Category: Americana

Jack Williams – Laughing in the Face of the Blues

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javk williams - laughing in the face of the blues

This morning I decided that it was a good day to listen to one of my favorite folk artists so I qued up Jack Williams on the mp3 player and listened to his album Laughing in the Face of the Blues. If you like great guitar picking coupled with great songs about the south and common folks then you’ll like Jack Williams’ music.

Discoverig the Music of Jack Williams

I first stumbled across Jack’s music in the bargain bin of my favorite used record store where I found his album Across the Winterline . I took it home listened to I think the first two songs and I knew that I had a new favorite!

Here’s what others think of Jack’s music:

From his website and CDBaby:

…. his artistry… is nothing short of amazing. Dazzling picking, expressive voice, unique and interesting songs. He is a showman in the best sense of the word and just wowed our audience. I think they would have followed him anywhere.”
Rich Warren, WFMT “Midnight Special”, Chicago IL

Skilled finger picking with a [Southern] rhythmic musical style that’s equal parts folk storytelling and Tin Pan Alley songcraft, delivered with the impassioned soul of an old blues singer…No Depression Magazine

Listening to Laughing in the Face of the Blues

Like all of Jack’s album Laughing in the Face of the Blues is filled with great songs . Recently the album has been on my mp3 player and the songs that usually come up when the player is set to  random are “Meet Me Mama”, Laughing in the Face of the Blues” and “A Sucker for Love” all great songs and again so are the rest!

Finally Walkin’ Blues

This afternoon I continued listening to Jack and the other album on the player Walkin’ Dreams. Which is also full of great songs! The album opens with “A Natural Man” written about one of Jack’s heroes  Josh White. Other songs include “An English Moment” about returning to the home of his ancestors.  “Mr. Cherry” about the Birmingham Church bombing, “Walkin’ Dreams” a song about walking through history and finally

“Me and My Automobile” a fun song about his car troubles that includes an excerpt from Jack’s call to “Click and Clack on NPR!

The other funny song is “In the Texas Sky” which chronicles Jack’s travails while taking his friend Al Grierson’s remains to their final resting place! Of the two albums I think Walkin’ Dreams had more listens.

Looking at  his website I see that his new CD The High Road Home is due out this summer and I can’t wait. Oh maybe I’ll pre-order it! Anyway until then I’ll just listen to what I have and watch the DVD High Cotton a collection of live performances.

So if you don’t know Jack’s music check him out you won’t be disappointed –

The Video

Jack performing “Natural Mam” from Walkin’ Dreams

Kris Kristofferson, Taylor and David Buskin on a “Memories Monday”

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Kris Kristofferson Me & Bobby Magee

So tonight I listened to some vinyl albums that I haven’t listened to in a long while. Albums from Kris Kristofferson, Chip Taylor and David Buslin

Me and Boddy McGee – Kris Kristofferson

First up is an album when it was released in 1970 was just called Kristofferson but by the time I bought it in 1971 it had been renamed Me and Bobby McGee (I can’t imagine why?).  Anyway, that album had a lot of songs that had been recorded by others including Janis Joplin, Ray  Price and Roger Miller and Ray Stevens but I didn’t listen to those performers (except for Joplin) so I worn this album out! What a great collection of songs,  including “To Beat the Devil”, (always a favorite), “Help Me Make it through the Night”, “Just The Other Side of Nowhere” “For the Good Times” and probably my favorite “Sunday Morning Coming Down”.   My favorite line from that song:

Then I crossed the empty street,

‘n caught the Sunday smell of someone fryin’ chicken.

And it took me back to somethin’,

That I’d lost somehow, somewhere along the way.

Chip Taylor’s Last Chance

The second album is also by someone who has written a lot of hits for other people and one of those songs just happens to be “Wild Thing”  other pop hits include” “Angel of the Morning”, “Anyway You Want Me” and a lot of country hits. and the artist would be Chip Taylor and the album Chip Taylor’s Last Chance

I think most of the time I only listened to the first side of this album because I only really remember the first few songs on that side:  (I Want) The Real Thing”, “Son of a Rotten Gambler” and “I Read it in The Rolling Stone”. I must admit that I haven’t listened to much of his current stuff like the albums that he has done with Carrie Rodriquez. The other day I did hear a track that sounded interesting on XM Radio so I will have to look up some of his new music!

Come With – David Buskin ……and Robin Batteau and more

The next artist you may know more from his TV commercials including the jingle for NBC “Just Watch Us Now” for which he won a Clio Award in 1983. He co-wrote All Aboard America for Amtrak, and did work for Burger King, JC Penny, and the US Postal Service.  To me he is just David Buskin who on his  debut album entitled Compton and Batteau no wait that’s the other half of Buskin and Batteau, no his debut album was just David Buskin (you can only be so creative) who wrote one of the great songs about travelin’ on “Come With”

oh won’t you come with

jump in the back

we’ll go to Memphis and Fargo

and places like that

and I’ll promise you go times

I’ll promise you friends

and you’re welcomed along till you ask where it ends

But in listening to this album, I realized how much I liked the whole first side  of this album which included the tracks “When I Need You Most of All”, “Come With”, “The Winter Song” a song about the homeless, “Softly Rocking” about losing children to the war and “After All”. All in all a great re-listen! These days David records with Robin Batteau and their last release is Red Shoes and Golden Hearts .

David also works with Rob Carlson and George Wurzbach in the group “Modern Man

– filling the void between The Three Tenors and The Three Stooges.” “With the release of their third CD, “Assisted Living,” the somewhat musical group known as Modern Man continues its assault on the out-moded idea that only those persons not yet manifesting symptoms of senile dementia should perform in public “

Check out their live album The Wide Album by Modern Man very funny stuff!

Here’s a video of David and Robin performing David’s “When I Need You Most of All” which is the first track on David Buskin

Joe Bonamassa – Black Rock on a “Blues Wednesday”

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Joe Bonamassa - Black Rock

So today started out a lot like yesterday, still no coffee at the 7-Eleven due to remodeling! Then I listened to tracks from several different blues albums and again nothing caught my attention.

Joe Bonamassa – Black Rock Catches My Attention

So at lunch I checked out the Billboard Blues charts and there are number one sat Joe Bonamassa’s new album Black Rock and at Number 9 Derek Trucks new album Already Free so I loaded both on the mp3 player and set out for a site to do some testing and listening on the way!

Now Bonamassa was a name I’d always heard (seems like I say this a lot!) but never listened to, my mistake! Anyway since I heard one of his albums about a year ago his music gets steady play.

So I anticipated that I would enjoy Bonamassa’s great playing and good vocals and all around strong sound.

Black Rock Doesn’t Disappoint

The first two tracks did not disappoint me and on the third track “When the Fire Hits the Sea” I caught myself saying is he playing slide guitar on this track – yep – and it was good!

Then came “Quarryman’s Lament” which opened with a different sounding instrument, which I have since learned was a clarino (a Greek type clarinet) and I said this is a great album.

“Bird on a Wire” is a Highlight!

But the best was yet to come probably the best cover I have ever heard of Leonard Cohen’s “Bird on a Wire” which opens with Greek musician Thanasis Vasilopoulos on the nei, a Greek flute-like instrument. Bonamassa took  a favorite Leonard Cohen song of mine and made it a favorite Joe Bonamassa song of mine!! It just blew me away!

Other highlights on the album include a cover of Jeff Beck’s “Spanish Boots” and Otis Rush’s “Three Times a Fool”  and a great duet with B.B. King  as they covered “Night Life”

Greek Influences Galore!

More Greek influences (a result of the album being recorded at Black Rock studios in Greece, hence the name of the album) are heard on “Athens to Athens” and the opening of a Bonamassa original “Blue and Evil”  that opens with Joe on acoustic guitar trading licks with Manolis Karadinis playing bouzouki (think mandolin or Indian instrument sarod), which quickly changes to hard guitar and sounds a little like Led Zeppelin!

Final Thoughts

Throughout the album Bonamassa’s guitar playing is awesome as usual and I think his vocals are some of the best I’ve heard from him. But the cover of “Bird on a Wire” and the use of the Greek instruments and some of the acoustic stuff just sends this album a whole different level, definitely a  5 out of 5 if not higher! I am sure this album will get lots of plays over the next few months!

Now like I said I also downloaded and listened to Derek Trucks CD Already Free which I also liked but can’t put in the same class as Black Rock. but I don’t think it’s fair to comment on that CD today so I will listen to it again and comment on it tomorrow!

The Video

Here’s “Bird on a Wire” – I think Leonard would Approve!