Folk, Bluegrass, & Country

[slowshoes]

[QUOTE=Alypius;582390]A great recent discovery:

Yo-Yo Ma / Edgar Meyer / Chris Thile / Stuart Duncan, The Goat Rodeo Sessions (Sony Classical, 2011):



I saw this group perform recently on a PBS broadcast (along with a long interview with Yo-Yo Ma). While Ma and Meyer are classical musicians most of the time, these bluegrass (or "new grass") sessions have been part of their repertoire for more than 15 years. I loved their earlier Appalachian Suite (Sony, 1996) as well as Edgar Meyer's remarkable Short Road Home (Sony, 1999). After one listen, my impression is that this is every bit as good. What makes this so good is Chris Thile's mandolin. There's a good YouTube video on the Amazon website: Amazon Video


I love that one too Alypius - I put it on my top 10 list in the non jazz thread. First rate playing throughout.

[duaneiac]

In The Wind -- Peter, Paul & Mary. Their voices blended together so beautifully. Songs here include "Long Chain On", "Rocky Road", "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" and "Stewball". That last song, even as a kid I never understood. Would you really want a horse that "never drank water / He only drank wine"? Wouldn't that be awfully expensive? And who wants a drunk racehorse? And wouldn't the ASPCA be all over your ass the second they heard about it?

[duaneiac]

Sittin' Pretty -- Bobbie Gentry. Why is it the performers you would love to hear more from are always the ones who get sick of the fame game and go into seclusion? Bobbie Gentry was an amazing singer & songwriter. Any one who ever grew up in a rural or semi-rural setting knew exactly the world she sang about in "Ode To Billie Joe". Other songs of hers on this album are likewise very vivid sketches of a certain time and place. "Recollection" in particular seems very personal.

Being an album from the late 1960's there of course had to be a Beatles cover song. She has three of them here though and I'd wager she is the only country singer to have covered "Fool On the Hill". Her version of Kenny Rankin's "Peaceful" is nice, but who had the hit version? Was it Helen Reddy?

Four of the tracks were arranged by Shorty Rogers, but there is nothing really jazzy about them.

[slowshoes]

Originally Posted by kurt__

The great Earl Scruggs has died. R.I.P.

What an absolute giant, a true master.

Amen brother.

[Straycat]

Originally Posted by kurt__

The great Earl Scruggs has died. R.I.P.

What an absolute giant, a true master.

A sad day indeed.

[duaneiac]

The Songs of Pete Seeger, Vol. 2: If I Had a Song -- Various Artists including Joan Baez, Jackson Browne, Steve Earle, John Wesley Harding, Kate & Anna McGarrigle, Arlo Guthrie, Dar Williams and even old (and I do mean old) Pete hisself.

[duaneiac]

On Campus -- Pete Seeger. I've been on a Pete Seeger kick lately (more about that later) and I was kind of excited when I found this used LP. Pete Seeger on the Verve label!?! But it turns out this was just a reissue on Verve of material collected from some of Seeger's "live" albums on the Folkways label. Still, it's a good album offering a variety of material. "The Water Is Wide" has long been a favorite song of mine -- so simple yet so hauntingly beautiful. Each side of the LP closes with a Leadbetter song -- "Bring Me a Li'l Water, Sylvie" on Side One and "Goodnight, Irene" on Side Two. Seeger gets the audience to sing along on both, as he does on several of the songs. After all, he didn't believe that songs were meant to be sung by performers; songs were meant to be sung by us, all of us, together.

[duaneiac]

The Singing Mailman Delivers -- John Prine (who still had a day job as a mailman when these recordings were made, hence the CD's title).

Disc 1 of this set features recordings made in a Chicago radio studio in Aug. of 1970 that Prine wanted to do in order to copyright his songs. Disc 2 features "live" recordings of Prine in a Chicago nightclub in Nov. of 1970. These recordings all predate his first LP, which would come out in 1971, but so many great songs are here fully formed already. Songs like "Illegal Smile", "Your Flag Decal Won't Get You Into Heaven Anymore", "Hello In There", "Paradise" and "Sam Stone" (which at this early stage is titled "Great Society Conflict Veteran's Blues"). The crowd on the "live" disc is obviously already familiar with Prine's work and sings along on some of the tunes.

For me, there has never been a better line written, whether in song or in literature, than "There's a hole in Daddy's arm where all the money goes". There a whole world happening in those eleven words and they never fail to hit me in the heart.

[duaneiac]

Live Fast, Love Hard: Original Capitol Recordings, 1952 - 1962 -- Faron Young. Borrowed from the public library because all I knew of Faron Young was his recording of "Hello, Walls". That was his biggest hit, but this collection shows there was more to his career than that. This set has some extensive liner notes which I've only skimmed, but the writer seems to make the case that Young kind of fell between the cracks -- too late to be a post-war country music pioneer like Hank Williams of Lefty Frizzell, too early to be a rockabilly star like Elvis or Carl Perkins and never quite fitting in with the Nashville countrypolitan sound of Patsy Cline.

[duaneiac]

Sings the Songs of Hank Williams Plus the R&B Sessions - Charlie Rich. Two albums worth of material from his mid-'60's stay at Hi Records on one CD. The Hank Williams covers are pretty uninspired, but the other material is interesting. It's a mistake to write off all country musicians. Rich, as a pianist as well as a vocalist, soaked up influences from blues, r&b and jazz musicians. On the r&b sides on this disc, there are times when he sounds like Boz Scaggs (lyears before Boz Scaggs did). Interesting trivia note: Rich's version of "When Something Is Wrong With My Baby" heard here was actually recorded a month before Sam & Dave's hit version.

[HutchFan]

Originally Posted by duaneiac

Sings the Songs of Hank Williams Plus the R&B Sessions - Charlie Rich. Two albums worth of material from his mid-'60's stay at Hi Records on one CD. The Hank Williams covers are pretty uninspired, but the other material is interesting. It's a mistake to write off all country musicians. Rich, as a pianist as well as a vocalist, soaked up influences from blues, r&b and jazz musicians. On the r&b sides on this disc, there are times when he sounds like Boz Scaggs (lyears before Boz Scaggs did). Interesting trivia note: Rich's version of "When Something Is Wrong With My Baby" heard here was actually recorded a month before Sam & Dave's hit version.

Oh yeah. I dig Charlie Rich. His Smash recordings are worth checking out also:



Includes "Mohair Sam."

[duaneiac]

Originally Posted by HutchFan

Oh yeah. I dig Charlie Rich. His Smash recordings are worth checking out also:



Includes "Mohair Sam."

I have a 2 CD set, The Essential Charlie Rich which includes tracks from his Sun, Smash and Epic recordings. On his very last album/CD, he recorded a version of "Mood Indigo", which shows you just how musically eclectic he was. I think Memphis is probably the most musically eclectic city in our fair land.

Recent vinyl listening:



Asleep At The Wheel (self-titled), includes "Choo Choo Ch' Boogie" and "Jumpin' At The Woodside". Special guest Johnny Gimble, Andy Stein and Mickey Raphael.

[duaneiac]

Meet Glen Campbell -- A fine album on which he covers tunes by Tom Petty, Jackson Browne, Lou Reed, Green Day and others.

[slowshoes]

Originally Posted by duaneiac

Meet Glen Campbell -- A fine album on which he covers tunes by Tom Petty, Jackson Browne, Lou Reed, Green Day and others.

So underrated.

[Alypius]

Slowshoes, Haven't seen you around recently. Good to see you posting good stuff again.

I've got tickets for these guys: Trampled by Turtles, a Minneapolis bluegrass band. I'm really looking forward to it: