Happy birthday Pete Townshend (read more)“If you don’t want anyone to know anything about you, don’t write anything.” “Rock ‘n’ Roll might not solve your problems, but it does let you dance all over them” |
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| Paul S. Williams (May 19, 1948 – March 27, 2013), born in Boston, Massachusetts, was an American music journalist and writer. Williams created the first national US magazine of rock music criticism Crawdaddy! in January 1966 on the campus of Swarthmore College ..He is also the author of more than 25 books, of which the best-known are Outlaw Blues, Das Energi, and Bob Dylan: Performing Artist, the acclaimed three-part series. Williams is a leading authority on the works of musicians Bob Dylan, Brian Wilson, and Neil Young, and science fiction writers Philip K. Dick (serving as the executor of his literary estate) and Theodore Sturgeon. |
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| Mickey Newbury (May 19, 1940 – September 29, 2002) was an American songwriter, a critically acclaimed recording artist, and a member of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. For a time, he was one of the most influential creative minds in Nashville and it’s arguable that he was the first real “outlaw” of the outlaw country movement of the 1970s. Ralph Emery referred to him as the first “hippie-cowboy” and along with Johnny Cash and Roger Miller, he was one of the first to rebel against the conventions of the Nashville music society. After being disappointed by the production methods used by Felton Jarvis on his debut album, Newbury got himself released from his contract with RCA and signed the first offer he received to comply with his condition that he could either produce his own albums or choose the producer. |  |
| Joey Ramone (May 19, 1951 – April 15, 2001) was an American musician, vocalist and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist of the punk rock band the Ramones. Joey Ramone’s image, voice and tenure as front man of the Ramones made him a countercultural icon. |  |
| Bob Dylan: Ballad of a Thin Man @ Glasgow, (probably) 19 May 1966 (Video) |  |
Spotify Playlist – May 19 |
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Tag Archives: music history
May 13 in music history
| Happy birthday: Stevie Wonder (born May 13, 1950) (read more)
Do you know, it’s funny, but I never thought of being blind as a disadvantage, and I never thought of being black as a disadvantage. — |
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| Donald Dunn passed away in 2012 – 2 year ago (read more)
As the bassist for Booker T. & the MG’s, Donald “Duck” Dunn became, like James Jamerson at Motown, the man who provided a groove for an entire generation to dance to. In Dunn’s case it was the legendary Memphis record label Stax/Volt, where he laid down basslines for soul stars such as Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, and Albert King, helping to create one of the largest bodies of soul and R&B music that exists. |
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| “Daddy-O” Dewey Phillips (May 13, 1926 – September 28, 1968) was one of rock ‘n’ roll’s pioneering disk jockeys, along the lines of Cleveland’s Alan Freed, before Freed came along. |  |
| Ian Ernest Gilmore “Gil” Evans (né Green) (May 13, 1912 – March 20, 1988) was a jazz pianist, arranger, composer and bandleader, active in the United States. He played an important role in the development of cool jazz, modal jazz, free jazz and jazz fusion, and collaborated extensively with Miles Davis. |  |
| Chesney Henry “Chet” Baker, Jr. (December 23, 1929 – May 13, 1988) was an American jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist and vocalist. |  |
| James Robert Wills (March 6, 1905 – May 13, 1975), better known as Bob Wills, was an American Western swing musician, songwriter, and bandleader. Considered by music authorities as the co-founder of Western swing, he was universally known as the King of Western Swing. |  |
Spotify Playlist – May 13
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May 10 in music history
| Today: Bono is 54 (read more)Music can change the world because it can change people. ~Bono My heroes are the ones who survived doing it wrong, who made mistakes, but recovered from them. Singer, poet, activist, believer: few icons in the history of rock & roll have created art with the consciousness and passion of Bono, and only a handful have done it as successfully. Whether preaching about “three chords and the truth” or donning ironic personas, the first and only frontman for seminal Irish rock band U2 has always stood unequivocally for hope, faith, and love — and in so doing has touched millions of fans, as well as sold millions of records. |
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| “Mother” Maybelle Carter (May 10, 1909 – October 23, 1978) (read more) was an American country musician. She is best known as a member of the historic Carter Family act in the 1920s and 1930s and also as a member of Mother Maybelle and the Carter Sisters. |
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| Arthur Alexander (May 10, 1940 – June 9, 1993) was an American country songwriter and soul singer. Jason Ankeny, music critic forAllmusic, said Alexander was a “country-soul pioneer” and that, though largely unknown, “his music is the stuff of genius, a poignant and deeply intimate body of work on par with the best of his contemporaries.” Alexander wrote songs publicized by such stars asThe Beatles, Elvis Presley, Otis Redding, Tina Turner and Jerry Lee Lewis. |  |
| “Come On” was chosen as the Rolling Stones’s debut single. Released in the late spring of 1963, it reached number 21 on the UK single charts. |  |
| Sid Vicious, born John Simon Ritchie (10 May 1957 – 2 February 1979), was an English musician who was the bass guitarist and vocalist of the punk group Sex Pistols. Vicious joined the Sex Pistols in early 1977 to replace Glen Matlock. Since his skills on bass guitar were questionable, Vicious only performed bass on one song on the band’s sole studio album Never Mind the Bollocks. During the brief drug-filled ascendancy of the Sex Pistols, Vicious met his girlfriend and manager Nancy Spungen, who died of a stab wound whilst staying in the Hotel Chelsea, Manhattan, with Vicious. Vicious died of a heroin overdose while on bail on suspicion of her murder. |  |
| Live @ The Fillmore is Lucinda Williams’ eighth album, and her first live album. It was released in 2005. Though rated highly for the live performance, the album received criticism for only containing album tracks, including 11 from her previous album, 2003’s World Without Tears. |  |
Spotify Playlist – May 10 |
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May 8 in music history
| Robert Johnson (May 8, 1911 – August 16, 1938) – read more
“You think you’re getting a handle on playing the blues, and then you hear Robert Johnson — some of the rhythms he’s doing and playing and singing at the same time, you think, ‘This guy must have three brains!’ ” — |
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| Bob Dylan: Love Minus Zero/No Limit, Savoy Hotel, London England 8 May 1965 (Video) – read more
The Bob Dylan England Tour 1965 (April 30 – May 10) was a concert tour by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan during late April and early May 1965. The tour was widely documented by filmmaker D. A. Pennebaker, who used the footage of the tour in his documentary Dont Look Back. |
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| Keith Jarrett (born May 8, 1945, in Allentown, Pennsylvania) is an American pianist and composer who performs both jazz and classical music. Jarrett started his career with Art Blakey, moving on to play with Charles Lloyd and Miles Davis. Since the early 1970s he has enjoyed a great deal of success in jazz, jazz fusion, and classical music; as a group leader and a solo performer. His improvisations draw not only from the traditions of jazz, but from other genres as well, especially Western classical music, gospel, blues, and ethnic folk music. |  |
| Let It Be is the 12th and final studio album released by the English rock band The Beatles. It was released on 8 May 1970 by the band’s Apple Records label shortly after the group announced their break-up. |  |
| Richard Edward Arnold (May 15, 1918 – May 8, 2008), known professionally as Eddy Arnold, was an American country music singer who performed for six decades. He was a so-called Nashville sound (country/popular music) innovator of the late 1950s, and scored 147 songs on the Billboard country music charts, second only to George Jones. He sold more than 85 million records. A member of the Grand Ole Opry (beginning 1943) and the Country Music Hall of Fame (beginning 1966), Arnold ranked 22nd on Country Music Television’s 2003 list of “The 40 Greatest Men of Country Music.” He co-wrote the country and pop standard “You Don’t Know Me”. |  |
| Daniel Ray Whitten (May 8, 1943 – November 18, 1972) was an American musician and songwriter best known for his work with Neil Young and Crazy Horse, and for the song “I Don’t Want To Talk About It”, a hit for Rita Coolidge, Rod Stewart and Everything but the Girl. |  |
| Chris Frantz (born Charlton Christopher Frantz, May 8, 1951, Fort Campbell, Kentucky, United States) is an American musician and record producer. He was the drummer for both Talking Heads and the Tom Tom Club. |  |
| Gary Glitter (born Paul Francis Gadd on 8 May 1944) is an English former glam rock singer-songwriter and musician. |  |
Spotify Playlist – May 8 |
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May 5 in music history
| Blind Willie McTell (May 5, 1898 – August 19, 1959) (read more)
And I know no one can sing the blues — |
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| Bob Dylan recorded the released version of “Blind Willie McTell” @ Studio A, Power Station, New York City, New York – 5 May 1983. – “Blind Willie McTell” is a song by Bob Dylan, titled after the blues singer Blind Willie McTell. It was recorded in 1983 but left off Dylan’s album Infidels and officially released in 1991 on the The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961–1991. |
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| Virginia Wynette Pugh, known professionally by her stage name as Tammy Wynette, (May 5, 1942 – April 6, 1998) was an American country music singer-songwriter and one of the Country music’s best-known artists and biggest-selling female singers. She was an icon to country music. |  |
| Marshall Garnett Grant (May 5, 1928 – August 7, 2011) was the upright bassist and electric bassist of singer Johnny Cash’s original backing duo, the Tennessee Two, in which Grant and electric guitarist Luther Perkins played. The group became known as The Tennessee Three in 1960, with the addition of drummer W. S. Holland. Grant also served as road manager for Cash and his touring show company. |  |
| Adele Laurie Blue Adkins (born 5 May 1988), better known simply as Adele, is an English singer-songwriter, musician and multi-instrumentalist. Adele was offered a recording contract from XL Recordings after a friend posted her demo on Myspace in 2006. The next year she received the Brit Awards “Critics’ Choice” award and won the BBC Sound of 2008. Her debut album, 19, was released in 2008 to much commercial and critical success. It certified four times platinum in the UK, and double platinum in the US. Her career in the US was boosted by a Saturday Night Live appearance in late 2008. At the 2009 Grammy Awards, Adele received the awards for Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. |  |
Spotify Playlist – |
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