Childhood friends Evan Westfall and Taylor Meier began playing coffee houses around Athens, Ohio in 2013. Out of their friendship and talent, they formed CAAMP with bass player Matt Vinson. One of the highlights from the band’s third album By and By, which was released in 2019, is “Peach Fuzz.”
“Peach Fuzz” has a laid-back groove, telling about young lovers hanging out. The band has a wonderful sound with strong acoustic guitars, nodding at times to alternative bands like Wilco. Westfall’s banjo and the group’s harmonies (and Meier’s smoky lead singing) add a dash of Mumford & Sons while also mixing in some sunny California and Midwestern folk-rock sounds.
The song “Peach Fuzz” begins:
I was in the corner, Drinking from the punch; Yeah you were in the kitchen, Cuttin’ up a rug; No need to complicate it, I had fallen in love With you, so underrated, Something fillin’ up my lungs.
You may here the official release of “Peach Fuzz” here. Or check out below a live performance, featuring a guitar-jam finale, of CAAMP in Cecil, Denmark in May 2019.
Our song of the day features Merle Haggard covering an Iris DeMent song that appeared on one of his overlooked albums from the 1990s. In “No Time to Cry,” the singer begins by remembering his father’s funeral from a year before, moving into a meditation on live, it’s joys and it’s pains.
When I first heard Haggard’s version from his album 1996, I though he might have wrote it or that it had been written for him. The song perfectly fits his weathered voice at the time of an older person. Although Merle Haggard was only in his late 50’s when he recorded “No Time to Cry,” he always seemed much older than his age.
The singer looks back through the years, realizing life is full of pain. But in the end, you cannot stop the pain or cry for everyone.
Now I sit down on the sofa and I watch the evening news: There’s a half a dozen tragedies from which to pick and choose; The baby that was missing was found in a ditch today; And there’s bombs a’flying and people dying not so far away; And I’ll take a beer from the refrigerator, And go sit out in the yard and with a cold one in my hand; I’m going to bite down and swallow hard, Because I’m older now: I’ve got no time to cry.
Iris DeMent’s Version
In Haggard’s version, he sounds weary. He sounds hardened by what he has seen. By contrast, in Iris DeMent‘s original version from her album My Life (1993), her haunting voice sounds like someone barely able to keep from crying. Her version reveals the raw emotions nearer to the surface than the old man in Haggard’s version. She takes longer
Listen to just the way Haggard adds “it’s true” near the end at around the 3:45 mark. It is as if the singer is reminding himself that he cannot cry. DeMent’s version does not add that declaration, perhaps because the singer does not quite believe it is true.
DeMent’s recording clocks in at nearly seven minutes, while Haggard’s song takes just four and a half minutes. He is making a declaration, telling you his story, while DeMent takes longer because she is trying to convince herself of her strength in the wake of everything. Both versions are wonderful. Here is DeMent’s take on her song “No Time to Cry.”
Haggard’s choice to cover the song reveals his great taste in music that fits him. But he also admired DeMent’s work, having earlier praised DeMent’s version of his song “Big City” on the Haggard tribute album, Tulare Dust.
Which version of “No Time to Cry” do you like best? Leave your two cents in the comments.
I have been a fan of Jesse Malin’s work since he released The Fine Art of Self-Destruction in the U.S. back in 2003. So, I was particularly excited to hear that Lucinda Williams was producing his latest album, Sunset Kids.
The album also features a duet with Malin and Williams. The song is “Room 13.” Malin explained to Rolling Stone that that song is about loneliness: “Music can be a great way to hide the pain and loneliness, but sometimes you’ve gotta deal with it head on. ‘Room 13’ is that place far away from the distractions, the noise and the telephone zombies. It’s a place where you’re forced to reflect on what really matters most.” Check it out.
Malin’s album Sunset Kids will hit the Internet on August 30, 2019 on Wicked Cool Records.
Earlier in 2018, Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers, and Lucy Dacus joined together as boygenius to create a self-titled EP. The three, who have had some success separately as singers and songwriters, joined together as a group after booking a tour together. Now, they are receiving rave reviews for their collaboration.
One of the tracks on the EP is “My & My Dog,” written by Bridgers, who sings the verses before being joined by Baker and Dacus on the chorus. The recording illustrates the wonderful blend of voices that the three create. The song itself is not really about a dog, but about love and the loss of a relationship.
I wanna hear one song without thinking of you; I wish I was on a spaceship, Just me and my dog and an impossible view.
Check out boygenius performing “Me & My Dog” live at the WFUV studios from November 2018.
Singer-songwriter Katie Cole takes us to church in her new single, “Graceland.” Cole, who was born in Australia but now lives in Nashville, was inspired to write the song with co-writer Sam Brooker after a visit to Elvis Presley’s home.
“Graceland” is in the voice of someone who has wronged their lover. Cole’s wonderful voice gives an emotional depth to the song, while sometimes a choir backs her up. Check it out.
It’s a long road I’m on to get me here, When all the lights have gone out but the stars; So I’ll follow them, wherever they lead me dear, Far away, far away from your heart.
“Graceland” is from Katie Cole’s EP, Things That Break, Pt. 1. We hope to hear more from her in the near future.
