• Acoustic

    Jeff Tweedy’s “Jesus Wept”

    Crikey, it’s been almost 14 years since I last wrote here about the great and underrated Jeff Tweedy. As time chugs along, the presence of Jeff’s music – both solo and with Wilco – are like an ever present, familiar, warm blanket. And since NPR posted this short & sweet set back in early 2018, I’ve kept coming back time and again to this 3 minute masterpiece mid-set.

    It’s “Jesus Wept,” a poignant, beautiful acoustic ballad he wrote for Mavis Staples’ 2013 album One True Vine (which Jeff produced). The subject is loss, and it hits in such a unique and powerful way. Tweedy’s wordsmithing has always left me in awe, and this tune is no exception.

    My throat quits when I try to say / How I long for the day / How I wish there was a way / I could see you again

    or the chorus:

    Side streets I have worn
    Through late summer storms
    I should have told you
    I could live without you
    But I don’t want to

    Bless that man, and how lucky we are to have him around singing his songs.

    So, this is from NPR Music’s 10th Anniversary Concert, which took place December 2nd, 2017 (seems like ancient history after all that’s happened since). The venue is the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C. (where I saw one show – Mike Watt’s fireHose in 1991! but I digress).

    The video below picks up at 7:56 – the start of “Jesus Wept.” By all means, watch it. I’ve wanted to share this for a long time. C’est magnifique.

  • Acoustic

    40 Years in the Wilderness

    I discovered Bruce Cockburn’s music in the summer of 1994 – the year that his great album Dart to the Heart was released. I was in my mid-20’s, lacking any real focus or direction in life, and I immediately connected with his music as a calming and fulfilling presence in my life. When I’m full of angst and anxiety, feeling the weight and responsibility that comes with being a father and husband and provider – coupled with the awful news cycles of our present day – I can “go to the well” of Bruce’s music to ground me and put everything in perspective. “40 Years In The Wilderness” is one of Bruce’s new tunes, released on 2017’s Bone on Bone, and has that subtle spirituality you’ll often find in Bruce’s music. There’s an obvious connotation to Jesus, who spent 40 days and nights in the Judean desert, tempted by Satan. Bruce compares it to his recent move to San Francisco with his wife and young daughter, and his return to church after a forty year absence:

    After I wrote my memoir [2014’s Rumours of Glory], I hadn’t written a song in four years. I started going to church again, after not having gone for decades. There was a sermon about Jesus being baptized, which is when he really figures out who he is. He’s shocked, and he runs out into the desert to figure it out. That struck me with considerable force. I felt like I’d been struggling with that issue for 40 years. I’d started to identify myself as a Christian in the 1970s, and here I was, 40 years later, back in church. And I’m living in San Francisco now, with my wife and child. I never would have imagined myself living on the West Coast. But it was an answer. I went with it. I went west in another one of those cosmic moments. This song is about accepting those invitations. [1]

    It’s really a gorgeous song, with a chorus that will stick with you after a couple listens. You’ll hear Mary Gauthier singing background vocals here too. Lucky for me, I’ll be seeing Bruce in concert this Tuesday in Tempe (with a band, [!] which I haven’t experienced since February 2000).

    Here’s a live acoustic version too:

  • Acoustic,  Bruce Springsteen

    Remembering 9/11

    Remembering 9/11… all those who lost their lives, and the loved ones affected.
    God bless them, and God bless America.

    “I woke up this morning
    I could barely breathe
    Just an empty impression
    In the bed where you used to be
    I want a kiss from your lips
    I want an eye for an eye
    I woke up this morning to the empty sky”

  • Acoustic,  Rock n' Folk

    Thrasher

    A couple weeks back, I finally got a couple of good CD display cabinets, mounted them on the wall, and released my CD’s from years of exile in plastic storage bins. It’s nice to have them in my face again, and it’s making me revisit a lot of favorites from my past that haven’t yet made it to the iTunes rip machine.

    One such CD is Neil Young & Crazy Horse‘s Rust Never Sleeps, which I initially bought because of my love for the song “Powderfinger”. But upon listening to it recently, it was the beautiful lyrics, intense imagery and the simple & sweet melody of “Thrasher” that hit me.

    The amazing lyrics have undoubtedly been absorbed and closely studied by longtime fans of Neil, but I’m still trying to wrap my head around them – even just the last few lines:

    Where the vulture glides descending
    On an asphalt highway bending
    Thru libraries and museums, galaxies and stars
    Down the windy halls of friendship
    To the rose clipped by the bullwhip
    The motel of lost companions
    Waits with heated pool and bar.

    But me I’m not stopping there,
    Got my own row left to hoe
    Just another line in the field of time
    When the thrashers comes, I’ll be stuck in the sun
    Like the dinosaurs in shrines
    But I’ll know the time has come
    To give what’s mine.

    There’s magic in those words. And the sort of melancholy, matter of fact style in which Neil sings it…  Wow… Such a good tune…

    Neil Young & Crazy Horse – Thrasher (mp3)

    Buy Rust Never Sleeps

  • Acoustic,  Folk,  Roots Rock

    Back Porch Hand Me Down Tunes

    This Labor Day weekend, the temperature here in the Arizona desert finally dropped below 100 degrees for two straight days. Some rain, lots of clouds, and best of all, a chance to venture out to the back patio for one of my favorite pastimes: listening to my oodles of music on Shuffle. It seems I discover something new each time. If you’re constantly gathering music from all sources – ripped CD’s, ripped vinyl, eMusic, iTunes, the Amazon MP3 Store, etc – there’s little chance you listen to everything in your music collection. Especially more than once or twice.

    Therefore, it’s important to me to spend a lot of time with the iTunes on Shuffle, and let it flow. Yesterday morning, as I wrapped up the yard work, and relaxed on the patio chair with a bottle of water, the tunes did flow: “Black Man’s Cry” (Fela Kuti & Ginger Baker), “Gypsy Woman” (Bruce’s version), “Don’t Go Away Mad” (Little Village)…

    Then a soft acoustic tune came on – a rocking chair on a rural country porch kind of tune. I didn’t recognize it. And those are exactly the moments I look for: hearing something great in my collection, and having no idea who it is or where it came from. Turns out it was the Avett Brothers, and the song was the final track on their last full length album Emotionalism – “Hand-Me-Down Tune”.

    Take a listen…

    The Avett Brothers – “Hand-Me-Down Tune” (mp3) – from Emotionalism

    September is a big month for the North Carolina-based Avett Brothers. Their latest full length, I and Love and You will come out on September 29th. During the month, starting Tuesday, they’ll release 13 video pieces on their web site – combining live footage, fan and band interviews – each of them dedicated to a a song on the new album.

    Pre-order I and Love and You by clicking on the cover…

  • Acoustic

    The Backroom

    I finally bought a capo for my guitar, so I pulled out this enormous stack of songs w/ the chords transcribed. I went on a frenzy about 10 years ago and printed a bunch out. I had completely forgotten about this Bap Kennedy tune. In fact, I had completely forgotten about Bap Kennedy.

    This song comes from his 1998 solo debut, Domestic Blues, which he recorded after several albums with the band Energy Orchard. This is one of those songs that carried me through a breakup back in the day. I found it therapeutic to play sad and lonesome tunes on the guitar in my 700 square foot apartment on the railroad tracks.

    Now I see the tune a bit differently. He’s just infatuated with a stripper. We’ve all been there at one time or another.
    “Dude, I think she digs me!”

    Lovely tune still…

    Listen: Bap Kennedy – The Backroom (mp3)

    Check out Domestic Blues (click the cover):

  • Acoustic

    To Know Your Love

    Where did this come from? I’m not sure how I got this album, maybe out of an eMusic recommendation? But it’s getting repeat plays over the last week. Check out “On the Other Side”, and this one right here..

    Brian Lee & His Orchestra To Know Your Love (mp3)

    Then Download the whole album for free on their web site.

  • Acoustic,  Rock n' Folk

    Northern Exposure: The Great Outdoors, “Winter”

    Savour the Flavour of Winter.Canadian folk-rock collective The Great Outdoors have completed their ambitious project to write, record and release an EP for each season. The three preceding EP’s managed to perfectly capture the tone of each respective season and Winter introduces elements of blues and roots music to the mix to a stunning effect. “The Winter’s Touch” plaintive tenor closes the door and invites you in from the cold as Melisa Devost‘s beautiful voice warms your heart. “The Garbage Man Song” rambles along and features some distinctly Tom Waits influenced moments provided courtesy of guest vocalist Nickle City Slim. “No Bells” swings with a bluesy swagger that pays off with an in your face guitar accompaniment that would otherwise seem out of place. “Edison’s Genius” picks up where the previous track leaves off with its blues-tinged delivery but in place of place of guitars is a horn arrangement that recalls Monk‘s “Abide With Me”. The set wraps with “Snowdrop” a slow burn ballad. Check out “The Garbage Man Song” here and you can catch the rest of the release on the bands MySpace page.

    The Great Outdoors – The Garbage Man Song” (mp3)

    Links: on Last.fm | on MySpace