Category: Music

Song of the Day: “If a Song Could Be President”

vote here As our U.S. readers go to the polls, listen to one of the more hopeful songs about presidents, “If a Song Could Be President.”  The Ohio band Over the Rhine featured the song on their album, The Trumpet Child (2007).

Linford Detweiler and Karin Bergquist of Over the Rhine were inspired to write “If a Song Could Be President” after receiving an invitation to visit the White House in 2005.  The band accepted the invitation even though they disagreed with policies of President George W. Bush’s administration.

But, as they later wrote on Huffington Post, “we soon realized that what was so often missing from the current political climate in America were opportunities for folks who might have differing ideas to sit down face to face and actually engage in real conversation.”

Detweiler and Bergquist came away from the White House visit thinking about how “American music is one of the last remaining communal enterprises in this country. Music and songwriting still have the potential to bring incredibly diverse people together.”

They took the experience and put together a song that brought together a beautiful mix of American music.  They came up with a dream wondering what it would be like if a song could be president. Check out “If a Song Could Be President.”

If a song could be president,
We’d fly a jukebox to the moon;
All our founding fathers’ 45’s,
Lightnin’ Hopkins and Patsy Cline,
If a song could be president.

Happy election day.

Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    The Life and Songs of Emmylou Harris

    Emmylou Harris Tribute

    On January 10, 2015, a group of great performers came together at Washington, DC’s DAR Constitution Hall to honor Emmylou Harris. To celebrate Harris’s work, Rounder is releasing DVD and CD versions of The Life & Songs of Emmylou Harris: An All-Star Concert Celebration, created and produced by Blackbird Presents.

    The performers on the DVD and CD feature many of my favorite artists. The package includes music by Mary Chapin Carpenter, Shawn Colvin, Sheryl Crow, Rodney Crowell, Steve Earle, Vince Gill, Patty Griffin, Chris Hillman, Iron & Wine, Alison Krauss, Kris Kristofferson, Daniel Lanois, Martina McBride, Buddy Miller, Conor Oberst, Mavis Staples, Sara Watkins, Lee Ann Womack, and Lucinda Williams.

    Of course, the celebration would not be complete without Emmylou Harris. She performs “Boulder to Birmingham,” a song she co-wrote about Gram Parsons after he passed away. The song originally appeared on Harris’s 1975 album Pieces of the Sky.

    Below, Harris performs “Boulder to Birmingham” at the celebration concert with a little help from her friends. She begins singing the song alone before the others join her onstage. It is not much of a stretch to see the symbolism in the arrangement, considering how Harris must have felt so alone after Parson’s death. But her fans and colleagues, who in many ways are children of Gram Parsons, remind her that she is not alone. It is a beautiful song, and this performance is a nice arrangement.

    The Life & Songs Of Emmylou Harris: An All-Star Concert Celebration will be released in various forms on November 11, 2016.

    What is your favorite Emmylou Harris song? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Lydia Loveless: “Heaven”

    Heaven

    Today’s song of the day is Lydia Loveless’s “Heaven.”  Sometimes classified as alt-country, the Ohio-born young singer-songwriter has been releasing great music since 2010 that crosses borders around country, rock, and punk rock.

    I detect some Lone Justice-era Maria McKee with a little Natalie Merchant in Loveless’s music. But either way, as AllMusic notes, “At her best, she’s quite simply as good and as brave a singer and songwriter as anyone working today.”

    Loveless’s most recent album is Real, released in August 2016.  Currently, Blend is featuring a remix contest for listeners to remix Loveless’s song “Heaven” from Real.  For more information on the contest, head over to Blend’s website.

    Even if you are not up for the remixing challenge, though, you should listen to the heartbreaking lyrics accompanied by Loveless’s wonderful voice on “Heaven.”  Below,  she performs the song acoustically live at White Water Tavern in Little Rock, Arkansas.

    I thought I would be okay,
    But everything just happens;
    Everything is an accident, man;
    No one goes to heaven,
    No one goes to heaven.

    For more on Loveless, check out the documentary by filmmaker Gorman Bechard called Who is Lydia Loveless? The movie was released in April 2016.

    What is your favorite Lydia Loveless song? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Sturgill Simpson Live at Paradiso

    Sturgill Live Amsterdam

    Recently, Sturgill Simpson brought out a horn section for his performance at Paradiso in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Fortunately, rialto1961 did a great job of recording a large portion of the show in black and white before posting it on YouTube.

    In this segment of the show from September 26, 2016, Simpson performs a number of originals and covers. The video includes: “Water in a Well,” “Long White Line,” “When the Levee Breaks” (Led Zeppelin cover), “I Never Go Around Mirrors” (Keith Whitley cover), “The Promise” (When in Rome cover), “You Don’t Miss Your Water” (William Bell cover), “Sea Stories,” and “In Bloom: (Nirvana cover).

    Check out the video below.

    What is your favorite Sturgill Simpson song? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    New Song from Randy Newman: “Putin”

    Randy Newman Putin Randy Newman recently gave listeners a sneak peek at his next album with the release of the song “Putin.”  Newman, who has always been skilled at finding the humor in the powerful, came up with the idea of the song when he saw a photo of a shirtless Vladimir Putin riding a horse or a tractor.

    Newman explained to the Washington Post, “A person with that much extraordinary amount of power, doing things like that is disturbing but also kind of amusing.”  Newman also noted that the song has nothing to do with current presidential candidate Donald Trump’s apparent fondness for the Russian leader.

    Newman attempts to humanize Putin the song to some extent, revealing that the leader may have some doubt about his abilities.  The songwriter realizes that the world is not black and white and that Putin is still a human being.  Check it out.

    The photo of the shirtless Putin was not the only thing that helped inspire the song. Newman explained to the post how he loves the song “Stalin Wasn’t Stallin’,” which is a 1943 Willie Johnson song recorded by the gospel group The Golden Gate Quartet.

    The World War II song praises Joseph Stalin and the Russian people for their stand against Adolf Hitler and his army. Check out “Stalin Wasn’t Stallin'” below.

    Randy Newman’s upcoming album is in the mixing stage. Newman explained that some of the songs feature more than one character and that he tries to bring in everything he has learned into the new album. We can’t wait.

    What do you think of “Putin”? Leave your two cents in the comments. Photo via www.kremlin.ru

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