Someone somewhere on twitter the other day pointed my to this Times article about a surprising new Loudon Wainwright III project, an album of Charlie Poole songs. Out tomorrow.

The themes of his music also happen to be some of my favourites when it comes to writing my own songs -- mother, booze, general nonsensicality and death. Lastly, the chaos and fun of rambling around playing music and the inevitable fallout with wives, kids, to say nothing of the damaging effect to one's physical health -- these are subjects I've tackled in song and, of course, in real life. The "Road" is a toll road and you pay the price. But let's not get too morbid here. There's real joy, feeling, and warmth in Charlie Poole's music. He knocks me out.

High Wide and Handsome: The Charlie Poole Project. Enjoying the videos at that site.

Here is Dylan introducing a Charlie Poole song on his radio show, with the hilarious (to me) matter of fact noting about artists who obscure their lyrics live. epic lulz @bob

21 Old And Only In The Way.mp3

Major gratitude to Tim for mentioning the Wolfgang's Vault iPhone (and iPod Touch) app.

I was dubious that the streaming would be more trouble that its worth -- watching YouTube on there is fine, but the buffering would get tedious over a concert length experience. Extremely surprised and delighted that on wifi flcking between songs and concerts was no slower than doing so in the iPod where the files are right there. Over 3G its noticebly slower changing songs but still quite alright. So I lay in bed and sampled some Delaney and Bonnie -- with Dominoes trio Eric Clapton, Bobby Whitlock and Carl Radle, as well as Leon Russell and Rita Coolidge, in the band -- some Bruce from 1977, some George Jones, some Booker T and the MGS. Of course presumably it is a bandwidth hog and so more suited to those unlimited plans Oz telcos decline to give us. But still, four hoofs up.

And of course if you don't have one of them gadgets, you can listen to them all online.

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. ;-(

In Dylan LP years I have two year end best of categories, "Best Dylan Album" and "Best Non-Dylan Album." The best will be Dylan, natch, so like it seems unfair to not even give anyone else a chance at the top spot. This year I will have "Best Dylan Album", "Best Non-Dylan Album" and "Best Non-Cohen Album" because I can't put anything but Live in London up top and that's just the way it is. End of story.

The Flatlanders' Hills and Valleys is currently frontrunner for Best Non-Dylan/Cohen. Anyone with an interest in Texas music, folk-country, alt.country, singer-songwriter music of the last 30 years is going to across each of these three guys -- Joe Ely, Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Butch Hancock (although Butch doesn't have the solo profile of the others.) The sound is pure Texas dust -- accordian throughout and unmistakable south west geography and politics -- but with a dazzling richness, each of these three guys have unique voices, vocally and in terms of their stories. The songwriting rises to the occasion. "Homeland Refugee" is a clever reversal of the classic Okie migration story, in this the Californian returns to the dust bowl after losing his house and job. "The Way We Are" kicks it honky tonk, "Sowing on the Mountain" is tex Mex bluegrass. There are a couple that reference migration, notably the jaunty "Borderless Love" and some classic Texas philosophising in "Cry for Freedom" and "Just About Time."

There's not a non-catchy song on the thing. Five stars!

This has been a Bad News Day in my personal music world, which I may rant about after I've processed it a bit.

BUT WAIT!! When Bob slams a window, he swings wide open a door so I am most thrilled to see Tim Dunlop's new music blog at Crikey has gone live. Yay, Tim! Apart from being (or because of being??) one of the world's stand up blokes, his taste in music is impeccable.*

We are not very well served by professional, MSM or semi-MSM music blogs in Oz, so this is red hot orsumness all 'round.

*with the exception of his woeful Randy Newman blind spot.

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.

A reminder the annual Bob Dylan Birthday Marathon is on tomorrow night, Saturday 23rd May 7.30pm-2am on 2SER FM, in Sydney but you can listen online.

Now in it's 25th year of broadcast, 2SER's Bob Dylan Birthday Marathon celebrates the 68th birthday of the rock and folk legend. We will be playing the choicest cuts from Bob's 50 year career and will feature the new album Togther Through Life as well as the recently released Tell Tale Signs. There will be a review of Bob's own Theme Time Radio Hour and selections from Patti Smith's authoritive audio biography of Bob, news, reviews and interviews - and ALL THE BOBSONGS THAT FIT!

You can always find the Sydney Dylan meeting dates at our website ('scuse the dodgy temp site, I'll fix it one day)

In celebration I offer Bruce and the band doing "Like a Rolling Stone" (11MB) live for the first time the other night in Pittsburgh.

And a couple of Bob himself from April in Europe, via Croz. Get the rest there.

Workingman's Blues No. 2
Nettie Moore

I've been meaning to post about some of the 2009 releases I've enjoyed in "Q109" so let's start with One to the Head, One to the Heart by Gretchen Peters with Tom Russell. Now obvs TR is one of my faves, hence me getting the record, but of Gretchen Peters I confess to woeful ignorance, other than she had done some singing on previous Russell albums. So turns out, she's a big deal Nashville songwriter for everyone you've ever heard of, including her biggest hit "Independence Day" for Martina McBride. I will return to this. The record itself is singer-songwriter folk/country with but an unmistakable south western flavour. Not only the generous accordian but the songs, lovely originals like "Blue Mountains of Mexico" and "These Cowboys Born out of Time" and covers "Snowin' on Raton" (TVZ, here singing it with Blaze Floey. Love that song.) and a pretty great version of Dylan's "Billy 4." (YouTube, the Gretchen/Tom version. And here is "Prairie in the Sky" from the record.) She has a lovely expressive voice if not distinctive for me yet. When I first had the record it would pop up on my iPhone and I'd think "That is .... NOT Patty Griffin but ... I ... do ... not? Know who it is." But I liked it. As I always say, if you are reading this blog and are not doing so because you are related to me, you will like it too.

The making of the record on YouTube.

So, ALSO. Even I who mostly floats along quarantined by the Pacific Ocean from exposure to the Billboard Hot Country hit parade has heard of Martina's "Independence Day" (Wikipedia Martina entry: "The third single, "Independence Day," a song about domestic abuse nearly reached the Top 10. The song didn't reach the Top 10 particularly because many radio programmers went against the song's subject about a mother fighting back [against abuse] by burning their home to the ground. However, the song has ... sold a million copies in the United States to date.") Heard of it, never paid it any attention. SO anyhow, good for her and half yer luck ka-ching, big deal right? Well, I found out a cool thing about which I will quote from her site:

When Sean Hannity began using Gretchen Peters' song "Independence Day" as the theme song for his Citadel Broadcasting radio talk show, Peters quietly stepped up her donations to causes including the ACLU, PFLAG, and Moveon.org.

But when the GOP used "Independence Day" to usher Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin to the stage after the debate in St. Louis, Peters realized the party was truly perverting the chorus of her composition to suit their agenda and it was high time for Peters to make her feelings known.

"The fact that the McCain/Palin campaign is using a song about an abused woman as a rallying cry for their Vice Presidential candidate, a woman who would ban abortion even in cases of rape and incest, is beyond irony," Peters says. "They are co-opting the song, completely overlooking the context and message, and using it to promote a candidate who would set women's rights back decades. I've decided to donate the royalties from 'Independence Day' during this election cycle to Planned Parenthood, in Sarah Palin's name. I hope with the additional income provided by the McCain/Palin campaign, Planned Parenthood will be able to help many more women in need."

The following is a video of her at a Planned Parenthood event. So, Gretchen rocks.

Bob Dylan Talks About the New Album with Bill Flanagan at bobdylan.com. Do read, if not already. This "Bill Flanagan" is a real person apparently but I'm convinced Bob wrote the questions and the answers.

Track by track (ish) at Mojo.

Accordian! Minor keys! Demonic laughter! "Forlorn twinkling mandolin and mournful pedal steel"!

UPDATE: New album is called ""Together Through Life" (...?) and is out April 28. Next big reveal will be the cover art.

All of thee are good some of them are really great but I'm not in the groove right now so I'll come back later with notes.

Country/Folk/Blues/Rock/Dylanalia/Cohenalia
Nancy & Lee 3 by Nancy Sinatra And Lee Hazlewood
Down In The Boondocks & Other Favorites by Billy Joe Royal
Comes In Twos by The Webb Sisters
Roger The Engineer / Over Under Sideways Down by The Yardbirds
Delta Blues by Son House
Live On Breeze Hill by Rick Danko
Broadside Ballads, Vol. 6: Broadside Reunion by Various Artists - Smithsonian Folkways
Live From Austin, TX by Eliza Gilkyson
Havilah by The Drones
Gala Mill by The Drones
Custom Made by The Drones
South Austin Sessions by Jesse Dayton
Country Soul Brother by Jesse Dayton
Boxer by The National
Never Going Back by Shemekia Copeland
Teasin' You by Snooks Eaglin
Singing Through the Hard Times: A Tribute to Utah Phillips by Various Artists - Righteous Babe Records

Jazz
Notes From The Underground by Medeski Martin & Wood
The Dial Masters - Original Choice Takes by Charlie Parker
Soul Pools by Babatunde Lea
A Night At The Jazz Rooms - Compiled by Russ Dewbury by Various Artists
Dig by Miles Davis Featuring Sonny Rollins
Nothin' But Soul by Gene Ammons
Reincarnation Of A Love Bird by Charles Mingus
Chet Baker & The Boto Brasilian Quartet by Chet Baker
West Coast - A Nice Day by Various Artists
Duet by Chick Corea & Hiromi

These three records were Grammy winners
Song For Chico by Arturo O'farrill & The Afro-latin Jazz Orchestra
Monday Night Live At The Village Vanguard by Vanguard Jazz Orchestra
Randy in Brasil by Randy Brecker

RnB/Funk/"World"
Rise Up! by Lonnie Smith
Texas Funk by Various Artists
A Promise by Myriam Makeba
The World's Rarest Funk 45s by Various
Senegal 70 - Musical Effervescence by Various Artists
People Sure Act Funny by Lee Dorsey
The Hard Way by James Hunter
Afro-Jaws by Eddie Lockjaw Davis

Did I ... hear tell someone tell a lie?

Been listening to the new Marianne Faithfull long player, Easy Come Easy Go. I am going to jump straight to track 10 -- "Sing Me Back Home" with Keith Richards on harmony. A bit of music nerd fan fiction that is, the seamless colliding of a couple different musical-historical slipstreams. Keith and his history with the song via Gram*, his own haunting version from Toronto drug bust boot (that link is YouTube. I put up the MP3 for download at the end of the entry), the whole Marianne bio. Keith provides ghostly harmony on the chorus and some other words/phrases (plus guitar) and I spent a good while fiddling with the equaliser in iTunes to boost the vocals so I could cop a better listen. Their voices spiral towards each other like the smoke from two cigarettes, if you listen closely to the edges of Keith's phrases curl around Marianne's. Of course it's one of the greatest country songs, and she can sound a bit cabaret but always sincere. Marianne Faithfull as death row wretch works, but of course it is the almost-lullabyish promises of the chorus which make it a favourite for interpreting.

For the rest, on the concept and guests I'll just quote from the official blub:

All the songs have been chosen by Marianne and Hal [Wilner], and range from Billie Holiday's "Solitude" to "The Crane Wife" by current band The Decemberists. Other tracks are "Sing Me Back Home" by Merle Haggard, "Children of Stone" by Espers, the title track " Easy Come, Easy Go Blues" by Bessie Smith, Morrissey's "God Please Help Me", Dolly Parton's "Down from Dover " and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club's "Salvation". Easy Come, Easy Go also includes some interesting guest vocalists; Keith Richards appears on the aforementioned "Sing Me Back Home" Antony Hegarty on "Oo Baby Baby" and Jarvis Cocker on Sondheim's "Somewhere". Other guest appearances on the album come from Rufus Wainwright who contributes powerful vocals to "Children of Stone"' while his aunt and mother Kate and Anna McGarrigle enchant on the "The Flandyke shore". Warren Ellis plays his magic violin on 3 songs, and Nick Cave lends some vocals to "The Crane Wife". Sean Lennon and Teddy Thompson play guitar on a couple of the tracks, and Cat Power harmonizes on "Hold On, Hold On".

Not mentioned there, a cover of Randy Newman's creepy "In Germany Before the War."

I listened to it first without knowing much about the all star cast except for Keith, and it's a testament to the balanced production that I'd think "hm, that's interesting. I wonder who that is, if anybody" and want to look it up, rather than have the guesters smother the song with their presence. The exception to that would by the Smokey Robinson cover "Oo Baby" with Antony doing a wild R 'n' B thing but that's not a bad thing,Marianne Faithfull is allowed to get wild. Especially as the very frst track on the album is Dolly Parton's super-uber-tragic-miserydrama "Down from Dover." I think I'd prefer more restraint on the horns in this one, but it works better than I thought it would. Marianne Faithfull's voice is nothing if not the product of hard-won maturity, and the key to the song is the naivety of the teenage narrator (Dolly can sing it these days and still pass vocally for 18 more or less), but she made me believe. Other highlight's off the top of my head, the folk ballady "The Crane Wife 3" and "Flandyke Shore" and the playful jazzy excursions of the title track and "Black Coffee."

There aren't any songs on it I haven't liked, and I've been playing it mot of today back to back. I'm referring to the 2 disc version, there's also a 1 disc one that doesn't have all these songs.

* Good post. Deserves revisiting. As does that DVD.

MP3: Keith Richards, 1977 23-Sing-Me-Back-Home.mp3

According to Expecting Rain, William Zantzinger died. There was a great couple of episodes of Homicide:Life On The Streets guest starring James Earl Jones that riffed on the story and the song, must try and watch it again.

Boxing Day 8.30pm on SBS The Night James Brown Saved Boston
As it Happened - April 5 1968, the morning after the assassination of Martin Luther King, America's inner cities began to implode. In Boston there was a fragile peace. A concerned Mayor of Boston decided to cancel a long-scheduled James Brown concert, but after warnings had a change of heart, asking: "Is there something James Brown can do to help?" When the mayor came on stage and urged attendees to honour Dr. King peacefully fans rushed to the stage. It was James Brown who called off the security and managed to talk everyone back into their seats. The Night James Brown Saved Boston tells the story of that amazing night - rarely seen footage of the Godfather of Soul's concert plus personal reminiscences from those in attendance

Sunday 28th Dec. 1020 on ABC2 I've been meaning to get a copy of this, but now I don't have to:
Festival: Folk Music At Newport 1963 - 1966
Murray Lerner's film Festival! is a cinematic synthesis of four Newport Folk Festivals from 1963-1966. Featuring Bob Dylan's notorious first 'electric' live performances; and other greats including Joan Baez and Johnny Cash.

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

"If only one could be sure that every 50 years a voice and a soul like Odetta's would come along, the centuries would pass so quickly and painlessly we would hardly recognise time"
- Maya Angelou

Really, where on earth would you even start? Odetta constantly surprised me, I'd turn up a new record and it'd be something I'd never heard before -- not just the individual songs, but she must have covered just about every musical style in the American vernacular book.