If you like banjo and some nice harmonies, you should check out The Vespers if you have not done so already. The Nashville Americana/folk quartet is made up of sisters Callie Cryar and Phoebe Cryar and brothers Bruno Jones and Taylor Jones. Below is their video for the song “Lawdy.”
The song appears on the band’s second album, The Fourth Wall, which was released in 2012. The Vespers formed in 2009 and have attracted some attention with their two albums, both of which were released independently. If you would like more of a sample from the Cryar sisters and the Jones brothers, you may hear the entire album of The Fourth Wall below by pressing the play button. [2015 Update: The option to play the whole album is no longer available.]
The Vespers are giving away a free download of a track off the album using the “Free Download” button. Or you can go to their Noisetrade website to get a download of the album for whatever donation you want to give to help support their music. For more information about the band, check out the bios of the members and an article in the Huffington Post.
What is your favorite track on “The Fourth Wall”? Leave your two cents in the comments.
Steve Earle performed some of the songs of his latest album The Low Highway (2013) live in the KEXP radio station studio in Seattle on a program hosted by Stevie Zoom. In the video, Earle performs “The Low Highway,” “Burnin’ It Down,” “Invisible,” and “Remember Me.”
The final song, “Remember Me,” is a touching song Earle wrote to his newest child as Earle contemplates his own advanced age and the probability he will not be around for long. The segment was recorded on April 18, 2013.
What is your favorite song in the video? Leave your two cents in the comments.
Danielle Bradbery, the season four winner of NBC’s The Voice, recently did a nice cover of the song “Please Remember Me.” The young singer, who is not yet seventeen and who represents the team of Blake Shelton, has an excellent voice and a lot of potential.
So, it was great to see this fantastic country song get some recent attention. And the teenager Bradbery shows a powerhouse voice that will probably be around awhile.
Bradbery’s performance was not the only recent singing competition performance of the song. You may have heard the song on American Idol after season ten winner Scotty McCreery recorded it for use as an exit song for the eleventh season of American Idol.
Yes, the title fits those leaving American Idol, but such use of the song sort of misses the heartfelt meaning of the rest of the song. As explained below, there is more to the song than a farewell. You might hear that depth in this performance by the young and talented McCreery when he made a return visit to American Idol, but only if you ignore the hijinks on the video screen behind him.
What is “Please Remember Me” About?
“Please Remember Me” is a classic heartache song. The singer is leaving someone behind but wishing them well by reassuring them that they will find someone better. But the song is also a plea, asking the former love to remember the singer. “Please Remember Me,” like Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You” (made even more famous by Whitney Houston), imagines the person left behind going on with life.
But unlike “I Will Always Love You,” in most of “Please Remember Me” the singer is not imagining how the singer will remember the lost love. Yet, there is a little of that when the singer notes, “Part of you will live in me.” Instead, most of “Please Remember Me” is asking the lost love to remember the singer.
And there is something sadder when the singer predicts that the (younger?) lover will “find better love.” The singer asks to be remembered “[w]hen I can’t hurt you anymore.”
Tim McGraw’s “Please Remember Me”
Most people probably know the song from Tim McGraw‘s version. McGraw does a decent job. And I have previously noted that McGraw does have some talent for choosing good songs.
Rodney Crowell’s “Please Remember Me”
For me, though, the best version of “Please Remember Me” is by one of the songwriters, Rodney Crowell, who wrote the song with Will Jennings. Crowell has written some of the best country songs since the 1970s. And he is held in high esteem by country traditionalists, even as he has never had the mainstream popularity of singers like Tim McGraw.
According to Wikipedia, “Please Remember Me” only went to #69 on Billboard’s country charts for Crowell in 1995. Meanwhile, it went to #1 on Billboard’s Hot Country Singles & Tracks for McGraw when he released his version in 1999.
I have previously discussed how another Crowell heartache song “Til I Gain Control Again” is one of the all-time greats. And “Please Remember Me” is another song that captures a true human emotion that too rarely appears in popular songs.
At the time he co-wrote the song, Crowell was already 45 years old (and co-writer Will Jennings was in his 50’s). The lyrics, sung by an older singer, show an understanding of why the love will not work while also showing a world-weariness: “Just like the waves down by the shore / We’re gonna keep on coming back for more.”
When “Please Remember Me” is sung by a young singer, there is a touch of hopefulness and optimism about two lovers remembering each other. One might find that even Tim McGraw, who was in his early 30’s when he recorded the song, gives the song a different meaning than Crowell’s version. Still, McGraw seems to recognize Crowell’s context for the song by the rare action of removing his hat to make himself look older in the video.
But it is easier to imagine the weary older Crowell making the bittersweet plea with all of its subtext. So, if you enjoyed Danielle Bradbery’s cover or Tim McGraw’s cover, make sure you check out the Rodney Crowell original, which also features Patty Loveless providing harmony vocals for Crowell.
What is your favorite version of “Please Remember Me”? Leave your two cents in the comments.
Texas singer-songwriter Slaid Cleaves is one of those artists I really like but have not always kept up with all of their albums. I first discovered Cleaves with his 2000 release Broke Down, which is an outstanding album with a great title track. I have since kept up with some of his music, but not all of it. Listening today to to a stream of his upcoming Still Fighting the War (2013) reminds me that I need to catch up on the parts of his catalog I have missed.
As Iraq and Afghanistan have drifted off of our front pages, the title track to the new album is a sharp reminder that people will be dealing with the aftershocks of these wars for years and decades to come. The song “Still Fighting the War” was inspired by a powerful Pulitzer Prize-winning series of photos about Iraq War veteran Scott Ostrom who came back from Iraq with post-traumatic stress disorder.
The song “Still Fighting the War” was co-written by Ron Coy and the album track has Jimmy LaFave on harmony. Check out a live performance of “Still Fighting the War” below.
On the rest of the album, Cleaves continues to reflect on the ups and downs of real life existence. “Welder’s Hands” was inspired by his father, who was a welder. In “Rust Belt Fields,” Cleaves sings about those hard-hit by the economy, and “Hometown USA” touches on broken dreams. Other songs highlight the singer’s aching voice singing about love and love-lost, like “Gone” and “I Bet She Does.”
There are some lighter moments too, and “God’s Own Yodeler” is a touching tribute to Texas singer Don Walser. One of my favorites on the new album is the upbeat “Texas Love Song,” where Cleaves sings about loving his sweetheart even more then he loves Texas. Still Fighting the War was released June 18, and Cleaves made the album available through Pandora. For a limited time, you may order a signed copy of the CD through the Slaid Cleaves website. Cleaves donated some proceeds to Operation Homefront. Good music for a good cause.
What is your favorite Slaid Cleaves song? Leave your two cents in the comments.
Country singer Marty Brown’s wife Shellie reported to us today that the rising America’s Got Talent star appeared today on the Laura Ingraham Show to talk music. Ingraham’s website describes the show: “Up-and-coming country star Marty Brown talks about his experience on America’s Got Talent.” Unfortunately you cannot hear her show on her website unless you subscribe to join the “Laura 365 Revolution,” but you can catch the show for free through WKCT radio, 930 AM (Bowling Green, Kentucky), playing online. If you want to avoid all the politics, Brown is the second guest. The show is supposed to repeat throughout the day, although I have not been able to catch it yet. Check out WKCT’s website. (August 8, 2013 Update: A podcast of the interview is now available on PodcastOne.)
In the meantime, I have noticed Marty Brown has posted some additional short videos of informal acoustic performances. For those who were touched to see how Shellie got Marty on America’s Got Talent, here is Marty Brown performing a song he wrote for his wife, “Whatever Makes You Smile.” On YouTube, he writes that he wrote the song as a Valentine’s Day present, citing the lines “Like the tin man, the lion, and the scarecrow,/ I’ll follow you down life’s Golden Road./ Whatever makes you smile!!” There is no fancy production, just a man and his guitar giving a nice performance of another excellent Marty Brown unreleased original.
If you would like to hear Marty Brown doing a cover song, in this video he sings the Neil Diamond classic, “Forever in Blue Jeans.”
Are you watching “America’s Got Talent”? Leave your two cents in the comments.
