Recent Additions : Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers : HypnoticEye

I have enjoyed most of Tom Petty's music since picking up his debut and self titled LP on sale in Brighton Mall in 1979.  Hard to believe that was 35 years ago.


I have managed to see him twice live, first on the Damn The Torpedoes tour at the Majestic Tour in Wellington in 1980.  That was a band at the top of their game.  Later in the 80's I saw him again when he returned to Wellington and played a rather shambolic set with Bob Dylan at Athletic Park.

Since then he has been one of those artists who, apart from the odd misstep has consistently produced quality and challenging material. Any review of his career reveals an impressive catalog of work.


Each of the last few albums has been greeted by critics as "a return to form" or "best since" in their reviews.  In the same reviews the critics tend to also dismiss those last few albums that they had recently praised.  A common trend in rock writing.  My favourite of his recent albums is Highway Companion (a solo album of sorts)

I have most of them  and they are generally solid albums with one or two excellent tracks.

So it has been with the release of his latest album, Hypnotic Eye, generally glowing reviews, that dismiss his more recent work that was being praised last time round.  Rather than shell out the $50+ for the vinyl version I picked up a CD on one of my last visits to NZ - something to listen to in the car.  Chris was with me and to say the album did not capture our attention would be an understatement.  Chris was unfamiliar with Petty and I had to quickly assure him that Petty was better than that and we put on a selection of his other music off the iPod.

So I assigned Hypnotic Eye to the library..................  and then.............

A few tracks started to crop up on the iPod on shuffle and they started to grow on me.  On my recent trip to New Zealand I decided to give the album another go and listened to it on the flight over. Songs like American Dream Plan B, Fault Lines, Forgotten Man and U Get Me High are all worthy additions to the Petty canon.

It  will not be remembered as one of his great albums but if you keep listening it grows and I know I will come back to it - which I wont with Mojo.

Favourites : My Morning Jacket

One day last week while scrolling through the iPod for music to play I stopped on My Morning Jacket and put it on shuffle.  Over the next four hours I worked though the four albums and one ep I have of theirs and was struck with how uniformly excellent the songs, playing and singing were as the band morphed between styles but always with an unmistakable MMJ swagger.

I had forgotten just how good this band is.

This is certainly one band that I think can foot it with the best of the late 60's early 70's bands.  They do not get the same reverence though,  partly because  there is now so much more choice of good music and also because style gurus have so much more say in what is cool and what is not.  Bands are not often given second chances and large stylistic experimentation can be fatal rather than taken as a sign of genius.  I often think it would be interesting how some of those classic bands of the 60's and 70's would fare if they were if they were starting now or in the 90's.  How would The Doors be rated? Would Led Zeppelin have managed to get past the difficult third album and would anyone even have listened to Forever Changes.

The first MMJ album I bought was their second album It Still Moves.  It is an album of southern country with some solid guitar boogie and heavily reverbed vocals.  There was something there and I guess it was that something that inspired the choice of MMJ to play Free Bird in the closing scene of the great music road movie Elizabethtown.


There was no real clue on that album as to the experimentation that would start to really blossom on their third album Z. I really loved this album when it came out.  It got great reviews  then grew tired of it and now love it again.   From the opening ethereal funkiness of Wordless Chorus, through the Hawaii 5 O riffing around Off The Record

The next album was the disco/funk influenced Evil Urges.  This was the start of critics questioning them.  At about this time lead singer Jim James (and sometimes Yim Yames for contractual reasons) started appearing on other people's albums. It was not well received at the time but I enjoy it and play it often.  There are some startling rock songs on it includingI'm Amazed, Touch Me I'm Going to Scream, Good Intentions and Highly Suspicious and it was around the release of this album that the family saw the band when they played both Big Day Out and opened for Neil Young in Melbourne.

By the time Circuital was released My Morning Jacket were no longer critics darlings and the album was poorly reviewed ... at first but it is interesting it has 4.5 stars in Amazon readers' reviews.  Standout tracks for me are Circuital, Slow Slow Tune, Wonderful (The Way I Feel), Outta My System and Holdin' on to Black Metal.  Perhaps their best work.

They have been quiet for a while with more Jim James side projects - I hope there will be something new soon.

Favourites : Mary Gauthier : Mercy Now

Like a lot of artists I really enjoy now I came across Mary Gauthier (pronounced Gaushay) on a give away CD that came with an Uncut Magazine.

The track that caught my attention was the title track from her then current album Drag Queens in Limousines.  I got the album and was immediately impressed with the standard of songwriting.   That was 15 years ago and since then I have bought a few more of her albums but the one I reach for most is this one from 2005.  

Gauthier has a way of of concise simple story telling that explore life's darker side....but always with a little light at the end of the tunnel as well.  It's no wonder to me that she now gives workshops on songwriting.   

However you have to be prepared to give her songs the it the time needed to really get to that light side.  I remember lending it and Drag Queens to a work colleague and he could not understand why I am always drawn to the types of dark themes that this album explores.  Truth be told nor can I.

However I think Mercy Now is a great album  The Title Track sets the scene early and the mood is reinforced  by her reprise of I Drink from the Drag Queens album.  Other stand out tracks include Just Say She's A Rhymer and Wheel inside a wheel which has been covered by a few people including Jimmy Buffet and I love the closing It Ain't the Wind It's The Rain.

So if like me you get uplifted by songs about how hard life can be - but sung with compassion and a sense of hope - you can't go far wrong with this album.

Recent Additions : Lake Street Dive : Bad Self Portraits

I bought Lake Street Dive's new album Bad Self Portraits at the start of the year.  It was one of those albums that did not grab me immediately but had something about it that meant I kept coming back to it.

Not quite county, not quite blues, great song writing and Rachel Price is a strong vocalist reminiscent of Bonnie Rait.

The first and title track is great way to kick off the album.  Tracks like Better Than, You Go Down Smooth,  Use Me Up and Just Ask.


This week the line up for next year's WOMAD festival was announced and I have to admit that a lineup including Sinead O'Connor, Richard Thompson, Toumani and Sidiki, Lake Street Dive and Yassou N'Dour I am quite tempted to make the journey.  

Damn Right I've Got The Blues : The US Blues Purchases

One of the benefits and trials of travelling for me is always buying and transporting new music purchases.  The benefits are of course you can buy records and CDs not readily available in New Zealand (or Fiji).

The trials are two fold.  What NOT to buy as we juggle those weight limits and try and avoid excess baggage and how to keep the vinyl out of the sun. This trip was no exception with about 30 new slabs of vinyl and a selection of CDs as well.

My right arm is now some 2 inches longer.

I did manage to get good selection of blues while I was in Memphis and Clarksdale and have been enjoying them very much since my return.

Around Clarksdale T Model Ford was spoken about with a degree of awe.  A character it seems, did not pick up the guitar until after his fifth wife left him and he was about 60.  Apparently he fathered some 50 children - one of whom was the  infamous Shelby Woman in Steve Kolbus' song.



I managed to find two T Model Ford CDs She Ain't None of Your'n and Jack Daniel Time and enjoy both of them especially as the latter was recorded at Reds.

Unable to track down any vinyl of T Model Ford I asked who else they would recommend from around town and I was recommended Pushin' my Luck by Robert Belfour.  Belfour regularly toured with both T Model Ford and RL Burnside.

Check out these versions of Pushing My Luck and You Got Me Crying.






RL Burnside : First Recordings.  I have a couple of his CDs from a few years ago.  I even saw his grandson play in Chicago a few years ago.

RL Burnside was a Clarksdale regular who passed away about 10 years ago.  I was pleased when I managed to find a record with early acoustic songs on it.

It has that signature driving rhythm that he is known for and hints at what was to come.


I spent a wee while scouring record stores looking for second hand gems from the 50s 60s and 70s but sadly came across no rare Freddy, Albert or BB King recordings available.  I settled on a great CD with Howlin' Wolf's first two records.  Simply Outstanding.

I also bought Steve Kolbus Skippin and Hoppin as I had to have the song about his girlfriend faking her own death.

The real find however was when I met this dapper gentleman sitting in a record store in Mempis selling his CDs.  I could not resist and have played it regularly.  The Self Proclaimed King of Beale St delivers.

Journey Through America : The Clarksdale Experience

Any fan of the blues knows the story of the crossroads.  Robert Johnson supposedly an average if not poor guitar player, leaves his hometown for a few months, and comes back with almost miraculous guitar prowess and starts writing and performing a series of blues songs that become classics.  Among them is a song called Crossroads and the story quickly gathers pace that his new found abilities are as a result of a pact he made with the devil at The Crossroads.

Any musical  journey that gets near the Mississippi Delta then has to make the pilgrimage to those crossroads for the obligatory photo. Part of the problem is "what crossroads?" as there are so many crossroads in the Delta and of course there are three popular sites.  With limited time we settled on the accepted wisdom that the crossroads were those of the old Highways 49 and 61 in Clarksdale Mississippi.  So we, well I, decided to add an extra 2-3 hours to our journey from Tupelo to Memphis (and not follow the route that Elvis took as a boy) and head to Clarksdale.

After deliberately disobeying Dolly, our GPS lady to explore the back roads on the Delta we ended up arriving in Clarksdale and finding the crossroads quite late in the afternoon, hungry after not eating all day.  It was a quiet Sunday and things did not look that exciting and promising in Clarksdale after taking the photos.

We followed signs to the Delta Blues Museum (which was closed) and there was a band playing in back yard of the not promising sounding Pink Bar.  We were thirsty and hungry so we stopped for a beer and to listen to some music.  We settled in a mix of local, Dutch and Italian blues fans. Eventually we had a few beers with Steve Kolbus from the band, Steve is a local import who has been playing around town for 18 years. We were particulary taken by his song Shelby Woman about an ex girl friend who ended their relationship by "faking her own death". Nice guy and he helped arrange our accommodation that night. He rang his friend Bubba who came down to the bar gave us a deal on one of his loft apartments and checked us in right there.  The loft turned out to be the best accommodation we had while in the States - complete with some great DVDs about the local blues scene.

Reds By Day

Bubba recommended we check out "Reds" a local land mark and juke joint.   We were given two choices on how to get there one  involved walking down the railway track.  There was no choice really after hearing that.  It really looked exactly as I would hope a juke joint would.  Run down, seedy and you could almost smell the blues coming out (at least something coming out). I can assure you it looks pretty imposing at night.

Watermelon Slim at Reds

What was particularly pleasing was that Watermelon Slim was playing when we got there.  I have been listening to his music for about ten years and he is one of my favourite living and performing bluesmen.

I was beginning to really like Clarksdale.










The next day we drove to Indianolo and visited the BB King Blues Museum and returned to Clarksdale.  It was a fascinating drive past cotton fields, Parchment Farm Prison and some old bayous.  When we got back we  meet Steve again and went to hear the Italian couple we met the previous day play a set (complete with Watermelon Slim dancing) of solid blues (complete with Italian accents) that had a revolving set of locals supporting them.  Another great night.

Ground Zero - by Day

If we had done a bit more research we would have stayed longer in Clarksdale.  We would have checked out Ground Zero - Morgan Freeman's blues club and checked out some of the local blues men.  Sadly it is a passing era as we are losing many of the stalwarts and the last of the bluesmen who started in the fields picking cotton.

Would love to go back and spend more time there.

I don't know much about Jazz but I do like...... Getz/Gilberto

Sometimes Stereo is a Bad Thing

When a well recorded and mixed album is played through a well balanced stereo the results can at times be simply spine tingling.  The instruments blend, there is the right space between them and you can get a real sense of the music and how it would come across from a stage.  Sometimes it does the opposite.

This album is one of Jan's father's favourites.  I have always liked The Girl From Ipanema and got to know the whole album on summers in the Marlborough Sounds.

A few years ago I bought my own copy CD of the album. Tacked at the end of the CD were shortened mono versions of the The Girl from Ipanema and Corcovado.

These immediately highlighted to me how BAD the stereo version of this album is. It is unbalanced with voices and instruments blaring out of opposite speakers at almost no time really giving that feeling of being involved in the music.

The mono versions on the other hand just knock me out.

When Jan's father left the sounds I was lucky enough to inherit some of his records and Jan made sure she brought this one one home.  It was 50 year old vinyl and played really well BUT it was stereo and the mix was as bad as the CD.  SAD.

So I have always kept my eye out for a second hand mono version of the album.  This weekend I had to make a Visa run to NZ.  Long Story.  So while in Christchurch I visited a second hand record store and there in the "Just Arrived" bin was a copy of the MGM NZ original release.  Chris asked - why would you buy that - you have it already. I said it might be mono and he looked at me even more strangely than usual.

It did not say whether it was mono or stereo so I played it on the store's headphone system and it sounded mono to me but I was not sure whether that was just because it was a crappy system. But I shelled out the money and took a punt.

Later I checked on the various websites that give details of old albums and they all said it was stereo.

Last night I played it and it was .........

MONO GLORIOUS MAGICAL MONO

Journey Through America : The Beaver Creek Music Festival

Our first musical stop our Musical Mystery Tour was at a small festival in an exclusive ski resort development off the Vail Valley - The Rendezvous Music Festival at Beaver Creek.  We had one main reason for being there and that was to see Jason Isbell former Drive By Trucker and possibly the greatest songwriter around at the moment.  When planning the itinerary for the trip I asked Jan what was one thing she wanted to do and it was emphatically - see Jason Isbell.

It was a magnificent setting splashed with Autumn colours in a natural staged location.  The music had a decidedly americana feel and the crowd was very very small allowing easy access to the front of the stage and the ability to talk to many of the musicians as they came back into the crowd to enjoy each others' music.

First up was Kylie Rae Harris - early in the afternoon sun singing a country soul filled set.  It was a pleasant set with a couple of standout songs that was about right to kick things off.

She was followed by Langhorn Slim, again solo with guitar and slightly strangulated vocals and lots of words in his songs.  He was an engaging performer and he reminded me of an old favourite, Phil Cody.A good set that encouraged me to buy his CD (which unfortunately did not reflect the set or his personality that well).   I think this clip of him singing with his Mom demonstrates the personality that comes out on stage.  It was nice when we bumped into Mr Slim at the Airport in the security queue as we left Denver to go to New Orleans.

Paper Bird was a local Denver band that impressed with the three part female harmonies on stage, stories of drinking Kava the night before (really).  Unfortunately the energy on stage did not seem to translate to either of their records.

An early highlight though Wade Bowen with his brand of Texas Country.  Apparently he is very successful in Texas but not far beyond.  Sad,  as songs like Walking Along The Fenceline are as good as any in the genre.  He and his band played a great set and I had a good chat to them afterwards while waiting for the next band to start.

Dawes were one of the "big" names at the festival and  while I have had their Nothing is Wrong CD for a couple of years it had never really captured my imagination.  Even having it in the car for two weeks before we left had
not worked in terms of firing up my interest.  Whether it was a case of low expectations being exceeded or not I am not sure, but I enjoyed their set - again much more energy live and the vocals came across as less whiny than their CD.


The highlights of the day however were undoubtedly Jason Isbell who played the last of the outdoor sets and Patty Griffin who played the final show for the night as we sat in the Orchestra Pit of a small auditorium.

Jason played an hour set of almost all his best songs and I managed to get right to the front. While there was no jostling or pushing needed to get to the front. He is already gathering a rabid following with everyone at the front knowing every word and talking to some it was the 4th or 5th time they had seen him this year.   About three days before the show Isbell had cleaned up at the Americana Music Awards with best artist, best album and best song, so it was good to see someone at what is clearly an artistic peak - lets hope there are many more.

Coincidentally Patty Griffin had been a contender at the same awards with her latest album.  At the awards show she had played her nominated song Ohio with her old partner Robert Plant. I had known of Patty Griffin since before her collaboration with Plant on his Band of Joy album and accompanying tour having had her terrific  1000 Kisses album.  We were priviliged to see Patty that night from the front row of a small theatre surrounded by many of the musicians that had played during the day.  But not Jason much to Jan's disappointment.

Journey Through The States - New Orleans : Preservation Hall and The Preservation Hall Jazz Band

One place that I was very keen to check out when I was in New Orleans was the Preservation Hall. Getting tickets over the net was troublesome though and it was not until we arrived in New Orleans that we were able to secure tickets for the following nights show.

Started in the early 60's it provided a place for old timers to get together, play some jazz and make some money to top up any pension (most likely none) that they may have.


The first album I bought of theirs was Preservation a benefit album where the band is joined by a variety of performers from a wide range of genres to present a neat updating of the New Orleans Jazz Band Aesthetic.  Artists as diverse as Jim James, Tom Waits and Del McCoury joined the band.  The album was recorded in the wake of the Hurricane Katrina as a way to help both the hall and the band survive.

Here is a short documentary on them.

The cover photo shows the hall in all its glory and I was very pleased when we finally found it just off Bourbon St it looks exactly as the photo does.



What Jan and I weren't quite prepared for was how inside it was just the same and how small it was.  We had front row tickets in a small intimate venue.

This is a photo from our seat!

Here is a pretty good example of what they sound and "feel" like playing on home turf.  A few of teh same players including the singer and trumpet player played on the night we were there.


The next album of theirs I managed to pick up was a limited edition clear green vinyl copy of American Legacies, where the single collaboration with Del McCoury on the previous album is expanded to a whole album,   Once you get past how dizzy the vinyl makes you looking at it spin on the turntable what you get is a brilliant mix of Dixie Jazz and Bluegrass.

This version of I'll Fly Away a blue grass standard revitalised on the Oh Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack is a great example of what you can expect on the album.





Until last year the band was totally dedicated to playing dixie standards both well known and not well known.  However last year they actually recorded an album of new material written by Ben Jaffe current band member and son of the orignal "curators". It is well worth checking out and I am listening to it as I write.


















American Legacies  I'll Fly Away gives

Journey Through The States

As many of my friends on facebook know - I have just returned from a three week trip around parts of the US that have special meaning to me.  It was a great trip and in that time Jan and I heard music in Colorado, New Orleans, Nashville, Clarksdale and Memphis.  Once we got on the road we listened to music every night but two.  I came up loaded with new and old CDs and LPs and had to get creative so we would not be charged excess baggage.

Over the next week or two I will introduce to some of the music we heard and enjoyed and the musicians we met.

In Colorado we went up to the mountains and in a great setting with glorious fall colours heard some great americana music at the Beaver Creek Music Festival.  We saw Jason Isbell live in the mountains and a great set up close from Patty Griffin.




In New Orleans we

• visited Preservation Hall to experience a New Orleans Dixie Jazz Band up close and personal - 5 feet from the stage
• were surprised that the piano player was of Japanese descent
• heard some great soul, blues and zydyco music in the bars
• explored some backstreets and second hand stores 
• caught the street car down to Audobon park 
• ate gumbo, jambalaya, crawfish, catfish and grits, and red beans and rice

In Nashville we 

• visited The Ryman and felt the history,
• walked around Music Row in Nashville, seeing some of the studios where the best and worst of country music was made, 
• were stunned by almost all of the musicianship in Music City - it really , 
• ate the best Fried Chicken ever at Hattie B's
• Listened to covers of Chicken Fried  at least twice every night - a new honky tonk classic (how red is my neck?)
• tasted BBQ the Tennessee way

In Memphis we

• Had more fried chicken
• Visited the Lorraine Motel and the National Civil Rights Museum
• Got to know a few of the local bands
• Visited Sun and Stax Studios
• Visited the Soul Museum 
• Avoided Gracelands and the hoards of purple haired americans

Between these places

• visited the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio where the first proper album I ever owned (and many more I now own and cherish were recorded)
• Went to Tupelo and visited Elvis' birthplace
• Stood at the Crossroads trying to conjure up feelings of Robert Johnson
• Stood outside FAME (nothing to do with the TV program) Studios frustrated that it was working and no tours were happening that day
• saw the Mississippi Delta shining like a National Guitar - it really does!
• heard a National Guitar, played in as authentic a Mississippian Juke Joint as you could hope for
• paid a few $100 in tips to the working bands, buskers and others that gave us more than a fleeting moment of musical pleasure