My new 8 Tracks mix (9 songs, 35 minutes) is pretty much inspired by Treme, the new show on HBO by David Simon, brains behind The Wire. I hagiographied The Wire here before. Treme is set in New Orleans a few months after Hurricane Katrina, I've only seen 2 episodes so far but it's shaping up as not disappointing my sky high expectations. It's a very sad fact I think Channel Nein has the rights to it in Australia, y'all ain't never gonna get to see it if you wait for them.

Just perfect.

Update. Did a Flatlanders themed 8tracks. Them together, solo and Terry Allen's "Gimme a Ride to Heaven" which they do as an encore sometimes. Bunch of other mixes there since last I mentioned it here too.

As previously mentioned, the delectable Rosanne Cash has an album coming out shortly called The List, which is 12 songs chosen from a list of (I think) 100 country songs her father gave her, as comprising an education in that discipline.

I trust you shall agree this is a pretty good list.

1. "Miss the Mississippi and You"
2. "Motherless Children"
3. "Sea of Heartbreak" (w/ Bruce Springsteen)
4. "Take These Chains From My Heart"
5. "I'm Movin' On"
6. "She's Got You"
7. "Heartaches by the Number" (w/ Elvis Costello)
8. "500 Miles"
9. "Long Black Veil" (w/ Jeff Tweedy)
10. "Silver Wings" (w/ Rufus Wainwright)
11. "Girl From the North Country"
12. "Bury Me Under the Weeping Willow"

I thought I would do my own. Also 12 songs, my own list if in a parallel universe I could sing. These are not meant to be an overview of the history of country music (there's nothing before the early 60s for a start) but just a solidish collection of songs I could listen to all day. I put the last two in brackets just because those are the versions I chose to include but could have used any number of other versions -- both "She's Got You" and "He Thinks I Still Care" have male and female pronoun versions so I chose one of each. It's hard, but on the other hand the top 10 or so really write themselves then the final two spots are tough to divide between about half a dozen tracks. "Sea of Heartbreak" gets brackets cos basically I'll love anyone singing that song. I cheated and gave myself a bonus disc ....

I Drink -- Mary Gauthier
All Her Lovers Want to Be the Hero -- Steve Young
Big River -- Johnny Cash
Once a Day -- Connie Smith
She's Got You -- Loretta Lynn
Pancho & Lefty -- Townes Van Zandt
Sing Me Back Home -- Merle Haggard
Choices -- George Jones
South of Cincinnati -- Dwight Yoakam
Goodbye -- Steve Earle
Sea of Heartbreak -- (Rosanne Cash feat. Bruce Springsteen)
The Lord Knows I'm Drinking -- Cal Smith

Bonus Disc:
Goodbye -- Steve Earle
Willin' -- (Linda Ronstadt)
He Thinks I Still Care -- (Patty Loveless)

Hm. It's not very ... upbeat, is it?

Under the bylaws of 8tracks you're not supposed to make a playlist anywhere (so it mimics internet radio) but ... eh, I hope I can be forgiven this one time. So here it is! (and a direct link)

So in two short (but not, alas, sort enough) weeks I am tripping to the USA. Las Vegas (for The Amaz!ng Meeting), Flagstaff AZ where my sister has been exiled since that unfortunate incident in Canberra (don't fret darl, the statute of limitations ends in 2018), Chicago and Memphis (and one day waiting for a plane in Los Angeles.) Obvs the music possibilities in those few short words are, more or less literally, endless. I chucked 18 or so on an 8tracks:

It ends with "a Sydney song."

As a bonus here are some bits from Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour about Memphis and Chicago. The first two are under 1MB each (spoken word atmospherics only), the third about 4MB.

19 Sun Records.mp3
05 Tenessee BBQ.mp3
12 I Used To Work In Chicago.mp3

I have never seen Blues Brothers.

Segue:

Here is my latest 8tracks, a semi-late Friday night and RIP Koko eight songs which clocks in at just over 30 minutes. There are a few mournful eMusic references tucked away in the lyrics too. ;-(

This was supposed to be in my Folkways 8tracks but to my distress I just realised it was not there, must not have uploaded. So here it is.

Peter La Farge, "Drums" Johnny Cash does this on Bitter Tears, which includes numerous other La Farge covers (including "The Ballad of Ira Hayes.")

I just recently discovered Smithsonian Folkways has a whole series of podcasts on various aspects of its catalogue, the blues, labour songs, world music, Phil Ochs, several on the Harry Smith Anthology and so on. You can search for them under "The Folkways Collection" and "Smithsonian Folkways" (two seperate things for whatever reason) on iTunes or download them as normal MP3s from their website. They describe the 24-part series as "exploring 20th century human experience through sound" which is rather grand but I can't argue.

I have been really digging them so I thought I would burrow into my Folkways collection and do up a 8 tracks mix in tribute. Along with the early hillbilly and blues and folk you associate with Folkways, the collection includes some of their less well known nooks: some African and Central Asian tracks, a Lithuanian lullaby, some mariachi field recordings and some dude called Blind Boy Grunt.

Listen below or at the 8tracks site.

1. Keith Richards on the blues (h/t TimMason on the eMusic message boards)
2. 8tracks update. recently instead of deeply thought out opii based on theme or whatever I've just been grabbing eight songs that grabbed me that day or week. They're generally only about 30 mins long or something so not much to commit for either of us. But I uploaded today an uploaded version of my Country and Soul playlist, which is country songs done by soul/funk/jazz artists. I did a muxtape on this theme but I never get tired of it, and I've added some new ones.

3.Tom Russell. I have mentioned his blog many times, but too much is never enough. Especially as he is doing a series of posts on the stories behind the songs on his upcoming record. He has never been to Australia. I will be in the US in July, which is naturally his cue to be in freaking Europe. Again. Here is a video concerning the new record, Blood and Candle Smoke.

4. Since The Wire, and then the somewhat disappointing conclusion to Battlestar Galactica, the new show on TV is "Breaking Bad." It just is.

So I have these podcasts for this running programme thingy and the music is mostly doof doofy, which is fine as far as it goes. Gets the job done but I decided to make some mixes of my own music in Garage Band. I went through this whole thing of trying to break down the BPM appropriately, but I swear you guys, that is so complicated. I gave up and just chose "exercisey sounding" music in my collection already. It's a bit doof doof, but it's my doof doof. The only really twangy song is Ryan Bingham's Bread and Water but I'll put more effort into finding appropriate country things for the next installment. I have a track from Zydeco legend Clifton Chenier but on reflection it has a rather ... Benny Hill vibe and sort of weirds me out.

So of course I did an 8tracks of the songs I used. Curiously, I put more time/effort into the music than I ever do into the running.

Here is the twangy Christmas mix I promised. Now with Elvis. (But only two, as per 8tracks guidelines.) And two tokenish Hanukah songs. Sorry, Kwanzaa.

Merry Christmas Baby Otis Redding
Silent Night Johnny Cash
Far Away Christmas Blues Johnny Otis and Little Esther
Christmas in the Mountains Faron Young
Christmas Time at Home Rhonda Vincent
Even Santa Claus Gets the Blues Marty Stuart
Holly Trees and Christmas Leaves Elvis Presley
White Christmas Tammy Wynette
Away in a Manger Dwight Yoakam
Hannukah Snowman Phranc
White Christmas Merle Haggard
Christmas is Near Ralph Stanley
Christmas on TV Chris Isaak
Yamei Ha'Hanukah Miriam Avigal
Silent Night All Day Long John Prine
Christmas Must Be Tonight The Band
Jingle Bells Earl Scruggs
Christmas in Jail Chip Taylor
Blue Christmas Ernest Tubb
Merry Christmas from the Family Robert Earl Keen
Old Time Christmas Randy Travis
O Come All Ye Faithful Patty Loveless
O Little Town of Bethlehem Elvis Presley

Have a good one, y'all.

A couple of reissues/compilations etc that need mentioning:

Tell Tale Signs Bob Dylan NATCH
Veteran's Day: The Anthology Tom Russell (link is to his blog which you should read)
Nigeria Special: Modern Highlife, Afro-Sounds & Nigerian Blues 1970-6 Various Artists
This specific song isn't on there but same ballpark.

UPDATE: Here is the 8tracks. Songs from the below and above lists plus a couple of ring-ins from 2008 albums not here. As always, listen at the site or below. Enjoy.

More or less. In some kind of vagueish order for the first quarter then much of a muchness after. I'll do a relevant 8tracks for it too. Large Hearted Boy has the definitive list of end of year lists.

The Good Life -- Justin Townes Earle
Rattlin' Bones -- Kasey Chambers and Shane Nicholson
Gurrumul -- Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu
Virtual Landslide -- Pete Molinari (will talk about later)
Just a Little Lovin' -- Shelby Lynne
One Kind Favour -- BB King
Little Honey -- Lucinda Williams
Crossing the Field -- Jenny Scheinman
Trouble in Mind -- Hayes Carll
Harps and Angels -- Randy Newman
Waylon Forever -- Waylon Jennings (last recordings, classic songs, produced by son Shooter)
Same Old Man -- John Hiatt
Venus on Earth -- Dengue Fever (Cambodian-Californian psychadelic south east Asian surf rock)
All is Yes -- The Blessing
Como Now: The Voices of Panola County, MS -- Various (acapella gospel from the Daptone label)
Backwoods Barbie -- Dolly Parton
Recovery -- Loudon Wainwright III
Honky Tonks and Cheap Hotels -- Whitey Morgan and the 78s (outlaw country)
The C.P.T Theorem -- Greydon Square
Recapturing the Banjo -- Otis Taylor
Modern Hymns -- Darrell Scott
Seeing Things -- Jakob Dylan (it grew on me very slowly)
Honey Songs -- Jim Lauderdale
Akh Issudar -- Terakaft (Tourareg "desert rock")
Umalali -- The Garifuna Women's Collective (Afro-Belizean)
Mother Earth! Father Sky! -- Huun-Huur-Tu (alt.tuvan Like many people I find the whole throat singing thing pretty fascinating without actually wanting to listen to it while nursing a Strongbow out on the balcony at a summer's dusk. This one I would. Very jaunty! Turkic bluegrass! And they have a girl singer who breaks up the throaty stuff.)

Additional list: some more 2008 jazz I liked in addition to the Jenny Scheinman and The Blessing above.
Treat Me Gently -- Dale Barlow, George Coleman, Mark Fitzgibbon, Sam Anning This is Australian. John Shand just happened to review it in the Herald last week, and it just happened to be on eMusic and it just happened to have seven tracks and I just happened to have seven credits left so I got it. And I liked it a lot.
De Cuba y de Panamá -- Billy Cobham and Asere
The Coalition of the Willing -- Bobby Previte
Roll With It -- Corey Christiansen

This is a jazzy, funky, rocky one. No country because my country Chrissie songs are in a format not supported by 8 tracks so I'll do a twangy one when I've done some conversion.

Here or here:

White Christmas -- Bobby Timmons
You're a Mean One Mr Grinch -- Aimee Mann
Christmas is Coming -- John Denver and the Muppets
Do You Hear What I Hear -- Shawn Lee's Ping Pong Orchestra
Stone Soul Christmas -- Binky Gripite & The Dee-Kays
A Christmas Duel -- Cyndi Lauper and the Hives (a bit NSF kiddies)
Pretty Paper -- Roy Orbison
Jack Frost and the Hooded Crow -- Jethro Tull
Santa Claus is Coming to Town -- Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis
I Need a Man Down my Chimney -- Barbara Carr
Christmas Now is Drawing Near -- Sneak's Noyse
Angels We Have Heard on High -- The Brian Setzer Orchestra
God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman -- Los Straitjackets
Darlin' (Christmas is Coming) -- Over the Rhine
We Wish You a Merry Christmas -- John Denver and the Muppets
O Come All Ye Faithful -- Shawn Lee's Ping Pong Orchestra
Jingle Bells -- Ed Calle, Arturo Sandoval and Jim Gasior
Auld Lang Syne -- Martin Sexton

15 songs, one hour. Stuff from the November eMu list plus a couple of ring-ins.

Listen here or here:

Townes Van Zandt; Utah Phillips; Ray Wylie Hubbard; Hopeton Lewis; Miriam Makeba; Babatunde Lea, Greg Landau and John Greenham; Irene Kral; Jenny Scheinman; Asha Bhosle, Rahul Dev Burman; Pete Molinari; Anita O'Day; The Dirty Dozen Blues Band; Jakob Dylan

Tim Dunlop with a recent mix:


Another great jazzy type one from Tim Sterne. (His blog)

And two more of my own:

Jazz Vocals Vol. 2:

Various Singer-Songwriters. Mostly dusty country/folk types but not all. such an exhausting genre I just slapped stuff together because otherwise I would spend days on it.

Will update with notes later. Updated with notes.

Here is an 8tracks of selections from the list:

Another 8tracks. Wine songs.

Why is The Wine (Sweeter on the Other Side) -- Eddie Floyd
Drinkin' C V Wine -- Howlin' Wolf
Days of Wine and Roses -- Tony Bennett and Bill Evans
Loud Music and Strong Wine -- Justin Trevino
Strawberry Wine -- The Band
Wine, Wine, Wine -- Dale Watson
Little Glass of Wine -- The Stanley Brothers
Elderberry Wine -- Elton John
Champagne and Wine -- Otis Redding
Sweet Wine -- Cream
Dying on Sorrows WIne -- Emmylou Harris and Carl Jackson
Yesterday's WIne -- George Jones and Merle Haggard
Blood Red Wine -- Rolling Stones
He Turned the Water Into Wine -- Johnny Cash

New 8tracks:

Slash from Guns and Roses - I See Hawks in LA
There Goes Your Corpse Again - Deadly Snakes
Get Up Jake - Deadstring Brothers
Drop Me Down - Tres Chicas
I Bought a Bottle - Rancho Deluxe
When the Saints Go Marchin' In - South Filthy
Confidence Man - Oakley Hall
Carolina Jasmine - Maplewood
Mornday Morning, Echo Park - The Lisa Marr Experiment
Crucify Your Mind - Rodriguez
The Godspell According to A.A Newcombe - Brian Jonestown Experiment
John Brown - Tea Leaf Green
Eyes Lock'n' Steel - Oakley Hall
You Look Like the Devil - Deadstring Brothers

I volunteered to roadtest the new beta 8tracks uploader and it's the bees knees. So simple is it, I knocked up three playlists just now to try it out. You can listen embedded here or go to the page at 8tracks by clicking the titles.

Classic(ish) country:

Merle Haggard; Donnie Fritts; Waylon Jennings; Robbie Fulks; Lynn Anderson; Loretta Lynn; Daryle Singletary; Moot Davis; Merle Haggard & George Jones; Jerry Lee Lewis; Johnny Cash; Dwight Yoakam; New Riders of the Purple Sage, Faron Young.
Old Time Gospel:

Indian Bottom Association; Washington Phillips; Wynona Carr; Sam Cooke; Carrie Smith; Horton Barker; Old Regular Baptists; Sister Rosetta Tharpe; Rev. F. W McGee; Rev. Sister Mary Nelson; Mavis Staples.

Soul Jazz (mostly):

Babatunde Lea; Spanky Wilson and the Quantic Soul Orchestra; Jazz Co-Op; Shirley Scott; David Murray Black Saint Quartet w/ Cassandra Wilson; Cannonball Adderley; Jimmy McGriff & Groove Holmes; Sun Ra; Marlena Shaw; Ray Brown Trio; King Curtis; Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis;Robert Rodriguez, Ed Calle And Steve Turre.

A bit of soothing weekend music, via my 8tracks jazz vocal mix. I'm doing some country ones too, stay tuned.