrd with only six official members at the time of the album’s release. Not long after, King remained with the band, and was made a member, so that they could replicate the triple-guitar lead during live performances. Wilkeson returned to the band when it was time to take the photo for the album cover and embark on the tour for the album. It was certified gold on December 18, 1974, platinum and 2x platinum on July 21 1987 by the RIAA.

Rolling Stone Magazine named it the 39 best debut album of all time:

From the git-go, these shaggy folks from deepest Jacksonville, Florida played hard, lived harder and shot from the hip, all three guitars blazing in music that blew past the Mason-Dixon line to become America’s next top boogie-rock. Discovered and produced by from essential mid-Sixties Dylan sideman Al Kooper, Skynyrd offered taut rockers including “Poison Whiskey” and the perpetual lighter (well, now iPhone) waving anthem “Freebird.” Perhaps the ultimate Southern rock band and this record aged shockingly well; just ask the Drive-By Truckers.

Here’s Lynyrd Skynyrd in their prime, a full set from BBC’s Old Grey Whistle Test:

Continue reading August 13: Lynyrd Skynyrd released Pronounced ‘Lĕh-‘nérd ‘Skin-‘nérd in 1973 →

Drive-by Truckers, Southern rock, The Best Songs

Great song: “The Three Great Alabama Icons” – Drive-by Truckers

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Patterson Hood is a great storyteller. I really like the way he deals with “the duality of the Southern Thing” and his many stories from & about Alabama.

The lyrics to this particular song is one of my Hood favourites. Anybody with even a remote interest in american history, and/or Alabama, should read (and listen to) this one.

 

I grew up in North Alabama, back in the 1970’s, when dinosaurs still roamed the earth
Speaking of course of the Three Great Alabama Icons George Wallace, Bear Bryant and Ronnie Van Zant
Now Ronnie Van Zant wasn’t from Alabama, he was from Florida, He was a huge Neil Young fan
But in the tradition of Merle Haggard writin’ Okie from Muskogee to tell his dad’s point of view about the hippies in Vietnam, Ronnie felt that the other side of the story should be told.
And Neil Young always claimed that Sweet Home Alabama was one of his favorite songs.
And legend has it that he was an honorary pall bearer at Ronnie’s funeral – such is the Duality of the Southern Thing
~The Three Great Alabama Icons

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August 13 in music history

August 13: Lynyrd Skynyrd released Pronounced ‘Lĕh-’nérd ‘Skin-’nérd in 1973 (read more)

(Pronounced ‘lĕh-’nérd ‘skin-’nérd) is the debut album from Lynyrd Skynyrd, released August 13, 1973. The album features several of the band’s most well-known songs, including “Gimme Three Steps”, “Simple Man”, “Tuesday’s Gone” and “Free Bird”, the latter of which launched the band to national stardom.

  lynyrd_skynyrd_pronounced_leh_nerd_skin_nerd_remastered_2001_retail_cd-front
 Lester William Polsfuss (June 9, 1915 – August 13, 2009) —known as Les Paul—was an American jazz, country and blues guitarist, songwriter and inventor. He was the inventor of the solid-body electric guitar which made the sound of rock and roll possible. He is credited with many recording innovations. Although he was not the first to use the technique, his early experiments with overdubbing (also known as sound on sound), delay effects such as tape delay, phasing effects and multitrack recording were among the first to attract widespread attention.His innovative talents extended into his playing style, including licks, trills, chording sequences, fretting techniques and timing, which set him apart from his contemporaries and inspired many guitarists of the present day. He recorded with his wife Mary Ford in the 1950s, and they sold millions of records.  Les Paul

August 13: Joe Tex passed away in 1982 – 32 years ago (read more)

He is, arguably, the most underrated of all the ’60s soul performers associated with Atlantic Records, although his records were more likely than those of most soul stars to become crossover hits.
~Dave Marsh

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..Before and after he became a Black Muslim minister, this East Texas moralist-jokester mixed such timeless trifles as “Skinny Legs and All” (God, don’t you even remember that one?) and “Ain’t Gonna Bump No More (With No Big Fat Woman)” (a lucky last gasp occasioning a luckier album that came out for “sissies”) with a good-humored country wisdom that rivaled Smokey’s urban variant for pith and empathy.
~Robert Christgau

 Joe Tex
 Bossanova is the third album by the American alternative rock band Pixies, released August 13, 1990 on the English independent record label 4AD in the United Kingdom and by Elektra Records in the United States. All of Bossanova‘s original material was written by the band’s frontman Black Francis; it marked the point where his artistic control over the band became absolute. The album’s sound, inspired by surf and space rock, complements its lyrical focus on outer space, which references subjects such as aliens and unidentified flying objects.  the-pixies-bossanova

August 13: Eels released beautiful freak in 1996 (read more)

“Eccentric and quirky are the best ways to describe the Eels’ debut effort, Beautiful Freak. Concise pop tunes form the backbone of the album, yet tinges of despair and downright meanness surface just when you’ve been lulled into thinking this is another pop group, as titles like “My Beloved Monster,” “Your Lucky Day in Hell” and “Novocaine for the Soul” indicate.”
– Review by James Chrispell (allmusic)

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 Curtis Ousley (February 7, 1934 – August 13, 1971), who performed under the stage name King Curtis, was an American saxophone virtuoso known for rhythm and blues, rock and roll, soul, funk and soul jazz. He was adopted, alongside with his adopted sister, Josephine Ousley Allen. They both grew up in Texas, together. Variously a bandleader, band member, and session musician, he was also a musical director and record producer. Adept at tenor, alto, and soprano saxophone, he was best known for his distinctive riffs and solos such as on “Yakety Yak”, which later became the inspiration for Boots Randolph’s “Yakety Sax” and his own “Memphis Soul Stew”.  King-Curtis

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July 27 in music history

Bobbie Gentry is 70 Happy Birthday (read more)

Roberta Lee Streeter (born July 27, 1944), professionally known as Bobbie Gentry, is an American former singer-songwriter notable as one of the first female country artists to compose and produce her own material. Her songs typically drew on her Mississippi roots to compose vignettes of the Southern United States.

 bobbie gentry

July 27: Bob Dylan: North Country Blues, Newport, Rhode Island 1963 (read more)

On July 26, 1965, Johnny Cash performed at Newport with this great band:

 

  • Johnny Cash (v, acg)
  • Luther Perkins (eg)
  • Marshall Grant (b)
  • WS Holland (d)

 

 Bob Dylan Newport 1963

Leon Russell Wilkeson (2 April 1952 – 27 July 2001)

Bassist of Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd from 1972 until his death in 2001

With its outlaw/party-hearty image, tough southern rock, and solid touring, Skynyrd quickly became one of the top bands of the 1970s, scoring such hit albums as 1974’s Second Helping, 1975’s Nuthin’ Fancy, 1976’s Gimme Back My Bullets and One More from the Road, plus 1977’s Street Survivors—and such hit singles as “Free Bird” and “Sweet Home Alabama.” It was also during this classic era that Wilkeson picked up the gimmick of wearing colorful hats onstage, garnering the nickname “Mad Hatter.”

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Conway Savage (born 27 July 1960) is an Australian rock musician best known as pianist/organist/backing vocalist for Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds.Savage joined the group in 1990 for their The Good Son tour of that year, and has since appeared on albums such as Henry’s Dream, Let Love In, Murder Ballads, The Boatman’s Call, No More Shall We Part and Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus. One of his more noticeable performances is on the song “The Willow Garden”, a b-side of “Where the Wild Roses Grow”, where in a rare occasion for the Bad Seeds, Conway does lead vocals. conway_savage_pola
New York Dolls is the debut studio album by the New York Dolls, released on July 27, 1973, by Mercury Records. The band formed in 1971 and developed a following while playing regularly in lower Manhattan. However, they were unappealing to record companies because of their onstage cross-dressing and vulgarity, while most record producers were reluctant to work with them. For shock value, the band was photographed in exaggerated drag on the album cover. NewYorkDollsNewYorkDolls

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July 19 in music history

60 year anniversary for Elvis Presley – That’s all right (read more)

“That’s All Right” is the name of the first commercial single released by Elvis Presley, written and originally performed by blues singer Arthur Crudup. Presley’s version was recorded on 5 July 1954, and released on 19 July 1954 with “Blue Moon of Kentucky” as the B-side. It is #112 on the 2004 Rolling Stone magazine list of the “500 Greatest Songs of All Time”.

check also out these 10 great versions of the song

 elvis presley that's all right single

“Help!” is a song by the Beatles that served as the title song for both the 1965 film and its soundtrack album. It was also released as a single, and was number one for three weeks in both the United States and the United Kingdom.

“Help!” was written by John Lennon, but credited to Lennon–McCartney. During an interview with Playboy in 1980, Lennon recounted: “The whole Beatles thing was just beyond comprehension. I was subconsciously crying out for help”.

Read more here and here

 help single
 Bernard Mathew “Bernie” Leadon, III (born July 19, 1947, in Minneapolis, Minnesota), is an American musician and songwriter, best known as a founding member of the Eagles. Prior to the Eagles, he was a member of two pioneering and highly influential country rock bands, Dillard & Clark and the Flying Burrito Brothers. He is a multi-instrumentalist (guitar, banjo, mandolin, steel guitar, dobro) coming from a bluegrass background. He introduced elements of this music to a mainstream audience during his tenure with the Eagles. bernieleadon
Brian Harold May, CBE (born 19 July 1947) is an English musician and astrophysicist most widely known as the guitarist, songwriter and occasional singer of the rock band Queen. As a guitarist he uses his home-built guitar, “Red Special”, and has composed hits such as “Tie Your Mother Down”, “I Want It All”, “We Will Rock You”, “Fat Bottomed Girls” and “Who Wants to Live Forever”.  Brian May
Larkin Allen Collins Jr. (July 19, 1952 – January 23, 1990) was one of the founding members and guitarists of Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, and co-wrote many of the band’s songs with late frontman Ronnie Van Zant. He was born in Jacksonville, Florida.  Allen_Collins
 Alan Lomax (January 31, 1915 – July 19, 2002) was one of the great American field collectors of folk music of the 20th century. He was also a folklorist, ethnomusicologist, archivist, writer, scholar, political activist, oral historian, and film-maker. Lomax also produced recordings, concerts, and radio shows in the U.S and in England, which played an important role in both the American and British folk revivals of the 1940s, ’50s and early ’60s. During the New Deal, with his father, famed folklorist and collector John A. Lomax and later alone and with others, Lomax recorded thousands of songs and interviews for the Archive of American Folk Song at the Library of Congress on aluminum and acetate discs.  alan lomax

Spotify Playlist – July 19