Author: mark

spring fever

spring is finally here in the midwest, and it is time to update your music libraries with some new music. in this post i will share with you some things that came out this year, and a couple others from last year that deserve a second look. again, these are in no particular order.

brandy clark, ‘your life is a record’ – this came out about two weeks past, and it is really growing on me. when the producer took a look at the songs she had brought to the table, he said ‘this is a breakup album’, and he was right. she had recently ended a relationship, and she had some things to say about it. don’t let that turn you off. if you like kasey musgraves, you will love this. i think this is better than kasey’s last one.

john moreland ‘lp5’ – his fifth album, once again showing that he is one of the most talented songwriters in america. as i have mentioned before when i reviewed his last album, his voice comes across as a hybrid of tom waits and ‘nebraska’ era springsteen. never one for a lot of instrumentation, this one is stripped down even more.

aubrie sellers, ‘far from home’ – this is her second album, and the songs are diverse in styles. she swings from southwestern americana to a few songs she labels as garage country. coming from a musical family (her mother is lee ann womack), singing and songwriting seems to be in her genes. keep an eye on this young talent.

drive by truckers, ‘the unraveling’ – another good outing from one of the better rock bands in the country. as with their last album, this has plenty of political commentary, but the songs are good and the playing is great. they do not try to hide the fact that they consider themselves to be at the forefront of the musical ‘resistance’. i will have more to say about that when jason isbell’s album comes out next month.

blackberry smoke, ‘homecoming’ – recorded live in atlanta after a european tour, they seem really at home with the crowd, and vice versa. they play a lot of their road tested standards, plus a few covers. a good introduction to the band if you are not familiar with them.

nathaniel ratliffe, ‘and it’s still alright’ – a solo album from him, without most of the ‘night sweats’. the songs are mostly melancholy in nature, due in large part to the end of a divorce and losing one of his close friends recently. if you are expecting more of ‘sob, give me a drink’, you won’t get that here. but there are a few really good songs on the album.

allison moorer, ‘blood’ – this came out last year, as did the book she wrote that accompanies it. actually the book came first, and then she thought there was some good song material. the topic of the book is not a pleasant one. she and her sister (country artist shelby lynne) were orphaned at an early age when her father and mother died in a murder suicide incident in their front yard. again, don’t let the subject matter turn you off. both the book and the album were her way of dealing with emotions she had pent up all her life, and at the end of the day it is really a message of hope. one track – ‘i’m the one to blame’ – uses lyrics of her father that she found in an old briefcase and put it to music with her sister. i had the opportunity to see her do much of the material live about a month ago, before she had to suspend the tour she was doing with her husband, hayes carll. it just happened to be the day after the tornadoes in nashville, where they live. it was a rather emotional show.

with most of their tours suspended right now, these folks need your help more then ever right now. go out and buy some music.

cabin fever edition

last sunday’s post regarding exploring music documentaries during ‘the great hunkering down’ was quite popular, and a number of commenters suggested some additions. i have since watched a few more and thought of some others i have seen in the past that still bear watching again.

i am also working on a post to suggest some new music that has been recently released that is worth considering. most from lesser known artists that could use some financial support right now.

until then, here are some things to watch this weekend:

‘amazing grace’ – aretha’s album of the same name was recorded live in a church. this contains much of the footage as it was recorded, and the process they went through. be prepared to be moved, whether you are religious or not.

‘ i’m trying to break your heart’ – documents the making of wilco’s ‘yankee hotel foxtrot’ album. a look into their creative process, but also the turmoil that was surrounding the band at the time.

‘the kids are alright’ – brad recommends this classic look at the who.

‘birth of the cool’ – dave c. recommended this exploration of the life of miles davis.

ms. redeyegin and i watched it last night. a must see.

‘the quiet one’ – explores the career of bill wyman, bass player for the stones. bill documented the early years of the stones with film, and much of that is used here to great effect.

‘classic albums, aja’ – if you like steely dan, this is a great behind the scenes look at their musical genius. again, you could binge watch these all day, or at least i could. also check out ‘dark side of the moon’ and ‘who’s next’.

‘classic albums – rush’ – greg w. recommends this one, and i concur. i had seen it before, but watched it again on the day we learned of neil peart’s death.

‘long strange trip’ – the ultimate guide to the phenomenon that was the grateful dead. be prepared to settle in, as it is four hours long.

‘the grateful dead movie ‘ – an oldie but a goodie.

‘classic albums – from anthem to beauty’ – a look into the making of ‘anthem of the sun’ and ‘american beauty’.

that’s enough for now. be safe out there.

quarantine edition

what a week this has been. while our nation and the world grapple with this novel coronavirus, it has become abundantly clear that our daily lives have been uprooted for the time being. to be sure, not all of the upheaval will be felt equally by everyone. the redeyegin household has so far been minimally affected by it (although my neighbor just got quarantined). but many individuals and businesses will be taking the full blunt of it. how does this relate to the usual topics of this blog? well, the live music industry is being decimated right now. major music festivals are being cancelled and/or rescheduled left and right. i myself have tickets for all four days of the new orleans jazz fest in early may, and by all accounts it will be cancelled some time this next week. touring musicians are suspending their events – either because the artists are looking out for the safety of their fans and themselves, or because the venues are shutting down for various reasons. here in ohio, the governor has put restrictions on public gatherings of over 100 people, which makes running a small music venue nearly impossible. i have tickets to two upcoming shows at my favorite local club. the first has already been rescheduled to the fall, but the other has not. unless things change for me this week (and lord knows they might), i intend to go and tip the bartenders well.

what to do in the meantime? get yourself outside and go for a long walk, and then when you come inside, go to your favorite music website and buy a new release from an up and coming artist. they need you now more than ever.

after that, consider expanding your musical horizons and knowledge base by hunkering down with a nice beverage and explore some of the great music documentaries out there. i have mentioned a few over the last couple of months (‘bluebird’ , ‘echo in the canyon’), but i will provide a few more below that i have been watching over the winter.

here they are, in no particular order:

‘twenty feet from stardom’ – a great view into the world of female background singers.

‘rolling thunder revue’ – explores the legendary tour promoting the ‘desire’ album.

‘classic albums- the band’ – one of the best of the old vh1 series. by the way, you can really go down a rabbit hole with these. i have watched at least a dozen of them. just a teaser here until robbie’s movie ‘once were brothers’ is available to stream.

david crosby ‘remember my name’ – a look at his turbulent life.

linda ronstandt ‘the sound of my voice’ – the life and times of her career.

drive by truckers ‘the secret to a happy ending’ – chronicles the genesis of the band, including the early career of jason isbell.

‘the wrecking crew’ – the story behind one of the great group of studio musicians from the sixties and seventies. see also ‘muscle shoals’ and ‘the funk brothers’.

‘gimme shelter’ – an accounting of the disastrous altamont concert.

‘fyre’ – how not to plan a music festival.

zz top ‘that little ol’ band from texas’ -the history of one of classic rock’s greatest bands.

that’s enough for now. if you have suggestions for others to watch, leave them in the comments section. take care out there.

billy strings, ‘home’

billy strings has been on the outside of my peripheral vision for about 6 months or so, but i hadn’t taken the time to explore his work very much, until now. as i have mentioned before, i get tips on new music from lots of places. when i had four different people send me something about him in the last two weeks, i figured it was time to devote more time to this young phenom.

my first glimpses of him were when i would see him sitting in with other bluegrass musicians i was following, and often it would be dead cover songs. he has cut his teeth on the jam band festival scene, and has gradually built up his following by offering two set marathon sessions where he and his band will rotate covers of bluegrass icons like bill monroe, the stanley brothers and doc watson, to jam band heroes like the dead and phish, to unconventional bluegrass treatments of artists like the stones and jimmy cliff.

billy (born william apostol) grew up in northern michigan, where his stepfather was a local bluegrass musician and taught him the instrument at a very early age. he turned to heavy metal at one point, but that changed one day when he ‘borrowed’ his mom’s 72 chevelle and went for a ride in the country with a bottle of vodka. he was curious about a tape that he saw in her tape deck and put it in. ‘rank stranger’ by the stanley brothers started to play, and he just pulled over and listened to the song. soon he was getting back with his stepfather and returning to the genre.

his guitar prowess soon started getting the attention of people like del mccoury and david grisman, and he started opening shows for fellow michigan residents greensky bluegrass.

his latest was released in september and it features all original music. i got it the other day and listened to it on a recent roadtrip (to michigan, no less). it is solid, all the way through – and not just the music, as his songwriting is also great. much of the material draws on his experiences, both bad and good, growing up in small towns in the midwest. ‘enough to leave’ is about losing two high school friends to heroin overdoses within a week of each other.

quite a talent, and worth putting on your radar. he will be opening for jason isbell this summer. check him out.

neil peart

it is with a heavy heart this morning that i help share the news that neil peart has left us. neil and his music might seem a bit out of scope for my usual writings, but keep in mind that i have been listening to rock and roll for going on five decades now, and my formative years were definitely influenced by the prog rock genre. i think it is fair to say that at one time rush was my favorite band, and neil was by far my favorite drummer. i was a drummer (still am to a certain extent), my best friends in high school were drummers, and we all revered him. i saw them three times – the ‘2112’, ‘motion pictures’, and ‘permanent waves’ tours. the band was hugely popular in northeast ohio in the seventies, more so than other parts of the country, mainly due to getting considerable airplay on the dominant rock station of the time, wmms. wmms was not only the locally dominant fm station, it was considered one of the best fm stations nationally, winning rolling stone magazine’s annual survey of best station something like seven years in a row in the seventies. legendary dj kid leo was instrumental in bringing the canadian trio’s sound down across the border, much like he had helped bring springsteen’s music west from new jersey.

after my brother texted me last night with the news, i read a few articles about him before settling down with a tall cocktail and watching a few documentaries i found on netflix. all of them referenced the notion that he was one of the great rock drummers of all time. of this i think there is little doubt. his hero growing up was keith moon, but other than the fact that they both beat the shit out of their drums, i don’t think they were all that similar. keith had more of a wild and reckless style of playing, whereas neil’s style was more of a machine gun precision. stewart copeland of the police said he ‘was the most airdrummed drummer ever’, and i confess to being a part of that tribe. but very few could come close to his level of talent, and he was a wonder to behold.

on top of that, he was the band’s lyricist, and his writings often belied his personal philosophies. he was a big fan of ayn rand at the time – ‘2112’ was roughly based on her novel ‘anthem’, and was mentioned in the credits. now that i think about it, i am sure that is why i read ‘the fountainhead’ when i was in high school. that book influenced my young mind, and although i drifted away from her philosophy as i grew up later (as did neil), the individualism aspect of it still runs deep in the way i look at the world today.

i hadn’t thought about him for quite some time. i knew he had left the band a few years ago, citing the fact that he just couldn’t do what he once did physically. but it became clear last night that he had been battling brain cancer for three years now, finally succumbing on tuesday of this week. his death brought back a flood of memories, and i had to just get it all out. thanks for listening.

rest in beats, dude.