one of the first posts i ever wrote on this blog was about j.j. cale, and i am real happy to have an opportunity to write another. cale was a musician’s musician, and one of the unsung forces in the american blues scene. he is probably most widely known as the original writer of two songs made famous by eric clapton, ‘after midnight’ and ‘cocaine’. but more importantly, he is considered to be one of the originators, along with leon russell, of what came to be known as the ‘tulsa sound’. if you are a fan of early dire straits and mid seventies clapton, then this will sound very familiar to you. clapton wrote in his autobiography that cale is ‘one of the most important artists in the history of rock’. neil young said ‘his guitar playing was a huge influence on me, his touch is unspeakable’.

we lost j.j. to a heart attack about 5 years ago, but his widow and his longtime manager got together after finding some old studio work that he had done but never included on a record. we have 15 songs here that likely span a lot of years, but they are all drenched in that classic laid back funky blues.

it’s getting to be that time of year to sit on the back deck after work and cook a little bbq and sip on a cool beverage. i can heartily recommend putting this on the next time you are out there watching the late spring roll in. this is a great introduction to his work and career, and hopefully more people will get to know who he was and just how influential he was on the american music scene.

as he has explained in numerous interviews about this album, it was inevitable that earle would eventually do a tribute album to one of his two major mentors, the legendary guy clark. his grammy nominated 2009 release ‘townes’ was his tribute to the other one, townes van zandt. that is one of my favorite earle albums, and so i was anxious to hear what he would put together for this one.

earle’s friendship with clark started in 1974, shortly after he had arrived in nashville after hitchhiking from san antonio. he replaced rodney crowell as the bass player in clark’s band. nine of the sixteen songs are taken from clark’s two first albums, ‘old no. 1’ and ‘texas cookin”, so he knew much of the material from playing them relentlessly in his youth. as such, he claims that this was an easy album to make, and indeed it was cut in just a few days with almost no overdubbing.

after my first listen, my initial reaction was ‘this could have been better’. the production is a little rough, and i felt that his vocals were lost in the mix a bit. on top of that, he occasionally slips into his exaggerated southern drawl, which blurs the lyrics even further. this is important, because the primary strength of clark’s work has been his outstanding songwriting. my good friend dave agreed, but encouraged me to give it a few more spins, and he was right.

maybe i was comparing it to ‘townes’, but i think that this one is just different, and yet still a labor of love and admiration. on the last cut, ‘old friends’, earle is joined by a chorus of famous clark admirers – emmylou harris, jerry jeff walker, the aforementioned rodney crowell, terry allen, and a few others. if anything, ‘guy’ is a good introduction to guy clark’s work, if you are not familiar with him. earle is coming here to the kent stage soon, and i hope to see him do much of this material. see you there.

this is todd’s 18th album, but there is a good chance you are not aware of his work. a nashville staple for decades, he is a strong songwriter with a wicked sense of humor and might be best known for his highly entertaining live shows. the first cut, ‘working on a song’, maybe encapsulates some of this as it describes his struggle with writing a particular song for over thirty years. it is a good start to a very good outing, recorded entirely acoustic at johnny cash’s personal rustic recording studio on the family property in hendersonville, tennessee. snider plays all instruments, including cash’s martin guitar, and gets some help on backup vocals from jason isbell and amanda shires. oh, and by the way, there are no volumes one and two. snider has never been shy about his political opinions, but he is one of the rare artists who can incorporate those thoughts into a song without sounding preachy. mostly because he utilizes humor and self deprecation to soften the edges.

this album is another good example of why i buy my cd’s instead of downloading them. the liner notes are superb, and are critical in understanding the nature of the overall theme to the recordings, and also the stories behind some of the songs.  maybe the best example is ‘the ghost of johnny cash’, which is partially about a dream he had about passing out drunk in the cabin and being awakened by the man in black himself, and partially about a true story regarding loretta lynn dancing with cash’s ghost at three a.m. when she recorded there. a great introduction to his work if you are not familiar with him, and another great reason to see him live when he comes through your town.

not many people would open a blues song with a line like ‘i woke up this morning, and realized i done peed myself’…….