As part of the annual Key West Songwriter’s Festival, singer-songwriter Robert Earl Keen was challenged to write a song off the top of his head. During this visit to the famous Chart Room in Key West with GAC’s Headline Country show host Storme Warren, Keen found inspiration from learning that the bar contained the ashes of former bar patrons who had passed away.
So, in this video, Keen takes a tour of the Florida bar and performs a bit of “Buried in the Bar.” Check it out.
The new impromptu song led Keen to record a complete version of “Buried in the Bar.” You may hear the entire song below, and if you like it like I do, you may download it for free at Keen’s website.
The 1976 documentary Heartworn Highways provided insight into some of the legends of alternative country like Townes Van Zandt, Steve Earle, and Guy Clark. Director Jim Szalapski filled the film with vignettes of the singer-songwriters in their daily lives, providing a fly-on-the wall portrait of them. It is a film for music lovers, without a narrative story, that I found engaging.
Now, to celebrate the thirty-fifth anniversary of Heartworn Highways, director Wayne Price will be releasing Heartworn Highways Revisited.
The new film takes a look at some current outlaw country singers like Shelly Colvin, Matraca Berg, Bobby Bare Jr., Johnny Fritz, Robert Ellis, Shovels and Rope, Joshua Hedley, John McCauley, and Langhorne Slim. Some old-timers make appearances too, like Guy Clark and David Allan Coe. I am happy to see that rising star singer-songwriter Andrew Combs is in the film too.
Check out the promotional video below.
On the film’s website, Price writes, “With electronic laptop musicians commanding the airwaves, I am excited to bring us back to the ‘old school, with songwriters who only need their instrument and their experience to create music.”
Years ago, I loaned my copy of Heartworn Highways to a friend and never got it back. But I enjoyed the movie, which has some great moments like Van Zandt playing “Waitin’ Round To Die.” I still listen to the soundtrack.
Reportedly, there is no release date yet for the new film, but I am looking forward to the release of Heartworn Highways Revisited.
Former Skid Row singer Sebastian Bach showed he can be a little country when he turned into Willie Nelson for the latest episode of ABC’s Sing Your Face Off. Bach walks onstage dressed as Nelson, providing his rendition of “Always On My Mind.”
The image is a little disorienting because he does not quite sound like Nelson, but when Bach hits the high notes around the 1:16 mark, he puts his own stamp on the classic song.
You may catch the episode airing Saturday, June 7 at 9:00 p.m. EST. As for the real Nelson, we have previously noted that he has a new album with original material coming out June 17. What do you think of Sebastian Bach’s Willie? Leave your two cents in the comments.
In advance of his upcoming album, Sukierae, Jeff Tweedy has made available one of the twenty tracks, “I’ll Sing It.” The album and the new song feature Tweedy’s 18-year-old son Spencer playing drums. So the former Wilco front man and Uncle Tupelo member has explained that the album should be considered as coming from the father-son duo under the band name Tweedy.
Sukierae, Tweedy’s first album since Wilco’s The Whole Love (2011), will be released September 16 on Wilco’s label dBpm. For more on the album and Tweedy’s upcoming summer tour, check out the article on Rolling Stone or head over to Wilco’s website.
Are you excited about Tweedy’s upcoming album? Leave your two cents in the comments.
In Blank on Blank‘s latest animated video, PBS Digital Videos artists animate a 1988 interview Joe Smith did with David Bowie. In the interview, Bowie discusses his Ziggy Stardust persona (“half out of sci-fi rock and half out of the Japanese theater”) and recounts working with other artists like Lou Reed. Check it out.
Johnny Cash fans should check out our recent post on another Blank on Blank video animating a Johnny Cash interview. For more about the Bowie interview, head over to Rolling Stone. Leave your two cents in the comments.
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(2011), will be released September 16 on Wilco’s label dBpm. For more on the album and Tweedy’s upcoming summer tour, check out the article on