In 1969, Tom Jones and Jerry Lee Lewis performed together on Jones’s TV show.
In 1969, Jerry Lee Lewis and Tom Jones ran through some of Lewis’s hits on Jones’s TV show, This Is Tom Jones. As noted in a previous post, Jones was a big fan of Lewis, and it was Lewis’s recording of “Green Green Grass of Home” that inspired Jones to do his own hit version.
Here, the groove is more upbeat as the two run through songs that include: “Great Balls Of Fire,” “Down The Line,” “Long Tall Sally,” and “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Going On.”
Additionally, the two guys look like they are having a great time. Check it out.
One of my favorite songs by Merle Haggard is “Kern River.” The song has one of the greatest lines ever written, “I may drown in still waters but I’ll never swim Kern River again.” The line tells you everything you need to know about the song about longing, sadness, loss, and memory.
Haggard wrote “Kern River” and released the song in 1985 as the title track of the album Kern River. The song was not a number one hit, but it went up to number 10 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart. Haggard performs his classic below on Ralph Emery’s show as Porter Wagoner looks on, noting that Haggard “is a dangerous man with a song.” Check it out.
Wagoner is not the only fan of the song. Rolling Stone lists “Kern River” among the essential Merle Haggard songs. Allmusic claims “Kern River” is “one of Merle’s best latter-day songs.”
Other notable artists have praised “Kern River.” Bob Dylan loves the song, noting the song “is a beautiful lament, but let’s not forget it’s about his girlfriend dying.” Emmylou Harris has claimed that “Kern River” is her favorite Merle Haggard song, and she has recorded her own version of it. Check out her version with images of the real Kern River.
The real Kern River flows around 165 miles through California, draining around the southern Sierra Nevada mountains northeast of Bakersfield, a town often associated with Haggard for “the Bakersfield sound.” Also, Haggard grew up near Kern River, later building a mansion on the river. The Lake Shasta mentioned in the song is a real place too. Haggard owned a cabin on the still waters of the lake.
Singer-songwriter Whitey Morgan has released a video of his cover of the Townes Van Zandt classic, “Waitin’ Round to Die.” The song is from Morgan’s upcoming album Sonic Ranch.
While Van Zandt’s original version of the song sounds like a sad lament, Morgan takes the song up a notch in both volume and tempo, grounding the sadness in anger and a touch of defiance. I like the Outlaw country take on a song I already loved, making Morgan’s “Waitin’ Round to Die” one of the best covers I have heard in a long time. Check it out.
Morgan and his band the 78’s previously released Honky Tonks and Cheap Motels (2008) and Whitey Morgan and the 78’s (2010). And, in 2014, Morgan released Grandpa’s Guitar. The Flint, Michigan honky-tonk singer (whose real name is Eric David Allen) releases Sonic Ranch on May 19, 2015.
What is your favorite cover of a Townes Van Zandt song that is not “Pancho and Lefty”? Leave your two cents in the comments?
Van Morrison is taking some of his lesser known songs and reworking them with new singing partners on the upcoming album, Duets: Re-Working the Catalogue (2015). On the album, Van Morrison teams with artists such as Michael Bublé, George Benson, Steve Winwood, Taj Mahal, Mavis Staples, Bobby Womack, and Natalie Cole.
One of the tracks on the upcoming album is “Irish Heartbeat,” which first appeared on the album Inarticulate Speech of the Heart (1983). In the new version, Mark Knopfler joins Van Morrison on the song.
Mumford & Sons released a new single “Believe,” confirming earlier reports that the band’s upcoming album Wilder Mind includes electric guitars and synthesizers. The new song is not a great divergence from the Mumford & Sons sound we are used to hearing, but it does sound a bit different.
The album Wilder Mind will be released May 4, 2015.
What do you think of the electric Mumford & Sons? Leave your two cents in the comments.
. The Flint, Michigan honky-tonk singer (whose real name is 
hits stores on March 23, 2015.
includes electric guitars and synthesizers. The new song is not a great divergence from the Mumford & Sons sound we are used to hearing, but it does sound a bit different.