Journey Through The Past : Willie Nelson : Red Headed Stranger

I am listening to Red Headed Stranger as I write this.  I do quite often -  it's a great album. From today's perspective it is easy to forget just how innovative Willie was in the early 70s and how much this album differed from what was Country at the time.  A concept album (his third of three including Shotgun Willie and Phases and Stages - both also worth checking out) and simple acoustic arrangements rather than the collections of lushly recorded songs that Nashville was known for at the time.

I did not listen to this until after hearing snippets in a recurring motif within the 1985 mini series Edge of Darkness.  The main character would listen to the album on his missing daughter's record player as he tried to both work our what happened to her and also connect and understand her motivations.

While it does have the hit Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain the album needs to be heard as whole........From the first note of It was the time of the preacher.....to the instrumental closeout on Bandera.

The start of my true appreciation for all things Willie! 

Junk Shop and Sale Bin Finds : Nat King Cole : Unforgetable

Some of my earliest musical memories are of the family sitting around the table on a Sunday having the Sunday Roast.  We invariably had the radio tuned to 2ZB and Bas Tubert's Sunday Request  show.  Looking back it was interesting how uninteresting that music show was.  How many songs were played every week at the same time.  There was Max Bygraves, Bing Crosby, Jim Reeves - all those great artists that end up in the junk shop bins that I wrote about here.

Another regular was Nat King Cole - although truth be told I can only remember two songs of his that were played - Ramblin' Rose - every fucking week!!  and Mona Lisa.  Anyway I have not seen as many Nat King Cole Records as the other suspects and I have managed to pick two in  excellent condition.  My favourite is this Mono recording of Unforgettable from 1954 (yep 60 years old) in excellent condition.  It plays almost perfectly and has some of those songs that are now quite literally unforgettable. Too Young (before it was squawked by Donny Osmond), Mona Lisa, For Sentimental Reasons and Unforgettable. 

Recent Additions : Rhiannon Giddens : Tomorrow is My Turn

Tomorrow is My Turn is Rhiannon Giddens debut solo album.  I first got to know Giddens for he work with the traditional/bluegrass/Negro Jig band The Carolina Chocolate Drops. I have two of their albums that I really enjoy.

Rhiannon Giddens is an excellent musician and singer so when I heard last year that she was going to release a solo album and I was keen to hear her in a different environment.

I have been listening to this for about two weeks now and apart from a few tracks it is sadly not connecting too well with me.  It is impeccably played and sung but to me lacks an emotional connection, either between Giddens and the songs or to me.

It seems more like a collection of songs chosen to demonstrate Giddens' abilities rather than a thematically consistent whole album.  Stylistically it is all over the place.   There is a lot of variety here, from traditional songs like Black is the Colour and Round About the Mountain, a few country songs (Dolly's Don't Let it Trouble Your Mind and the evergreen She's Got You).  The centrepiece of the album is the title track Tomorrow is My Turn - a song previously "owned" by Nina Simone   However she only really seems to connect with Waterboy and Up Above My Head songs that would have fitted well onto a Carolina Chocolate Drops album.

Looking forward to when she is back with the band.

Song of the Day 50 : Bob Dylan Blind Willie McTell

When Bob Dylan recorded Infidels in 1983 he recorded a song call Blind Willie McTell.  However for some reason only known to him he left what would  have easily been the best song on the album off it.  He is Dylan after all.

The Band heard it on a bootleg of outtakes and started to play it live.  Apparently Dylan heard them play it, started playing it again and eventually released the acoustic version of the song on his first batch of bootleg recordings in 1991.  No matter what  version there is no denying how good the song is - One of Dylan's least known but also one of his best. 

Song of the Day 49 : Drive By Truckers - Danko Manuel

Drive By Truckers's songs are always more considered, thoughtful, literary and interesting than what the band's name would suggest them capable of.

Patterson Hood offers sprawling stories of the Southern Underbelly and Mike Cooley writes country infused rock (and sometimes just plain Country songs)


For the brief time that he was in the band Jason Isbell wrote classic rock songs. I would suggest that if those songs had been written and recorded in the 60's or 70's he would now be a household name.

Danko Manuel is both his tribute to two of The Band's greats but also a wry observation on what might be in store for him.  Simply arranged and simply brilliant - I have said it before perhaps the best songwriter around today.


Let the night air cool you off.
Tilt your head back and try to cough.
Don't say nothing 'bout the things you never saw.
Let the night air cool you off.

I ain't living like I should.
A little rest might do me good. 
Got to sinking in the place where I once stood.
Now I ain't living like I should.

Can you hear that singing? Sounds like gold.
Maybe I can only hear it in my head. 
Fifteen years ago we owned that road 
now it's rolling over us instead.

Richard Manuel is dead.

God forbid you call their bluff.
Like the nightmares ain't enough.
Remember when we used to think that we were tough?
God forbid you call their bluff.

First they make you out to be 
the only pirate on the sea.
Then they say Danko would have sounded just like me.
"Is that the man you want to be?" 

Can you hear that song? It sounds like gold.
Maybe I could make it bigger overseas.
Fifteen years ago we owned this road
now it only gives us somewhere else to leave.

Something else you can't believe.

Can you hear that singing? Sounds like gold.
Maybe I can hear poor Richard from the grave
singin' where to reap and when to sow
when you've found another home you have to leave.

Something else you can't believe.

Journey Through The Past : The Band : Moondog Matinee

The Band's light shone brightly for a few years but it had definitely dimmed by the time they recorded Moondog Matinee in 1973.  For this album they returned to their bar band days and revisited some of their favourite songs.

Reading the history of The Band the problem seemed to stem from Robbie Robertson's assertion to sole proprietorship of the songwriting credits. The others in the band claimed that the writing, like the collaboration that is clear in their playing, was much more organic.  Post break-up analysis certainly seems to support the wider group's claims as Robertson only occasionally got anything anywhere near the early quality (check out Between Trains from the King of Comedy Soundtrack).


However The Band never really recorded a bad album - it's just that the standards set by those first three studio albums and the mighty Rock of Ages live album are just so stellar.  So Moondog Matinee sees them playing some favourites - and bringing some fire to some of them.  I particularly like the opening Ain't Got No Home but I always liked the original.  Mystery Train also shines well.  Perhaps my favourite is Holy Cow a remake of a great Allen Toussaint Song - with a superb lead vocal from Rick Danko. 

Recent Additions : Pops Staples : Don't Lose This

I have a few albums by The Staples Singers in the various incarnations and also Pops penultimate album, the terrific Peace to the Neighbourhood.  A few months ago Mavis announced that she was working on releasing a posthumous album based on a collection of songs Pops recorded shortly before passing away and which he had labelled "Don't Lose This!".

After working with Jeff Tweedy on her last two albums Mavis turned again to him to tidy up the recordings so that they could be released.  So pleased with the outcome it was decided to release the album with the title the same as Pops' instruction.  

So about a month ago Don't Lose This appeared and it is every bit as good as Peace to the Neighbourhood.  Some new songs and reworkings of old songs.  Plenty of Pops distinctive guitar sound (on one track even played by  Jeff Tweedy).

Somebody Was Watching, Gotta Serve Somebody, Friendship, Nobody's Fault But Mine all standout and sound like they could have been written in any part of the last 30 years of Pops career.  I think the only blemish on the album for me (and its really hard to call a great Mavis track a blemish) is the track Love is on My Side where Pops does not feature.   

Favourites : Secret Machines : Ten Silver Drops

I bought Ten Silver Drops because I had heard the opening track - Alone, Jealous and Stoned.  It reminded some of Wilco and like Wilco presents a what I see as country flavoured version of prog rock.  Better melodies than most in the genre though and .

If you listen to the first four tracks which includes Alone and then rolls onto
All At Once (It's Not Important), Lightning Blue Eyes and then Daddy's In the Doldrums

I went back and bought their also excellent debut album Now Here is Nowhere.

Sadly the original guitarist Benjamin Curtis, who left after Ten Silver Drops died of T-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma in 2013. 

Recent Additions : Curtis Harding : Soul Power

I bought Soul Power after it received a good review on Graham Reid's Elsewhere Website and also checked out a few tracks on Youtube.

Curtis Harding provides a modern take on what Soul can be.  Like Otis and Wilson Pickett before him he is not afraid to show his influences nor rock out a little.

I have only listened to it three or four times so I am still getting into its groove but it is obvious I will be playing this in years to come.

Highlights for me include - Next Time, Castaway  and the rocky Drive My Car.