Brothers Jack Torrey and Page Burkum of The Cactus Blossoms create some great harmonies reminiscent of another pair, The Everly Brothers. The Cactus Blossoms’ new debut album You’re Dreaming, featuring mostly songs written by each of the brothers, is essential listening for classic country fans.
On The Cactus Blossoms’ website, the brothers discuss how as Minnesota teenagers they began to be enthralled by pre-1960s country music. They explain, “We weren’t born in the wrong era. We just got into some music from a different era and found a way to make it our own.”
I am always a sucker for tight country vocals that blend well, and there is something about the way that brothers can sing together. Burkham explains to Rolling Stone, though, that he thinks the brotherly bond adds to the music in another way: their sense of rhythm. He reasons, “If you have two good singers who aren’t related, they can both hit beautiful notes together, but if their timing is different or the way they breathe is different, it will have a harder time linking up.”
See what you think of their vocals and their rhythm. Below is “Stoplight Kisses” from You’re Dreaming.
In this video, the brothers perform “Here Today, Gone Tomorrow” at Rhythm & Roots. If you hear a little of the ghost of Hank Williams, you are not alone.
You’re Dreaming was produced by rockabilly singer-songwriter JD McPherson and released January 22, 2016.
I love Matthew Ryan‘s recent album Boxers (2014), which Ryan has described as sounding “like Crazy Horse meets early Replacements with nods to more recent bands I love like the National.” One of the many highlights on the album is “Then She Threw Me Like a Hand Grenade.”
The title of “Then She Threw Me Like a Hand Grenade” gives away the broken-hearted theme underlying the song. But with Ryan’s poetic lyrics, one may often find something more complex and beautiful beneath the surface: “Three fires lit a spark in me / It took me years to understand the weight / If you’re a prisoner to anything you’re not free / Then she threw me like a hand grenade.”
In the video below, Ryan performs “Then She Threw Me Like a Hand Grenade” as part of the Yellow Couch Sessions. Check it out.
Dave Cantrell at Stereo Embers calls Boxers “Ryan’s finest work yet” and “the record that should bring the too-many that have missed it to discover this artist’s long, deep, and riveting catalog.” I agree that Boxers shows that Ryan is still at the top of his game, and hopefully it will lead listeners to explore his other albums too.
Kentucky-born country singer Chris Stapleton continues to impress us with his talent with the recent release of his video for “Fly Away,” a song he co-wrote with Danny Green that appeared on Stapleton’s debut solo album Traveler (2015). The video documents the challenges facing a couple as a woman struggles with mental illness. The video ends with a link to The Campaign to Change Direction, an organization that works “to change the culture in America about mental health, mental illness, and wellness.”
It is great that Stapleton is helping a worthy cause, but the video and song are outstanding too. The song is a haunting ballad that hints at the subject matter without being an explicit story: “Your love might be my damnation / But I’ll cry to my grave.” Meanwhile, the video does tell a heartbreaking story, with the help from actors Ben Foster (Lone Survivor (2013)) and Margarita Levieva (TV series such as The Blacklist and Revenge).
Although Traveler was Stapleton’s debut solo album, he has been around awhile in different bands like The Steeldrivers and as a songwriter (i.e., Josh Turner’s “Your Man”). Still, like his performance at the Country Music Association Awards show with Justin Timberlake, this album continues to be a breakout project for him, winning him two Grammy Awards: Best Country Album and Best Country Solo Performance.
In our series “3 a.m. Albums,” we look at albums that are perfect for those nights when you cannot sleep due to sadness, loneliness, despair, or other reasons. This post in the series considers Sam Cooke’s twelfth album, Night Beat, released in August 1963.
When you think of singer-songwriter Sam Cooke, who was born on January 22, 1931, you probably first think of the singles and his wonderful tracks like “You Send Me,” “A Change Is Gonna Come,” and “Twistin’ the Night Away.” But if you ask a Sam Cooke fan to name their favorite album by the R&B singer, chances are they will name an album without any of his most recognizable hits: Night Beat.
The Recording and “Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen”
Early in 1963, less than two years before Cooke’s tragic death, he went into the studio for some late night recording sessions with talented musicians such as pianist Ray Johnson (piano), the sixteen-year-old Billy Preston (organ); Barney Kessell (guitar), Hal Blaine (drums), Ed Hall (drums), Cliff Hils (bass), Clif White (bass), and René Hall (rhythm guitar). During those nights, they created a moody masterpiece for late-night listening.
The opening track on side one of the album creates the mood with Cooke singing an old spiritual, “Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen.” While the singer tells us about his lonely troubles, Cooke adds a layer of rhythm and blues that both provides comfort to the troubled and offers a little bit of hope.
Cooke’s Originals on the Album
Night Beat includes some Cooke originals, like “Mean Old World,” a song Cooke had recorded with the Soul Stirrers six years earlier. The other songs written by Cooke were “Laughin’ and Clownin'” and “You Gotta Move.”
Below is “You Gotta Move.”
An Uplifting Coda
Most of the songs were written by other artists, including classics like the blues song “Little Red Rooster.” Indeed, many of the songs are steeped in the blues, with many of the songs reflecting themes of heartbreak.
The one song, however, that stands out as an uplifting coda is the closing track on side two, Cooke’s version of “Shake, Rattle, and Roll.” It is as if after sorting through the heartbreak, he wants to remind us that after you get through it all you will find pure joy once again.
So, after reflecting on your misery, “Get out of that bed, go wash your face and hands.”
The Song That Sums Up the Album
According to Peter Guralnick’s excellent biography of the singer, Dream Boogie: The Triumph of Sam Cooke (2005), the song that best summed up the mood of the album was recorded at the end of an evening, “Lost and Lookin’.” Cooke’s voice in the minor-key number faces the world alone, accompanied only by bass and the cymbals on the drum set.
According to Guralnick, “Lost and Lookin'” “showed off every one of Sam’s characteristic vocal effects.” But it did so “without in any way suggesting, either to the listener or himself, that they were effects, so intrinsic were they to his feeling for the music, to the feelings he wanted to express.”
An Album To Get You Through the Night
The album is a wonderful friend to have late at night. Allmusic explains, “The songs are intimate blues, most taken at the pace of a late-night stroll, but despite the dark shading and heart-rending tempos, Cooke’s voice is so transcendent it’s difficult to become depressed while listening.”
So, the next late night where you need some company to help get you through until sunrise, put on Sam Cooke’s Night Beat.
What is your favorite 3 a.m. album? Leave your two cents in the comments.
Willie Nelson’s upcoming album pays homage to the songwriting brothers George and Ira Gershwin. Summertime: Willie Nelson Sings Gershwin (2016) reminds us that Nelson’s acoustic guitar Trigger and his voice are two of the best friends a music standard can have.
In 1978, Willie Nelson surprised many with his album devoted to the Great American Songbook, Stardust. But nowadays, nobody is really surprised when Nelson ventures outside classic country music in areas such as reggae, jazz, or blues.
On songs such as “Summertime,” Willie Nelson proves he is still one of our great song interpreters with his version of the often-covered “Summertime.” Check out Willie and Trigger on “Summertime” below.
The album features such classics as “I Got Rhythm” and “They Can’t Take That Away From Me.” Below, is his new version of “Someone to Watch Over Me,” which he had previously covered with a different arrangement for Stardust.
A few other singers join Nelson on a couple of the tracks. Cyndi Lauper joins Nelson on a playful “Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off.” And Sheryl Crow helps out on “Embraceable You.” For a limited time, you may listen to songs from the album on NPR.
Summertime: Willie Nelson Sings Gershwin hits stores and the Internet on February 26, 2016. What is your favorite Willie Nelson cover of an American standard? Leave your two cents in the comments.
Brothers Jack Torrey and Page Burkum of The Cactus Blossoms create some great harmonies reminiscent of another pair, The Everly Brothers. The Cactus Blossoms’ new debut album You’re Dreaming, featuring mostly songs written by each of the brothers, is essential listening for classic country fans.
In our series “
, released in August 1963.
(2005), the song that best summed up the mood of the album was recorded at the end of an evening, “Lost and Lookin’.” Cooke’s voice in the minor-key number faces the world alone, accompanied only by bass and the cymbals on the drum set.
hits stores and the Internet on February 26, 2016.