Music Archives - Page 178 of 246

The Reunited Mavericks: “In Time”

The Mavericks, who split up in 2003, are back with a new CD, In Time (2013). While lead singer Raul Malo has had a successful solo career and multi-instrumentalist Robert Reynolds and other band members have had some success on their own, they still sound great together.

I remember listening to their debut self-titled album on a cassette in my car in 1991 when “What a Crying Shame” was all over the radio, so I am glad to hear them together again, even if the listening source has changed. Now, I can listen to them on my computer, and you can too because for a limited time the album is streaming below. Check out the new In Time CD from the Mavericks and hear the various musical influences from Tex-Mex, Cuba, Hawaii, Latin rhythms, Bakersfield and more. [March 9 Update: The stream of the new album was only available for a limited time, so I have replaced the now-dead stream with the video for one of the songs from the album, “Born to Be Blue.”]

The other members of the band include drummer Paul Deakin, keyboardist Jerry Dale McFadden and guitarist Eddie Perez. The Mavericks’ website notes that during the eight-year hiatus, the band members rarely spoke and had not even been in the same room together. When they decided to reunite for this album, the members just showed up. According to Malo, the band was back in sync in the first minute, “We started playing, and it just happened. It was that explosion of sounds! There’s this beautiful simplicity to this, because when we play together, we know each other so well.”

Listeners seem to agree about the chemistry. The Los Angeles Times gives the CD four stars out of four, and the CD is getting a lot of other good reviews from places like Paste.

While you enjoy the music, think on the friends you have not talked to in the last eight years. Maybe it will inspire you to pick up the phone.

What is your favorite song on the new album? Leave your two cents in the comments.

The Mavericks on The Tonight Show in 1994: “What a Crying Shame”

When Dean and Jerry Reunited on the MDA Labor Day Telethon

The Mavericks Cover Waylon’s “Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way?”

The Replacements Reunite

Van Morrison: Til I Gain Control Again

(Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)

Bob Seger Performs New Song “All the Roads” — And a Long Lost Classic

I know some Chimesfreedom readers are big Bob Seger fans, so they will be excited to hear that this week Seger played a new song during his “Rock and Roll Never Forgets” tour performance at the Huntington Center in Toledo, Ohio. On his first tour since 2011, Seger explained that the new song, “All the Roads,” is “kinda about the career.” He wrote “All of the Roads” in September, so we can hope there is more coming. Check it out.

In Toledo, Seger and his Silver Bullet Band, which now also includes guitarist Rob McNelley, played “All the Roads” during a 24-song, two-hour and 10-minute show. According to Rolling Stone, his performance of “Like a Rock” was the first time he had played that song live since 1996, resting the song after it was used in a Chevrolet commercial. But when he sang the song this week, it was a heartfelt Bob Seger song, not a truck-selling song.

Seger played some interesting covers too, including “California Stars,” which was recorded by Wilco and Billy Bragg when they put music to Woody Guthrie’s lost lyrics on the CD Mermaid Avenue (1998). It’s a great song, and Seger does a good job on it.

Other songs from the performance are on YouTube.

What do you think of the new Bob Seger song and what would you like to hear him cover? Leave your two cents in the comments.

Bob Seger on Letterman: “All the Roads”

Uncle Tupelo’s Last Concert on May 1, 1994

Bob Seger and Bruce Springsteen “Shout” In Their Third Performance Together

New Track from Jeff Tweedy: “I’ll Sing It”

Wilco Live in Chicago, 1996

Son Volt Goes to Bakersfield on “Honky Tonk”

(Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)

Steve Earle Sings About the Homeless on “Invisible”

As we previously reported, Steve Earle’s new CD The Low Highway will be released April 16. In the meantime, today Earle premiered on CMT a video for one of the songs on the new album, “Invisible.”

Earle continues to use his music to address social issues and this new video is no exception. The video follows a homeless man around the streets of New York. Meanwhile, Earle plays his guitar on a rooftop, daring us to look around us, as he sings about people passing the “invisible” homeless without knowing. Check it out.

What is your favorite Steve Earle album? Leave your two cents in the comments.

Steve Earle Performs Tracks from “The Low Highway” on KEXP

Steve Earle Performing “The Low Highway” and “Invisible”

Steve Earle Performs “Invisible” on David Letterman and Announces Box Set

Steve Earle’s “The Low Highway” Coming Soon

In Praise of Fuel Efficiency: Justin Townes Earle’s “Champagne Corolla”

Nanci Griffith’s Superstars on Letterman: “Desperados Waiting for a Train”

(Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)

“I’ll Take You There”: Inspired by Murder and a Jamaican Riff

The song “I’ll Take You There” by the Staples Singers originated out of a songwriter grieving his murdered brother.

Cleotha “Cleedy” Staples, the eldest daughter of Roebuck “Pops” Staples who sang in the Staple Singers, passed away February 21, 2013. Cleotha, who had Alzheimer’s, was 78.

The Staple Singers — which also included Cleotha’s sisters Mavis, Pervis and Yvonne — started in the 1940s and recorded many memorable songs like “Respect Yourself” and “Uncloudy Day.” But when most people hear the name of the group, the first song that comes to mind is the classic “I’ll Take You There.”

The song first appeared on the album Be Altitude: Respect Yourself (1972). In 1972, “I’ll Take You There” went to number one on both the Billboard R&B Singles chart and the Billboard Hot 100 chart. In this TV performance excerpt, you can see Mavis Staples to your right singing lead while Cleotha is on your far left of the singers. Pops is playing guitar.

The uplifting song comes from a tragic story. Stax vice-president Al Bell began writing “I’ll Take You There” after attending the funeral of his second brother who was murdered.

According to Bell, after returning from the funeral, he sat on the hood of a bus in his father’s back yard and began hearing the bass line and then the words. He then gave the song to the Staple Singers, who were a gospel act at the time.

Regarding the music, Wikipedia points out that the opening to “I’ll Take You There” comes from a Jamaican instrumental reggae tune from Harry J All Stars called “The Liquidator.” The tune is now often used before football matches (that’s “soccer” for us in the states). Check it out.

It is a cool opening riff that helped make “I’ll Take You There” so memorable. But it is also the blending of the voices of the Staple Singers including Cleotha Staples that explains why we still listen to the song more than forty years later. RIP Cleotha Staples.

What is your favorite song by the Staples Singers? Leave your two cents in the comments.

Late Night With Jimmy Fallon’s Last Waltz

Joe Ely’s “She Never Spoke Spanish to Me” (Song of the Day)

“There’s No End to Grief, That’s How We Know There’s No End to Love”: The Story of U2’s “One Tree Hill”

What Is the Murder Ballad That Holly Hunter Sings to Nathan Jr. in “Raising Arizona”?

Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)

Who Sang “Change in My Life” In the Steve Martin Movie “Leap of Faith”?

(Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)

Buy from Amazon

Tony Sheridan and the Beatles

Tony Sheridan, a British singer-songwriter forever linked to The Beatles, passed away on February 16, 2013 at the age of 72 in Germany. While Sheridan recorded through his later years, he is best-known for his brief work as lead singer on what was essentially the first album by the Beatles.

Sheridan knew the Beatles when they consisted of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Stuart Sutcliffe, and Pete Best. And he worked with them through Sutcliffe’s and Best’s departure and Ringo Starr’s arrival in 1962.

In 1961, a German producer signed Sheridan and the Beatles as the back up band. Under the name Sheridan and the Beat Brothers, the group recorded nine songs in 1961-1962 with Sheridan singing on seven of them. According to Sheridan’s website, the reason they used “Beat Brothers” instead of “Beatles” is because the latter name did not translate into German “except as a slang term for the male sex organ.” Sheridan also claimed that he brought Ringo to the Beatles too.

When the first single “My Bonnie” was released in Liverpool, fans mobbed record shops. The reaction to the single with Sheridan led one record store owner to seek out the Beatles. That record store owner, Brian Epstein, would then go on to manage the Beatles as they rose to super-stardom. Here is “My Bonnie”:

In this 30-minute video, Sheridan looked back on his experience with the Beatles and on music in the early 1960s:

After the Beatles went on to massive fame, Sheridan continued to perform, and in the 1960s spent a lot of time entertaining troops in Viet Nam. For his devotion to the soldiers, the U.S. Army made him an honorary captain. Sheridan also met Elvis Presley when Elvis was stationed in Germany.

The Beatles themselves maintained a friendship and fondness for their one-time front-man, whose last album was 2002’s Vagabond. Paul McCartney had nicknamed Sheridan “The Teacher” because of how he influenced the band by introducing them to R&B artists like Little Richard. Similarly, Ringo Starr once said he learned from Sheridan “all I know about rock and roll.” So, while Sheridan may not be a household name, he is certainly an important part of the history of rock music.

What is your favorite Tony Sheridan and the Beat Brothers song? Leave your two cents in the comments.