A Friday 12-Pack

When you have a job as coma inducing as mine is, finding ways to distract yourself from how bored you are while doing it becomes very important. Podcasts, audiobooks, and music are the essential axle grease that keep the reluctant wheels of my productivity engine functioning.

Music in particular has always been a part of my workday, although, and some of you may recognize this phenomenon, it can’t just be any old thing. Too loud, frantic and scream-y is out of the question. On the other hand, too slow, low, or nebulous is just as unacceptable for the opposite reason. I also find that I prefer to listen to instrumental music over music with words because, being a word person, I have a very hard time concentrating around sublime lyrics.

All of this is to say I end up spending way too much time on Spotify, curating a music collection that is rapidly getting so large and out of control it might take a year and half to organize – when I finally get around to it. The flip side is that, quite often, I randomly stumble upon some really good stuff and I thought I’d start sharing some of it.

Like most people who are aware of the vast talents of Billy Strings, it is not hard to be impressed by almost anything that he does. However, I think this 2 minute, 2 second live acappella performance tops my list.

 

 

Just because it’s Friday and this is so much fun.

 

 

Rachel Portman is the composer behind some of my favorite movie scores – Cider House Rules, Chocolate, Emma, etc. This is from her 2020 album Ask the River.

 

 

When I was about 11 or 12, my dad came home one day with a cassette tape called “Hooked on Classics”. It was an album full of slightly jazzy renditions of Handel’s Messiah, Beethoven’s Ode to Joy, Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, and – you get the idea. I loved it, passionately. I’m sure that little white plastic cassette birthed my savage devotion to instrumental music. Unfortunately, I think it also ruined me for life. I’m quite certain from that point on, my brain expected every piece of music it heard to be – EPIC – and it’s been chasing that high ever since. So, you can imagine my delight when I came across these next pieces. I’ve listened to them approximately 700 times in the last 4 days.

 

 

 
 

I recently discovered Sam Lewis and this is from his self titled 2012 album which is just great.

 

 

Um…if you have not heard anything by the Teskey Brothers, you are missing out. Just saying…

 

 

My maternal grandfather came from coal mining people in West Virginia and Pennsylvania and sometimes when I hear a voice like this, it feels like it’s specifically tuned to those dormant strands of my DNA. I can’t even begin to describe what it does to me.

 

 

And just in case you got the impression I only like male singers; I give you Michelle Moonshine. You may or may not know this about me – beautiful, sad songs sung by a gorgeous voice are my bread and butter, musically speaking. This entire album, Sad Spaghetti Westerns, checks all the boxes – emphatically.

 

 

These girls are so good it’s obscene. Seriously…

 

 

 

When I was growing up, Hooked on Classics aside, there was not a huge variety of music in our house. My dad mostly listened to Jazz (death by auditory torture) and my mother liked Mariachi music (not much better). This is why, as I get older, it’s amusing to me that I am starting to dip a toe into both genres. For instance, I’ve come to love and appreciate Herb Alpert, and Ella Fitzgerald, and the amount of Latin music in my playlists would shock and appall my 12-year-old self. This band, LaLom (The Los Angeles League of Musicians) is a fun mix of Cumbia and 60’s surfer instrumentals.

 

 

 

And last but not least…this. It makes me feel homesick…in the best possible way.

 

 

 

BONUS BOOK REVIEW

If anyone is a Loretta Lynn fan, or a Patsy Cline fan, or a Country Music fan, or has been fortunate enough to experience a true and deep friendship, or fought and pushed through to the better side of a difficult marriage, or suffered a sudden and tragic loss that upended your entire life, or even if you’re just a human trying to do the best you can in a hard world…this is a book for you.

You can thank me later.

 

Girls and Guitars

Just for fun, if you’d like, Google “Top 50 Guitarists of All Time”. Or, just to make it more sporting, “Top 100”.

Go ahead. I’ll wait.

Notice anything? Anything missing? Or to be more precise, anyone missing?

On the four or five “Top 50” lists that I sampled, there was not one woman to be found. On the more expansive, “Top 100” selections, Joni Mitchell and Bonnie Raitt made appearances in the #75 and #89 spots, respectively, on one list only.

Um…rude.

I am in no way suggesting that those male artists do not deserve to be recognized for their immense talent. They should be on all sorts of “Top” lists. Many of them have a signature “sound” that is so intrinsically fused with my own personal “musical DNA” that I can’t imagine my life without it. However, is there a particular reason these lists are almost entirely ignoring the ladies? And just in case someone is considering dusting off the tired old, “women are underrepresented in rock music”, rationale as an explanation, is that really a valid excuse?

To be fair, if you want a “Top 50” or “Top 100” list that includes a Lita Ford or a Jennifer Batten, you can find them. You will just need to add the qualifier “Female” to your search, and it’s up to you to overlook the “Yes, they’re ok…for a girl” implication.

Here’s the other thing. By focusing on “Rock” as the primary genre through which to filter our comparisons and adorations, some truly extraordinary people tend to get overlooked.

 

Take Elizabeth Cotten. Born in 1893 near Chapel Hill, North Carolina, only one generation removed from slavery on her father’s side, she was the youngest of five children. When she was around eight years old, she would slip into her older brother’s room when he was at work, and experiment with his banjo, not allowing the minor inconvenience of being left-handed to get in the way of teaching herself to play – upside down.

When she was nine, she was forced to quit school and become a domestic worker, and by the time she was twelve she had a live-in job, earning a dollar a month. She managed to save up enough to buy a Sears and Roebuck guitar for $3.75 (around $130 today) which she named Stella.

In the mid-1940’s after a divorce and re-location to Washington D.C., and in an almost providential coincidence, she started working as a housekeeper for the Seegers. Yes, THE Seegers. One day, Elizabeth picked up one of the family guitars and started playing – and they were stunned. From that point on, largely due to their encouragement and support, Elizabeth pursued a career as a musician. Her “Cotten Picking” style would eventually influence artists as varied as Joan Baez and Jerry Garcia to Townes Van Zandt and Rhiannon Giddens.

Elizabeth Cotten wrote her most well known (and most often covered) song, “Freight Train”, when she was only 11 or 12, won a Grammy when she was 92, and died only two years later, leaving a musical legacy that deserves to be honored and remembered.

Someone else that deserves to be honored, remembered, and placed on every single “Top” list under the sun, is Maybelle Carter.

 

 

 

Just like Elizabeth Cotten, Maybelle Carter created her own unique sound, the “Carter Scratch”. I don’t know enough about music to explain this in technical terms, but essentially, she could play both the rhythm and melody simultaneously on the guitar, a feat that baffled many a highly skilled musician.

Ken Burns did a wonderful job of telling “Mother” Maybelle’s story in his 2019 “Country Music” documentary. In it you get a true sense of not only the scope of her talent, but the kindness, generosity, and graciousness that endeared her to everyone who knew her. My favorite story is the one about the Grand Ole Opry’s initial attempts to lure ‘Maybelle and the Carter Sisters’ (Maybelle’s three daughter’s Helen, Anita, and June) to Nashville.

By the late 1940’s Maybelle and the girls had found steady work at the KTWO radio station in Springfield, MO. In 1949, a young Chet Atkins joined the group and their popularity steadily rose until the Opry, the desperate dream, the Sweet Beulah Land of every Country music artist, came calling.

Except there was a catch. The invitation did not include Atkins, who was such an accomplished musician in his own right, that the Grand Ole Opry establishment worried if he were to bring his guitar to town, he would take work away from too many other people. They were afraid he would take over.

Maybelle flatly refused. If “they don’t want Chester, they can’t have the rest of us!” She held her ground even after attempts by the Opry to sweeten the deal, and when they realized she would not budge, they finally gave in.

When Maybell and the Carter Sisters and Chet made their Opry debut in September 1950, “The roof,” June recalled, “came off that building.”

So, the next time you’re enjoying a scorching, filling liquefying, brain melting performance from one of the many contemporary female guitarists who could overcrowd any number of “Top” lists, it’s worth taking a minute to consider the almost unearthly talent and humble dignity of their musical forebearers who quietly and persistently paved the way for them.

 

 

A Pre-Concert Review

Tomorrow evening, my husband and I, along with some friends, are going to the Big Sky Brewing Co. Amphitheater in Missoula to see Dwight Yoakam and The Mavericks. It’s going to be about 200 degrees, there won’t be a stick of shade, and I could not be more excited.

I’ve seen both performers before when I lived in San Diego. Yoakam at the Del Mar Fair, and The Mavericks at 4th and B, but those shows were years (and I mean years) ago. I think my recollection of the two concerts can be directly connected to how much I liked both artists at the time. The Mavericks were amazing. However, I remember exactly nothing about Dwight’s show.

I have always loved The Mavericks. From their early “What a Cryin Shame” days to their more recent work, including their 2020 album which is sung entirely in Spanish. I once read a review of one of their albums in which the reviewer described lead singer Raul Malo’s voice as “Jalapeno and Honey”. I don’t think I could come up with a better description if I spent 100 years thinking about it. And it only makes sense, seeing as how Malo is Cuban, and that Latin influence is heard and – felt – in almost everything The Mavericks produce. “Dance The Night Away” is a masterpiece, a song I never get tired of hearing, and a classic example of how they incorporate that Latin sound. I mean…those horns!

 

 

The Mavericks, as their name suggests, have always been impossible to categorize, musically, and I think that has been one of the reasons they’ve consistently been among my favorites.

On the other hand, with Dwight Yoakam, there was a time when not only was he not a favorite, I didn’t even like him. He was too twangy, too nasal, too…all of the other reasons some people don’t care for his music. And then one day my friend Autumn, a huge Dwight fan, told me I needed to get the new Dwight Yoakam album (Tomorrow’s Sounds Today) because, “You appreciate excellent music.”

Well. I couldn’t allow such a fine opinion go to waste, so I bought the CD, just to see what all the fuss was about, and it was that album, and in particular, this song that converted me – hard.

 

 

 

The thing about Dwight Yoakam that I never appreciated until I really started to pay attention is that his ability as a songwriter is on par with Dylan, Young, Prine, and any of the other “Masters” you can name. Take the lyrics for “Time Spent Missing You”:

 

“The nighttime gets longer each morning I wake up
With sunlight that’s long overdue
I start making plans for having thoughts that might take up
Some of the time that I’ll spend missing you

Winters come a crawling after fall left me calling
For an end to what spring put me through
Summers only blessing had been the warm breeze caressing
All the time that I spent missing you

Minutes of misery drag through hours of memories
Past a voice that swears they’re not true
It keeps avoiding, denying though but mostly just lying
About the time that I’ll spend missing you”

 

How great is that?

Or how about “The Distance Between You and Me”?

 

“Take a rock, tie a rope
Throw it down in the sea
Let it fall to the bottom
Nobody knows how deep
Stare real hard through the water
And you might just perceive
The distance between you and me
Yeah, the distance between you and me

Take a map of the world
And measure with your hands
All of the miles
Across all of the land
Write it down, add it up
And you might understand
About the distance between you and me
Yeah, the distance between you and me

I lie awake and hear you breathing
Only inches from me in this bed
Not much space but it’s all that we needed
To live alone now that our love is dead

I lie awake and hear you breathing
Only inches from me in this bed
Not much space but it’s all that we needed
To live alone now that our love is dead

Climb the earth’s tallest mountain
To where it reaches the sky
Take a gun fire a bullet
Straight up out of sight
Where it stops in the heavens
Well that ain’t half as high
As the distance between you and me
As the distance between you and me”

 

Once I started appreciating his songwriting skills, it didn’t take long for me to also start enjoying the music. Suddenly, I liked the twang and the “Bakersfield Sound” that he has perfected. The pure, undistilled, honky tonk heaven that is “Turn It On, Turn It Up, Turn It Loose” has become one of my favorite songs – of all time. He has also done some incredible covers – “Let’s Work Together” (Canned Heat), “I Want You to Want Me” (Cheap Trick), and “Sloop John B” (Beach Boys), just to name a few.

So, it’s a two-hour drive, it will be very people-y (not a huge fan of crowds), and I’ll probably get burnt to a crisp, but getting to experience these two fantastic acts again? Totally worth it.

 

Exceptional Covers of Exceptional Songs

First, I need to apologize to Bob Dylan fans. I know he’s amazing, and a genius, and his songwriting prowess is rarely surpassed. However, I’ve discovered that I only seem to like his songs when other people cover them. When their superior voices sing his superior lyrics, it feels like we finally get to meet those superior melodies.

For instance, when singer/songwriter Adam Simons lends his beautiful and aching voice to “Tomorrow is a Long Time” on his new album “Songbook”, it allows Dylan’s creative brilliance to beam like the sun.

Simons covers The Rolling Stones (Dead Flowers), The Grateful Dead (Friend of the Devil), Van Morrison (Into the Mystic), among other legendary heavy hitters. (His rendition of Neil Young’s “Unknown Legend” on his ‘Rain and Thunder album is so – sad – and gorgeous that I can’t even listen to it with my eyes open).

I know some people are not crazy about cover songs; they object on principle. I get that. I can respect that kind of devotion to a beloved artist or group. I generally find covers entertaining at the very least and occasionally, at best, life altering.

You might think I’m exaggerating, but it’s the truth. The first time I heard “When You Say Nothing At All”, Alison Krauss’ version of Keith Whitley’s song, not only did it instantly convert me into a life-long Country, Bluegrass, and Americana fan, but it placed Krauss in my “#1 Favorite Artist of All Time” spot where she has remained for 30 years.

A couple years ago I was watching a Netflix documentary about Ella Fitzgerald called “Ella: It’s Just One of Those Things”. In it they played a clip from her 1960 Berlin performance of “Mack the Knife”, which was completely improvised, completely incredible, and left me completely speechless. She won a Grammy for that performance, and it is obvious why. Do yourself a favor and Google it…if it doesn’t leave you a changed being, you may want to check your pulse.

Sometimes, comparing covers with originals is just – interesting – apples and oranges. Take “Hound Dog”. I don’t think it’s a stretch to assume that Elvis’ rendition is a universally loved classic, but have you ever heard Big Mama Thornton’s original? Well, I don’t want to be bossy, however, you might want to check it out.

This by no means exhausts my thoughts on cover songs, but I’ll leave it there for now. What are some of your favorites?

 

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