Radley’s first rule of roots music*: If there’s a stand-up bass, you’re probably going to have a good time. This is especially true if your stand-up bassist also rocks out like a headbanger.
(*Second rule, not applicable here: The fattest guy in the band plays the mandolin.)
I’m in New York for the weekend. So here’s Steve Earle. He’s going to New York City, where he hears that the girls are pretty.
Michael Tarbox of the great Tarbox Ramblers is running a Kickstarter campaign to fund a solo album. If you like the sound, consider throwing a few bucks his way.
Here’s one of my favorites from the band:
Here’s Nashville’s Matthew Perryman Jones. Excellent road song.
On the plane ride back from Portland, I read a biography of the great Enrest Tubb that I picked up at Powell’s Books. So here’s a little Ernest Tubb.
Here’s Nashville’s Griffin House:
Ry Cooder channels Charles Murray. The black background singers are a nice touch.
The last of the first great bluegrass men has died. I’m particularly fond of bluegrass gospel, so here’s one from the <em>Flat and Scruggs</em> show.
And here’s one better demonstrating Scruggs’ mastery of the banjo:
Seems appropriate.
Josh Ritter’s “Thin Blue Flame.” Nearly 10 minutes of bluesy, brooding bliss.
This is the crowd-sourced video for Johnny Cash’s last recorded song, “Ain’t No Grave.” It’s done through the Johnny Cash Project, and you can still participate. The website provides you with an image, which they ask you to re-draw or re-interpret however you like. All of the images are then strung together to create the video below. It’s an ongoing project, so the video will continue to change. It’s incredibly moving.
Some brood music for a rainy morning.
Here’s four minutes of Rick Rubin-produced time machine magic, in which the Avett Brothers go back to 1969 to sing “One Too Many Mornings” with Johnny Cash.
Slate goes looking for great covers of Leonard Cohen, and oddly can’t find many. My favorite below. But there are others. Willie Nelson does a great version of the same song. The English band James does a wonderful version of “So Long, Marianne.” Unfortunately, I can’t find it online. I also like Beck’s interpretation of “Hey, That’s No Way To Say Goodbye,” and Matthew Ryan’s understated “I’m Your Man.” Finally, I must of course mention Tom House’s cover of “Suzanne,” which he recorded from my couch.
I’m still waiting for someone to do “Don’t Go Home With Your Hard-On.”
I saw Kathleen Edwards live for the first time Saturday night at the Exit/In here in Nashville. She was great. Dark, raunchy, and as she shows in this kiss-off, the lady can rock.
We did another “Songs From My Couch” session last night, this time with the Nashville band Stagolee. They were fantastic. It’ll be a couple weeks before the sound and video are mixed and edited. But in the meantime, here’s a little preview from what I’ll call the “drum cam.”
The great Warren Zevon would have been 65 this week. Here’s my favorite:
A few of my favorites . . .
Today . . . Wilco tweeted a slightly more serious, albeit still outrageously awesome video. Before a show at the Civic Opera House in Chicago last month, Staples and singer-songwriter Nick Lowe joined the guys for a rousing rendition of The Band’s hit “The Weight.”
Not my favorite Guess Who song (the commies!), but what a glorious vibe in this video.
No voice evokes the late 60s/early 70s like Burton Cummings’.
Given that he seems to have been the theme this week, a commenter has asked for some John Hiatt. Here’s “Lift Up Every Stone,” of Hiatt’s 2000 back-porch stomper, Crossing Muddy Waters.
Heard this band for the first time in Nashville last week. The rich, smoky, throwback voice belongs to Katie Robertson. The band is called Stagolee.
I was introduced to the Alabama Shakes last week by way of the No Depression Twitter feed.
Wow.
One of my favorite covers. Beck and Emmylou Harris sing Gram Parsons’ “Sin City.”
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