Song Musings

Happy hump day and welcome to the first post-winter installment of Song Musings 2024 – yep, as of yesterday, spring has officially started, at least for folks in the Northern Hemisphere. In case you’re new to my recurring midweek feature, these posts dig deeper into songs I’ve only mentioned in passing or not covered at all to date. This time, my pick may surprise some of my regular readers: Sailing by Christopher Cross. Yep, a track that’s on the lush side but I’ve always dug it.

Written by Christopher Cross, Sailing was featured on his eponymous debut album that came out in December 1979. The song also appeared separately as the album’s second single in June 1980. It became one of the San Antonio singer-songwriter and guitarist’s best-known and highest-charting songs, topping the Billboard Hot 1oo in the U.S., as well as the pop charts in Canada. Elsewhere, it did best in New Zealand (no. 8), The Netherlands (no. 18) and Ireland (no. 21).

In addition to enjoying significant chart success, Sailing won three Grammys in 1980 for Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Arrangement of the Year. It also helped the Texan win the Album of the Year and Best New Artist categories. Sailing and the album were produced by multi-Grammy winning Michael Omartian who also played piano on it and arranged the strings. Apart from Cross, Omartian has worked with the likes of Steely Dan, Dolly Parton and Rod Stewart.

Sailing was one of the first digitally recorded songs to chart. It also is widely considered as a classic example of the yacht rock genre. Drawing on smooth soul, smooth jazz, R&B and disco, yacht rock was popular between the mid ’70s and mid ’80s. At the time it was known as West Coast or adult-oriented music. The term “yacht rock” was only created in 2005 by the makers of an online video series of the same name, which followed the fictionalized lives and careers of American soft rock stars of the late ’70s and early ’80s. Here’s a live version of Sailing, which apparently was captured in September 2022.

Cross has said Sailing was inspired by an older friend from high school who would take him sailing as a teenager to leave the troubles of everyday life behind for some time. Apparently, this friend was like an older brother to Cross during what was an emotionally difficult time for him.

During his Grammy acceptance speech Cross noted that while Sailing was his favorite song on the album, it wasn’t meant to become a single initially. Later, he told Songfacts he didn’t believe Sailing was going to be a hit, thinking it “was way too introspective.” Given how wrong Cross was, perhaps it’s not suprising Sailing was covered by a number of artists over the decades. SecondHandSongs counted 85 versions. Here’s a neat a cappella rendition Take 6 recorded for their 2018 album Iconic.

Following are some additional tidbits from Songfacts:

In a Songfacts interview with Christopher Cross, he told the story of the song: “I was just at home sitting in this cheap apartment, sitting at the table. I remember coming up with the verse and chorus, and the lyrics to the first verse of the chorus all came out. These tunings, like Joni [Mitchell] used to say, they get you in this sort of trance, so all that came out at once: ‘It’s not far down to paradise…’ The chorus just sort of came out.”

“So I got up and wandered around the apartment just thinking, ‘Wow, that’s pretty f–kin’ great.’ I just thought, ‘That’s really cool.’ So then I sat down and had to try to come up with other stuff to make the rest of the song, but I thought I had something there.”

“Then it took about two years before I had a bridge to that song, because the modality of the modal tuning thing, it gets pretty linear, and you’ve got to be careful. There are writers – I won’t mention who – whose songs can get kind of boring because everything’s this modality. So I knew I needed to lift the song out of that modality in the bridge and make key changes.”

“It took about two years before I came up with the bridge that changes all the keys to where it lifts, but it was a pretty special moment.”

Michael Omartian, who was Cross’ producer, also contributed keyboards and background vocals to the album. Omartian has worked on many hit songs – he co-wrote “She Works Hard For The Money” and produced “We Are The World” with Quincy Jones. Jay Graydon, who is also a hit songwriter and producer, played guitar on the Christopher Cross album. He singles out Omartian and David Foster as guys who are great to have in sessions. “These guys are just incredible musicians,” he told Songfacts. “I’m pretty good at doing string stuff and synth overdubs, and of course guitar overdubs and stuff, but you bring good guys in, then it gets really masterful.”

Sources: Wikipedia; Songfacts; SecondHandSongs; YouTube

Song Musings

It’s Wednesday and I hope this week has been kind to you thus far. Time to take a closer look at another song I’ve only mentioned in passing or not covered at all. My pick is Night Moves by Bob Seger.

Night Moves, written by Seger, is the title track of his nineth studio album that came out in October 1976, the first to credit the Silver Bullet Band. The song also became the album’s first single. Both helped transform Seger from a regionally prominent music artist to a national star.

The single became Seger’s highest-charting in the U.S. at the time, climbing to no. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100. Up north in Canada, it reached no. 5. Elsewhere, it peaked at no. 25 in Australia and no. 45 in the UK. The album got to no. 8 on the Billboard 200 and reached no. 13 in Australia. It became one of Seger’s best-selling, reaching Gold certification in the U.S. (500,000 certified sold units) in just three months and, as of September 2003, 6xPlatinum (6 million units). In Canada, it was certified Triple Platinum (300,000 units) as of October 1979.

Night Moves is a largely autobiographical song inspired by a young woman Seger met when he was 19 and fell in love with. But she had a boyfriend who was away in the military, and when he returned she married him, leaving Seger heart-broken. While as such it wasn’t a happy ending in the romantic department, I guess it’s a consolidation it provided lyrical content for Seger’s breakthrough single. Here’s a great version from the Nine Tonight live album released in September 1981.

Songfacts notes Night Moves became the last song recorded for the album. It came together at Nimbus Nine Studios in Toronto, were Seger’s manager had booked three days with Canadian producer Jack Richardson. He brought in local guitarist Joe Miquelon and organist Doug Riley for the recording who joined Seger and Silver Bullet Band members Chris Campbell (bass) and Charlie Allen Martin (drums). Backing vocals were provided by Laurel Ward, Rhonda Silver and Sharon Dee Williams, a trio from Montreal.

Even though it’s a great song, Night Moves has not had many covers, which Songfacts attributes to the personal nature of the lyrics. They note Garth Brooks and The Killers have performed it live. Checking out SecondHandSongs revealed 17 covers, including the following cool version by Dolly Parton and Chris Stapleton, included on her most recent album Rockstar released in November 2023, a collaborative collection of mostly rock-oriented covers Parton recorded following her 2022 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Following are select additional insights from Songfacts:

The phrase “night moves” has a number of meanings, which made it an intriguing song title. It could mean “putting the moves on” a girl in the back seat of a car, but Seger says it also relates to the impromptu parties he and his buddies threw in the fields of Ann Arbor, Michigan, where they would turn on the headlights and dance their “night moves.” They called these gatherings “grassers.”

Seger was inspired by the movie American Graffiti, which was released in 1973 but set in 1962. He said, “I came out of the theater thinking, Hey, I’ve a story to tell too. Nobody has ever told about how it was to grow up in my neck of the woods.”

The famous bridge in this song, where Seger strips it down and sings “I woke last night to the sound of thunder,” is something he and producer Jack Richardson came up with on the fly in the studio.

Seger wrote this song over a period of about six months. Along with “Turn The Page,” this was one of just two songs Seger ever wrote on the road.

This reflective track was a change of pace for Seger, whose songs tended to be rockers with lot of live energy. It wasn’t his first slower song though: “Turn The Page” was released in 1972 but got little attention. After “Night Moves” and the next single, “Mainstreet,” took off, many radio stations added “Turn The Page” to their playlists.

Like many of Seger’s songs, there is a touch of nostalgia in the lyrics. When he sings, “And it was summertime, sweet summertime, summertime,” he’s not only referring to the time of the year, but to that season of his life as well. In the last verse of the song, when he is reminiscing, he says, “With autumn closing in” and is referring to the autumn of his life, getting older.

The tempo changes were inspired by Bruce Springsteen’s “Jungleland.” Seger wrote the song in pieces; he had the first two verses written but was having trouble finishing the song. After hearing “Jungleland,” he realized he could connect the song with two distinct bridges.

“Night Moves” didn’t get a video when it was first released (it was five years before MTV), but when Seger’s Greatest Hits album was released in 1994, a video was made to promote it. The video borrows heavily from American Graffiti, showing young people at a ’60s drive-in, intercut with shots of Seger singing the song in the projection room.

According to Seger, he and the girl really made it in the backseat of a ’62 Chevy, but it didn’t fit lyrically, so he changed the line to “my ’60 Chevy.”

Seger revealed in a radio interview that in the line, “Started humming a song from 1962,” the song he had in mind was “Be My Baby” by the Ronettes (which was actually released in 1963).

Seger credits the Kris Kristofferson-written song “Me And Bobby McGee” for inspiring the narrative songwriting style he employed on this track.

Sources: Wikipedia; Songfacts; YouTube

New Music Musings

Happy Saturday and welcome to my weekly new music review. All picks are from new albums that were released yesterday (February 2) except for the two final songs, which appeared as singles on February 1.

Britti/Lullaby

Kicking us off today is New Orleans-based singer-songwriter Britti (nee Brittany Guerin). Her Bandcamp profile lists Diana Ross, Beyoncé, Dolly Parton and Sade as influences. According to a press release, she grew up surrounded by classic soul and R&B, blues, zydeco and other music. Her uncle, jazz bassist Roland Guerin, took her to his gigs with Allen Toussaint, Dr. John and others. It all rubbed off. Lullaby, co-written by Britti, Dan Auerbach and Roger Cook, is from her debut album Hello, I’m Britti. Britti “grew up in the most musical environment in the world,” stated Auerbach who also produced the album. “It’s in her DNA.” He wasn’t kidding – Britti’s vocals drew me in right away!

Rick Rude/P2PU

Rick Rude are a New Hampshire-based rock band who have been around for 10 years. Their current line-up includes Ben Troy (guitar, vocals), Chris Kennedy (guitar, vocals), Jordan Holz (bass, vocals) and Ryan Harrison (drums). The group’s third and latest album is titled Laverne. On their Bandcamp page, they characterize it as “an effort in energy” that has “a thicker guitar punch than the quartet’s first three releases.” Here’s P2Pu, a song with an interesting guitar riff and sound that caught my attention.

Joe Wong/Waiting

Joe Wong is a Los Angeles-based composer, musician, producer and podcast host. Wong picked up several instruments during his childhood and already began touring and recording with punk and indie bands at age 14. Later, he worked as a drummer, first primarily with jazz, Latin and African artists, and later with rock acts. In 2020, Wong released his solo debut Nite Creatures, a psychedelic, orchestral album. He has also composed various film scores and is the host and co-producer of a podcast/radio show. Off his sophomore album Mere Survival, here’s the great Waiting. I’m not always into heavy orchestration but think in this case it works very well.

The Paranoid Style/Last Night in Chickentown

Washington, D.C.-based garage rock and punk pop band The Paranoid Style have been around since 2012. Led by husband-and-wife duo of Elizabeth Nelson and Timothy Bracy, their name is based on a 1964 essay by American historian Richard Hofstadter, titled The Paranoid Style in American Politics – and, yes, I doublechecked, this came out in 1964! The group released their debut EP The Power of Our Proven System in 2013. Last Night in Chickentown, written by Nelson, is a song off The Paranoid Style’s new album The Interrogator, which looks like their fourth full-length studio release – this rocks!

Studio D’Lux/Silence Is Louder

Studio D’Lux is a music recording project launched in 2021 by keyboarder and vocalist Doug Kistner. The New Jersey musician has performed with the likes of Trans-Siberian Orchestra, John Waite and Blood, Sweat & Tears. Currently, he plays with ’60s and ’70s classic rock and soul cover band Summer of Love, led by ex-Styx member Glen Burtnik, as well as The Lords of 52nd Street, a rock group primarily comprised of members of Billy Joel’s backing band from 1976-1981. Studio D’Lux’s new single Silence Is Louder, written and produced by Kistner, also features drummer Liberty Devitto (formerly of Joel’s backing band), guitarist Jon Herington (Steely Dan), Burtnik (vocals), vocalist Reagan Richards (Williams Honor), bassist Malcolm Gold (India.Arie, Sheryl Crow) and Tom Timko on woodwinds (Gloria Estefan, Tower of Power), according to a press release I received – quite an impressive line-up. Best of all, blending elements of classic and yacht rock, the song was instant love!

Billy Joel/Turn the Lights Back On

Wrapping up this week’s new music review is Billy Joel – funny coincidence, given the previous song. The piano man from Long Island, New York, who I trust needs no introduction, is out with Turn the Lights Back On, his first new single in 17 years. A statement on Joel’s website notes the song was co-written by Freddy Wexler, Arthur Bacon and Joel and produced by Wexler. The last song written by Joel, which was released as a single in December 2007, was Christmas in Fallujah performed by then-20-year-old Cass Dillon, another songwriter from Long Island. What’s most stunning to me about Turn the Lights Back On is that the song feels as if time had stood still, both musically and vocally. It’s classic Billy Joel and could have come out 30 or 40 years ago! Is this a one-off? That would be my assumption, but I guess we’ll find out!

Sources: Wikipedia; Britti Bandcamp page; Shore Fire Media press release; Rick Rude Bandcamp page; Joe Wong website; Mixtape Media press release; Billy Joel website; YouTube; Spotify

Song Musings

It’s Wednesday and I’d like to welcome you to another installment of my weekly feature where I take a closer look at a song I’ve only mentioned in passing or not covered at all to date. Some folks who know I’m big time into blues, rock, soul and pop with a strong preference for the ’60s and ’70s may be a bit surprised I chose to highlight a song by Dolly Parton.

I love Dolly, both as a music artist and a person who strikes me as kind, humble and down to earth – attributes that aren’t very common in the oftentimes ego-driven music business, especially comes to famous individuals. My specific pick is Jolene. For a change it’s not the music but the lyrics that drew me in. You can literally see and feel the desperate protagonist, imploring the other goddess-like woman who could have many other man to lay off her husband.

Written by Parton, the song first appeared in October 1973 as the lead single and title track from her 13th solo album that subsequently was released in February 1974. While Parton with her November 1970 single Joshua already had scored her first no. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Country Charts, Jolene became the first of five consecutive no. 1 country hits, propelling her solo career into high gear.

Jolene also was Parton’s first song to cross over to the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart. Peaking at a moderate no. 60, she would have significantly more success on that chart with September 1977’s Here You Come Again (no. 3) and 9 to 5 (November 1980), her first and only no. 1 on the U.S. pop chart. Here’s a fun live version of Jolene captured in England in 2014 at the Glastonbury Festival. How Parton can fret her guitar with her long nails remains a mystery to me!

The lyrics combined with Parton’s cut-through vocals make Jolene a powerful song. The words were inspired by a personal experience Parton had when noticing a bank clerk was flirting with her husband Carl Dean shortly after they had gotten married. Today, 57 years later, they remain a married couple. Another inspiration for Jolene was Parton’s encounter with a young, red-haired girl named Jolene, who asked her for an autograph.

Jolene, which Parton has called her most frequently covered song, was added to the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2014, making it Parton’s second tune to receive the accolade after I Will Always Love You, included in 2007. Jolene also made Rolling Stone’s 2004 list of 500 Greatest Songs of All Time at no. 270. In the magazine’s revised list from 2021, unlike many other older songs it ended up way higher, at no. 63. Other artists who have covered Jolene include The White Stripes, Reba McEntire, Olivia Newton-John, 10,000 Maniacs and this lady, Rhonda Vincent, a bluegrass artist – stunning!

Following are some additional insights from Songfacts:

The title was inspired by an encounter with a 10-year-old fan. “She had this beautiful red hair, this beautiful skin, these beautiful green eyes, and she was looking up at me, holding [out] for an autograph,” Parton recalled to NPR in 2008. “I said, ‘Well, you’re the prettiest little thing I ever saw. So what is your name?’ And she said, ‘Jolene.’ And I said, ‘Jolene. Jolene. Jolene. Jolene. That is pretty. That sounds like a song. I’m going to write a song about that.'”…

…Bluegrass singer Rhonda Vincent recorded a cover of this song that became a fan favorite and one of those fans happened to be Dolly Parton. She was so impressed with the version, that she invited the singer and her band to perform it at Dollywood. Rhonda was in for a big surprise when she took up Dolly’s offer, she said in our interview: “Now, I thought we were just going to back her up. She’s there. Isn’t she going to sing it? We got there expecting to back her up, and she goes, ‘Oh, no. I’m not going to sing it. You’re going to sing it, and I’m going to sing harmony with you.’ And all I could think of is, ‘Please don’t let me forget the words.’ Because we are nose to nose singing her song at the theater there at Dollywood to a full house. So it was a very memorable day for us. I was so glad I remembered all the words. There’s nothing like singing with Dolly.”

Dolly Parton has disclosed in several interviews that the song was also inspired by a red-headed bank clerk who flirted with her husband Carl Dean around the time they were newly married. Recalling the origins of her hit tune during her performance at Glastonbury 2014, she said:

“Now, some of you may or may not know that that song was loosely based on a little bit of truth. I wrote that years ago when my husband was spending a little more time with Jolene than I thought he should be.

I put a stop to that. I got rid of that redhead woman in a hurry. [At 5 feet, Dolly may not be the tallest woman, but I guess don’t mess with her – CMM]

I want you folks to know, though, that something good can come from anything. Had it not been for that woman I would never have written ‘Jolene’ and I wouldn’t have made all that money, so thank you, Jolene.” [You just gotta love Parton’s sense of humor, who an another occasion said, ‘it costs me a lot of money to look this cheap – CMM]

The a cappella group Pentatonix released a cover of the song with Dolly Parton herself as feature artist in September 2016. When this version entered the Top 20 of the Country chart, Parton became the first artist with Top 20 hits on the tally in the ’60s, ’70s, ’80s, ’90s, ’00s and ’10s.

The Pentatonix collaboration won the Grammy Award for Best Country Duo/Group Performance...

…Folk-pop singer Mindy Smith caught her big break when she recorded a haunting rendition for the 2003 Dolly Parton tribute album, Just Because I’m A Woman. Parton was a big fan of her version and appeared in the music video. Smith – who released her debut album the following year, featuring the popular single “Come To Jesus” – told Songfacts the story behind recording “Jolene.”

“I didn’t know how to play it,” she admitted. “And that’s why the chord progression is that way, because I was trying to figure out how to play it, and it worked out really well. The day that I met Dolly was the day she was hearing it for the first time. I was in the room with her and she didn’t know what the song was at first. It really was so organic how she just embraced me as a young artist and took me along for the ride in a way that I would never have dreamed of. How that all panned out and how generous and kind she was to me so early on to invest her time in what I was doing – it was everything. I look back and I can’t believe that happened.”

Sources: Wikipedia; Songfacts; YouTube

Up-And-Comer Myron Elkins Shines On Debut Album

Welcome to my second full-album review of 2023. Not only is it music by another contemporary artist, but it’s also brand new – a promising start of the year, which makes me very happy!

When I first came across Myron Elkins last Friday while doing research for my most recent Best of What’s New installment, I simply couldn’t believe I was listening to a 21-year-old artist. Based on his sound and especially his gritty vocals, you could picture this young singer-songwriter from Otsego, Mich. jam with the likes of The Allman Brothers Band, ZZ Top and Tom Petty back in the ’70s!

Photo: Jimmy Fontaine via Sacks & Co

Before getting to some music from Elkins’ debut album Factories, Farms & Amphetamines, released on January 13, I’d like to touch on his background story. According to his website, while being exposed to music as a kid, taught by his grandfather how to play guitar and starting to write his own songs at 14 or 15, Elkins did not set out to become a professional singer-songwriter. Instead, after high school graduation, the then-17-year-old became a welder in a local factory. Then his trajectory changed.

Three years ago, a relative signed Elkins up for a local battle of the bands competition, even though his music performance experience had been limited to the church and a few gigs at local bars. Elkins also had no band at the time, so he quickly gathered three cousins and a friend to join him. They had three weeks to rehearse. While Elkins’ band “only” came in second, the experience started to change his path.

Photo: Anna Sink

For the next three years, Elkins and his band members continued to practice nearly every day while working regular jobs. Recording in a studio was a big step forward for the nascent group, according to his website. Luckily, Elkins and his band were already fans of [producer] Dave Cobb’s live-band production style before signing with Elektra/Low Country Sound, and so they relished the chance to record with him at his studio, Nashville RCA Studio A. Cobb has worked with the likes of Chris Stapleton, Brandi Carlile, John Prine,  Sturgill Simpson, Jason Isbell, The Highwomen and Rival Sons.

Time for some music. Here’s the album’s opener Sugartooth. To me, it sounds a bit like Tom Petty channeling Chuck Berry’s Memphis Tennessee. Check this out!

Since I highlighted the album’s title track in my aforementioned Best of What’s New installment, I’m skipping it here to go right to Hands To Myself. The groovy and soulful tune addresses the touchy subject of domestic use…You can hope you can pray that maybe someday/Someone will love someone will help and put you on some kind of shelf/Oh I swear ill never learn to keep my hands to myself…“I’m writing about where I come from,” Elkins explains on his website. “Things I’ve seen and things I’ve heard. I had only been out of Michigan one time—to Graceland—before I started the band, so that little part of Michigan is all I really knew when writing this album.”

Wrong Side Of The River has a country rock flavor. Elkins’ website notes the tune encourages embracing where you’re from, because a supportive home life can make all the difference even if you’re not living on the so-called right side of town.

On Nashville Money, a nice bluesy rocker, Elkins muses about life as a professional music artist…With that Nashville money/gonna take care of my hopes and dreams/With that Nashville money/Gonna make a big star out of me…

Let’s take a look at one more tune: Machine, a funky rock tune with a cool bass line.

As briefly noted above, Factories, Farms & Amphetamines was recorded live in studio at the storied RCA Studio A in Nashville. In early 2016, Dave Cobb took over the historic landmark for his Low Country Sound record label imprint. Apart from Chris Stapleton and Jason Isbell, some of the other artists who worked there include The Beach Boys, Joe Cocker, Waylon Jennings, B.B. King, Loretta Lynn, The Monkees, Dolly Parton, Leon Russell and George Strait.

In addition to Elkins (guitar, vocals), the album also features the members of his touring band: Caleb Stamphler (guitar), Avery Whitaker (guitar), Nathan Johnson (bass) and Jake Bartlett (drums). Here’s a Spotify link to the entire album:

Reflecting on working with producer Dave Cobb, Elkins states on his website: “I came in with probably 30 songs that we had widdled down from 50-60. Dave would just sit down with us and say ‘ok, let’s hear what you got.’ He knew pretty quickly which ones he wanted to dive into, and from there, it was just kind of a Dave Cobb crash course. We’d only been in the studio one time before that, so there might have been a thing or two that we needed to learn.”

Encouraged by the experience, apparently, Elkins is already looking forward to recording more music. “Now when I’m writing songs, I have all these Dave-isms in my head—like, ‘Oh, yeah, there we go. All right, throw this here.’”, he notes. “Before we recorded Factories, Farms & Amphetamines, I thought maybe you had to be a superhero to make a record. Next time, it’s going be a little easier.”

Elkins is off to a great start as a recording artist, and he’s only 21 years old. I think we can look forward to more great music from this talented young artist.

Sources: Wikipedia; Myron Elkins website; YouTube; Spotify

The Sunday Six

Welcome to another installment of The Sunday Six! Hope you join me on my first musical excursion in September 2022.

Delicate Steve/Looking Glass

Usually, I like to kick off this recurring feature with jazz, which for some reason seems to be a natural fit for a Sunday, especially during the morning. But it’s also good to shake up things every now and then. So here’s my first proposition for today: Delicate Steve, the stage name of American multi-instrumentalist Steve Marion, who has been active since 2010. His sound has blended elements of progressive rock, folksy twang, African rhythms, surf rock and 1970s pop. Marion is a sought after artist, having collaborated with the likes of The Black Keys, Paul Simon and Tame Impala. Looking Glass is a great-sounding track from Marion’s latest album After Hours released July 8. According to his website, it was “written and recorded on a 1966 Fender Stratocaster that reignited his love for the instrument.”

The Kinks/Living On a Thin Line

After a cool guitar instrumental, the next stop on our trip are the ’80s. If you’re well familiar with my music taste, you may be a bit surprised I picked a tune by The Kinks. After all, I’ve said more than once that while they are among my favorite British bands, I particularly dig their ’60s output. That’s still the case, but there are exceptions. One is Living On a Thin Line. Written by Dave Davies, the tune is from The Kinks’ 21st studio album Word of Mouth, which appeared in November 1984. Man, I love it! Are we going to see a reunion of The Kinks? “We’ve been talking about it,” Ray Davies told The Washington Post in January 2021. “I mean there’s a lot of material and, you know, it could still happen.” Now, you really got me!

Bob Dylan/Rainy Day Women #12 & 35

How do you move from ’80s Kinks to ’60s Bob Dylan? To borrow from a famous ad for sneakers, ‘just do it!’ The year is 1966. In May of that year, Dylan released his seventh studio album Blonde on Blonde, which I think is fair to say is widely considered to be among his best records. His accolades include the induction into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999 and a no. 38 ranking in the most recent 2020 update of Rolling Stone’s list of 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Here’s the terrific opener Rainy Day Women #12 & 35. I just love the sound of the raucous brass band, which is a perfect match to the line, Everybody must get stoned!

Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris & Linda Ronstadt/After the Gold Rush

Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt are three artists I’ve really come to appreciate over the past five years or so. Bringing big acts together for an album doesn’t guarantee a successful outcome, but I feel in this case it worked – for the second time! The case is Trio II, the second collaboration album by these dynamite ladies, which came out in February 1999. While the songs had been recorded in 1994, seven years after the appearance of Trio, it actually took 12 years for these renditions to be released. Why? Label disputes and conflicting schedules. Whatever the reason, this record was worth the wait. Here’s one of my all-time favorites: After the Gold Rush, a tune written by Neil Young who first recorded it as the title track of his third studio album from September 1970. The angelic harmony singing gives me goosebumps every time I listen to the tune. This is so beautiful that it can make me well up!

The Doors/Roadhouse Blues

Okay, it’s time to shake off the goosebumps and kick it up a few notches with a great blues rocker by The Doors. Roadhouse Blues, written by Jim Morrison with the music credited to the band, is the opener of their fifth studio album Morrison Hotel released in February 1970. In case you’d like to read more about the record, fellow blogger Music Enthusiast recently covered it. Songfacts notes, When Jim Morrison got drunk, he liked to sing blues numbers at The Doors jam sessions. This [is] one of the songs he came up with at one of those inebriated sessions. Interestingly, Road House Blues also appeared separately as the B-side to the album’s only single You Make Me Real. Don’t get me wrong: I dig you You Make Me Real. I just find it surprising Road House Blues was a B-side. In my humble opinion, it would have deserved release as its own A-side single. Ladies and gentlemen, from Los Angeles, California, The Doors!

Roger Daltrey/As Long As I Have You

Once again, the time has come to wrap up another Sunday musical excursion. For this last tune, we return to the current century and Roger Daltrey. I trust the longtime lead vocalist of The Who needs no further introduction. What perhaps you may be less aware of is Daltrey’s tenth solo album As Long As I Have You, which came out in June 2018. The soulful record was Daltrey’s first solo effort in 26 years. In September 2015, Daltrey was diagnosed with viral meningitis during The Who Hits 50! North American tour, forcing the band to reschedule the remaining dates until 2016. This almost led Daltrey to scrap his solo album, for which he already had eight tracks. When his longtime partner in crime Pete Townshend heard the songs, he encouraged Daltrey to finish the project. Townshend also offered to play guitar on it. For more information, you can check my review I published at the time. I’ll leave you with the title track, a cover of a tune first released by American soul singer Garnet Mimms in 1964. It was co-written by Bob Elgin and Jerry Ragovoy. Check out Daltrey’s killer voice!

Last but not least, here’s a Spotify playlist featuring all of the above tunes. Hope you find something you dig!

Sources: Wikipedia; Delicate Steve website; The Washington Post; Songfacts; YouTube; Spotify

Best of What’s New

Happy Saturday, which means it’s time to take a fresh look at newly-released music! Sometimes, these weekly posts come together pretty quickly. On other occasions, they take a bit more time. This installment fell more into the latter category. It simply all depends on how much research I need to do to find new music I reasonably enjoy, based on initial impressions. All of my picks in this post appear on albums that were released yesterday (April 8). In one case it’s a single from an upcoming record.

Father John Misty/Q4

I’d like to kick off with American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer Joshua Tillman, known as Father John Misty. Tillman, who grew up in an Evangelical Christian household in Rockville, Md., has been active since 2001. Apart from having been a member of or toured with multiple bands, such as Demon Hunter, Fleet Foxes and Jeffertitti’s Nile (none of which I know), Tillman has contributed to albums by the likes of Beyoncé, Lady Gaga and Post Malone and produced an album for Matthew Daniel Siskin, known as Gambles – quite an eclectic-looking mix! Since 2003, he also has released 13 solo albums, initially as J. Tillman and from 2012 onward under the Father John Misty moniker. Q4 is a track from Tillman’s new album Chloë and the Next 20th Century. Inspired by big band, jazz standards and traditional pop, it’s been compared to Randy Newman’s Sail Away and Harry Nilsson’s A Little Touch of Schmilsson in the Night, according to Wikipedia. Check out that neat harpsichord on Q4, a tune penned by Tillman.

The Linda Lindas/Talking to Myself

I first came across and featured Los Angeles-based all-female pop-punk and garage band The Linda Lindas in early March. Founded in 2018 when they were still young teenagers, the group features Bela Salazar (guitar, vocals), Eloise Wong (bass, vocals), Lucia de la Garza (guitar, vocals) and her sister Mila de la Garza (drums, vocals). After American actress and film director Amy Poehler watched the band perform live, she asked them to record a song for her 2021 comedy-drama Moxie. The Linda Lindas also penned a tune for the 2020 Netflix documentary The Claudia Kishi Club. Last May, they signed with  Epitaph Records and released Oh!, their first single with the label. Talking to Myself, credited to Mila de la Garza and The Linda Lindas, is a song from their first full-length album Growing Up. There’s just something about the enthusiasm and energy these young ladies project!

Caitlyn Smith/Dreamin’s Free

Caitlyn Smith is a country and pop singer-songwriter. According to her Apple Music profile, she cashed out her college fund to record her debut, Learning to Be, which was released when she was just 15 [in 2001 – CMM]. Her breakthrough album, Starfire [January 2018 – CMM], named for a vintage guitar she received from her father, debuted at the top of the iTunes Singer/Songwriter chart. Meghan Trainor’s “Like I’m Gonna Lose You” and the Dolly Parton-Kenny Rogers duet “You Can’t Make Old Friends” are just two of the hits she’s written for other artists….Garth Brooks called Smith one of the top female vocalists he’s ever heard. Colbie Caillat, Kacey Musgraves, and Maren Morris have all performed at her quarterly “Girls of Nashville” songwriting showcase. This brings me to Smith’s third and latest studio album High and the track Dreamin’s Free, a nice tune, co-written by her, Lori McKenna and Shane McAnally.

Thundermother/Watch Out

Wrapping up this week’s new music revue are all-female Swedish hard rockers Thundermother. The band, formed in Stockholm in 2010, currently consists of founder Filippa Nässil (guitar), along with Guernica Mancini (lead vocals), Mona “Demona” Lindgren (bass) and Emlee Johansson (drums), according to their website. Their debut album Rock ‘n’ Roll Disaster appeared in January 2014. Watch Out is Thundermother’s new single from their upcoming fifth album Black and Gold. “The song is about this moment in our career,” said Nässil in a press release. “It’s about rising up, being powerful women working as a team, and taking charge.” The following clip notes, “For Fans Of: AC/DC, Airbourne, D-A-D, Rose Tattoo, Aerosmith Hardrock” – sounds about right to me!

Last but not least, here’s this week’s Spotify list featuring the above and a few additional tunes. Hope you’ll find something you dig!

Sources: Wikipedia; Apple Music; Thundermother website; YouTube; Spotify

Best of What’s New

After the unprecedented events we witnessed in this country earlier this week, it feels somewhat surreal to blog about something completely unrelated. At the same time, the fact new music keeps coming out is reassuring to me. In fact, music has always had a degree of healing power during challenging times and provided a welcome distraction. While ignoring reality can be dangerous, I believe occasionally escaping from it is a good thing to clear your mind and gather strength.

I’m very excited about this week’s Best of What’s New installment, which features indie and country singer-songwriters, a young incredibly talented vintage soul vocalist who knocked my socks off and…well, you’ll need to continue reading to find out yourself. All of this great music was just released yesterday (January 8).

Denison Witmer/River of Music

Dension Witmer is a singer-songwriter from Lancaster, Pa. According to his artist profile on Apple Music, Tagged by many music journalists as one of the most likely songwriters to fill the void left by Elliott Smith in the acoustic indie singer/songwriter movement, [he] catalogs the experiences of young adulthood in almost painfully honest detail. With a soft and sensitive voice that perfectly matches his laid-back 1970s California pop production and subtly expressive guitar work, he has gone from writing in his journal to becoming an intimate of like-minded artists like Damien Jurado and Pedro the Lion over the span of a few albums. Growing up in Lancaster, PA, Witmer picked up the guitar at the age of 16 and was soon showing enough promise to draw the interest of the Innocence Mission’s Don Peris. As Peris became Witmer’s musical mentor, he would oversee and play guitar and keyboard on his apprentice’s first recordings, 2000’s River Bends EP and the much-heralded Safe Away. Here’s the great River of Music, a track from Witmer’s new EP American Foursquare (Simplified). It surely feels good listening to his soothing voice and beautiful guitar-playing. And the lyrics about the power of music perfectly illustrate what I wrote in the intro of this post.

Morgan Wallen/Livin’ the Dream

Country music singer-songwriter Morgan Wallen, who hails from the tiny Tennessee town of Sneedville (about 250 miles east of Nashville), first gained some prominence as a contestant on season 6 of The Voice in 2014. While Wallen didn’t make it to the final, his stint eventually led to a deal with Panacea Records and his debut EP Stand Alone from August 2015. Wallen switched to Big Loud Records thereafter and released his first full-length studio album If I Know Me in April 2018. Livin’ the Dream is a track from his sophomore release Dangerous: The Double Album. This double album features a hefty 30 tunes, many prominent country songwriters and a guest appearance by Chris Stapleton. Livin’ the Dream, a tale about life as a “rock star,” was co-written by Wallen, Ben Burgess, Jacob Durrett and Michael Wilson Hardy, aka Hardy.

Barry Gibb/To Love Somebody

Yep, that’s Barry Gibb, formerly of the Bee Gees. I recently covered them in a four-part series here (part 1), here (part 2), here (part 3) and here (part 4). All I’d like to say in this post is if you think the Bee Gees were just a disco band, I’d encourage to take a closer look at their music or read my series. Was it necessary for Gibb, the group’s only surviving member, to come out with Greenfields: The Gibb Brothers’ Songbook, Vol 1., an album of newly recorded versions of mostly famous Bee Gees songs? Probably not – on the other hand, why not! The Bee Gees’ catalog is full with well crafted songs. Co-written by Barry Gibb and Robin Gibb, To Love Somebody is among my favorite early Bee Gees tunes. It initially appeared on Bee Gees’ 1st, the group’s first internationally released full-length studio album that was released in July 1967 in the UK and appeared the following month in the U.S. The newly recorded version features Jay Buchanan, lead vocalist of American rock band Rival Sons. The album also includes many other guests, mostly from country music, a favorite genre of Barry’s, such as Little Big Town, Dolly Parton and Sheryl Crow. Be cynical about it, if you like. I dig and stand behind these songs and the Bee Gees!

Aaron Frazer/ If I Got It (Your Love Brought It)

According to his website, Aaron Frazer is a Brooklyn-based, Baltimore-raised songwriter [who] first came into the international spotlight as multi-instrumentalist and co-lead singer for Durand Jones & The Indications. He penned some of the group’s most notable tracks, including ‘Morning In America,’ and sang lead on ‘Is It Any Wonder?’ – the latter an instant sweet soul classic anchored by Aaron’s falsetto, which caught the ear of producer and Black Keys guitarist Dan Auerbach…Soft-spoken with the look of a slightly disaffected 1950s matinee idol, Aaron Frazer possesses a unique voice that’s both contemporary and timeless. His higher register conveys a wide emotional palate and a progressive worldview in the tradition of musical masterminds like Curtis Mayfield. While Aaron’s stirring falsetto and thoughtful songwriting have made him established in the world of revival soul music, he refuses to be pigeonholed. That falsetto is in beautiful action on If I Got It (Your Love Brought It), a tune from Aaron’s debut album Introducing…, which was produced by Auerbach. The song was co-written by Frazer, Auerbach and David Ferguson. So good! check it out!

Sources: Wikipedia; Apple Music; Aaron Frazer website; YouTube

Bee Gees – Part 4: Downfall, Comeback and Last Man Standing

“We didn’t categorize our songs as disco, but then we weren’t thinking that way at all. We were just thinking about writing songs based on the discovery of this falsetto voice and how well that seemed to work.” (Barry Gibb, The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart)

By the end of the ’70s, the Bee Gees had become ubiquitous. Saturday Night Fever won Album of the Year at the 1979 Grammy Awards, one of four music awards they scored related to the film. At one point, the Bee Gees and their younger brother Andy Gibb held five of the top 10 spots on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. Perhaps not surprisingly, what goes up, must come down. Or crashing down in this case.

Bee Gees in 1979 (from left): Robin Gibb, Barry Gibb and Maurice Gibb

Apart from ubiquity, whether they liked it or not, it was the Bee Gees’ close association with disco that triggered their precipitous downfall when disco rapidly declined in popularity by the end of the ’70s and became the subject of outright backlash. More and more radio stations refused to play disco and Bee Gees music. And it got even worse. In the Broken Heart documentary, Maurice Gibb noted, “We had FBI and Secret Service around the airplane every time we landed in a certain place because of the bomb threats. It was scary stuff.”

Essentially, the situation forced the Bee Gees to stop performing as a group. While for their 1981 album Living Eyes, they stylistically turned away from their ’70s albums that had brought them past fame, it only sold 750,000 copies worldwide – not too shabby on the surface but measly compared to 16 million predecessor Spirits Having Flown had generated. Living Eyes stalled at no. 41 in the U.S. and at no. 73 in the UK. Here’s the title track, a co-write by the three brothers.

For the next six years, the Bee Gees largely focused on writing songs for other artists. Barry Gibb worked with Barbara Streisand on her hugely successful 1980 studio album Guilty, which he co-produced and for which he wrote or co-wrote all songs. This included the ballad Woman in Love, which like the album topped the charts in the U.S., UK and many other countries. The title track, written by the three Gibb brothers, also became a hit. Interestingly, the album cover showed a picture of Streisand and Barry Gibb who also sang backing vocals on Guilty.

Additional examples of Bee Gees songs performed by other artists in the 80s include Heartbreaker (Dionne Warwick), Islands in the Stream (Dolly Parton & Kenny Rodgers) and the Diana Ross album Eaten Alive. The Gibb brothers also did some solo work during that period. Robin Gibb enjoyed some success with his solo music in Germany.

In 1987, the Bee Gees decided to record a new album, E.S.P., six years after their last unsuccessful studio release. For the first time in 12 years, they also worked again with Arif Mardin, who had produced their mid-’70s album Main Course, the career-defining record that previously revived the group, introducing their R&B-driven dance pop and Barry’s falsetto.

While I’m not sure Mardin had a comparable influence on E.S.P., the album launched another comeback for the Bee Gees. It performed particularly well in Europe, reaching no. 1 in Germany and Switzerland, no. 2 in Austria and no. 5 in the UK. In the U.S., it barely cracked the top 100, stalling at no. 96 on the Billboard 200. Here’s the lead single You Win Again, co-written by all three Gibb brothers like all other tracks on the album.

Then fate hit again. Andy Gibb, who like his older brothers was a music artist and had enjoyed some success in the late ’70s, passed away on March 10, 1988 from myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle caused by years of cocaine abuse that had fatally weakened his heart. He was only 30 years old. In addition to drug addiction, Andy had struggled with depression.

Andy’s death delayed the Bee Gees’ next album One. After taking an eight-month break, Barry, Maurice and Robin returned to the studio to finish the album. It appeared in April 1989 and was dedicated to Andy. Here’s the moving tribute Wish You Were Here.

The Bee Gees went on to release four additional studio albums between March 1991 and April 2001. Still Waters, which appeared in March 1997, marked their last triumph. In spite of lukewarm reviews, it became their best-selling album in almost 20 years. Here’s opener Alone, co-written by Barry, Maurice and Robin, which also became the lead single.

The remaining story of the Bee Gees is sad. On January 12, 2003, Maurice Gibb unexpectedly died at the age of 53 due to complications from a twisted intestine, which caused cardiac arrest. While Barry and Robin occasionally performed together thereafter, Maurice’s death ended the Bee Gees. In November 2011, it was announced Robin had been diagnosed with liver cancer. Six months later on May 20, 2012, he passed away. Robin was only 62 years old. Barry Gibb had lost all of his brothers.

In February 2013, Barry kicked off his first solo tour in Australia “in honour of his brothers and a lifetime of music,” as he told British newspaper Express in April 2013. Performing without any of his brothers was extremely challenging, as he noted in the aforementioned article. In the end, things worked out well. “The Australian leg of this tour was a great test of my self-doubt because even though I’ve done solo performances before it wasn’t going to be the same without Robin and Mo,” Barry said. “The opening night in Sydney was incredible. That’s where we grew up so to go back and see people that we knew was therapeutic.”

Barry Gibb, September 2020

Gibb has continued to tour over the years. In October 2016, he released his second solo album In the Now, together with his sons Stephen Gibb and Ashley Gibb. Last month, he announced a new solo album Greenfields: The Gibb Brothers Songbook, Vol 1, which is scheduled to appear on January 8, 2021, as reported by JamBase. It includes new recordings of Bee Gees songs like I’ve Gotta Get a Message to You, Lonely Days and Jive Talkin’, featuring many guests, such as Jason Isbell, Alison Krauss and Cheryl Crow.

“I think everything we set out to do, we did against all odds. I can’t honestly come to terms with the fact they’re not here anymore. Never been able to do that. I’m always reliving it. It’s always, ‘what would Robin think’, ‘what would Maurice think’ – and Andy. It never goes away. And, what I wanted to say earlier is that I’ve rather have them all back here and no hits at all.” (Barry Gibb, The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart)

Sources: Wikipedia; The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart – documentary directed by Frank Marshall; Express; JamBase; YouTube

What I’ve Been Listening to: Yola/Walk Through Fire

When I included the latest single by Yola in my last Best of What’s New installment, I noticed her first full-length solo album Walk Through Fire received many accolades. Since the strong voice of the English singer-songwriter immediately grabbed me, I checked it out and have to say it’s a true gem, both musically and in terms of her vocal performance.

Getting to that point wasn’t exactly an easy path for Yola who was born as Yolanda Quartey in 1983 in Bristol, England. According to this review in Popmatters, Yola had a tough childhood characterized by poverty and a parent who didn’t care for her and banned music. Later she lived homeless in London for some time before establishing herself as a session singer and touring with acts like DJ collective Bugz in the Attic and electronic music outfit Massive Attack.

Yola Carter

In 2005, she co-founded country-soul band Phantom Limb and recorded two studio albums and a live record with them. But ultimately, as her artist profile in Apple Music notes, Yola felt the need to strike out on her own. Over the next few years, she started writing her own songs that were influenced by Muscle Shoals era country-soul, R&B and classic singer-songwriter style. In 2016, she released her debut EP Orphan Offering under the name of Yola Carter.

Eventually, Yola went to Nashville where she met Dan Auerbach after he had seen a video of her. Apparently, Auerbach was immediately impressed by her. “Her spirit fills the room, just like her voice,” he reportedly said. “She has the ability to sing in a full roar or barely a whisper and that is a true gift.” Auerbach teamed up with Yola to co-write songs, together with other writers, including Bobby Wood, Pat McLaughlin and Dan Penn.

Yola and Dan Auerbach

Auerbach also assembled an impressive group of seasoned studio musicians, including Dave Roe (bass), who played with Johnny Cash and John Mellencamp, among others; harmonica player Charlie McCoy (credits include Elvis Presley, Dolly Parton, Bob Dylan, etc.) and drummer Gene Crisman, who together with Bobby Wood was a member of the Memphis Boys. They were the house band of American Sound Studio in Memphis, Tenn. where artists like Elvis, Wilson Pickett, Aretha Franklin and Dusty Springfield recorded. Auerbach also produced Walk Through Fire, which appeared in February 2019 on his Easy Eye Sound label.

With all of the above, it’s not surprising the album has a retro late ’60s sound. This is also matched by the cover. And yet, to me, Walk Through Fire feels like an album that will hold up well over time. It simply is a work of beauty. Let’s get to some music.

Here’s the opener Faraway Look. The track was co-written by Auerbach, McLaughin and Yola. BTW, McLaughlin’s compositions have been performed by artists like Bonnie Raitt, Alan Jackson, Taj Mahal and Al Kooper, among others. Sure, the production might be a bit on the lush side, but this is just a beautiful tune.

Ride Out in the Country is another great track. The song was co-written by Auerbach, Yola and Joe Allen. Allen is a county songwriter and bassist who since the early ’70s has worked with the likes of Loretta Lynn, Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings and Johnny Cash.

Next up is the title track, which according to Wikipedia references both a fire that damaged Yola’s home and an abusive relationship from which she escaped. The tune was co-written by Auerbach, Yola and Dan Penn. Penn has co-written many soul hits of the ’60s, including The Dark End of the Street and Do Right Woman, Do Right Man and Cry Like a Baby.

Rock Me Gently is my current favorite on the album. It’s another Auerbach-Allen-Yola co-write.

Let’s do one more: Love All Night (Work All Day), co-credited to Wood, Auerbach and Yola.

As noted above, Walk Through Fire was very well received. The album also generated three Grammy nominations: Best Americana Album, Best American Roots Song (Faraway Look) and Best New Artist. Walk Through Fire was also nominated for Album of the Year at the Americana Music Honors & Awards. And, yes, the album also did score a win: UK Album of the Year at the UK Americana Awards.

At age 37, Yola still is relatively young. I look forward to much more great music from this talented songwriter and vocalist.

Sources: Wikipedia; Popmatters; Apple Music; YouTube