Blood on the streets;
Yeah blood flowin’ down;
I hear the blood of my blood;
Cryin’ from the ground.
Thoughts go out to our brothers and sisters in Boston.
(Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)
Category: Music
Goin’ Down the Road to See Bessie
April 15 is tax day, but it is also the birthday of great blues singer Bessie Smith, who was born April 15, 1894. Chimesfreedom has previously discussed Smith and her performance of “St. Louis Blues,” so today we consider a song about her that was written by Rick Danko and Robbie Robertson of The Band.
In “Bessie Smith,” the singer describes a trip to see Smith. It appears the singer is in love with her, but he questions whether or not the love is based on the way she could sing.
Now in my day I’ve made some foolish moves;
But back then, I didn’t worry ’bout a thing;
And now again I still wonder to myself;
Was it her sweet love or the way that she could sing?
Apparently, time has passed since the singer last saw his love. And he wonders how she will react when she sees him again (“When she sees me will she know what I’ve been through? / Will old times start to feelin’ like new?”). We first heard the song when it came out on The Basement Tapes made by The Band and Bob Dylan, although only The Band plays on the song and there is some debate about when the song was actually written and recorded. (Update: Unfortunately, the Band’s version of “Bessie Smith” is no longer available on YouTube.)
In a thorough discussion of the history of the song, Peter Viney quotes one of Danko’s obituaries describing “Bessie Smith” as “a sepia-styled valentine to the fine line between respect and adoration, and the ways in which music blurs them both into love.” Viney also raises the possibility that the song is about an “appointment with death,” because by the time it was written and recorded, Bessie Smith had been dead for decades.
Several artists have covered “Bessie Smith,” including Ray Lamontagne and Joe Henry. Norah Jones performs a nice cover of “Bessie Smith” in this video. Check it out.
Bessie Smith died from injuries from a car accident in 1937, just as she was starting a comeback. Although The Band’s song about her was not done in her style of singing, The Band was well aware of the history of American music, and “Bessie Smith” was a nice tribute to an important American singer. And so it is our birthday tribute too.
What is your favorite Bessie Smith song? Leave your two cents in the comments.
(Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)
Jim Morrison and the Freshman 15
In 1969, Jim Morrison of The Doors discussed how he gained weight when he started college in this interview with Howard Smith of the Village Voice. Check out where Morrison explains why “fat is beautiful.”
The PBS web series Blank on Blank made the above section of the Smith interview available recently. Patrick Smith did the cool animation.
Did you have a similar experience in college? Leave your two cents in the comments.
(Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)
Andrew Combs Need Not Be A “Worried Man” (CD Review)
I do not quite get the album art on the cover of Worried Man (2012), the debut full-length CD by Andrew Combs. Is he cold? Is it supposed to be a picture of a “Worried Man”?
More importantly, I do not think the album cover adequately prepared me for what to expect when I heard the music. It is the best album by a new artist I have heard in a long time.
Because Worried Man came out in October 2012, I realize I am a little slow in discovering Andrew Combs. But seeing a video of Andrew Combs performing on the Twang Nation website recently led me to check out his album. Listening to Worried Man starting with the first track of “Devil’s Got My Woman” has been one of those periodic experiences that restores my faith in new music.
Combs, who is originally from Texas and now resides in Nashville, wrote all of the songs on the album. He sings with an ache in his voice in the best country and Americana tradition. The album includes heartbreak, whiskey, and pedal steel, and the title track reminds one of an old murder ballad (even if the violence stops short of killing).
You can hear the influences of Combs’s heroes who include Harlan Howard, Willie Nelson, Mickey Newbury, Guy Clark, Jackson Browne, and Tom T. Hall. Combs pulls off connecting to these past influences while also sounding modern at the same time, as he does in this performance of “Please, Please, Please.”
Every artist is different, of course, but for comparison purposes, a lot of the songs remind me of another artist I like a lot, Slaid Cleaves. “Please, Please, Please” sounds like it could be a great Heartbreaker-era Ryan Adams track. The song “Worried Man” sounds like it is off of the album of another Texan, Ray Wylie Hubbard .
Combs, who released the album on his own Coin Records, also co-produced the album with Mike Odmark. Singer-songwriter Caitlin Rose adds her voice to several of the tracks. I look forward to more music from Andrew Combs, whatever the cover looks like.
What is your favorite track off of Worried Man? Leave your two cents in the comments.
(Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)
Jewel as June
In an upcoming LIfetime biopic, Ring of Fire, Jewel plays Johnny Cash’s wife June Carter. This clip gives an idea of Jewel’s performance. While it is not surprising that Jewel has the singing chops on such songs as “Wildwood Flower,” it is interesting to see her capturing Carter’s humor. It will be hard to top Reese Witherspoon’s fine performance in Walk the Line (2005), but Carter deserves her own film.
The movie is based on the book, Anchored In Love
For a bonus video, check out the Carter family singing the same “Wildwood Flower” song in 1990 in this video, featuring June, Helen, and Anita Carter.
Will you watch Jewel as June Carter? Leave your two cents in the comments.
(Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)