Billy Joel Gets in a “New York State of Mind” With a Vanderbilt Freshman

Billy Joel New York State of Mind College

Several weeks ago, Billy Joel appeared at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee for “An Evening of Questions and Answers and a Little Bit of Music.” During the question and answer portion of the program, one brave freshman named Michael Pollack stood up and asked the legend if he could accompany Joel on “New York State of Mind.” Joel said yes, and Pollack came up on the Langford Auditorium stage.

After Joel gave a few suggestions to the student, off they went for a rousing rendition of “New York State of Mind.” Check it out.

Another version of the video is available here and currently on Joel’s website.

Pollack later explained what it was like to be on stage playing with Billy Joel in this InsideVandy Video by Liz Muller. He notes how during the performance he tried to remind himself to enjoy the amazing experience.

What musician would you like to accompany? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Son Volt Goes to Bakersfield on “Honky Tonk”

    Son Volt Honky Tonk

    On Tuesday, March 5, Son Volt releases its seventh album Honky Tonk (2013). The country Bakersfield Sound influences the album, and lead singer Jay Farrar described why the band chose the album’s title: “Honky tonk music is about heartache, heartbreak, the road.” For those like me who have been following Farrar and Son Volt since the band spun off from Uncle Tupelo, the new album captures what was great about the band from the very beginning, even though Farrar’s current version of Son Volt has different band members than when they started. Just listen to the fiddle on the opening track, “Hearts and Minds”:

    Here is Son Volt’s teaser video for the appropriately entitled “Bakersfield” from the album:

    American Songwriter magazine is streaming the album for a limited time, so hop to their website to hear the rest of the tracks. Farrar also has a new memoir Falling Cars and Junkyard Dogs coming out this month about his career, including the breakup of Uncle Tupelo that led Jeff Tweedy to create Wilco. After listening through the tracks, I am excited about the new release. With new and upcoming releases from Son Volt, The Mavericks, Steve Earle, and others, it is already looking like a good year for Americana music.

    What is your favorite Son Volt album? Leave your two cents in the comments.

  • Uncle Tupelo’s Last Concert on May 1, 1994
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  • Son Volt: “Back Against the Wall”
  • Merle Haggard: “Kern River”

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    The Reunited Mavericks: “In Time”

    The Mavericks

    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.

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

    Bob Seger Toledo

    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.

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  • Wilco Live in Chicago, 1996
  • Son Volt Goes to Bakersfield on “Honky Tonk”

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    Searching for Sugar Man (Missed Movies)

    Rodriguez Best DocumentarySearching for Sugar Man, which recently won the 2012 Oscar for Best Documentary, is one of those films where the less you know about it, the more you will enjoy the film. I was one of those who was unfamiliar with musician Rodriguez and watched the film Searching for Sugar Man based only on a general sense about the content of the film. So during the movie, I was engrossed in the story and felt like I was discovering a long-lost epic tale of a legendary musician.

    Searching for Sugar Man is about the search for Sixto Rodriguez, a singer-songwriter who released two albums in the early 1970s and then disappeared into obscurity after his music failed to find an audience, even though many talented producers and others thought Rodriguez was even better than Bob Dylan. The story might have ended there, but his music did find an audience in South Africa, where many people, suffering during the apartheid years, found a special connection with Rodriguez’s music. There are various theories about how his albums ended up in South Africa, but the one thing for certain is that many South Africans put him on a level with other famous international artists like The Rolling Stones.

    Searching for Sugar Man begins with the legend of Rodriguez and his disappearance, and then it follows several fans in South Africa who search to find out what happened to Rodriguez. Using old photos and new interviews, the film explores the power of music and myth. To reveal any more about the movie would ruin your enjoyment of the film. The trailer even reveals too much, so here are a couple of songs by Rodriguez to whet your appetite. Now go watch the film. (But if you must watch the trailer, it is here.)

    “I Wonder”

    “Cause”

    Perhaps Chimesfreedom will revisit Rodriguez’s music more in the future, but for now watch the movie first so you can enjoy the mystery and the discoveries in the film.

    What did you think of Searching for Sugar Man? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Buy from Amazon