Chimesfreedom recommends the podcast, “A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs,” a fascinating look into music history by Andrew Hickey.
Anyone interested in rock music should listen to Andrew Hickey’s podcast A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs. Each episode focuses on one song and provides background information putting the song in its historical context. Hickey also has been putting his work into books.
The podcast episodes are presented in chronological order, tracing the early origins of rock music through the great recordings during the rock era. Each episode is not strictly only about one song, but Hickey provides the background leading up to the song, including information about the artist and related music.
Hickey, who is a writer from England who enjoys his privacy, does a great job presenting the music and lets his work speak for hitself. For those interested in supporting his work, his website provides some ways to do so. As of this date, he still is not halfway through his 500 songs.
Where to start? I suggest you check out the episodes on some of your favorite songs. Then, if you love the podcast, like me, you can go back to episode one and listen to the episodes in chronological order.
For an example, this episode focuses on the song “This Train” by Sister Rosetta Tharpe.
The night after the 2024 U.S. presidential election, Bruce Springsteen opened his show in Canada with two of his most powerful songs.
On November 6, 2024, Bruce Springsteen awakened feeling like many people in the United States did following the previous night’s election of Donald Trump. While many were happy, in a divided country there were around just as many people who were sad, angry, scared and/or feeling despair. Those feelings have amplified for many people in the months following the election.
Back in November, like many of us, Springsteen did not have the option of staying in bed all day and had to go to work. Unlike most of us, though, Springsteen had to do his job in front of a large audience.
And as he often does, he let his music speak for his feelings. So that night, playing for our neighbor and friend Canada, Springsteen opened with a brief comment introducing what he called “a fighting prayer” for his country, which was a one-two punch of two of his most powerful songs.
First, he opened with “A Long Walk Home” from his 2007 album Magic. He had never opened with that song prior to the election. The song, inspired by a Stanley Brothers song, is in the voice of a person coming back home and not recognizing where he once lived. Originally written about the George W. Bush and the post-9/11 years, the song is even more relevant for many today.
But Springsteen is not one to leave us in the dark, as his songs and performances bring together his fans and lifts them up. So, as part of the opening after “A Long Walk Home” he followed with one of his most hopeful songs, which we have previously discussed more in-depth, “Land of Hope and Dreams.”
While many may not have felt they were living in such a land that morning, Springsteen reminded us that your community is what you make of it. ” This Train / Dreams will not be thwarted; / This Train / Faith will be rewarded.”
Music does not change the world overnight. But at least for now, here is something to listen to during the next several years when you need to feel less alone and to find some hope to get you through the night.
The full audio of the November 6, 2024 show is also available on Nugs.net. Leave your two cents in the comments.
Dobie Gray had the first charting hit with the song “Loving Arms,” also recorded by artists such as Elvis Presley, The Chicks, Kris Kristofferson and Rita Coolidge.
For Valentine’s Day, we consider one of the great songs about lost love, “Loving Arms,” recorded by several artists, including Dobie Gray.
While the title of the song might make one think the song is a happy love song, instead the singer is looking back on a lost love, missing those loving arms.
Oh, I’ve been too long in the wind, yes too long in the rain, Taking any comfort that I can; I’ve been looking back and longing for the freedom of my chains, And lying in your loving arms again; I can almost feel your loving arms again.
“Loving Arms” has been recorded by a number of artists, starting with the song’s writer, Tom Jans. Jans released his version on his 1974 self-titled album. Kris Kristofferson and Rita Coolidge released “Loving Arms” as a single in late 1973 and on the album Full Moon (1973). Subsequently, Elvis Presley also included the song on his 1974 album Good Times. After Presley’s death, his version was released as a single in 1981.
But it was Dobie Gray who was one of the first, along with Kristofferson and Coolidge, to chart with the song from his album Loving Arms. His version made the Billboard Top 100 (at 61) in 1973.
Dobie Gray is one of those artists who is so identified with one great song (“Drift Away”) that we often overlook the rest of magnificent work. His take on “Loving Arms” reveals all of the sadness in the lyrics.
Other artists have continued to record “Loving Arms,” including the Dixie Chicks (The Chicks) on their 1998 album Wide Open Spaces.
In 2018, Tim Williams — best known in the U.S. as “the Trviago Guy” for his appearance in commercials — released an album of country songs he co-wrote.
Actor and singer Tim Williams is best known in the U.S. for his role as “the Trivago Guy” in television commercials. For many years, starting in 2013, Williams appeared as a scruffy-faced spokesperson for the travel discount website. Prior to that, he had appeared in several German movies and TV shows as well as movies that include an appearance in Valkyrie (2008), which starred Tom Cruise.
Although Williams has lived much of his life in Germany, he grew up in Houston, Texas. So it may not be too much of a surprise that Williams developed a love for country music, first hearing it at rodeos he attended as a kid. And in 2018, he released his own album, Magnolia City, having co-written most of the songs with his producer Norbert Hamm.
Williams has a warm deep voice that suits his music well. While he has yet to do a follow-up album, and his acting career has not made him into a leading man, Williams is a man of many talents.
The video for the title track “Magnolia City” is about a man missing his home in Houston. Although Williams had hoped to make the video in Houston, they were in Germany at the time. So Hamm suggested they give it a touch of Houston’s NASA connections by putting Willams in a space suit.
While Williams’s costume may make one initially think Williams is not taking his music seriously, the quality of his singing and songwriting shows a serious effort in the music.
Check out Tim Williams, aka “the Trivago Guy,” singing in a space suit.
Where is the Trivago guy today? In 2024, Williams gave an interview where he explained he is back in the United States working on a script with his production company in New York and still appearing on TV and movies. He also recounts his appreciation for his time with Trivago, while also being disappointed they stopped using him and started using AI-enhanced commercials.
He also explained that the reason he did not wear a belt in the commercials was due to the fact his initial commercial did not have much budget for wardrobe, and that his famous unshaven look started because he initially was also doing a German TV show with a part that required the look.
What do you think of the music by Tim Williams? Leave your two cents in the comments.
Singer-songwriter James Talley found a special connection with President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn.
The song at President Jimmy Carter’s funeral that got the most attention was a John Lennon song. But when Carter was president, one of his favorite singers was an artist not as well known as the former Beatle, singer-songwriter James Talley. Not only did Talley perform at Carter’s White House and at his inauguration, one of his songs gave extra comfort to Carter’s wife Rosalynn during a difficult transition in her life.
As the documentary Jimmy Carter: Rock & Roll Presidenthighlighted, Carter was a big fan and supporter of popular music. During Carter’s January 2025 funeral, at first it might have seemed odd that Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood would sing John Lennon’s “Imagine” about imagining no God at the religious man’s funeral. But it is not so odd that Carter would love a song about peace, caring, and love. And not only was Carter a fan of “Imagine,” but the same two singers — with Yearwood taking the lead — also performed the song at the memorial for Carter’s wife Rosalynn in 2023.
The Carters and James Talley
Much has been written about Jimmy Carter’s connections to artists like the Allman Brothers and Willie Nelson. But he also supported and loved lesser known artists like James Talley. The folk-country-blues singer-songwriter built a reputation on four albums released in the span of two years in the 1970s: Got No Bread, No Milk, No Money, But We Sure Got a Lot of Love (1975), Tryin’ Like the Devil (1976), Blackjack Choir (1977), and Ain’t It Somethin’ (1977).
Even if you were listening to the radio in the 1970s, Talley may have escaped your notice. But if you were following the President, you were likely to have heard him. (Or maybe you later heard covers of his songs by artists like Johnny Cash, Johnny Paycheck, and Alan Jackson.)
Carter first encountered Talley’s music when Talley sent then-candidate Carter copies of two of his albums. Subsequently, Talley heard an interview where Carter mentioned listening to Talley’s music, adding that Talley had become one of Rosalynn’s favorite artists.
Talley was soon invited to perform at the Georgia Party during Carter’s inauguration and later to return to perform at the White House during Carter’s term. During his first visit, at a private White House Christmas party for staff on December 17, 1977, Talley and his wife Jan sat with the Carters and also danced with the first couple. It was during this party that Talley and his wife found out how much one of his songs meant to Rosalynn Carter.
She explained how much she loved “She Tries Not to Cry” from Talley’s Tryin’ Like the Devilalbum. As Talley more recently explained on a Facebook post, Rosalynn found some connection to the song about a young woman and her husband moving from eastern Kentucky to Cleveland to find work. The song about the migration from country life to find industrial work, recounts the woman’s loneliness of moving from her home and family to live in a large city.
Rosalynn explained that when she was travelling on the campaign trail and feeling sad and lonely in her hotel room, she would think of the woman in the song. It would make her situation seem trivial by comparison and she would find comfort thinking of that young woman.
After Carter’s presidency, Talley continued to record. Born in Oklahoma on November 9, 1944, Talley is currently in his 80’s and in 2024 released what the said will be his final record, Bandits, Ballads, and Blues.
What is your favorite James Talley song? Leave your two cents in the comments.
