Ellis Paul a Celebration of His Translucent Soul

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Ellis Paul Trnslucent Soul

Last night and this morning, I was thinking about which folk musician to listen to today.
When I stumbled upon the album The Speed of Trees, I took it as an omen:
it was time to spend the day with Ellis Paul.

That decision was doubly confirmed when I received a Facebook notification that today was Ellis’ birthday!

Translucent Soul (1998)

This morning, I cued up Translucent Soul,
the first Ellis Paul album I ever bought.
The album was released in 1998, but I probably picked it up a year or two later.
While I liked the whole album, it was the title track that really turned me into a fan.

His best-known song, “The World Ain’t Slowing Down”,
also appears on Translucent Soul and gained wider recognition when it was used as the theme song
in the Farrelly brothers’ movie Me, Myself and Irene starring Jim Carrey and Renée Zellweger.

About Ellis Paul


Ellis Paul (born Paul Plissey; January 14, 1965) is an American singer-songwriter and folk musician.
Born in Presque Isle, Maine, Paul is a key figure in what has become known as the
Boston school of songwriting—a literate, provocative, and urbanely romantic folk-pop style
that helped ignite the folk revival of the 1990s.
His pop-folk songs have appeared in movies and on television, bridging the gap
between the modern folk sound and the populist traditions of Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger.
Read More

The Day After Everything Changed

After listening to Translucent Soul,
I followed it with The Day After Everything Changed,
which may be my favorite Ellis Paul album.

The only time I saw Ellis live was at The Tin Angel in Philadelphia,
when he was touring in support of The Day After Everything Changed.
It was a wonderful show, and after the set he autographed my copy of the album,
which now has a special spot in my collection.

The bottom line: Ellis Paul is a terrific singer-songwriter
with a unique, distinct, and expressive voice.
If you haven’t explored his music, today is a good day to start!

The Storyteller’s Suitcase a Great Album

Ellis continues to write powerful, socially conscious songs.
One standout is “The Battle of Charlottesville”,
written after the tragic events in Charlottesville.
It appears on his 2019 release The Storyteller’s Suitcase
and shows his ability to blend storytelling with current events.

Explore More Ellis Paul

Greg Trooper – Day 9 – 30-Day Folk Challenge

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greg Trooper - straight down rain

2026 Update:

When I wrote this post in 2021 i had been blogging for 11 years, The first 4-5 years my main musical focus was on Americana music: Folk, Blues, Bluegrass and othe roots music. Somewhere around 2014 my focused shifted and I was writing more posts about Jazz, New AGe and Progressive Rock. Americana music slipped into the background. In 2021 I created this 30-day Folk Challenge to challenge myself to listen to more Folk music. I don’t think I cpmpleted the challenge but I did write several posts.

Now in 2026 through A Sixties – Seventies Men I am going back and rekindling my love for Americana music. Overall, the s. ite will be how I weave music into my daily life. And Mini Challenges like this is one way. Stay tuned to hear about all the ways.

Greg Trooper – Day 9 – 30-Day Folk Challenge

Today January 13,2021 would have been singer-songwriter Greg Trooper’s 64th birthday. Unfortunately for the music world he died two days after his 61st birthday in 2017. The cause of the death was pancreatic cancer.

Greg Troop was a fellow New Jerseyian. He was born on January 13 in 1956 iin Neptune Township, New Jersey. He was raised in nearby Little Silver.

I  started today listening Straight Down Rain, which found it’s way into my music collection around 1999. I remember I found the album in the discount bin at Tunes,  which was our go to CD store at the time.

His prior release Popular Demons which had been released  in 1998, quickly was added to my music library. Popular Demons had been released on Koch Records and was produced by Buddy Miller.

All total Greg Trooper released thirteen albums. Three of those albums were live albums.

After I listened  to Straight Down Rain for the first time in a long time, I listened to songs from several of Trooper’s other albums.  Of Trooper’s thirteen albums here are the five that are in my music library….

Between a House and a Hard Place
Floating (2003)
Popular Demons (1998)
Straight Down Rain (2001)

Here’s a Baker’s Dozen Greg Trooper Playlist

Final Thoughts

So far this 30-day challenge has been  very rewarding. personally. It has given me an opportunity to listen to many albums that I haven’t heard for too long a time! In addition, I have a renewed interest in searching out new Americana, and Folk music.

Likewise, because I was looking for old vinyl albums I have organized those albums by genre, so now I know where all my folk albums can be located, as well as, my jazz and rock albums! so maybe there’s a 30-day classic rock and jazz challenge in the future. Stay Tuned!

Artist’s Website
Dutch Website
Wikipedia
AllMusic
Discogs
Spotify
Amazon

Here’s is Greg performing on of my favorite Greg Troooper songs “They Call Me Hank”

 

Tony Rice – Day 7 of Folk Music Challenge

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On Christmas Day last month the Bluegrass world lost a true legend, when Tony Rice passed away. Rice is arguably the best bluegrass guitarist ever!

I confess that through the 70s and 80s I knew who he was , but never listened much to the groups in which he was a member. Progressive bluegrass groups like J D Crowe and the New South and the David Grisman Quintet.

Tony Rice -nCold on the Shoulder

EK Finds Cold on the Shoulder amongst his Vinyl….

I probably became aware of Tony and his fantastic guitar in the mid to late 80s. Most likely it was through Gene Shay’s folk radio show here in Philly. Anyway, I bought two of his solo albums Cold on the Shoulder and Me & My Guitar  at a used record store at the now defunct Pennsauken Mart.

 

I found those two records the other day, when I started to organize my vinyl collection by genre. I am counting listening to Cold on the Shoulder as day seven of my 30-day Folk Music Challenge.

Needless to say, it sounded great. It is also just a coincidence that it has the same title song as day ones pick.

While reading the back of the album, I discovered  this was the first album Tony recorded consisting of all vocal tracks. While there are no all instrumental tracks on the album, Rice picked songs that allowed space for individual solos.

The  space for solos is filled with a group of outstanding musicians. If I didn’t know who Tony Rice was i would  have bought this album just on the people who play on it.

An Amazing Supporting Cast 

The supporting cast includes:

Vassar Clement – fiddle
Jerry Douglas – dobro
Todd Phillips -bass
Sam Bush – mandolin
Bobby Hicks – fiddle
Larry Rice – mandolin
J D Crowe – banjo
Kate Wolf – harmony vocals
Bela Fleck – banjo

What a fantastic line-up of musicians! And several times while I was listening to this album I stopped what I was doing and said. “Wow”.

Tony Rice in Rice, Rice Hillman and Pederson

ony Rice in Rice Rice Hillman and Pederson

My next contact with Tony Rice’s music was when he became part of the group – Rice,Rice, Hillman and Pederaon. I added their album Out of the Woodwork to my music library.

The group consisted of: Tony, his brother Larry, Chris Hillman from The Byrds, Manassas, and the Flying Burrito Brothers, and Herb Pederson. The group only released three albums and I need to check out the other two!

The bottom line is that Tony Rice was a great talent and his passing is a great loss for the folk and bluegrass community.

If you’ve never listened to Tony’s music do it. As for me I want to check out some of his earlier solo albums, along with the J.D. Crowe and David Grisman albums!!

Links for Further Explorations

Wikipedia
NPR: Tony Rice Was My Guitar Hero
Rolling Stone: Was Bluegrass Music’s Great Experimentalist
Spotify

In addition to the above, after watching the following video I need to check out any albums from the Tony Rice Unit…. four of my favorite musicians!!

Gordon Lightfoot Kicks Off My 30-Day Folk Music Challenge

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Yesterday I said I had started a 30-day Folk Music Challenge early last week. Well, as a result yesterday  was the sixth day of the challenge. Blue River Eric Andersen’s 1972 release.was the album of the day. In this post I’d like to start to catch up and write about the albums I listened to on the first 5 days. Gordon Lightfoot kicked it off!

Cold on the Shoulder - Gordon Lightfoot

 Cold on the Shoulder – Gordon Lightfoot

Gordon Lightfoot’s Cold on the Shoulder was the first album I listened to as part of my 30-Day Folk Music Challenge.

While Gordon Lightfoot was never a  huge favorite of mine, his impact on the genre was immense! Some of the earliest folk music I listened to was Peter, Paul and Mary who covered  at least two Gordon Lightfoot songs “Early Morning Rain” and “For Lovin’Me”.

However, I didn’t have any Lightfoot albums in my music collection until his 1972 release Sundown. The second album I added to my collection  was Cold on the Shoulder.

Here’s some biographical information about Gordon from Wikipedia:

 

Gordon Meredith Lightfoot Jr….(born November 17, 1938) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist who achieved international success in folk, folk-rock, and country music. He is credited with helping to define the folk-pop sound of the 1960s and 1970s. He is often referred to as Canada’s greatest songwriter and is known internationally as a folk-rock lege

“Rainy Day People” – Cold on the Shoulder’s Hit

The big hit on Cold on the Shoulder was “Rainy Day People” again from.Wikipedia……..

Rainy Day People” is a song written and recorded by Gordon Lightfoot, released on his 1975 album, Cold on the Shoulder, and also as a single. “Rainy Day People” went to number 26 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was Lightfoot’s last of four songs to reach number one on the Easy Listeningchart, spending one week at number one in May 1975.

Lightfoot’s  discography consists of 19 studio albums, 3 live albums and 16 computation albums Eighteen of his nineteen  studio albums were released between 1966-2004. The last Gordon Lightfoot album I added to my library was  A Pilgrim Passes By released in 1998.

Gordon Overcomes Major Health Problems

In 2004 Lightfoot almost died when he…

….underwent emergent vascular surgery for a rupturedabdominal aortic aneurysm, and he remained in serious condition in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Lightfoot endured a six-week coma and a tracheotomy, and he underwent four surgical operations.

In 2006, Lightfoot suffered a minor stroke in the middle of a performance. The stroke left him without the use of the middle and ring fingers on his right hand. It took him many months to recover.

In spite of his health problems, Lightfoot has not retired. Last year Lightfoot released his 19th studio album Gordon Lightfoot Solo. from Gordon’s website:

Nine of the songs come from two CDs of songs he had recorded back in 2001 – 2002 and which he had forgotten. He discovered them when cleaning his office, listened to them, and decided to make an album with just him and his guitar, removing other instruments that had been added. The 10th song, “Easy Flo,” was written and recorded more recently.

Lightfoot says this about the album….

“I thought my fans would be interested in hearing what songs sound like when first written”

So if you’ve never listened to Gordon Lightfoot You really need to do it….as for me I’m checking out Gordon Lightfoot Solo.

Links for the Further Exploration of the Music of Gordon Lightfoot

Artist’s Website

Spotify
Amazon

Here’s “Rainy Day People” from Gord’s Gold

 

 2026 Update

Gordon Lightfoot passed away on May 21, 2023. Over the last few years I have been adding Gordon Lightfoot albums to my music library. As this blog develops you’ll b readng about those additions so stay tuned!

A 30-Day Folk Music Challenge leads to a Revitalization

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2026 Update: Looking back, this post marked a turning point. My 30-Day Folk Music Challenge reminded me where my musical journey began. Although I would continue exploring blues, jazz, progressive rock, and many other genres, this challenge eventually led me back to the folk and Americana music that first captured my imagination more than fifty years ago. That rediscovery would eventually inspire this website.

A Return to the Beginning

Well, it’s quite an understatement to say I haven’t posted much lately. It’s not that I haven’t tried. I have started at times many, many posts and somehow I can never complete them. However the other night, I had a wild thought why not go back to where it all started at least musically!

For the majority of my adult life I listen to mostly Folk and Americana music. In college I listen to a combination of rock and folk. However, as the years past and the rock groups that I loved weren’t on the radio anymore, I listen to my folk musician favorites from the 60s and 70s. In the 1980 and early 90s I added several more Folk and Americana favorites.

Then in the mid-90s I discovered Texas Country music. I also started to listen to a variety of blues musicians. (Thank- you Stevie Ray Vaughan)

In 2014 after blogging about that music, I started listening to several different music genres. I started listening to and writing about more New Age music. In conjunction with this Instarted listening to more jazz and progressive rock.

Since the number of hours in the day available to listen to music is limited the amount of time I listened to Folk and Americana music diminished.

Creates The 30-Day Folk Music Challenge

Until last Tuesday when I decided to create a 30-day Folk Music Challenge. I that challenge I am going to listen to albums from those artist who I have listened to over the last 50 some of years!

Folk Album of the Day – “Blue River” Eric Andersen

It is now the sixth day of the challenge. Today’s album was ……

a30 day folk music challenge album - blue river

Eric Andersen’s 1972 release Blue River. Eric was part of the Greenwich Village folk music scene in the mid-1960s. His most popular songs from that era were “Violets of Dawn” and “Thirsty Boots” which as been recorded by many, many people.

Blue River was probably his most commercially successful album. It climbed as high as 169 on Billboard’s Top 200. My favorite tracks include: Is It Really Live at All?” and “Wind and Sand”

Links

As I was reading about the album at Wikipedia I read that a number of musicians who played on the album were the reason I took a chance on several albums in the 1970s. They were a group of the best session musicians around and included….

  • David Bromberg – dobro, acoustic guitar
  • DavidBriggs – organ, keyboards, celeste
    Weldon Myrick – steel guitar
  • Norbert Putnam – bass
  • Kenneth Buttrey – drums, percussion, tambourine

In the 70s, if I picked up an album and saw these guys listed on the album, I’d pick up the album. Sometimes even though I didn’t know the artist. I knew at least I’d like the music!

The Challenge Leads to New Folk/Americana

So after listening to some of my favorite folk music over the last several days, I decided to check out the Folk Charts at Roots Music Report.

I found several artists I’ve never listened to before, give thEir stuff a quick listen and was pleased with what I heard. I also remember  the Euro-Americana Chart and checked it out finding more new folk/Americana artists! So expect to hear about those new albums mixed in with the old albums.

Finally, I also listened to some new Blues today and found two groups I really liked. The first one was Terminal Station and the second The Bluesbones. The later was my favorite so you’ll probably hear about that one first

Here’s “Is It Really Live at All” from Eric Andersen

 

 

 

Strunz & Farah Says The Wheel of My IPod Great Acoustic Guitar

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STrunz & Farah

Tonight I decided rather than search out new music, I would instead pick something from my iPod. Yes I still have and use my iPod

. So I set the iPod to Artist and spun that wheel forward and backward several times. When it stopped it had landed on the New Age/World music duo of Strunz & Farah.

I only have one Strunz & Farah CD in my collection and it’s their 1995 release Heat of the Sun.And I really really like the album. I know I have read about the duo before, but have never written about them until tonight. So here goes….

About Strunz & Farah

Strunz & Farah are Costa Rica born Jorge Strunz and Iranian Ardeshir Farah. The two guitarist joined forces and recorded their debt album Mosaico in 1980. Both artists had been performing professionally since they were teenagers. Mosaico was released on their newly formed label Selva,Inc.

Since the release of Mosaico the duo has released nineteen studio albums. With the exception of two or three albums all have been released on the Selva,Inc label.

Their 1992 release Americas was nominated for a Grammy as Best World Album of the Year.

Strunz and Farah’s music has been influenced by the likes of Paco de Lucia, Sabicas, Chick Corrrea and classical Persian music. Through the years they have created a unique sound by blending elements of Flamenco, Persian rhythms and Jazz.

I have used Strunz & Farah’s Heat of Sun as a soundtrack for my workouts on several occasions. Each time their musical rhythms music keeps my body moving! I have also turned to the album while reading. It has been enjoyable for that activity too!

I would highly recommend the music of Strunz & Farah if you’re a fan of Rodrigo y Gabriella, Armik, Ottmar Liebert, Jesse Cook or Jim Stubblefield. Then again if you like these artist you already may know about Strunz & Farah.

So for anyone who loves fantastic acoustic guitar playing check them out!! As for me, tonight I listened to their 2018 release Tales of Two Guitars as well as, their some of their first release Mosaico. Hmm, I think the music of Strunz & Farah will be incorporated into a workout soon!!

Links for the Further Exploration of the Music of Strunz & Farah

Aetust Website
AllMusic
Amazon

Here is an amazing performance of  “Jamilah” by Strunz & Farah!

 

Graham Nash David Crosby Album Leads to The Immediate Family!

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This morning I want to start writing about the CDs that I found at Goodwill last week. First up is the album Graham Nash -David Crosby.


I have a always thought the harmonies of David Crosby and Graham Nash were special. They were obviously an important part of the sound of Crosby, Stills, Nash and sometimes Young.

From Wikipedia:

Graham Nash David Crosby is the first album by the partnership of David Crosby and Graham Nash, released on Atlantic Records in 1972, catalog SD 7220. It peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Top Pop Albums chart, and a single taken from the album, “Immigration Man”, peaked at No. 36 on the Billboard Hot 100 on June 17 and 24, 1972. It was certified gold by the RIAA, and it was dedicated to Joni Mitchell, as “to Miss Mitchell”.

Sessions for this album featured backing from notable guests Dave Mason and members of The Grateful Dead — Jerry Garcia, Phil Lesh and Bill Kreutzmann.

Most of the musical support came from The Section, a quartet of in-demand session musicians on the West Coast in the 1970s. Consisting of Craig Doerge, Danny Kortchmar, Leland Sklar, and Russell Kunkel, they would appear on dozens of albums, notably those by James Taylor, Carole King, and Jackson Brown. They would also continue to work with Crosby & Nash for the remainder of the decade, both in the studio and on tour…..Read More

Wait Danny Kortchmar and Friends are The Immediate Family

Ok so now my ADHD brain has been engaged. The reason is because last week I was reviewing the current Top 59 Blues albums chart at Roots Music Report. I was  looking for new music to listen to and I spied an album at #45. It caught my attention because the band appeared to composed of five greybeards like me. The album was Slippin’ and Slidin’  from The Immediate Family. When I saw the album cover….

I immediately recognized the names Kortchmar, Sklar and Kunkel and yes they are of course the former members of The Section who played in the Graham Nash  David Crosby album! The great thing is they still sound just as good almost 50 years later!

The Immediate Family is comprised of guitarists Danny Kortchmar, Waddy Wachtel and Steve Postell, bassist Leland Sklar, and drummer Russ Kunkel.

Slippin’and Slidin’ has a lot of good tracks in the album. The only bad thing is that it’s an EP. I want more ……

Final Thoughts

Ok so summing up the CD Graham Nash David Crosby was a great find at Goodwill and it was good to listen to the album again. If you’ve never heard it give it a listen.

If you don’t know both David Crosby and Graham Nash are still active. They both tour and have current albums to check out!

Check out Graham Nash’s 2016 album This Path Tonight here onSpotify. And David Crosby’s 2018 release Here If You Listen.

Finally check out The Immediate Family’s Slippin’and Slidin’

Here’s the official video for the title track of The Immediate Family’s Slippin’and Slidin’

Links for the Further Explorations of the Music of Graham Nash David Crosby and The Immediate Family

Graham Nash : website
David Crosby : website

The Immediate Family: website
The Immediate Family : Facebook

 

 

 

Savoy Brown – Ain’t Done Yet! – Yeah!

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Ain't Done Yet - Savoy Brown

So according to my new blog schedule, (which you don’t  know about because I still haven’t finished the post about it yet, damn you ADD) today, I am supposed to be writing about a blues album I picked on Saturday and listen to twice since then.

The thing is I didn’t create this schedule until this Sunday, so I didn’t know I was supposed to pick an album to listen to prior to writing this post.

The good thing though is I have used the new album from Savoy Brown Ain’t Done Yet. 
as the soundtrack for at least two runs. Even better, I haven’t written about the runs or album yet.

Through the years, I never have been a  Savoy Brown fan. Oh, I knew the  name but never listened to a full album until somewhere around 2011, when they released the album Voodoo Moon

About Savoy Brown

From the Savoy Brown Website…

Savoy Brown was formed in 1965 by guitarist Kim Simmonds in London, England. Simmonds has been the group’s guiding hand from the first singles released in 1966 through the band’s newest effort, their forty-first album “Ain’t Done Yet”

The three- piece line-up now includes Kim Simmonds on guitar and vocals, Pat DeSalvo on bass and Garnet Grimm on drums. This trio has established itself as the longest-running consistent line-up in the band’s history, now going strong for more than 10 years.

Over the last ten years, my favorite Savoy Brown albums have been Voodoo Moon, Witchy Feelin’ and City Nights. I do believe Kim Simmonds has handled the lead vocals on all these albums, except Voodoo Moon.

Thoughts About Ain’t Done Yet

In my opinion,  Ain’t Done Yet is an appropriate statement about both the band and its driving force Kim Simmonds. This album had me from the opening tracks “All Gone Wrong” and “Devil’s Highway” to the closing instrumental  “Crying Guitar“

Throughout the album, the tracks are varied, well written and  interesting. Simmonds vocals and guitar playing are always spot on. Simmonds guitar never outplays the song, it just fits in perfectly. I guess that’s a result of crafting 41 albums!

What I admire most is that after 53 years and 41 albums Simmonds and Savoy Brown are still recording fresh great new blues songs! I for one am glad they “ain’t done yet”!

Links for the Further Exploration of Savoy Brown

Band’s Website

Wikipedia

Twitter

Instagram

Spotify

Here’s the title track from Ain’t Done Yet

Five Quiet Acoustic Guitar Albums for Trying Times

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So the other day a Facebook friend asked for recommendations for a quiet and relaxing acoustic guitar album. My initial reaction was to recommend two of my go to relaxing acoustic guitar albums. My first reccomendatiion was Little Lion from Brooks Williams.

A Quiet Acoustic Guitar Album - Brooks Williams look
Little Lion – Brooks Williams

Little Lion was released in 2000 following up his 1999 album Hundred Year Shadow. I saw Brooks live at The Main Point shortly after the release of Hundred Year Shadow which was getting a fair amount of airplay on WXPN at the time. I said to him during a break in the show that when I listened to the album I thought man this guy can really play!” He thanked me and said it was his first love. Anyway after buying Little Lion that album has become one of my first loves!

Gravity – Jesse Cook


Gravity by Jesse Cook was the second acoustic guitar  album that came to mind. It’s even a little older than Little Lion. It was released in 1996 and I believe I bought it soon after it’s release. My favorite track on the album is “Closer to Madness”.

Now after I had posted my response on Facebook. I thought about two other albums. But since the friend had already had over two hundred and fifty responses to her query, I decided to write this post and discuss those albums here. So here goes!

Promise – Flow

Promise from the supergroup Flow is the first album. The group consists of Lawrence Blatt on guitar, Jeff Oster trumpet and fluglehorn, Fiona Joy Hawkins on piano and vocals and Will Ackerman acoustic guitar.

Flow’s name comes from the first letters in the names of the band members F (Fiona) L (Lawrence) O (Oster) and W (Will).

Their first self-titled album spent many weeks atop the Zone Music Reporters Radio Chart and won the Zone Music Reporter’s Album of the Year and Best Contemporary Instrumental Album

Although Promise was released in August of 2019 I just became aware of it earlier this year. Since I discovered it, It has been a go to album for relaxing and calming down.

The tracks throughout the album vary. On some tracks  it’s Blatt’s or Ackerman’s guitar weaving its way around Oster’s trumpet or flugelhorn. While on other tracks it’s Fiona’s piano intertwining between the guitars and horns. But the music throughout the album is always soothing.

Emergence – Lawrence Blatt

The next  album I thought about was Flow member Lawrence Blatt’s 2014 release Emergence. Like Promise it’s a great soothing and restful album. I wrote about the album back in 2015 and you can read my post here.

Tales from the Wine Dark Se

Finally, I thought about and listen to an album from guitarist Tom Caufield. I have listened to several of Caufield’s albums. But the one that stands out the most is his  2014 release Tales from the Wine Dark Sea which was the….

Winner of One World Music’s ‘Best Acoustic Instrumental Album of 2014,’  Tales from the Wine Dark Sea’ is Tom Caufield’s fourth collection of contemplative, acoustic guitar pieces, and his first on steel string guitar.

On the album Caulfield blends  American rural guitar styles, ambient soundscapes and Irish and Turkish traditional ballads, to make ‘Tales from the Wine Dark Sea’ a terrific album.

You can read more about the album here at Tom Caulfield’s website.

Summarizing here are five of my favorite quiet and relaxing primarily acoustic guitar albums

  •  Little Lion – Brooks Williams
  • Gravity  – Jesse Cook
  • Promise – Flow
  • Emergence – Lawrence Blatt
  • Tales from the Wine Dark Sea – Tom Caufiled

Here’s a twelve pack playlist with tracks from each album.

Dion – Blues with Friends Makes a Struggling Run Better

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Blues with FRiends -Dion

Ok so I’m doing it again. I started to posts yesterday and I didn’t finish either one of them! So now rather than go back and write a little in each one of them I’ll just plot ahead and write a new posts. Recently, I haven’t run very often on Saturdays, but yesterday the weather conditions were slightly better than they were in Friday, so off I went, with the music of Dion providing the soundtrack.

The Run

I quickly  realized, even though the temperature was fairly low, the humidity was going to make this a tough run!

So it became one of those runs during which I need to trick myself. As I reach the 2.5 mile mark my thought become ‘“well you’ve made 2.5 mile you only have 1.5 miles to go you can do that”z. Then at 3 miles it’s 3 miles down only 1 more to go.. “if you’ve gone 3 you can certainly make 1 more“. But even with that semi-positive re-enforcement the last mile was a struggle. Additonally, he emergence of the sun and the lack of shade over the last half mile didn’t help things!  Needless to say I made it, but with no semi-strong sprint at the end. My pace over the last block was more of a slow  crawl. Here are the nerdy details.

The Nerdy Details

Total Miles: 4.08 Total Time 46.52 Pace 11:29

Avg Hr 144 bpm Max HR 157 Cals Burned: 611

I am not going to list the mile splits because the GPS was goofy during they run. Consistently, I was reaching the mile and half mile points well before I normally. Therefore, my pace was actually a little slower than listed above.

The Soundtrack: Blues with Friends -Dion

Throughout the run though I was struggling.  I was still able refocus on this fine new album.’s music. And yes for those of you who remember it is that Dion DiMucci better known mononymously as Dion

For those of you who don’t remember here’s some background from Wikipedia….Dion’s…

…. work has incorporated elements of doo-wop, rock and R&B styles—and, most recently, straight blues. Initially as lead singer of Dion and the Belmontsand then in his solo career, he was one of the most popular American rock and roll performers of the pre-British Invasion era. He had 39 Top 40 hits in the late 1950s and early 1960s as a solo performer, with the Belmonts or with the Del Satins. He is best remembered for the singles “Runaround Sue”, “The Wanderer”, “Ruby Baby” and “Lovers Who Wander”, among his other hits. Read More

About Blues with Friends…

I really enjoyed the album both during the run and  when I listened to it earlier in the week.

From Amazon

Blues With Friends, the new studio album from Dion, is packed with a great batch of songs written during a productive time coming off his latest release. When the legendary Joe Bonamassa was eager to be involved, it inspired Dion to invite others to join the project. He says, “I wanted the best musicians alive like Jeff Beck, Bruce Springsteen, Paul Simon, Van Morrison and more to take them in unexpected directions. Wayne Hood, my producer, brought out the best of them.” Read More

The bottom is that Blues with Friends is a terrific album. Three of my favorite songs are “Blues Comin’ on ” with Joe Bonamassa and “Uptown No 7” with Brian Setzer. and “Song for Sam Cooke (Here in America)” with Paul Simon.

The Video

Here it is and it’s a great song….

Check Out Dion on  Facebook or Spotify