Category: Music

Song of the Day: Shooter Jennings and Patty Griffin “Wild and Lonesome”

When I heard that Patty Griffin appears on a song on the new album from Shooter Jennings, I had to track it down. The new song, “Wild and Lonesome” is from Jennings’s album The Other Life, coming out March 12. Jennings brings a traditional country sound to the song, and Griffin, who takes a break from her work with Robert Plant here, provides outstanding harmonies. The song is already earning great reviews and creating anticipation for the album. Check it out.

The album The Other Life will accompany a film by the same name, with the film also featuring Jennings on a supernatural trip of self discovery. Jennings is also working on a film about his late father, Waylon Jennings. Meanwhile Patty Griffin will have her own new album, American Kid, out on May 7.

What do you think of “Wild and Lonesome”? Leave your two cents in the comments.

  • Patty Griffin Releasing “Servant of Love”
  • Patty Griffin Sings About the Underground Railroad on “Ohio”
  • Anna Tivel’s “Animal Poem” (Song of the Day)
  • When is Mickey Newbury’s “33rd of August”?
  • Nina Simone: “To Love Somebody” (Cover of the Day)
  • Allison Russell: “The Returner” (Song of the Day)

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    Interview With Matthew Ryan: “In the Dusk of Everything”

    Matthew Ryan In the Dusk of Everything

    In a new video from Kyle M Meredith’s The Weekly Feed, singer-songwriter Matthew Ryan discusses his music, his influences, and his latest CD In the Dusk of Everything (2012). The CD is the third album in a series about how humans relate to each other, with the other two CDs as Dear Lover (2010) and I Recall Standing As If Nothing Could Fall (2011). The interview takes place backstage at Terminal 5 in New York City.

    We have featured Ryan’s music in other posts, but it is cool to hear his thoughts on his music. Although he is somewhat evasive about a personal event that influenced him, you have to respect his goals of wanting his music to reach something more universal than himself. My favorite quote from the interview: “There’s a time for KC and the Sunshine Band and there’s a time for. . . Blood on the Tracks.” Check it out.

    In its glowing review of the In the Dusk of Everything, Split Lip Magazine discusses poetry’s influence on the album.  They describe the album as “a collection of vignettes revolving around choices made by a man and woman together or as individuals, and their choices are the things that cause conflict.”

    If you want more music, in this video from American Songwriter, Ryan performs “The Events at Dusk” from In the Dusk of Everything live.

    What is your favorite Matthew Ryan song? Leave your two cents in the comments.

  • The Pines at Night (Matthew Ryan) Releases Full Album,”A Year of Novembers”
  • A “Song for a Hard Year” from The Pines at Night
  • “Life is Beautiful” With Matthew Ryan
  • There Will Be Another Christmas
  • Strays Don’t Sleep Release “A Short Film For a Long Story”
  • Matthew Ryan Covers “Heaven Is a Place on Earth” (Cover of the Day)

    • (Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)

    Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell Discuss New CD

    Crowell Harris Old Yellow Moon

    In this video from the Wall Street Journal‘s WSJ Cafe, Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell discuss their history together and their new CD, Old Yellow Moon (2013). The album is the first collaboration between Crowell and Harris since Crowell joined Harris’s Hot Band in 1975. The new album also features members of the Hot Band, who had worked with Crowell and Harris thirty years ago.

    The connection between the two talented artists goes back to when Harris chose Crowell’s song “Bluebird Wine” as the lead track for Pieces of the Sky, her 1975 album that followed the 1973 death of her collaborator and mentor Gram Parsons and was her first album with a major label as a solo artist. On the new CD, Harris and Crowell perform a new version of “Bluebird Wine,” after Crowell made some changes to the lyrics. In the following video, also at the WSJ studios in New York City, Crowell and Harris perform another one of the new songs off the album, “Dreaming My Dreams.”

    Old Yellow Moon includes songs by Crowell, former Hot Band member Hank DeVito, Roger Miller, Patti Scialfa, Allen Reynolds and Matraca Berg. Vince Gill also plays on the album. NPR also has a story about Harris and Crowell along with audio of some of the songs.

    What are your favorite songs by Rodney Crowell and Emmylou Harris? Leave your two cents in the comments.

  • Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell On “The Traveling Kind”
  • Why “GUY”? (Steve Earle album review)
  • Song of the Day: “Boulder to Birmingham”
  • The Life and Songs of Emmylou Harris
  • Shelter from the Storm
  • The Body of Gram Parsons and The Streets of Baltimore

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    Billy Joel Gets in a “New York State of Mind” With a Vanderbilt Freshman

    Billy Joel New York State of Mind College

    Several weeks ago, Billy Joel appeared at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee for “An Evening of Questions and Answers and a Little Bit of Music.” During the question and answer portion of the program, one brave freshman named Michael Pollack stood up and asked the legend if he could accompany Joel on “New York State of Mind.” Joel said yes, and Pollack came up on the Langford Auditorium stage.

    After Joel gave a few suggestions to the student, off they went for a rousing rendition of “New York State of Mind.” Check it out.

    Another version of the video is available here and currently on Joel’s website.

    Pollack later explained what it was like to be on stage playing with Billy Joel in this InsideVandy Video by Liz Muller. He notes how during the performance he tried to remind himself to enjoy the amazing experience.

    What musician would you like to accompany? Leave your two cents in the comments.

  • Billy Joel is Turning the Lights Back On After The Longest Time
  • Who Was Poor Old Johnnie Ray?
  • The First Farm Aid
  • Billy Joel Establishes His Residency at Madison Square Garden (Show Review)
  • Hurricane Sandy Concert Ends With Springsteen’s Hope
  • Happy 30th Birthday to the Compact Disc!

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    Son Volt Goes to Bakersfield on “Honky Tonk”

    Son Volt Honky Tonk

    On Tuesday, March 5, Son Volt releases its seventh album Honky Tonk (2013). The country Bakersfield Sound influences the album, and lead singer Jay Farrar described why the band chose the album’s title: “Honky tonk music is about heartache, heartbreak, the road.” For those like me who have been following Farrar and Son Volt since the band spun off from Uncle Tupelo, the new album captures what was great about the band from the very beginning, even though Farrar’s current version of Son Volt has different band members than when they started. Just listen to the fiddle on the opening track, “Hearts and Minds”:

    Here is Son Volt’s teaser video for the appropriately entitled “Bakersfield” from the album:

    American Songwriter magazine is streaming the album for a limited time, so hop to their website to hear the rest of the tracks. Farrar also has a new memoir Falling Cars and Junkyard Dogs coming out this month about his career, including the breakup of Uncle Tupelo that led Jeff Tweedy to create Wilco. After listening through the tracks, I am excited about the new release. With new and upcoming releases from Son Volt, The Mavericks, Steve Earle, and others, it is already looking like a good year for Americana music.

    What is your favorite Son Volt album? Leave your two cents in the comments.

  • Uncle Tupelo’s Last Concert on May 1, 1994
  • Anniversary of Uncle Tupelo’s “March 16-20, 1992”
  • New Track from Jeff Tweedy: “I’ll Sing It”
  • New Track from Son Volt: “Devil May Care”
  • Son Volt: “Back Against the Wall”
  • Merle Haggard: “Kern River”

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