seth james, ‘different hat’

we were introduced to seth james by guitarist bob britt, a good friend of the founder of the company i work for. when originally introducing him to our group, bob said something to the effect of ‘not only is he a great musician, but a great person as well’. in his subsequent interview i was convinced that bob was right. dressed in western gear and a big cowboy hat, he regaled us with his stories of growing up in west texas on a horse ranch, and the life lessons he learned there.

by looking at him, i was expecting that the music would be somewhere in the country vein, maybe even the red dirt country genre that is based in that area. but i really could not have been more wrong. growing up on that ranch, he didn’t have access to radio while on a horse. and so he listened to albums from a very wide swath of influences, from chicago blues, memphis r&b to new orleans funk.

and all those influences are readily apparent throughout the entire album of fourteen tracks. it opens with ‘mamarita’, a big funky song with a new orleans/dr. john style piano up in the mix. next up is ‘solid gold plated fool’, written by delbert mcclinton. if you are a fan of little feat, this will sound right to you. ‘she likes to run’ is a song where it is hard to tell if he is talking about a horse or a woman. ‘raisin’ kane’ is a cover of a j.j cale song that not even he recorded. it was a demo that was given to seth. and lord knows we could use some more j.j.cale in this world.

seth either writes or cowrites most of the songs here, and i think his work continues in the fashion of the great writers from texas. the overall arrangements are catchy and inviting. as mrs. redeyegin said, ‘i can dance to that’. the horn charts are great, and the backup singers provide even more punch.

seth is a long time fan of delbert mcclinton (even touring with him), and the band here is to a large degree borrowed from delbert (including bob britt on rhythm guitar). they sound like they have been playing together for a long time, mostly because they have. i think you will enjoy it.

emmylou harris and the nash ramblers, ‘ramble in music city – the lost concert’

many times in my life i will get an interest in a particular musician or genre and go down a rabbit hole for a while. i can’t remember exactly when i went down the bluegrass rabbit hole, but it was certainly in the early nineties, and one of the albums that likely triggered my interest was the 1992 grammy winning ‘at the ryman’ by emmylou harris and the nash ramblers. the concert’s and album’s high acclaim are given near-universal credit for the renewed interest in reviving the dilapidated ryman auditorium as an active venue after nearly 20 years of dormancy. soon after, the building was completely renovated and has since become a world-class concert hall.

although the band was not technically built as a bluegrass band (their grammy was for best country album), they incorporated a lot of bluegrass elements to many of the songs. emmylou harris had been touring with her ‘hot band’ lineup for a few years before this, and she wanted to go in a different direction. the ramblers were all acoustic, and featured a number of well known musicians, most notably sam bush on violin and mandolin, roy huskey jr. on bass, and al perkins on dobro and guitar. the vocal blendings were stunning. i could go on and on. it is a near perfect presentation and i never grow tired of it.

so i was pleasantly surprised as i was driving back from chicago a couple of weeks back and heard that they had a new release coming out. i was listening to the ‘buddy and jim show’ on the outlaw country sirius station, and they had most of the surviving members of the band being interviewed about circumstances around the recording. (by the way, if you are an americana genre fan, buddy miller and jim lauderdale are great hosts and you will learn so much). this show happened about a year earlier than the ryman show and has almost entirely different material. all the members had not remembered it being recorded and had forgotten about the show. an archivist from rhino records discovered the tapes about a year ago and brought it to emmylou’s attention. as she says in the liner notes, they didn’t have to fix anything. the recording (and the playing) were so good they left it as is.

it is a great companion piece to ‘at the ryman’. if you know that one, this is a no brainer. if you don’t, and you like emmylou, get both.

dig the hair!

road trip chronicles, volume 3: dead and company at wrigley field

as a huge baseball fan, wrigley field has always been on my bucket list of places to go. so even though it wasn’t for a baseball game, i thought i would go there this past weekend to catch a dead and company show. it was also a good chance to meet up with an old college buddy of mine. john had been living in chicago ever since we graduated in the mid eighties. so between the fact that we hadn’t seen each other in about a decade, and the fact that i knew he would be a good source to figure out some pre show activities, it seemed like it could have the makings of a great weekend.

i drove over saturday morning and got to his place early afternoon. we caught up on a few things and then headed down towards the vicinity of wrigley field and had some cocktails and an early dinner. it was a beautiful saturday afternoon and we got down to wrigleyville in plenty of time to start heading to the show.

it had rained the previous evening, so much so that friday night’s concert was suspended in the first set. but tonight it was perfect, and so it was just a matter of getting in the building and getting situated. my friend kevin had secured two pit tickets for us, but we decided to explore more of the floor seating and then settle in later. more on that in a bit.

we had been debating the merits of the song ‘althea’ in the bar before the show, and sure enough they opened with that. it’s funny how things happen like that at a dead show. overall it was a very good first set, including two of my favorites: ‘jack straw’ and ‘brown eyed women’. it ended unusually with ‘one more saturday night’, which normally is a second set closer or encore. when i texted that to a group of friends back home, one said that means you will have a great second set.

and it was. if you are a fan of the classic pairing of songs the dead generated in the seventies, then you would likely be very happy with the song selections. first up was ‘china cat sunflower’ going into ‘i know you rider’ (‘china/rider’), and then ‘estimated prophet’ going into ‘eyes of the world’ (‘estimated/eyes’). a drums/space interlude was capped by a late period garcia tune named ‘days between’, and then they finished the set with the classic trilogy of ‘help on the way/slipknot/franklin’s tower’. those are all favorites of mine and i am not sure i could have scripted it much better.

we never did make it into the pit. covid protocols required everyone to show proof of vaccinations, which we had. you had to show that to get into the building (you got a wristband for that), and then show proof again to get on the floor (another wristband for that) and then show proof again to get into the pit (even though i already had two wristbands to that effect). the security line to get in was very long, and it looked very crowded in there. it just wasn’t worth it.

but overall it was a great show, a great night, and great friends. well worth the trip. great to see you, john. let’s do this more often.

charlie

the world lost one of the great rock and roll drummers today. he was also one of my favorite drummers as well. in the world of rock drummers, there are at least two categories. there are the showy and bombastic power drummers, epitomized by the likes of john bonham, ginger baker, keith moon and so on. and then there is the type that are known for their innate sense of time – their ability to lay the rhythmic foundation of the song down to such a degree that the other band members always knew where to land. ringo starr and levon helm come to mind, but so do so many others. in fact there are more drummers in the latter category, primarily for two reasons. the first corresponds to the fact that it does not require a lot of skill to be a more traditional small kit drummer. but the more important reason is that the primary job of the drummer is to keep the beat. if you can do that, most bands will find value in your musicianship.

i bring this all up of course because charlie watts, who died today at the age of 80, was one of the icons of the latter camp above. he was the bedrock of the rolling stones’ rhythm section for the last 58 years, keeping time for arguably one of the best rock and roll bands ever. the accolades have come pouring in all day, and most reference his rock solid drumming, but also his elegance and warmth as an individual.

i tried to find some good videos to accompany this post, showing charlie’s drumming prowess, but nearly everything featured the ‘stars’ of the band – keith and mick. charlie could always be seen in the background pounding away at his small four or five piece kit, but never being focused on. and he probably always preferred it that way. he didn’t really like the rock and roll lifestyle, especially being out on the road, but he did love to play.

although charlie was not in the press like his more flamboyant bandmates, there is no question that he commanded the respect of them. all members are on record for giving immense praise to his contribution to their overall sound and live performances. keith richards has been quoted often saying that ‘charlie’s drumming is the bed i lay in’.

there is a great story about a time when they were on tour, and mick called his hotel room late at night after a big party session, and yelled ‘where’s my drummer?’. charlie hung up, got out of bed and shaved, put on a suit and tie, then went down to the party room and punched jagger in the face, saying ‘don’t ever call me your drummer again. you are my f**cking singer’. mick apologized. he knew his place.

rest in peace, charlie.

los lobos, ‘native sons’

different bands and artists took to various ways of creating, thriving and dealing with this pandemic. what we have here is los lobos’ response, at least part of it. what started out as a side project to keep them busy and sharp, turned into a tribute to the bands and songwriters from los angeles that were early influences on their lives, careers, and music.

initially trading tracks over the internet, and then gradually getting back into the studio, they compiled over sixty songs, and then whittled it down to twelve that are presented here (plus one original – the title track). there will be a few artists recognizable to the mainstream crowd (jackson browne, buffalo springfield, beach boys), there are some chicano influences (thee midniters, lalo guerrero, willie bobo and mario paniaga) to give us some spice, and some garage rock like the premiers and the blasters (the latter of which were essential in getting los lobos their first break in the business).

the liner notes are great (again, this is why i buy cds and not downloads when i can), and help flesh out the process of the project. but they also give us their thoughts on each song and artist they chose. a quick example:

‘bluebird/for what it’s worth’ by buffalo springfield

when police clashed with young music club goers on the sunset strip in 1966, stephen stills wrote ‘for what it’s worth’. ‘bluebird’ was the follow up single. here the band flips the order and makes it a medley, with david replicating the searing guitars of both stephen stills (left channel) and neil young (right channel). steve: buffalo was a really big influence on the band. like los lobos, they were ployglots unique to their time. louie: we knew we wanted to do a buffalo springfield song, and ended up with two because we couldn’t decide: david: with ‘bluebird’, i have wanted to do that song since i was 15, and ‘for what it’s worth’ is still relevant today. when i was a teenager, buffalo springfield was one of my favorite bands. i just pitched the idea” ‘let’s see how close we can get to the originals. just for the fun of it’.

it’s pretty damn good.

just a real fun album that would go great with your next backyard barbeque.