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March 4, 2013
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LIVE ON THE AIRWAVES - THE ROCKABILLY ROADHOUSE WITH BIG DAVE
FOR BIG FUN, LISTEN TO "THE ROCKABILLY ROADHOUSE WITH BIG DAVE".... EVERY SATURDAY MORNING from 9am-11am (pacific) for TWO BIG HOURS of amped-up, high-octane roots music....guaranteed to kick start your weekend! STREAM IT LIVE at http://www.krsh.com or listen to The Krush in Sonoma County, CA at KRSH 95.9 FM. Also available on your favorite radio app on your mobile device including TuneIn Radio.
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SOUTHFIELD, Mich. (AP) — Bobby Rogers, a founding member of Motown group The Miracles and a songwriting collaborator with Smokey Robinson, died Sunday at his suburban Detroit home. He was 73.
Motown Museum board member Allen Rawls said Rogers died about 6 a.m. in Southfield. Rogers had been ill for several years.
Rogers formed the group in 1956 with cousin Claudette Rogers, Pete Moore, Ronnie White and Robinson. Their hits included "Shop Around," ''You've Really Got a Hold on Me," ''The Tracks of My Tears," ''Going to a Go-Go," ''I Second That Emotion" and "The Tears of a Clown."
"Another soldier in my life has fallen. Bobby Rogers was my brother and a really good friend," Robinson said Sunday in a statement. "He and I were born on the exact same day in the same hospital in Detroit. I am really going to miss him. I loved him very much."
Roger's cousin Claudette told the Detroit Free Press that everyone was drawn to his personality.
"People always commented on the tall one with the glasses," she said. "He was personable, approachable and he loved talking to the women, loved talking to the guys, loved to dance, loved to sing, loved to perform. That was the joy of his life."
His voice can be heard on Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On," with Rogers saying, "It's just a groovy party, man, I can dig it." Mary Wilson of the Supremes said that captured his essence.
"If people want to remember him, they should put that record on and listen to Bobby," Wilson told the newspaper. "That's who he was."
Rogers and The Miracles were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012. He was too ill to attend the ceremony.
He shared songwriting credits with Robinson on The Temptations' "The Way You Do the Things You Do," The Contours' "First I Look at the Purse" and The Miracles' "Going to a Go-Go."
Funeral arrangements through James H. Cole Home for Funerals in Detroit were incomplete Sunday afternoon.
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Former Allman Brothers Lead Guitarist “Dangerous” Dan Toler Passes
SARASOTA, FL - Legendary Southern Rock guitarist Dan Toler died the morning of February 25th, at his home in Sarasota Florida. Dan passed away after a long battle against (ALS) Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.
Dan Toler was celebrated in the late 1970s for his astonishing guitar work as a member of the Dickey Betts & Great Southern band. He was featured on the two albums with Dickey Betts & Great Southern and later become a member of The Allman Brothers Band in 1979 and remained until 1982. Dan’s guitar work was featured on the ABB’s hit album, Enlightened Rogues, in 1979; Reach for the Sky in 1980 and Brothers of the Road in 1981.
Dan Toler and his late brother David (Frankie) Toler were members of the Gregg Allman Band in the 1980s, and were featured on his hit album, I'm No Angel, in 1987; and again on Just Before the Bullets Fly in 1988.
In 2005, Dan along with other Southern Rock Royalty joined “The Renegades of Southern Rock,” whose members included George McCorkle of The Marshall Tucker Band, John Townsend from the Sanford-Townsend Band and Jack Hall from Wet Willie.
In 2008, Dan and his friends Ron Gary and Ed Zinner formed “TGZ,” an ethereal Blues-Jazz combination that received world attention when released on the indie label, King Mojo Records.
Dan teamed up again with John Townsend in 2009 and formed the Toler/Townsend Band. Their self-titled album was released that same year on the Garage Door Records indie label.
Dan Toler is survived by his wife Debbie, their daughter Danielle Franz, her husband Dan and his Mother-in-law, Louise Rose. Memorial arrangements are currently pending and will be announced as soon as they are made available.
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Phil Ramone Hospitalized With Aneurysm
Legendary music producer Phil Ramone has been hospitalized in New York City after suffering an aortic aneurysm.
The 71-year-old is being treated by critical care for the condition in which the aorta is more than 1.5 times its normal size and is in danger of rupturing.
Ramone has 33 Grammy nominations and 14 awards. His first work was with Leslie Gore on hits like It’s My Party and She’s a Fool and grew into one of the most impressive production resumes of the last 25 years including work with Billy Joel (most albums), Frank Sinatra (Duets), Tony Bennett (all three Duets albums), Ray Charles (Genius Loves Company), Brian Setzer (Guitar Slinger), Chicago (Hot Streets), Rod Stewart (Great American Songbook series), Paul Simon (Still Crazy After All These Years, So Beautiful or So What) and The Carpenters.
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Santana Reforms Santana!
Carlos Santana has confirmed he is putting the original Santana band together for his next album.
In an interview with Noise11.com Carlos said that he is putting the line-up from the first three albums back together for his next record. “So far we have invited the original members like Greg Rolie from the first three albums,” he told Noise11. “It will be like Santana IV because we stopped at ‘Santana III’”.
Journey’s Neal Schon broke the news of the reunion to Noise11 this week and Carlos has confirmed that he has just about everyone on board for the project. “As well as Neal we have the two Mikes, Mike Carabello and Michael Shrieve. I am pretty sure Greg’s going to do it. So that is pretty much everyone,” he says.
Bass player David Brown passed away in 2000.
According to Carlos, the album will have the African feel of the first three Santana records. “We have been checking out a lot of African music, African patterns,” he says. “Each artist has his own thing that he listens to. Led Zeppelin listened to Otis Rush. Cream listened to Freddie King and Albert King. We all had someone that we listened to. It was a beautiful common ground for Santana to play African music”.
The band will start work on the album after Carlos finishes a big year of touring that will see him head to Deniliquin in New South Wales this month for the Deni Blues and Roots Festival. He says to “expect it in 2014”.
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RIP, Tony Sheridan (February 16, 2013) Early Beatles Collaborator
by themusicsover
Tony Sheridan (Born Anthony McGinnity)
May 21, 1940 - February 16, 2013
Tony Sheridan was an early English rock and roll singer, guitarist and songwriter who is most often recognized for his work with the pre-fameBeatles. He holds the honor of being only one of two non-Beatles to ever be credited on one of the groups recordings - the other being Billy Preston. Sheridan is also the only non-Beatle to sing lead on a single with them that charted ("My Bonnie"). Sheridan took an early liking to music, and at age seven, already knew how to play the violin. He soon switched to the guitar, and by the time he was 16, he was fronting his own band. Within a few years, he was either backing or sharing the stage with American musicians while they toured through the UK. That list includes Gene Vincent,Conway Twitty, and Eddie Cochran. During the early '60s, Sheridan was recording in Hamburg and generally hired pick-up bands to back him on stage. In 1961, thanks to a mutual admiration, he hired the Beatles, who at the time, were made up of Paul McCartney, George Harrison,John Lennon and Pete Best. Polydor producer, Bert Kaempfert, caught their act and convinced Sheridan to record with them. The songs recorded during those 1961 sessions included, most famously, "My Bonnie," "The Saints," "Cry For A Shadow," and "Ain't She Sweet." The latter two were utilized by the Beatles. The 1st US pressing of "My Bonnie"/"The Saints" is one of the most collectible 45's out there with a mint copy fetching $15,000 back in 2007. During the mid-'60s, Sheridan moved his style to a more jazz and blues sound but unfortunately, most of his fans didn't go along for the ride. Although his record sales dwindled, he still remained a popular live act for many years. In 1967, Sheridan went over the Vietnam to perform for the American troops. During one such trip, he and his band were fired upon, killing one musician and leading to false reports that Sheridan himself, was killed. For his efforts during the war, the US Army made Sheridan an honorary Captain. He continued to perform and record until heart surgery forced him into retirement in 2012. Tony Sheridan was 72 when he passed away on February 16, 2013.
What You Should Own
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005NF2UQ4/punmastercom
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R.I.P. British Psychedelic Pioneer Kevin Ayers
Former member of Soft Machine passes away at age 68
http://pitchfork.com/news/49642-rip-british-psychedelic-pioneer-kevin-ayers/
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Prolific Alameda songwriter Bobby Sharp dies
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Other notable passings since the last MusicWire...
Jan. 11 - John Wilkinson, 67, American rhythm guitarist (Elvis Presley's TCB Band)
Jan. 16 - Nic Potter, 61, British bassist (Van der Graaf Generator)
Jan. 25 - Gregory Carroll, 83, American R&B singer (The Four Buddies, The Orioles) and songwriter ("Just One Look")
Jan. 26 - Leroy Bonner, 69, American funk singer and guitarist (Ohio Players)
Jan. 30 - Patty Andrews, 94, American singer, last surviving member of The Andrews Sisters
Feb. 4 - Reg Presley, 71, British singer (The Troggs, "Wild Thing" written by Chip Taylor) and songwriter ("Love Is All Around")
Feb. 4 - Donald Byrd, 80, American jazz trumpeter
Feb. 11 - Rick Huxley, 72, English musician (The Dave Clark Five)
Feb. 16 - Lanier Greig, 64, American rock musician (ZZ Top)
Feb. 18 - Damon Harris, 62, American soul and R&B singer (The Temptations)
Feb. 21 - Magic Slim, 75, American blues singer and guitarist
Feb. 27 - Richard Street, 70, American singer (The Temptations)
March 1 - John Kalinowski, 66, British rock and roll manager (Madness, Procol Harum, Van Morrison, The Kinks)
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http://www.kicksbooks.blogspot.com/
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Paul Dano To Play Beach Boys Lead Singer Brian Wilson In Love & Mercy
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Thanks to Dave Basner for these news stories....
BILL WYMAN WANTED MORE OF A ROLE IN STONES ANNIVERSARY
Last year, former Rolling Stone Bill Wyman helped the band celebrate their 50th anniversary by performing a pair of tracks with the group during their gigs in London, but he told England’s The Times that he thought he would “get quite heavily involved” so when they asked him to just join them on “Honky Tonk Women” and “It’s Only Rock ‘N Roll (But I Like It),” he was“a bit disappointed.” Read more at TheTimes.co.uk.
• TIDBIT: Bill explained that guitarist Keith Richards called him and asked him to jam with the group in December of 2011 so he expected to have more of a role during the gigs. He also said that he only had one rehearsal and no sound-check before taking the stage.
GUITARIST: CHANCES OF BOWIE TOURING ARE 50-50
David Bowie releases his new album, The Next Day, and now, the question is will he tour behind it? Well the Thin White Duke isn’t talking to the media, but Rolling Stone caught up with his guitarist, Garry Leonard, and asked him about the chances of Bowie touring. Leonard said, “It’s 50-50,” adding, “A couple of times, when we played back one of the more kick-ass tunes from the new record, he’d be like, ‘This would be great live!’ Of course, everyone was like, ‘What? Did he just say that?’ But other times he’d just roll his eyes if someone brought up playing live.” Read more atRollingStone.com and pick up The Next Day on March 12th.
• TIDBIT: Garry also said of David touring, “If he gets the bug in him to do it, it’ll happen. His voice is sounding great and he’s looking great, too. He could totally do it. You never know with David, though. I feel he might want to make another record before he plays shows. He’s being really prolific right now.”
• TIDBIT: Bowie’s last tour was 2003 to 2004’s A Reality Tour, which had to be cut short after David was diagnosed with an acutely blocked artery.
JACK OSBOURNE RECORDING SABBATH STUDIO SESSIONS
Ozzy Osbourne’s son Jack proved his skills with producing movies in 2011 when he released a documentary about his father called God Bless Ozzy Osbourne and now, there’s word Jack is filming his father and the rest of Black Sabbath in the studio. In fact, according to Britain’s The Sun, Jack shot the behind-the-scenes footage of the band that recently came out. No word if Jack is filming more for another documentary, but you can keep an eye on BlackSabbath.com for further footage.
• TIDBIT: The new record, 13, marks the first time in 35 years that Ozzy, Geezer Butler and Tony Iommi have worked together on new Sabbath music. The album comes out in June.
PLANT WANTS ANOTHER ZEPPELIN REUNION?
Could Led Zeppelin be considering a reunion? Possibly! Singer Robert Plant told Australia’s 60 Minutes that his schedule for next year is clear and he’s just waiting for his Zep bandmates, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones, who are both Capricorns, to get the ball rolling. Plant explained, “They don’t say a word. They’re quite contained in their own worlds and they leave it to me. I’m not the bad guy… You need to see the Capricorns – I’ve got nothing to do in 2014.” Read more at SixtyMinutes.NineMSN.com.au.
• TIDBIT: The band last reunited in 2007 at London’s O2 Arena. That show came out last year as a DVD set called Celebration Day.
BONHAM RESPONDS TO PLANT’S REUNION DESIRE
Robert Plant recently suggested on Australia’s 60 Minutes that he is open to a Led Zeppelin reunion next year and now, drummer Jason Bonham, who performed with the group during their two reunions, has responded. He wrote on Facebook, “I just watched Robert’s interview where he says he’s free in 2014!!!! Not sure how to read it. What do you think?” Robert said in the interview that he’s just waiting for his bandmates, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones, to reach out to him. Stay up to date with Jason at Facebook.com/JasonBonhamOfficial.
• RELATED AUDIO: We caught up with Jason right after he took part in Zeppelin’s 2007 reunion show in London. While the drummer clearly would love to play with the band more, he understands if that could have been the final time (See Related Cut #5).
• TIDBIT: Jimmy Page is currently remastering all the band’s albums. Those reissues will start coming out later this year.
ELO RELEASING LIVE ALBUM
Electric Light Orchestra are celebrating their 40th anniversary and to mark the occasion, they’ll be releasing a live album. Electric Light Orchestra Live comes from a 2001 performance for a PBS special in L-A that was put out on DVD back then but will now be available on CD for the first time. The CD edition also boasts six tracks that didn’t make the cut on the DVD plus two new, unreleased studio tracks: “Out of Luck,” which was recorded in 2010, and “Cold Feet,” which was recorded in 1992. Pick it up on April 23rd.
• TIDBIT: Also on April 23rd, you can get a reissue of 2001’s Zoom, featuring a new track called “One Day.” You can also get a re-release of Jeff Lynne’s first solo album, 1990’s Armchair Theater.
McCARTNEY, PETTY, MORE AT 2013 BONNAROO
The line-up for this year’s Bonnaroo festival has been announced and it includes a wide array of artists, including some big names in classic rock. Among them, Paul McCartney, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, ZZ Top, David Byrne and John Oates. They’ll join a bill of over 100 acts from rappers to alternative rockers. The three day festival takes place on June 13th through the 16th in Manchester Tennessee. Tickets go on sale on Saturday at noon Eastern.
• TIDBIT: Head to Bonnaroo.com to see the complete line-up and for videos of past performances at the event.
BIOPIC COMING ABOUT BOWIE AND POP IN WEST BERLIN
Back in the 70s in West Berlin, David Bowie and Iggy Pop spent a lot of time together, leading to Bowie’s albums Low, Heroes andLodger and Iggy’s records The Idiot and Lust for Life and now, a film is coming out about the pair’s collaborative years. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the biopic is called Lust for Life and one of the movie’s producers explained it is not a “traditional rock biopic for no one dies at the end.” Instead, he stated that the main character of the film will actually be the divided city of West Berlin and how it became a creative hub for artists and activists in that era. No word yet on when the film is due out.
• TIDBIT: Bowie recently announced plans to release a new album in March called The Next Day. Meanwhile, Iggy and The Stoogesare also working on new music.
ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND RELEASING VINTAGE RECORDINGS
On Tuesday (2/12), The Allman Brothers Band released a pair of vintage recordings. One is their February 11th, 1972 show from their hometown of Macon, Georgia. It was the group’s first concert there following the death of founding guitarist Duane Allman and features the band as a five-piece with Gregg Allman, drummers Butch Trucks and Jaimoe, bassist Berry Oakley and guitarist Dickey Betts. They’re also be putting out their May 1st, 1973 gig in Uniondale, New York, which includes a different line-up with keyboardist Chuck Leavell, bassist Lamar Williams. Gregg spoke to us about how the band plays when they play live.
(Cut #5) “We never play the same song the same way twice. I mean, in the early days there might have been certain similarities, you know, and then we got into the jamming thing and the spontaneity that goes down is so much more thrilling than just the song itself.”
Pick up The Allman Brothers Band’s Nassau Coliseum, NY 5/1/73 and Macon City Auditorium 2/11/72 now. You can learn more at Facebook.com/AllmanBrothersBand.
• TIDBIT: Both shows are from two-track reel-to-reel soundboard master tapes.
LEMMY UNVEILS MOTORHEADPHONES
Are you tired of using headphones that emphasize bass? Well Motorhead singer Lemmy Kilmister is, so he’s unveiled Motorheadphones, a new line of headphones designed for rock fans that bring out the midrange sounds, rather than bury them in heavy bass. At the debut of the headphones, Lemmy said that too much bass takes the soul out of rock and makes it “like you’re listening through a towel.” TheMotorheadphones are made of all metal and come in three different designs, costing anywhere from 50 bucks to 130. Two of the models even have a microphone remote control in them called the Controlizer. The headphones start shipping in April.
• TIDBIT: Lemmy joked at the launch, “People say we’ve never sold out. No one ever approached us.”
GET A TASTE OF DEEP PURPLE’S NEW ALBUM
On April 26th, Deep Purple will release their latest album, but you don’t have to wait that long to get a taste of what’s on the effort. The band uploaded a new video to their Facebook page and on it, you can hear 55 seconds of a new track. Most of the video features just a question mark on the screen, a reference to a comment singer Ian Gillan made last month. He said, “The title of our new album is still a question mark to all of us.” Check it out at Facebook.com/OfficialDeepPurple.
• TIDBIT: Deep Purple announced that they were working on a new album on January 24th, 2012.
DEPP RELEASING COMPILATION ALBUM WITH RICHARDS, IGGY POP, MORE
Back in 2006, Johnny Depp teamed up with Gore Verbinski, the director of the first three Pirates of the Caribbean movies, to release a pirate-themed compilation album called Rogue’s Gallery. Well the pair is at it again and we now know the 36 tracks on their upcoming collection, Son of Rogue’s Gallery, which is also pirate-themed. Among the artists with ballads, sea songs or chanteys on the set are Iggy Pop, Michael Stipe & Courtney Love, Todd Rundgren, Patti Smith and Tom Waits featuring Keith Richards. You can get the compilation now and you can hear Waits’ song now at NPR.org.
• TIDBIT: Various actors contributed tracks as well including Tim Robbins and Angelica Huston and Johnny Depp is featured on a track.
STYX SUING A&M RECORDS
Styx are suing A&M Records, claiming the label cheated the band out of a lot of money in royalty payments and kept the cash for themselves. According to documents uncovered by TMZ, Styx says A&M have been shorting the group on royalty income earned from digital downloads and ringtones. The band asserts for every dollar they’ve been paid over the years, it should have actually been two to five dollars. They’re seeking unspecified damages. Read more at TMZ.com.
ROCK HALL TO FEATURE HUGE ROLLING STONES EXHIBIT
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame will celebrate the Rolling Stones’ 50th anniversary with a new exhibition this year. It’s called Rolling Stones: 50 Years of Satisfaction and features personal items and memorabilia that has never before been seen by the public. The massive exhibit takes up two-and-a-half floors at the Cleveland museum and opens on May 24th. Learn more about it at RockHall.com.
• TIDBIT: You’ll have plenty of time to see the exhibit – it will be at the museum through March of 2014.
• TIDBIT: The Rolling Stones were inducted into the Rock Hall in 1989.
GET JUSTIN HAYWARD’S SPIRITS OF THE WESTERN SKY
Moody Blues guitarist Justin Hayward put out his new solo album, Spirits of the Western Sky. While fans are no doubt excited to pick up the effort, Justin told us how he is always excited to write new music.
(Cut #7) “It’s a kind of cathartic thing to write because it brings things out of you and it’s calming as well. It gets stuff out.”
The set includes songs like “One Day, Someday,” “On the Road to Love,” and “In Your Blue Eyes,” plus features orchestrations by Academy Award-winning composer Anne Dudley. If that’s not enough, Justin also tries his hand at country and bluegrass on three songs. Pick it up today and learn more at JustinHayward.com.
• TIDBIT: Justin is responsible for writing songs like “Nights in White Satin,” “Tuesday Afternoon,” “Question” and “I Know You’re Out There.”
• TIDBIT: The album is Justin’s first solo record since 1996’s The View from the Hill.
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Ringo Starr To Release Live DVD
Ringo Starr is a living legend whose contribution to the roots of rock and roll is immeasurable, not only as a Beatle, but also through his prolific and successful solo career.
In gathering a new group of iconic rockers to play as the All Starr band each tour, every configuration offers a new and memorable moment where we get to experience songs we all know and love.
Ringo At The Ryman, filmed on July 7, 2012, celebrates Ringo’s birthday with an extra special lineup touching on some unforgettable hits spanning four decades from Steve Lukather (Toto), Richard Page (Mr. Mister), Mark Rivera (Billy Joel), Gregg Rolie (Journey, Santana), Todd Rundgren and Gregg Bissonette. The set list is undeniably familiar: ‘It Don’t Come Easy,’ ‘Act Naturally,’ ‘Photograph,’ ‘I Wanna Be Your Man,’ ‘Yellow Submarine,’ and his bandmates’ contributions ‘Roseanna,’ ‘Black Magic Woman,’ ‘Kyrie’,’ ‘Bang the Drum All Day,’ and so many more.
During the show at the Ryman, the All Starrs weren’t the only stars out that night. Joe Walsh makes a special guest appearance to play ‘Rocky Mountain Way’ and is then joined for the encore, ‘With A Little Help From My Friends,’ by his daughter Lucy and some of Nashville’s finest players such as Brendan Benson, Kix Brooks, Gary Burr, Vince Gill, Brad Paisley and former All Starr alums Felix Cavaliere and Richard Marx.
Ringo at the Ryman is a musical journey featuring great players and great classic hit songs, all-in-all a momentous celebration, and a heck of a birthday party.
‘RINGO AT THE RYMAN’
The 2012 All Starr Band
1. Open / Matchbox ‘ Ringo Starr
2. It Don’t Come Easy ‘ Ringo Starr
3. Wings ‘ Ringo Starr
4. I Saw The Light ‘ Todd Rundgren
5. Evil Ways ‘ Gregg Rolie
6. Rosanna ‘ Steve Lukather
7. Kyrie Eleison ‘ Richard Page
8. Don’t Pass Me By ‘ Ringo Starr
9. Bang The Drum All Day ‘ Todd Rundgren
10. Boys ‘ Ringo Starr
11. Yellow Submarine ‘ Ringo Starr
12. Black Magic Woman ‘ Gregg Rolie
13. Band Intro / Happy Birthday
14. Anthem – Ringo Starr
15. I’m The Greatest – Ringo Starr
16. Rocky Mountain Way ‘ Joe Walsh
17. You Are Mine ‘ Richard Page
18. Africa ‘ Steve Lukather
19. Everybody’s Everything ‘ Gregg Rolie
20. I Wanna Be Your Man – Ringo Starr
21. Love Is The Answer ‘ Todd Rundgren
22. Broken Wings ‘ Richard Page
23. Hold The Line ‘ Steve Lukather
24. Photograph – Ringo Starr
25. Act Naturally – Ringo Starr
26. With A Little Help From My Friends / Give Peace A Chance
The All Starr Band:
Ringo Starr: Drums, Vocals
Steve Lukather: Guitar, Vocals
Todd Rundgren: Guitar, Vocals
Richard Page: Bass Guitar, Vocals
Gregg Rolie: Keyboards, Vocals
Gregg Bissonette: Drums
Mark Rivera: Saxophones, Percussion, Vocals
Special Guest:
Joe Walsh: Guitar, Vocals
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Thanks to Mark Pucci
Severn Records Announces a March 19 Release for The Blind Owl,
a Two-CD Compilation Set Saluting the Career of Canned Heat Founding Member Alan Wilson
ANNAPOLIS, MD – Severn Records announces a March 19 release date for the special two-CD compilation set, The Blind Owl, a tribute to Alan Wilson, the brilliant musician and founding member of the legendary band, Canned Heat. Distributed nationally by City Hall Records, The Blind Owl is comprised of 20 tracks recorded during Wilson’s tragically short career, and features songs from such Canned Heat album classics as Boogie with Canned Heat, Future Blues, Hallelujah, Living the Blues, Canned Heat Concert (Recorded Live in Europe) and the group’s debut self-titled album, released in 1966 on Liberty Records.
The set includes Canned Heat’s Top 10 worldwide hits, “On the Road Again” (inspired by Floyd Jones and adapted by Wilson) and “Going Up the Country” (written by Wilson), which featured his trademark high-pitched lead vocals, influenced by Skip James. Other fan favorites on the two CDs include “Help Me,” “Time Was,” “An Owl Song,” “Shake It and Break It,” “Mean Old World” and several parts from the band’s highly ambitious nine-part psychedelic musical adventure known as “Parthenogenesis.” In addition to Alan Wilson on lead vocals, rhythm and bottleneck guitar and harmonica, The Blind Owl features Canned Heat members Henry Vestine and Harvey Mandel on lead guitar; Larry Taylor and Tony de la Barreda on bass; and Adolfo (“Fito”) de la Parra and Frank Cook on drums and percussion. Dr. John is a special guest on piano for two tracks. The Digipak album package also features extensive and insightful liner notes about the songs from Skip Taylor, Canned Heat’s manager from the beginning, producer and personal friend of Alan Wilson, with cover art by Josh Hunter, illustrator of The 27s Book.
Nicknamed “The Blind Owl” by good friend and fellow blues musician John Fahey, Wilson was nearsighted to the point of almost complete blindness. That affliction, along with his innate shyness around people and an introverted personality combined to form a potent combination, that while giving inspiration to many of his songs, also helped create Alan’s personal demons that eventually took his life at age 27. He’s forever linked with the other greats of the “27 Club” who died way-too-young at that age, including Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Brian Jones, Kurt Cobain and Robert Johnson.
As a member of Canned Heat, Wilson performed at the two most iconic live concerts in rock: the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival, which helped launch the whole festival show craze; and Woodstock, the 1969 once-in-a-lifetime event that will forever be considered a defining moment in rock music history. Wilson’s “Going Up the Country” not only became the theme of the movie filmed at Woodstock, but would also become the anthem of the entire “Woodstock Generation,” and still continues to be featured in movies and commercials to this day.
Born on the Fourth of July in 1943 in Boston, Alan Wilson got involved in the Cambridge coffeehouse folk-blues circuit while enrolled at Boston University. He also immersed himself in the history of early blues music, becoming an authority on the subject; so much so that in 1964 noted manager/producer/blues historian Dick Waterman recruited Wilson to “re-teach” the legendary Son House how to play his old slide guitar licks and songs he had recorded in the ‘30s and had forgotten. After several weeks of playing together, House invited Alan to play guitar and harmonica with him at the Newport Folk Festival and on The Legendary Son House, Father of Folk Blues record.
In 1965, Alan became a founding member of Los Angeles-based Canned Heat. Painfully awkward, Wilson battled anxiety and depression throughout his life, which manifested itself in songs such as “My Mistake,” and “Change My Ways,” both included on The Blind Owl. The set also includes such hallmarks as his performances on “Help Me,” Wilson’s debut as a singer in 1966; “An Owl Song,” the band’s first recording with horns; “Alan’s Intro,” his amazing slide guitar intro to Canned Heat’s “Woodstock Boogie,” recorded live at the festival; “Skat,” a group jam that features Alan “scat” singing; and “Human Condition,” Alan’s final studio recording. Keenly attuned to the environment, he also lamented the carnage of the planet’s resources, documenting those feelings on the track, “Poor Moon.”
Wilson was one of the few serious blues scholars of his day and wrote lengthy articles on such artists as Robert Pete Williams and Son House about their significant contributions to the history of the blues. After Canned Heat’s appearance at the Monterey Pop Festival, Downbeat magazine put the band on its cover and proclaimed Wilson “the greatest harmonica player of the 20th Century.” And none other than the king of boogie, himself, John Lee Hooker paid the ultimate compliment to Wilson after the band’s sessions on the double-LP, Hooker ‘n Heat, in 1970: “Alan plays my music better than I knows it myself. You musta been listenin’ to my records all your life.”
The Blind Owl Track Listing
Disc One
1) On the Road Again
2) Help Me
3) An Owl Song
4) Going Up the Country
5) My Mistake
6) Change My Ways
7) Get Off My Back
8) Time Was
9) Do Not Enter
10) Shake It and Break It
11) Nebulosity / Rollin’ & Tumblin’ / Five Owls
Disc Two
1) Alan’s Intro
2) My Time Ain’t Long
3) Skat
4) London Blues
5) Poor Moon
6) Pulling Hair Blues
7) Mean Old World
8) Human Condition
9) Childhood’s End
For more information, visit www.severnrecords.com and www.cannedheatmusic.com.
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Thanks to Bob Merlis...
ABKCO RECORDS RELEASES ERIC BURDON’S
‘TIL YOUR RIVER RUNS DRY
BURDON'S NEW ALBUM COINCIDES WITH
50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ANIMALS
New York - Eric Burdon has completed his most personal album to date, titled 'Til Your River Runs Dry, is out now on CD, vinyl and digitally by ABKCO Records. “Water” is the debut single. A member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and hailed by Rolling Stone Magazine as one of the “100 Greatest Singers of All Time,” Burdon has long forged new ground while maintaining a commanding presence in music -- as front man of The Animals, with WAR at its inception and, simply, as Eric Burdon.
'Til Your River Runs Dry is a collection of 12 songs, most of which were written by Eric. The album's title reflects Eric's lifelong passion to “express his own truth.” The result is a deeply intimate, honest self-portrait, as well as an unsparing look, through his eyes, at religion, politics and the environment.
Many of the song titles reflect Eric’s continuing concerns, addressing the topics that he finds most urgent, intriguing and important.
Track listing:
1) Water
2) Memorial Day
3) Devil And Jesus
4) Wait
5) Old Habits Die Hard
6) Bo Diddley Special
7) In The Ground
8) 27 Forever
9) River Is Rising
10) Medicine Man
11) Invitation To The White House
12) Before You Accuse Me
Produced by Eric Burdon and Tony Braunagel, the new album was recorded at Playback Studios in Santa Barbara, at Ultratone Recording in Studio City (where Eric recorded his last two albums, My Secret Life and Soul of a Man), and in New Orleans, where Eric feels most closely connected to his original, musical roots.'Til Your River Runs Dry was mixed by Ed Cherney and mastered by Doug Sax and Eric Boulanger at The Mastering Lab in Ojai, California.
Also on Eric Burdon’s musical agenda this year is a special collection celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Animals. This exciting package will pay tribute to one of the British Invasion’s most groundbreaking bands whose soulful ferocity resonates to this day. It will be released by ABKCO Records later this year.
Aside from his musical endeavors, Eric is also working on a memoir, a follow-up to his first two autobiographies, I Used to Be An Animal, But I'm Alright Now and Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood. Having just signed with Paquin Entertainment Group for booking, Eric has already hit the ground running in 2013. He will be performing near you in the coming months. Following back surgery last summer, Eric is feeling rested, recharged and ready to rock and is excited to get out on the road and share his new music with his fans.
Eric is also looking forward to returning to SXSW in 2013 for an official performance and speaking engagement. Last year’s SXSW included some surprising, though very well-deserved, kudos for Eric from none other than Bruce Springsteen. The Boss offered “props” during his keynote address, characterizing The Animals’ “We Gotta Get Out of This Place," as "Every song I've ever written... 'Born to Run,' 'Born in the USA,' everything I've done for the past 40 years, including all the new ones." Just a few hours after Springsteen’s 'confession,' he and Burdon joined forces for an electrifying duet on "We Gotta Get Out of This Place.”
SHOWS & APPEARANCES
Sat. March 9 Jamboree @ the Beach/HRC Biloxi, M
Wed.–Tues. March 13-19 SXSW Austin, TX
Sun. April 21 Sycuan Casino LIve Up & Close El Cajon, CA
Watch the Promo Video:
http://youtu.be/wdsUz5jFezo
Visit Eric online at:
www.facebook.com/OfficialEricBurdon
RECORD STORE DAY UNVEILS OFFICIAL RSD 2013 POSTER
BEGGING THE QUESTION “ARE YOU EXPERIENCED?”
Record Store Day, now in its 6th year as an event in support of the independent record community worldwide, named Jack White as its official ambassador last week. Now the event has also announced the unveiling of its Official Poster for 2013.
The poster (see above) was made from a photo of Jimi Hendrix that was shot in a small record store in New England by Ira Rosen right before the release of Are You Experienced. Jimi was a fan of record stores and spent the morning shopping for some of the latest releases at the time.
Of Record Store Day’s usage of the image for their official poster, Jimi’s sister, Janie Hendrix says, "It's entirely appropriate that an image of Jimi Hendrix is on the official Record Store Day poster. He was an avid music fan and record collector himself and, of course, his recordings are among the most enduring and cherished of all time. Jimi's musical legacy and influence grow with every passing year so, in a sense, he makes Record Store Day last much, much longer than 24 hours."
Only 5,000 copies of the poster will be made. The image is a 24” x 36” poster printed on heavy paper and will be gratis to Hendrix fans at fully participating record stores in the United States. Fans should contact their local store the week of Record Store Day for details.
Also, exclusively for Record Store Day 2013, Experience Hendrix will issue a limited edition individually numbered 7" vinyl single featuring the original mono mixes of "Hey Joe" b/w "Stone Free" which have been unavailable since their original 1966 release.
People, Hell and Angels, an essential new album premiering twelve previously unreleased studio recordings ('68 - '70) completed by Hendrix will be available at independent record stores starting on March 5, 2013.
Record Store Day is managed by the Department of Record Stores and is organized in partnership with the Alliance of Independent Media Stores (AIMS), the Coalition of Independent Music Stores (CIMS) and celebrates the culture of independent record stores by playing host to in-store events/performances, signings and special product releases on a global scale.
Record Store Day takes place annually on the third Saturday of April.
Record Store Day Sponsors:
ADA, Beck's, CALIF, Clarks Originals, Crosley Turntables, Disk Union, ERA, Furnace MFG, InGrooves/Fontana, NARM, RED, Redeye Distribution, Sony Music, Universal Music Distribution, Warner Bros. Records, WEA
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Thanks to Cary Baker for these fine releases....
MICHAEL NESMITH’S “NEZ SOLO” SPRING 2013 TOUR
TO CROSS U.S. MARCH 23–APRIL 17
In first U.S solo tour since 1992, Monkees and First National Band veteran
to perform songs from 50 years of writing and recording.
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA — Michael Nesmith will launch the month-long Nez Solo Spring 2013 Tour on March 21 outside of Nashville as Nez’s Solo Spring 2013 Tour prepares to take him to the metro areas of New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Denver, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C.
Nesmith’s kick-off show at the Franklin Theater sold out an hour after tickets were available.
Nez’s Solo Spring 2013 Tour followed an invitation from a British promoter/agent to play the British Isles last year. The solo tour sold out immediately after it was announced, causing American concert promoters to take notice and make offers for the Nez Solo Spring Tour.
“The songs I’ll play are a touch chronological and a touch thematic. I picked my favorites to play, the ones I have come to love over the years, and the ones that are most requested by fans of my solo work,” Nesmith says.
The focus of the show will be on his latter-day song writing and recordings, but Nesmith did select one song he wrote for the Monkees’ — “Papa Gene’s Blues” — as the opening of the concert. “I hope Monkees fans are not disappointed but my solo recorded music is extensive and the songs that were part of the Monkees era comprise only a tiny part of it.”
Fans of Nesmith’s ground-breaking First National Band and later work will find much to look forward to, including “Joanne,” “Silver Moon,” “Propinquity,” “Grand Ennui” and “Thanx for the Ride.” This last song will include specially programmed software so the original pedal steel solo by Red Rhodes plays along with Nesmith and the band as they play the song live. Also look for songs from the albums And the Hits Just Keep On Coming, Photon Wing and Infinite Rider, as well as Elephant Parts, Tropical Campfires, The Prison and Rays — approximately 90 to 100 minutes of live Nez music in all.
In the Nez Solo Spring Tour the songs will be presented with short introductions that include a cinematic setting. According to Nesmith, “The songs live in my mind like mini-movies— vignettes — that associate themselves with the emotions of the song. I want the audience to share that.”
Michael Nesmith tours may be few and far between, but he greatly enjoys the onstage connection. “I have found nothing like a live performance in any other expression of the arts,” he says. “When it is done right, it is a most joyful and happy event — like a good meal, a fine conversation or a lover’s kiss.”
“A word sung is worth a thousand pictures,” he concludes.
Nesmith is a musician, songwriter, actor, producer, novelist, businessman and philanthropist, well known for his start as the singing, wool-capped, Gretsch guitar-slinging co-star of the Monkees television series (1966-68).
His songs were recorded not only by the Monkees (“Papa Gene’s Blues,” “The Girl I Knew Somewhere,” “Mary, Mary,” and “Listen to the Band” among others) but also by Linda Ronstadt & the Stone Poneys (“Different Drum”), the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (“Some of Shelley’s Blues”) the Butterfield Blues Band and Run-DMC (“Mary Mary”).
He executive-produced the movies Repo Man (1984), Timerider, and Tapeheads and founded Pacific Arts, a record, film and video production house and book publisher. He was the first and only winner of the Grammy Award for Video of the Year for his 1981 long-form video Elephant Parts. He is also the inventor and founder of Videoranch3D, for which he holds a patent.
In addition to the regular concert tickets there will be a very limited number of tickets sold for after show receptions where Nesmith will sign autographs, talk with fans, and pose for pictures with them.
NEZ SOLO SPRING 2013 TOUR
Thurs., March 21 FRANKLIN, TN Franklin Theater – SOLD OUT
Sun., March 24 AGOURA HILLS, CA Canyon Club
Tues., March 26 SANTA CRUZ, CA Rio Theater
Wed., March 27 SAN FRANCISCO, CA Palace of Fine Arts
Fri., March 29 PORTLAND, OR Aladdin Theater
Sat., March 30 SEATTLE, WA Neptune Theater
Wed., April 3 BOULDER, CO Boulder Theater
Fri., April 5 ST. PAUL, MN Fitzgerald Theater (Sue McLean & Assoc.?)
Sat., April 6 CHICAGO, IL Old Town School of Folk Music – SOLD OUT
Sun., April 7 FERNDALE, MI The Magic Bag - SOLD OUT
Tues., April 9 MUNHALL, PA Carnegie Music Hall of Holmstead
Thurs., April 11 NORTHAMPTON, MA Iron Horse - SOLD OUT
Fri., April 12 RAHWAY, NJ Union County Performing Arts Center
Sat., April 13 SOMERVILLE, MA Somerville Theater
Mon., April 15 PHILADELPHIA, PA World Café Live - SOLD OUT
Tues., April 16 NEW YORK, NY Town Hall
Wed., April 17 WASHINGTON, DC Birchmere
The Del-Lords are back! L-R: Frank Funaro, Scott Kempner, Eric Ambel, Michael DuClos.
THE ELVIS CLUB IS OPEN FOR BUSINESS AGAIN!
Fabled New York rockers the Del-Lords
return with their first new album in more than two decades
NEW YORK, N.Y. — ”We didn’t start with any agenda, other than to make a great record,” Scott Kempner says of the Del-Lords’ unexpected return to action following a two-decade layoff, which has yielded Elvis Club, the band’s first new album since 1990. The album is set for release on May 14, 2013 on GB Music through RED Distribution.
Elvis Club finds the New York-bred foursome pretty much picking up where they left off, embodying the same musical swagger and true-believer passion that originally made them one of America’s most compelling rock ’n’ roll bands, while adding a new sense of experience and perspective that lends new depth to Kempner’s personally-charged songwriting and the band’s infectiously gritty urban garage-roots-rock.
In their original 1982-1990 lifespan, the Del-Lords helped to restore fans’ faith in real rock ’n’ roll at a time when real rock ’n’ roll was in short supply. Over the course of four studio albums and countless sweat-soaked club sets, the band won widespread critical raves and earned the devotion of a large and loyal fan base around the world.
Now, with singer-guitarist Kempner and fellow founding members Eric Ambel (guitar and vocals) and Frank Funaro (drums) joined by new bassist Michael DuClos, Elvis Club ups the ante with such indelible new Kempner compositions as “When the Drugs Kick In,” “All of My Life,” “Chicks, Man!” and “Letter (Unmailed).” Ambel, who in the ’90s and ’00s built up his frontman credentials as leader of Roscoe’s Gang and member of roots-rock all-stars the Yayhoos, steps up to the mike to deliver persuasive lead vocals on a trio of tunes: “Me and the Lord Blues,” “Flying” and Neil Young’s “Southern Pacific.”
“Elvis Club confirms to me what I always felt the band could do,” says Ambel. “To me, it’s a different kind of record for us, in that there isn’t so much of a theme to it as a feel, a real band feel. I didn’t really think of it as unfinished business; it was more like ‘Here’s what we can do now.”
Kempner (who’d first made his mark as “Top Ten” of ’70s punk pioneers the Dictators), Ambel (a founding member of Joan Jett’s Blackhearts) and Funaro, along with original bassist Manny Caiati, first joined forces in the early ’80s to help breathe life into downtown Manhattan’s temporarily moribund live music scene, quickly winning local renown for the uncompromising intensity of their live sets. Between 1984 and 1990, the band released four studio albums — Frontier Days, Johnny Comes Marching Home, Based on a True Story,Lovers Who Wander — which documented the evolution of Kempner’s provocative songwriting and the band’s tightly wound instrumental rapport.
In the years since the Del-Lords hung up their spurs, the band’s members have trod notable individual paths. Kempner emerged as an acclaimed solo artist with a pair of acclaimed solo albums, Tenement Angels and Saving Grace, played reunion gigs with the Dictators, and collaborated extensively with first-generation rock ’n’ roll legend and fellow Bronx native Dion (who co-wrote the poignant Elvis Club track “Everyday” with Kempner). Ambel accumulated extensive credentials as a solo artist and member of the Yayhoos, as well as hired-gun guitar hero (for Steve Earle, among others), producer (for the Bottle Rockets, Nils Lofgren and countless others) and proprietor of the now-legendary East Village nightspot the Lakeside Lounge. Funaro continued to ply his percussive trade with Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven, and joined forces with Kempner and Dion in the short-lived but fondly-remembered Little Kings. Meanwhile, the Del-Lords’ reputation continued to expand in the band’s absence, retaining a place in the hearts of longtime fans while resonating with new generations of listeners.
The band’s reunion came about unexpectedly, after a Spanish promoter/superfan’s offer to book a Del-Lords tour prompted the original quartet to reform for a string of live dates in Spain, as well as some low-key gigs at the Lakeside Lounge, for which the band was pseudonymously billed as “Elvis Club.” Deciding that it would be nice to have some new material to play on stage, they worked up some new tunes, which they recorded for the limited-edition tour EP Under Construction. The musical results stoked the musicians’ interest in continuing their rekindled collaboration on a longer-term basis. Although founding bassist Manny Caiati, now a family-law attorney working with at-risk children, was unable to continue his participation after the Spanish tour due to his other commitments, Kempner, Ambel and Funaro decided to forge ahead with an album of new material.
The making of Elvis Club — whose title is a reference to a favorite anecdote from the band’s early days, in which a passing prostitute bestowed the eponymous sobriquet upon the then-pompadoured combo — was a substantially different experience from the band’s prior recording projects. With Ambel producing the band for the first time, and the sessions taking place at his Brooklyn studio Cowboy Technical Services, the band was able to record on its own terms and in its own time.
“That was a big departure from every record we’ve made in the past,” Ambel observes. “Playing with the guys felt effortless and natural, and it was fantastic to build this thing ourselves, from the ground up. We made the record we wanted to make, based on our own enjoyment. That’s as good as it gets for me.”
“Working with Eric as producer really opened up the musical palette,” Kempner notes. “He was never at a loss for ideas, and he’s quickly inside the music and hears everything from all angles. He can take ideas, including my own, digest the intent, and more often than not, come up with a tweaked version of the idea that’s better than the one suggested. He also knows his way around the lunch options in the neighborhood, which is a crucial contribution, and has the best coffee of any studio I’ve ever worked in.
“On top of that,” Kempner continues, “Eric’s playing has really expanded. Other than ‘Everyday,’ he plays all the leads on the record. That in itself was a big sea change for us, but he kept coming up with ideas and I loved every one of them. The same was true with Frank; his playing has grown tall and strong, and busted a hole in our ceiling.”
With no permanent fourth member at the time, the band began cutting tracks for Elvis Club with some notable guest bassists, namely ex-Suicide Commandos/Beat Rodeo vet Steve Almaas, Ambel’s Yayhoos bandmate Keith Christopher, and Ron Sexsmith/Ani DiFranco sideman Jason Mercer. Eventually, it became clear that Michael “Duke” DuClos, who came on board in the latter stages of recording, was the man for the job.
“He just fit in instantly,” Kempner says of DuClos, a seasoned vet whose extensive resume includes a stint playing alongside Funaro in Cracker. “A great guy, a great player, a total wise-ass, and the only man to have played with both Pete Townshend and Buddy Hackett!”
Now operating on their own terms and free from the music-biz politics that ruled artists’ lives back in the day, the Del-Lords — older, wiser and more determined than ever — are now back to finish what they started.
“We’re just going to get out there and take it to the people, as they say,” Kempner asserts, adding, “We’re doing this now for no other reason other than that we all want to, and that alone is a huge change. Back in the ’80s, everything in our lives depended on it, and with that came a lot of pressure. But now, we have no obligations, and we’re no longer on the hamster wheel of record/tour/record/tour etc. The future is wide open at this point. We will just keep pushing on, with no due dates and no deadlines, just making it up as we go along.
“I always knew how lucky I was to have a band this good that related to my songs, and this time that feeling was more pronounced than ever,” Kempner concludes. “Now I can take a step back and just marvel at how great Eric and Frank, and now Duke, are. They are good enough to play with absolutely anyone, but they’re still happy to play my songs. That really is an honor. But don’t tell them that, because they’ll want more money.”
Del-Lords web site:
http://del-lords.com/
Del-Lords OMK. Sample the new music and feel free to post online:
http://youtu.be/JWvZtO_LktE
ALBERT KING’S LATE ’60s BORN UNDER A BAD SIGN
ALBUM ON STAX RECORDS REISSUED APRIL 5
WITH PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED BONUS TRACKS
Release teems with King’s best-known songs:
“Born Under a Bad Sign,” “Crosscut Saw,”
“Oh, Pretty Woman” and “Laundromat Blues.”
Steve Cropper, Booker T. & the MGs, the Memphis Horns
and Stax’s songwriters help make it an all-time blues classic.
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Any list of seminal 1960s electric blues albums is incomplete withoutAlbert King’s Born Under a Bad Sign positioned near the top. The Indianola, Mississippi-born “King of the Blues Guitar,” who cut his professional teeth as a resident of the St. Louis suburb of Lovejoy, Ill., cemented his legacy with his Stax Records debut album. While he’d recorded for labels like Vee-Jay, Parrot and Bobbin, it was his chemistry with the Stax team — label executives Al Bell, Jim Stewart and Estelle Axton, songwriters Booker T. Jones and William Bell, and backing from Booker T. & the MGs and the Memphis Horns — that put King on the blues map.
The Stax Remasters deluxe edition of Born Under a Bad Sign will be released by Stax Records, a unit of Concord Music Group, on April 2, 2013. Music historian Bill Dahl wrote the new set of liner notes.
King was influenced by pre-World War II bluesmen Lonnie Johnson and Blind Lemon Jefferson, and post-war artists T-Bone Walker and Howlin’ Wolf. He came to Stax by way of Al Bell, a Little Rock native who’d met King when he played shows in the area. King’s first Stax recording was “Laundromat Blues,” included on this album, backed by Booker T. Jones on piano; Duck Dunn, bass; and Al Jackson, Jr., drums; plus the Memphis Horns (Wayne Jackson and Andrew Love) and Raymond Hill (sax player on Jackie Brenston’s “Rocket 88”). The song had come by way of an unsolicited songwriting demo that Stax co-founder Estelle Axton correctly believed could be a hit for King.
“Crosscut Saw” is one of King’s best-known recordings as yet dated back to 1941 when Delta bluesman Tommy McClennan recorded it for Bluebird, and Willie Sanders & the Binghamton Boys cut it in ’63. A.C. “Moohah” Williams, a veteran DJ at Memphis R&B station WDIA-AM, brought it to King’s attention.
Booker T. Jones and Stax soul singer William Bell came up with the thundering bass riff that defined the title track “Born Under a Bad Sign.” The song notched #49 on the R&B chart in 1967, and was covered in short order by Cream on its 1968 Wheels of Fire album. Soon King himself was playing venues like the Fillmore Auditorium to young white rock audiences.
Another one of the signature tracks, “Oh, Pretty Woman,” written by WDIA DJ Williams, required the steady presence of Steve Cropper’s rhythm guitar to augment King’s lead licks. King received songwriting help from David Porter, on leave from his usual collaboration with Isaac Hayes, on “Personal Manager,” which was the B-side of the title track single.
Born Under a Bad Sign was also notable for its selection of covers. King gave the Jerry Leiber/Mike Stoller R&B standard “Kansas City” an urban blues treatment. He’s right at home with Fenton Robinson’s “As the Years Go Passing By.” Ivory Joe Hunter’s “I Almost Lost My Mind” is a rare King ballad with countrypolitan overtones and jazz flute, an unlikely showcase for his rich baritone.
For this special reissue Stax Records has reached into its vaults to provide previously unissued bonus tracks in the form of alternate takes of “Born Under a Bad Sign,” “Crosscut Saw,” “The Hunter,” “Personal Manager” and an untitled, never-before-released instrumental.
According to annotator Dahl, “Thanks to Born Under a Bad Sign, Albert King became a full-fledged blues luminary, masterfully bridging the gap between the Chitlin’ Circuit and the rock arena. He would make more great Stax albums, but he’d never top this one.”
Albert King will be posthumously inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on April 18, 2013.
LONELY & BLUE: THE DEEPEST SOUL OF OTIS REDDING,
DUE OUT MARCH 5 ON STAX RECORDS,
COLLECTS SOUL LEGEND’S POIGNANT BALLADS
Available on CD and blue vinyl, packaging evokes the look and feel
of a late ’60s Stax/Volt album
that Redding might have released at the height of his career
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Otis Redding’s Lonely & Blue: The Deepest Soul of Otis Redding could pass for a title Stax/Volt might have released in the late ’60s. The look of the album reflects Stax’s design themes of the era. But in fact it’s a collection that never existed, until now, that homes in on one mood and one theme —heartbreaking, yearning ballads — of which Redding had many. The album will be released as a CD and blue vinyl LP on March 5, 2013 on Stax Records through Concord Music Group.
Lonely & Blue: The Deepest Soul of Otis Redding contains the hits (“I’ve Been Loving You Too Long,” “These Arms of Mine,” “My Lover’s Prayer,” “Free Me”) alongside many lesser-known songs (“Gone Again,” “Open the Door,” “Waste of Time,” “Everybody Makes a Mistake,” to name a few). They’re all included in this compilation because they share the tangled theme of sorrow.
According to compilation producer David Gorman, “Given how nobody delivered a gut-wrenching sad song like Otis, I always felt he should have made an album you could put on late at night and settle into with a glass of something strong. The mood and the subject of every song is the same — Otis, heartbroken, and begging for love. I tried to find the saddest most potently heartbreaking songs he ever sang, with no regard for chart position or notoriety. There are a few hits on the album, but they’re there because they fit the mood, not because we wanted to include the hits.”
For instance, an alternate version of “I’ve Got Dreams To Remember” features lyrics that are darker and tell a more personal story than the better-known hit version. Little-known tracks like “Gone Again” and “A Waste of Time” are given the same weight as “I’ve Been Loving You too Long.” The motif of love is even subtly addressed in the sequencing, the album closing with “Send Me Some Lovin’” and “My Lover’s Prayer.”
The concept of Lonely & Blue: The Deepest Soul of Otis Redding plays out in the packaging as well, which was intentionally designed by Gorman to look as if Redding actually did put this album out at the height of his career. The typography, color palette, and layout are all meant to adhere to the Stax/Volt LP designs of the time. This extends to the liner notes, which are written in the present tense and credited to a fictitious DJ so that they read as if they were written while Redding was alive at his peak.
“The goal,” explains Gorman, “was to create the best album Otis never made and ‘reissue’ it in 2013 rather than do another hits compilation. We hope this album will reframe him as something more than an oldies radio staple and become his Night Beat (a classic 1963 Sam Cooke LP) — the album that exists as a starting point for people wondering why so many consider Otis Redding the greatest soul singer of all time.”
Track Listing:
1. I Love You More Than Words Can Say
2. Gone Again
3. Free Me
4. Open the Door [Skeleton Key Version]
5. A Waste of Time
6. These Arms of Mine
7. I’ve Been Loving You Too Long (To Stop Now)
8. Everybody Makes a Mistake
9. Little Ol’ Me
10. I’ve Got Dreams to Remember [Rougher Dreams]
11. Send Me Some Lovin’
12. My Lover’s Prayer
http://www.otisredding.com
GENE CLARK’S HERE TONIGHT: THE WHITE LIGHT DEMOS
COMING FROM OMNIVORE RECORDINGS ON MARCH 26
In 1970 former Byrds singer and songwriter moved to Northern California to escape Los Angeles. There he found inspiration for the songs that became his first solo album of the ’70s, White Light.
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — By 1970, weary and wary of the fame game in Los Angeles with the trappings of “the star-maker machinery” surrounding him at every turn, ex-Byrds songwriter and singer Gene Clark was looking for a refuge. On March 26, 2013, Omnivore Recordings will release Clark’s Here Tonight: The White Light Demos, a glimpse into the songwriting craft of Clark at the inception of the compositions that would become his first ’70s solo album, White Light, for A&M Records, released in August of 1971.
Of the tracks on this 12-song album, six (“White Light,” “For a Spanish Guitar,” “Where My Love Lies Asleep,” “The Virgin” “Because of You” and “With Tomorrow”) appeared in final form on White Light. Two (“Opening Day” and “Winter”) appeared in final form as bonus tracks on the 2002 A&M/Universal reissue of the album. One track (”Here Tonight”) is an alternate version of a song that appeared on the Flying Burrito Brothers compilation Honky Tonk Heroes.[J1] <#_msocom_1> And three songs (“For No One,” “Please Mr. Freud” and “Jimmy Christ”) have never been issued previously in any form. Liner notes are by John Einarson, author of Mr. Tambourine Man: The Life and Legacy of Gene Clark (Backbeat Books, 2005). The collection is being reissued with the full cooperation of the estate of Gene Clark.
Precipitating Clark’s move to a secluded life in Northern California, events of the prior four years had elevated the reclusive Kansas-raised boy to the top of the rock ’n’ roll pantheon. The Byrds had topped the charts with their 1965 debut single, “Mr. Tambourine Man” and followed it with a string of folk- and country-influenced songs, many of them from Clark’s own pen. With a little help from Bob Dylan, the Byrds gave rock a literary sensibility. In his own songwriting, Clark had come to embrace the Dylan style of oblique lyric poetry and accrued considerable attention for his songs, to the chagrin of his band mates. Fissures in the band hierarchy ensued.
With his sudden departure from the Byrds in 1966, Clark withdrew from the public eye. His attempt at a solo career later that year was hampered by a reluctance to tour or fly (earning him the title of “the Byrd who wouldn’t fly”). Teaming up with banjo demon Doug Dillard in 1968, the Fantastic Expedition of Dillard & Clark recorded two trail-blazing country-rock bluegrass band [J2] <#_msocom_2> around Gene’s well-crafted songs. By early 1970, he left the band, left L.A. for the open spaces of Little River, Calif., near Mendocino, accompanied by his girlfriend Carlie McCummings. The two were equally captivated by the tiny seaside community and were married in June of that year.
Away from the pressure of the music business and inspired by the pastoral beauty of the area, Clark began to write songs that took on a reflective, introspective direction. His songs became more folky and stripped down as Clark swore he’d never again play electric guitar. “There was no deadline,” says McCumming. “He wasn’t under any pressure. And as a result, the songs just flowed out of him. The lyrics were so pure. They don’t come out of any manufactured experience.” Clark also began exploring the nature of spirituality and the human condition in his lyrics, inspired by friend Philip O’Leno. At the end of the Dillard & Clark partnership, Gene owed A&M Records two additional albums. Company co-founder Jerry Moss himself paid Gene a visit in Little River and managed to entice him and Carlie back to L.A. to record. Jesse Ed Davis, with whom Gene had struck up a friendship during the Dillard & Clark sessions, was enlisted to produce.
Clark first recorded the songs meant for the White Light album in demo form on acoustic guitar. It’s these demos, lost for decades and recently discovered, that comprise Here Tonight: The White Light Demos with the songs presented as Clark had originally conceived them in his Mendocino Coast cabin. “His voice was absolutely perfect at that point,” notes Carlie. Included are songs that would later appear on the A&M debut, as well as several that failed to make the cut. Jesse Ed Davis maintained much of the simplicity and honesty of the demos in producing the finished album. Rolling Stone drew comparisons to Clark’s mentor Bob Dylan. It was voted “album of the year” in the Netherlands, whereupon Clark boarded a rare airplane to tour internationally.
Sadly sales were slim. Clark returned to Northern California to write the next album at his own pace. Eventually he returned to L.A. to sustain his career. The rigors of the road eventually tore his marriage apart, leading to a tailspin of alcohol, drugs and death in 1991. He was 46.
As biographer and reissue annotator John Einarson writes, “In the intervening decades, the songs Gene Clark wrote and demoed for White Light, offered here, stand as a deeply personal statement to an enduring talent at peace with himself, his surroundings and his life choices.”
About Omnivore Recordings:
Founded in 2010 by longtime, highly respected industry veterans Cheryl Pawelski, Greg Allen, Dutch Cramblitt, and Brad Rosenberger, Omnivore Recordings preserves the legacies and music created by historical, heritage, and catalog artists while also releasing previously unissued, newly found “lost” recordings and making them available for music-loving audiences to discover. Omnivore Recordings is distributed by EMI.
SKYDOG: THE DUANE ALLMAN RETROSPECTIVE
CHRONICLES GROUNDBREAKING GUITARIST’S CAREER,
FROM GARAGE BANDS AND R&B SESSION WORK
TO THE ALLMAN BROTHERS AND DEREK & THE DOMINOS
Seven CD set, due out March 5 on Rounder Records,
includes rare recordings by Allman’s early bands:
the Escorts, Allman Joys, the 31st of February, and the Bleus.
Extensive liner notes are accompanied by a tribute from Allman’s daughter.
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Even if he’d never formed the Allman Brothers Band, Duane Allman would be a major figure in American popular music. Long before his name became known to mainstream audiences, he had already established his credentials as a once-in-a-lifetime guitar visionary, leaving his unmistakable stamp on a broad array of recordings. On March 5, 2013, Rounder Records, a division of Concord Music Group, will release the most ambitious retrospective of Allman’s short but influential career titledSkydog: The Duane Allman Retrospective.
The deluxe seven-disc collection, carrying a list price of $139.98, contains the guitarist’s best-known and most commercially successful recordings with the Allman Brothers Band and Derek & the Dominos, as well as session work with Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, Boz Scaggs, Clarence Carter, King Curtis, Delaney & Bonnie & Friends, Ronnie Hawkins, Otis Rush, Laura Nyro, Lulu, the Sweet Inspirations, Laura Lee, Spencer Wiggins, Arthur Conley, Willie Walker, the Lovelles, the Soul Survivors, Johnny Jenkins, John Hammond, Doris Duke, Eric Quincy Tate, Herbie Mann and more.
The set was produced by Galadrielle Allman (Duane’s daughter) and two-time Grammy® winning producer Bill Levenson. Rounder Records’ Scott Billington served as executive producer. Scott Schinder contributed comprehensive historical liner notes, complemented by additional notes by Galadrielle Allman.
In her recollection of her father, who died when she was a young child, Galadrielle writes, “I am very lucky that my father is Duane Allman, an artist who left behind a wealth of incredible music . . . Working on this retrospective, I have gotten closer than I ever have been to understanding my father’s development as a musician and a man.”
Duane Allman, known to his bandmates as Skydog, was born in Nashville in 1946. With Gregg, his only sibling, Duane had his first moment of musical revelation upon witnessing a late ’50s R&B bill that featured B.B. King and Jackie Wilson. By 1960, both Duane and Gregg owned guitars and played in a series of neighborhood garage bands in Tennessee and Florida. Continuing their interest in blues and R&B in the shadow of blues radio station WLAC-AM’s continent-spanning signal, as well as absorbing the influence of the British Invasion, the brothers launched the Escorts in 1965 and the Allman Joys, who recorded a handful of sides in Bradley’s Barn in Nashville in 1966. By 1967, Duane and Gregg signed to Liberty as the Hour Glass and recorded two albums in Nashville and Los Angeles. When the band sought to defy the label and spread its musical wings, they were dropped. The brothers returned to Florida, hooked up with drummer Butch Trucks, and recorded two sides as the 31st of February, and later at Ardent Studio in Memphis as the Bleus.
By this time Duane had developed a reputation as a leading session guitarist. He was on Fame Studio’s A list, his guitar licks coloring hits by Wilson Pickett. Atlantic Records producer and executive Jerry Wexler took note and hired him to perform on Atlantic sessions by King Curtis, Otis Rush, Arthur Conley, the Soul Survivors and Sweet Inspirations. Wexler signed him to a solo Atlantic deal, resulting in a session that contained the raucous original “Happily Married Man” and more. The session, contained on theSkydog set, was abandoned mid-stream. But by then Capricorn Records’ Phil Walden had noticed the rumblings from Muscle Shoals. Duane gathered up brother Gregg, Dickey Betts, Berry Oakley, Butch Trucks, Jai Johanny Johanson and others and the Allman Brothers Band was born.
According to reissue annotator Schinder, “The [Allman Brothers Band’s] music was complex and adventurous, yet unfailingly accessible. The subtle and harmonic interplay between Duane and Dickey’s dual lead guitars was matched by the three-man rhythm section’s surging, swinging cross-rhythms, with Gregg’s massively expressive singing and organ playing keeping the music firmly grounded in human emotion.” The band’s profile grew with each release — the self-titled debut, Idlewild South and eventually the band’s breakthrough, At Fillmore East.
Testament to his energy and ambition, Duane still found time for side projects. When bandmates would hole up at home after tours, Duane joined fellow world-class guitarist Eric Clapton on Derek & the Dominos’ Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs. While not an official member, he quickly emerged as a major contributor to the classic album, his twin guitar interplay with Clapton shaping the hits “Layla” and “Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad.” He also worked with Delaney & Bonnie & Friends and Laura Nyro between Allman Brothers Band projects.
By then acknowledged as one of rock’s premier guitarists, Duane and the Allman Brothers Band began recording their follow-up to At Fillmore East — Eat a Peach. Tom Dowd, another legendary Atlantic house producer, oversaw sessions at Criteria Studios. Then on October 29, 1971, four days after Fillmore had been certified gold, Duane was riding his motorcycle and swerved to avoid hitting a truck. He crashed and died of internal injuries. He was 24 years old.
The band forged ahead as a quintet on Eat a Peach, which became one of their best selling albums. The Allman Brothers, led by Gregg Allman and Butch Trucks, continue to perform to this day.
Schinder notes, “More than four decades after his death, Duane Allman remains a towering figure whose stature has only increased in his absence. His influence lives on, not only in the multiple generations of guitarists who have been motivated by his input, but also in the legions of listeners who have continued to find inspiration in his vibrant vision of American music, which remains as fresh and truthful today as when it was created.”
“When a musician of my father’s caliber dies, every note he ever recorded becomes even more precious,” writes Galadrielle. “Each song is pressed into the service of telling his story. The longer Duane is gone, the clearer it becomes that there will never be another like him.”
Over seven discs, Skydog tells the Duane Allman story with rare and never-before-heard gems alongside smash hits.
“I hope the celebration of Duane’s life inspires you to live fearlessly and enjoy life,” Galadrielle concludes. “I know that would have made him proud.”
Disc One
1 THE ESCORTS Turn On Your Love Light 2:33
2 THE ESCORTS No Name Instrumental 3:13
3 THE ESCORTS What’d I Say 4:04
4 THE ALLMAN JOYS Spoonful 2:27
5 THE ALLMAN JOYS Gotta Get Away 2:38
6 THE ALLMAN JOYS Shapes Of Things 2:47
7 THE ALLMAN JOYS Crossroads 3:32
8 THE ALLMAN JOYS Mister, You’re A Better Man Than I 4:45
9 THE ALLMAN JOYS Lost Woman 5:23
10 HOUR GLASS Cast Off All My Fears 3:31
11 HOUR GLASS I’ve Been Trying 2:39
12 HOUR GLASS Nothing But Tears 2:29
13 HOUR GLASS Power Of Love 2:51
14 HOUR GLASS Down In Texas 3:08
15 HOUR GLASS Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) 3:01
16 HOUR GLASS B.B. King Medley 7:07
17 HOUR GLASS Been Gone Too Long 3:03
18 HOUR GLASS Ain’t No Good To Cry 3:08
19 31ST OF FEBRUARY Morning Dew 3:46
20 31ST OF FEBRUARY Melissa 3:12
21 THE BLEUS Milk And Honey 2:34
22 THE BLEUS Leavin’ Lisa 2:43
23 THE BLEUS Julianna’s Gone 2:59
Disc Two
1 CLARENCE CARTER The Road Of Love 2:54
2 CLARENCE CARTER Light My Fire 2:49
3 WILSON PICKETT Hey Jude 4:06
4 WILSON PICKETT Toe Hold 2:49
5 WILSON PICKETT My Own Style Of Loving 2:41
6 WILSON PICKETT Born to Be Wild 2:45
7 LAURA LEE It’s How You Make It Good 2:32
8 LAURA LEE It Ain’t What You Do (But How You Do It) 2:05
9 SPENCER WIGGINS I Never Loved A Woman (The Way I Love You) 3:01
10 ARTHUR CONLEY Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da 3:00
11 ARTHUR CONLEY Stuff You Gotta Watch 2:15
12 ARTHUR CONLEY Speak Her Name 2:39
13 ARTHUR CONLEY That Can't Be My Baby 2:22
14 WILLIE WALKER A Lucky Loser 2:20
15 THE LOVELLES I'm Coming Today 2:59
16 THE LOVELLES Pretending Dear 2:38
17 ARETHA FRANKLIN The Weight 2:53
18 ARETHA FRANKLIN It Ain't Fair 3:22
19 SOUL SURVIVORS Darkness 2:56
20 SOUL SURVIVORS Tell Daddy 2:30
21 SOUL SURVIVORS Got Down On Saturday 3:10
22 KING CURTIS Hey Joe 2:56
23 KING CURTIS Foot Pattin' 4:49
24 KING CURTIS Games People Play 2:46
25 KING CURTIS The Weight 2:47
26 THE SWEET INSPIRATIONS Get A Little Order 2:06
Disc Three
1 THE BARRY GOLDBERG BLUES BAND Twice A Man 4:26
2 DUANE ALLMAN Goin' Down Slow 8:44
3 DUANE ALLMAN No Money Down 3:25
4 DUANE ALLMAN Happily Married Man 2:40
5 OTIS RUSH Me 2:55
6 OTIS RUSH Reap What You Sow 4:53
7 OTIS RUSH It Takes Time 3:25
8 THE DUCK & THE BEAR Going Up The Country 2:34
9 THE DUCK & THE BEAR Hand Jive 2:41
10 BOZ SCAGGS Finding Her 4:10
11 BOZ SCAGGS Look What I Got 4:13
12 BOZ SCAGGS Waiting For A Train 2:41
13 BOZ SCAGGS Loan Me A Dime 13:01
14 THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND Don't Want You No More 2:26
15 THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND It's Not My Cross To Bear 5:01
16 THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND Black Hearted Woman 5:07
17 THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND Trouble No More 3:45
Disc Four
1 THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND Every Hungry Woman 4:13
2 THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND Dreams 7:16
3 THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND Whipping Post 5:16
4 RONNIE HAWKINS One More Night 2:22
5 RONNIE HAWKINS Will The Circle Be Unbroken 2:50
6 RONNIE HAWKINS Matchbox 3:05
7 RONNIE HAWKINS Down In The Alley 5:08
8 RONNIE HAWKINS Who Do You Love 2:13
9 LULU Marley Purt Drive 3:21
10 LULU Dirty Old Man 2:20
11 LULU Mr. Bojangles 3:08
12 LULU Sweep Around Your Own Back Door 2:40
13 JOHNNY JENKINS I Walk On Gilded Splinters 5:16
14 JOHNNY JENKINS Rollin’ Stone 4:56
15 JOHNNY JENKINS Down Along The Cove 3:02
16 JOHNNY JENKINS Voodoo In You 4:50
17 JOHN HAMMOND Shake For Me 2:42
18 JOHN HAMMOND Cryin’ For My Baby 2:39
19 JOHN HAMMOND I’m Leavin’ You 3:20
20 JOHN HAMMOND You’ll Be Mine 2:42
21 DORIS DUKE Ghost Of Myself 3:06
Disc Five
1 ERIC QUINCY TATE Comin’ Down (demo version) 2:52
2 THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND Hoochie Coochie Man (live) 5:00
3 THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND Midnight Rider 2:58
4 THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND Dimples (live) 4:59
5 THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND I'm Gonna Move To The Outskirts Of Town (live) 9:21
6 DELANEY & BONNIE & FRIENDS Soul Shake 3:06
7 LAURA NYRO Beads Of Sweat 4:47
8 THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND Don’t Keep Me Wonderin’ 3:28
9 DELANEY & BONNIE & FRIENDS Living On The Open Road 3:03
10 ELLA BROWN A Woman Left Lonely 3:23
11 ELLA BROWN Touch Me 2:59
12 BOBBY LANCE More Than Enough Rain 5:51
13 DEREK & THE DOMINOS I Am Yours 3:34
14 DEREK & THE DOMINOS Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad? 4:41
15 DEREK & THE DOMINOS Have You Ever Loved A Woman 6:52
16 DEREK & THE DOMINOS Layla 7:03
17 ERIC CLAPTON & DUANE ALLMAN Mean Old World 3:48
Disc Six
1 SAM SAMUDIO Me And Bobby McGee 3:31
2 SAM SAMUDIO Relativity 3:14
3 SAM SAMUDIO Goin' Upstairs 5:06
4 RONNIE HAWKINS Don't Tell Me Your Troubles 2:13
5 RONNIE HAWKINS Sick And Tired 2:45
6 RONNIE HAWKINS Odessa 3:19
7 DELANEY & BONNIE & FRIENDS Gift Of Love 2:09
8 DELANEY & BONNIE & FRIENDS Sing My Way Home 4:02
9 THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND Statesboro Blues (live) 4:17
10 THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed (live) 13:04
11 GRATEFUL DEAD Sugar Magnolia (live) 7:20
12 THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND One Way Out (live) 4:57
13 HERBIE MANN Push Push 10:03
14 HERBIE MANN Spirit In The Dark 7:59
15 HERBIE MANN What’d I Say 4:57
Disc Seven
1 DELANEY & BONNIE & FRIENDS Come On In My Kitchen (live) 3:42
2 DELANEY & BONNIE & FRIENDS Going Down The Road Feeling Bad (live) 4:03
3 DELANEY & BONNIE & FRIENDS Poor Elijah / Tribute To Johnson (Medley) (live) 4:54
4 THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND You Don't Love Me / Soul Serenade (live) 19:25
5 COWBOY Please Be With Me 3:41
6 THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND Stand Back 3:24
7 THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND Blue Sky 5:09
8 THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND Blue Sky (live) 11:24
9 THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND Dreams (live) 17:56
10 THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND Little Martha 2:07
STEVE FORBERT’S ACCLAIMED BREAKOUT ALBUMS,
ALIVE ON ARRIVAL AND JACKRABBIT SLIM,
REPACKAGED WITH BONUS TRACKS
AS 2-CD SET BY BLUE CORN MUSIC ON MARCH 26
The late ’70s New York years of this Mississippi-bred singer/songwriter
offer glimpse into the soul of renegade artist.
Reissue package contains liner notes by David Wild.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Among the Ramones’ blitzkrieg boppin’, the Talking Heads’ art-school New Wave and Blondie’s thrift-store garage pop at the now-legendary CBGB’s in the late ’70s, Steve Forbert stood tall as the lone troubadour. But it didn’t matter to him. “I never thought about it being strange to play there,” he recently confided from Nashville, his current home base. “I just figured they had live entertainment. I had done other auditions I didn’t get hired for, so what I did have to lose?”
Forbert left Meridian, Mississippi — down state from Elvis Presley’s Tupelo homeland — for New York City in June of 1976 to play music. “A lot was happening in New York at the time,” he recalls. “Even in Mississippi, we were able to acquire Patti Smith’s Horses and the Ramones were out — that was all very exciting.” He busked in the subway and Grand Central Station. “I was going anywhere there was a rumor of an open mic,” with Folk City’s hoot nights being the open mic crown jewel. “It was like being a kid in a candy store,” he remembers. “I made a lot of friends. I could learn a lot from people who were good, and I could learn a lot from people who were bad.”
He certainly learned how to craft a good song, as his career-launching first two albums — the aptly titled debut Alive on Arrival and its follow-up Jackrabbit Slim — well demonstrate. On March 26, Blue Corn Music is releasing those albums as a two-disc set (complete with a dozen rare bonus tracks), providing a fresh opportunity to appreciate the Southern grace and youthful energy, the honeysuckle innocence and gravel-road grit that Forbert effortlessly imbued into songs like “Goin” Down to Laurel,” “What Kinda Guy,” “Say Goodbye to Little Jo,” “Complications” and his breakthrough hit “Romeo’s Tune.”
Rolling Stone contributing editor David Wild, in his liner notes, figures that Forbert made “one of music’s greatest entrances ever, arriving fully formed as an extraordinary singer-songwriter — a subtle troubadour for his times, and for all time too. Now or then, you would be hard-pressed to find a debut effort that was simultaneously as fresh and accomplished as Alive on Arrival . . . it was like a great first novel by a young author who somehow managed to split the difference between Mark Twain and J.D. Salinger.”
Critics were heaping praise on an unsigned Forbert when he was playing clubs like CBGB’s and Kenny’s Castaways. In 1977, the New York Times’ John Rockwell created a buzz when he wrote, “What makes him remarkable is that he’s good already, when he’s still growing. And at his frequent best, he’s already a star.”
As many labels quickly became interested, Forbert worried about being manipulated into someone that he wasn’t — turned into to a Johnny Cougar, in his words. He wound up signing with Nemperor Records because he trusted its founder, Nat Weiss. “I just felt if Nat said something it would be true and he would let me pick my producer.” Forbert remains friends with Weiss to this day.
Forbert selected studio veteran Steve Burgh to produce after being impressed by an album Burgh handed him one night in a club. Not wanting to sound overproduced, the artist refused to have overdubs or reverb on Alive. However, after Bonnie Raitt said that she liked the album but it needed some reverb, the admittedly stubborn Forbert acquiesced. “I owe some thanks to Bonnie Raitt,” he confessed. “Bonnie set me straight on that.”
He owes Barbra Streisand a debt of thanks too. He had chosen Joe Wissert to produce his second album but Wissert got hired to work on a Streisand album just before Forbert’s Nashville sessions were to begin. Fortunately, late-minute replacement John Simon (The Band, Simon & Garfunkel) proved to be “fantastic,” according to Forbert. He credits Simon pushing for a third recording session in order to get “Romeo’s Tune” right. While the song stands as his greatest hit and best known number (Keith Urban covered it a few years back), Jackrabbit Slim offers more than just “Romeo’s Tune.” In his liner notes, Wild notes that the album, with its many memorable tunes, beat “the sophomore jinx and then some,” showing “great artistic growth” and featuring “songs that are among Forbert’s most enduring.”
Since the double-barrel blast of Alive on Arrival and Jackrabbit Slim, Forbert has continued creating more albums “full of focused, intelligent and sharp songs” (as critic Steve Pick recently wrote in Blurt), including his Grammy-nominated Jimmie Rodgers tribute Any Old Time. Last year’s Over With You accumulated more accolades, with All Music Guide’s Steve Leggett calling Forbert “a wonderful songwriter with a clear and sharply observed vision,” and American Songwriter’s Hal Horowitz describing the CD as “all lovely, melancholy, lyrically moving and beautifully performed.”
The songs on Alive on Arrival and Jackrabbit Slim, with their special blend of folk, rock and soul, form the foundation of Forbert’s music and remain a vital part of his live performances. “I do still enjoy playing these songs,” he says. “There’s nothing wrong with starting out a show with “Thinkin” and nothing weird about singing ‘Everybody here seems to like to laugh’ [the opening lines of “Going Down To Laurel”].” He finds it gratifying that these songs have stood the test of time and have touched so many people. “A lot of people who discovered Alive on Arrival took it real personally and that has really been a great thing.” Among those Alive acolytes is David Wild, who states in the liner notes that “one of the many things that make this life so much more beautiful than strange is truly great music and that is assuredly what Steve Forbert has given us right from his arrival until today.”
The artist sums up his first two albums this way: “I try to make music that has lasting power all the time but those two were the right people at the right time and right place . . . Had it been two years later it might not have happened (or) two years earlier, it might have been different. Those two records — I am proud of them.”
WILLIE NILE’S AMERICAN RIDE MOVES INTO HIGH GEAR
New fan-financed album by veteran rocker
and “songwriter’s songwriter”
coming on April 30 — with or without a label!
NEW YORK, N.Y. — When Willie Nile recently sought help in underwriting his new albumAmerican Ride — out on April 30, 2013 on his own River House Records — with a fundraising campaign on pledgemusic.com, his fans turned out in huge numbers, reaching his goal amount in a mere four days and ultimately exceeding it.
Anyone who’s familiar with the New York-bred singer-songwriter’s large and impressive body of work will have no trouble understanding why he commands such devotion and loyalty from his fan base. And anyone who’s paid attention to his recent output knows that Nile is currently in the midst of a creative renaissance that’s produced some of the most compelling music he’s ever made.
The timeless qualities of melodic craft, lyrical insight and emotional engagement that have endeared Nile to listeners around the world are prominent on American Ride, which ranks among the most powerful and personally charged work of his three-and-a-half-decade recording career.
“It’s pretty rockin’ overall, but there are some left turns and right turns along the way,” Nile says of the album. “There are songs about the rights of man, songs about freedom, songs about love and hate, songs about loss, songs about God and the absence of God, and songs about standing up for your fellow man. It’s upbeat and full of life. I’m thrilled with how it came out.”
American Ride offers a bracing set of 11 original compositions, and one well-chosen cover, that rank with the catchiest and most vivid music that Nile’s ever delivered. From the everyday wisdom of “Life on Bleecker Street” and “Sunrise in New York City” to the broader observations of “This Is Our Time” and “Holy War” to the rock ’n’ roll abandon of “Say Hey” and the road-tripping title track, the album consistently lives up to the artist’s reputation for writing songs that are as impassioned as they are infectious, and performing them with the fervor of a true believer. Several of American Ride’s recurring themes come into focus on the last two songs, “The Crossing” and “There’s No Place Like Home,” which end the album on a note of humanistic uplift. Another highlight is a fiery reading of Jim Carroll’s “People Who Died,” recorded as a tribute to both Carroll, who passed away in 2009, and to Nile’s late brother John.
American Ride features backup from Nile’s live band — guitarist Matt Hogan, bassist Johnny Pisano, drummer Alex Alexander, and Nile on guitar and piano — along with guest appearances by Eagles/Rosanne Cash guitarist Steuart Smith and New York singer-songwriters James Maddock and Leslie Mendelson. Nile also worked with some notable songwriting collaborators, including Eric Bazilian of The Hooters, who co-wrote “God Laughs”; The Alarm’s Mike Peters, who contributed to the title number; and Nile’s frequent writing partner Frankie Lee, who co-wrote four tracks. The release was produced by the team of Grammy-winner Stewart Lerman (who has worked with Nile since the ’90s), and Nile himself. Additional production by Pisano and Alexander.
Having launched his recording career at the height of the major-label era, and never comfortable with the baggage that comes along with being a major-label commodity, Nile has in recent years embraced the autonomy and freedom of his current indie status. To bringAmerican Ride to fruition, he decided to take his case directly to the fans, financing the album’s recording, manufacturing and promotion via the aforementioned pledgemusic.com campaign.
“The record business is completely changed from what it was when I started,” he observes. “Artists can be independent now and make music on their own terms, and I love the freedom of that. I’ve been very fortunate in that fans and friends have been getting behind the work I’ve been doing, and it’s amazing and heartening to get that kind of support.”
Willie Nile’s fans include Bruce Springsteen, with whom he’s guested onstage on multiple occasions, and Pete Townshend, who personally requested him as the opening act on the Who’s 1982 U.S. tour. Other avowed Nile admirers include Bono, Lou Reed, Paul Simon, Ian Hunter, Graham Parker, Jim Jarmusch, Adam Duritz, Little Steven and Lucinda Williams, who once remarked, “Willie Nile is a great artist. If there was any justice in this world, I’d be opening up for him instead of him for me.”
Born into a large Irish Catholic family in Buffalo, N.Y., Willie began writing songs in his early teens. After graduating from the University at Buffalo with a B.A. in Philosophy, he moved to Manhattan’s Greenwich Village. During his first winter there, he was sidelined by pneumonia. While spending nearly a year recuperating, he concentrated on honing his songwriting skills. After his recovery, Nile became a popular fixture in the Village’s folk clubs, while drawing inspiration from the emerging downtown punk scene. His budding career received a major boost from a high-profile New York Times piece by legendary critic Robert Palmer, who called Nile “an exceptional talent” and “one of the most gifted singer-songwriters to emerge from the New York scene in years.”
The local buzz stoked by the Times story led to a deal with Arista Records, for which Nile recorded Willie Nile and Golden Down, released in 1980 and 1981, respectively. Those albums won a sizable audience and generated reams of press raves, with one critic likening Nile to a “one-man Clash,” and another calling his debut effort “one of the most thrilling post-Byrds folk-rock albums of all time.” But his progress ground to a halt after legal disputes with his label caused Nile to walk away from the music business, beginning a recording hiatus that lasted for nearly a decade.
Although he continued to write new material, Nile maintained a discreet distance from the spotlight until 1991, when he reemerged with a new deal with Columbia Records and a new album, Places I Have Never Been, which restored the artist to prominence with fans and critics. The following year, he went the independent route with the four-song EP Hard Times in America. Willie Nile — Archive Alive, a vintage document of a 1980 performance in New York’s Central Park, was released in 1997. In 1998, Nile lent his unmistakable voice to the all-star concept album Largo.
In 1999, Nile released Beautiful Wreck of the World, which marked the start of an exciting new chapter in his career, one in which he’s wholeheartedly embraced his new indie status to create and distribute his music free from corporate agendas. His new approach yielded substantial results, with Beautiful Wreck of the World chosen as one of the year’s Top Ten Albums by critics at Billboard, The Village Voice and Stereo Review. During this period, Nile substantially stepped up his touring activities in Europe, where he’s since built a large and enthusiastic following.
The well-received Streets of New York, from 2006, ushered in the most productive and prolific period of Nile’s musical life. The CD Live From the Turning Point and the DVD Live From the Streets of New York followed in 2007 and 2008, respectively, as did another widely celebrated new studio album, House of a Thousand Guitars, and 2011’s The Innocent Ones, which won some of the most enthusiastic notices Nile’s ever received.
The BBC called The Innocent Ones “stunning . . . THE rock ’n’ roll album of the year,” andRolling Stone included it in its “Top Ten Best Under-the-Radar Albums of 2011.” USA Todaynamed the album’s anthemic lead track “One Guitar” as the number-one song in the nation. It was also one of five songs chosen to be played on Occupy Wall Street’s 1000-guitar march, alongside Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land.”
“It’s been a great time,” Nile says of his recent activities. “I’ve been touring more in the last two years than in my entire career up until then. I’m in Europe four months a year and we’ve really built something solid over there. The fans are so great, so vocal, so supportive, and I’m deeply grateful to each and every one of them.”
With American Ride now a reality thanks to his — and his fans’ — efforts, Willie Nile is moving with the unmistakable momentum of a deeply accomplished artist who’s just hitting his stride.
“People who’ve heard this album say it’s as good a record as I’ve ever made, and I don’t disagree,” he states, adding, “I definitely think it’s as good a collection of songs as I’ve put together. I’m still learning as I go, and it gets easier every time in. I still love what I do and I’m probably feeling more inspired now than I ever have. I really do feel like I’m just getting started.”
HOT CLUB OF COWTOWN’S RENDEZVOUS IN RHYTHM
TO BE RELEASED IN U.S. MAY 28, 2013,
ON GOLD STRIKE RECORDS
Collection of 14 fiery Gypsy jazz and American Songbook standards
is the Hot Club’s first album
to exclusively celebrate the band’s Left Bank influences.
“It takes considerable bravery to name your band after one of the greatest jazz ensembles of the last century. Hot Club get away with it because they have spirit, originality and skill that would surely have impressed Stephane Grappelli
and Django Reinhardt back in 1930s.”
—The Guardian
AUSTIN, Texas — Hot Club of Cowtown’s new Lloyd Maines-produced release, Rendezvous in Rhythm, out May 28, 2013 on Gold Strike Records, is an exuberant collection of Gypsy songs and American Songbook standards played acoustically and recorded in the hot jazz style of legendary violin and guitar masters Stephane Grappelli and Django Reinhardt. Recorded last July at the Zone Recording Studio in Dripping Springs, Texas, it’s the Hot Club’s first-ever dedicated foray into the Gypsy jazz and French swing of Paris in the ’30s and features the band’s sparkling spins on standards in the style of Reinhardt and Grappelli including “Crazy Rhythm,” “Minor Swing,” “Dark Eyes,” “The Continental,” “I'm in the Mood for Love,” “Douce Ambiance,” and many more.
You’d think a band from Austin, Texas with the word “Cowtown” in its name spends its time off from touring herding cattle at a West Texas ranch or maybe in Nashville writing songs about whiskey and loose women. Not the Hot Club of Cowtown. “We recently took a band vacation to the Gypsy Festival at St. Maries de la Mer in the South of France,” says the band’s fiddler and vocalist, Elana James. Whit Smith, Hot Club’s guitar player and vocalist, is a regular at the prestigious Djangofest Northwest in Whidbey, Island, Washington, and bass player Jake Erwin has the Hungarian folk band Csokolom in regular rotation on his home stereo.
“Our band is fiddle, guitar, and bass, and they can do anything together. We’ve always played a combination of hot jazz and Western swing, but it’s been really a joy to finally distill part of our essence and serve up a record that is purely jazzy,” says James, who in fact was once a horse wrangler in Colorado, as well as a former student of classical music at the American Conservatory in Fontainebleau, France. Says Smith, “Once Elana became aware that in jazz music and swing, you could express yourself more in improvisation, I think that attracted her to it. She still likes classical, and I do too.” Smith grew up hearing his parents play lots of folk music, especially acoustic blues, but as a teenager he naturally rebelled and turned sharply toward hard rock, which still informs his approach to hot jazz and Western swing. The impression that the band is in some way a country act, especially in the current climate of American popular music, is somewhat misleading since the Hot Club’s influences have always been as much the musette music of the smoky bistros of 1930s Paris as they are the hoedowns and Western swing of the mythic American West.
Perhaps it’s no surprise, then, that the Hot Club of Cowtown, whose collection of recorded work now stretches to seven studio albums, is finally releasing Rendezvous in Rhythm, a thrilling display of this Texas trio’s breathtaking virtuosity and, for the first time with such focus, its elegant, more European inspirations. “We had lots of people asking us to make a record of standards,” says Smith, “So there you go, here’s a record full of swing standards. We’re not trying to compete with anyone who’s writing the songs. It’s more of a vehicle for one way we really like to play — starting with familiar ground and then improvising from there.” By way of inspiration James adds, “One of the most thrilling nights of my life was when Gheorghe Anghel (the violinist from legendary Romanian Gypsy band Taraf de Haidouks) came over to my house and he and Whit and I jammed on songs like ‘Avalon’ and ‘Exactly Like You’ in my living room ’til four in the morning. And then he asked if he could use my phone to call home to Romania. It was absolutely the coolest thing ever.”
We can all be grateful then, for whatever inspiration an insistent fan base or a visiting Romanian fiddler may have sparked, for Rendezvous in Rhythm is an utterly superb collection of traditional material, by far the Hot Club’s most polished and sophisticated work to date. From the first hypnotic phrases of the lead track “Ochi Chornye” (a Russian folk song also known as “Dark Eyes”), which builds from an atmospheric reverie into a frenzy à la Ravel’s “Bolero,” Rendezvous in Rhythm takes us on a lively, deeply satisfying journey of raw joy and authentic energy. Disarmingly intimate ballads (“If I Had You,” “I’m Confessin’”) give way to instrumental virtuosity in the extreme (“Dark Eyes,” “Minor Swing,” “Douce Ambiance”). Pre-WWII influences abound throughout, as with “Back in Your Own Backyard,” a classic made famous by Billie Holliday, Al Jolson’s “Avalon,” and Fred Loesser’s “Slow Boat to China.” “Crazy Rhythm,” through which James sings and swings with sassy authority — including an obscure verse on fiddling while Rome burns — first appeared in 1928 but sounds as current as any of the band’s original material. “The Continental,” a Reinhardt and Grappelli showpiece, has been intricately rearranged by Smith, whose vocal and hot twin lines warn of the dangers of dancing and the spells it can cast. Smith’s lush treatment of the Fields and McHugh masterpiece “I’m in the Mood for Love” is alone worth the price of admission.
Though many songs in this collection — some of the finest and most familiar songs in history — have been resuscitated in recent years by well-known artists, Rendezvous in Rhythmis the first release by a major touring act to ignite this material with the danceable, swinging vivaciousness that first put it on the map. In order to capture lightning in a bottle, says Smith, “We went back to our way of having everyone in the room together. We recorded it live, right there next to each other so we could hear each other play. I play acoustic on it — not big news, but usually in the past, I would play a mixture of electric and acoustic and sometimes overdub the electric guitar or vice versa. The majority of this album is the three of us there and playing acoustic. We tried to capture the feel of our live shows as much as possible.”
TOUR DATES
Wed., March 6 AUSTIN, TX Continental Club
Wed., March 13 AUSTIN, TX Continental Club
Sat., March 16 GRUENE, TX Gruene Hall 1-5 p.m.
Wed., March 20 AUSTIN, TX Continental Club
Fri.,, March 22 PROVO, UT BYU Department of Dance
Wed., March 27 AUSTIN, TX Continental Club
Tues., April 9 VIENNA, VA Jammin’ Java
Wed., April 10 WILMINGTON, DE Grand opera house
Thurs., 11 NEW YORK, NY Joe’s Pub
Fri., 12 MARBLEHEAD, MA (BOSTON) Me and Thee Coffeehouse
Sat., April 13 WHITE RIVER JUNCTION, VT Tupelo Music Hall
Sun., April 14 TRURO, MA Payomet
Fri., April 19 BURBANK, CA (LOS ANGELES) Joe’s Great American
Sat. & Sun., April 20 & 21 SANTA CLARITA, CA Cowboy Festival
Fri., May 3 GENOA, NV Cowboy Poetry Festival
Sat., May 4 RAMONA, CA Ramona Bluegrass and Western Festival
Sun., May 5 SAN DIEGO, CA AMSD
Fri., May 17 EDWARDSVILLE , IL (ST. LOUIS) Wildey Theater
Sat., May 18 KANSAS CITY, MO Knuckleheads
Sun., May 19 IOWA CITY, IA Englert Theater
Tues., May 21 CHICAGO IL City Winery
Wed., May 22 MINNEAPOLIS, MN Dakota Jazz Club
Thurs., May 23 WISCONSIN RAPIDS, WI McMillan Memorial Library
Sat., May 25 BLACK FOREST, CO MeadowGrass Music Festival
More dates at http://hotclubofcowtown.com/tour
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>>> INSERT JOKE HERE <<<
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*** PUNMASTER'S TRIVIA CORNER ***
The trivia question from the last MusicWire was:
Name the first musician to "stack" Marshall Amps on stage.
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ANSWER: PETE TOWNSHEND
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the champions are... (in order of appearance)
Terry Hansen
Kenny Weissberg
Robert Altman
Butch Moncla
Sunnyvale Stu
Bernie Horowitz
Linda East Brady
Matthew Bolin
Rich Hughes
Julia Winston
Bill Stewart
Derk Richardson
Tom Lehmkuhl
Kevin Halpin
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Dave, That would be the GREAT Pete Townshend
Terry Hansen
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Gotta be Mr. Who I Am, Pete Townshend.
--Kenny Weissberg
P.S. Caught a segment of your radio show online last week and thoroughly enjoyed it!
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Hi Dave
That's probably R Blackmore of Deep Purple...?
In the late 60s, my buddy and I heard that DP were recording a TV show
at the Southbank Centre by the River Thames. So we went up to try and
get in. We were told it was for label and TV company people only and
we should eff off. On leaving, a tall man in a Guy Fawkes hat asked
why we looked a little down. We explained, he took our names advised
us to go and have dinner and then return.
Sure enough when we came back our names were listed - by the producer
Bryan Izzard no less - and we had 2nd row seats for the recording,
which featured Blue Mink and then Purple doing 'Mandrake Root' with
congas and 'Black Night' etc. An exciting show.
Afterwards we found Mr Izzard to say thanks. He boomed ' You were keen
! - so what sort of people do I want at a live TV recording ?? '
Pete Sargeant
www.fairhearing.co.uk ( Andy Fraser / Free fans pls take a look)
England
P.S. ..but maybe it was Jimi !
Pete S
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Pete Townsend wrote about being a very early friend and supporter/user of Jim Marshall's amps.
- Robert Altman
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Dave,
So nice to see you are back! I believe that Pete Townshend of the Who claims credit for the “first Marshall Stack” in his recent Autobiography. He sounded damn proud of it ! If it were me I would be damn proud too!
All the best,
Butch Moncla
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Pete Townsend of The Who
Stu
Sunnyvale, Ca
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Dave,
Long time...have to say Pete Townshend.
Bernie Horowitz
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Marshall Stack - was that Pete Townsend?
Linda East Brady
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I believe that was Pete Townshend
-Matthew Bolin
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Good to read from you again this new year, Sir Pun!
I'm going with Mr. Pete Townshend
Rich Hughes-
San Francisco
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Was it The Who?
Or more specifically Pete Townsend.
Julia Winston
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Answer: Pete Townshend
Bill Stewart
NPR, FL
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Punmaestro,
I suspect it was Pete Townshend and/or John Entwistle who first stacked Marshalls (although Cream and Jimi Hendrix might be more famous for playing through them).
Derk Richardson
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Punmaster,
I know this one---I think--Pete Townshend
Thanks for all you do,
Tom Lehmkuhl
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Pete Townshend?
Kevin Halpin
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That would be Mr. Pete Townshend of The Who.
Thanks,
John Grigorian
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Been missing you Punmeister!
Pete Townshend... 100 watts of "Who"
"Pete urged Marshall to develop an actual “stack,” an 8x12 cabinet. Delivered in November 1965 (first known use is 13 November, 1965, at La Locomotive Club, Paris, France), the 8x12s would pair up with the 100w amplifiers to create an imposing backline."
And he paid the price later on with progressive tinnitus.
Mitchell Rothbardt
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*** TODAY'S EASY BAKE TRIVIA QUESTION ***
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
This beloved artist appeared in a Japanese advertisement for a product which is what his name means in Japanese!
Name this artist to win!
INCLUDE YOUR NAME WITH YOUR ANSWER OR YOU MAY SLIP THROUGH THE CRACKS!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Only one answer in particular will be accepted...
If you want to be listed...INCLUDE YOUR NAME!
Give it your best shot...you may not get a yes/no response until the next Wire is published.
Thanks!!
The answer will appear in the next MusicWire...
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THIS DAY IN MUSIC HISTORY - MARCH 4
1877 - The Tchaikovsky's ballet "Swan Lake" debuted.
1967 - It was announced that Steve Winwood and his brother Muff were leaving the Spencer Davis Group after an April 2 show.
1970 - Janis Joplin was fined $200 for using obscene language onstage in Tampa, FL.
1977 - The Rolling Stones recorded their "Love You Live" album in Toronto.
1982 - Rolling Stone reported that Dweezil and Moon Unit Zappa have formed a new band called Fred Zeppelin.
1986 - Richard Manuel (The Band) committed suicide at the age of 41.
1993 - Patti LaBelle received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
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VIDEO CLIPS OF THE WEEK
------------------------------------------------
Waterloo Sunset ~ The Kinks ~ Live
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fG_e6DQKwsU
------------------------------------------------
Thanks to Al Kooper!
THE GOLDBERG-MILLER BLUES BAND - The Mother Song (1965)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WzkPcIp7C8
------------------------------------------------
Thanks to Mike Hart....
Bob Dylan performs "Shake" with Tom Petty at Farm Aid in Champaign, Illinois on September 22, 1985
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RlUryDUv4Q
Bob Dylan w/Tom Petty & Willie Nelson - Trust Yourself (Live at Farm Aid 1985)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qt0nXuGZX9g
******************************************************************
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A Trusted Source In Music News Since 1873
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You Can Quote Me On That...
“You start out playing rock ‘n’ roll so you can have sex and do drugs. But you end up doing drugs so you can still play rock ‘n’ roll and have sex.” - Mick Jagger
I've been through more cold turkeys than there are freezers." - Keith Richards
"Mick needs to know what he's going to do tomorrow. Me, I'm just happy to wake up and see who's hanging around. Mick's rock, I'm roll." -Keith Richards
"I don't know anything about music, In my line you don't have to." - Elvis Presley
"I opened the door for a lot of people, and they just ran through and left me holding the knob." - Bo Diddley
"The only Maybelline I knew was the name of a cow." - Chuck Berry
"A lot of fellows nowadays have a B.A., M.D., or Ph.D. Unfortunately, they don't have a J.O.B." - Fats Domino
"It's not the size of the ship; it's the size of the waves." - Little Richard
"Hippies? Why, I'm the original." - Jerry Lee Lewis
"The older I get, the harder to get around....gravity's got me down." - Barry Goldberg
“I'm one of those regular weird people.” - Janis Joplin
"There are more love songs than anything else. If songs could make you do something we'd all love one another." - Frank Zappa
"I've always felt that blues, rock 'n' roll and country are just about a beat apart." - Waylon Jennings
"When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace." - Jimi Hendrix
"Rock is so much fun. That's what it's all about -- filling up the chest cavities and empty kneecaps and elbows." - Jimi Hendrix
"I taught them everything they know, but not everything I know." - James Brown
"David Gross (Punmaster's MusicWire) is the Arianna Huffington of music news!" - Barry "The Fish" Melton
"The older you get, the better you were!" - Leslie West
"It's much too late to do anything about rock & roll now ..." - Jerry Garcia
"Albert King wasn't my brother in blood, but he sure was my brother in Blues" - B.B. King
"More bass." - Jerry Wexler
"I'm as country as a dozen eggs." - Elvin Bishop
"I liked the first sixties better...." - Al Kooper
"I still have all my vinyl. You can’t roll a joint on an iPod.” - Shelby Lynne
"I think I just killed somebody." - Phil Spector
"The problem with history is, the folks who were there ain't talking. And the ones who weren't there, you can't shut 'em up." - Tom Waits
"The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side." - Hunter S. Thompson
"I want my more money & I want my more fame" - Chubby Checker
"When you don't know where you're going, you have to stick together just in case someone gets there." - Ken Kesey
"I smash guitars because I like them." - Pete Townshend
"It's a good thing I had a bag of marijuana instead of a bag of spinach. I'd be dead by now." - Willie Nelson
"Rock journalism is people who can't write interviewing people who can't talk in order to provide articles for people who can't read." - Frank Zappa
"You can learn something, both good or bad, watching any guitar player. You learn what to do or what not to do. Over the years I've learned things from Carlos, Mike Bloomfield, Clapton, George, Garcia, Knopfler and let's not forget Robbie Robertson." - Bob Dylan, 2002
"There 'is' a difference between rock and rock and roll; beware of inferior imitations (avoid contact with any musician who doesn't know how to play Chuck Berry music)." - Cub Koda
"This heah is Rufus Thomas....I'm young and loose and full of juice. I got the goose, so what's the use." - Rufus Thomas
"Mike Love, not war." - Scott Mathews
"I have outlived my dick" - Willie Nelson (2008)
"Anybody with a trade can work as long as they want. A welder, a carpenter, an electrician. They don't necessarily need to retire...Every man should learn a trade. It's different than a job. My music wasn't made to take me from one place to another so I can retire early." - Bob Dylan
To see a slew of quotes check out http://www.punmaster.com
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El Punmaestro (the Punmysterian)