The Sunday Six

Happy Sunday and welcome to another trip, leaving these crazy times behind and visiting the great world of music, including six tunes in different flavors from different decades. All aboard our magic time machine, fasten your seatbelt, and off we go!

Chick Corea/Crystal Silence

Today’s journey starts in September 1972 with beautiful music by Chick Corea, off his first self-titled album with his then-newly formed jazz fusion group Return to Forever. The jazz pianist had started his professional and recording career in the early ’60s as a sideman for Mongo Santamaria, Willie Bobo, Blue Mitchell, Herbie Mann, Stan Getz and Miles Davis. He also had launched his solo career in 1966 and released more than 10 albums under his name. In fact, technically, Return to Forever appeared as a Chick Corea record. The band of the same name had multiple line-ups over their long on-and-off run that ended with Corea’s death from cancer in February 2021 at the age of 79. In addition to Corea (electric piano), at the time of their eponymous debut album, the group featured Flora Purim (vocals, percussion), her husband Airto Moreira (drums, percussion), Joe Farrell (flute, soprano saxophone) and Stanley Clarke (bass). Check out the gorgeous Corea composition Crystal Silence – the combination of Farrell’s saxophone and Corea’s Fender Rodes is just mesmerizing!

Marc Cohn/Walking in Memphis

Let’s move on to February 1991 and a song I instantly fell in love with when I heard it for the first time back in Germany: Walking in Memphis, the biggest hit for American singer-songwriter Marc Cohn, off his eponymous debut album. The tune was also released separately as the album’s first single in March of the same year. Cohn’s signature song reached high positions on various U.S. charts, including no. 7 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock and no. 13 on the Hot 100. The single also did well on mainstream charts elsewhere, including Canada (no. 3), Australia (no. 11), the UK (no. 22) and Germany (no. 25). This was pretty much mirrored by the performance of the album, for which Cohn won the 1992 Grammy Award for Best New Artist. He has since released five additional albums, which charted as well but could not match the success of the debut. After taking a break between 1998 and 2004, Cohn remains active to this day. In August 2005, he cheated death when he was shot in the head during an attempted car-jacking in Denver, Colo. Sadly, these types of incidents and even much worse happen in the U.S. all the time, yet nothing ever seems to change!

Cream/Sunshine of Your Love

Time to pay a visit to the ’60s and what may well be called the ultimate British supergroup: Cream. During their short career of less than two and a half years, the power trio of bassist Jack Bruce, guitarist Eric Clapton and drummer Ginger Baker recorded four albums featuring some of the best blues rock, psychedelic rock and acid rock coming out of the UK during that time period. Sunshine of Your Love, credited to Bruce, Clapton and lyricist Pete Brown, began as a bass riff Bruce came up with after he had attended a concert by the Jimi Hendrix Experience in London in January 1967. The tune first appeared on Cream’s sophomore studio album Disraeli Gears in November 1967. It was subsequently released as a single in the U.S. and the UK in December 1967 and September 1968, respectively. Two months after the UK single had come out Cream dissolved. Given the bad fights between Bruce and Baker, which also turned physical, it’s a miracle they lasted that long and nobody was killed.

Dire Straits/Brothers In Arms

Our next stop is May 1985, which saw the release of Dire Straits’ second-to-final album Brothers In Arms. I still well remember when it came out, in part because it was among the first all-digitally recorded albums and sounded absolutely amazing. I guess it’s fair to say Brothers In Arms is best known for Money For Nothing, which became the British group’s most commercially successful single. While it’s certainly a good tune, I feel it was heavily over-exposed on the radio. I also think there’s more to the album than its mega-hit. One of the tunes I’ve always liked is the title track. Like Money For Nothing, it was written by Mark Knopfler, though Sting who provided the falsetto vocals also received a writing credit for Money For Nothing. Brothers In Arms also appeared separately as a single, but it didn’t match the other tune’s chart performance. It came very close in New Zealand where it peaked at no. 5, just one spot below Money For Nothing.

Chuck Berry/Johnny B. Goode

Let’s speed things up a few notches with one of my all-time favorite classic rock & roll songs. In order to do that we shall travel back to March 1958 when Chuck Berry first released Johnny B. Goode as a single. Written by Berry, it became one of his best-known tunes, though amazingly it didn’t reach the top of any chart – really mind-boggling from today’s perspective! But it came close in the U.S. where it peaked at no. 2 on Billboard’s Hot Rhythm & Blues Singles chart. It also climbed to no. 8 on the mainstream pop chart. Johnny B. Goode was also included on Berry’s third studio album Chuck Berry Is On Top, together with other classics like Carol, Maybellene, Little Queenie and Roll Over Beethoven. While Berry didn’t invent rock & roll, it’s fair to say rock & roll wouldn’t have been the same without him.

CVC/Hail Mary

And once again another music journey is reaching its final destination. For this pick, we jump back to the present and a band I had not heard of before until a few weeks ago: CVC, which NME in this review describes as a Welsh psych-rock band. Also known as Church Village Collective, they were founded three years ago. It amazes me time and again how music groups have websites that don’t provide any background whatsoever! At least there’s a Spotify profile, which notes the six-piece named themselves “after the sleepy Welsh town they come from” and “are influenced by Snoop Dogg, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Super Furry Animals and Red Hot Chili Peppers.” CVC are Francesco Orsi (vocals), David Bassey (guitar, vocals), Elliot Bradfield (guitar, vocals), Daniel ‘Nanial’ Jones (keyboards), Ben Thorne (bass) and Tom Fry (drums). This brings me to Hail Mary, a nice tune from the band’s full-length debut album Get Real.

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

Sources: Wikipedia; NME; YouTube; Spotify

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Best of What’s New

Happy Saturday and welcome to the first 2023 installment of Best of What’s New, a weekly feature looking at newly released music. For first-time visitors, my picks typically fall outside the current mainstream pop charts, where I tend to find much more music that speaks to me. All featured tunes in this post are on albums that appeared yesterday (January 6), except for the last track.

Brandon Ratcliff/Tale of Two Towns

Kicking off things is Brandon Ratcliff, a young singer-songwriter who combines country, pop and R&B. From his website: From the day he was born, and even before, he was on stages, on tour buses, and in writing rooms across America, watching his family sing the music they love as the celebrated Bluegrass band, The Cox Family. Born in Cotton Valley, LA (population 962), Brandon saw first-hand how universal the stories born in small towns are. The son of Suzanne Cox, one third of the family band, Brandon watched as his mother and her siblings won Grammy Awards telling those stories to the world…After deciding to leave Cotton Valley for Nashville, Brandon’s talents quickly attracted the music business machine in town. He was offered a publishing deal at the age of 20 but decided to turn it down to develop his sound...In 2018 Brandon was signed to Monument Records, and in 2019 burst onto the scene with his debut single, “Rules Of Breaking Up,” accumulating more than 50 million streams. This brings me to Tales of Two Towns, the title track of Ratcliff’s ambitious debut double album. He wrote the tune together with Josh Jenkins and Peter Good. I like it!

Allen Epley/Thousand Yard Stare

Allen Epley was born in Louisville, Ky. and grew up in a musical family. After playing in a college band, he co-founded Orchid in 1992, which soon became Shiner, a post-hardcore/alternative rock band. After four studio albums and their split, Epley formed indie rock band The Life and Times in 2002, who remain active to this day. Since 2012, Shiner have played reunion shows and in 2020 released another album. Apart from Epley’s continued engagements with both groups, he frequently collaborates with other bands. And he also managed to record his solo debut album Everything. Let’s check out the great-sounding Thousand Yard Stare.

Anti-Flag/Nvrevr

Anti-Flag are a punk rock band from Pittsburgh, Pa., who have been around since 1988. Their current line-up includes co-founding members Justin Sane (vocals, guitar) and Pat Thetic (drums), along with Chris Head (guitar) and Chris No. 2 (vocals, bass). Anti-Flag who are known for their extensive political activism, released their debut album Die For the Government in August 1996. Since then, 12 additional albums have come out including their latest Lies They Tell Our Children. According to AllMusic, Anti-Flag have gained a “reputation for recapturing the old-school ethics of punk: fast, loud, obnoxious, and anti-everything that ends with an “ism.”” Frankly, “fast” and “loud” don’t sound like particularly attractive musical attributes to me, but when combined with a good melody can still work. Here’s Nvrever featuring Stacey Dee, guitarist and vocalist of pop punk group Bad Cop/Bad Cop. Credited to all members of Anti-Flag, the rocker first appeared as a single last November.

Iggy Pop/Strung Out Johnny

Frankly, Iggy Pop wasn’t exactly on my radar screen, so I was surprised to see a new album by the now 75-year-old “Godfather of Punk.” That said, I know his name much better than his music. Pop, born James Newell Osterberg Jr., started his music career as a drummer in various high school bands in Ann Arbor, Mich. in the mid-’60s. In 1967, he formed the Psychedelic Stooges who became The Stooges the following year. After three albums and a short break-up in between, they split a second time in 1974. Three years later, Pop began a volatile yet ultimately successful solo career, which has yielded 19 studio albums to date. Between 2003 and 2019, Pop played with different versions of The Stooges who released two additional albums during that period. Pop’s new solo album, titled Every Loser, features guest appearances from Duff McKagan (ex Guns N’ Roses bassist), Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer), Dave Navarro (Jane’s Addiction guitarist) and the late Taylor Hawkins (former Foo Fighters drummer), among others. Here’s Strung Out Johnny, co-written by Andrew Watt, Chad Smith, Pop and Josh Klinghoffer – cool rocker!

The Hold Steady/Sideways Skull

My final pick for this week is Sideways Skull, the great new single by New York indie rock band The Hold Steady. Formed in 2003, their current lineup includes co-founders Craig Finn (lead vocals, guitar), Tad Kubler (lead guitar, backing vocals) and Galen Polivka (bass), along with Steve Selvidge (rhythm guitar, backing vocals), Franz Nicolay (piano, keyboards, accordion, harmonica, backing vocals) and Bobby Drake (drums, percussion). Wikipedia notes the band is known for their “lyrically dense storytelling”, “classic rock influences” and “narrative-based songs [that] frequently address themes, such as drug addiction, religion and redemption, and often feature recurring characters within the city of Minneapolis.” Since their 2004 debut Almost Killed Me, The Hold Steady have released seven additional studio albums. Their new single, co-written by Finn, Nicolay and Kubler, is from their upcoming ninth studio album The Price of Progress, scheduled for March 31.

Last but not least, here’s a Spotify list of the above and a few additional tunes by the featured artists.

Sources: Wikipedia; Brandon Ratcliff website; Allen Epley website; AllMusic; YouTube; Spotify

Best of What’s New

It’s Saturday again, which means time to take a fresh look at newly released music. All picks appear on brand-new albums that came out yesterday (October 14). Let’s get to it without further ado!

Miko Marks & The Resurrectors/Feel Like Going Home

How many Americana and country artists can you name who are women of color? I’m thrilled to feature for the second time in Best of What’s New Miko Marks, an African-American singer drawing from both genres, as well as blues, soul and gospel. Born in Flint, Mich., she currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 2005, Marks released her debut single Freeway Bound, which also was the title track of her first studio album that appeared in September of the same year. In 2006, she was named Best New Country Artist by U.S. trade magazine New Music Weekly. Marks has also won various music awards and was included in this year’s Country Music Television’s “Next Women of Country 2022” class. Feel Like Going Home is the excellent title track of her fourth and latest studio album. Initially, the tune appeared as a single back in March. As was the case for her previous album, Marks is backed by The Resurrectors, the house band of Redtone Records. I absolutely love her soulful sound and want to further explore this artist!

Souad Massi/Dessine-moi un Pays

Souad Massi is an Algerian Berber singer-songwriter and guitarist, my first such artist on the blog. From her Apple Music profile: Displaying influences as disparate as birdsong, American folk rock, Spanish flamenco, tablas from Pakistan, and Arabic lutes, all held together by a cool, sad-edged voice, Algerian singer-songwriter Souad Massi possesses one of the most unusual stories and sounds in the pop universe. Born amidst civil-war-torn Algers, her penchant for Westerns, particularly of the Sergio Leoni variety, prompted a specific interest in country music and cowboy culture. Massi joined Atakor, a rock band named after an Algerian mountain range, and in 1997 released a cassette of her own songs backed by Atakor entitled simply Souad. The cassette’s popularity brought death threats in her home country and when invited to play a festival in Paris, she chose to remain in France, where she released critically-favored records like Raoui and Deb. This brings me to Massi’s new album Sequana and the opener Dessine-moi un Pays (“draw a country for me”). While I admittedly don’t understand the lyrics, I find Massi’s music and singing really beautiful.

Enumclaw/Jimmy Neutron

Enumclaw are an indie rock band from Tacoma, Wash., named after a city located about 30 miles east of Tacoma. According to a profile on the website of their record label Luminelle Recordings, the group includes Aramis Johnson (lead vocals, guitar), Nathan Cornell (guitar), Johnson’s younger brother Eli Edwards (bass) and Ladaniel Gipson (drums). Here’s a bit more from their profile: Even though they hail from the home of grunge, their influences stretch a bit further; the group is already well on their way to becoming “the best band since Oasis,” their earliest motto. Aramis says the band led by the Gallagher brothers is a clear inspiration, given their rise from a working-class background, and not just because his own brother is in the group as well. Enumclaw are now out with their full-length debut album Save the Baby. Here’s Jimmy Neutron penned by Johnson. I like the rawness in their sound.

Red Hot Chili Peppers/Tippa My Tongue

Only six months after Unlimited Love, their international chart-topper, Red Hot Chili Peppers are back with a new album, their 13th. Just like its predecessor, Return of the Dream Canteen was produced by Rick Rubin, who also had also served in that capacity for six albums in a row released between 1991 and 2011. The current members of the Chili Peppers, who have been around since 1983, include co-founders Anthony Kiedis (lead vocals) and Michael Peter Balzary, known as Flea (bass, trumpet, piano, backing vocals), along with John Frusciante (guitars, keyboards, backing vocals) and Chad Smith (drums, percussion). Here’s Tippa My Tongue, the cool funky opener. Apart from Flea’s bass-playing, I dig the guitar work on this tune. Check it out!

As usual, following is a Spotify playlist with the above and a few additional tracks by the featured artists.

Sources: Wikipedia; Apple Music; Luminelle Recordings website; YouTube; Spotify

Rock the Farm Once Again Fired On All Cylinders

Saturday, the time had finally come for the long-awaited Rock the Farm to return to the Jersey shore. The annual tribute festival in Seaside Heights, N.J. once again delivered 10 hours of great music for a cause. And that cause – helping individuals and families struggling with addiction to drugs, alcohol and other substances – has gained even more urgency during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Rock the Farm is the main annual event of the nonprofit New Jersey CFC Loud N Clear Foundation to raise funds for programs designed to prevent relapse after drug rehab, a particularly challenging time to stay sober. CFC notes that since it was established in 2012, the foundation has assisted over 20,000 families struggling with addiction and has received numerous accolades and rewards for the innovative, groundbreaking approach to recovery. Throughout the event, individuals who have benefitted from CFC’s programs stepped on stage to share some of their stories, which was both pretty inspiring and moving. You can read more about CFC’s important work here. Let’s get to some music!

Kicking off the festival once again were One Fine Tapestry, a great tribute to Carole King and the music she co-wrote with Jerry Goffin for many other artists. At the core of this act are Gerard Barros and Diane Barros, a New Jersey-based versatile husband and wife duo who for many years have performed a variety of tribute shows. My all-time favorite Carole King album remains Tapestry. Here’s I Feel the Earth Move.

We May Be Right are a fun Billy Joel tribute led by pianist and lead vocalist Karl Dietel, a 20-year veteran of the New York-New Jersey-Connecticut tri-state area live music scene. The band also features Perry Andrews (brass, woodwinds, percussion, backing vocals), Derek Davodowich (guitars), Luke Kessel (bass, backing vocals) and Andy Janowiak (drums). I know I’ve said this before, it’s amazing to me how popular Billy Joel remains to this day, nearly 30 years since the piano man released his final pop album River of Dreams. There were definitely many Billy Joel fans among the Rock the Farm audience. One of the tunes they enjoyed was Big Shot, off Joel’s sixth studio album 52nd Street from October 1978.

And then it was time to really put the rock into Rock the Farm with La Grange. This New Jersey-based tribute to ZZ Top includes Sean Peronard as “Billy Fibbons” (Billy Gibbons), Pete Perrina as “Frank Goatee” (Frank Beard) and Jim Capobianco as “Rusty Hill” (Dusty Hill). It was all there: The sound, the singing, the beards and even the fury guitar and bass – the only things missing were the rotation of the instruments and my all-time ZZ Top favorite Tush! But, hey, they played plenty of other great tunes. It was a ball. Check out Cheap Sunglasses from the Texan rockers’ sixth studio album Degüello.

How about some more kickass rock? Ask and you shall receive with Stiff Upper Lip! This New Jersey tribute to AC/DC, formed in 2007, features Glenn Taglieri  (vocals), Joe Witterschein (guitar), Mike Cusumano (guitar), Peter Lee (bass) and Steve Villano (drums). One of my all-time AC/DC favorites is their song with the longest title: It’s a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock ‘n’ Roll). The tune initially appeared on AC/DC’s second, Australia-only record T.N.T. Subsequently, it was also included on their first international release High Voltage, which came out in April 1976. Here we go, featuring some enthusiastic, dancing ladies with glowing devil’s horns!

Okay, I’d say it’s time for a little breather. Here’s a little photo collage with different impressions from Rock the Farm.

Clockwise from upper left corner: Rock the Farm audience with bubbles from foam dance floor; the cameraman with another enthusiastic attendee; Jagged Little Thrill – The Alanis Morisette Experience (https://www.facebook.com/jlttribute); reminder of the event’s purpose; Winslow an Evening of the Eagles (https://www.facebook.com/WinslowEaglestribute); and once again the (exhausted) cameraman after 10 hours on his feet

All right, on to part II of this post and The ELO Tribute Show – yep, they make no bones about whose music they are celebrating! The group of Philly area-based musicians includes Mick Bodine (lead vocals, guitar), Andre “Virus” Karkos (guitars, vocals), Chris McCoy (keyboards, vocals), Julie Meyers (violin, vocals), Tommy Grasso (bass, vocals) and Dave Ramani (drums, percussion). Check out their cool rendition of Evil Woman, a tune from ELO’s September 1975 record Face the Music, their fifth studio release.

One could argue that holding a tribute festival in New Jersey without featuring music by at least one artist from the Garden State would be an oversight. Coming to the rescue were Keep The Faith from – nope, I bet you didn’t guess that one – Canada! This Bon Jovi tribute from Ontario includes Chris Newman (lead vocals, guitar), Chris Tondreau (guitar), Dan Benezra (keyboards, vocals), Doug Adams (bass) and Mark MacPherson (drums). Shall we check out their rendition of Born to Be My Baby, off Bon Jovi’s fourth studio album? Well, it’s really a rhetorical question since it’s my frigging blog! Are you one of the 100,000,000 Bon Jovi fans who can’t be wrong? If so, you should know the title of Bon Jovi’s fourth studio album. Yes, New Jersey!

And then things got pretty groovy with Funky Monks who shall we say aren’t your typical monks. Formed in 2003, this Chicago-based tribute to Red Hot Chili Peppers has performed across the U.S. and even internationally. The band consists of Ryan “Ryanthony” Machnica (vocals), Mike Walker (guitar), Jeff “Jefflea” Genualdi (b-b-b-bass) and Paul Guziec (drums). In case you ever wondered why I like to say bassists are cool dudes, Jeff is one of the reasons. Yes, I know, it’s the obvious Peppers tune to feature, but I couldn’t help it. Here’s Under the Bridge, included on Peppers’ fifth studio album Blood Sugar Sex Magik, released in September 1991.

All things must pass, as the wise George Harrison once sang. This also applies to Rock the Farm, which brings me to the final act of the night: Fleetwood Mac tribute TUSK – what a great way to end yet another outstanding event! Founded in 2008, TUSK primarily focus on the Mac’s pop-rock period. In addition, they feature some music from Stevie Nicks’ solo catalog and on Saturday night also threw in a cool blues medley of the Peter Green era. TUSK are Kathy Phillips as Stevie Nicks (vocals), Kim Williams as Christine McVie (keyboards, vocals), Scott McDonald as Lindsey Buckingham (guitar, vocals), Randy Artiglere as John McVie (bass) and Tom Nelson as Mick Fleetwood (drums). Here’s Little Lies, off Fleetwood Mac’s 14th studio album Tango in the Night, which came out in April 1987.

Rock the Farm 2022 is over. Sadly, the same cannot be said about addiction, which continues to upend the lives of those impacted and their friends and families. Many lives have been lost, even more so during the pandemic, leaving empty chairs in kitchens across this country.

The reality is addiction can happen to all of us. Nobody is immune! People struggling with drugs, alcohol and other substances deserve our compassion rather than stigmatization. That’s why it is so important that organizations like the CFC Loud N Clear Foundation continue their work. Once again, in case you’d like to find out more about their programs, visit https://healingus.org.

Sources: Wikipedia; CFC website; One Fine Tapestry Facebook page; We May Be Right website; La Grange Facebook page; Stiff Upper Lip website; The ELO Tribute Show website; Slippery When Wet website; Funky Monks website; TUSK website; YouTube

Get Ready to Rock the Farm

On September 24, the annual music festival Rock the Farm returns to Seaside Heights, N.J. Since my first attendance five years ago, I’ve loved the idea behind the 10-hour spectacle to combine top-notch tribute acts with a great cause. And with the dreadful COVID-19 pandemic now being well into its third year, that cause has taken on a new urgency: supporting individuals and families struggling to overcome addiction.

Drug overdose-related deaths in the U.S. have soared by 28.5% to an estimated 100,306 during the 12 months ended in April 2021, according to provisional data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in November 2021. That’s up from 78,056 for the corresponding period a year earlier. The latest CDC insights also show that estimated overdose deaths from opioids totaled 75,673 for the latest 12-month period, a 35% increase from 56,064 the year before. Imagining all the empty seats these lost lives have left at kitchen tables around the country paints a pretty grim picture.

While there are no barns and cows and Rock the Farm doesn’t take place on a farm, it rocks anyway!

Rock the Farm is the main annual fundraiser of the CFC Loud N Clear Foundation. The New Jersey non-profit community organization offers programs for individuals and families battling to overcome addiction to opioids, alcohol and other substances. Their efforts aim to fill the gap after clinical treatment in rehab, a period when staying sober and remaining on track can be particularly challenging.

The CFC Loud N Clear Foundation was established by the Regan family in 2012 after their son Daniel Regan had come out of a rehab center and with the help of his mother, Lynn Regan, developed a recovery system for himself. Other people noticed it was working for Daniel and started asking how they did it. That’s when the Regan family realized everyone should have access to an aftercare program, sparking the idea of establishing a foundation.

“CFC Loud n Clear Foundation is celebrating over 10 years of building strong communities of recovery,” said Alyssa Regan, CFC Assistant Executive Director who was kind enough to provide a quote for this post. “Rock the Farm is in its eighth year of bringing family fun and incredible music to Seaside Heights, New Jersey. However, this festival is more than just a great day during summer down the shore! Rock the Farm is about smashing the stigma of addiction, living life in recovery out loud, and the importance of aftercare and relapse prevention! This festival, which hosted 15,000 people last year, is entirely run by our community of recoverees and their families in order to raise funds for the program that has helped them gain a new life!”

Rock the Farm’s foam dance floor is a huge attraction for kids. Many mamas and papas like it as well!

Let’s take a look at the great line-up for the upcoming event, which includes tributes to Fleetwood Mac, Red Hot Chili Peppers, AC/DC, ELO, Eagles, Billy Joel, Carole King, Alanis Morissette, ZZ Top and Bon Jovi. Just imagine for a second seeing all the real acts in one festival, not to mention this particular line-up wouldn’t even be possible any longer, given Carole King has retired from performing! Fleetwood Mac and Carole King tributes TUSK and One Fine Tapestry performed at all four previous Rock the Farm events I attended. On separate previous occasions, I also saw Stiff Upper Lip and Keep The Faith, tributes to AC/DC and Bon Jovi, respectively. The other tribute artists are new to me.

Following are clips to preview some of the tribute acts who will play at Rock the Farm 2022. Kicking things off are TUSK with You Make Loving Fun, footage I captured at last year’s event. Focused on the pop rock period of Fleetwood Mac, the group includes Kathy Phillips as Stevie Nicks (vocals), Kim Williams as Christine McVie (keyboards, vocals), Scott McDonald as Lindsey Buckingham (guitar, vocals), Randy Artiglere as John McVie (bass) and Tom Nelson as Mick Fleetwood (drums).

Next up are One Fine Tapestry with one of my all-time favorite Carole King tunes from the iconic Tapestry album: I Feel the Earth Move. At the core of this tribute act are Gerard Barros and Diane Barros, a versatile husband and wife couple performing a variety of different tribute shows, sometimes as a duo, other times backed by a full band, which was the case here. This clip is also from Rock the Farm 2021.

Let’s do two more, using YouTube clips I didn’t create. Here are Stiff Upper Lip with Back in Black. The New Jersey band has been around since 2007 and includes Glenn Taglieri (vocals), Joe Witterschein (guitar), Mike Cusumano (guitar), Peter Lee (bass) and Steve Villano (drums).

As a blues rock fan, I couldn’t resist including ZZ Top tribute La Grange. The band features Sean Peronard as “Billy Fibbons” (Billy Gibbons), Pete Perrina as “Frank Goatee” (Frank Beard) and Jim Capobianco as “Rusty Hill” (Dusty Hill) – clever stage names! Here’s a fun promo video, including snippets of Waiting For the Bus, Under Pressure and Gimme All Your Lovin’.

In addition to plenty of great music, Rock the Farm features food trucks, a wine and beer garden and beach yoga. They also have some fun activities for kids, including a Kidzone Arts & Crafts, face painting, braid bar and “the world’s greatest FOAM dance floor.” While I can’t verify that claim, I can confirm kids and adults have had a lot of fun with the foam in the past!

“All of the members of CFC get the opportunity to create something magical that positively impacts the community, be inspired by purpose, and uplift others who are in search of hope and connection,” Regan added. “CFC has impacted over 20,000 families since its foundation and continues to come up with new and innovative ways to make recovery fun. We can’t wait to rock out with everyone on September 24th and end Recovery month in the best way possible!”

If you’re into live music, dig the above bands, want to support an important cause and can get there, I can highly recommend Rock the Farm. For tickets and more info, visit https://www.rockthefarmnj.com. You can also read more about the CFC Loud n Clear Foundation and their important work here.

Sources: CDC National Center for Health Statistics; CFC Loud N Clear Foundation website; TUSK website; One Fine Tapestry website; Stiff Upper Lip website; La Grange Facebook page; YouTube

If I Could Only Take One

I can’t believe it’s Wednesday again and we’re almost in July! This would be the perfect time for a summer vacation, and a beautiful tropical island sounds like an attractive proposition. But wait, before I can leave on yet another imaginary trip to some remote island in the sun, once again, I have to pick one song to take with me.

In case you’re a first-time visitor, there are a few rules that limit my options, which make the exercise both challenging and interesting at the same time. My pick cannot be a tune by a music act I’ve frequently written about. Ideally, it should be a band or artist I haven’t covered yet. It can only be one track, not an entire album. And picks must be in alphabetical order.

This week I’m up to “r.” Bands and artists (last names) starting with that letter include Radiohead, Bonnie Raitt, Ramones, R.E.M., Red Hot Chili Peppers, Otis Redding, Lou Reed, Keith Richards, The Rolling Stones, Linda Ronstadt and Roxy Music, among others.

Based on the above criteria, Bonnie Raitt, The Rolling Stones and Linda Ronstadt were immediately excluded from further consideration. For some of the other artists, sadly, I had to search my own blog to refresh my memory to what extent I had covered them before. At the end, it came down to picking Radiohead or Roxy Music, and I decided to go with the latter and More Than This.

More Than This, written by Bryan Ferry, first appeared in April 1982 as the lead single of Roxy Music’s eighth and final studio album Avalon, released the following month. It’s just a gorgeous pop tune I’ve loved from the very first moment I heard the band playing it on the radio at the time it came out.

More Than This was popular, reaching no. 6 in each the UK and Australia, but it wasn’t the group’s biggest hit. The latter was their great cover of John Lennon’s Jealous Guy, which they recorded and released as a non-album single in February 1981 to honor the ex-Beatle who had been senselessly killed by a deranged individual in New York in December 1980.

Art and pop rock group Roxy Music were founded by Ferry, the band’s lead vocalist and main songwriter, and bassist Graham Simpson in England in 1970. While they have been on and off ever since, their active recording period spanned 1972 to 1982. During these 10 years, Roxy Music released eight studio albums, three of which topped the UK charts: Stranded (1973), Flesh and Blood (1980) and the above-noted Avalon.

In 1982, at the height of their commercial success, Ferry who at that time was the only original member together with Andy Mackay (saxophone, oboe, keyboards, backing vocals), decided to dissolve Roxy Music and focus on his solo career, which he had launched in parallel to the group in 1973.

Roxy Music have since reunited several times for tours and are currently gearing up to be on the road again starting in September to celebrate their 50th anniversary. In addition to co-founders Ferry and Mackay, this includes Phil Manzanera  (guitar) and Paul Thompson (drums), who were all part of the group’s lineup that recorded Roxy Music’s 1972 eponymous debut album. The schedule of the five-week tour, which includes dates in Canada, the U.S. and the UK, is here.

Following are a few additional tidbits on More Than This from Songfacts:

Written by lead singer Bryan Ferry, this song is about a love affair that fell apart. Asked in 2014 by Entertainment Weekly why the song endures, Ferry replied, “For some reason, there’s something in the combination of the melody and the lyric that works for people.”

…In America, this song got some traction when it featured in Sofia Coppola’s 2003 film Lost In Translation in a scene where Bill Murray sings it in a Tokyo karaoke bar. When the song was first released, however, it had little impact on the charts, bubbling under at just #102 on the Hot 100. Many college radio stations played the song, but commercial stations stayed away for the most part.

Roxy Music occupied just a small niche in America, where they hit the Top 40 just once (“Love Is the Drug” – #30 in 1975), but they were far more successful in the UK.

…Ferry told The Mail on Sunday June 28, 2009 about the Avalon album: “I started writing the songs while on the west coast of Ireland, and I like to think that some of the dark melancholy of the album comes from that place.”

10,000 Maniacs covered this in 1997 on their album Love Among The Ruins. Mary Ramsey sang lead, as original Maniacs lead singer Natalie Merchant had just left the band to go solo.

Sources: Wikipedia; Roxy Music website; Songfacts; YouTube

The Sunday Six

Welcome to another Sunday Six, a celebration of music in different flavors of the past and the present, six tunes at a time. To those celebrating, Happy Easter! If you don’t observe the holiday, I still hope you’re enjoying the weekend. And just in case you’re looking for some great music, I have some humble suggestions. Hope on our magical time machine and let’s go!

Ahmad Jamal/For All We Know

Today’s journey starts in 1960 with relaxing jazz music by Ahmad Jamal. According to his website, he was born in July 1930 in Pittsburgh, Pa. and already began playing the piano at the age of 3. By the age of 10, Jamal was composing, orchestrating and performing works by Franz Liszt, exploring the music of Duke Ellington, Art Tatum, Nat Cole, Erroll Garner and a host of music notables...At 17, he left home at the request of the George Hudson Orchestra and began touring the country...He formed his own group in 1951 and with the help of John Hammond started his recording career with Okeh Records. Today, more than 70 years later, the now-91-year-old Jamal still appears to be active. His most recent album Ballads appeared in September 2019 – what an amazing career! For All We Know, which initially had been published in 1934 with music by J. Fred Coots and lyrics by Sam M. Lewis, was included on Happy Moods, a 1960 album Jamal recorded with Israel Crosby on bass and Vernel Fournier on drums – my type of music to start a Sunday morning!

Big Star/September Gurls

Next, we turn to the ’70s and power-pop band Big Star, to which Max from PowerPop blog introduced me and safe to assume other readers a while ago. Formed in Memphis, Tenn. in 1971 by Alex Chilton (guitars, piano, vocals), Chris Bell (guitars, vocals), Andy Hummel (bass, vocals) and Jody Stephens (drums), the group was initially active until 1975, during which they recorded two albums. While each received excellent reviews, both records were “commercial failures” due to ineffective marketing and other record label issues. For more on the band’s unfortunate history, I’d encourage you to visit Max’s blog, who has written about them various times, most recently here. One of Big Star’s best-known tunes is September Gurls, written by Chilton, off their sophomore album Radio City that appeared in February 1974. It’s hard to believe this catchy power-pop gem didn’t become a hit at the time. Twelve years later, the Bangles included a great cover on their hugely successful second album Different Light, the version I had known and loved for many years. When I listened to the original first, I immediately dug it just as much!

Bonnie Raitt/Made Up Mind

I’m very excited about this next pick, which is the most recent single by one of my all-time favorite artists: Bonnie Raitt. If you’re a more frequent visitor of the blog, you’ve probably seen me rave about Raitt and her great musicianship as a slide guitarist before. I think she’s an exceptional artist who has battled and overcome significant challenges during her 50-year-plus career. Made Up Mind, released on February 25, is from Raitt’s upcoming new album Just Like That…, slated for April 22. The tune was co-written by David Landreth, Joseph Sydney Landreth and Jonathan Singleton. Damn, now I want to see Bonnie again even more than I did before! If you like her music and haven’t been to one of her shows, I’d encourage you to catch her if you can. Her current national tour kicked off last evening in Hampton, N.H. Here’s the schedule. This lady is just amazing!

John Mellencamp/Paper in Fire

As fellow blogger Dave from A Sound Day posted a few days ago, April 12, 2022, marked the 40th anniversary of American Fool, the fifth studio album by John Mellencamp who at the time was still known as John Cougar. The thought the little ditty about Jack and Diane was on the radio four decades ago is mind-boggling to me! In a comment, I noted that my favorite album by the heartland rocker from Indiana is The Lonesome Jubilee, which appeared in August 1997. Don’t get me wrong, I also still dig Mellencamp’s straight rock albums he put out during the first half of the ’80s. But I love his transition into roots rock even more. It started on The Lonesome Jubilee with the introduction of instruments like accordion, fiddle and banjo. Here’s Paper in Fire, which was also released separately as a lead single a week ahead of the album. Like all other tracks except one, the song was written by Mellencamp.

Red Hot Chili Peppers/Under the Bridge

Including two songs by Red Hot Chili Peppers off their latest album Unlimited Love in recent Best of What’s New posts here and here reminded me of a band I had known primarily by name for many years. One of the few songs I could name was Under the Bridge, a tune I’ve always liked. Credited to all four members of the band – Anthony Kiedis (lead vocals); Michael Peter Balzary, known as Flea (bass, trumpet, piano, backing vocals); John Frusciante (guitars, keyboards, backing vocals); and Chad Smith (drums, percussion) – Under the Bridge is from their fifth studio album Blood Sugar Sex Magik, released in September 1991. Today, 21 years and seven albums later, the group from the city of angels is rocking on with the same line-up. One of the things I dig about Under the Bridge is Frusciante’s guitar part. That sound is just awesome!

Green Day/Wake Me Up When September Ends

Okey-doke, time to wrap up another Sunday Six. My final pick for this installment takes us back to the ’90s and one of the best-known tunes by Green Day: Wake Me Up When September Ends, off their seventh studio album American Idiot, released in September 2004. I’ve always liked how this band, which has been around since 1987, oftentimes combines grunge, punk and alternative rock with pop, especially on this album. Wake Me Up When September Ends was written by Green Day lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong about the death of his father when he was 10 years old. Bandmates Mike Dirnt (bass, backing vocals) and Tré Cool (drums, percussion, backing vocals) received co-writing credits for the music. The three of them still form Green Day’s current core line-up. Beware, this is a bloody catchy tune that might get stuck in your head! 🙂

Last but not least, here’s a Spotify playlist of the above tracks. Hope there’s something you like!

Sources: Wikipedia; Ahmad Jamal website; Bonnie Raitt website; YouTube; Spotify

Best of What’s New

Is it really Saturday again? Yep, the calendar doesn’t lie. I also can’t believe we’re already in April. March seemingly just flew by. Yesterday may have been April Fools’ Day, but it certainly was no joke when it came to newly released music. Following are my picks for this week, which are all on albums that came out on April 1st.

Eric Roberson/Start All Over Again

Kicking us off today is some smooth R&B and soul by Eric Roberson who hails from Rahway, N.J., about 20 miles from my house! From his website: As a GRAMMY Award-nominee, Singer, Songwriter, Producer and Howard University alum, Eric Roberson continues to break boundaries as an independent artist in an industry dominated by major labels, manufactured sounds and mainstream radio. Described as the original pioneer of the independent movement in R&B/Soul music, Eric has achieved major milestones in his career, from being a successful songwriter and producer for notable artists such as Jill Scott, Musiq Soulchild, Dwele, Vivian Green and countless others, to headlining sold out tours across the country. While I’m not familiar with any of the aforementioned artists, what I do know is I dig Start All Over Again, the opener of Roberson’s 13th and latest studio album Lessons. The tune was co-written by producer Daniel Crawford and Roberson who in addition to writing songs for others has been releasing his own music since 2001. Check out that neat smooth sound and groove!

Red Hot Chili Peppers/Aquatic Mouth Dance

Aquatic Mouth Dance is the second track in Best of What’s New from Unlimited Love, the now-released new album by Red Hot Chili Peppers, following the lead single Black Summer I had previously featured in this installment. The current members of the group, which has been around since 1983, include co-founders Anthony Kiedis (lead vocals) and Michael Peter Balzary, known as Flea (bass, trumpet, piano, backing vocals), along with John Frusciante (guitars, keyboards, backing vocals) and Chad Smith (drums, percussion). Unlimited Love is the Chili Peppers’ 12th studio album. It was produced by Rick Rubin, who previously had served as their producer for six albums in a row, released between 1991 and 2011. I’ve yet to hear a bad album this man touches! Credited to all members of the band, Aquatic Mouth Dance has an infectious funky groove driven by Flea’s great bass work.

Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway/Dooley’s Farm (feat. Billy Strings)

Molly Tuttle impressed me from the very first moment I came across her in July 2020. The now 29-year-old singer-songwriter, banjo player and guitarist is focused on bluegrass and Americana. Tuttle, who grew up in the San Francisco Bay area in a musical family, is noted for her outstanding guitar skills. Her father Jack Tuttle is a bluegrass multi-instrumentalist and teacher. Her siblings Sullivan and Michael play guitar and mandolin, respectively. Molly started playing guitar as an 8-year-old and three years later already performed on stage with her dad. At age 13, she recorded her first album with Jack. In 2015, she joined the family band The Tuttles with AJ Lee, featuring her father and siblings, along with mandolist AJ Lee. Her debut EP Rise appeared in October 2017, followed by her first full-fledged album When You’re Ready in April 2019. Dooley’s Farm, co-written by Ketch Secor and Tuttle, is a track from Tuttle’s new album Crooked Tree, which was recorded live at Oceanway Studios in Nashville. It appears as Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway, her band. In addition to guitarist Billy Strings, Dooley’s Farm, among others, features Dobro maestro Jerry Douglas who also served as the album’s co-producer.

The Hellacopters/Eyes of Oblivion

Wrapping up this week’s new music revue are The Hellacopters, a Swedish hard rock band that first came together in 1994. After releasing seven albums between June 1996 and April 2008, they split. In 2016, the group’s original lineup reunited for the 20th anniversary of their debut album Supershitty to the Max!, which had won a Grammis music award in Sweden. A performance at the 2016 Sweden Rock Festival led to other gigs that year and in 2017. “As we started playing more and more shows, we felt we needed a new album because we’re not old enough to be a nostalgia band,” Hellacopters co-founder, guitarist and vocalist Nicke Andersson told Apple Music. And the result is Eyes of Oblivion, the group’s first new album in 14 years. Here’s the title track, written by Andersson. Apparently, the tune first came out as an upfront single on December 17. Nice melodic hard rock!

Last but not least, following is a Spotify playlist featuring the above and some additional tunes. Hope there’s something you like!

Sources: Wikipedia; Eric Roberson website; Apple Music; YouTube; Spotify

Best of What’s New

With highs in the low ’60s and high ’50s yesterday and today, respectively, dare I say it, it does feel a bit like spring. Or perhaps global warming, since having spring in mid-February really sounds way too early? In any case, looks like it’s short-lived: In typical New York-New Jersey-Connecticut tri-state area fashion, tomorrow, the forecast high is 35.

What the heck does any of this have to do with music? Nothing, so why don’t we get to some new releases! All my picks this week appear on albums that came out yesterday. Once again, it’s a mix of artists who are entirely new to me and two names I’ve known for a long time, though I can’t claim deep familiarity with their music either.

Spoon/The Devil & Mr. Jones

Kicking it off today are Spoon, a rock band from Austin, Texas, formed as a trio in 1993. They named themselves after a song by German avant-garde group Can. Only Britt Daniel (lead vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards, percussion) and Jim Eno (drums, percussion, programming) remain as original members in the band’s current line-up, which also includes Alex Fischel (keyboards, guitar, backing vocals), Gerardo Larios (guitar, keyboards, backing vocals) and Ben Trokan (bass, keyboards). Spoon, whose music Apple Music characterizes as being inspired by new wave, power pop and soul-influenced rock, released their debut album Telephono in April 1996. The Devil & Mr. Jones, penned by Daniel and fellow Austin songwriter Andrew Cashen, is a track from Spoon’s 10th and new album Lucifer on the Sofa. Good tune!

alt-j/Bane

alt-j are an English alternative rock band. According to their Apple Music profile, they wear their geeky math side with pride, right down to their name, a reference to the keyboard shortcut for a delta (triangle) sign. But it was their proclivity for the liberal arts that brought them together in 2007 at Leeds University, where lead singer/guitarist Joe Newman, guitarist/bassist Gwil Sainsbury, and drummer Thom Green studied fine art and keyboardist Gus Unger-Hamilton read English literature. The quartet first started tinkering with minimal equipment in their dorm rooms, but soon after graduation their sound had evolved into multilayered melodies that mixed, mashed, and manipulated elements of indie pop, trip-hop, folk, dubstep, psychedelia, and a capella harmonies. It all came together beautifully on tracks like “Breezeblocks” and “Tessellate” from their 2012 debut album, An Awesome Wave, which garnered them the coveted Mercury Prize. Fast-forward 20 years to The Dream, the latest album by alt-j who since Sainsbury’s departure in 2014 have been a trio. Here’s Bane, credited to all three members. Admittedly, it’s outside my core wheelhouse but there’s something about it!

Eddie Vedder/Try

Eddie Vedder is a name I first and foremost associate with Pearl Jam, the Seattle rock band he co-founded in 1990 and whose lead vocalist and guitarist he remains to this day. In addition to his work with Pearl Jam, Vedder has also released three solo albums starting in 2007 with Into the Wild, which was based on his contributions to the soundtrack of a biographical adventure drama picture of the same name. Vedder’s latest effort, Earthling, is his first solo record in nearly 11 years since Ukulele Songs, a folk-oriented album released in May 2011. Here’s Try featuring Stevie Wonder on harmonica, one of three prominent guests on Earthling. The other two are Elton John and Ringo Starr. Mrs. Mills, the tune with Ringo on drums, is included in the Spotify playlist at the end of the post. Try was co-written by Vedder, former Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist and drummer Josh Klinghoffer and Chad Smith, respectively, and producer Andrew Votman, aka Andrew Watt. I don’t believe I’ve ever heard Stevie Wonder play on a rock song, but he proves he’s definitely up to the task!

Slash feat. Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators/The River is Rising

Closing out today’s Best of What’s New is Guns N’ Roses lead guitarist Slash (born Saul Hudson). In addition to the band he’s best known for and joined shortly after they were formed in 1985, Slash has been involved in various other music projects. Primarily, that was the case following his departure from Guns N’ Roses in 1996 until his return in 2016. One of these projects has been billed to Slash featuring Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators. The first album Slash recorded with that backing band was Apocalyptic Love, released in May 2012. The fourth and latest is appropriately titled 4. Here’s the opener The River is Rising, which first had appeared as the lead single in October 2021. Co-written by Hudson and Kennedy, the tune has some of that Guns N’ Roses swagger in it, minus Axl Rose whose voice I find a bit difficult to take after a few songs.

Last but not least here’s the above noted Spotify playlist. Hope there’s something for you.

Sources: Wikipedia; Apple Music; YouTube; Spotify

Best of What’s New

Welcome to another installment of Best of What’s New, my weekly look at newly-released music. This time, three of the four featured artists are entirely new to me, while the last pick I’ve primarily known by name for more than 30 years. All tunes came out yesterday (February 4).

Eric Krasno/Lost Myself

My first pick this week is Eric Krasno, a versatile New York-based guitarist, singer-songwriter and producer. According to his Apple Music profile, he is best known for his work with Soulive [a funk/jazz trio – CMM] and Lettuce [a Boston funk group – CMM], both of which he co-founded. His own musical roots lie in funk, jazz, rock, and hip-hop, and he has written songs and produced records for a variety of artists in a range of genres including Norah Jones, Aaron Neville, Talib Kweli, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Ledisi, 50 Cent, and Matisyahu…His earliest influences were his musician grandfather, a professional pianist who played gypsy jazz and swing, as well as his older brother and father, also accomplished musicians though amateurs. His early attraction to classic rock records from Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix Experience, Jeff Beck, and Grateful Dead influenced his decision to become a guitarist. He began playing in local bands during high school. After graduating, he attended the Berklee School of Music for one semester before transferring to Hampshire College. Despite its brevity, it was at Berklee that he encountered other founding members of the funk/jam unit Lettuce during a summer program…In 1999, he joined brothers Alan and Neal Evans, and Sam Kininger, to co-found Soulive, a jazz/hip-hop/folk/groove unit that recorded for several labels including Blue Note and, like Lettuce, they’re known for a rigorous touring schedule. In 2010, Krasno released his first solo album Reminisce. This brings me to this third and latest studio release Always and Lost Myself. The funky, soulful, bluesy tune was co-written by Krasno and David Gutter. Krasno’s vocals remind me a bit of John Mayer.

Black Country, New Road/The Place Where He Inserted the Blade

Black Country, New Road are an English rock band established in London in 2018. The initial lineup included Tyler Hyde (bass), Lewis Evans (saxophone), May Kershaw (keyboards), Charlie Wayne (drums) and Isaac Wood (lead vocals, guitar), who all had been members of Cambridge, England-based group Nervous Conditions. After the release of their debut single Athen’s, France, guitarist Luke Mark joined the band. That formation subsequently recorded Black Country, New Road’s debut album For the First Time that came out in February 2021. The Place Where He Inserted the Blade, credited to all members, is a tune from the group’s sophomore and latest album Ants from Up There. It’s an unusual, interesting track, mixing rock, pop and classical music elements. Four days prior to the record’s release, Wood announced his departure from the band due to mental health issues. Bassist Hyde will assume lead vocals for now.

Muscadine Bloodline/Dead on Arrival

Muscadine Bloodline are a Nashville-based duo of Charlie Muncaster and Gary Stanton who blend country and Southern rock. From their website: Charlie Muncaster and Gary Stanton grew up in Mobile, Alabama, but didn’t cross paths until they each started to pursue their musical dreams. In 2012, they forged a friendship when Stanton opened a show for Muncaster’s band at Soul Kitchen in Mobile. Charlie’s contemporary vocals complimented by Gary’s harmonies and masterful guitar licks showcase a powerfully refreshing mix of talent, passion and unfiltered authenticity. Since naming themselves Muscadine Bloodline in 2015, they’ve had two Billboard-charting critically-acclaimed EP’s, have sold out shows across the country, opened concerts for hundreds of artists and earned a standing ovation at their Grand Ole Opry debut in 2018. The guys’ Southern roots carry over to their band name as well: Muscadine grapes grow in the South while Bloodline represents their heritage. In September 2020, they released their debut record Burn It at Both Ends. Bluesy country rocker Dead on Arrival is a song from the duo’s second and new album Dispatch to 16th Ave. The tune was co-written by Muncaster and Stanton, along with Adam Hood and producer Gary Stanton.

Red Hot Chili Peppers/Black Summer

Wrapping up this week’s music revue is the latest single by Red Hot Chili Peppers. While they have been around since 1983, other than Under the Bridge and Californication, I can’t name any other tunes by the rock band from Los Angeles. As expected, the group has had numerous line-up changes over the decades. The current members include co-founders Anthony Kiedis (lead vocals) and Michael Peter Balzary, known as Flea (bass, trumpet, piano, backing vocals), along with John Frusciante (guitars, keyboards, backing vocals) and Chad Smith (drums, percussion). To date, the Chili Peppers have released 11 studio, two live and 12 compilation albums. A new album, their first in nearly six years, is coming out on April 1: Unlimited Love. It was produced by Rick Rubin, who previously had served as their producer for six albums in a row, released between 1991 and 2011. Here’s Black Summer, the lead single from the new album, credited to all four members. I think it’s a great tune that makes me want to hear more.

Last but not least, as usual, here’s a playlist of the above songs, along with a few others.

Sources: Wikipedia; Apple Music; Muscadine Bloodline website; YouTube; Spotify