here are a few things that i have been listening to. none of it conforms to any unifying theme, other than the fact that a selection either wasn’t really a recent release, or it didn’t completely overwhelm me. the first one is in the former category.

i had a group of neighbors over new year’s eve. i had recently introduced one of them to this site, and he asked me if i ever listen to ‘newer material’. it was his impression that my recent posts were dominated by older artists, and that is fair. as in many things in life, it all goes in cycles. i just really haven’t heard too much in the last couple of months that have really inspired me. he suggested that i check out leon bridges. i had heard of him, and he consistently showed up on my ‘recommended’ lists at various sites, but had never pulled the trigger. so i ordered it the next day. glad i did. leon was discoverd in fort worth texas in late 2014, and released this album in the summer of 2015. honoring the great r&b sounds of the sixties, it is a flawless little piece of soul. i am anxiously looking forward to his next release.

blue rodeo is band from canada that has been around for over 30 years. i had never heard of them, but found their most recent on my recommended list and took a chance.

my best way to describe this is a canuck version of the jayhawks, with maybe a more commercial feel. you can hear a lot of influences on this, whether the aforementioned jayhawks, early r.e.m. (specifically peter buck), roger mcguinn, newgrass revival, and others that i haven’t quite put my finger on. harmonies are superb, the musicianship spot on, and the songwriting is very good. there are many cuts that are really good, but maybe half of them are a tad overdone, over produced, a little too polished.the last cut seems to flirt with prog rock, and should have been left off. but i will keep an eye on them moving forward.

my cousin tom was over thanksgiving, and we got to talking about music. we discovered we had a mutual appreciation for ryan adams, and he turned me on to a release of his from 2015, ‘live at carnegie hall’. of course, there is a 6 album vinyl box set of these shows, but i opted for the 2 disc version.

all acoustic, extremely well performed, and amusing banter between a few of the songs. he has a reputation of being less than friendly live sometimes, but not here. not quite sure why, but one of my favorite songs of his is ‘sylvia plath’. a great version is included here.

in turn i turned him onto the 2016 release of the deluxe version of his solo debut, ‘heartbreaker’.

two discs, the first being a remastered version of the original, the second outtakes and demos. also included is a dvd with a live acoustic concert from the mercury lounge in nyc from 2000.

in a previous post i reviewed a book about owsley ‘bear’ stanley, a legend from the sixties who was known for a number of things, one of them being a recording archivist for much of the sound coming out of the bay area. in the book he referenced a recent release from his archives, a live performance of big brother and the holding company, featuring janis joplin at the carousel ballroom in 1968.

so i bought it. bear was very opinionated in his theories on recording music, and he was a technical genius. without him, we would have less of a glimpse of what this truly innovative era sounded like. it is in this tradition that he felt it was important to get this out in the public domain. historically significant, it is a little bit rough around the edges. janis had been thrust upon the band by their manager, and what we have here is the established san fran psychedelic band doing their best to share a stage with a newcomer to the area, someone who would eventually outgrow them and become a shooting star.

she would be dead a little over 2 years later. here she is in her breakout performance at the monterey pop festival. the woman in the crowd wearing shades that looks mesmerized is mama cass from the mama and papas.