We’ll stray a bit from our usual fare today. Here’s Jason Isbell and Bettye LaVette taking some obnoxious show attendees to task. It’s about the music, people.
Haas Kowert Tice – You Got This
A few years ago I saw Casey Driessen at a music festival down in Austin. Â Of the perhaps 100 people backstage at the moment, I’d guess half of them were fiddle players. Â Every fiddle player who was performing that day was there. Â It was impressive to see all that talent make their way to see […]
Monday Morning Video: The Beatles
I suppose I could try to write an introduction to this video but does this video really need one? Here are the Beatles performing “Don’t Let Me Down” on the roof of Apple Records back in 1969.
Mayer’s Playlist for July 2014, Part 1
ALBUMS OF THE MONTH Resolution Road, by Easton Stagger Phillips I don’t like to draw direct comparisons between artists but it’s hard not to do so with the latest release from Tim Easton, Leeroy Stagger and Evan Phillips. This talented trio of singer-songwriters conjure up the finer moments of Crosby, Stills and Nash. Resolution Road […]
Corb Lund – Counterfeit Blues
Corb Lund built a time machine. Â He took his long-time band, The Hurtin’ Albertans, down to Memphis and recorded a number of his live show staples and made them sound more original and rootsy than when they first laid down the tracks 8 – 10 years ago. Â Retransmitting the ambience of the famed Sun Studios, […]
Monday Morning Video: Johnny Winter (1944-2014)
We lost Johnny Winter last week. Johnny, known for his blistering fast guitar playing, burst onto the national scene as a solo act in the late 1960s. A guitar prodigy, Johnny and younger brother Edgar – both albino – had formed a band as they were growing up in Beaumont, Texas, and had a single released when Johnny […]
John Hiatt – Terms of My Surrender
John Hiatt has long been one of the mainstays of Americana music. Throughout his long career, Hiatt has been known for great songwriting and musicianship, but of all his earthy Americana releases, Terms of My Surrender is certainly his grittiest and arguably his most enjoyable work to date. Despite some early success as a songwriter, Hiatt was […]
Mayer’s Picks: The Best of 2014, So Far (the Songs)
Rubicon, Chris Mills (from the Loud Romantic Records release Alexandria) Mills lulls you in with a lilting melody before unleashing the jaw-dropping emotion of lyrics and voice. The results are heartwrenching. Really Wanna See You, Lydia Loveless (from the Bloodshot Records release Somewhere Else) This is the way rock and roll is supposed to sound: […]
Woody Guthrie in New York City
Woody Guthrie has a storied place in music history. He is one of those touchstones that continues to inspire both musicians and activists around the world. Heck even the poor souls folks who aren’t familiar with Guthrie have undoubtedly sung a few verses of his seminal “This Land Is Your Land.†Although he is most […]
Monday Morning Video: James Booker
A friend introduced me to the music and legend of the late New Orleans pianist James Booker. The “Bayou Maharajah,” as he was called, lived a flamboyant life. While he never found true commercial success, he built gained popularity in Europe and even played a couple of shows with the Jerry Garcia Band (before being […]