Americana Archives - Page 17 of 67 -

Music Archive by category "Americana" (Page 17)

Life’s Blues Soundtrack (a few days late) – Albert Castiglia’s Solid Ground (Video)

So last Thursday was the first day that I ran since back in January. It was a good run and you can read more about it here. The soundtrack for the run was the new release from Albert Castiglia Solid Ground. Solid Ground is seventh release from Castiglia (pronounced ka-steel-ya) and his first on Ruf Records. I caught up with Castiglia’s career back in 2010 when I started this blog.In that year he released Keepin’ On. While writing the post, I listened to not only that album but also his 2008 release These are the Days, which earned him a Blues Music Award nomination for “Song of the Year” for his original, “Bad Year Blues.” as well as a nomination by the Illinois Blues Blast Awards for the same song. Albert won that award. Castiglia was also nominated for the “Sean Costello Rising Star Award.” read more

A Night for Musical Poetry from Phi Ochs “The Highway Man” and “Changes”!!

So tonight I’m in the mood for a little poetry and that means Phil Ochs’ version of “The Highwayman”!! Here’s a short post from about a year ago!

Here are two Phil Ochs’ songs. The first is “The Highwayman” based on the poem by Alfred Noyes, from the program “Come, Read to Me a Poem” which appeared on April 12, 1967. This sad and beautiful poem has always been a favorite, Phil did a great job putting the music to the poem and creating a captivating and sad song! read more

The Date in Music – March 27, 1937 -Texas Blues Guitarist Johnny Copeland was born!!!

On this date, March 27, 1937 Texas blues guitarist and singer and father of Shemekia – Johnny Copeland was born. in Haynesville, Louisiana, about 15 miles south of Magnolia, Arkansas (formerly Texarkana) After his father died, his remaining family moved to Houston. As a teenager he played at two of the biggest blues venues in Houston – Shay’s Playhouse, where his band The Dukes of Rhythm (formed with Joe “Guitar” Hughes) and the El Dorado ballroom. His recording career started at Mercury Records in 1958 and he recorded and toured around the Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, area until he moved to New York City in 1974. read more

Morning Music – “One Day” – Batdorf and Rodney – don’t we wish!

So for today’s morning music I was going to use the Jefferson Airplane’s cover of Fred Neil’s “The Other Side of this Life” but after my half sun salutations and a nice quiet yoga set on the 21 Day Yoga Challenge I thought it didn’t feel quite right! If you want, you can watch it here
Here’s a post I did a while back about the role of Batdorf and Rodney in my musical journey…..

So sometime in 1971 or 72, I was walking through the Graham Area lobby at the University of Florida and two guys were playing guitars and singing. I sat down and listened and was blown away by the songs. When they finished, I asked if the songs were theirs and they said, no they were covering Batdorf and Rodney. Within a matter of days, you know I was at the local record store looking for their album!! What I found was Off the Shelf and that album has been “off the shelf” and on my record player, in my CD player and now on my mp3 player for the last forty years. read more

Speeding “Into the Night” with Leon Russell, Glen Campbell and “Henry” going down that road going – fast – fast – fast!!

Ok so how about another little pick me up as we go roaring “into the night”. While I was at Target picking up a few things this evening “Jambalaya” popped into my head. (Hum, was it that I caught a glimpse of Zatarain’s Jambayla, nah) anyway it wasn’t Hank Williams’ version that jumped in there, but Hank Wilson’s (aka Leon Russell) version from Hank Wilson is Back Vol. 1. After a brief visit with that song my mind raced quickly to “Truck Drivin’ Man” also from the Wilson Hank! When I came home I went to YouTube to look for a video for “Truck Drivin. Man. I found this one with Leon and also John Cowan. read more

Folk from the Texas Hill Country – Possessed by Paul James – There Will Be Nights When I’m Lonely

Now maybe if I had caught this quote in No Depression back in 2010

“If I were to make a list of the 20 most important singer/songwriters of our time, Konrad Wert / Possessed by Paul James, would undoubtedly be among those at the very top.”

or this one from The Onion ??? back in 2007…..

“One-man band Konrad Wert grew up in a Mennonite family, raised by preacher father and a piano player mother, which accounts for both the baptized-in-fire-soul and musical versatility heard in his gritty Old World music. Wert’s mix of blues and vintage folk howls with a sense of explosive freedom and latent rage-not unlike an Amish kid emerging from the wilderness to discover America that instills his simple guitar/fiddle/stomp-box arrangements with unusual passion.” – The Onion 2007 read more

“Into the Night” with thoughts about those “Statesboro Blues”…. music by David Bromberg!

So if nothing else blues songs have staying power! Who would have thought that a song written by a blind blues singer born in 1898 would end up as the 9th rank song on the Rolling Stone Magazine’s list of the 100 Greatest Guitar songs of All time! Which is exactly what happened to Blind Willie McTell’s song “Statesboro Blues”! The version that made it to the list was the cover from the Allman Brothers! And in 2005, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ranked “Statesboro Blues” number 57 on its list of 100 Songs of the South. McTell recorded and released the song in 1928!! An abbreviated list of the folks wh have covered the song includes: Taj Mahal, David Bromberg, The Devil Makes Three, Brooks Williams, and Ralph McTell, who changed his name on account of liking the song. read more

2014 “Texassippi” Blues from Jim Suhler – Panther Burn!!

When I first started to listen to Jim Suhler’s latest release Panther Burn, I didn’t think that I had ever hard his guitar or music before. And while I may have never heard his music with his group The Monkey Beats, there’s a good chance I’ve heard his guitar, because since 1999 he has been the lead guitarist for George Thorogood & The Destroyer’s (formerly the Delaware Destroyers, so they are big in the Delaware Valley). In addition, he appeared on Elvin Bishop’s 2008 release The Blues Rolls On, which is included in my music library.And after co-producing Texas-Based Blues Band, Jason Elmore & Hoodoo Witch’ 2010 release entitled Upside Your Head, which received widespread acclaim in the Blues genre, he contributed consulting/performance work on Hoodoo Witch’s second album entitled “Tell You What”, which was released on March 19, 2013 and is also in my library and was reviewed by Me, Myself, Music and Mysteries here (and I do see the name Suhler in the post!) The album was nominated by “Blues Blast” magazine for Best Blues Rock Album. So I missed this Dallas, Texas native even though he has appeared on stage with Les Paul, James Cotton, Hank Williams,Jr., Duke Robillard, Peter Wolf, Willie Nelson, Irma Thomas, Dr. John, Pinetop Perkins, Lazy Lester, Steve Miller, Elvin Bishop, Son Seals, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Johnny Rivers, Joe Bonamassa, Cross Canadian Ragweed and others Damn I even missed him in 2002, when he fulfilled a lifelong dream by playing two shows with AC/DC during their Stiff Upper Lip Tour,in Helsinki, Finland and Hamburg, Germany.(just kidding) BUT after listening to Panther Burn I will not miss his music anymore!! This may be my favorite blues album of the year! It’s got everything I like good vocals, catchy songs, a little harp from the Thunderbirds Kim Wilson and some mighty good organ from I believe Tim Alexander?! Until today I would have said “Across the Brazos” was my favorite track on the album, but today “Leave My Blues Behind” really caught my attention and the musical interplay between the vocals, the organ and Jim’s guitar was just great! While “Between Midnight and Day:, “Dinosaur Wine” and “Worldwide Hoodoo” all made me stop and take notice of them, too!! Hell once again I am going to say that this album is great first track to the last!!! Jim had a little help from his friends on Panther Burn. Those who made appearances include:Kim Wilson of The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Asleep At The Wheel’s Ray Benson, Carolyn Wonderland and Jason Elmore!! So Check Him, the boys and girl out!! As for me, there’s once again a large back catalog to check out! I think I’ll start with Tijuana Bible or maybe Bad Juju which was produced by the legendary Jim Gaines!! Links Artist Website MySpace WikipediaI did say my favorite track was “Panther Burn”, right? Because of the great slide guitar.I guess it’s the song that I’m currently listening to, again! Here’s “Panther Burn”! read more

Musical Thoughts about that Parent Child Relationship (Videos)

As I was working along last night at Target, my thoughts drifted back to Andrew, Meaghan and little Oliver and the perilous journey that they are embarking on. We took that trip four times, well maybe we’re still on the journey, and it seems that the results so far, have been very successful! But it’s a tough trip and there are many obstacles along the way. many wrong words to say, many wrong actions to take and all you can do is try to keep them safe, try to help them develop a strong moral character. Often as my children were growing I told them, you know what’s right and what’s wrong so do the right thing! Finally love them unconditionally, that doesn’t mean that they can’t be wrong, or do things that you don’t like and at that point in time, you may not like then very much but you never stop loving them!! And beyond those things you just hope for the best! And I think we got it right so far!! read more

Blues Rotation Part 1 – England’s Laurence Jones – Thunder in the Sky – (Video)

So three blues albums have been in my listening rotation over the last week or so, first there is the debut album of Laurence Jones, Thunder in the Sky, which was released in 2012, then the 2013 release from David Gogo and finally the 2014 release from Jim Shuler all three are great albums!!

I discovered Laurence Jones while I was researching information about Christina Skjolberg. He is one-third of the Ruf Records Blues Caravan that will be storming across Europe this year! The other 2/3s are Christina and Albert Castiglia. I have yet to listen to Albert’s latest release Solid Ground. Maybe that album will be combined with the new album from Joe Walker Louis Hornet’s Nest, so look for that one! Anyway, Jones is a 21 year-old guitar wizard who has already played along side of some of blues’ biggest names. Walter Trout for one! Trout asked Jones and his ban to support then on Trout’s 2013 UK Tour!! Walter says this about, the young man from Stratford Upon Avon: read more

Category: Americana