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Post by Slam_Bradley on Mar 6, 2020 14:12:20 GMT -5
Top songs of 2019
#75 - Hank Thompson - Dry Bread
This one probably deserves a bit of explanation. I was contemplating a project last year (when am I not?). As a part of that I listened to Hank Thompson's 1959 album "Songs for Rounders" a number of times. First off, a country LP in 1959 was a pretty rare beast. A country album in 1959 that wasn't mostly a collection of previously released singles was incredibly rare. One that verged on being a concept album was probably unprecedented. One that was a truly great album...I'd hit the jackpot.
Seriously this is a great album. And the fact that it's largely forgotten is insane. While Thompson was a pretty big star in the 50s and 60s he was never a superstar. "Wild Side of Life" was clearly his biggest smash, but he only had three number ones while charting a decent number of top tens as late as the late 60s and early 70s.
But damn this album was a revelation. One of the best vintage honky-tonk LPs I've listened too in a long long time. While this isn't the stand-out track it's a great synthesis of honky-tonk and Thompson's traditional western swing with a more dirty blues sound than we were used to hearing from country stars that late in the 50s.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Mar 10, 2020 13:22:33 GMT -5
Top songs of 2019
#74 - Old Crow Medicine Show - Wagon Wheel
Yeah it was overplayed horrendously. And then there's that abomination by Hootie. But this is still a great song and it's one of those cornerstones that acted as a jumping off point for people to discover roots music.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Mar 11, 2020 9:37:18 GMT -5
Top songs of 2019
#73 - Jerry Jeff Walker - Lovin' Makes Livin' Worth While
This one surprised me a little bit. I do like Jerry Jeff quite a bit. One of my mantras is WWJJWD (What would Jerry Jeff Walker Do?). But this isn't one of my favorites of his. Not that it's a bad song. It's a fun little ditty. But not one I'd expect to see here.
The reason it is is because it's the opener on his 1989 album "Live from Gruene Hall" which is one of the better live country albums. And one of the best country albums of 1989.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Mar 12, 2020 12:35:17 GMT -5
Top songs of 2019
#72 - Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit - White Man's World
Get used to seeing Isbell here. Beyond crafting some of the most stunning lyrics of the last couple decades Isbell is doing his part to keep protest music alive. This song caused a lot of people who apparently weren't paying attention to the lyrics of all his other songs to swear off Isbell. Small loss of small minds.
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Post by beccabear67 on Mar 16, 2020 13:41:15 GMT -5
I listened to some BBC radio musical documentaries yesterday... one on singer/songwriter Nick Drake, a shorter one on his mother Molly and her songwriting, and a somewhat dated one on guitar legend Davey Graham. Two and a half hours all together almost, like a meditation. Then I listened to some Bach which is nice once in awhile.
It might not be the best idea to listen to a lot of Nick Drake (or Joy Division) though I think, a lot of which has a doomy depressing aspect... I wonder what I should choose? I have had a Captain Beefheart audio interview and 'Safe As Milk' lined up. Maybe that's strangely appropriate. I've almost run out of music related BBC radio docs, I might try and see what else might be out there I haven't heard yet in that line.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Mar 17, 2020 10:05:28 GMT -5
Top songs of 2019
#71 - Steve Earle - Guitar Town
I wasn't aware enough in 1986 to realize that Steve Earle was releasing one of the best albums of the year in his debut. Now I know that Earle poo-poos a lot of his early work but this is just a great album with incredibly strong writing.
Legend has it that when he was touring for this album Earle performed one evening with Dwight Yoakam and the next with The Replacements. That just speaks to Earle's fusion of country with roots rock and a punk mentality.
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Mar 17, 2020 16:47:58 GMT -5
Top songs of 2019 #71 - Steve Earle - Guitar TownI wasn't aware enough in 1986 to realize that Steve Earle was releasing one of the best albums of the year in his debut. Now I know that Earle poo-poos a lot of his early work but this is just a great album with incredibly strong writing. Legend has it that when he was touring for this album Earle performed one evening with Dwight Yoakam and the next with The Replacements. That just speaks to Earle's fusion of country with roots rock and a punk mentality. Great song from a great album. I went to a little country-rock gig held in a Church the week before last and the support act covered "My Old Friend the Blues". Made me think what a long time it's been since I last listened to this album. I originally picked it up in 1990 or so, after I'd already heard Copperhead Road.
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Post by beccabear67 on Mar 17, 2020 20:20:35 GMT -5
I actually remember Guitar Town being new, such a kick ass song. I always had an ear out for anything cool happening with a twang to it.
So I've been thinking about modal jazz in relation to Nick Drake via John Coltrane (Drake used to play saxophone as well as piano, guitar was his third instrument!) There's so much going on in his lyrics and music, one of those rare artists that grows on you over time (like Gene Clark and Sandy Denny). And somehow it even leads me to thinking about Willie Nelson who certainly has some jazz influences, another amazing magician. Also thinking about the great poets Drake would've studied in Cambridge and that song Fruit Tree. So many levels to the very best artists! Steve Earle is another, Joe Jackson, Bill Cowsill, Kraftwerk, Don Gibson, Clannad, Fred Neil, Moondog, Television/Tom Verlaine/Richard Lloyd, Duncan Browne, Bo Diddley, Erik Satie, Stereolab...
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Post by Confessor on Mar 18, 2020 4:18:12 GMT -5
I love Nick Drake. He made some truly special music in his short, troubled years. That's an interesting suggestion about the John Coltrane modal influence, beccabear67. Drake used lots of alternate and open tunings on his guitar (as I'm sure you know), which lends some of his music a droning, modal quality. But that "drone" has it's roots in the British folk/Celtic tradition -- think of instruments like the bagpipes or the hurry gurdy. So, the exploration of modal music is something that a lot of folk musicians do -- it's almost inevitable if your guitar is in an open tuning like DADGAD or Open D. Davey Graham would be a good example of a contemporary of Drake's who really got into modal music in a big way. So, modal elements would've definitely been present in some of the folk-influences that Drake had, but it's certainly interesting to ponder what additional influence modal jazz might've had on him.
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Post by beccabear67 on Mar 18, 2020 13:13:47 GMT -5
The BBC radio doc on Davey Graham says he invented the DADGAD tuning. I have his first and then all the Decca albums (plus one very important single, and an EP with Alexis Korner tacked on to one Topic CD edition of Folk, Blues & Beyond, although i see there is a newer edition under the Fledg'ling label), and I think one more past that, but he was starting to deteriorate in some ways (substances) by around when Nick Drake's second album was out. I guess there'd have been no Pentangle (jazz-folk) without Graham. Those old Irish songs are very modal and we get echoes of that even in some things like early Thin Lizzy, Led Zeppelin, and of course Clannad when they started up, and Fairport crystalizing in Leige & Lief. Another important guitarist-songwriter-singer of the time was Jackson C. Frank, also a definite influence on Drake's playing (and pretty much the entire template for Sandy Denny's guitar style). Such an amazing time and place to investigate for expansive music, so many obscure folk based albums, artists, and recording producers! Like a brief window opened where artists like Drake who might only sell 3,000 copies of an album could still get second, third, and fourth releases! Nick had stared work on a fourth album after a long pause following Pink Moon, and we know of five completed tracks including the disturbing Black Eyed Dog. I could type on about this stuff for pages though a lot of it's already been done in Rob Young's huge Electric Eden book. I've been sharing this one for years, something familiar for any Led Zepp/Jimmy Page fanatics you meet, heh heh...
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Mar 18, 2020 14:39:18 GMT -5
Top songs of 2019
#70 - Mike and the Moonpies - Things Ain't Like They Used to Be.
Steak Night at the Prairie Rose was almost certainly my favorite album of 2018. Just a great collection of neo-honky tonk. That they were able to follow up with an equally good (though very different album) in 2019 is a good indication they are legit heirs to country greatness.
This is just a fun honky tonk song with updated lyrics. Things just ain't like they used to be.
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Mar 19, 2020 6:01:42 GMT -5
The BBC radio doc on Davey Graham says he invented the DADGAD tuning. I think "invented" is a strong term; I prefer "popularised". As I understand it, Graham was looking to approximate the droning qualities of Moroccan music and experimented with de-tuning cetain strings on his guitar. But what he came up with -- DADGAD -- is very much akin to Celtic string tunings, though Graham likely didn't know that at the time. Certainly though, it was Graham who popularised DADGAD among folk players in the early-to-mid '60s, and he was undoubtedly the first guitarist to be recorded using that tuning. I have his first and then all the Decca albums (plus one very important single, and an EP with Alexis Korner tacked on to one Topic CD edition of Folk, Blues & Beyond, although i see there is a newer edition under the Fledg'ling label), and I think one more past that, but he was starting to deteriorate in some ways (substances) by around when Nick Drake's second album was out. I have that CD version of Folk, Blues & Beyond on Topic Records that you mention, and I also own a 1964 album that he did with Shirley Collins called Folk Roots, New Routes. That second album is pleasent enough, but far from essential IMHO. I guess there'd have been no Pentangle (jazz-folk) without Graham. Those old Irish songs are very modal and we get echoes of that even in some things like early Thin Lizzy, Led Zeppelin, and of course Clannad when they started up, and Fairport crystalizing in Leige & Lief. Another important guitarist-songwriter-singer of the time was Jackson C. Frank, also a definite influence on Drake's playing (and pretty much the entire template for Sandy Denny's guitar style). Absolutely correct. Graham was a hugely influential figure in the development of progressive folk and, as you note, his influence went far beyond that rather niche circle. Such an amazing time and place to investigate for expansive music, so many obscure folk based albums, artists, and recording producers! Like a brief window opened where artists like Drake who might only sell 3,000 copies of an album could still get second, third, and fourth releases! Nick had stared work on a fourth album after a long pause following Pink Moon, and we know of five completed tracks including the disturbing Black Eyed Dog. I could type on about this stuff for pages though a lot of it's already been done in Rob Young's huge Electric Eden book. Yeah, I love all that stuff too. The whole British progressive folk and folk-rock scene of the mid-60s to the mid-70s is one of my favourite areas of popular music to explore. It's also one of the areas that my wife is most grateful to me for introducing her to; she adores that stuff, but had little or no idea of its existance before we met. Myself, though I certainly enjoy Davey Graham's music, I'm much more into the likes of Bert Jansch, John Renbourn, John Martyn, Donovan, and later British folk-rock or acid-folk groups like Pentangle, Trees, the Incredible String Band, and Fairport Convention (Sandy Denny era, natch!), all of which he was an influence on.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Mar 19, 2020 14:48:49 GMT -5
Top songs of 2019
#69 - Robert Earl Keen - I Gotta Go
For whatever reason Robert Earl Keen is somewhat sparse on this year's list. Vagaries of random selection maybe. But I'm a big fan and always will be. This was, I think, the strongest cut off his 2011 album "Ready for Confetti." Part of that is that it's just got fun lyrics and part of it is the amazing resonator guitar by Lloyd Maines (on of the reasons for an album cut instead of a live video).
I'd write more but I gotta go.
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Post by berkley on Mar 20, 2020 2:16:32 GMT -5
Top songs of 2019 #71 - Steve Earle - Guitar TownI wasn't aware enough in 1986 to realize that Steve Earle was releasing one of the best albums of the year in his debut. Now I know that Earle poo-poos a lot of his early work but this is just a great album with incredibly strong writing. Legend has it that when he was touring for this album Earle performed one evening with Dwight Yoakam and the next with The Replacements. That just speaks to Earle's fusion of country with roots rock and a punk mentality. Great song from a great album. I went to a little country-rock gig held in a Church the week before last and the support act covered "My Old Friend the Blues". Made me think what a long time it's been since I last listened to this album. I originally picked it up in 1990 or so, after I'd already heard Copperhead Road. I first heard My Old Friend the Blues as a Proclaimers cover and that's still my favourite version. I don't think I started listening to Steve Earle till maybe 2 or 3 years later. They're both great live acts, among the best I've seen.
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Post by Confessor on Mar 20, 2020 5:21:29 GMT -5
Great song from a great album. I went to a little country-rock gig held in a Church the week before last and the support act covered "My Old Friend the Blues". Made me think what a long time it's been since I last listened to this album. I originally picked it up in 1990 or so, after I'd already heard Copperhead Road. I first heard My Old Friend the Blues as a Proclaimers cover and that's still my favourite version. I don't think I started listening to Steve Earle till maybe 2 or 3 years later. They're both great live acts, among the best I've seen. Yeah, the Proclaimers version is really nice. It's on their second album, Sunshine on Leith, right? I've never owned that album, but I used to take it out of my local library regularly back in the late '80s. Actually, the Proclaimers are really underrated; there's much more to them than just "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)".
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