Neglectful as I've been, I've accumulated a lot of music worth mentioning. So, here they are from the first 4 months of 2011. I've done an accompanying 8tracks of selected tracks. I'll do some more ... later. (I started the draft of this on March 18th, gimme a break.) All of them I recommend - I wouldn't mention if I didn't - but if I had to pick a couple to particularly force on you it'd be Colin Gilmore, Buddy Miller and representing non-country/folk Justin Adams.

Billy Eli - Hell Yeah
Texas country-rock on the looser side of Steve Earle circa 1990 which is fine since I haven't dug much ol Steve's done since 1990 (the new record is OK but dull, I might have more to say once I've settled on that as my response). Got into them when I heard "Cheese Enchiladas" on Freight Train Boogie, that's a fun song.
Video of Tore Down in Texas

Colin Gilmore Goodnight Lane
Quote from Sylvie Simmons's four-star Mojo review quote on website:

I've described him before as a West Texan Nick Lowe for his songs structures and their instant sing-along quality (Circles In The Yard; Goodnight Lane; Hand Close To Mine). But deep Texan roots show here on the fine Llano, a mature piece of country songwriting.

I'd say the Texas roots show through it all but yeah.

Bit of a children of other people whose CDs I have theme to this list. Colin is Jimmie Dale's son.
Video of Running Circles in the Yard and Black Vines

Lukas Nelson Promise of the Real
This guy's dad is named Wiliie, you've probably heard of him. Heck, given the number of collaborations the Red Headed Stranger pumps out you've probably done a duet with him. Lukas, like Colin, is making his way playing in dad's band but also striking out with this own thing. His voice can be kind if startling, undeniably you can hear Willie in there but it's a funhouse mirror version or the slight differences that catch you out with a twin. But anyway, it's a very good album in its own right.
Here's a video of Four Letter Word but you know me, I love the ballads and I LOVE LOVE LOVE "Want Me Around" so here it is: Want Me Around.

Yvette Landry Should Have Known
Yvette Landry is part of the most excellent all-female Cajun outfit Bonsoir Caitin and this is her first solo album of excellent country, cajun influenced for sure but more straight ahead country singer songwriter sound. Her crisp voice has the ability to be both sweet and worldy, like an old friend but one you know will cut you down if you need it. The songs are all terrific, as is the accompaniment, as you'd expect since she's quite a hot player herself.

Very professionally shot "Can't See Me Without You" (so wish the sound was better), ditto Too Tired More upbeat is 120 Proof. This is kinda a dodgy video (people: use your iPhone HORIZONTALLY when videoing for Bob's sake) but I have to draw attention to it since it features not only Bil Kirchen but my favourite recent songs on his of the great, great "Hammer of the Honky Tonk Gods" album of a few years ago.

Justin Adams and Juldeh Camara Tell No Lies
Another cross-cultural excursion that gets it right. Lots of good vids at the above link. I think what really hooked me was the righteous Bo Diddley beat snaking through the thing without sounding like a forced "hey I know! Let's put traditional African and African American music together, hey cool." It works on a higher level on from novelty, and has melodies you can't argue with.

Bei Bei and Shawn Lee Into the Wind
Another for the "world fusion" fans. Shawn Lee is a doof doof guy who did an album of christmas carol remixes which I like to pull out that time of the year. Bei Bei is "an internationally acclaimed Gu Zheng (Chinese Zither) performer." Its got that late night SBS movie soundtrack cool thing and like the combination. Video of "Into the Wind" and "The Master Room"

Buddy Miller Majestic Silver Strings
This was one of the Big League of Americana discs due out this year along with Steve, Emmylou and LUcinda (I like the latter two quite a lot) and it doesn't disappoint. It's sort of redundant with Buddy Miller and that line up to have to do much spruiking. The high point for me is the mesmeric "Dang Me" - I've become quite obsesed with the word "surple."

Georgette Jones Slightly Used Woman No prizes for guessing her father, Tammy Wynette is her mother. Even without the pedigree, being on Heart of Texas record label (Amber Digby, Justin Trevino) you'd know she was selling a solid traditional style of country. And so it is. All eyes will be on "You And Me And Time", a duet with dad and it is a poignant country confessional, and the rest is, well, solid traditional country.

I want to tell you about Mike Stinson. (I strongly disapprove of crappy flash websites which play music at you automatically, which his is but on this occasion you should totally listen before closing the tab in horror.) Telling you about "Mike Stinsons" is basically the entire narcissistic purpose of having a blog.

I'm a late comer, discovering his latest record towards the end of last year. It still made my end of year list but I don't think I conveyed how absolutely, totally, frigging ga-ga I went over the dude.

According to last.fm which basically records every song I listen to Mike Stinson has overtaken Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Johnny Cash and a bunch of others as my most listened to artist ever. (Last.fm says its from 2007 when I signed up but there about 2 years in between then and now when I didn't use it so the results are somewhat skewered by that.)

Oh, I got it bad.

And then when eMusic asked for subscribers to submit "what I'm listening to picks" to go with their regular editorial staff choices, I volunteered, got February (scroll down) and naturally chose Mike Stinson. I think his most recent 2010 album The Jukebox in Your Heart is his best but that's not on eMusic and his previous albums Last Fool at the Bar and Jack of All Heartache are worthy choices too.

I think what I love about him is the serious twang in topic and sound but with a unique songwriting voice amongst the genre pieces; as I said in both my blog best of and eMusic write-up a Dwight Yoakam meets John Prine, which basically combines my favourite streams of twang/traditional country and folk. It won't be for everyone but I reckon a lot more people will love it than have heard it so far.

The second video below is "Square With the World" which is off his newest album, and is completely beautiful. Play it at my funeral, please.

Let's Just Stay Here - Carolyn Mark and N.Q Arbuckle - released in January 2009 but only discovered by me in December in the few weeks I've had it has rapidly climbed into my Most Played list. Carolyn Mark is a Canadian country-folk singer and N.Q Arbuckle is a Canadian country band, neither of whom I'd heard of but who are apparently well established in the (alt) country circuit of the far north. The gruff twang lead vocals of N.Q Arbuckle come courtesy of Neville Quinlan and Mark was formally in an outfit with Neko Case and indeed before I knew that fact that's who she sort of reminded me of. The songs really are uncommonly good, full of winning little details and fun dashes of wry humour. Must have!

I've been listening to the audiobook of Michael Conolley's The Scarecrow and the moral is all about how easy it is for freaky serial killers to track your every move via the Internet. Like, you can know exactly what I'm listening to when via my lastfm page which updates what I'm playing live. Have at it, stalkers! Incidentally, this is the first novel I've read where people actually use the Internet the way I do -- not that I stalk people and hide them in the car boot, but I mean, look any and all things up in Google Image Search as second nature. Anyway.

There were the heady days of 26-28 August where I listened to Nina Simone straight for two days. You can never have two much Nina, but this Philips box set is quite indispensable as the definitive collection of the Nina force, force of personality and force of musicianship. The peak of her vision realised (not that she had troughs) and a sublime listen from beginning to end.

More lately, I had a big raid on eMusic which I haven't done since the changes in July. But a few things showed up I particularly wanted and they started giving people 50 "loyalty" credits - more than a whiff of desperation about that move but I'll take 'em. I more or less get every new Afrobeat or Afrorock release that comes up, the latest is a really fabulous collection called The Legends of Benin. The label Analog Africa is always a solid bet. The first track "Dadje Von O Von Non" by Gnonnas Pedro & His Dadjes Band is pretty much the perfect (to me) family reunion between African and "western" funk. Here's Honoré Avolonto - Na Mi Do Gbé Hué Nu on YouTube. More such meetings are on Many Lessons: HipHop, Islam, West Africa from the "world" music specialists Piranha out of Germany (as so many of these labels are), I listen to a bit of hip hop but my tastes are quite narrow (so far) and lean towards the fusiony end of the spectrum and it's good if you like such things.

And then I got Town and Country by Humble Pie. Going through a 60s British blues/rock supergroup phase. Still chucking on Blind Faith a lot. Using this ripper music search engine an eMusic subscriber developed I discovered Humble Pie. You plug in an act and it spits back a heap of similar/related artists. It brings up a lot of artists I know which is good because you can see how well calibrated to the original name it is, but also heaps of new folk. It's optimised for eMusic (clicking on the photos takes you to their eMu page and greyed out photos means no albums on eMu) but it's great just to find people generally. Anyway, Humble Pie, apparently "hard rock" (70s performances on YT bear this out) although this is their acoustic blues-rock album. I don't really know anything about Peter Frampton and Steve Marriott, apart from their names (years of reading Mojo and Uncut cover to cover) but this is pretty good in a generic late 60s British rock blues type way but it's one of the generic sounds I like.

Natural Born Boogie:

El Barrio: The Bad Boogaloo Nu Yorican Sounds 1966-1970 brings the music of Spanish Harlem to you. Features La Lupe, the Queen of Latin Soul.

Also features the track Happy Soul With a Hook by Dave Cortez which I seem to have on about five different compilations by now. For Latin but with a much deeper level of pure funk, try Si Para Usted: The Funky Beats of Revolutionary Cuba. Waxing Deep is/was a great Latin soul/funk podcast, the podcast is in hiatus but they've branched out into being a label. Si, Para Usted: The Funky Beats of Revolutionary Cuba Volume 1 was a great collection of 60s and 70s tracks, and so I immediately bought Volume 2 and even bought a hard copy. Having the liner notes is fine, and it's nicely put together all round.

I've got the new Allen Touissaint record Across The Bright Mississippi on order so I went revisiting his oeuvre, which basically means ... take your pick of any New Orleans music from the 1960s on. Super Bad by Don Covay is according to Herr Doktor Guugle a collection of the soulmeister's 70s cuts and its quite an intriguing mixture of styles from rock (one song sounds like mid 60s Stones), country ballad touches to varying flavours of soul and funk a la New Orleans. Allen Toussaint - Saint Of New Orleans is a compilation with a couple of songs sung by Touissaint and a stack of others written and produced by his. This Lee Dorsey/Toussaint track isn't on there but it's just too good.

And finally, a version of "Sea of Heartbreak" from Rosanne Cash's forthcoming album featuring Bruce Springsteen got released on iTunes this week. Sea of Heartbreak is one of my favourite songs. Cash slows it right down, for a song about how sad, lonely and adrift the singer is, it's usually done in a very bouncy way. Bruce might be trying too hard to croon in the background, let Bruce be Bruce and not Ray Price but I like it more each time I hear it. The chorus is still one of the most singalongable in history.

Country music death beats fear not because I have the new Delbert McClinton, the new Guy Clark, the new Kris Kristofferson and some others coming up in the rotation!

Despite Sony Music Australia being on my Enemies List for wrecking eMusic, I've been trying out their download service bandit.fm. Only because they offer special promos each month that make it a good deal. Before I went to America they had a "buy your first album, get $20" deal so I exploited that with a couple of accounts.

Got some nice stuff, the Blind Faith record, some Ray Charles, a Flying Burrito Brothers set and cherry picked the new K'Naan (Somali-Canadian rapper) which is very good and a few other singles. In August they are having "buy an album and get $20 credit." So I bought Marianne Faithfull's Broken English for $10. With that, I got a Nine Simone box set which is thirty some dollars but the $20 made a nice discount.

Without these deals however and all other things being equal, I would stick to iTunes for the occasional purchases I normally make this way. The bandit.fm site is pretty and shiny but sometimes a pain to use. iTunes is not without its annoyances but at least the info is presented in a no frills style that makes scanning and picking easier. The artist pages at bandit.fm have too many giant graphics and too little easily accessiable information. You can click one extra time and get to a list of albums available, but that stuff should be right up front. There are also some technical issues. When you click on an album, a box pops up to listen to it and the rest of the screeen whites out until you close the box. Fine, except I sometimes get the whited out screen with no box and can't get out of it without shutting the tab and reopening the site entirely. The downloads are at 320kpb so audiophiles may applaud the quality but it also makes your average album a huge size in MBs. If you only have, say, a 1 or 2GB MP3 player who wants one album to take up 500MB. Don't need it, and would like a choice of formats.

So in short, the price is almost always the same as iTunes and there is no other reason to use it over iTunes - except for the special discounts each month, which is presumably why they offer them.

Their names brings childhood phobias flooding back, but Deer Tick (MySpace) are a pretty cool alt.country band. I don't use that term, alt.country, much but it fits here, and avoids most of the aspects of the genre which irk me the most. That is, there are melodies and no mumbling. There are 50s rock and roll influences as well as country and folk. John McCauley's vocals are smooth as barbed wire and just as likely to get snagged on your cardie. The music has enough country to be country and enough alt to be a bit alt. McCauley's voice though is the chief instrument and the band wisely doesn't overwhelm it.

Here's a solo of one of my faveourites on the album, "Little White Lies"

And some full band action:

Tim is doing a series of eMusic posts at Johnny's. He's even speaking to eMusic reps.

Part One
Part Two

Part Three to come.

I'm mostly done on the issue (even if I could bloody log in to Crikey to comment, which I can't), unless something very new happens. I'm trying to focus on the music and let the rest fall where it may.

So after the intial bafflement I got over the eMusic plan changes and was going to hang around, and make a conscious effort to channel the higher per track payments to labels/artists I wanted to support. But then a bigger problem came down the pipe: "in the near future" access to eMusic will be blocked entirely for users outside the USA. Canada, UK and EU. Entirely! Certain labels/albums are already unavailable on a country by country basis. This is a familiar message:

But this change would exclude us entirely.

And so eMusic joins Amazon MP3, Rhapsody, Napster, Lala, Spotify and countless other digital download and streaming services off-limits to us. Now, eMusic do say that exisiting customers will be "grandfathered in" (see FAQ) although of course that's what they said about my current subscription plan, which they just changed. And the grandfathering actually annoys me more, because it suggests the geographic restrictions are not enforceable law, but a voluntary policy decision in deference to their new BFFs at Sony, and future majors they hope to land. If you are doing something illegal and are a company, you don't say "oh well, "in the near future" we will stop doing illegal stuff but people already doing illegal stuff can keep on doing it."

I can go to Amazon.com right now and buy any CD I want and ship it here. But I cannot buy the same album in digital form from the Amazon MP3 Store. How does this make any sort of sense?

I have questions about it logged with customer service, i doubt I'll get a decent answer. Googling the issue of geographic distribution doesn't bring much helpful up.

So now I'm thinking I will just quit eMusic altogether because of it even though I would be grandfathered in, the whole thing leaves such a bitter taste in my mouth. It is no different than DRM to me, right now. What was the point of being so visionary and courageous over DRM for so long, only to capitualte in 2009 with rubbish like this? Should've slapped DRM on the tracks back in '02 and you could've had Sony then.

I see that Sony Australia has its own digital download store, called with a rather hilarious lack of irony bandit.fm. There are some positives about it at first glance, I can actually use it on a Mac, no-DRM MP3s and 320kps (although I'm fine with lower bitrates.) The content appears to be more than Sony stuff, the Blue Note label is there and that's owned by EMI. The artist and genre pages are attractively presented and easy to navigate.

However. I put in the last 10 or so albums I dl'd from eMusic and they had none of them. They had a few of the artists, but not the same albums. I conclude they have no independent labels at all. If someone did an album for Chess it's there because the Chess catalogue is now owned by Universal, but later, say, Alligator recordings by same artist are absent. They are more expensive than iTunes on some albums, and iTunes has a much bigger selection. And for a couple of them I know for a fact I can go to JB Hi Fi today and buy the hard copy cheaper.

Is this where Sony is hoping to channel my money by excluding me from eMusic? Tell 'em they're dreaming.

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. ;-(

So, the eMusic issue. I didn't jump in and blog here about it for a few days because I wanted to be more measured in my response. It's entirely over the fold so as to not bump the Flatlanders down at the expense of a rant most people won't be interested in. It is long and rambly, assumes knowledge already of the eMu model and entirely about me, me, me. Fair warning...

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.

Countryesque/Folkish/Rawk
Hogtied Revisited by The White Buffalo
I bought The White Buffalo's first and only EP off iTunes in 2007 after reading about him in, of all places, MX (the freebie "newspaper" they give you on the train at peak hour) and this is his only recorded output since. So, prolific he is not. But he has an attention grabbing voice and and a nice sound and sometimes weird songs.
The Last Pale Light In The West by Ben Nichols
Lucky One by Raul Malo
A little bit country, a little bit croony, very pleasant listening.
Desert Rose by Chris Hillman
Brossa D'ahir by Pep Laguarda
Long lost Catalan 70s psych-folk. With harmonica! Five stars.
Dans les airs by Le Vent du Nord
I saw Genticorum at the Blue Mountains music fest last year and enjoyed their traditional Quebec thig very much, Dans les airs do something similar and so I like them a lot too. I'm not at all into Celtic music generally in its more pure forms, and Quebec folk has a lot in common with that but has something else that makes it listenable and indeed compelling. I think it might be the tickity tackity tick percussion thing (technical term.)
Dengue Fever Presents: Sleepwalking Through the Mekong by Jean-Marie Riachi
Jean-Marie Riachi is actually the director of Sleepwalking Through the Mekong, a doco about the band Dengue Fever and all the music on the album is by them and some other ungooglable Cambodian acts. Dengue Fever is a Californian band with singer Chhom Nimol who plays surf psych garage rock sung in Khmer. Me love. The new Dengue Fever songs on this are great, particularly "One Thousand Tears of a Tarantula" which has a more greasy funked up type sound than previous records. AND it still makes me crave green chicken curry whenever I hear it.

Jazz/Soul
Greatest Hits by Al Green
Call Me by Al Green
Shakti by David S. Ware
Bad! Bossa Nova by Gene Ammons
Afirika with Angelique Kidjo by Christian McBride
7 X 7" = Funk by Various Artists - P&P Records
Five Peace Band Live by Chick Corea & John McLaughlin
I saw these guys at the Opera House, except with Brian Blade on drums instead of. (Brian Blade incidentally is the brother of Brady Blade, also a drummer, familiar from frequent work in the studio and touring bands of Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle, Buddy Miller and others.) I don't really get it but I like it. Like, when I read a pop sci book on physics and I sort of barely grasp what the sentence is saying while ever my eyes are locked on that sentence, but as soon as I blink, no hope.
Good News From Africa by Dollar Brand / Abdullah Ibrahim
Henry Stone's Hidden Treasures by Various Artists
Night Hawk by Coleman Hawkins
Soul in the Hole by Shawn Lee

African/Latin
Nigeria Disco Funk Special: The Sound Of The Underground Lagos Dancefloor 1974-79 by Various Artists
Nigeria Rock Special: Psychedelic Afro-rock & Fuzz Funk In 1970's Nigeria by Various Artists
Panama! - Latin, Calypso And Funk On The Isthmus 1965-75 by Various Artists
These three are new addtions from Soundways Records and they are musical NOMNOMNOMNOM.
African Carnival by Fred Fisher Atalobhor & His Ogiza Dance Band

Via the eMusic radio show, I heard the awesomely named Lucille Bogan's (aka Bessie Jackson) "Shave 'Em Dry" which somewhat stopped me whatever long weekend pottering I was doing at the time. Of course sexual references are everywhere in this pre-war stuff, no shock there but ... yoiks. Naturally it was not officially released and I couldn't google up corroboration for the claim in the comments at 17 Dots that its the first F word on record but its 1935 so it seems plausible. I was shocked, shocked I say. So shocked, I immediately downloaded the three alternate versions they have on eMu.

NSFW, NSF kiddies and NSF anyone who doesn't want to hear some vintage backroom jook joint 3am pr0n. Although it's very scratchy so you have to listen close, very close, to pick up the most scandalous parts. Maybe you have to listen to it very loud on repeat. *cough*

One record I have been digging a lot lately is Shemekia Copeland's Never Going Back, new on Telarc. As Johnny Copeland's daughter she has the immersion in blues heritage, this album has a couple of extra strengths. The rich bluesy soul band comprises producer Oliver Wood and not just Marc Ribot but guest spots from two members (Colin Wood on bass and John Medeski on organ) of Medeski, Martin & Wood. They're a contemporary jazz outfit and I just downloaded Notes from the Undergound the other month. I do like it but their improvisation teeters just on the edge of my limit for experimentation so it was quite odd at first to associate them with what's basically a fairly traditional blues outing. Nothing experimental about the music here, but the arrangements are refreshing and exquisitely played.

The other big strengh is the songwriting, which Copeland has a lot of credits on, in addition to well chosen covers from the likes of Percy Mayfield and Joni Mitchell. There's a good mix of styles and themes, some rigteous smiting on the topics of politics and religion as well as the usual blues shouter emotional fare.

Some samples on MySpace and

Here she is on Letterman last month. "Never Going Back to Memphis" is ahighlight of the album:

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

This EP from the Webb Sisters dropped on eMusic today so I had to get it immediately. They are part of Leonard Cohen's current touring ensemble. It includes a live version of "If It Be Your Will" including the intro and recitation at the beginning LC has been doing in concert. Me like much.

I haven't had much chance to listen to the rest and am running out the door again now but "In Your Father's Eyes" surprised/pleased me by being a Dixie Chick-esque banjo-lead number. So I'm looking forward to hearing that again properly and the other songs.

"If It Be Your Will" was recored at one of the O2 concerts in London, and a CD and DVD from those gigs are being released in March. I had ordered copies on Amazon, but then read Australian editions are being released at the same time. Woot. The "Suzanne" part of the DVD is on Amazon for your edification.

A 8tracks of selections, the song I included is in bold after the title.

Country/Folk/Rock/Blues
Between the Whiskey and the Wine by Miss Leslie (Between the Whiskey and the Wine) 2008 release. Hard core honky tonking.
Undone: A Musicfest Tribute to Robert Earl Keen by Various Artists - Right Ave Records (Corpus Christie Bay Darren Kozelsky) Listen to the original instead. It's not bad, quite pleasant but most tribs fall into the "listen to the originals" basket for me. A good new REK original performed by him though.
Live at the Palladium in NYC, New Years '77 by Levon Helm and The RCO All Stars (Got My Mojo Working) Featuring Dr John, Paul Butterfield, Duck Dunn, Steve Cropper. Details here. It's a little ropey in a too-many-cooks sort of way but exuberant and definately worth checking out if you are a fan of that whole crew.
Animal Party by The King Khan & BBQ Show (Animal Party)
Haymaker! by The Gourds (All the Way to Jericho) This is very nice in a background kind of way, I don't know why the Gourds rarely stay long in my head but I enjoy it at time of listening.
Broken Dreams by Eleven Hundred Springs
Home by Delaney & Bonnie (It's Been a Long Time Coming and Just Plain Beautiful) On the occasion of Delaney Bramlett's death, Mojo online highlighted this 1969 disc (and it's on Stax, and thus on eMu) and it's my January download I probably listened to the most -- 56 times in whole or part according to last.fm, which doesn't include iPod time. It combines the sort of bouncy backporch jamming sound of The Band and that era's country-rock with the soul of Stax, and thus combines two of my favourite things. Most things I have in this ballpark are country-rock with some soul, whereas this is a soul album with those other things creeping round the edges. I like the term "prairie-funk" in that Mojo story. I need more prairie-funk! I'm pretty familiar with the "Further Listening" they list there, but they're not quite the same to my ears.
Adam Carroll Live by Adam Carroll (Erroll's Song)
Early Tracks Volume 1 by Howie Epstein (Simple Conversations) Collection of lofi bedroom demos from the early 1970s by the late muso who played with too many people to mention. Was my last download so I need more time but early listens promising. But you would expect nothing but quality from someone who played bass on Knocked Out Loaded.
For The Love by Tracy Lawrence
Shapes Of Things by Jeff Beck (Mr. You're A Better Man Than I) The presence of original 60s stuff like this is a bit patchy on eMu because they're mostly major label but there's a fair bit of quality early Yardbirds and this Jeff Beck collection which covers the essentials (not that I'm an expert.) This is sort of where you really miss the liner notes with digital downloads because I'm not at all sure what is what and where and when, the people at Amazon say its post-Yardbirds but "Mr You're a Better Man Than I" and "Heart Full of Soul" sure sound like the 'birds originals with Keith Relf on vocals to me so I don't know. None of which stops me enjoying listening to it.
Tuva Rock by Yat Kha (Amdy Baryp and Khandagaity)
I have to thank Andre in comments for the tip on this one. I reaally love this album, a pretty perfect blend of Tuvan sounds -- the throat singing but also the other traditional musical streams and rock. The other Yat Kha album there is one of covers, including a Hank Williams song that sort of creeped me out. I want to get it but I have to psychologically work up to it.
We Can Get Together by Sean Costello (Going Home)
Sean Costello was a promising young Atlanta bluesman when he died suddenly last year. Drugs I think, silly boy. This is a tremendous album that I also listened to on high rotation this month -- blues-rock with a side of soul and gospel, he has a distinctive honey-and-whiskey kind of voice that appeals.
Jazz/Funk/Eartha
The Space Book by Booker Ervin
Eartha Kitt in Person at the Plaza by Eartha Kitt (How Could You Believe Me?)
Spiritual Jazz by Various (Paul's Ark, Morris Wilson Beau Bailey Quintet)
The Best of Jazzman Records (Web Exclusive) by Various Artists (Send in the Clowns, Lorez Anderson)
Fiyo At The Fillmore Volume 1 by The Meters
Introducing The Tinh Nguyen Quartet by Thinh Nguyen Quartet
Bach 2000 by David Matthews And The Manhattan Jazz Orchestra (Air on the G String) Jazz interpretation of Bach pieces. Why not?
This Is What We Do by The New Mastersounds (The Tin Drum feat. Sam Bell)
At The 5 Spot, Vol. 1 [ RVG ] by Eric Dolphy
Sample My Funky Groove by Various Artists

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.